The Green Team nudged ahead of the Red Team in a tractor contest sponsored by the Community Foundation of Jackson County.
Tractor lovers and area farmers can participate in the annual Giving a Gift of Grain program and the Head-to-Head: Green vs. Red contest. Votes cost $20 or six for $100. Donors are encouraged to vote early and often.
Donations can support the Green Team or Red Team and benefit the community forever through funds administered by the foundation.
Deer Country and Jacobi Sales Inc. of Seymour have teamed again to park equipment pitting Green vs. Red in the foundation parking lot, 107 Community Drive, Seymour.
The Red Team won last year.
The Green Team edged ahead this week with a donation of corn from Kevin and Heidi Wheatley of Hamilton Township. Their votes put Green ahead with 50.11 percent of all votes cast. This is the first time the Wheatleys participated in Giving a Gift of Grain.
“We decided we needed to expand how we give back to our community,” Kevin Wheatley said in explaining the young couple’s donation. Proceeds from the sale of their corn were placed into the Jackson-Jennings Co-op/Bob Myers Memorial Scholarship Fund.
The Giving a Gift of Grain process is simple. Farmers tell their grain elevator that a particular load of grain is being donated to the foundation. The elevator then sells the grain for the foundation. Donors benefit by avoiding the sale of the donated grain in their farm income, which can provide a savings in their tax bills.
Participating grain elevators are Bundy Brothers in Medora, Jackson-Jennings Co-op in Brownstown and Cortland, Tampico Grain near Crothersville and Rose Acre Farms near Cortland.
Farmers can contribute their gifts of grain to benefit any of the 138 funds administered by the foundation, including the Jackson County Community Endowment, which helps the fall grant cycle, said Dan Davis, president and CEO of the foundation.
Tractor enthusiasts who don’t have grain to donate can cast a ballot in the Green vs. Red competition through cash donations.
For information about how to cast your vote, call the foundation at 812-523-4483 or send an email to [email protected].