The numbers have been tallied, the food has been weighed, and Tillamook is extremely proud to have been a part of making this year’s KGW Great Food Drive the most successful ever!

Thanks to generous individuals and companies, this year’s Great Food Drive raised more than 1.2 million pounds of food for the Oregon Food Bank, more than DOUBLE this year’s campaign goal of 600,000 pounds, and far surpassing last year’s campaign results as well. Here at Tillamook, we’re thrilled to have contributed $30,000 from the sales of our cheese in Oregon and southwest Washington during the month of March. Additionally, our Tillamook employees alone donated more than 13,000 pounds of food to the Great Food Drive during March as well.

Overall, this year’s campaign raised enough food to provide more than 900,000 meals to those in need in our communities. Knowing that we were part of making a positive impact on that many lives here in our home state of Oregon means so much to us.

We had a lot of fun seeing our fans at food collection events throughout the state and welcoming our good friend and KGW NewsChannel 8 morning show personality Drew Carney to the Tillamook Cheese Factory to help promote the cause!

To all of the Tillamook fans that bought extra cheese in March to support this very worthy cause, thank you!

The problem of hunger is a year-round issue for adults and children across our state. To find out how to support the Oregon Food Bank throughout the year, visit www.OregonFoodBank.org.

By Tori

Many of us take for granted the fact that we always have a hot meal waiting for us at the end of the day, or a Baby Loaf of delicious Tillamook Cheese sitting in our fridge. But the fact is, hunger has reached an all-time high in the U.S., and more families are seeking emergency food services than ever before. Here in our home state, we know that 1 in 5 Oregonians struggle with hunger, and one-third of those that receive food boxes from local food banks are children. These numbers are pretty astonishing, especially when you consider that many of these people who are struggling to put food on their table each day might be your neighbors, co-workers, and friends.

As a food producer and community leader, we at Tillamook feel it is our responsibility to help make a difference in the lives of people who are fighting hunger every day. That’s why we are proud for the seventh year in a row to support the KGW Great Food Drive, an incredibly valuable public service campaign that helps bring the community together to fight this serious issue of hunger.

During the month of March, we will be donating a portion of proceeds from any size or variety of Tillamook Cheese sold at stores throughout Oregon and SW Washington to the Great Food Drive, which supports the Oregon Food Bank.

Also – each week in March, we will be featuring a different special at our Tillamook Cheese Factory Visitor Center in support of the Great Food Drive. So, if you stop by to visit us on the coast, bring in 2 non-perishable food items or $2.00 to donate, and enjoy these special offers:

March 5 – 11: 10% off any purchase of Tillamook Cheese (no additional discounts apply)

March 12 – 18: Purchase the Great Food Drive Lunch Special at the Creamery Café of a Tillamooker Grilled Cheese sandwich and a cup of soup, and receive another Great Food Drive Lunch Special FREE (no substitutions)

March 19 – 25: Purchase any Tillamook Ice Cream item at the dipping counter, and receive a second item FREE (free item of equal or lesser value)

March 26 – 31: Purchase one pound of any variety(s) of fudge, and receive ½ pound FREE

Last year the Great Food Drive campaign raised more than 755,000 pounds of food for the Oregon Food Bank, which was enough to provide nearly 600,000 meals to those in need in our communities. Working together as a community, we hope to raise even more food and funds this year, so that we can continue to combat this serious issue. We hope you’ll join us!

By Tori

As one of the few token moms of the Tillamook Marketing/Communications team, I find myself always sharing stories of my kids (and their love of all things Tillamook). Honestly, mostly my two boys (3½ and 7½) just eat Tillamook au natural – cheese sliced up as a snack (or meal, or lunch box inclusion), yogurt right out of the cup – no need for fancy recipes for them to enjoy the Tillamook goodness. But, they are pretty partial to homemade mac and cheese. We have a few recipes we rotate, but this is one of my favorites because it (in a very non-obvious to kids-way) includes a little bit of vegetable. ;-) Don’t tell the kids, the shredded carrot pretty much looks just like shredded cheddar. Not sure mine have ever really noticed it! If you’re making this for grown-ups and want to add some extra spice, feel free to add a little cayenne or hot sauce into the egg mixture with the mustard powder.

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients
2 cups macaroni noodles
2½ cups coarsely grated carrot (about 8 small carrots)
3 cups grated Tillamook Sharp Cheddar Cheese
¼ cup (½ stick) Tillamook Unsalted Butter, cut into pieces
¾ cup Tillamook Sour Cream
¼ cup whole milk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¾ teaspoon mustard powder
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup finely grated parmesan cheese

Preparation
Preheat oven to 400°F and grease an 8-inch square baking pan. Cook macaroni according to package instructions in a large pot of salted boiling water. Add grated carrot 3 minutes before pasta is finished cooking, then drain well. While pasta is hot, stir in all but ½ cup of the cheddar and the butter.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream, milk, eggs, salt, mustard powder, and pepper. Fold mixture into the pasta. Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan then sprinkle the remaining cheddar and the parmesan over the top. Bake until the casserole is firm to the touch and golden brown, about 30 minutes.

