By DAVE BLOWER JR.
Farm World Editor

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — More supplies for a food bank and new picnic tables at a local historic site are a couple of projects where the Southern Wells FFA chapter plans to spend recently acquired grant money.

Four Indiana farmers presented $2,500 checks to nonprofit organizations during the Fort Wayne Farm Show in mid-January. The check presentations were part of the America’s Farmers Grow Communities program, which gave farmers the opportunity to win $2,500 for their favorite local nonprofit organizations.

The Monsanto Fund sponsors the program, and winning farmers designate a local nonprofit organization to benefit from the donations. The check presentations involved the winning farmers and organizations from Elkhart, Huntington, Kosciusko and Wells counties.

Jerry and Gretta Nusbaumer were the grant winners from Wells County, and they gave their funds to the Southern Wells FFA chapter. “We were very surprised to win this,” Gretta admitted. “We’re usually not too lucky when it comes to things like this.”

Southern Wells FFA Advisor Steve Stauffer said the $2,500 will go toward many projects. Repairing a roof to a shelter that the FFA chapter built 35 years ago and new multimedia equipment for the chapter are also planned expenses.
“We will be able to do a lot of good in a lot of different ways with this generous gift,” he explained.

“Every penny of it is going to go back to the community. Nothing will be used for chapter expenses.”

Stauffer said the picnic tables will be added to the historic Five-Point School, which is a Wells County landmark. “My goal is not to produce farmers, but to produce good young people whatever it is they choose to pursue,” Stauffer added.

Hal Hoffman of Kosciusko County was excited to have been selected as a winner, too. “I’m very happy that Monsanto gives farmers like me the opportunity to choose organizations that we think best support our local communities,” Hoffman said. “I was personally selected as a winner, but my community as a whole will benefit.”

Hoffman chose to direct the $2,500 donation to the Tippecanoe Valley Boomerang Backpacks, which provides local needy elementary students with weekend meals and snacks.

The other winning farmers and recipients who participated in the Fort Wayne Farm Show presentations were Don Kauffman and Fairfield FFA, Elkhart County; and James Carl and Mt. Etna Volunteer Fire Department, Huntington County. There are 83 winners in Indiana with a total of $207,500 being donated to nonprofits in the state. The remaining winners will participate in upcoming presentations in their counties.

In more than 1,200 eligible counties, farmers were eligible to win $2,500 for their favorite community nonprofit. The Monsanto Fund expects to invest more than $3 million in those local communities. The program originated with two pilot programs.

The first pilot included 179 counties in Iowa, Missouri and Arkansas. The second pilot was expanded to include 298 counties in California, Kansas, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and South Dakota.