The Farm to Table event held in October was a success and enjoyed by dozens of folks at the time. Now, the fruits of that effort are coming to harvest. Patrick Scates, owner of Scates Valley Irrigation, along with Jill Fowler and Malinda Nelson of Peoples National Bank have made a $5,000 check presentation to the White County 4-H program. The University of Illinois is expected to do a partial match on the donation which is expected to bring the total to more than $8,000. Amy McCarty, Program Coordinator of 4-H and Youth Development for White County, says the money will all go to White County 4-H and programming the University of Illinois provides. The event also was supported by Jamie Howard Jones, along with Beth and Tim Scates.
Scates says he wanted to implement the idea locally after seeing other communities host successful events.
“The idea came from seeing other cities do it up north and so we just wanted to do it here in the community and hopefully raise some money for a local organization and obviously it was successful and we want to keep doing it moving forward. We decided 4-H because of ties to agriculture. That was the whole idea that this idea was promoting agriculture and agriculture businesses in the county and so we the first year we could make sure that money was going towards an agriculture related organization, 4-H being that.”
Scates expects to make the Farm to Table gathering an annual event, partnering with local farmers and ag producers to provide a completely local menu and unique experience for the community. Plans are already underway for next year. Nelson, the Carmi Peoples National Bank Branch Manager says partnering was a natural fit for the bank.
“We are very ag minded as a community bank and therefore, you know this was a great way for us because, we work with Amy throughout the year and she has different programs through here as well, so it was a great way for us to give back.”
The date hasn’t been set necessarily for next year, but the timing worked well as an unofficial kick off to the Corn Days celebration on the Thursday before Carmi’s festival began the following Friday.
