These minutes are a draft version until the 2026 Annual Meeting.
2025 THIMBLELENAS ANNUAL MEETING MINUTES
Activity Center – Kiva Room 3pm
December 3, 2025
Officers present: Carol Myers, President; Linda Wickline, Vice-President; Sue Stiles, Secretary; Sue Garcia and Bertha Medina, Treasurer and Purchasing Agent; Kathy Foster, Membership; Georgine Smith and Lesley Monroe, Co-Monitors; Sue Karstad, Member-at-Large.
Meeting was called to order at 3:00pm.
Per By-Laws meeting was posted on the Bulletin Board and therefore, meeting qualified as legal. Introduction of board members were given.
Secretary’s report for Annual Meeting of 2024: Motion to approve minutes by Blythe Campbell and second by Mary Jo Miller; approved by membership.
Treasurer’s report for 2025 by Sue Garcia:
Checking account balance as of 1/1/2025 $1,605.01
Checking account balance as of 11/30/2025. $1,686.58
Beginning balance 1,605.01
Income 3,621.23
Expenses 3,539.76
Ending balance $1,686.48
Note: Ending balance is ten cents more in checking than what is reported on books.
Question from audience on how income is derived: 186 members X $5 = $ 930
Sue mentioned that Carol will talk more later about possibly raising our dues to cover expenses in the future. Also, Thimblelenas received $1500 from a donor which helped off-set expenses.
2 Money Market Accounts:
Feb 2026 matures $ 3,070.41
May 2026 matures $ 3,044.79
Purchasing Agent report: Bertha explained why the position was created for 2025, to help with expenses and aid the Treasurer. Year to date expenses are $1,300. More items are being ordered so that total will change.
Volunteers for Thimblelenas:
Carol Myers thanked the volunteers that kept the sewing room running smoothly: the Machine cleaning crew who keep the machines running: Mary Jo Miller, Lesley Monroe, Sammie Toms, Laurie Volocyk, Sue Karstad, Lenora Brown, Lisa Lawless, Dave and Miriam Holleman. Added recently to the crew are Blythe Campbell, Frances Wilson, and Donna Peterson.
Carol then thanked the Pfaff Machine Training and room orientation team – long time crew members Lesley Monroe and Mary Jo Miller; and recently added Donna Peterson, Connie Arseneau, Linda Wickline, Lesley Chace, Frances Wilson, Sue Watkins, Lisa Hunter, Lenora Brown, Linda George, and Cheryl Langer.
Carol thanked the Long Arm Quilter trainers: Ellie Anderson and Lesley Monroe.
Carol thanked the Machine Embroidery trainers: Karin Froelich and Lesley Monroe. She also stated that during the Cheer Bears club time, Pat Norton would share her information on the Embroidery machine but would need official training by Karin or Lesley to utilize the equipment.
Carol thanked the Serger training crew: Sue Lane and Sandy Fritz. Susan Radka and Debra Dirks and Frances Wilson will be joining the crew for maintaining the Sergers.
Donation Committee: The Donation committee only works when all clubs are part of the distribution. Members include: Linda Wickline and Cathy Moe, SFK; Lesley Chase, Cheer Bears; Georgine Smith and Susan Radka, Casa Amigas; Mary Ayres, Pet Beds; Sue Garcia, Sun City Quilters; Carrie Wiley, Rug Hooking and Tapestry; Bertha Medina and Sue Devaney, Machine Embroidery. Carol thanked all these members for a good year disbursing the donations.
Another volunteer is Kathy Foster who is the Membership Chair on the board, she enters people into signup.com. Debra Dirks is now volunteering to do all updates for the website as well as signup.com duties.
Membership Report: Kathy Foster as of meeting date, we have 188 members and one new member signed up prior to the meeting.
Monitor Report, Georgine Smith and Lesley Monroe: Georgine explained that she trains the new monitors and Lesley takes care of all the paperwork. As of meeting date there are 86 monitors. Alerts have been sent out by signup.com, working well. Thanked everyone who are monitors. Lesley stated that the monitor tracking sheet has been redone, and that Georgine will call monitors to remind them of their service hours.
The yearly reports of Thimblelenas clubs were presented by; Casa Amigas (Sue Lane); Cheer Bears (Pat Norton); Seniors for Kids (Pat Norton); Pet Beds (Jan Bohe); Machine Embroidery (Sue Devaney); Sun City Quilters (Pam Dunlap).
Note: Sue Lane discussed the breakage of the Sergers. She said that 2 sergers are broken as of meeting date. After January 1, retraining of all members who are serger trained will be conducted. This should hopefully eliminate some of the problems currently going on.
