More Than 350 IGIA Members Attend Grocers Care Day,

Listen to Governor Culver and His Bottle Bill Plans

Anticipation ran high the morning of February 13, when more than 350 members of the Iowa Grocery Industry Association traveled to Des Moines to hear Governor Chet Culver speak at the 2008 Grocers Care Day event.

Culver accepted an invitation from the IGIA to address its members as the keynote speaker about several key legislative topics, particularly the Bottle Bill. A capacity crowd of industry leaders and store managers filled the ballroom at the Quality Inn & Suites in downtown Des Moines. Everyone wanted to hear exactly how the Governor planned to work with them on issues that directly impact their businesses and communities.

“Our members really rallied together in a way I have never seen and I think that sent an extremely important message to Governor Culver,” said IGIA President Jerry Fleagle. “We wanted him to see first hand that our industry is well united and that we will stand strong together on the issues that matter most to us. If we could do nothing else by having him at our event, that is the one thing we wanted to achieve and I believe we were able to do that with the large turnout we witnessed.”

Following the Governor’s speech, the event attendees were briefed on all the legislative issues that are impacting the grocery industry in Iowa. Other than the Bottle Bill, this year’s topics of discussion included EBT reimbursement fees, food code license fees, private cause of action and health insurance mandates.

Once everyone was brought up to speed with what had been taking place during the current legislative session, Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal spoke to the audience as the luncheon speaker. Gronstal helped give the crowd more perspective into the issues that could affect them and answered questions from a few members.

Iowa Grocery Industry Association members were then bussed to the capitol building, where they had the opportunity to meet state legislators and discuss issues of concern directly with them. Most conversations took place in the rotunda of the capitol building while others were done as legislators escorted their visitors on tours of the capitol or during the pie and ice cream reception hosted by the IGIA in the cafeteria.

A number of organizations helped the Iowa Grocery Industry Association put together another successful event by sponsoring key aspects of the day. Anderson Erickson (beverages), Blue Bunny (ice cream), Dahl’s Food Markets (cherry pies), Friedrich’s Coffee (coffee) and Hy-Vee (apple pies) all donated products for the pie and ice cream reception. Wal-Mart assisted with providing the buses to transport members to and from the state capitol building.