From the President
H. Edward Reiley
Woodsboro, Maryland

I survived my first Board of Directors meeting on Long Island, New York, recently and we were able to move ahead on some projects. One of my priorities, The Rhododendron of the Year program, was approved and is now an official part of our activities with guidelines spelled out in Board policies. Thanks to Len Miller and Laura Kentala for hours of hard work, as well as to Gordon Wylie for revising policies to make the project legally a part of the ARS. Nurseries and growers will be notified ahead of public announcement of plants selected to insure availability of plants.

The new Resource Development Committee was approved and will be developing guidelines and procedures for their involvement in support of ARS activities suggested by other committees and personnel. There was not time to develop these guidelines and procedures prior to the fall meeting, but hopefully this committee will be ready for action by the spring meeting.

For more on Board action ask your chapter president to go over the minutes at your next meeting or in your newsletter.

We still need to work on membership development. As Mike Stewart, our membership chairman, said, "Each one ask one." When was the last time you asked someone to join the ARS or, if possible, offer to take them to a meeting with you? We can make an impact with some extra effort. There are new friends to be made.