SAF members uncovered clues and completed photo challenges during a Washington D.C. scavenger hunt that was also a fundraiser for SAFPAC. Members raised more than $12,000 for the fund at SAF’s Congressional Action Days.
With just 90 minutes to solve 14 riddles planted across a five-block radius, about 20 retailers, wholesalers, and growers raced through Washington D.C. on March 28. The scavenger hunt, combined with a fundraising push at an evening reception, netted more than $12,000 for SAF’s political action fund.
The “Race to the White House” scavenger hunt, held as part of SAF’s Congressional Action Days, had attendees, in teams of five to six, running by landmarks such as the White House, Lafayette Square and the Treasury Department on a blustery day in a race to discover answers to clues. Tickets to the event, along with nine donations of $1,000 or more, boosted the SAFPAC’s account — and gave attendees a fun way to quickly see Washington D.C. and interact with their floral industry peers.
“It was a great way to engage with people that you otherwise wouldn’t engage with,” says Steve Ozment, of Flowerama in Columbus, Ohio.
SAFPAC funds are used to support members of Congress who influence the industry’s top legislative and regulatory priorities, such as members of the House and Senate Agricultural Appropriations committees and members of the Ways and Means Committee. The funds are also used to connect SAF’s leadership and lobbyists with key politicians.
“I actually got to experience those dollars at work last evening,” SAF President Michelle Castellano Keeler, AAF, of Mellano & Company, said during SAF’s Congressional Action Days Grassroots Breakfast. She and SAF CEO Kate Penn attended a fundraising dinner with Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Michigan) and Rep. Ben Cline (R-Virginia). Both men are on the Appropriations Committee, and Moolenaar’s new redistricted territory includes a large number of specialty crop growers. Over dinner, Castellano Keeler and Moolenaar discussed issues specific to specialty crop growers, Castellano Keeler says, noting that Moolenaar had misconceptions about how that type of grower operates.
“He was assuming that we operate the way big ag operates” by utilizing H2A workers, which has proved challenging for specialty crop growers, she says. As they talked over dinner, the congressman developed a greater understanding of the needs of flower growers. The experience was impactful, Castellano Keeler says.
“It was much more effective than running in and out of an office,” she says, adding that the intimacy of the dinner helped her develop a connection. “Connections happen over those meetings.”
SAFPAC’s funds had dwindled significantly during the pandemic, but at SAF’s annual convention last fall, the floral community answered the call, raising more than $35,000. At a SAFPAC reception following the scavenger hunt, several SAF volunteer leaders spoke to the importance of having a strong political action committee.
“In the long run, look at the benefits we’ve received from having a PAC,” says Michael Pugh, AAF, owner of Pugh’s Flowers in Memphis, Tennessee, and SAF’s treasurer.
In recent years, SAF’s advocacy efforts have saved the industry tens of millions of dollars by pushing to have roses added to the Generalized System of Preferences, making them exempt from a 6.8 percent tariff, and securing federal aid for floriculture growers through the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program.
“The reason we were so effective is because there is money in the PAC,” says SAF Chairperson Chris Drummond, AAF, PFCI.
Want to learn more about SAFPAC? The first step is signing a prior approval form online. This allows SAF to communicate with you about what SAFPAC is doing and alert you to future SAFPAC events. Questions? Contact SAF’s Senior Vice President Katie Butler.
Amanda Jedlinsky is the managing editor of SAF Now.
