North Central NAMA Chapter members gathered Thursday, Dec. 6, to partake in a little holiday cheer and to give back to the community.  About 40 members collected $70 and 50 pounds of non-perishable food items to be donated to Second Harvest Heartland (www.2harvest.org).

“Our goal as a chapter was to double our donations from 2011,” said Teri Otte, chapter president. “Our membership met the challenge and tripled its financial donation.”

Bar games were held and prizes were given to the top three teams.  Taking top prize were Sarah LeBeau, Allison Heilman, Wayne Carlson and Zach DeBlaey, all of Colle+McVoy/Exponent PR.  The second place team was Bill Brozak and Wayne Wenzel, both of Colle+McVoy/Exponent, Jeanne Miller Mansk of J.L. Farmakis, Inc. and Bob Olsen of AgXchanges.  Rounding out the third place team were Teri Otte of Land O’Lakes, Cheri Johnson, Erica Boe and Megan Berg of Weber Shandwick.

Information about the chapter’s events and upcoming activities can be found on its Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/NorthCentralNAMA.

MoKan NAMA members have a new way of keeping connected through the new chapter Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MoKanNamaChapter. Professional and student members are invited to “like” the page to stay current on upcoming events, socials and happenings in the MoKan chapter.

Mark your calendars for these important dates to upcoming NAMA Conferences and NAMA Industry Partnership events.

Upcoming Industry Partnership Events –

March 1
NAMA/AAEA Reception at Commodity Classic sponsored by BASF, Great Plains NAMA and Rocky Mountain NAMA (4:30 – 6:00 p.m.)
Kissimmee, Florida

March 18 & 19
National Ag Day
Washington, DC

Future Conference Locations:

April 17-19, 2013
Kansas City, MO

April 9-11, 2014
Jacksonville, FL

April 15-17, 2015
Kansas City, MO

April 13-15, 2016
Kansas City, MO

April 26-28, 2017
Dallas, TX

April 11-13, 2018
Kansas City, MO

April 10-12, 2019
Kansas City, MO

Our December meeting/social was a huge success, as the group heard of the evolution of the newspaper industry from Memphis’ own.  After almost four decades in the business, Paul Jewell, marketing director for The Commercial Appeal, addressed the challenges facing the newspaper in the current economic and disruptive digital environment.  Paul was a wonderful speaker and had such a unique story.  He has worked at the Commercial Appeal all of his adult career, and even used to be a paperboy!  There have been a lot of changes in the newspaper industry.  A few newspapers in the south are not daily anymore and there is a lot of surprising pushback from their communities – New Orleans is a prime example.  These trends have us marketers really wondering how this will impact what we do.  It was good to hear that our “hometown” paper has no plans to reduce their printing days, and is currently evolving their offerings to adapt to the changing environment.  We had a great group discussion and a lot of insights were shared.

Mo-Kan NAMA members came together Monday, December 17^th to spread the joy of the holidays by volunteering at Hope Faith Ministries in Downtown Kansas City. Hope Faith Ministries is a non-profit, non-denominational, faith-based ministry that serves the needs of the homeless and less fortunate in Kansas City.

NAMA volunteers helped prepare meals, serve lunch, and clean off tables as people finished eating. A total of 12 Mo-Kan NAMA members helped brighten the faces of those passing through the food line that day. It was a wonderful way to give back this holiday season to those who need it most.

Later that evening, members gathered at The Chesterfield located in the lobby of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema for a social happy hour and networking event. Tasty drinks and yummy appetizers were enjoyed by all.

TEAM NAMA is a group of professional NAMA members who review Student Chapter marketing plans and provide input back to the teams in advance of their Marketing Competition, which is held in conjunction with NAMA’s annual Agri-Marketing Conference in April each year.

Each TEAM NAMA volunteer is asked to critique two student chapter marketing plans. The estimated time commitment is approximately 2-3 hours total in ealy February.  The following student chapters intend to participate in TEAM NAMA this year:

Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College
Cal Poly – San Luis Obispo
Delaware Valley College
Illinois State University
Iowa State University
Kansas State University
Michigan State University
New Mexico State University
Purdue University
Sam Houston State University
Texas A&M University, Kingsville
The Ohio State University
University of Florida
University of Guelph
University of Illinois
University of Missouri-Columbia
University of Nebraska
University of Saskatchewan
University of Tennessee-Knoxville

Please volunteer, by emailing Janelle Buxton, Careers Committee TEAM NAMA Coordinator, at [email protected].  Thank you, in advance, for your help!