Say cheese for fundraising

 

 

Local products offer Rotary clubs a way to raise money, support area businesses, and even protect the environment.

Talk about a win-win-win-win situation. Here’s an idea that can give a boost to local farmers, help preserve the environment, and even promote healthful eating habits.

And did we mention that it’s also a great – make that delicious – fundraiser? We’re talking, of course, about cheese – in this case, artisanal cheese from family farms.

“We were already doing a citrus sale, selling boxes of oranges and grapefruits from Florida and Texas during the holidays,” said Wanda Arakaki Leopold, a member of the Rotary Club of Mount Prospect Sunrise, Ill., USA. But after Brian Gerloff, a bovine veterinarian who grew up on a nearby dairy farm, spoke to the club, Rotarians in Mount Prospect decided to try a cheese fundraiser.

Gerloff has joined forces with two area family farms to establish Prairie Pure Cheese. Three of the company’s artisanal cheeses – cheddar, Swiss, and butterkäse – are made from the hormone-free milk of cows that live on the small Illinois dairy farms owned by Todd and Brenda Aves and Dale and Lisa Fitzgerald.

As their cows contentedly roamed in the pasture behind them, the couples explained that they started the company with Gerloff in an effort keep their family farms afloat. Their high-quality milk is sent just over the border to a small cheesemaker in Wisconsin.

“It’s a value-added product which is healthy, and it helps keep the small farms viable,” said Leopold. It’s also a natural idea for clubs that are already doing wine tastings or other food fundraisers. And by choosing local farmers, clubs can cut down on the transportation costs – not to mention pollution – that might come with some other money-making efforts.

In its first cheese fundraiser, the Mount Prospect Sunrise club sold packages of two 1-pound bricks for $21, netting a profit of $350. But the Rotarians more than doubled that total when they got the idea to create winter holiday gift packages by pairing the cheese with artisanal sausages. They now charge $27 to $30 for two bricks of cheese and a choice of bison, venison, or summer sausage.

Because customers have begun spreading the word to family and friends, Leopold said she expects sales to pick up even more. “People are using these as gifts for business clients, and they started asking for more this year,” she explained. “It just tastes so good.”

Todd Aves noted that some people are willing to pay a little extra to support local farmers. But in the end, he said, the most convincing argument for high-quality, hormone-free dairy products is the taste.

Find merchandise and shipping information at www.prairiepurecheese.com, or call 866-9CHEEZE.