A Touch of Family Reunion Raucousness

By: David Fikes, Executive Director, FMI Foundation

My father had 11 brothers and sisters, largely because my grandfather was a farmer whose workforce strategy was “it’s easier to sire than hire.”  Coming from such a large brood meant that when the next generation emerged, family reunions were a huge deal, and I mean HUGE.  These gatherings were filled with rambunctious games with the cousins, lots of cooking banter coming from the aunts, and a few uncles, and fights over who got to turn the crank on the ice cream churn because we had somehow gotten Tom Sawyered into believing it was fun. Our reunions were loud conglomerations of half- chatter, half-food, and half- games.  I know that adds up to more than one, but the truth is a lot of these all took place at the same time– like the time Uncle Woodrow inserted himself in a whiffle ball game batting with the turkey drumstick he was wielding. It was the magic mixture of eating, playing, and visiting together that made these reunions standout among my fondest childhood memories.

After many months of pandemic -driven separation, the food industry family is ready for a reunion.  We are primed to gather in Orlando to work, learn and collaborate, but we are also eager to gather in sunny Florida to eat, play and reconnect.  The FMI Foundation’s Stir It Up! fundraiser takes place on Sunday night, January 23, 2022, in the Orlando Hyatt Regency Ballroom and this year’s theme is family reunion because that is what we intend it to be.  It will be a grand opportunity for the extended industry family to reassemble after a disjointed, Zoom-filled 22 months to have some fun, taste some fine food, catch-up with old friends and get acquainted with some new additions to our family.

Thanks to Ahold Delhaize USA, and Nestle USA, Inc., The Kroger Co. and PepiCo, Inc., Meijer, Inc. and Campbell’s, Hy-Vee, and Coca-Cola, we will have five kitchens competing for top honors in best family meal, offering you a chance to sample some of the best cuisine the food industry has to offer. In addition to the food fest, we will also host the Food Family Olympics with such daring family reunion events as Connect Four, Hot Potato, Foosball, Air Hockey, Egg Toss, Corn Hole, Hole-in-one, Mega Twister, Jumbo Jenga, Drop the Pin in the Bottle, Egg Relay, and a few surprises.  It will be your company’s chance to demonstrate its level of FUNctional teamwork and coordinated prowess. And yes, scores will be kept, so be getting your teams together and your competitors in peak condition. It will be some real downhome fun, and like all family reunions, memories will be made, stories will get exaggerated over time, and a great time will be had by all – unless you’re like Aunt Ethel who was only happy when making everyone else miserable, but we all learned to ignore her, which oddly enough made her downright gleeful.

Plan now to be a part of the fun of this historic re-gathering of the food industry family and participate in our memory making 2022 reunion.

Sponsorships are still available, and should you want to participate at that level, please contact the FMI Foundation team at dfikes@fmi.or or tcosgrove@fmi.org for details and opportunities.  You can also reach out to us for tickets to this grand event.

Proceeds help fund the ongoing industry-supporting work of the FMI Foundation.

We can’t wait to see you in Orlando.