Nebraska Cattlewomen

Greetings from the Sandhills

By Judy Reece

The Nebraska CattleWomen has two new promotion projects we are excited about. The first was developed by Gerri Monahan and the Area 30 (Lincoln) CattleWomen. They teamed up with the Community Blood Bank (CBB) to “Beef Up the Blood Bank.” During March and April, anyone donating blood could register for a $20 beef draft and a bag of goodies that included recipes, a pencil, a chopping mat, a corkscrew and information about NCW. 1,706 people took part. They had seven winners each week for a total of 28 winners. During this time, CBB had a total of 350 more donors than usual.

During “May Is Beef Month,” the NCW had a “Why I Love BEEF” essay contest. We had over 135 entries from 38 towns across Nebraska. The age divisions were 7-8, 9-10 and 11-12, and each division received first- and second-place prizes. Our grand prize winner was Edward Spencer of Gibbon who received a $75 savings bond. Runners-up were Breanne Bannon of Milburn and Addie Swartzendruber of Henderson who each received a $50 savings bond. We plan on running this contest again next year.      

As many of you know, one of our own, Kristy Lage of Sutherland, is ANCW vice president and will be installed as ANCW president in 2009.

Bonita Lederer has started a fundraising project, making and selling bibs. They come in many colors and are embroidered with, “When I get teeth feed me BEEF.” For more information, call Bonita at (402) 450-0223 or visit www.nebraskacattlewomen.org to see a photo of the bibs.