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| Hoosier farm community rallies to help teens with 4-H projects |
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To the Editor,
In today’s world, we all too often only hear about what is wrong in the world and how horrible people are to one another. We would like to share a story of a group of Rush County people who did something very wonderful to help a group of teens from the former Indiana Soldiers and Sailors Children’s Home.
As many people are aware, the State of Indiana closed the historic Indiana Soldiers and Sailors Children’s Home (ISSCH) on May 23 of this year. The closing of the school resulted in all of the children returning to their former homes.
As one might suspect, this created some difficulties for students in completing programs that they had begun, such as the Junior ROTC, broadcasting, cosmetology and dental assisting to name a few of the programs that were offered through the vocational programs at ISSCH. Another program that was affected was the 4-H program that several of the students participated in which allowed them to show their Angus cattle at the local 4-H fair in Rush County.
As the closing of the school became inevitable, several Rush County farmers elected to speak with the ISSCH farm manager, Jeff Hamm, to find out what would be happening to the students’ 4-H cattle project for this year. The group found out that the State had requested that the cattle be taken to the local livestock auction house in Knightstown on May 23, which coincided with the school’s graduation and official closing date for the school.
It bothered these men that these students would not be able to complete their 4-H project. Each of these men have been involved in 4-H and understand that the 4-H program teaches more than how to handle a heifer in the showring, it teaches responsibility and helps with the young person becoming a mature adult.
After the group had spoken with Mr. Hamm, many phone calls were hurriedly made to proceed with the plan to help the students get to show their cattle at the Rush County Fair on June 25.
Funds were quickly raised by the core group of four men to try to arrange to purchase the cattle at the auction in less than one week.
Calls were placed to parents and guardians to assure the students would be able to return to Rush County for the fair. The core group also wanted to raise additional funds to be able to give the four students involved in the 4-H program a financial reward to help them with any expenses they might encounter in the near future and to let them know that there are people out there who care about them.
At the auction, an announcement was made that several area farmers were wanting to purchase the four heifers “from the Home” and only one person bid against them. This resulted in the price being at a higher rate than expected, but the group was successful
in their effort to buy the heifers.
At the Rush County Fair, only three of the four students were able to be there to show their heifers. The other student was unable to be present due to prior commitments.
All four heifers were shown and the students did an outstanding job with their animals. The students were very appreciative of the efforts of this group of men who spent their own money in order to give these students the opportunity to show the animals they have spent so much time with in the last year.
During the week of the Rush County Fair, a great deal of interest was expressed in helping these teens with their project and “with anything else they might need.” As a direct result of this, the financial reward for all of their hard work grew to include donations from many businesses and families throughout the county.
We would like to acknowledge those businesses and families:
Wells Fargo Bank
Denzler Seeds/Mark Denzler
Doug & Christie Hall & Family
Midwest Ag Finance
Mark & Dena Bills
State Senator Bob Jackman
JD & Bec Wicker
Ron & Marsha Westerfeld
Crow’s Seeds/Dan Scott
Elbert & Diane Gordon & Family
Eric & Cathy Vannatta & Family
Gray Farms (Brian, Terry and John Gray)
Addam & Jill Carmony & Family
Larry & Barbara Cloud
Paul & Debbie Richardson
Brad & Mary Jane Apple
Falmouth Farm Supply/Dale Thomas
RCHS Principal Matt Vance
We are very pleased to say that this project started out as a few men upset with the Children’s Home closing and resulted in the Rush County farming community coming together to do what we do best … help one another. Don’t we live in a wonderful community? We can all take pride in this one project and strive to continue to help one another.
Sincerely,
Wayne and Penny Marlatt |
| 8/12/2009 |
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