REGION — Franklin County Extension Homemakers [FCEH], along with the rest of Cooperative Extension in Franklin County, are gearing up for a busy year of community projects as well as a showcase set to take place on Wednesday, April 12, at St. Joseph’s Parish Hall, 133 Middle St. in Farmington.

The event will be from 5 to 7 p.m. and will feature all aspects of Franklin County Cooperative Extension [FCCE]. It is an open house that will allow the public to learn more about Cooperative Extension and how FCCE works to help the community.

FCEH will be present at the meeting to share some of their past projects as well as showcase what they have coming up this year.

In February and March, FCEH gathered and donated 360 boxes of tissues to 12 elementary schools in Franklin County. They also donated 160 pajama bottoms to Janet’s Jammies and 240 adult cover ups for area nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

Coming up in April, FCEH is planning to set a date for their county community service project, which will be a workshop to make tote bags for W.G. Mallet School’s food pantry. Recently it was reported W.G. Mallet was contending with logistical issues with their food pantry and finding funding for a steady, sustainable system of transporting food from the pantry to the vehicles of participating families.

“That’s usually a whole day workshop that we do,” Lois King, president of Franklin County Advisory Board, said. “People come and they cut and they sew, and they serve food.”

King also shared a new group called “Edgewood Doers”, which is a collaborative effort between FCEH and Edgewood Manor Rehabilitation and Care Center. The second Wednesday of every month will feature a program for the occupants of Edgewood Manor.

According to King, she sat down with the occupants to hear suggestions of what kinds of programs they would like to see, which included a quilt show, making Christmas cards and a community service project for local children.

The project took shape when King, along with Tiffany Wing, Administrative Specialist for FCCE, went to Edgewood to see what Cooperative Extension could offer the center.

“Come to find out we have three homemakers that live up there, and they all miss being in homemakers,” King stated.

King brought it to the advisory board and the group was unanimous in their decision to establish a monthly program for the center.

”I think that they feel sometimes that they’ve been forgotten,” Linda Gramlich, advisory board representative and secretary for the North Chesterfield Extension Homemakers [NCEH], stated on Friday, Mar. 24. “And people feel that they’re not worth anything anymore, that they have nothing to offer, and then there’s their wealth of information.”

Gramlich also shared that NCEH will be having their spring meeting on Saturday, May 6, and it’s theme will be “Garden Party.” The event is set to take place at the Chesterville Town Office at 409 Dutch Gap Rd.

Registration, breakfast, and refreshments will be offered from 9 to 9:30 a.m., with the meeting starting immediately afterwards. Guest speaker will be Katlin Hilton, who will be presenting on square foot gardening.

The cost for the event will be $5 and, according to Gramlich, checks must be made to NCEH and mailed to her. Registration forms with Gramlich’s address are available at Cooperative Extension Office, 138 Pleasant St. Applicants have until Thursday, April 20, to respond.

For any additional information on this meeting, please contact Gramlich at 778-3156, Sue Gill at 778-6978 or the Extension Office at 778-4650.