Willie Nelson to Launch Emergency Relief Effort for Midwest Family Farmers
20 Jun 2008 — Farm Aid President and Founder Willie Nelson will distribute the first grant from the Family Farm Disaster Fund on Saturday, June 21, at the Meskwaki Bingo Casino Hotel to the Iowa Grassroots Coalition. The Coalition is a group of farm and faith-based organizations in Iowa working to deliver immediate support to family farmers to quickly get them back on the land.
Farm Aid emergency assistance is supporting local recovery efforts in Iowa and Wisconsin, delivering an initial $10,000 in disaster-relief funds to grassroots organizations. Since the Family Farm Disaster Fund was activated on Wednesday of this week, more than $40,000 has already been donated by individuals and organizations. As money is raised, Farm Aid’s focus is to quickly distribute money to affected areas, where it can best benefit farm families.
Farm Aid’s mission is to build a vibrant family farm-centered system of agriculture in America. Farm Aid artists and board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews host an annual concert to raise funds to support Farm Aid’s work with family farmers and to inspire people to choose family-farmed food. Since 1985, Farm Aid has raised more than $30 million to support programs that help farmers thrive, expand the reach of the Good Food Movement, take action to change the current system of industrial agriculture and promote food from family farms.