logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Free Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

Nonprofit Newswire | Farm Rescue: A North Dakota Jewel

Ruth McCambridge
September 17, 2010
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

September 16, 2010; Source: American Profile | Bill Gross of Seattle is a busy international UPS pilot, but in his spare time and on layovers in such locations as Singapore, he organizes volunteers to help farmers, besieged by tragedy, to plant and bring in their crops. Based in Jamestown, North Dakota, the effort is called Farm Rescue.

Gross a native of rural North Dakota knows from growing up on a family farm how devastating an injury, illness, or natural disaster can be for a farm. He has had this idea for quite a while, but he originally thought about it as a post retirement endeavor. He envisioned himself on a big John Deere tractor as a “random good Samaritan”. Discussions with his fellow pilots on those long flights, however, took him to a grander vision and in 2005 he founded Farm Rescue, an all volunteer effort that can plant and harvest up to 1,000 acres for farmers in need.

Farm Rescue helped 10 North Dakota farmers in 2006, but since then has grown its efforts into South Dakota, western Minnesota, and eastern Montana, helping130 farm families. Says the article, “More than 150 sponsors and hundreds of individuals have donated money to the cause, and more than 500 volunteers have lent a hand, operating equipment, raising money and promoting the organization.”

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

The volunteers are drawn from far and wide, often driving long distances to help. Jack Limke of Kentucky, a fellow UPS pilot, recently brought his wife and two daughters with him to Montana to help a family where father (Gene Anderson) and son were both working the land. The son died of a genetic liver disease right after his mother (Geri Anderson) had suffered a stroke. Farm Rescue volunteers, including Limke, planted 850 acres of wheat. “On the day of the funeral, the volunteers stopped the tractors for an hour or so and came to the services,” said Gene Anderson. “It’s quite an operation.”

Says Limke, “I think it’s an incredible idea that Bill had, and I wanted to help him. Back in the 1930s and ’40s, there were farming bees when farmers had issues. Now farms are so large and there are fewer of them and it’s harder to take time off and help your neighbors. That’s where Farm Rescue fits in.”

Only approximately half of the applications received by this remarkable endeavor can be served but in our opinion, it is a breathtaking example of powerfully useful service that comes straight from the heart.—Ruth McCambridge

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ruth McCambridge

Ruth is Editor Emerita of the Nonprofit Quarterly. Her background includes forty-five years of experience in nonprofits, primarily in organizations that mix grassroots community work with policy change. Beginning in the mid-1980s, Ruth spent a decade at the Boston Foundation, developing and implementing capacity building programs and advocating for grantmaking attention to constituent involvement.

More about: Nonprofit News

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

You might also like
Two Years on From George Floyd’s Murder, We Fight to Protect Protest
Jamala Rogers
Building Power, Building Wealth: The Value of Community-Driven Models
Lem White and Keiko Murase
The Great Awakening: Redefining Work, Values, and Purpose
Rithika Ramamurthy
The Rich Get Richer: CEO Pay at 300 US Companies Climbs 31 Percent in 2021
Steve Dubb
The Struggle for Black Land: Preserving Heirs’ Property by Building Trust
Dr. Jennie L. Stephens
The Emergence of Black Funds
Cyndi Suarez

NPQ_Summer_2022

Upcoming Webinars

July 14th, 2 pm ET

Combating Disinformation and Misinformation in 21st-Century Social Movements

Register Now
You might also like
AOC’s “Tax the Rich” Dress Dazzles Met Gala, while...
Anastasia Reesa Tomkin
Foundation Giving Numbers for 2020 Show 15 Percent Increase
Steve Dubb
Strike MoMA Imagines Art Museums without Billionaires
Tessa Crisman

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.