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by Lynn Snyder

During the heart of the membership campaign, Morgan County Farm Bureau hosted a membership workday to focus on whittling down the number of members needed for gain. Ohio Farm Bureau staff member Gayle Lewis participated in the day and worked with two Morgan County women whose energy and dedication are inspirational.

The county eventually reached farmer gain and overall member gain thanks to the hard work of its membership volunteers. The two women Lewis accompanied on the workday were Bernice "Bun" Roberts and Vivian Richardson, a classic example of working cooperatively to accomplish more together than working alone.

"You don’t see too many people their age getting out and working membership like they do," Lewis said. "It’s not only the amount of hours they spend working, but the way they go about it. I felt like if they can do this, then I can too."

"While we were working Vivian told me that Bun is her inspiration," Lewis said. She was impressed with the high level of energy the women who are nearly 20 to 30 years older than she is.

Bun and Vivian are neighbors who started working membership together after they retired. They begin membership work each year at the Morgan County membership kickoff and work through the entire campaign, mostly focusing on East Bloom Township where they live.

"We like getting out to visit with people, people we don’t (often) see in our community," Bun said. She added she and Vivian tend to have the best success in signing members when they go and visit people personally. "We kinda visit. You can’t just go in and talk Farm Bureau until you know how they feel," she said.

They also tend to call on people they already know. In fact, some of the people they call on know they will be coming by, so they wait for Bun and Vivian to come, rather than mail in their renewal. Bun said she and Vivian go anyplace in the county where they think they can sign a member.

"I just like to get everybody I can get. I get a little discouraged when they don’t wanna belong or there is some other organization they’d rather belong to," Bun said.

Vivian concurred. "We just enjoy visiting with the people. We know them. Its’ nice to visit with them. But they also take their job seriously. We like to bring the total (needed for gain) down."

All in all, Bun and Vivian see membership work as enjoyable. "We do have a good time," Vivian said.

Said Bernice, "I’ll be 87 very soon. I enjoy Vivian’s company being with me. We just work well together."

Morgan County Organization Director Tiffany Pattison said that so far the team has signed nine members, four being new, qualifying them for the Statewide Celebration on June 24.

Membership chairmen and workers now have until more time to qualify for several Ohio Farm Bureau membership awards.

Membership committee chairmen have until May 1 to secure 33 productive workers, earning them a jacket. Chairmen who achieve county membership gain by May 1 will qualify to attend the membership chairman banquet and Statewide Celebration, along with a guest.

Workers who sign 10 new members by May 1 will receive a polo shirt and a ticket in the special Ambassador Club drawing at the Statewide Celebration.

Counties have until May 31 to qualify for the golden tractor award – a 50 member or 7 percent gain; the silver plowshare award – 50 new farmers or 7 percent gain over the 2005 farmer total, and the super star awards – stars awarded for each 100 member gain.

The top three member signers in each region also will qualify to attend the membership chairman banquet at the statewide celebration. The cutoff to declare the top signer will be May 1 as well.

One lucky membership worker will go home with a new 2006 CS Gator purchased from Parrott Implement of Richwood. Every qualified membership worker who attends the Celebration will be given one ticket for every new member signed; the more new members signed, the more tickets can be earned.

The winner will own the Gator – it is not a lease. Workers must be present to win.

**By participating, winners release the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation and county Farm Bureaus, their members and staff from responsibility for damages, losses or injury from acceptance of prize. Participation constitutes permission to use winner’s name and or likeness for advertising or trade purposes without further compensation. Winner agrees to accept prize as advertised. All state and federal taxes on prize will be the responsibility of the winner.**

Caption: Bun (Bernice) Roberts, left, and Vivian Richardson, right, have signed nine members so far this year, four of them new. Photo courtesy Morgan County Farm Bureau