WHAT IS ROCK ISLAND COUNTY FARM BUREAU FOUNDATION?
FOUNDATION PROVIDES AN OPPORTUNITY TO CREATE A LIVING LEGACY
The RICFB Foundation's mission statement is to promote production agriculture and the food, fiber and fuel system through quality agriculture literacy efforts in the schools and communities of Rock Island County. The farm population represents less than 1 % of the 125,000 total population. Our opportunity to educate the non-farm public is tremendous and provides a wealth of opportunity to breakdown agriculture's myths and open the public up to the tremendous benefits agriculture has to offer.
The Foundation's passion also comes from a desire to provide a thorough understanding of where their food comes from. Two ways we communicate that philosophy is through involvement in the schools and special events with media and key community leaders. One of the ways we support the community is by investing in Quad City teacher training. Annually we reach over 50 teachers through in-service/onsite training as well as week-long graduate credit courses. Since 1998, we have educated over 200 Rock Island County teachers through our Summer Ag Institutes. The five-day Institute provides teachers a broader understanding of the complex food, fiber and fuel industry. The Institutes have proven to be very successful in assisting teachers to include Agriculture in the Classroom lesson plans into the curriculum. Teachers come away from our Institutes with an increased knowledge about the importance of the agricultural industry after visiting QC area agribusinesses and farms. We are working on a variety of virtual reality projects to bring Ag In The Classroom into the future. These projects will allow us to bring agriculture into the classrooms in a virtual reality and 3D fashion – the next best thing to being on the farm
In addition, the Foundation also administers a variety of scholarships to graduating high school seniors and current college students. We annually award approximately $15,000 in scholarships to high school and college students.
The Foundation's passion also comes from a desire to provide a thorough understanding of where their food comes from. Two ways we communicate that philosophy is through involvement in the schools and special events with media and key community leaders. One of the ways we support the community is by investing in Quad City teacher training. Annually we reach over 50 teachers through in-service/onsite training as well as week-long graduate credit courses. Since 1998, we have educated over 200 Rock Island County teachers through our Summer Ag Institutes. The five-day Institute provides teachers a broader understanding of the complex food, fiber and fuel industry. The Institutes have proven to be very successful in assisting teachers to include Agriculture in the Classroom lesson plans into the curriculum. Teachers come away from our Institutes with an increased knowledge about the importance of the agricultural industry after visiting QC area agribusinesses and farms. We are working on a variety of virtual reality projects to bring Ag In The Classroom into the future. These projects will allow us to bring agriculture into the classrooms in a virtual reality and 3D fashion – the next best thing to being on the farm
In addition, the Foundation also administers a variety of scholarships to graduating high school seniors and current college students. We annually award approximately $15,000 in scholarships to high school and college students.
Rock Island County Farm Bureau Foundation Board
|
Glenn Saddoris, President
Ryan Cox, Vice President Drew Hohenboken, Secretary Tom Mueller, Treasurer Marilyn Bush, Outreach & Development Chair Jim Neumann, Scholarship Chair |
Andy DeKeyrel
Kevin Oak Mike Saddoris Mark Searl George Stultz |
