COLUMBUS — American Agri-Women met recently for their annual policy-setting meeting in Columbus, Ohio.
After an exchange with Provider Pals founder Bruce Vincent, a Montana logger, American Agri-Women members made plans to work with him to help promote the Provider Pals’ Web site for children, a game called Provider World.
Web site
This site provides children with a safe environment in which to explore farming and other natural resource-based occupations, through games and activities. This site is an extension of the main Provider Pals program in which classrooms adopt a logger, fisherman, miner, farmer or rancher for a year.
The children receive videos, letters, photo albums and e-mails from their provider, and once a year he visits the school to talk and answer questions.
The program got off the ground in 1997, and has since expanded to include over 300 classrooms in 20 cities across the nation and Canada, addressing the question, “Where does my stuff come from?”
The Provider World web site offers American Agri-Women members an avenue for reaching thousands of children to give them accurate information about farmers and how important farming is to them.
The women took action by collecting individual donations to sponsor a classroom for a year on the Web site and are planning to look into further fundraising possibilities.
Other actions
In other actions taken at their yearly midyear meeting, members took a stand for responsible management of horses and other farm animals and opposed the Horse Slaughter Prevention Act as introduced in Congress in January 2007, and all other attempts on the local and state level to outlaw horse slaughter.
For more information about American Agri-Women’s positions on a wide range of agricultural topics, contact Marcie Williams, president, by e-mailing president@americanagriwomen.org or visit www.americanagriwomen.org.