By Tori

The home of Tillamook Cheese is on the Oregon Coast in Tillamook, OR

It’s hard to live and work among the incredible landscape that is the Pacific Northwest – with its majestic mountains, rolling rivers and towering trees – and not think about how our business practices impact the world around us. Being good stewards of our environment is important to us here at Tillamook, and we’re proud that our company is making strides to run our farmer-owned co-op in a sustainable way. In fact, in 2010 we completed a Sustainability Operations Audit with Portland State University and ECOS, a consulting firm specializing in sustainability engineering, which helped lay the necessary groundwork to set goals and action items in a number of key areas. The key areas include reducing energy use, packaging materials, waste, greenhouse gas emissions, water use, and fuel consumption. This is just the beginning of this journey for Tillamook, but here are some highlights of the specific steps we have taken as part of a comprehensive sustainability program:

- Focusing on reducing energy usage by reusing heat that would otherwise be wasted in various manufacturing processes, using low-level lighting in storage areas and installing meters to help monitor energy use, among other initiatives.

- Continuously evaluating packaging options as part of our commitment to use packaging materials that minimize raw inputs and support reuse and recycling. For example, by redesigning the lid on our yogurt cups, we were able to eliminate the use of 250,000 pounds of plastic annually.

- Closely monitoring the amount of water we purchase and use. By using the smallest amount of water needed, we reduce the amount of wastewater that results from the cheese making process. We also track water used at each facility, and in each department, to pinpoint opportunities for improvement, such as installing seal water control devices.

- Working to reduce waste by operating an intensive company-wide recycling program for more than 12 areas of waste.

- We also recently conducted a transportation audit to analyze traffic patterns between our manufacturing and distribution facilities, which enabled us to establish a baseline for fuel economy, annual fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. As a result, a new, more efficient shipping and distribution plan has been put into effect.  It saves fuel and miles by using forward warehouses that are located in closer proximity to our growing customer base, and makes it more efficient to package and distribute Tillamook products to key geographic regions outside of the Northwest.

We feel even better about the quality of our Tillamook dairy products knowing that they’re being made in a way that is sensitive to our environment, and we look forward to continuing our sustainability efforts into the future. If you have any questions about this information, please don’t hesitate to Contact Us here.

By Tori

As a farmer-owned cooperative, our local communities are very important to us. We work hard to be a responsible community member, supporting numerous local programs that help build our communities. In many ways, we’re a modest bunch at Tillamook, so we don’t always toot our own horn about all of our community giving. It’s the right thing to do, so we just do it. Simple as that.

But, today, we were honored to be recognized by the Portland Business Journal  at their annual Corporate Philanthropy Awards with one of only three “Innovation in Philanthropy” Awards. This award recognizes Oregon-based companies that create unique partnerships with non-profit organizations to make a difference in their community. The program that we were recognized for was our third annual partnership with the Tillamook County 4-H Leaders Association at the Tillamook County Fair.

For the past three years, Tillamook employees have been scooping up delicious Tillamook ice cream together with 4-H youth and parent volunteers for all of the hungry fair-goers that visit our Tillamook Ice Cream booth. At the end of a very busy four days and with involvement by more than 150 volunteers, we donated all of the proceeds from our ice cream sales to the 4-H Leaders Association to help support local youth development programs in our hometown community. Over the past three years, we’ve been able to donate more than $34,000 to the local 4-H program as part of this partnership.

Supporting organizations like 4-H is part of our company’s DNA. Through our company’s overall giving program, we spend hundreds of thousands of dollars each year giving back to many very worthwhile organizations and causes in key focus areas – including youth development, hunger relief, and agriculture community building – so that we can make the most positive impact in areas that align with our company values.

Huge thanks to the Portland Business Journal for recognizing our efforts with this Philanthropy Award, and kudos to the 4-H Leaders Association, in Tillamook County and across the country, for all of the excellent work they do to foster leadership and enrichment opportunities for our next generation!

Read more about our partnership with 4-H in today’s Portland Business Journal.

