Board Election Nominees

Board Elections

The positions up for election this year are District Directors in even-numbered districts, Secretary, and Vice President. To be considered, candidates submitted their biographies, nomination petitions, and photos by May 15. Ballots will be mailed to each district in August, with the candidates they may vote for listed on the ballot. Returned ballots must be post-marked by September 1. The elected board slate takes up their positions at the end of Convention (early November). Thank you so much for participating in this year’s election! ~Cheryl Loesch

Hello fellow Jersey Wooly enthusiasts. I have thoroughly enjoyed being your District 8 Director. I would be greatly honored to become your director once again. We now have a District 8 Facebook group so that we can communicate easily and we can update you all at once when needed. We have updated the district members information with the club secretary so that information can be effectively sent to you when needed. A little information about myself. I have been married to my husband this year for 30 years. My daughter Lindsay raises the Woolies and I help her. This has been a wonderful 10 years for the two of us. When Lindsay was little, we had polish for a few years. She showed 4-H, and in a few ARBA shows. The kids got busy with many other endeavors and we let the

District 8

rabbits go. About 10 years ago, Lindsay came to me and said she wanted to get back into rabbits as she really had a fun time with the people. Of course, I had a Jersey Wooly pet when the kids had polish, and he lived for 11 years. When she said she wanted back in I said she could if she did Jersey Woolies. I had no idea the places it would take us. We have had some wonderful times together going to and from shows. I have really enjoyed being our district representative, and would love to continue doing so. Thank you for the past 4 years. I look forward to serving you for the next two years.

Hi there! I am Alexandra Williams and I am running for the Secretary position. I have been a member of the National Jersey Woolly Club for about twelve years. I am currently the local Rabbit club show secretary and have in the past held the position for a local riding club. As your club secretary I hope to modernize our way of communication. I would be reaching out to our club district representatives monthly with an updated list of members that need to be renewed. As for the new members that join, I would directly reach out to them to make sure they have all the information they may need in order to contact their district representative. I hope that if you have any questions, you will feel free to reach out to me. Thank you for taking the time to read this and for considering me for the secretary position. I will see you at the shows!

Secretary

I have decided to throw my hat in the ring for District 4 director. I’ve raised and shown Jersey Woolies for 10+ years. I started raising them when I was about 9 years old in my hometown Celina, TX. I will say I have learned and understand the struggle we as southern Jersey Wooly breeders endure raising this wonderful breed. I have had both climate controlled and outside open-air barns, and they both have their upsides and downsides when it comes to the Jersey Wooly breed. I have predominantly focused on Agoutis over the years ,but that doesn’t mean I haven’t taken interest in some of our other color groups. I currently have a herd of about 40 breeding animals with half that being composed mainly of Agoutis, the other half consisting of a small Shaded and Pointed White breeding program along with a program of chocolate-based animals. I do my best to promote the Jersey Wooly breed as it is.

District 4

I have seen the steep decline in youth exhibitors both in our district and in our club as a whole. The decline in youth exhibitors is something I would like to fix. I believe that if we made knowledge more abundant and available to new exhibitors it would help them begin with a solid start. Some things I would like to implement at shows is having a small booth or table promoting the breed and having some animals on display. I feel that if we can get people to put their hands on a Jersey Wooly ,and explain that well bred animals do not have high maintenance coats we could generate interest. I think that the foundation to a good breeding program is to know basic genetics when it comes to different groups and varieties in our breed. I would like to help youth learn basic color genetics ,because I feel once you add all those possibilities, that it will help keep the interest of our new exhibitors. As some of you in the district may know, I recently moved this past year to Ada, Oklahoma in pursuit of more space to raise more Jersey Woolies along with some of my other breeds. I currently have open-aired barns up here due to the heat not getting as extreme as it is in Texas. I think the biggest issue in the district is that there is not an abundance of shows for youth exhibitors to be able to commute to and from. I consistently travel to Texas to show my animals ,and I very much enjoy making the drive down there. However I did not realize the issues that the other states in our district had till I moved out of Texas. Moving up to Oklahoma which has little to no infrastructure for rabbit shows has made me realize the difficulty that this state and some of our other states in our district have gaining youth exhibitors. I work to educate area Ag Teachers and students raise rabbits as a home project. I want to work on promoting Jersey Woolies in District 4.

Hello, my name is Douglas Brown. I have been your active secretary for the last five years. I am looking to change things up a little this time and am looking to run for the position of Vice President. I would greatly appreciate your consideration.

A little about myself. My wife, Stacy, and I have been raising woolies for just over nine years at this point. But I have experience with rabbits for much longer than that. Rabbits have played an important role in my life for many years, thirty plus to be exact. But when we received our first wooly as a wedding present that clinched it and that is where my heart has been ever since. We currently run a forty-hole rabbitry in west central Wisconsin.

I have experience being on a board of directors. Not only with the national club as your acting secretary. I am also the secretary of our regional club, the GPJWRC. Also, I was President and past president of our county 4h and have been involved in many aspects of that for many years.

If elected my main goal would be to reach out the youth of this breed and try to get as much input from them as possible. Because I have always said, and will continue to say, that the youth is the future of our breed. Promoting this wonderful breed is what is needed to keep the passion going amongst all of those involved.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and if you feel I am the right person for the job please show your support by voting for me when you receive your ballot.

Vice President

Thank you Douglas Brown.

I’m Kirsten Taylor, I started showing rabbits specifically Jersey Woolies in 2019 and have been hooked ever since thanks to Heike Cooley. I’m currently youth advisor for Louisiana Rabbit Breeders association and my Husband is Vice President. I am running for district 6 representative because woolies are what I call my heart breed of . It was my first and it will be the one that never leaves our barn. We travel quite frequently trying to make every show that we can possibly can. My family and I are always looking for more ways to get involved with our breed clubs and ARBA. I feel I can bring a fresh pair of eyes and words to district 6 article for the fluff to share our achievements in the south.