FARMER Members Care, Make A Difference
(Continued from Pag* A 1)
The Pennsylvania Farm Bureau
was one of die first groups noti
fied, and, within less than a week,
member food processors such as
Knousc Foods, Furman Foods,
International Home Foods, and
Hatfield Quality Meats hie., were
contacted and quickly made sub
stantial contributions, as did FSA
and PFB employees.
Other farm groups, such as the
Pennsylvania Slate Grange also
donated foods, mostly from
employees themselves, but had
even less time to respond or con
tact members with large quantities
of foods readily suitable for
donation.
The PFB is the state’s largest
farmer-specific organization.
The State Grange officially
Patrons of Husbandry
represents all rural people.
Altogether, 12 tons of food were
delivered. The contributions in
Pennsylvania were sent to the
Bethesda Mission in Harrisburg.
In a few days, through phone
calls made by PFB staff to food
processing members about the
program, truckloads of foods
showed up at the collection site,
making Pennsylvania stand out
among the states in donating foods
to the food banks.
The food banks had been suffer
ing from depleted reserves and a
large part of the USDA’s mission
is involved with providing food
vouchers or food to those in need.
From the left, Pennsylvania Farm Bureau President Guy Donaldson stands with
banquet speaker and well-known political pundit Clifford Jones, and PFB Vice Presi
dent Carl Shaffer.
Greg Kelly, food service director of Bethesda Mission, unit
goods donated by Pennsylvania Farm Bureau members.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture
Dan Glickman called for the short
run inbouse contribution cam
paign in order to help shore up
dwindling supplies in food banks
in the post-holiday season.
Following that presentation, in
other business, Ed Hartman, chair
man of the PFB FARMER selec
tion committee, discussed the
accomplishments of the group.
He said, since the PFB formed
its political action committee
FARMER in 1981 it has partici
pated in nine general elections and
has seen more than 487 rep
resentatives and senators regarded
as “friends of agriculture elected
with our help,” Hartman said.
He said that in the last election,
all of the 71 FARMER-selected
and supported candidates were
elected to office.
He told the group that the com
mittee is making plans soon for the
1998 election, specifically to
decide who is to receive political
contributions.
“Your input is important,” he
told the FARMER membership
attending the banquet He said that
support must come from the
membership.
The special guest speaker for the
fund-raising banquet was Clifford
Jones, a political pundit who, offi
cially retired in 1981, has worked
for three state governors and
served in three state cabinets.
He held the appointed positions
of secretary of die state Depart-
Representatives of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau and USDA Farm Service Agency
(FSA) stand in front of the Bethesda Mission, a food bank lor soup kitchens in the cen
tral Pennsylvania region. The Mission was the recipient of Pennsylvania’s effort to
participate in a national special program, spearheaded by the USDA FSA, to build up
supplies of food in soup kitchens across the nation. From the left are John Cameron,
i nformation coordinator for the Pennsylvania division of the USDA FSA; PFB Admini
strative Secretary Louis Sallie; PFB President Guy Donaldson; Jan Carson, PFB publ
ic relations specialist and press liason; Marlin Miller, PFB manager of member rela
tions division; Bill Baumgartner, USDA FSA director; and Richard Prether, manager of
the PFB public relations
canrv
From the left, Bill Wehry, chairman of the USDA Farm Ser
vice Agency Committee for Pennsylvania, presents a certi
ficate of appreciation from USDA to PFB for the efforts the
farm organization made in making Pennsylvania a national
leader in providing donations for local soup kitchens.
mcnt of Environmental Resources,
secretary of the state Department
of Commerce, and secretary of the
state Department of Labor and
Industry.
Furthermore, Jones has served
as chairman of the Pennsylvania
Utilities Commission (PUC),
chairman of the Pennsylvania
Republican State Committee, and
for 12 years as president of one of
the state’s most influential lobby
ing groups, the Pennsylvania
Chamber of Business and
Industry.
He also is chairman of the Pen
nsylvanians for Effective Govern
ment, served on the governor’s
BRAC committee to try to retain
federal defense jobs in Pennsylva
nia, and he is executive director of
a health cost containment group.
In addition, he sits on 20 other
boards and committees dealing
with communications, cultural and
educational issues.
Jones is well known among
those in the state’s higher political
circles as one who is a keen
observer and analyst
As speaker, he was asked to dis
cuss Pennsylvania's outlook for
the November elections, which
feature re-election campaigns by
Gov. Tom Ridge and Lt Gov.
Mark Schweiker (television cam
paign has started), as well as con
tested Republican seats in the state
and federal House of
Representatives.
He said that while U.S. Sen.
Arien. Specter has been chal
lenged, he expects Specter to
retain his seat, mainly because of
his long-time name recognition (be
came up with and supports the
single-bullet theory in the Presi
dent Kennedy assassination) and
incumbency.
Jones said that be prefer,
(Turn to Pago A3l)