Note: A question from the audience – where does Thimblelenas get its funds for and how the expenses are broken down. Carol explained that Thimblelenas is the umbrella over all the clubs, and pays for replacement or repairs of equipment in the room. The sewing machines are an expenses of SCOV, however the large cutting mat had to be replaced and the stand for one of the irons was broken and had to be replaced. These are two examples where the dues that are collected are used. With the anticipated move to Copper Center, shelving will either be replaced with what is coming from the existing sewing room or purchase new. The unknown expenses with the move provides uncertainty. Foundation grants have been submitted and with the submittal, the Foundation likes to have the submitter provide some of their own money towards the grant request. Money in the CDs will more than likely be used towards things needed at Copper Center.
Election of Officers for 2026: Carol explained the process of selecting new officers by the Nominating Committee. Per ByLaws, the nominations were posted on the Bulletin Board in the room. Nominations are: Carol Myers, President; Susan Radka, Vice President; Linda Wickline, Secretary; Treasurer, Sue Garcia; Bertha Medina, Purchasing Agent; Kathy Foster, Membership; Georgine Smith and Lesley Monroe, Co-Monitors; and Sue Devaney, Member at Large. Motion by Sandy Fritz to close nominations, second by Mary Jo Miller, motion accepted. Motion by Sue Lane, second by Pam Dunlap to accept slate of officers proposed; motion accepted. New officers elected by membership.
Membership dues discussion: Motion on floor to raise dues to $10 by Blythe Campbell, second by Sue Devaney. Discussion by members on how money was spent, and monies were donated by individuals to offset some expenses, how CDs have been tapped into to supplement those expenses. Grants have been submitted to the Foundation for computer and equipment, long-arm quilting machine, and shelving. After much discussion how much should the dues be increased, general agreement to increase dues to $10 effective February 1, 2026, If increase does not cover anticipated expenses, then a special meeting would be called to discuss increasing dues at that time. Original motion restated to increase dues to $10 by Blythe Campbell, second by Sue Devaney. Motion approved. Effective February 1, 2026 dues increased to $10.
Copper Center Update: Thimblelenas has been moved up in priority to physically move to new location than originally planned. A plan has been submitted to SCOV committee to change initial scope of what needs to be done such as electrical needs, fresh paint, leave walls up to have more storage room. Still unsure when move will happen.
ByLaw update: Linda briefly discussed changes and upgrades to the ByLaws. This includes adding electronic data formats, adding position of Purchasing Agent as Board Member, change of dates and timelines. Motion to approve ByLaws: Sue Devaney, second by Blythe Campbell. Members approved revised ByLaws by vote.
Meeting adjourned at 4:22pm.
Submitted by Linda Wickline, Secretary
CHEER BEARS is the club that makes those little teddies that give hope to children around the world. We are a group of ladies that meet in the sewing room every Wednesday to make the teddies. We have jobs for everyone who is interested in talking to and learning about others, laughing, telling your story and making the presents we send around the world. Please come share your talents with us.
Here is our report from 2025 so you can see what we accomplished:
Report to Thimblelenas from the “Cheer Bears” 2025
Thank you again to the Tennis Clubs for the large donations receive. It supplied us with polyfil and flannel to make our over 500+ bears during this year. Thank you also to Seniors for Kids for sponsoring us yearly.
During the early part of the year we supplied over 25 weighted and 25 regular bears and to Casa De la Luz Hospice. Our plan for the coming year is to increase the number of weighted bears and present them at the “Health Fair”. They are good for autistic children may encourage sales in the gift shop.
Throughout the year we supplied bears to:
Sunrise House
Emerge
Golder Ranch Fire Department
Seniors for Kids charitable donations
Make way for reading in collaboration with Casa Amiga quilts
More Than a Bed
Samaritan’s Purse for shoebox Christmas Flight
Starlighters Auxiliary in Happy Jack, Arizona
“Cheer Bears ” was recognized this year by the “Daughters of the American Revolution” for their charitable work.
We maintained our membership (according to my list) at about 20, though the group in fluctuates during the summer and winter. We are a busy group and enjoy sharing around the work table. We also do some team building at the restaurants and the yogurt shop. Hard work deserves hard play.
Thank you to all for your participation and support.
Submitted by Pat Norton
SUN CITY QUILTERS Annual Report to Thimblelenas, December 2025
January saw new officers for the Sun City Quilters club: Pamela Dunlap (President), Linda George (Vice President), Cheryl Langer (Secretary), and Nancy Davenport (Treasurer), and we bade farewell to Carol Guilbert (President for the past 24 years) and Stephanie Consalvo (Secretary/Treasurer) with a surprise party. Linda George presented the many clues, meeting by meeting starting in January, in making the ‘Marble Mystery Quilt’ project (by Meadow Mist Designs) in which many members participated over the following months.
