Farmer Philanthropists These Farm Families Are Charitable Year Round Jim Patrico Progressive Farmer Senior Editor Wed Nov 27, 2013 01:19 PM CST Here is a modern Good Samaritan tale set in farm country: One blustery winter evening a few years ago, Martin Goedken was driving home to his farm in northwest Missouri. The thermometer was plunging, and temperatures of 10 degrees Fahrenheit were predicted overnight. Along the side of the road, Goedkens headlights picked up someone hitchhiking. It was a young Hispanic man in a jacket far too light for the weather. Others drove by, but Goedken stopped and offered the man a ride to the farm. Goedken spoke no Spanish, and the man spoke no English. But it was obvious he was cold, had not eaten in a while and was thirsty. When they arrived at the farm, Goedkens wife, Lisa, offered food, and the young man eagerly agreed. Fortunately, the Goedkens daughter Erica was home that night. She had done mission work in Latin America and spoke fluent Spanish. In conversation with him, she learned the man had ridden atop a train from Honduras to Mexico and then crossed the U.S. border after buying what he thought were legal papers. He had looked for work since but could find none because his papers were false documents. Goedkens contacted a social service agency for Hispanics in St. Joseph, Mo. When help arrived the next day, Lisa sent the man on his way with warm wishes and a bag of homemade biscuits. A TRADITION OF GIVING Farmer philanthropy is as old as the Bible. Think of barn raisings and neighbors helping neighbors in need at harvest time. In todays world, farmers donate much time and money to individuals and causes ... maybe in greater percentages than their city cousins. The 2011 Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll by Iowa State University indicates that 89% of 1,200 farmers polled had donated money to a charitable cause the previous year, and 80% had volunteered their time. Compare that to the 70% to 75% of the general population that had done the same. One of Americas most famous farmer philanthropists is Illinois Howard Buffett. His charitable entity, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, has spent more than $300 million on food security projects, largely in Africa and Latin America. At home, it sponsors -- in partnership with ADM, Monsanto and the charitable organization Feeding America -- a program called Invest an Acre, which fights hunger in American farming communities. Funds for the program come from farmer donations generated by the sale of grain. There are scores of other philanthropic organizations -- private and public -- which depend on farmers for gifts of time, money and expertise. While much of this philanthropic work centers on food, many rural residents give of their time to FFA chapters, 4-H clubs, local school boards, Extension councils and the like. They [farmers] might not view that as philanthropy; they might think it is just part of their responsibility to the community. But it really is philanthropy, says Paul Lasley, an ISU sociologist who coordinated the 2011 farm poll. WHY ARE FARMERS SO GIVING? I like to think that most farmers want to have a positive impact on the environment and their community, that they want to leave their farms better than when they got them, and they want to leave a legacy of being good neighbors and making a difference, Lasley says. Upbringing has a lot to do with that. The farm is a cooperative entity, and children who grow up on farms understand that helping one helps all. They also understand that they have to take responsibility if the farm and family are to succeed. Farmers tend to live out the axiom, If its going to get done, we have to do it ourselves, Lasley says. Religion also plays a large part in the charitable motif, Lasley says. Churches are the social backbones of many rural communities, and churches by their nature are cooperative organizations. Many also have outreach missions that get congregants involved in other charitable work. Finally, Lasley says, there is family tradition. My sense is that giving back is a learned activity, which you learn from your parents and grandparents. Here are a few (of many) examples of farmer philanthropists: -- Martin and Lisa Goedken, Conception Junction, Mo. The Goedkens both are farm kids -- he from Iowa, she from Kansas. He has a masters degree in health care administration and worked for many years in the hospital sector. After Martin left that career, he spent 13 years as a director of Catholic Charities in northwest Missouri. That job allowed him and Lisa to farm part time on their 140 acres. With five kids to feed, fresh vegetables and fruit from the orchard came in handy. But the Goedkens always managed to have extra produce, which they gave to local nursing homes and to Second Harvest, a food pantry in St. Joseph (ourcommunityfoodbank.org). That 32-year-old organization distributed 6 million pounds of fresh produce to charitable agencies in northwest Missouri in 2012. The food came from local and corporate donations, USDA supplies, food rescued from grocery stores before it was discarded and from local farmers like the Goedkens. When Martin, now 72, retired a few years ago, raising vegetables for Second Harvest of Hope Foundation became a full-time job for the family. Yams, cantaloupes, tomatoes, peppers, pears. Whatever they grow, the Goedkens give away, except for what they sell to cover expenses and save to eat themselves. Over the years, their donations have amounted to many thousands of pounds of food for others. This year alone, they gave more than 6,000 pounds of sweet potatoes to Second Harvest. One of the things I learned [in his Catholic Charities career] was that there is a lot of poverty and hunger in this area, Martin says. The Good Lord told us that if we take care of our neighbor, he will take care of us. Thats been my motivation. Lisa looks back on her childhood for her charitable inclinations. My folks never turned anyone away who needed help. … I believe that philosophy has carried