(12/18/12 – LUBBOCK, TEXAS) AgTexas Farm Credit Services announced today its plan to conduct a unique fund-raising program in the summer of 2013 to support the Texas Food Banks in its 23-county market area.
The “2013 AgTexas Farm Credit Tractor Drive” will feature an agricultural tractor traveling from community-to-community across the Texas Plains and Central Texas to raise awareness of poverty in the state and the continued need to support the nutritional needs of those less fortunate.
“Poverty and the lack of nutrition is not just an urban problem, but also a problem in rural areas,” states AgTexas Board Chairman James Ray Schronk. Although the number in poverty decreases in rural communities, there is still one in eight Texas families in our communities that live below the poverty line.
“As a strong supporter of Texas agriculture, AgTexas Farm Credit and its members are greatly concerned that the number of people living in poverty in our communities has reached the highest point in 50 years,” comments Mitchell Harris, CEO of AgTexas . “Most alarming is the fact that over one in four (26.6%) children in Texas lives in poverty.”
The 2013 AgTexas Tractor Drive will promote fund-raising participation from FFA Chapters in the 23 county area and will include scheduled events in local communities. The FFA Chapter that raises the largest contributions will be rewarded the actual tractor after the event.
The Tractor Drive personnel will post daily reports and videos about their activities on the popular social media sites so that both association members and the general public can keep abreast of the program’s progress throughout the summer of 2013.
In addition, AgTexas Farm Credit will be recruiting sponsorship partners for this event to assist in defraying the actual costs of the Tractor Drive so that 100 percent of contributions go directly to the Regional Food Banks. Interested sponsors can contact Kristy Tucker at AgTexas or Mark Vogel at the Avant Marketing Group (phone: 314.576.7700).
AgTexas finances agricultural production, agribusiness, farm and ranch land, rural recreational property and country homes. The Lubbock-headquartered cooperative has branch offices in Brownfield, Burleson, Hillsboro, Levelland, Lubbock, Ralls, Seminole and Stephenville. It is part of the nationwide Farm Credit System.
