Your Oregon School Nutrition Association leaders recently spent a busy two days attending the School Nutrition Association’s Leadership Conference. President Pam Suyematsu, President-Elect Debby Webster, Vice President Elect Kim Leung, Secretary Treasurer Nate Roedel and incoming Secretary Treasurer Amy DeSimone joined former OSNA presidents and current SNA national board members Anne Leavens and Lynne Shore for SNA’s annual national leadership training in West Palm Beach, Florida.
The group attended two informative days of training to increase their knowledge in association administration. Classes focused on communications, leadership improvement and development, finance and membership engagement. The conference also gave the executive 
board an opportunity to complete some in-person development of the state association’s plan of action for the next year and beyond.
Also at the conference, Pam and Lynne presented a session during the Experienced Leaders Hear from Your Peers Series, entitled “CPR: Breathing Life into Your State Association.” The presentation highlighted recent successes in developing in OSNA’s current leadership and the future plans for OSNA member-focused trainings, activities and events. The successful breakout session was attended by more than 87 conference attendees and was extremely well received.
OSNA is inviting anyone working in Area 5 to serve on the OSNA board as the Area 5 Rep. Please contact OSNA President Pam Suyesmatsu at psuyematsu@ontario.k12.or.us.
The 2022 Oregon School Nutrition Association election is now open to vote for candidates to fill open OSNA Board positions.
To vote you will need your OSNA number and you will need to know in which area you reside, as you will only vote for the statewide positions and candidates in your area. (See the color-coded map via this link to find your area number).
This year is an even year, which means that the even numbered areas are up for election.
VIEW CANDIDATE BIOS HERE (.pdf)
https://tinyurl.com/osnabios22
CLICK HERE TO CAST YOUR VOTE
https://forms.gle/eWZQxDJRzypFtZn76
Voting is now open and the ballot form will close Feb. 11, 2022.
Dear Members of The Oregon School Nutrition Association:
As you all know, the past 16 months have been very challenging for everyone in the school nutrition world and in our everyday lives in general. We have become experts at scheduling and attending Zoom meetings, Google meetings, and Teams meetings. We haven’t seen many of our colleagues in person for months and these circumstances have put additional stress on our already stressful lives.
We learned, very quickly, how to get meals into student’s hands while they attended school virtually from their homes. We have dealt with product and supply shortages and labor issues that would normally throw our programs into chaos, but we made lemonade out of those lemons and made it work! As our districts made decisions that changed daily, and we asked our staff to do “one more thing,” it became our motto.
I am so proud of the districts across Oregon and I thank you for the work that you were able to do to pull it all together and continue to feed Oregon’s hungry children for the past 16 months.
One of the unfortunate outcomes of the pandemic, but not just the pandemic, is the many open positions on the OSNA Executive Board. We currently have the following open positions: President, President-Elect, Vice President, Area 3 Rep (Coos, Curry, Douglas, and Lane Counties), Area 5 Rep (Crook, Deschutes, Gilliam, Hood River, Jefferson, Sherman, Wasco and Wheeler Counties), and Area 6 Rep (Baker, Grant, Harney, Malheur, Morrow, Umatilla, Union and Wallowa Counties).
Area Reps must live and work in the county they are representing.
We will hold a special election in August, so send in your nominations soon. For more information regarding eligibility to serve on the board, please contact me by email.
We plan to hold our Annual Conference in person in March of 2022 and it is important that we get some people that are capable of putting together a post-pandemic conference that I’m sure will be very well attended.
I have enjoyed the last two years as the President of OSNA. I am truly thankful for the time I have been a part of the OSNA Board. I have met some amazing people and made lasting friendships.
Thank you.
Becki Wicks, OSNA President
The OSNA Executive Board has updated the association’s bylaws, which are now available on the Membership page of this website.
Members can direct questions about the association’s bylaws to any Executive Board member. Contact information can be found on the Executive Board page on this website.
The Oregon School Nutrition Association (OSNA) will hold elections for 2018-19 positions on its Executive Board from Feb. 26 – March 4. The positions open are:- Vice President
- Treasurer
- Area 2 Rep
- Area 4 Rep
- Area 6 Rep
The position of Vice President is a 4-year commitment, from 8/1/18 – 7/31/22. This position rotates forward each consecutive year of service in the following order: Vice President, President Elect, President, and Past President. During the year in which you serve as President Elect, you will plan the 2020 OSNA State Conference and in 2022, you will manage the Vendor Show for the 2022 OSNA State Conference.
All positions attend four board meetings per year and help with OSNA’s State Conference in March of each year.
The Oregon School Nutrition Association (OSNA) is holding elections for positions on its Executive Board. The positions open are:
- Vice President
- Secretary
- Area 1 Rep
- Area 3 Rep
- Area 5 Rep
Please click the OSNA Elections Survey Monkey link to get acquainted with the candidates, to see an Area map and to cast your votes today!
The Oregon School Nutrition Association (OSNA) is holding elections for positions on its Executive Board. The positions open are Secretary, Vice President, and Area Representatives in Areas 1, 3 and 5. Please click the OSNA Elections Survey Monkey link to cast your votes today!
Voting ends Wednesday, March 11 at 12 noon PST.