Members of the Friends of Reinstein Woods enjoyed appetizers and desserts Tuesday night before the Annual Membership Meeting. Board members highlighted the years’ accomplishments of the Friends of Reinstein Woods. We welcomed new board members: Patrick Ryan, Amanda Lippes, and Andy Moon. We also recognized valued members that are leaving the board: Dan Carlson, Lori Stillwell, Stephanie Race, and Jeremy Oczek. Following the business meeting, Buffalo Botanical Gardens’ educator, Kristy Schmitt, presented “Floriography: The Secret Language of Flowers”. This presentation highlighted the origins of flower code, fads and the current use of flower language in the floral industry and everyday life. It was a fun evening and we hope to see you at future member events.

The Friends of Reinstein Woods’ annual meeting was very well attended. Board member, Vinod Suchak was congratulated for receiving the Peter M. Losi Volunteer Award. This award recognizes his hard work for the Friends of Reinstein as our treasurer and finance committee chairman. We also welcomed new board members Jerry Krajna and Esther Clabeaux to our organization. We were very pleased to have Wild Spirit Education present “Owl Ecology” for our membership. Attendees were able to see a screech owl, barred owl, and great-horned owl during this educational presentation. The great-horned owl even hooted its call for us! If you were unable to make this event, we hope you are able to join us at one of our other upcoming member programs.

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About 40 members of the Friends gathered in mid-October to elect a new board member, thank an award winner and hear about Friends of Reinstein Woods’ accomplishments in 2013-2014.

The Peter Losi Memorial award was presented to Joan Scott for outstanding service to Friends of Reinstein Woods. Joan has been a behind the scenes volunteer for the last six years, assembling and editing Friends of Reinstein’s e- newsletter.  In past years she has also sent email reminders about special events like the fall festival and put together photo books that were raffled off as door prizes at Friends’ events or used to market Reinstein Woods’ programs to new teachers and administrators.

President Mike Gettings also thanked Joe Rembold, who completed a term on the board of directors. Joe has chaired the Marketing Committee since its inception and guided the process of developing a new logo, position statement (slogan) and website for the organization. Joe put in countless hours behind the scenes helping the Friends’ board communicate better online, securing a grant from the National Environmental Education Foundation to help them complete a marketing plan, and working on integrating credit card sales into the new website. Joe works for Delaware North Company and lives in Kenmore with his wife and new baby daughter.  Although Joe will no longer be on the board of directors, he will be continuing to help the marketing committee, and we hope to see him and his new daughter in the woods soon!

Stefanie Ecker was elected to a three year term with the board of directors. Stefanie works for Ingram Micro, Inc. and previously worked for Hospice Buffalo. Stefanie jumped right into volunteering for the Friends early this year, acting as chairperson for this year’s Nature’s Gathering event.  We are glad to have her continuing her leadership by officially joining the board of directors.

Committee chairs shared our successes in fundraising, member events, and finance. Most importantly, meeting attendees heard about the programs that the Friends supported this year, including:

• transporting 25 kids from urban, underserved areas to DEC’s Camp Rushford environmental education camp
•  the growing Kids in the Woods summer day camp program
• stewardship of Reinstein Woods, including the Garlic Mustard Challenge, Earth Day in May, and Trail Tuesdays
• workshops for teachers, including the successful “Schoolyard Habitat Institute” held over the summer
• Great Lakes education of teachers and students, in partnership with Buffalo Urban Outdoor Education (BUOE)
• an expanded Day in the Life of the Buffalo River program
• the successful launch of Family Nature Clubs, in partnership with the Buffalo Zoo.

We look forward to continuing our success in sharing nature’s harmony in 2015!