June 2020 FCW Report

Can’t Get Nothing Done Standing Around” Hello Fellow Cattlemen and CattleWomen, Hope everyone is doing well and hopefully catching some much needed rain. We are all so blessed that everything is starting to return to some normalcy around our great state. This past month, even though we were confined to our ranches, Florida Cattle- Women powered on, accomplishing some very important projects for our association.

Florida CattleWomen kept the US Postal Service busy with a massive membership dues reminder mail-out. The power of a sincere note, reminding someone that they are important to our association and to our industry speaks volumes, as our membership grew substantially this past month. With that being said, several of our new members are featured in this article. Members are our lifeblood to the Florida CattleWomen’s Association and standing around and not keeping everything progressing will stagnate our association.

Florida CattleWomen looked near and far for nominations of the upcoming Florida Cattle- Women’s 2020 Outstanding CattleWoman of the Year award. I am so happy with the many nominations from our County CattleWomen’s Associations. I look forward to reading the many great resumes of these deserving Florida CattleWomen in the months to come.

Florida CattleWomen also promoted the FCW Trade School Scholarship this past month. Florida CattleWomen believe very much in vocational trades, for our young people, as having a trade and skill set can take a person anywhere in life. Florida CattleWomen look forward to presenting this wonderful scholarship to a deserving young man or woman this coming month.

As we move forward to a promising summer of connecting with the public and basically anyone we come into contact with, I am excited to let everyone know Florida CattleWomen will be honoring Florida Cattlemen Father’s in a special way. The Florida Cattlemen’s children will have a large hand in this project. I look forward in sharing all the great stories that will come from this promotion.

Not standing around and letting Agriculture Literacy pass us by, Florida CattleWomen will be introducing the Beef Industry to children at Day Cares around the state. Through story time and sharing with children our way of life, an early relationship with our young people can be accomplished. With the closure of public school systems, Florida CattleWomen feel this opportunity of visiting Children’s Day Cares accomplishes our goal of educating our young citizens.

With our state getting back to normal, I am excited for the promising North Florida Cattle- Women’s Foundation Meeting, Saturday, June 20th. This meeting/ social time is for new beginnings for our ladies residing in the northern part of the state. CattleWomen are a powerhouse of women, who can get anything accomplished. The time is right, the possibilities are endless, and let’s stop standing around, let’s get this party started.

Next month, Florida Cattle- Women will be launching the 2020/2021 Beef Ambassador Contest. If you know of a young man or lady, who never meets a stranger, and has a hunger to share the Beef Industry with people. Please consider sharing with them the Beef Ambassador Program. This program has three different age divisions: junior, intermediate, and senior beef ambassador levels. The senior beef ambassador upon completion of his/her year of service receives a scholarship for their future education. Please reach out to our Beef Ambassador Program Chair: Tami Newsome, email: tamnews1@hotmail.com, for an application.

The momentum of Florida CattleWomen keeps increasing as we will be having a Florida CattleWomen’s Workshop, Saturday, August 1st, at the Lake County Extension Office, Tavares, FL. This Workshop is developed in helping our Florida CattleWomen be a better ambassador of the Beef Industry. Florida Cattle- Women is offering workshops in teaching techniques of educating our young children about the Beef Industry. How to make an impression, presenting a Beef Cooking Demo. How to turn a negative into a positive, learning proper conversation, when conversing with the public. We also will be giving support to our county associations through membership retainment techniques and book keeping updates. This workshop is for all Florida CattleWomen, with the goal to help our members feel a viable part of our association.

Our summer will be ending on encouraging note as Florida CattleWomen will be holding the Florida CattleWomen’s Beef Cook-Off. This contest will be open for all County CattleWomen’s Associations, with the top three winning County Cattle- Women’s Associations moving on to the finale at the September Florida Cattlemen and CattleWomen’s Quarterly. The winning recipes will be showcased at the Tampa Junior League’s Holiday Market in November of this year.

I hope all Florida CattleWomen enjoyed the latest issue of the Florida CattleWomen’s Redbook Newsletter. All Florida Cattle- Women members receive a newsletter twice a year showcasing all the latest and greatest happenings going on in the CattleWomen’s world. Please remember to also continue looking in on our social media outlets, Facebook, Instagram, and the FCW Blogging Site. When you share life on your ranch or promote the Beef Industry on social media, always remember to #shareyourstory.

In closing, I would like to thank Florida Cattlemen’s President, Matt Pearce for his wonderful leadership this past year. I know I give Matt a hard time, but I do appreciate his dedication and time he gave to our association. I welcome incoming Florida Cattlemen’s President, Gene Lollis, as both of our associations will be working together to make our associations stronger, as we face the many challenges and successes this coming year.