AGM evening full of informative reports, celebrations of past work and goals for the future
The Farmers Helping Farmers Annual General Meeting was held on July 29, 2021 at the Farm Centre in Charlottetown. There was a great turnout of board of directors, award winners, FHF members and special guests. Everyone in attendance was grateful to have the opportunity to gather safely in person, following health and safety protocols, after having the 2020 AGM virtually due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The AGM evening was full of informative reports, celebrations of the work completed in the past year as well as goals for the future.
The meeting began with a presentation of annual awards
“The Farmers Helping Farmers awards recognize the organization’s volunteers, supporters and members,” said Sandra MacKinnon, a member of the awards committee.
“We are extremely fortunate to have individuals and groups, working in partnership with Farmers Helping Farmers, to assist with projects that improve the lives Kenyan farm women and their families.”
Click the link below to read all about the deserving award-winners including Youth of the Year,
Volunteer of the Year, Friend of Farmers Helping Farmers and a special Extra Mile Award:
https://www.farmershelpingfarmers.ca/2021-farmers-helping-farmers-awards/
Following the award presentations, there was a special reading of children’s book Broken
Crayons by Patsy Dingwell. The story was inspired by the real-life experience of Ellen Gillis, a
teacher in training from UPEI who travelled to Kenya in 2005. The book shares the message of
Farmers Helping Farmers, as well as highlighting the generosity of the Kenyan people.
After the special guest presentations there was a report provided by Mike Fitzpatrick from
Fitzpatrick & Co. of the annual auditor's report. Mike commented that FHF fulfills its obligation to
spend the large proportion of funds on projects with low administrative cost, and that this is a
strength of the organization. He highlighted that the audit was clean, and noted a significant
increase in net assets since the previous year, and that FHF is in a strong financial position. The impact of not being able to have the Annual Fundraising BBQ was identified as having no related income or expenses in the statement. Despite this situation, revenue increased significantly over prior years due to increases in donations.
The AGM agenda continued with the presentations of annual reports by committee chairs. The
following committees shared summaries of their accomplishments over the past year and their
goals for the coming year: Fundraising, Education, Projects, Membership & Communications,
Visioning, as well as a report from the President and areport from the coordinator for FHF.
THE AGM concluded with a thank you to all of the dedicated volunteers, members, donors, and
staff of FHF who make our work in Kenya possible.
