Ill. farmer donates grant to volunteer EMS agencies

Rosalind Essig
Jacksonville Journal-Courier, Ill.

A Morgan County farmer was recently awarded a Bayer grant for the nonprofit of their choice.

Pam Martin received a $2,500 grant from the America’s Farmers Grow Communities program. The program awards the grants to people in farming communities, who then direct the money to a nonprofit organization.

Martin has chosen to direct the funds to the Passavant Area Hospital Foundation, where she is the executive director. The money will go to one of the foundation’s initiatives to support training for volunteer EMS training in the hospital’s service area.

“It’s a great match for putting the money to use out in the county, because building the capacity of first responders is so important,” she said. “Often, farm families have emergencies with accidents and the foundation has identified that as a need in our community — to help volunteers join those agencies.”

Martin and her husband, a fifth-generation farmer, operate M&G Farms in rural Morgan County.

The Bayer Fund’s America’s Farmers Grow Communities partners with local farmers to provide $2,500 grants to nonprofit organizations. The program is in its 10th year.

“A better life is Bayer’s goal. Farmers are invested in their communities, they root for their neighbors, and they know when and where there is a need,” Bayer Vice President for Corporate Engagement Al Mitchell said in a statement.

Martin has experienced the need for emergency medical care in rural areas, where there might be a longer distance to get to where someone is injured or has a medical emergency.

She was injured in a brush fire on the farm.

“I even had an accident due to a fire last year and it was the Ashland volunteers who were first to come to my aid,” she said. “So, I know first hand the importance of EMS volunteers.”

The foundation’s trustees have pledged to give $10,000 to each of the 10 volunteer EMS agencies in the hospital’s five-county service area for volunteer training with the goal of removing barriers to becoming a volunteer.

The agencies in Alexander, Arenzville, Ashland, Chandlerville, Chapin, Meredosia-Bluffs, Murrayville-Woodson, South Jacksonville, Waverly and Winchester can use the money for either classes or training equipment.

“I didn’t have to stop and think. It was a perfect match for the money, since it would go to serve farm families and folks living out in the county,” Martin said.

Because the foundation is able to provide the money for training through donations, Martin said she is appreciative of Bayer for giving back to the communities where customers live and awarding the grant for her to direct to the foundation.

“It’s unique to be able to direct the dollars and know so well how they’ll be used,” she said.

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©2019 the Jacksonville Journal-Courier (Jacksonville, Ill.)