Most of the members know that I have been aligning some of our positions with Chad Miller and the Kankakee County Farm Bureau. The reason is very simple. Chad and the Farm Bureau have been looking out for our interest in this very troubling time on the farm. Topics such as land acquisitions by the government and or utilities, water shed, chemical retention and relations with our government officials are very important. But the other side of the Bureau is that they support great ideas that we have in common with our Club. Part of our mission statement states that we will educate people to preserve our way of life. Since 2002 we have been working toward those mission goals with scholarships though KCC, donations to local FFA’s and donations to other Clubs who we have common goals with. I want to remind everyone that scholarship applications being taken currently to the Kankakee County Farm Bureau Foundation offering financial support to those furthering their education in an agriculturally related field of study. Last year, nine $1000 scholarships were awarded to Kankakee County students . If you have a son, daughter, grand child or just know a senior who has needs, you can contact Chad at kankfb@sbcglobal.com or 815-932-7471.

All that being said, The Club has supported Kids Day at the Farm since Eldon Chapman brought the idea to the Club. We have contributed $250 again this year to help promote the event. This year Chad has asked the Club if there are some volunteers at the Club who could help them manage some 1500 students that will pass through on the two-day event. Here are his needs.

The program will be Wednesday, March 21 and Thursday, March 22 at the Kankakee County fairgrounds. Setup on Wednesday, March 21 will begin at 8 am and we will need help with that. The students are at the program from 10 am to 2 pm and we will need assistance with a variety of things during that time frame as well. The cleanup begins around 2 pm on Thursday, March 22 and help is appreciated with that too.

Here is a breakdown of the volunteer roles we need to fill:

1. Setup tables and chairs, and other materials on Weds, March 21 at 8 am to 10 am. Also, ssistance with putting together animal pens for the animal building. There are five animal exhibits.

2. Assist with getting students off the school buses as they arrive. Both Weds, March 21 and Thurs, March 22 at around 9 am to 10 am. Each classroom will have a large box filled with their
lunches. That large box will have to be taken from the bus and brought into the main building.

3. Keeping time in the animal building. An instruction sheet will be provided. This would be from 10 am to 2 pm on both Weds and Thurs.

4. Tearing down the tables, chairs, sweeping, and general cleaning up after the program is done at 2 pm on Thursday. Depending on how many FFA students we have helping, it may be that we need a few additional volunteers to guide the classrooms around from presentation to presentation. That would be both days (Weds and Thurs). If you are interested in volunteering, please let me know ahead of time. I will have a signup sheet at the February meeting. Your time is valuable to the project and what better way to support our mission.   –– Craig