College of Western Idaho’s (CWI) Farm to Fork event and Communications and Marketing team were recognized with a national award in March from the National Council for Marketing and Public Relations (NCMPR). The College received a silver Paragon Award in the Special Event category.
Farm to Fork, spearheaded by Andrea Schumaker, Department Chair of Agriculture Sciences, is a terrific example of CWI continuing to thrive during the pandemic. Instead of participants joining friends and family at the College to enjoy the meal featuring produce grown in the Campus Garden, 2020 participants picked up their boxes of fresh food to prepare the meal in the comfort of their homes.
CWI’s Communications and Marketing team developed a wide range of content to support the event, including how-to videos assisting participants as they prepared the meal, a webpage, multiple social media posts, a video featuring Gutierrez Family Farms – one of the local sponsors, and an interactive text messaging option to navigate the how-to videos for each course of the meal.
“Farm to Fork is such a fun event to plan and coordinate,” said Schumaker. “Supporting local farms and businesses while hosting a delicious meal to support and sustain the garden is the icing on the cake! It is impressive to see CWI’s Communication and Marketing team celebrated for their hard work on the event! It truly is a labor of love and the event couldn’t happen without the hard work and dedication of those at CWI as well as the Treasure Valley!”