over to my life. -- Michelle and John Stewart, Sheridan, Ill. I dont like the word charity, says Michelle Stewart. To her, it connotes a gift with no expectations from the recipient. I would rather teach someone to fish, as the saying goes, to help them up to reach their potential. Thats the motivation for Yorkville Christian School, a dream she and husband, John, hope to make real next school year. The school will be grades 9 through 12 and will accept 100 to 150 kids in 2014. In the future, it could expand to 850 students. The Stewarts have worked on the school project for the last three years and have seen it evolve from a partnership with an existing private school to a stand-alone venture. They have bought land, set up a 501(c)(3) corporation, secured local governmental approvals, secured architects drawings, even hired a superintendent, athletic director and marketing person, all of which they paid for out of their own pockets. Quite a project for a couple just entering their 40s. But the Stewarts tend to think big. They farm more than 13,000 acres near Chicago, run a company that spreads municipal biosolids on 30 to 40 farms and have more than 70 employees. With all that already on their plates, Who just wakes up and says, I want to start a high school? Michelle Stewart says. Yeah, were crazy. But we really felt called to do this. Thats hard to explain. But right now its in our hearts. We cant not do it. The impetus for the project built gradually, Michelle says, beginning with the couples work with 4-H kids and other youth groups. It started to take more definite shape when they learned of a local 15-year-old girl committing suicide and heard a drumbeat of news of broken homes and drug abuse in a rural community one hopes would be free of such tragedies. Michelle and John noticed there was no private school for kids who need to get away from such pressures. So the idea of a high school with a Christian base began to form. We thought somebody should start an private school. Somebody should do something about it, Michelle says. Eventually, we came to the realization that it was going to be us. No one else was going to do it. They had the resources; they had the motivation. Michelle says, We are so blessed. We feel a call by God to make a safe environment for these kids to grow and learn. They are our future. They can change the world. -- Doug and Debby Harford, Mazon, Ill. Philanthropy has been a learning process for the Harfords. They retired last year and turned their 1,500-acre corn and soybean farm over to their son. They have been involved in philanthropy for many years in church and community work and got more heavily involved when they first heard about Foods Resource Bank (foodresourcebank.org) in the early 2000s. Doug is now a director of FRB, which is a Christian-based organization that finances food security projects in 34 countries. The projects FRB sponsors are meant to give farm families and communities the ability to support themselves. Funding comes largely through farmer donations, which often take the form of growing projects. These are sponsored by local churches and consist of farmers contributing money from the sale of crops or livestock. Harford remembers the first FRB growing project he helped coordinate through his church. It was a hit with the congregation and netted the equivalent of 50% of the churchs annual budget, a lot more than Harford expected. It occurred to him later that maybe he shouldnt have been surprised that his rural community was so generous: Its what we do every day: raise food. Now we just need to sell some of it to help other people raise their own food. Not content to merely donate time and money, Harford wanted to see what FRB did with the funds he helped raise. As a director, he has made trips to 14 or 15 countries. The trips have taught him valuable lessons about the meaning and nature of philanthropy. First, doing helpful philanthropy is a lot like farming, he says. It seems simple but is very, very complicated to do correctly. For example, so much of what [food] aid does is create dependency, which is the opposite of what we should be doing. We want people to become independent and raise their own food, he says. That realization and others came to me in layers, Harford says, because learning how to do FRBs type of philanthropy is a continuum. It goes from, I want to save somebody to Oh my gosh, this is hard. How do I do it right? Then you ask, Can we do any real good at all? Would people be better off if we just went home? Until you can ask those questions, its just about you. Finally, he says, you understand that the only really decent way to help is to understand the issues facing other people. That is more important than the gift of money. Long term, Harford says, such understanding will not only help those in need, it will lead to world peace. -- Kenny and Sharon Smith, Troy, Kan. Kenny Smith has been on the wrong side of the economic fence and knows the face of need. When I was a kid, he says, we had nothing. We had eight kids and we just scrimped and scraped to get by. We worked hard, all of us. My dad never had a cab on his tractor. A fourth-generation farmer, Smith went to work as a welder and continued to farm the familys 160 acres of corn, soybeans and hay. But along the way he and his wife, Sharon, found the time and space to plant a vegetable garden so he could donate produce to the same food bank as the Goedkens, Second Harvest in St. Joseph, Mo. One year they contributed almost 4,000 pounds from their 1-acre garden. Why? Its not rocket science, Smith says. You just give because people need it. We dont have much money. But how much do you need? We give what we can. In the Smiths case, what they give is their time and their love. (AG) © Copyright 2013 DTN/The Progressive Farmer. All rights reserved. © Copyright 2013 DTN/The Progressive Farmer, A Telvent Brand. All rights reserved
Posted on: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 13:23:29 +0000
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