Helping to support local military families, the CountryMark system raised more than $50,000 during Fueling Freedom events in Indiana, Illinois and Ohio on Friday, June 23.
“Fueling Freedom was a great success for CountryMark. We were able to sell high-quality CountryMark fuels all while giving back to local National Guard soldiers and their families,” said CountryMark Vice President of Supply and Marketing Matt Smorch.
During the ninth annual event, 39 CountryMark-branded fueling stations participated in the Fueling Freedom program this year, where CountryMark and local branded-dealers agreed to donate 50 cents for every gallon of fuel pumped to local National Guard Family Readiness Groups. Together, the CountryMark system sold 87,887 gallons of premium quality CountryMark fuels during Fueling Freedom. Fuel sales along with generous customer donations on June 23 totaled $50,507 for local National Guard Family Readiness Groups.
The CountryMark station in Huntingburg, Ind., grew their Fueling Freedom sales numbers the most of any of the participating stations in 2017. The Huntingburg site sold 3,935 gallons – a 31 percent increase in their Fueling Freedom sales as compared to the previous year.
“It takes a cooperative effort to host a successful event. The Superior Ag team and our community members did just that by stepping up and coming out to support local heroes in the National Guard and their families,” said Barry Day, president and CEO of Superior Ag.
During Fueling Freedom events, CountryMark employees and CountryMark branded-dealers stood side-by-side with volunteers from local National Guard units to pump locally-refined fuels for customers.
Of the 39 participating CountryMark stations, the Waltonville, Ill., fuel station led the roster with 5,689 gallons sold during their Fueling Freedom event, setting a new record for the program. David South, a petroleum department manager for SynEnergy Partners, organized the Fueling Freedom efforts in Waltonville.
“The Spartanville Fueling Station in Waltonville is part of a small, but very supportive rural community in southern Illinois,” said South. “That strong sense of community was evident during the Fueling Freedom event on June 23. The community rallied to show their appreciation to local Guard troops and families. They rolled into the Waltonville station with their truck fleets, government fleets, farm fleets and passenger vehicles from noon to 5 p.m. to fuel up and support our troops. It truly was a great day!”
Countless customers threw the change from their fuel purchases in donation boxes. In five hours, participating communities raised nearly $7,000 dollars in donations to support American troops and their families.
“Despite the rain, our station volunteers were hard at work helping to pump fuel and raise funds for local service men and women and their families,” said Howard Jones, vice president of energy at Ceres Solutions. “Seven CountryMark fueling stations that we serve participated in Fueling Freedom this year to help support the troops and our local communities. We are proud to be a part of this event each year and help give back to National Guard families.”
CountryMark branded dealers who participated in the Fueling Freedom events included: AgBest, Ceres Solutions, Co-Alliance, Harvest Land Co-op, Herdrich Petroleum, Laughery Valley Ag Co-op, Premier Companies, Shelby County Co-op, Superior Ag Resources, SynEnergy Partners, United Energy, Union County Co-op and White River Co-op.
Donations from the each participating Fueling Freedom site were given to the National Guard Family Readiness Groups located closest to the participating fueling station. Family Readiness Groups help build National Guard unit morale, build unit retention and increase participation levels in family-related unit activities.
