The twenty-seventh annual dinner-auction and golf tournament for the Farmers’ Electric Area Youth Benefit Fund (AYBF) resulted in $41,500 raised this year with an additional $7,500 in matching funds from CoBank’s Sharing Success program and $10,000 more donated from area foundations.
Monies raised included $5,300 from nearly 900 Farmers’ Electric Cooperative Members who participate in Operation Round Up each month. The main auction raised $14,200. The highest bid item of the evening, a 7-day stay at a Florida Condominium, went for $2,800. Other main auction items that brought top dollar included another week-long stay in a Florida Condo, a Northern Missouri bird hunting trip for four, and a gun safe. The three levels of the silent auction raised a combined $8,400. Chillicothe’s Elks Lodge hosted the Saturday, August 17 dinner-auction that was co-sponsored by Hedrick Medical Center.
The fundraising continued Monday morning, August 19, at the Green Hills Golf Course. There were 39 teams of three participating in the golf tournament co-sponsored for the twenty-first consecutive year by Pepsi-Cola Bottling of Chillicothe. The groups were split into morning and afternoon flights.
“As a charity, the Area Youth Benefit Fund relies on the generosity of our supporters to help us continue our mission. Thank you to everyone who donated their time, auction items or money, helping us help area families pay for their children’s medical bills,” said AYBF Coordinator Chasity Anderson. “We are overwhelmed with the fantastic support the community has given the Area Youth Benefit Fund for the twenty-seventh year in a row and offer a sincere thank you to all those that made this year’s events such a great success.”
In 1993, Farmers’ Electric Cooperative established the Area Youth Benefit Fund, a 501(c)3 charity to provide financial assistance toward the payment of medical bills for children 18 years of age and under. The fund is designed to assist families with children who have been ill or injured in which the parents do not have enough resources or health insurance to cover the medical costs.
The fund operates in the counties of Caldwell, Carroll, Chariton, Clinton, Daviess, DeKalb, Linn, Livingston and Ray. A family that resides in these counties does not have to be a Member of the Cooperative to receive financial assistance. In the last 27 years, more than $808,000 has been distributed to 788 area families. Anyone wishing to make an application for assistance should contact the Farmers’ Electric Cooperative business office at 660-646-4281 and ask for Jennie Tipton.
