The Rural Voice, 2004-11, Page 54People in Agriculture
Perth County Federation of Agriculture vice-president Ed Danen (right)
presents the Federation's annual Recognition Award to (left to right) Martin
Ritsma, Sheryl McCallum and Gary Becker for their leadership in organizing
a donate -a -cow program in which cull cows with very little market value
because of BSE were processed and the meat donated to food banks.
PCFA award to plan creators
Three Perth County people who
organized a program that has seen 86
cows processed and the meat given
to soup kitchens and food banks were
awarded the Perth County Federation
of Agriculture's Recognition Award
at the group's annual meeting in
Milverton, September 30.
Gary Becker, R.R.1 Gadshill;
Sheryl McCallum, R.R.1, Stratford
and Martin Ristma, R.R.1,
Stratford, received the award for the
program that has seen 35,000-36,000
pounds of meat distributed to food
banks and soup kitchens.
The cows were cull animals that
were nearly worthless on the market
since the BSE outbreak. They've
come from Waterloo, Wellington,
Perth and Oxford Counties.
Becker said their goal "was to turn
something bad into something good."
Food has been distributed in
Perth, Kitchener -Waterloo,
Cambridge, Ingersoll, Woodstock,
London and Stratford.
Becker said this is an ongoing
project. Anyone wanting to help can
reach them at: Becker, 273-4091;
McCallum, 625-8069 and Ritsma,
271-1279.0
Farm accident claims reeve
While others were celebrating
Thanksgiving, October 11, hundreds
crowded into the Lucknow
Community Centre to mourn the loss
of Gerald Doelman, reeve of Huron -
Kinloss.
Doelman, 47, was killed in a farm
accident in his field along County
Road 1 north of Lucknow on October
6. He was combining when he
stopped to make a repair. The header
came down on top of him, pinning
him to the ground. A neighbour
noticed the combine not moving and
stopped to investigate and found
Doelman under the machine. Finding
no pulse he lifted the header off him
and started CPR, then ran to the
house to call emergency workers.
They were unable to revive him.
He is survived by his wife, Alice
and three children: Mike, 25; Kelly,
23; and Wade, 15.
Doelman, who operated a large
hog operation in Kinloss Township,
had served on council for 12 years,
and was elected reeve last
November.0
Stewart loses
'acting' tag.
Named OCA
Exec. Director
Dave Stewart has been hired as
the executive director of the
Ontario Cattlemen's Association,
completing a lengthy search.
Chosen from a field of 30
candidates, Stewart, 51. and his
wife Margaret operate a cow -calf
farm near Belwood in Wellington
County. He has been acting
executive director since July and
was assistant manager prior to
that. He holds a bachelor of
science degree from McMaster
University and a masters of
business administration from
Queen's.
"He brings with him intensive
knowledge of the beef industry
and a background in business
management," said Ron Woodisse,
OCA president. "Both of these
skills will be a real asset to our
Snider's food
drive exceeds
goals
By the time Dale Snider
completed his eight-day, Listowel -
to -Owen Sound tractor drive to
collect food for food banks he had
doubled the amount of food he had
originally hoped to collect.
The district manager at Farm
Credit Canada's Listowel office,
lucked out with some of the best
weather of the summer for his trek
in an open tractor pulling a wagon
to collect the donations. Donations
were so plentiful a cube van had to
empty out the wagon each night.
The food from each community
stayed with the local food bank. A
$10,000 donation from FCC was
divided among the food banks in
Listowel, Hanover, Wingham and
Owen Sound. The grand total was
47,000 units, with a unit being
either a pound of food or $1
donation.0