DEBDEN, Sask. – There was no shortage of labour or equipment at a recent farmer fundraising event for a senior’s home in northern Saskatchewan.
“Oh boy, it’s unbelievable,” said Phil Demers, committee chair for the Debden Personal Care Home.
Ten combines, 13 grain trucks, four semis, two bins, and four augers occupied a 140-acre field to harvest a wheat crop on Oct. 23.
Local farmers and businesses donated the inputs and their time to seed hard red spring wheat on donated land. Debden, population 450, is located about 200 kilomtres north of Saskatoon.
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Denis Lafond of Greenspring Ag Services in Debden helped organize the event.
“It was just a group of us sitting around talking about how to fundraise for the senior’s home and we decided to do this basically on the same principle as the (foodgrains) bank,” said Lafond.
He said the fundraising idea was a great way for the community to work together. Participants ranged from seasoned farmers to a 19-year-old who purchased his first combine this fall.
“This really ties the community together. Everybody’s really excited,” said Lafond.
It took only two hours for the group of farmers to straight cut the crop.
“It looks good; it’s a good spring wheat,” Lafond said. “We’ve had some crop damage.”
The Canadian Wheat Board assured 100 percent sale of the crop since it was the result of a fundraising effort, added Lafond. The No. 3 wheat was delivered to AgPro in Saskatoon.
“We got 9,300 bushels of wheat. They will send us a cheque, initial payment, for $16,000 and we can expect (an additional) $16,000 for final payment a year from now,” said Demers.
The personal care home will cost approximately $1.5 million. The profit from the crop raises total donations to $310,000.
“We need about $750,000 in cash, like half of the cost, to build and then we can borrow the other half. We cannot borrow more than half because the business will not support any more than that,” said Demers.
Donating a crop was a logical option for the community, Demers added.
“Nobody’s got any cash. Who could afford to write a big cheque?” he said. “They can afford to give all their time. They got all the equipment and the machines, you know?”
The facility will be a 24-unit home, with a common area including a kitchen. It will be a level one and two care home for people who do not need constant care.
