By SHELLY STRAUTZ-SPRINGBORN

Michigan Correspondent

LAPEER, Mich. — Two fundraisers are underway to support ongoing relief efforts for farmers and ranchers in areas ravaged by wildfires and other disastrous situations.

The Michigan-based nonprofit Ag Community Relief organization is hosting its second annual Barn Bash and its first truck raffle. The Barn Bash is June 23 at Swoish Barn, 4775 Clear Lake Road in North Branch. Doors open at 3:30 p.m. and dinner will be served at 5. Proceeds from all fundraisers benefit the organization’s general fund and its scholarship fund.

The Barn Bash includes a homemade slow-roasted barbecue pork dinner with all the fixings. In addition, a live auction and raffle will feature a variety of items ranging from Henry rifles to sports tickets and everything in between. Attendees will be given raffle tickets with the purchase of their admission ticket and they may also buy more at the event. The Richard Lynch Band will play live country music.

Ag Community Relief President Matt Schaller said there were about 50 items included in last year’s raffle.

“We had a lot of very nice items. With the variety, nearly everyone went home with something,” he said. “A firearms dealer will be there doing a gun raffle, and they will have several firearms available for people to choose from.”

He said as the event gets closer, the group will post a list of auction and raffle items on its website at www.agcommunityrelief.com and will share some updates through the organization’s Facebook page.

Schaller said the idea behind last year’s first Barn Bash was “to bring everyone together who had volunteered to help with relief efforts, so they could meet each other and share their stories from the different trips they went on.”

As planning occurred, they decided to make it a bigger event and try to raise some money to support their efforts. Last year, the Barn Bash raised more than $25,000 for the organization, and $2,000 was given back to 4-H and FFA members through scholarships.

Advance tickets for the Barn Bash may be purchased through the organization’s online store at www.agcommunityrelief.com – select “Store” on the top menu. Tickets purchased before June 10 are $45 for one adult, which includes 10 raffle tickets; $85 for two adults, which includes 25 raffle tickets; and $20 each for children younger than 12, which includes 10 kids’ raffle tickets.

After June 20, all tickets are $50 each. Attendees can also receive a group discount to purchase an eight-seat table for $325, which includes 100 raffle tickets.

The group also has partnered with Milnes Auto Group of Lapeer and Imlay City to raffle a 2018 3/4-ton four-door, short-box diesel truck. The winner may choose from a Chevrolet, Dodge or Ford.

Second place is $2,500 cash and third place is $1,500. Tickets are $100 each and may also be purchased through Ag Community Relief's online store. The winning tickets will be drawn Sept. 8 at 4 p.m., at the Woods-N-Water Expo in Imlay City.

Ag Community Relief was formed in 2017 after the wildfires in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas to bring relief to active farmers and ranchers who experience devastation across the United States, by assembling volunteers and donations to help mitigate their suffering.

Schaller, who works for a trucking company, said last year when relief efforts started, he just wanted to help ranchers in Texas by taking a load of hay to them. “I put a post out on Facebook that I was trying to find a load of hay to take to Texas; what was supposed to be one truckload turned into 10 semi loads.”

Since its start, Ag Community Relief has put more than 60 loads of relief out on the road, including hay and other types of feed and ag supplies. Schaller said he never dreamed how quickly the effort would grow.

“I didn’t expect it to turn into this. I just thought we would take a load of hay and help some folks out” he explained.

In April, volunteers with the organization reached out to help Oklahoma ranchers who suffered devastating losses from wildfires that burned more than 400,000 across the state this spring. Ag Community Relief is just finishing its Western Wire Roundup to ship a load containing 560 rolls of the barbed wire to ranchers in the Northern Rockies.

Schaller said Stockman's Feed Bunk, a ranch and supply company in Boise City, Okla., sold fencing supplies to ranchers in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas last year at cost, and it is generously doing so again this year for ranchers in the Northern Rockies, where wildfires have destroyed thousands of miles of barbed wire fence already this year.

“Every year that goes by, we meet more and more good people, and the group gets bigger,” he noted. “We have contacts all over who really help make our efforts possible.”