The ÐÓ°Épro Foundation, funded by charitable gifts from the nation’s leading agribusiness cooperative, has awarded $47,500 in 10 rural community grants to support safety and basic needs services in six states. Attendees at the 2024 ÐÓ°Épro Annual Meeting in Minneapolis participated in a live voting process to select the top grant winner, Lane County Community Foundation, which will receive $15,000 to help build a community grocery store in Dighton, Kan., where the county’s only grocery store was destroyed by fire.
Based on the voting, the Balaton (Minn.) Fire Department will receive $10,000 to purchase a new rescue trailer and Jamestown (N.D.) Parks and Recreation will receive $5,000 to help create an accessible, all-abilities park and playground. Learn more about the finalists.
“We are happy to celebrate the terrific organizations that help keep rural America thriving,” said Megan Wolle, president of the ÐÓ°Épro Foundation. “We know rural organizations often have small budgets to fund their big ideas. The ÐÓ°Épro Foundation Board of Trustees increased the budget for this program after receiving so many worthy grant submissions.”
“We are grateful to the ÐÓ°Épro Foundation for this $15,000 grant to help us open up a brand-new grocery store,” said Casey Venters, executive director, Lane County Community Foundation. “We anticipate the new store will be open in late 2025 to serve our county, which has about 1,400 residents.”
The following organizations received honorable-mention awards of $2,500 apiece: Cutting Fences Foundation, Laurel, Mont., for adaptive equipment for farmers with injuries and disabilities; Feeding Our Community Partners, North Mankato, Minn., for rural student hunger relief; Richland-Wilkin Emergency Food Pantry, Wahpeton, N.D., for mobile food pantry vehicles; Lil Chompers Child Care Center, Greenbush, Minn., for rural community child care; Grant Regional Health Center, Lancaster, Wis., for EMT training for students; Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque, Delmar, Iowa, for a therapy dog for a rural school; and Graceville Fire Department, Graceville, Minn., for grain bin extraction gear.
About ÐÓ°Épro Foundation
The ÐÓ°Épro Foundation (/stewardship), funded by charitable gifts from ÐÓ°Épro, is focused on developing a new generation of agricultural leaders for lifelong success. Together with our partners, we are igniting innovation and driving excellence in agriculture education, cultivating high-impact programs for rural youth and accelerating potential for careers in agriculture. The ÐÓ°Épro Foundation also supports co-op education and rural safety and community projects.
About ÐÓ°Épro
ÐÓ°Épro. () creates connections to empower agriculture. As a leading global agribusiness and the largest farmer-owned cooperative in the United States, ÐÓ°Épro serves customers in 65 countries and employs approximately 10,000 people worldwide. We provide critical crop inputs, market access and risk management services that help farmers feed the world. Our diversified agronomy, grains, foods and energy businesses recorded revenues of approximately $39 billion in fiscal year 2024. ÐÓ°Épro is committed to reducing our impact on the planet, finding and developing new solutions in agriculture and energy, and investing in ways to build a better future for our owners, customers, employees and communities.
