2015 - Volume #39, Issue #2, Page #02
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Church Crews Raise Money Covering Silage Stacks
“Covering silage piles is a lot of hardwork, but it has been a great way to get to
know other church members, and we’ve
definitely raised a lot of money for our
Christian Education committee,” says Wade
Vanden Berg, a member of Bethel Christian
Reformed Church, Sioux Center, Iowa.
Vanden Berg heads up a fundraiser
subcommittee that coordinates covering
silage piles with plastic tarps and tires for
area farmers in exchange for a donation to the
church’s education fund. In 2013, covering
silage piles helped raise more than $51,000.
“We’ve got a lot of cattle feeders and dairies
in the area, so there are many silage piles that
need covering,” Vanden Berg says.
The farmer/customer is responsible for
supplying the tarp, tires and machinery.
The church provides the manpower, which
varies from 6 people for a small pile up to
100 workers for a really big pile. “It takes 80
to 100 workers 4 hrs. to cover a 70,000-ton
pile of silage, which is the largest job we’ve
tackled,” he says. The size of the crew is
determined by the dimension of the pile and
the number of tons in the pile.
Crews are organized via email using
addresses from the church newsletter mailing
list. Crews consist of men, women and
youth, married and singles, old and young.
Volunteers are advised to wear jeans, longsleeved
shirts, gloves and tennis shoes or
work boots.
New business comes mostly through
word-of-mouth among farmer-customers,
custom silage-cutting operators, and local
veterinarians. Most piles are located within
25 miles of the church, but crews have
covered piles as far as 60 miles away.
Suggested donation amounts are based on
silage-pile volume. A higher rate is charged
for piles that require double tarping, which
provides better weather protection, but is also
more labor intensive. “Most customers pay
the suggested amount, or even more than the
suggested amount,” Vanden Berg says. “In
the rare instance where a farmer doesn’t pay,
we move him to the bottom of the list for next
year.”
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Bethel
Christian Reformed Church, 314 S. Main St.,
Sioux Center, Iowa 51250 (ph 712 722-3101;
www.bethelsc.org).
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