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Donated funds put to good use

People who wonder whether their donations make any difference in the community take note: your dollars are making a huge impact in a lot of people’s lives.

A perfect example of that is the new ambulance Minot has.

Trinity Health Community Ambulance has received $26,203 from the Farm Credit Services Rural Community Grant Fund to help pay for the ambulance. Greg Anderson, director of Community Ambulance, said the total cost of the new ambulance is $110,000. It has been funded with grants from other organizations as well.

Anderson said the grant funding is very much appreciated. The ambulance will serve people within a 200 mile radius of Minot. Think about that. How many patients will be transported in emergency situations over the life of that ambulance? Anybody, any family in a 200-mile radius might require its services some day.

Generous giving is nothing new to the Farm Credit organization. With its latest contributions, we’re told, Farm Credit has awarded more than 250 grants totaling more than $4 million in western North Dakota communities since 2012.

The Rural Community Grant Fund was established as a partnership between Farm Credit Services of Mandan and Farm Credit Services of North Dakota – the two largest providers of agricultural loans in western North Dakota, and AgriBank, their St. Paul, Minn.-based funding bank, to help communities impacted by oil development.

Through the fund, Farm Credit provides grants to support infrastructure or development initiatives encompassing housing projects, medical facilities, health, safety and environmental programs, and other critical needs.

Now, Farm Credit Services obviously could not make such donations without the support of its customers, so we know where the funds truly come from – people. Some of them from right here in our area.

Also, the Harvey Ambulance Service received a big boost in the form of a $10,000 grant from the First International Bank and Trust Live First Community Grant program. The grant will help the ambulance service in its efforts to train more volunteer EMTs.

The effects of more direct donations were also in the news recently. Last week the Souris Valley United Way presented checks to help fund 23 local programs serving the Minot area. That, too, is a lot of folks who are being helped through others’ generosity.

For their 2018-19 campaign, United Way raised a total of $328,564 to go to organizations that had a focus in different chosen topics. For Education and readiness for school, $164,940 was given. Financial Stability received $83,500 and health received $76,720. They also gave special community impact projects $3,404.

These are not the only local charitable organizations by any means, nor do we mean to imply that all of the needs of our residents are being met. What these examples do point out is that many, many people are routinely giving part of what they have to benefit others, that those dollars add up nicely and are being put to good use right here.

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