Would you like to help out a nonprofit in your community? Through the America’s Farmers Grow Communities program, sponsored by the Monsanto Fund, farmers can enroll for a chance to direct a $2,500 donation to a local eligible nonprofit organization.
New this year, all farmers are now eligible to enroll in the program, as long as they meet the requirement of being 21 years old and actively engaged in farming at least 250 acres or more. The Grow Communities program will award more than $3 million to nonprofits in rural America in 2018.
These funds are used to provide support to a variety of rural nonprofit organizations that reflect the makeup and character of their local communities, including food banks, emergency response organizations, youth agriculture programs, and many others. Since the program began in 2010, the Grow Communities program has awarded more than $26 million in donations.
Ron Rockhold, a repeat winner farmer from Sabina, Ohio, was able to direct three years of donations to his local volunteer fire department. With the funds, Concord Green Volunteer Fire Department has been able to purchase tornado sirens. Previously the community only had one siren from the 1950s, which they replaced and added two additional sirens. The new sirens will now be heard across the county and will provide a much needed alert system to notify community members to violent weather conditions.
“Prior to receiving the donations, the fire department did not have the resources to install enough new sirens to cover our county’s most highly-populated areas,” said Rockhold. “As a 49-year veteran of the fire department, I am so grateful to the America’s Farmers Grow Communities program for the opportunity to give back.”
“Through the years, we have seen this program impact countless local communities, and we are proud to partner with farmers on this initiative to continue supporting nonprofit organizations important to them,” said Al Mitchell, Monsanto Fund president. “Because of farmers’ commitment to the Grow Communities program, their donations have provided vital support to organizations that make a lasting impact in local communities throughout the U.S.”
Farmers can easily enroll in the Grow Communities program from now to Nov. 1, 2017.
