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<< back to the 2003 archive listing << Food Protection Trends Thoughts from the President I encourage all members to make a special contribution to the Foundation
Fund This is my last editorial as President of our Association. I know. I am turning over the reins to very capable leadership as Paul Hall comes in as the new President, with the support of our Executive Board members. I also welcome Frank Yiannas, Incoming Secretary, and look forward to working with him during this next year. I write this column at the end of June 2003. With sadness, this month we lost a good friend, Harry Haverland. However, for those of us fortunate enough to have known Harry, we will always have good memories. The year was 1998 in Nashville. I was honored by being presented with a special IAFP award, the Harry Haverland Citation Award and Harry was on hand to present it. I was somewhat nervous about the event (especially being the first female to win it … tsk , tsk …), and inadvertently thanked “Harvey” Haverland! Nevertheless, he graciously laughed and still made me feel good about it all. That was also the year Harry started the Annual Meeting Silent Auction to raise money for the IAFP Foundation Fund. Even in that first year, contributions for the auction came in from many affiliates as well as individuals. I was enthusiastic to support the auction, and put in several bids for several items. My intention was simply to get the bids going up; after all, this is a charitable event to raise money for very good causes! Well, in the end, I brought home most of that which I bid on… my suitcase bulged! Since then, I try to restrict my enthusiasm during the bidding process. The Foundation Fund was Harry’s special project, and he took every opportunity to encourage contributions. In particular, the Florida affiliate rises to the challenge with imagination. It would be my guess that Harry waited with great anticipation for the annual business meeting, to see what FAFP would come up with as they presented their check. One year it was a large botched ballot, with the infamous “chads” rep-resenting the vote of the Florida members to make the donation; the next year Harry was gowned and masked to accept an envelope that seemed to contain white powder. He also was grateful to Paul Hall and Kraft Foods for issuing the “corporate challenge” to other companies to increase donations to the Fund. We will miss Harry, his sense of humor, his commitment, and his steadfast support for our association. I would like to express my sympathies to his wife Helen, and daughters Alice and Kathy. IAFP 2003 in New Orleans is dedicated to Harry’s memory. In further honoring this man, I encourage our members to make a special contribution to the Foundation Fund to continue Harry’s work. The past year has been a great experience, and I extend my appreciation to all of you who support this Association in one capacity or another. We have a great office team in Des Moines, and I thank each one of them for making our jobs on the Executive Board run smoothly. I also want to thank the affiliates that take advantage of our “speaker’s program” by inviting Board members to participate in your educational programs. It’s been a pleasure to see the activities at a local level, and the high calibre of these meetings. IAFP continues to grow and we are beginning to really develop our network around the globe. I encourage our international members and affiliates to be active in IAFP, either at association level and participating in various groups and events at our annual meetings, or at a local level by organizing educational sessions and supporting local students to attend the annual meetings. See you all in New Orleans! |