Wildfire Recovery Donations Continue Rising

Donations are continuing to come into the Drovers/Farm Journal Foundation’s Million Dollar Wildfire Relief Challenge. Farmers, ranchers, and industry partners are doing what they can to take some of the burdens off those who were hit hard by the High Plains Wildfires back in March. As of mid-May, over 600 donations totaling more than $350,000 had come in by mail or been made online. Some of the donations came from farmers and ranchers who live several states away from the affected areas. While they were working in their own fields, several wrote notes about wanting to address the needs of farmers and ranchers still trying to recover. The money will help farmers and ranchers trying to replace thousands of miles of fencing lost in the blaze that ran through Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Texas. The wildfires scorched 1.6 million acres of ground, destroyed cattle, buildings, homes, and machinery. The Howard Buffet Foundation has agreed to match all donations through July 31 of this year, topping out at $1 million. That means the potential is there for the Challenge to raise at least two million dollars.