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<< back to the 2001 archive listing << Dairy, Food and Environmental Sanitation Commentary From The Executive Director Won't you consider making a donation to the IAFP Foundation Fund? Have you felt just so-so about your support of the International Association for Food Protection – your Association? Are you looking for ways that you can really make a difference and help others while doing it? Well, I have something for you to consider. Won’t you consider making a donation to the IAFP Foundation Fund? A contribution, no matter how large or small, can make a huge difference to many IAFP Members! Let’s take a few minutes to review the programs that the IAFP Foundation supports. First, the Foundation supports the Ivan Parkin Lecture at our Annual Meeting Opening Session. Funds are made available to enable the Association to attract the finest speakers on late-breaking topics of interest to food safety professionals. This year we were fortunate to have Dr. Linda Detwiler from USDA/APHIS present the lecture which was an update on Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy. Just to set the record straight, Dr. Detwiler was unable to accept the travel support or honorarium that normally is made available to the Ivan Parkin Lecturer and asked that the monies be kept in the Foundation to further our efforts. Another worthy program the Foundation entirely supports is the Developing Scientist Competition during the Annual Meeting. This is a student competition in which student participants are judged on their presentations, both poster and oral, then scored by a panel of anonymous judges. We have seen a steep increase in participation in the Developing Scientist Competition and are surely pleased the Foundation is willing to invest in the future of our students who are indeed, the future of the organization. The Foundation completely supports the Audiovisual Library of video training and educational tapes for our Members’ use. We are able to offer the use of these videotapes to our Members at no cost, absolutely free, because of the generosity of the Foundation. Distribution of our journal overruns to developing nations through Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, Italy is also supported exclusively by the Foundation. Each year, we send a minimum of 25 complete volumes of both of our journals (Dairy, Food and Environmental Sanitation and Journal of Food Protection) to FAO. This effort helps to share the expertise of our contributing authors with scientists in needy countries. And the last, on-going program supported by the Foundation is speaker support funding for travel to the Annual Meeting. Sometimes governmental speakers or speakers from education are willing to come present their research and experiences, but their employer’s budget cannot support the travel. The Foundation is ready to step in to assist in such cases on a limited basis. Now, every time that I mentioned "Foundation" above, re-read the text and replace "Foundation" with "IAFP Members." Do you see what I mean about the Foundation needing your support? The Foundation is supported by Members just like you. We receive a great number of contributions from individual Members in addition to the supporting funds from our Sustaining Members. We want to add your name to the list on the next page. Please send your check today! |