First Dress Down check presentation of 2013

It’s the first of January and the beginning of a new year therefore it stands to reason there are firsts to be recognized, such as the first recipients of Dress Down Day funds for 2013.

The Cheyenne County Ladies Chamber presented the Family and Community Education Council (FCE) with this year’s first check in the amount of $975.82.

“We are going to use it (the money) to buy display cases for the Home Economics Department’s Open Class out at the fairgrounds,” FCE representative Pat Hruska said.

“They will put baked goods and home crafts or whatever we need to in them.”

They are using much older cases, from a bakery that closed about 50 years ago according to Hruska. The prospect of using more up-to-date and nicer cases is exciting.

At one time the FCE used to have up to 350 members according to Hruska.

Lynn McKinney FCE representative said, “Years ago we used to have 20 clubs in the couny, with lots of members. Right now we have one club.”

“There are seven or eight mail vouch members who remain as members of FCE but are not associated with a club,” Hruska added.

“There’s about 16 of us is all.” McKinney said. “We are actually looking for new members to get new extension clubs going.”

McKinney said the University of Nebraska hosts many different FCE lessons.

These lessons are used as a means to teach about “issues that are happening now,” McKinney said.

This is the first time FCE has received Dress Down Day funds the ladies said and the cases bought will be housed at the fairgrounds in the 4- H building.

The way an organization or group goes about participating in this fund raiser is fairly simple.

“They submit an application as to what they want to use the funds for,” then the Ladies Chamber sorts through the applications and determines who will receive the finds for each month. This according to Ladies Chamber Representative Judy Henzie.

There are a couple stipulations to receiving this money: “The funds must be used in Cheyenne County,” according to Henzie. “They must be a group rather than an individual, it cannot be a family who needs funds it has to be a group.”

Henzie said it is fairly easy to submit an application as well, “they pick up and take back their application to the Chamber Office or they can talk to any member of the Ladies Chamber.”