Letters: Thank a dairy farmer today; Speak out about vaccine distribution and equality
Thank a dairy farmer today
As the Centre County Grange Fair Queen, I have had the opportunity to visit classrooms across Centre County virtually, educating students on the importance of agriculture in each of our lives. Thanks to Penn State Extension’s sponsorship of Ag Literacy, the students and I read “Tales of the Dairy Godmother” together. The students learned about Chuck, a young boy who wished for all the ice cream he could ever eat. The Dairy Godmother appears, and grants Chuck’s wish by showing him how ice cream is made. By the end of the book, Chuck realizes just how much work it really is to make ice cream.
Through our time together, the kids became more aware of the hard work that our dairy farmers perform each day so that we can enjoy our favorite dairy products. To show our appreciation, I partnered with the classes to send letters and thank you coloring sheets to dairy farmers across Centre County.
You can join students across Centre County in thanking our dairy farmers for all their hard work and dedication as well! How can you show your appreciation you may ask? Well as our students learned, buying PA Preferred products, and buying locally is something that we as consumers can do to give back to the agricultural community! So, if you are thankful for your delicious milk, cheese, and ice cream, join us in thanking a dairy farmer today!
Speak out about vaccine distribution and equality
I am an intern with The Borgen Project, which is a nonprofit organization that utilizes advocacy, education, and mobilization to bring awareness to foreign policy legislation in Congress. They encourage U.S. citizens to contact their local Congressional leaders in hopes of downsizing poverty across the globe. I would also like to bring attention to the issue of COVID-19 vaccine distribution inequality, and how The Borgen Project promotes legislation to combat these issues.
An article posted on May 27 called “Vaccine inequality in India sends many falling through the gaps,” illustrates the hardships that average citizens are facing in their countries while trying to get the vaccine. The COVAX Initiative and the Global Health Security Act are two pieces of legislation that are currently aimed at improving international COVID-19 vaccine distribution and access to global health care. The COVID-19 pandemic is a global issue. Everyone should have equal access to vaccine distributions, regardless of their financial situations or other wealth barriers.
The United States has a responsibility to serve as a leader by investing in COVID-19 global relief packages, like the COVAX Initiative, and passing the Global Health Security Act. I urge Representative Fred Keller to cosponsor the Global Health Security Act, which will improve pandemic preparedness and prevent future threats of disease outbreaks. I also call on fellow readers to visit https://borgenproject.org/get-involved-in-the-cause and contact your local representatives about foreign policy legislation. Get your opinion heard.
Measures protected Pennsylvanians
We should all appreciate the fact that our good Governor Wolf stepped forward early in the face of the spreading COVID-19 to protect our health with preventive measures and regulations including mask wearing, social distancing, frequent hand-washing, limiting crowd sizes and closing down dangerous meetings. The past election removed some of his options to take care of us. I don’t understand why people want to disallow measures to keep us well, especially as we are finding that variants of the virus are potentially more dangerous and infectious than the first one we knew about. Returning to supposed normalcy may only return us to more risk. We miss our friends and family but I think that we don’t want anyone sick or dead.