CCFB News» April 2019

Food Checkout Day highlights the safe and nutritious food grown by local farmers while also drawing attention to those families who struggle to find solutions to feeding their families healthy food on a tight budget.  Through Farm Bureau’s partnership with Ronald McDonald House Charities® of Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana, Farm Bureau members are able to assist families during the most difficult time of their lives, when their child is ill.

Cook County Farm Bureau members celebrate Food Checkout Day by collecting food items, hosting a scavenger hunt and shopping spree to benefit local Ronald McDonald Houses, and by encouraging farmers, sponsors, Country Financial Agencies, and students to participate in a food drive.  This year’s contest raised over $6,700; 59 pounds of pop tabs; and over 5,400 pounds of food. 

“Cook County and Illinois farmers are committed to growing safe and nutritious food for our families and for others,” said Janet McCabe, President of Cook County Farm Bureau.  “Food Checkout Day allows us to recognize the importance of healthy, nutritious food while supporting a local charity.”

As part of Food Checkout Day, Farm Bureau sponsors a scavenger hunt between representatives from the Chicago Police Department and Chicago Fire Department at the Jewel-Osco® in the Old Towne Triangle.  Farm Bureau also sponsors a shopping spree at Jewel-Osco® in Oak Lawn.  Representatives from the Oak Lawn Fire and Police Departments will race against each other to collect the most non-perishable food items. 

Additionally, members of the Cook County Farm Bureau®, County Financial Agencies, sponsors, and schools donated food, pop tabs, and money to RMHC® CNI.

“This year we’ve asked our members to open their hearts to the families calling our local Ronald McDonald Houses their temporary home,” said Mike Rauch, Chair of the Public Relations Team.  “I’m proud to say that not only did they accept the challenge but have worked to ensure that even more families and businesses contributed to Food Checkout Day and our area Ronald McDonald Houses.”

Food donations were collected by:

Food donations were also collected by representatives from the following Country Financial agencies:

Food Checkout Day is in cooperation with:

In 2012, Cook County Farm Bureau’s annual Food Checkout Day program was named a Summit Award winner by the American Society of Association Executives.  The Summit Award recognizes the positive impact that associations have on their community.

As the county’s largest general farm organization, Cook County Farm Bureau is dedicated to bridging the gap between farmers and urban consumers.  Through education programs targeting youth and their parents and programs designed to connect farmers with potential consumers, Farm Bureau members are actively engaging in conversations about food and the shared values between farmers and consumers. 

Ronald McDonald House® provides a “home-away-from-home” for families of seriously ill children receiving medical treatment in the Chicagoland area. The food will be used to help feed families staying at the house.

 Although the Chicago Police raced to victory at this year’s Food Checkout Day, Chicago Fire Department shopped their way to a close second. See the April edition for a full round-up of this year’s Food Checkout Day. 

 The Oak Lawn Fire Department raced to the finish at this year’s Food Checkout Day scavenger hunt. Together with the Oak Lawn Police Department, the teams shopped for over 1,000 pounds of food and household items. All items were donated to Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana® in celebration of Food Checkout Day.

Congratulations to financial representatives from the Orland Park Country Financial Agency! This agency won the “Tipping the Scales” contest by contributing food and cash donations to this year’s Food Checkout Day. Thank you to everyone for your support!

Here is part of the Orland Park agency following a luncheon in their honor.Front row: Leslie Lapp, Liana Mierendorf, Terry LaMastus, Joel Wrzesinski, Kelly Evans (Ronald McDonald House), Bona Heinsohn. Back row Bob Rohrer, Janet McCabe, Tom Geraghty, Jim Andresen, Mike Skrabis, Cary Tate and Scott Vergara.

CCFB members, our Country Financial and schools partnered to donate $6,700, 5400 pounds of food and 59 pounds of pop tabs to Ronald McDonald House to celebrate food nutrition and affordability and the farmer’s role in providing. More details can be found at www.cookcfb.org.