Welcome New KEHA Officers – Welcome to the three newly elected KEHA state officers and chairs whose terms begin July 1, 2025. Also starting a new term on July 1, 2025, the current President-Elect will change positions. The incoming state board members are:

• President: Henrietta Sheffel, Breathitt County
• Secretary: Barbara Seiter, Boone County
• 4-H Youth Development Chair: Peggy Tracy, Bourbon County
• Management and Safety Chair: Diana Morgan, Grant County

Cultural Arts and Heritage Updates – The Cultural Arts and Heritage Chairperson webpage at https://keha.ca.uky.edu/content/cultural-arts-and-heritage has been updated with the following information:

• 2025 Creative Writing Winners, poetry, memoirs, short story (and archive of several past years)
• 2025 Cultural Arts Winners, ribbons, and all entries sorted by area, county, last name, and category
• 2025-26 Book List and Book Club information

Manual Updates Coming Soon – The State Board appointed a Manual Review Committee, and the Voting Delegates approved bylaws changes. The new manual will be available after July 1. Please refer to the new copy after this date and adjust any online bookmarks to the new version once it is available. 

Theme-Based Officer Training Materials Coming Soon – KEHA officer training materials specific to the 2025-2026 KEHA year and connected to the theme “Discover KEHA – A Hidden Treasure” are in review. The resource materials will post to the KEHA website after July 1. Materials include a PowerPoint presentation, facilitator’s guide, installation ceremony, dates to remember handout, evaluation, and other resources. Please review and use these materials as best fits with your county and/or area officer training sessions. The new theme-based installation was debuted with the state board during the awards luncheon of the State Meeting.

2025 State Meeting Evaluations Summary – About 45% of attendees (227 out of 500) completed evaluation forms and rated the conference very highly, indicating a wealth of knowledge taken home to implement locally. On average, respondents rated the overall meeting as a 7.7 on a 10-point scale. Respondents enjoyed starting the event with a luncheon (96%) and also enjoying having more free time in the evening (87%). They noted free time allowed for rest after a full day or provided time to meet with others from the area, county, or new friends made at the event. Most of the respondents attended all three days of the conference (91%).

When asked what was the most important thing offered by KEHA in their decision to attend, top responses were: seminars/workshops/training (55%), hands-on craft classes (47%), lessons to bring back to club/county (41%), socializing and fellowship (35%), connecting with other counties (33%), Cultural Arts (30%), and more. Homemakers learned a lot from educational workshops, particularly noting the following: How to Give a Tea Party, What’s in Your Leadership Toolbox, Cooking from the Garden, Let’s Cook with Herbs!, Digging Up Treasure: Buying and Selling Online, Enduring the Transitions of Life, and Historical Homemaking. Favorite hands-on crafts included origami flowers, basket-making, and painting workshops. Many resources will be shared in home counties, particularly information from hands-on crafts (61%), Cultural Arts (48%), volunteering (36%), club information (34%), membership (29%), and other topics such as leadership and specific lesson details.

The health fair assisted 122 people with screenings over two days. They tested 61 attendees’ A1c levels, provided hands-only CPR training to 25 people, distributed Narcan to 46 individuals, and conducted other screenings such as blood pressure, glucose readings, and anxiety/depression screenings.

ACWW Area Meeting in July – ACWW is having their USA Area Conference in Erlanger, KY, on July 21-24, 2025. It will be an opportunity to network, build capacity, and share knowledge from communities across the region. Workshops/learning sessions will cover such topics as: Pollinators; Horticulture Therapy; Working With your Elected Officials; Environmental Wellness; and more. For more information, visit https://acww.org.uk/area-conferences. 

Reports Are Due for Individuals and Clubs – Visit the Reports webpage for a detailed process timeline and links to fillable forms. Please be aware of the following deadlines and submit reports on time. Be sure to use forms dated 2024-2025 to cover the period from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025. 

July 1 – CLUB-level reports are due. Program of work reports for the eight educational chairmanships are due to each county educational chairperson or designated officer. Volunteer Service Unit (VSU) logs are due to the county. 

August 15 – COUNTY-level reports are due. The county tallies the club-level reports received in July and submits the totals online by Aug. 15, printing a copy to share with each area educational chairperson. Online forms will be coming soon. County VSU reports are due via paper forms. See https://keha.ca.uky.edu/content/impacts for details and to access the county reporting links beginning in July. 

September 15 – AREA-level reports are due. Area VSU Reports are due to the KEHA State Leadership Development Chairman.

One way to make preparing reports more fun is to host a “reporting party.” Clubs and/or county organizations can choose to set a date to meet and gather all reports at one time. Stations can be set up for each point person to gather information for each type of report due. Snacks and a party theme may make the event enjoyable.

Save the Date for 2026 State Meeting – Next year’s KEHA State Meeting will take place May 12-14, 2026, at the Hyatt Regency in Lexington, Ky. Watch for details coming soon!

Dates to Remember

• June 30 – KEHA year ends.
• July 1 – Due date for club reports to be submitted to the county (paper forms). This includes both program of work reports and volunteer service logs.
• July 8-10 – NVON Conference in Springfield, IL.
• July 21-24 – ACWW USA Area Conference in Erlanger, KY.
• Aug. 15 – Due date for county reports. County VSU reports are due via paper forms and educational chair reports must be entered online.
• Sept. 15 – Due date for area VSU reports via paper forms.