Report on Annual FOS Dinner to Honor Volunteers

Friends of Shimek gathered at Little Mexico Restaurant in Mt. Pleasant on January 21 to honor the 2016 Volunteers. A total of 41 people volunteered 540 hours during 2016 to support Shimek State Forest trails and campground projects, despite having two of the planned work days rained out. Volunteers working 16 hours or more received bandannas, those working 8 hours or more received FOS patches and all received a Thank You card with photos of the 2016 work.

The Bennett 2016 Volunteer of the Year award was presented to Robert Achenbach on behalf of the Board by President Ann Bennett. Bob and his wife Marsha have worked at all scheduled group work days since the inception of FOS in 2011. Plus Bob has worked called work days on special projects and donated his hand-turned bowls as awards for other volunteer winners. He was presented a Certificate of Appreciation and a boot jack made by John Bennett.

Tom Basten, Southeast Iowa Parks Supervisor, spoke to the group about expected cuts in the upcoming budget and plans for the rest of this budget year.

The Board of Directors presented each DNR employee attending (sown above, l -r), Shimek Forester John Byrd, Shimek and Lacey Technician Justin Lynton, and Parks Supervisor Tom Basten with framed photos titled “May the Forest be With You” in appreciation of their support of the FOS. 

Board members joined Forester John Byrd in the photo above to present him with a Letter of Commendation. This was done in recognition of over six years of support of FOS and especially for his unflagging support this past year despite having very serious staffing shortages for several months.

Dinner attendees “passed the hat” and raised $282 toward the FOS goal of $2,000 for Wet Weather Trail support and other projects planed for 2017. A donation was also received toward this project this past week from the Shike Martin family in his memory , as Shimek held a special place in his heart—he was a career Shimek employee, retiring some years ago.

Fund-raising activities planned for 2017 include a Benefit Meal and Auction set for November 4. Bonnie Moothart, Benefit Co-Chair, is shown explaining what is planned and how to donate items for the auction. More information on that is in the post entitled " Donations Sought for November FOS Benefit Meal and Auction."