The Hope Rural Fire Department has received a $2,500 donation from Dickinson County farmer Candice Rock and America’s Farmers Grow Communities, sponsored by the Monsanto Fund. The donation will help the organization update their equipment. The department is made up completely of volunteers and serves around 1200 people locally.

Rock, who recently signed on as a volunteer firefighter, was very excited to be able to make this donation to the department. “Supporting our community is very important to me,” said Rock. “The department has a very tight budget, so I am happy to be able to help them with this donation.”

For five years, America’s Farmers Grow Communities has collaborated with farmers to donate over $16.5 million to over 7,300 community organizations across rural America. This year winning farmers will direct another $3.3 million to nonprofits to help fight rural hunger, purchase life saving fire and EMS equipment, support ag youth leadership programs, buy much needed classroom resources, and so much more.

America’s Farmers Grow Communities is part of the America’s Farmers initiative. Since 2010, the America’s Farmers campaign and programs have advocated on behalf of farmers and their efforts to meet society’s needs through agriculture. Today, consumers are more interested than ever in agriculture and how food is grown. Consider joining the conversation and helping to raise awareness about agriculture.

Learn more at FoodDialogues.com.

A sister program in the America’s Farmers effort, Grow Rural Education, is currently in its farmer nomination phase. Farmers interested in supporting math and science education in their communities should visit www.GrowRuralEducation.com from now through April 1 to learn how.