David Jaindl, owner and president of Jaindl Farms, Jaindl Turkey Sales, Jaindl Land Company, and Schantz Orchards, all in Orefield, was recently awarded the 2013 Associates Award from the Associates of Cedar Crest College during a March 6 luncheon at the college.

Jaindl, who has worked on the family farm since he was 8 years old, is still out in the fields nearly every day.

He commented on receiving his award.

"I am very honored and humbled to share this award with prior recipients," Jaindl told The Press after the luncheon. "They are community minded people."

Jaindl Farms was founded in the 1930s by his father, Fred, and grandfather, John L.

John Jaindl managed the farm until the 1980s, when David Jaindl took over the operation upon his grandfather's death.

The company provides nearly 1 million turkeys, mostly for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.

The family farms 11,000 acres of corn, soybeans, wheat and organic grains and Jaindl's 300-acre orchard produces apples, peaches, plums and cherries.

He has been responsible for residential, commercial and industrial projects including Lehigh Valley West Industrial Parks in Upper Macungie Township, where Nestlé, Perrier, Bridgestone/Firestone, Coca-Cola have facilities and Ocean Spray will soon have a plant.

Jaindl served on the Cedar Crest College Board of Trustees from 2005-10 and participated in the transition from President Dorothy Gulbenkian Blaney to President Carmen Twillie Ambar.

In addition to his past work on the Cedar Crest College Board of Trustees, Jaindl serves as a trustee for the Jaindl Foundation, which aids many non-profit organizations in the Lehigh Valley.

In 2006, he co-founded, with Kostas Kalogeropoulos, the Miracle League of the Lehigh Valley, which provides a state-of-the-art baseball field in Heidelberg Township, where nearly 300 physically and mentally challenged children and adults play annually.

In 2011, he and wife, Jackie, chaired Lehigh Valley Health Network's Children's ER fundraising campaign.

The 2013 Associates Award, given annually by the Associates of Cedar Crest College, honors individuals who have made significant contributions to Cedar Crest College; graduates of the college, who have achieved success in their chosen fields; or individuals whose careers reflect the college's mission of promoting women's leadership.