Page 16 - WCA December Ketch Pen 2020

Kittitas County CattleWomen 2020 Report
By: Gail Shelton, WCW Kittitas County President
It was an uncharacteristically quiet year for the Kittitas County CattleWomen. Our officers were President Gail Shelton, President-Elect Kris Akehurst, Vice President Brenda Hart, Secretary Amy Cziske and Treasurer Barb Weber.
C.L. Clarke was named the 2020 Kittitas County CattleWoman of the Year at the Cattlemen’s Banquet in February. We also served lunch to visitors at the Spirit of the West in February and a few of us ventured to Olympia for Beef Day on the Hill where 1750 people were served 600 pounds of tri-tip on a sunny, cold day.
March brought the Trinity Farms Bull Sale where the Cattlewomen served dinner on Friday night and lunch on Saturday before the bull sale.
And then...everything went dark and all our events were cancelled.
We awarded two $750 scholarships to very deserving young women – Payton Lyyski a recent Ellensburg graduate who will be attending Oklahoma State University and Mikaila Heller a spring graduate from Cle Elum-Roslyn High School who will be entering Central Washington State University.
We did not meet in April, May or June but managed to continue with our Mother’s Day and Father’s Day traditions. With help from Kittitas Valley Hospital, we were able to present roses and a gift card for BEEF to the mother who had the first baby born on Mother’s Day. Father’s Day we delivered a check to Perkins Restaurant to treat hard-working truckers to a steak dinner along with a card thanking them on behalf of the Kittitas County CattleWomen. Perkins generously matched our gift and reported the drivers very much appreciated the hot meal.
In July we held our Summer General Meeting, with the cattlemen joining us, in the Shelton’s yard. It was
a sunny, but windy day – no surprise as the entire summer was windy! It was fun to get together again, enjoy a potluck dinner, visit, and have a quick meeting.
Although the Fair and Jr. Livestock Sale were virtual this year, we were able to present County Pride Awards to two young people for beef born and raised in our county. It was our pleasure to award the first-place ribbon and $200 to Steven Kelsey and the second-place ribbon and $100 to Colton Calaway.
Our first Board Meeting since March was finally held in October and we planned for our October General Meeting. The General Meeting was held at Rodeo City BBQ where we enjoyed a great beef dinner, visiting, laughing, and WCW President, Kady Porterfield, installed our 2020-2021 officers.
Young Farmers and Ranchers gathered to help families in Wilbur, WA who needed fences rebuilt after the fire. Ten Kittitas County CattleWomen prepared and served lunch and dinner in Wilbur to these hard- working young farmers and ranchers.
December we will be meeting to celebrate the holidays and wrap gifts for our Christmas family. The 2nd Harvest/BEEF handout will be held at the Armory and we will join our fellow Cattlemen handing out BEEF and food to our neighbors in need.
One more note – our own Marty Stingley was appointed this year to the Cattlemen’s Beef Board as a regional representative. We’re very proud of Marty and know she will serve us well.
The Kittitas County CattleWomen are looking forward to 2021 and returning to our normal activities.
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Washington CattleWomen’s Annual County Reports
Ketch Pen www.washingtoncattlemen.org
December 2020