Food Check-Out Week was celebrated Sunday,
February 3 - Saturday, February 9, 2008. County Farm Bureaus were encouraged to hold events
throughout the week, which incorporates Food Check-Out Day - Wednesday,
February 6.
FCOW Ad
FCOW Ad
(Black & White)
FCOW Press Release (Word)
& (.PDF)
Materials Order Form
(Deadline to order was January 18, 2008)
Event Planning Kit
FCOW Logo (.tiff file)
2008 Food
Check-Out Week Trivia Questions
Activity Ideas
Food Check-Out Week Bookmarks
Order bookmarks from the promotional items catalog
here.
Food Check-Out Week Table Tents
Print them here
or order them from the promotional items catalog
here.
Looking for even MORE ideas? The Food Check-Out
Week State Reports are a "must-read" if your County Farm Bureau has not
participated before but is considering it in 2008 or for those looking for
fresh ideas from counterparts around the country.
2007 State Report
2006 State Report
The History of Food Check-Out
Week
Mid-1990s
Establishing a day for food similar to “Tax Freedom Day,” which would also
honor the contributions of farmers and ranchers, was discussed at a
strategic planning session of the South Carolina Farm Bureau. Betty DeWitt,
chair of the SCFB Women’s Committee and dairy farmer Hugh Weathers (now
South Carolina’s agriculture commissioner) were the initial champions of the
idea. DeWitt brought the idea to the AFB Women’s Committee for
consideration.
1997
Linda Reinhardt, AFB Women’s Committee chair, made initial contacts and
worked tirelessly to establish the Farm Bureau – Ronald McDonald House
connection that continues to this day. The Kansas Farm Bureau Women’s
Committee donated $1,500 to five Ronald McDonald Houses in the state. In
addition, several county Farm Bureau Women’s Committees in Indiana held Food
Check-Out Day events.
|
Food Check-Out Day, 1998. To the left of
Ronald McDonald is Linda Reinhardt of Kansas, AFB Women’s Committee
chair. |
1998
First national Food Check-Out Day event held in Chicago. Case Corporation
(now Case IH) provided a tractor to pull groceries donated by the AFB
Women’s Committee down the streets of Chicago to the doorstep of the Ronald
McDonald House.
Farm Bureaus from around the
country celebrated the event in its first year of organized effort.
In a report on the new
initiative, AFB Women’s Committee Chair Linda Reinhardt noted, “This program
has grown in just one year’s time to become a great addition to promoting
the voice of agriculture.”
1999
National event in Phoenix.
2000
National event in Nashville.
2001
National event in Philadelphia. Despite a heavy snowstorm in the region, a
successful event was held at the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House. The
Philly house was the first one in the nation, opened in 1974.
2002
National event in Las Vegas.
2003
National event in New Orleans.
2004
National event in Jacksonville, Florida.
2005
National event in Los Angeles.
2006
Food Check-Out Day became Food Check-Out Week, to provide more
flexibility for Farm Bureaus to schedule activities and events.
National events in Washington,
D.C., at the Ronald McDonald House of Greater Washington, and the U.S.
Agriculture Department, where then-Secretary Mike Johanns signed a
proclamation recognizing Food Check-Out Week.
Case IH, which had been a
sponsor of Food Check-Out events since 1998, donated a pedal tractor and
farm toys for the children at the house.
2007
National events in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Food and monetary
donations were made to the Ronald McDonald House of Baltimore. Committee
members also held a reception on Capitol Hill for their members of Congress.
Case IH donated a pedal tractor
and farm toys for the children at the house.
For the first time, books about
agriculture were donated to the house by the American Farm Bureau Foundation
for Agriculture.
Through 2007, state and county
Farm Bureaus had donated more than $2.3 million in monetary and food
donations to Ronald McDonald Houses and other charities.
2008
National event at Ronald McDonald House of Columbia, S.C.
Betty DeWitt, former chair of
the SCFB Women’s Committee and member of the AFB Women’s Leadership
Committee, and Hugh Weathers, South Carolina’s commissioner of agriculture,
were honored for originating the idea of Food Check-Out Day in the 1990s.
DeWitt credited the success of the long-running program to the collective
efforts of many people, but particularly Linda Reinhardt of Kansas (former
chair of the AFB Women’s Committee), for establishing the Farm Bureau –
Ronald McDonald House connection.
Case IH donated a pedal tractor
and farm toys for the children staying at the house.
