Recently, a small movement has arisen toward establishing a more formal organization in our county. I'd love to hear your opinions on this. I tend to play "devil's advocate" and make people look at all the negatives before they plunge into something. But I know others really like this way of doing things and I don't want to discourage it either. I guess my main concern is will the formality of this take away from the hours we spend volunteering to help the community? How much time is needed to establish and keep such a group going? And do you have problems with certain "personalities" taking over and ending up driving some people away?

I'd especially like to hear from agents as to whether an organization is more helpful to them than just a group of volunteers. Does it free up more of your time or cause headaches that require time away from your usual work?

Thanks for any advice you can give me on this. If you don't mind, I plan to print out your replies and take them to a meeting we will have to discuss this next month. I won't print ID's so you will remain anonymous to our group.

Sandy

In Suffolk County, L.I., N.Y. we found our society in conflict, at times, with the cooperative ext. and as a result have organized as Long Island Master Gardeners. We've a growing web presence at limg.org .