News
Bottineau’s EDC is awarded $6,000 for its new day care
Scott Wagar
07/29/2014
InVigor canola hybrids from Bayer CropScience has awarded Bottineau EDC’s day care center $6,000 through the “More for Everyone” award fund to assist the day care in its financial needs for its building.
“It’s fantastic,” said Deana DeFoe, Bottineau’s EDC director. “I am so thankful for the financial award.”
The money that was awarded to the EDC will be utilized to assist in paying for the construction of the building and for the furniture and fixtures inside the structure.
Lindsey Guss, owner of Building Blocks Day Care Center which is operated through the EDC’s day care building, is pleased to see the day care awarded the money.
“The money is great. We are able to do a lot of things with that money,” Guss said. “It’s a really great program.”
According to Bayer CropScience, the More for Everyone program is funded by agricultural producers who purchase and plant InVigor canola seed. The money is raised by canola farmers who reserve money through InVigor purchases and to Bayer CropScience for that year’s growing season. In doing this, farmers are granted the opportunity to nominate local non-profit organizations for the chance to be chosen by Bayer CropScience for its award.
In the local area, Dan Marquardt and Timothy Debele nominated the EDC’s day care center. Marquardt, who is a Bottineau County Commissioner, said that he nominated the day care center to Bayer CropScience because the EDC had come to the county commissioner for assistance and he knew of the development corps’ financial need. Marquardt added that he also understood the need for an additional day care in Bottineau because of the large number of children who didn’t have day care, and how working mothers were being forced to quit jobs they needed because they had no day care to turn to.
“When thinking about a nomination the day care was the first thing that came to my mind,” Marquardt said. “They were in need, in the middle of a fundraising event and they needed assistance.”
In 2014, Bayer CropScience donated $38,000 to nine groups in North Dakota, which included:
$6,000 Awards:
● Langdon: Big Pembina Lutheran Church to rebuild its church after it was destroyed by fire
● Bottineau: To assist in the cost of the construction of the EDC’s day care center and to purchase interior equipment
● Cando: Baseball Association to update sports equipment
● Grand Forks: YMCA LIVESTRONG program for the cancer survivor exercise and support program
● Lake Metigoshe: Metigoshe Ministries to purchase a handicapped playground for the retreat center
$2,000 awards:
● Rugby: Friends of the Lyric to fund the city’s local theater
● Mott: To assist in the purchase of a new fire truck for Mott’s Fire Department
● Stanley: Fire training for the Stanley Fire Department
● Crosby: Healthcare services for the St. Luke’s Community Foundation for Divide and Burke counties.
A panel made up of three individuals decided who receives the 2014 financial award. This year’s three member panel included: Jim Gray, pesticide and fertilizer division director at the North Dakota Department of Agriculture; Dr. Sam Markell, extension plant pathologist with North Dakota State University and Jon Wert, president of the Northern Canola Growers Association.
The More for Everyone award program was started in 2010 and has awarded more than $155,000.
“Farming communities have a legacy of neighbors helping neighbors,” said Brian Hrudka, U.S. canola seed manager for Bayer CropScience. “We value the More for Everyone program because we are helping our customers, northern canola growers, give more to their neighbors. In the nominations, farmers reveal how much these local groups matter to their communities. The program’s judges certainly have a difficult task to choose the award winners.”