South Atlantic Winter 2015 Newsletter PRESIDENT Katrina Lawrence katrina.lawrence@rsmus.com (407) 581-3573 VICE PRESIDENT Tim Barber tbarber@ourcoop.com (615) 793-8364 SECRETARY/TREAS. MEMBERSHIP CO- CHAIR Dave Mereness Dearolf & Mereness, LLP dave@dearolf.com (813) 269-5700 MEMBERSHIP CO-CHAIR Steven Goldstein Steve.goldstein@rsmus.com (407) 581-3515 NEWSLETTER/ COMMUNICATIONS dlong@ourcoop.com (423) 586-9141 NEWSLETTER/COMMUNICATIONS Bob Farmer Florida s Natural Growers, Inc Bob.Farmer@citrusworld.com (863) 676-1411 Ext 3806 NEWSLETTER/COMMUNICATIONS Thomas Hallin Thomas.hallin@alafarm.com NATIONAL DIRECTORS PAST PRESIDENT HA Beasley H. A. Beasley & Co., Inc. ha@habeasley.com (615) 895-5675 DIRECTORS Dave Mereness Dearolf & Mereness, LLP dave@dearolf.com (813) 269-5700 Robbie Shields Florida s Natural Growers, Inc. robbie.shields@citrusworld.com (863) 678-0506 Ext 3617 Clay Worden clay.worden@rsmus.com (407) 581-3506 Bob Farmer Florida s Natural Growers, Inc. Bob.Farmer@citrusworld.com (863) 676-1411 Ext 3806 Gary Weindenborner CoBank gweindenborner@cobank.com (502) 423-8666 dlong@ourcoop.com (423) 586-9141 Jamie Bowling Agri-AFC, LLC jamieb@alafarm.com (256) 308-1631 Joanna McClendon jmcclendon@ourcoop.com (615) 706-8582 Adam Lawrence Crowe Horwath, LLP adam.lawrence@crowehorwath.com (317) 706-2725 PROGRAM & EDUCATION Jason Penedo Jason.Penedo@rsmus.com (407) 581-3575 HA Beasley HA Beasley & Co., PC ha@habeasley.com (615) 895-5675 ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE Katrina Lawrence Katrina.lawrence@rsmus.com (407) 581-3573 Robbie Shields Florida s Natural Growers robbie.shields@citrusworld.com (863) 678-0506 Ext 3617 Jason Penedo Jason.Penedo@rsmus.com (407) 581-3575
December 21, 2015 South Atlantic Chapter Members: Friday December 11, 2015 Laura, my daughter, and I helped Kathy, my wife, to celebrate her birthday. The celebration consisted of an overnight stay at Biltmore in Asheville, North Carolina. When Laura first mentioned this idea I told her the weather would just be too cold and not very pleasant for us all to be outside that day. As of matter of fact the average temperature for the month of December for Asheville, NC is 49 degrees and what if it rains or even the thought of snow is possible during December. Well none of the cool temperatures, rain, or even snow came about on this day. We got weather at 72 degrees and sunny all day. It was just a perfect day! I could not have ordered a day any better than we got to experience that day. My wife had a great day to celebrate her birthday which was the obvious goal. We have been to Biltmore before and actually it was on a NSAC Chapter Meeting that Kathy and I got to see Biltmore the first time a few years ago but we have never seen Biltmore during Christmas. We saw at least 60 trees throughout the Biltmore House, each intricately designed and decorated by members of Biltmore s floral team. Miles of garland and wreaths throughout the house. The largest tree in the house was in the Banquet Hall. This tree was 34-foot tall Fraser fir Christmas tree. Pretty amazing stuff! I guess you get the point about how big and massive everything is at Biltmore. You have to see it to really appreciate it. Biltmore is a real impressive destination in normal circumstance5s but even more so at Christmas. Friday evening we did stay in Asheville not on the Biltmore grounds but at a really nice Hampton Inn Hotel. Laura had originally planned on staying with us. After arrangements were made for the trip she had a company Christmas party that got scheduled for this Friday night. Of course she thought she needed to make an appearance at her work party. I could not argue with that point. So she stayed with us until around 5:00 that afternoon and then headed back to Knoxville for another Christmas Party. That is why we had to take 2 cars to Asheville between the 3 of us. Life is just complicated. We did have a good day that day even if Laura had to leave early. Hopefully we did make it a day that Kathy will remember! Oh well, Christmas is the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!
Please visit www.nsacoop.org and explore the many resources available to every member of NSAC. Encourage your co-workers and peers to join our chapter. An application is enclosed within this newsletter and is available on the homepage of www.nsacoop.org. Articles of Interest! Members: If you should run into anything that you think might be of interest to our Members PLEASE forward it to me and I will try to get it in our Newsletter! Pictures, hobbies or just about anything that might be appealing to share and to add interest in this publication! I think humorous stories and recipes would be of interest. Hopefully everyone will benefit either professionally or simply be entertained! My email address is: Dlong@ourcoop.com. Thanks, Plan on coming to our next Chapter Meeting this June in St. Augustine, Florida at Casa Monica Hotel June 12-14, 2016.
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