September 2011 Highlights « Back

Governor Mike Beebe and First Lady Ginger Beebe will officially throw their support behind Fuel Up to Play 60 during an event this coming Friday, Sept. 30, at the Governor’s Conference Room of the State Capitol in Little Rock.  Fuel Up to Play 60 Program Advisors Patricia Carroll and Christy Buchanan, Fuel Up to Play 60 Student Ambassadors Joshua Lucero and Destiny Hicks from Weiner High School in Harrisburg, and dairy producers Woody Bryant from Austin, Ryan and Susan Anglin from Bentonville, and John Howerton from Berryville will be on hand for the event, which we hope will garner great media coverage.  Governor Beebe is the second Governor in our Midwest Dairy region to endorse the program.   

Our newest staff member in Arkansas is Ashley Anderson, who joined us recently as health and wellness program manager.  Ashley’s role is to serve as a liaison to health professionals, and she is responsible for television, print and radio interviews in Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. As a registered and licensed dietitian, she provides accurate, scientific and practical information on the benefits of dairy nutrition. Ashley holds a bachelor’s degree in family and consumer sciences from Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Ark., and completed her dietetic internship at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock.  She is a member of the American and Arkansas Dietetic Associations.  Previously, Ashley worked for Arkansas Health Center as a clinical dietitian. Before this, she worked with schools and communities to promote nutrition and physical activity as a community health promotion specialist for the state of Arkansas. Ashley enjoys spending time with her family of five in the great outdoors by competing at horse shows, hunting, hiking, camping and rock climbing.  Welcome to Ashley!

The school foodservice director at the Fayetteville School District decided to remove chocolate milk at breakfast due to added sugar content. The chocolate milk remains at lunch. The announcement went public as part of a media segment on 40/29 (Fayetteville) in which there were some inaccuracies. Midwest Dairy staff followed up with media outlets and worked to secure a follow-up story in which Ashley Anderson’s information was included. Meanwhile, Lori Dather, who also works on behalf of Midwest Dairy in Arkansas, capitalized on her relationship with the district contact – discussing the issue and providing him a flavored milk toolkit.

Susan Anglin, a dairy farmer from Bentonville, also wrote a blog post about the benefits of chocolate milk on her blog, Spotted Cow Review. Below is an excerpt from an email:

Thanks for all that Midwest Dairy did on this subject—I feel good about everything that was done and really glad so many people responded in favor of allowing chocolate milk to stay on the breakfast menu.
-from Susan Anglin

Speaking of Susan Anglin’s blog, she posted this recently on Spotted Cow Review , relating to Midwest Dairy’s past campaign to “Put Some Cheese On It.” We hope you enjoy the story, in which she and her husband visited the winner of the Cheese Car given away during the promotion.