CHIMES
DOES YOUR CAUSE MATTER? by California CattleWomen, Inc., President Julie Barnett California CattleWomen, Inc., membership has been busy getting back to some usual business in a postpandemic world. Multiple members and units have been able to return to activities in the classroom. Many have held promotional, social events and fundraisers for scholarships. Reported volunteer hours continue to go up as members get energized and excited to again be connecting with our communities and consumers. Siskiyou, MidValley and Amador-El DoradoSacramento units recently shared they had opportunities to connect with students. Our newest unit, Inyo-Mono CattleWomen participated in an Earth Day event to share the environmental benefits of cattle and ranching and made good connections with attendees with an invitation to return for next year’s event. CCW also returned to Bishop Mule Days for another successful opportunity to connect with urban and semi urban attendees alike. Parades, fairs and community celebrations have all provided Cattlewomen units opportunities for in person connection and promotion opportunities with consumers. Units and members have been very active promoting “June is Grilling Month” on their social media platforms — giving consumers recipes and ideas about using beef as the star of their graduation, Father’s Day and summer kick off celebrations. Thanks to the California Beef Council, we have strong resources that are easy to share virtually and in person where we can create opportunities for connection with consumers. Stepping Up to the Challenge With the renewed interactions with the public, we have had a realization there are new and renewed challenges of how to handle the latest round of consumer questions and concerns about beef because of misinformation or misinterpretation of information. It continues to be clear that being about the purpose of Cattlewomen – of promoting beef and the ranching lifestyle – is more important than ever. Our cause matters. To help our membership, CCW continues to look for opportunities to learn from good teachers inside and outside our industry to obtain advocacy training. We are in an accelerated season of cultural change in how we engage in person or through social media as industry and producer advocates and we are endeavoring to grow the skills of our membership to be able to meet the consumer where they are. We began our stepped up training at the Midyear Meeting, where Joe Proudman, assistant director of communications for the Clarity and Leadership for Environmental Awareness and Research (CLEAR) Center at UC Davis center presented information on how to handle those 74 California Cattleman July • August 2022
surprises that suddenly land in front of us via the news or on social media. Often, the story behind the headlines are without context or good information. Did you know that there is science saying that you can see cow burps from space? Yes, this was a recent example. A major news media release about the topic helped CCW decide to step up our knowledge on how to handle new surprise information happening in the environmental science research realm. Thank you, CLEAR Center, for the great information and training! In person and online attendees learned so much. Convention will be our next big step learning event – Michele Payn, international and national speaker, trainer and IPPY award-winning author of the acclaimed books Food Bullying, Food Truths from Farm to Table and No More Food Fights, will be a keynote speaker and workshop leader in Reno! Michele has spoken to major trade organizations, has presented advocacy training to MICHELE PAYN
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