By Tori

For those of us working moms, summer doesn’t necessarily feel more relaxing than the school year. In fact, it can seem even more stressful … keeping up with crazy summer camp schedules that change each week and making sure the kiddos get where they need to be and have fun doing it. We’re still packing lunches each day and need to make sure there are enough energy-boosting healthy options for the wee ones to get through what are usually much more active days in the summer. For my two dairy loving boys (who am I kidding, they love food in general), there is no shortage of Tillamook snacking and lunching in the summer. Here are a couple of our favorite tricks of the trade:

By Tori

Ben Purcell

Supporting the future leaders of our communities is something we take seriously. After all, one of them might just lead our company one day! We’re very proud to have just recently awarded $10,000 in scholarships to five exceptional students in our local communities through our Tillamook Excellence in Leadership Scholarship program, which celebrated its tenth year this year. The Excellence in Leadership Scholarships were awarded to three Tillamook County high school seniors, one Morrow County high school senior (where our second cheesemaking facility is located), and one continuing college student with roots in Tillamook.

Vance Wetzel

TCCA’s 2012 Excellence in Leadership Scholarship recipients are Shelby Porter, Ben Purcell, Vance Wetzel, Rebecca Jepsen, and Katie Hurliman. Each student received $2,000.

Rebecca Jepsen

Shelby Porter hails from Nehalem, Oregon and is a graduate of Neah-Kah-Nie High School. She plans to study biology at Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon, with a goal of attending medical school.

Ben Purcell is from Bay City, Oregon and is also a graduate of Neah-Kah-Nie High School. He plans to attend Seattle Pacific University and study English.

Vance Wetzel is a graduate of Tillamook High School. He will study emergency medical services at Tillamook Bay Community College and earn his firefighting certificates through Tillamook Fire.

Rebecca Jepsen received TCCA’s scholarship for a Morrow County student. She is an Ione High School graduate and plans to attend Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington, to study pre-physical therapy.

Katie Hurliman is this year’s recipient of TCCA’s scholarship for a continuing college student. She is currently attending Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon, and is studying general science in order to complete the required prerequisites for optometry. Katie was a 2010 graduate of Tillamook High School.

TCCA’s scholarship program was established in 2003 by our co-op’s Board of Directors. Since then, a total of $92,000 has been awarded to 46 students, helping them achieve their educational goals and encouraging them to be leaders in their community.

Congrats to all of our 2012 scholarship winners and may your futures be very bright!

By Tori

The numbers have been tallied, the food has been weighed, and Tillamook is extremely proud to have been part of making this year’s KGW Great Food Drive one of the most successful yet!

Thanks to generous individuals and companies, this year’s Great Food Drive raised more than 755,000 pounds of food for the Oregon Food Bank, far surpassing the campaign’s goal of 500,000 pounds. Here at Tillamook, we’re thrilled to have contributed more than $25,000 from the sales of our cheese in Oregon and southwest Washington during the month of March. And our employees alone donated more than $1,400 and more than 1,000 pounds of food to the Great Food Drive as well.

Overall, this year’s campaign raised enough food to provide nearly 600,000 meals to those in need in our communities. Knowing that we were part of making a positive impact on that many lives here in our home state of Oregon means so much to us.

We had a lot of fun seeing our fans at food collection events throughout the state and welcoming our good friend and KGW NewsChannel 8 morning show personality Drew Carney to the Tillamook Cheese Factory to help promote the cause!

To all of the Tillamook fans that bought extra cheese in March to support this very worthy cause, thank you!

The problem of hunger is a year-round issue for adults and children across our state. To find out how to support the Oregon Food Bank throughout the year, visit www.OregonFoodBank.org.

By Tori

Sadly, hunger has reached an all-time high and more families are seeking emergency food services than ever before. Here in our home state, we know that 1 in 5 Oregonians struggle with hunger, and one-third of those that receive food boxes from local food banks are children. These numbers are pretty astounding, especially when you realize that many of these people might be your neighbors, co-workers and friends who are struggling to put food on their tables.

As a food producer and community leader, we at Tillamook feel it is our responsibility to help make a difference in the lives of people who are fighting hunger every day. That’s why we are proud to support the KGW Great Food Drive for the sixth year in a row.

During the month of March, we will be donating a portion of proceeds from any size or variety of Tillamook Cheese sold at stores throughout Oregon and SW Washington to the Great Food Drive, which supports the Oregon Food Bank.

Also – each week in March, we will be featuring a different special at our Tillamook Cheese Factory Visitor Center in support of the Great Food Drive. So, if you stop by to visit us on the coast, bring in 2 food items or $2.00 to donate, and enjoy these special offers:

March 4-10:        Receive $1.00 off your order at the Ice Cream Counter

March 11-17:      Receive a FREE Coffee, Pop or Milk with any breakfast or lunch entrée purchase at the Creamery Café (excludes juices)

March 18-24:      Receive 10% off all Tillamook branded apparel and souvenirs

March 25-31:      Buy one pound of fudge, get a half pound free

Working together as a community, hopefully we can begin to combat this serious issue. We hope you’ll join us!

By Tori