January 2005

2004 Financial Statement
2004 was our most successful fundraising year! Thank you! We enrolled a record 18 families in community supported agriculture groups. Here is a summary of our year-end finances.

INFLOWS
$1,395.00 Business Donations
$1,325.00 Family & Individual Donations
$5,500.00 Non Profit Organization Donations
$8,673.00 Total Inflows

OUTFLOWS
$8,320.75 Farmers*
$ 335.49 Items Directly Benefiting Clients**
$ 407.74 Operating Expenses
$9,063.98 Total Outflows

*Farms: Choice Earth CSA, Echo Dell Organic Farm, Fae Ridge Farm, Gooseberry Hill Farm, Henry J.C. Miller, Local Harvest CSA, Wallace Farms.

**Other Client Items: cookbooks, educational materials, kitchen equipment, prizes.

MORE 2004 THANK YOUS

Families and Individuals Judith Felder Michelle Galvin & Brian Mildenstein Teresa Opheim Tania Russell-Rosener & William Rosener
Businesses
Financial Donations Jensen Eyecare MacDonald Optical Ryan Companies, Cedar Rapids Scheels All Sports	Goods & Services Hy-Vee, Waterfront Drive turkey roasting pans & meat thermometers
Volunteers
Darla Ahlers-Portz Allison Baker Alpha Kappa PSI Service Fraternity Dana Ballantyne Lauren Bernstein Clifton Brinkmeyer Nicole Bruskewitz Molly Carpenter Lynda Dalnodar Michael Denklau Jennifer Elliot Sharon Fair Jennifer Forsythe Jennifer Frost Pam Gamrat Angelo Garetto Chad Graham Robert Handler Marlene Jessop	Stephen Klocke Andrew Knaack Mark Kresowik Alanna Lyons Bruce March Laura McElherne Claire Miller Tori Pace Larry Parks Randy Parks Nicole Powell Stephanie Schertz Nate Smith Whitney Symonds Lydia Wagner Amara Walsh Bethany Williams Eric Wolfmeyer Brett Woods

Meet Our New Web Designer
By Alison Baker and Laura Dowd

Local Foods Connection has a beautiful new website thanks to the volunteer work of Marlene Jessop of Cedar Rapids. Marlene is finishing a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism and Communication Studies at the University of Iowa. She in interested in marketing and public relations. "Web design is my passion," she notes.

In addition to pursuing her degree, Marlene works as the newsletter editor for Opportunity at Iowa, the Student Diversity Office on campus. She produces their electronic newsletter. Her responsibilities include newsletter design, as well as reporting, writing and photography.

Marlene was happy to find the volunteer opportunity of redesigning the Local Foods Connection website. The effort satisfies her need to give back to the community, and matches her skill set. Previously she designed the website for the America Reads program, where she was employed as a tutor. At first, she worked on their site as a volunteer, but eventually the program wrote web design into her job description. Marlene began the conceptualization stage of the LFC web site with Laura Dowd, president, last summer, and has made a long-term commitment to the project.

Marlene knows that a successful web site begins with the designer understanding the purpose of the site, and how it will be used. She held several meetings with Laura to discuss the goals and overall tone for the site. Marlene used LFC's old site design as a guide, but gave great input for improvements in organization. The last steps were to decide upon a visual image and to edit the contents.

In addition to being a good listener, Marlene brought many other skills to the web site re-creation. She created the site using Dreamweaver, and took the time to write side and bottom menus for every page. Marlene is adding hidden codes which bait the major search engines to pick up the site. She also has an artist flair. Her choice of color scheme shows her feelings about gardens and charitable work. She wanted bright colors that highlight the beauty of nature, and give a welcoming, fun look. Her work complements Laura's photographs as well.

The updated website offers organized access to more information about the charity than the previous website, and also allows LFC supporters to make online donations. Marlene's layout contains a volunteer application, a calendar, financial statements, artwork, and newsletters. Marlene is the designer of our new electronic newsletter.

Laura notes that a well-designed website is vital to most organizations in today's culture. "I consider the website to be our charity's main venue for reaching several important audiences, including people 30 years of age and under, internet surfers looking for information about charitable work involving hunger and local foods, and potential donors," says Dowd.

"Marlene Jessop has created a better site for Local Foods Connection than anyone else could have designed," adds Dowd. "Through her work she shows complete respect for our organization, its volunteers and leaders. Marlene is a talented, kind individual and I enjoy working with her tremendously. "

Visit us at: http://www.localfoodsconnection.org

Impressed with the new website?
Marlene Jessop is available for web design work.
marlene-jessop@uiowa.edu
http://www.freewebs.com/mjessop/

EARTH'S 911: Keep Your Community Beautiful!
Earth's 911 is a free, 24 hour, nationwide public service providing information on recycling and the environment in one user-friendly place. Call 1-800-CLEANUP or surf www.1800CLEANUP.org

A Look At Our Food Habits
Constructive Classroom Rewards
Article Summary By Whitney Symonds

In the classroom, often children are given food as rewards. The practice of providing food to children based on performance or behavior encourages children to eat even when they are not hungry. These habits are then practiced for the rest of their lives causing them to eat when they are bored or need comforting. In addition, these rewards can consist of sweet snacks or fast food items. The best policy is to not reward children with food at all.

Rewards are always a good way to encourage positive behavior since almost everyone alters their actions based on short-term consequences. Ultimately, the goal is to instill positive behaviors in children so they no longer need a reward. However, when rewards are given, healthy non-foods alternatives can be used. In most states policies regarding classroom rewards are determined by individual school districts, schools, or teachers.

Examples of non-food rewards include praise, going to the library, more privileges, school supplies, sports equipment, stickers, toys, fashion wear, and any other small items that they may enjoy. A trip to a local farm is a good choice. Another possibility is to develop a point system where the child earns points for doing positive things and eventually accumulates enough points to receive a prize.

Find the full article at The Center for Science in the Public Interest Website:
http://cspinet.org/nutritionpolicy/constructive_rewards.pdf

Visit the Local Foods Connection Homepage
Read the previous Connections Newsletter