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Operation Hay and Grain Lift
As of May 14, 2003, Operation Hay & Grain Lift shipped 6,450.9 tons of hay and corn. Thus ended the Hay & Grain Lift which had begun in the summer of 2002. Volunteers and hay and grain donors working through the Operation Hay & Grain Lift Coalition shipped hay & corn to 327 recipients in Nebraska. Requests total 541. Requests totalling 180 were left unfilled.
Conservation Reserve (CRP) and cornstalk acres harvested = 852.5
Total cash spent: $165,733.94 for hay and transportation.
Value of purchased and donated hay shipped: $817,525.94!
During the hay & grain lift, an entire semi-load of alfalfa hay was purchased for $1,950 (26 to 30 bales per load). Cash donation were used to purchase hay when needed. With donations of cash, hay, grain, equipment, volunteer labor, Operation Hay & Grain Lift invested $165,733.94 and produced a total value of $817,525.94 for hay & grain relief.
The Nebraska Department of Agriculture web-site, http://www.droughtcentral.org has several important links for more drought-related information.
Orphan Grain Train is a “hands-on” Christian humanitarian aid and disaster relief organization. It is a national network of volunteers with regional divisions across the United States to bring necessary help in response to requests for food and clothing, medical supplies, and Christian literature. It also responds to survivors of natural disasters, such as drought. During 2002 it coordinated shipment of more than 300 semi-loads of hay for Operation Hay & Grain Lift in Nebraska. This totals more than 15,000,000 lbs. (750 tons) of supplies to needy people in the U. S. and around the world. Orphan Grain Train has responded to other disasters in North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Florida, Montana, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, and Ohio. In 1999 it sent hay to drought-stricken farmers in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Orphan Grain Train’s name and character are explained by Christ’s words recorded in John 14:18: “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”