Tractor Supply Company has donated $100,000 through its TSC Foundation to the Farmer Veteran Coalition’s (FVC) Fellowship Fund — a grant program that provides direct assistance to veterans in their beginning years of farming, either through grants of equipment or monetary awards ranging from $1,000 to $5,000.
In honor of July 4 and in gratitude for their service, Tractor Supply is also providing all veterans, active military and their dependents with a 15% discount on Tuesday, July 4 in stores nationwide.
“Our longstanding support for veterans is rooted in our core values of gratitude, integrity and community,” said Mary Winn Pilkington, president of the Tractor Supply Company Foundation.
“Agriculture offers a sense of purpose and opportunity ideally suited for veterans beginning new careers. Through our donation to the Farmer Veteran Fellowship Fund, Tractor Supply is honored to support these new farmers while connecting them with the supplies, equipment and insight that are critical to their success.”
The 60 farmer veterans benefitting from the TSC donation were selected by a team of seasoned agriculture industry professionals. Applications were evaluated based on farm training, experience and/or transferable skills, level of personal investment in their farm business and ability to show how an award will help grow their farm business and support their local community.
Established in 2008, FVC is the nation’s largest nonprofit organization assisting veterans and active-duty members of the U.S. Armed Forces embarking on careers in agriculture.
With the mission of mobilizing veterans to feed America, FVC provides education, resources, and small grants, and fosters the collaboration of the farming and military communities to cultivate a new generation of farmers and food leaders.
“The Farmer Veteran Coalition is grateful for our long-time partnerships with Tractor Supply,” said Jeanette Lombardo, FVC executive director. “Their generosity and continued support of the Fellowship Fund Program has helped FVC grow this program year after year and has made a huge impact on beginning Veteran farmers throughout the country.”
Tractor Supply was one of seven major donors that provided awards to a total of 133 farmer veterans. Fifty winners were awarded $1,000 Tractor Supply gift cards while an additional $50,000 grant from the Tractor Supply Company Foundation will benefit farmer veterans in the form of grants and through FVC programming.
For the last five years, Tractor Supply has partnered with FVC to assist farmer veterans from all branches of service as part of its ongoing commitment to veteran causes. In total, the Company has donated more than $450,000 in gift cards and funding to FVC, assisting more than 300 farmer veterans.
Three veterans from Michigan are among this year’s recipients, including: Kevin Garlock — Bellaire, Michigan
Kevin proudly served eight years in the U.S. Air Force, gaining experience in a variety of areas ranging from Air Traffic Control to Arabic Cryptologic Language Analysis. He was unfortunately injured in an accident which forced him to retrain out of his first career into intelligence to finish his tour of duty.
Kevin now operates Highwind Terrace, which is a climate-smart apiary and permaculture farm. He has designed his own custom hives and will be experimenting with a multitude of new technologies and practices to protect his hives from the current plagues of mites that result in so many winter hive deaths. Long term, Kevin intends to grow the property into a large-scale permaculture operation.
Source: michiganfarmnews.com
Photo Credit: Farmer Veteran Coalition
Categories: Michigan, Equipment & Machinery