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Food Protection Trends COMMENTARY from the executive director “The Foundation has supported IAFP’s efforts
for more than 30 years and that has made a real impact on the quality of IAFP’s programs” My wife Connie and I recently had the opportunity to travel in China and frequently, my thoughts go back to the many scenes that we were able to observe. Yes, we experienced the Great Wall of China, saw the Terra Cotta Warriors, visited Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and other cities, cruised on the Yangtze River and even made the journey to Tibet, but the people of China made the most lasting memories. So many people and such a friendly population. In comparison to the United States, Canada and a lot of other countries, most of the Chinese have very few possessions but appear very happy in their lives. This got me thinking about our fundraising effort for the IAFP Foundation Fund. So many times we focus on what our next acquisition (purchase of a “much needed” item) will be and do not think about those who have a much larger need of the basic essentials (food, water and shelter). We have so much to be grateful for – our health, our safe food, our friends and family – but how often do we think about those who need our help? There are countless people in public health and involved in food safety who, through their employment, help people on a daily basis and that is one of the joys of working for IAFP. Knowing that what we do, facilitating the transfer of food safety information, leads to a safer food supply and improved health for all consumers. How does this all relate to the IAFP Foundation you might be asking. As I see it, the connection is that the Foundation has supported IAFP’s efforts for more than 30 years and that has made a real impact on the quality of IAFP’s programs. This includes the IAFP Annual Meeting, which has led to improved safe food for those who learn from our presentations and from the thousands of applied and research articles we have published. The Foundation supports many worthy IAFP programs including the Audiovisual Library (containing more than 100 food safety training presentations), distribution of IAFP journals to developing countries (through FAO in Rome), travel supp-ort for Annual Meeting speakers, the Developing Scientist Competition at Annual Meeting (since 1986), the Ivan Parkin Lecture at our Opening Session (also since 1986) and now, beginning this year, the Student Travel Scholarships. Each program supported by the Foundation “gives back” to food safety by strengthening the very system it supports. Now is your opportunity to become actively involved in supporting the IAFP Foundation Fund and you too can “give back” to the food safety system. In the last year, more than 300 IAFP Members have made individual contributions to the Foundation. While this may sound like a large number, it still only represents 10% of our Membership. We are working to see this percentage grow and the amount of support for the Foundation will flourish! A little over a year ago, the Foundation set a goal of reaching $1 million in the Foundation Fund by the year 2010. While we have made great progress since 2000 when our goal was $100,000 in 2000, we have a big hill to climb to reach $1 million! Through the generous support of Kraft Foods, our numerous Sustaining Members and the individual contributors, we have been able to grow the Fund to $300,000 at present. You can see, we have made good progress since 2000. At IAFP 2005 in Baltimore, the progress made to date by the IAFP Foundation Fund will be evident. There will be many times throughout the meeting when the Foundation support provides to IAFP will be mentioned. A new Foundation supported program is our Student Travel Scholarship. In its first year, two students, one from the US and one from Australia, are receiving complete travel support to attend IAFP 2005. Already, the Foundation agreed to expand the program support for 2006 to enable four student Members to have their travel expenses supported! This is a direct example of how additional monies in the Foundation Fund can be used to help support IAFP growth. Our new fundraising efforts will focus on our supporting companies. If we can persuade our corporate supporters to make minimal contributions to the Foundation Fund, our ability to support additional programs will grow along with the Fund balance. By focusing on companies, this does not mean we will reduce our efforts for individual contributions – just the opposite. We will continue to encourage individual contributions as in the past. With your contributions to the Foundation (whether corporate or individual), the programs supported by the IAFP Foundation will grow in the future and will help support safe food and public health. Think about how your support of the IAFP Foundation can improve basic essentials (food and water) for others and pass up your next acquisition. Please make your contribution today! |