Report for Sunshine OHCE-March 2021

Sunshine OHCE met March 4th, 2021 at the Stephens County Fairgrounds. Linda Heilman was the hostess with 16 members in attendance. Brenda Gandy-Jones, Extension Educator was present as our guest along with Shiela Houston, from Australia, daughter of our dearly departed member Barbara Cox. "Baby Evelyn", granddaughter of Sandy Pogue was also in attendance.

A memorial for Barbara Cox has been established with the funds going to benefit the library in the Village of Sote, on the island of Fiji. Barbara had a deep love for the people of Sote and the establishment of this library was very important to her. Sunshine OHCE members previously visited Fiji and taught the women to sew so that uniforms could be made for the girls of this community as they are unable to attend school without a uniform. Barbara believed in investing in the education of the young women of this Village.

The group received an update from Camp Waluhi'yi and there will be a meeting for a clean-up day on March 27[th]. Sunshine has been invited to participate or to supervise.

Six members attended the recent Zoom Leadership Training and those unable to attend were reminded they could review the sessions on You-Tube.

Members discussed the question posed by Resource Manager Donnita Hall "What did you do to survive the snow storm?" There were many creative answers given.

Sunshine will be the host for the West District Meeting to be held in Duncan, Oklahoma in 2022. Gina Flesher has purchased a plethora of items to be placed into baskets to be auctioned off. These will be taken to the Extension office where pictures will be taken so they can be posted for the online auction as a fundraiser to benefit our hosting of this meeting.

Toni Bess continued to encourage all members to submit a one page paper for the Cultural Enrichment State Project by 5-1-2021. The project is entitled "The Way it Was-The Pandemic of 2020".

Sheila Ely presented the program on "Gut Health". Everyone was encouraged to eat healthy, exercise and take vitamins including probiotics.

Group members brought non-perishable food items to be distributed to the "Blessing Boxes" in keeping with our project this year addressing hunger.

The next meeting is scheduled for April 1, 2021 to be held at the All Saints Episcopal Church at 9:30 am. Anyone interested in more information about the Sunshine Group or OHCE is encouraged to call the OSU Ext. office: 580-255-0150 or 580-467-3065. Prospective members are welcome and encouraged to attend.

SUE SMITH-RASKA

REPORTER-SUNSHINE OHCE