August 2010 Highlights « Back

Midwest Dairy helped sponsor the 45th Annual Junior Dairy Show in Salina July 1-3. Sponsorship included support for the dairy quiz bowl and providing ice cold milk for the noon luncheon. I attended the second day of the event and witnessed the showmanship class and helped in the cattle judging competition by leading animal in each of the classes. That brought back fond memories of my days back home showing our Guernseys at the county fairs in Ohio. We finished up the afternoon with the dairy quiz bowl where the kids were tested on their knowledge of the dairy industry. I was quite impressed with their dairy knowledge at such young ages. I think that is in large part due to the parents and their enthusiasm for the dairy industry. Keep up the good work!

Your Kansas City T-Bones sponsorship has been going well this year…the T-Bones are in first place and the seats have been full. The Midwest Dairy “Refuel with Chocolate Milk” T-Shirt Toss at the beginning of the ninth inning is the most popular fan event all night! If you would like to experience it for yourself, we have a limited number of tickets available for some dates in August. These are available on a first-come/first-served basis. Please contact Keri Olson at kolson@midwestdairy.com if you would like to attend a game!

We’ve become a featured sponsor of the Greater Kansas City Football Coaches Association. It includes 109 area high school head coaches and their staffs (more than 1,200 coaches) and promotes the playing of football in the Kansas City area. There are several events occurring January – June in which we’ll play a role.They include four monthly coaches’ clinics, an annual scholar night held in March where 22 area outgoing seniors receive $1,000 scholarships to the college of their choice, a college night in May where head coaches meet and more than 80 college football recruiters come in and talk with them about potential players, and the annual Missouri versus Kansas All Star Game held every June. Midwest Dairy is a featured sponsor on the website, and has direct e-mail access to the coaches and booths at the clinics to convey our “Refule With Chocolate Milk” message directly to the coaches who have the most impact on student athletes.

Alison Bos, our summer intern, has been very busy helping with various projects and events in Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas. Among other tasks, she is organizing and attending Midwest Dairy’s booth at the Ozarks Empire Fair, the Missouri State Fair and several other shows. Alison attended a planning session with me for the Agriland area at the Kansas State Fair. This is a collaborative effort by multiple commodity groups setting up an educational agricultural display for fair-goers of all ages. She is also working on an Adopt-A-Cow project designed to educate students about dairy cows by interacting with a local dairy producer and dairy cows. More details will follow as we continue developing this project.

We’ll actually be involved in several different venues at the Kansas State Fair, September 10-19 in Hutchinson. We will be working with the Kansas Dairy Association to provide all new dairy signs and literature for the Dairy Bar located in the grandstand concession area and at the milking demonstration area. “Sophia,” the milking contest cow, will be in the Kansas Farm Bureau tent helping to tell the story of Kansas agriculture. Make sure you stop by to see what we’re doing while you enjoy a tasty ice cone.

The heat of summer brought dairy fans to the Ice Cream Dreamery, Kansas City’s inaugural ice cream festival, on Saturday, June 26, at Crown Center. Midwest Dairy’s sponsorship provided Midwest Dairy staff and two Kansas dairy farmers, Lynda and Addi Foster, the opportunity to promote dairy and nutrition at the Dreamery. KC Wolf and Sophia the cow attracted kids and their parents to the Midwest Dairy booth where they received dairy recipe cards, nutritional handouts and Midwest Dairy promotional items. The event raised nearly $5,000 from ticket sales benefiting The Children’s Place, a nonprofit that helps heal the youngest survivors of abuse, neglect and trauma. They were happy to see kids enjoying the sweetness of summer while helping other children. This was a great event for June Dairy Month!

Your registered dietitian serving Kansas, Steph Cundith, participated in the National Dairy Council and Hood LLC Products Dairy Science Forum called “New Directions in Lactose Intolerance: Moving from Science to Solutions” in June. As her guests, Steph brought along Dairy Council’s endowed professor in nutrition at KU Medical School, Deb Sullivan, and nutrition consultant Erin Laurie. The participants heard about the new science on lactose intolerance and were provided training on how to share appropriate nutrition information with their clients. Flash drives with new lactose intolerance materials, studies and a turnkey presentation were provided to the attendees. We’re following up to encourage them about ways to engage peers, patients, students and consumers to dispel myths of lactose intolerance and the importance of keeping dairy in the diet.