Young Leaders Award Prizes to County Committees

At the Illinois Farm Bureau Annual Meeting, the Young Leader Committee hosts a Recognition Program, which celebrates the hard work accomplished in the last year.

Committee Awards
First, the committee thanked the 69 county committees who reported 723 activities, a 9.7% jump from last year.  Fifty-seven of them received gold, silver or bronze stars for their committee work.

County Chair Award
The Young Leader County Chair Award recognizes individuals who excel in motivating committee members to become involved in county, district, and state activities. This year 22 county chairs were named recipients of this award and five received the Top County Chair Award:

• Brad Henderson of Hamilton County
• Brad Shippert of Lee County
• Julie Mellert of Fulton County
• David Haase of Ford-Iroquois Counties
• Steve Huls of Vermilion County

FB ACT Prize
The Young Leader Committee added a new recognition this year to the young men and women who are FB ACT members and who contacted their legislators during IFB's action alerts. Eight Young leaders responded to every action alert and were entered to win a free iPad. Kyle Winkelmann of Menard County was lucky enough to take it home.

Harvest for All Hunger Drive
The Young Leaders team up with Feeding America in the Harvest for All program. Five county Farm Bureaus stood out in their efforts to donate time, money and food to local food banks. Each of these counties will receive cash prizes to take home:

• Lawrence County
• Franklin County
• Carroll County
• Henry County
• Kane County

Outstanding County Young Leader Program Award
The state committee created another new award, the Outstanding County Young Leader Program Award. It recognizes an entire committee for their great involvement and impact. Knox County walked home with this honor for its grain tube rescue program.

PAS Award
in its 2^nd year, The Illinois farm Bureau Young Leaders joined Illinois PAS (Postsecondary Agricultural Student) to host the Collegiate Discussion Meet. Eight students competed for two trips to represent Illinois at the American Farm Bureau Federation Discussion Meet in Grand Rapids Michigan in February. Congratulations to our winners, Diane Murray and Krista Raymond.

Congratulations to everyone who participated in any of these contests.