April 2012 Highlights « Back

Fuel Up to Play 60 in Kansas

Your Health and Wellness program manager working in Kansas, Bridget Sheehan, is acting as the Dairy Council liaison to the Kansas Action for Healthy Kids board.  In that role, she has been busy helping to plan the upcoming Spring Into Fitness 5K/Fun Run scheduled for Saturday, April 28. Proceeds will help support funding for healthy eating and physical fitness programs in Kansas schools. Midwest Dairy has invited KC Wolf to help kickoff the race. To find out more about Kansas Action for Healthy Kids and to read about the work being done in Kansas, check out the Kansas Action for Healthy Kids website.

Several schools received Fuel Up to Play 60 funding this month. In Kansas, Ridgeview Elementary in Olathe was awarded funding to advance healthy eating plays and physical activity plays. Namely, students will be challenged at lunch and breakfast to complete healthy eating calendars – noting dairy, fruits, vegetables and whole grains they have eaten.  Students who turn in complete calendars each week win a chance to sit in the Fuel Up to Play 60 special section of the cafeteria. Their pictures will be displayed for the week, complete with a milk mustache. Teachers will also be rolling out physical activity in classrooms. Chairs will be replaced with blow-up exercise balls. A pilot test was conducted last year and teachers reported that students maintained better attention and grades improved. Physical education teacher Wendy Scholten wrote to thank all the dairy farmers in Kansas for making their funding possible.

Other Kansas Updates

Midwest Dairy participated in National Agriculture Week activities at the State Capitol March 5. The event was organized by the Department of Agriculture and incorporated distribution of information about Kansas agriculture and food industry facts. The event also included a food drive contest between the House and Senate. All the food and money donated went to the Topeka chapter of Harvesters.

We also attended an event of the Kansas City Ag Business Council on March 22, where Kansas City Mayor Sly James was the keynote speaker. He recognized agriculture and its viable economic impact for the city, saying he supports the renovation of the west bottoms in Kansas City as well as the Kemper Arena area.

Midwest Dairy also attended the 2012 Dairy Farmers of America Annual Meeting the week of March 19. It was a pleasure to visit with many of you and share various developments in the checkoff program.

Spring time is coming and that means school farm tours. Don’t forget to call the Midwest Dairy Producer Service Center at 877-360-FARM for all your material needs as well as great ideas to help make your promotion events a success.

Also, as we approach June Dairy Month you might be considering plans for an open house. This is an excellent opportunity to give back to your community and connect with your neighbors. Please contact rgrusenmeyer@midwestdairy.com to see how Midwest Dairy can help make your event successful.