Announcements and Upcoming Events

With great sadness, we mourn the loss of Mitzi Williams, our beloved friend, mentor-to-many, and devoted CIOS leader. Click here to view our tribute to Mitzi.

***WE NEED NOMINEES FOR THE CIOS BOARD!*** Many people on our Board have been serving for several years and have earned a break. We need some others to step up to help keep our great little society going. Please read below for more information. 

Friday, September 23rd through Sunday, September 25th—29th Annual Chicagoland Orchid Fest. Sponsored by the Chicagoland Orchid Growers Association; hosted by Natt's Orchids (24645 103rd Street, Naperville, Illinois 60564) and Orchids by Hausermann (2N134 Addison Rd, Villa Park, IL 60181). Each of these businesses will also host additional vendors. Natt's will have Orquideas Katia from Colombia by Gustavo A. Aguirre (he has been growing and collecting Colombian orchids for more than 45 years), New World Orchids from Michigan. (Kristen Uthus Owner and previous CS speaker, specializing in Japanese and other miniature orchids), and Mei’s Creations of West Michigan, LLC, (Mei Ling Clemens, Owner, (to be confirmed); Mei’s Creations offers Orchid Themed Clothing, Photography, and home accessories).  http://chicagolandorchidfest.com/ 

Monday, October 10th, 6:30 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. — CIOS Member Sale and Officer Elections. Hessel Park Christian Reformed Church, 700 W. Kirby Ave, Champaign.  

For the Member Sale: Bring us your tired, your poor, your non-blooming orchids yearning for a new home. This is a chance to clear some unhappy, underperforming, and surplus plants from your collection while helping other members expand or refresh their own. All money raised from the sale goes into CIOS' general funds and helps us provide our programs. Please price your plants (or supplies) before coming. As general guidance--most items are usually priced under/up to $5. The sale is open to all members.

Officer Elections: A few positions on our Board will be open for next year and we need candidates to fill those roles. You do not need to be an orchid expert to serve on the Board.  You just need some organizational skills and a desire to work with other Board members to keep our organization alive and well.  Three  positions need to be filled for the upcoming year--below are synopses of the major responsibilities of each. However, no one works in a vacuum and all the Board members work together. If you are interested in helping to guide our organization by taking a position on the Board, please contact Linda Bailey or any Board member, or send us an email through the link at the bottom of this page.  We will also discuss Board positions before our speaker at the September meeting.

PRESIDENT:

• Represents CIOS to outside entities and communicates with them officially.
• Secures location of meeting and events.
• Presides over monthly meetings and occasional Board meetings.
• Determines the agenda for the meetings.
• Appoints committees or sub-committees as deemed necessary.
• Serves as an ex officio member of all committees and communicates with them on a regular basis.
• Writes “Message from the President” column for CIOS Newsletter (4x/year).

VICE PRESIDENT/PROGRAM CHAIR:

• In the absence of the President, performs the duties of that office.
• Schedules speakers for the monthly meetings (about 8 per year).
• Either personally or by enlisting others, communicates with speakers, coordinates arrangements (travel/lodging/transportation) if needed.
• Arranges coverage of technical needs for the presentation.

SHOW CHAIR:

• Oversees all aspects of the annual CIOS Orchid Show (March) from set-up to take-down.
• Works as co-chair with the Sale Chair to determine room arrangement; publicity; staffing, etc.
• Arranges show orchids for display or directs members on placement of orchids on the day of the event.
• May create a special display and/or arrange for others to do so.
• Must be present at the show (usually on a Saturday).

November — CIOS Holiday Dinner. — Date/time/location to be determined.

December — No meeting. — Happy holidays to you all and we look forward to seeing you in 2023!