The club also adopted new by-laws in April following the model provided by SCOV in which we added a fih member to the board: Sherie Jones now fills the member-at-large position. SCOV approved the new by-laws in September.
We enjoyed a variety of programs and classes throughout the year and took advantage of our new digs in the AC/Kiva room.
Classes taught included ‘Sewing an Umbrella-friendly Pao Topper’ by Lisa Hunter in January, ‘Clam Shell Quilt-as-you-go’ by Linda George in February, ‘Patrioc and Comfort Quilts’ led by Leslie Monroe in March, ‘Hachi Improv Quilts’ by Janet Pugh in April, and ‘Cathedral Windows’ by Cheryl Langer in November.
We enjoyed a Spring Luncheon in April, sponsored a Quilt Retreat in October and a Quilt Challenge in November, and will party at our annual Holiday Luncheon in December.
The club purchased four (4) quilt display stands and two (2) black backdrops; these are all stored in the back room of the Sewing Room for use by the Quilters club.
Our annual quilt show was March 2nd; Linda Hamson was our new show manager and did a wonderful job. About 100 quilts were displayed in the Nave American rooms at the Activity Center. An opportunity to win a bed quilt, a wall hanging, and a basket of quilting supplies; ticket sales was managed by Sherie Jones and brought in about $1,700. Peg Bushong ran the Members’ Boutique where members sold their new quilts and quilt-related items, neng about $250 for the club. Renée Grills managed the Treasure Table where we sold donated fabric and gently used patterns, books, and quilting tools in the Kiva room; this effort garnered about $4,100. We also featured two presenters: the owner of Quilt Central Studio (a quilt shop in Green Valley) and our own member, Janet Pugh, who led us through the steps of making an art quilt from a photograph. The club was able to present a check for $4,000 from the show proceeds to a representative of the Tri-Community Food Bank at our Spring Luncheon in April, and we also donated sewing supplies left over from the Treasure Table to local Native American communities.
A patern for the 2026 Opportunity quilt was selected and fabric purchased; it will be displayed in the coming months. Sherie Jones is leading that project.
Members also had fun making a ‘Sun City Quilters’ banner for use at meengs, cket sales for the Opportunity Quilt, the Club Fair, and our Quilt Show.
Pamela Dunlap, President
Submmited 2 December 2025 by Pam Dunlap
SENIORS FOR KIDS REPORT
Thimblelena 2025Annual Meeting
Seniors for Kids (SFK) had another successful year, — through donations from individuals as well as the SCOV Tennis Clubs, and the funds raised from the Court Yard Sale, we were able to fund our projects. We have continued serving our famous hotdogs at the Arts and Crafts Festival. Sales from the Arts and Crafts Festival as well as the Gift Shop add just a few dollars more to allow us to spread the “smile” ripples further in our community,
In addition to a very successful toy distribution of hundreds of handmade items, the fifth year of the Kuddles for Kids project was well received and through the generosity of our residents, additional stuffed toys and balls were distributed to several agencies serving children. The Kuddles containers were filled and emptied many times and it is estimated that 400 toys were collected.
During the summer, Seniors for Kids expanded their reach out by collaborating with the community and collected over 2171 items of children’s socks and sweats which were distributed to needy children in outlying areas of southern Arizona.
Summer also gave us the opportunity to make sure all the children in Three Points attended summer camp. Art and craft supplies, school supplies and back packs were also donated to Three Points. The Vistoso Photo Club donated an Epson Home Movie Projector to us which was then passed on to the Three Points Community Center and being used frequently to entertain the children.
This year SFK sponsored 30 children from 13 families in The Adopt a Family project coordinated by Tri-Community food Bank. 75 to 100 dollars was spent on each child and included clothing, shoes, and toys. Children were also given a blanket. Each family also received a gift card up to $125 to spend on groceries. 76 children received goodie bags containing toys and full sized hygiene items that were delivered to be distributed with the monthly food boxes.”Wheels for Kids” also supplied 9 refurbished bicycles and new helmets to children 7 years and older.
We also were able to distribute handmade items to Three Points Clinic, First Family Pregnancy Center, Sunrise House, TuNidito, Ronald McDonald House, Emerge, Banner Children’s Hospital and various other charitable agencies. Kindness is so needed in today’s world.
SFK continues to grow and the new volunteers have brought valuable ideas and skills to the group. Our mission is ‘to put smiles of the faces of children need’. Another important goal of the group is to gather together to do hands -on activities that enrich our own lives as well as the lives of others.
Submitted by Pat Norton
PET BEDS
Submitted by Jan Bohe