Livestock Marketing Association (LMA) is reaching out with financial aid to livestock producers hit by the devastating storms May 4, in southwestern Kansas.
LMA is working through five member markets around Greensburg, Kan., which was virtually wiped off the may by a tornado, described as a mile-and-a-half wide.
LMA’s Executive Committee on May 7 authorized an initial $15,000 in Association funds be allocated to the relief effort. More money could be provided later, LMA officials said.
LMA President Jim Santomaso said, “All of us were shocked and saddened by the destruction the tornado caused in Greensburg. But we know, from markets in the region, that many, many area producers were also affected. Fences have been destroyed and many livestock have been lost.”
The markets who will be identifying producers who need assistance are: Pratt Livestock, Inc., Pratt Kan.; La Crosse Livestock Market, Inc., La Crosse, Kan.; Winter Livestock, Dodge City, Kan.; Woodward Livestock Auction, Inc., Woodward, Okla.; and Beaver River Stockyards, Inc., Beaver, Okla.
“We’re working with our markets in the area, because they know many of these producers on a first-name basis,” Santomaso said.
A typical market owner is Mike Lewis, at Pratt Livestock. He said producers he called said what they needed most was fence posts and barbed wire, lost during the storms, along with numerous livestock.
So Lewis contacted Tucker Supply Co., Kiowa, Kan. The store agreed to sell the material at cost, and deliver it free of charge to a pre-arranged site northwest of Greensburg, where it will be given free to producers.
This is not the first time LMA has aided producers hit by storms. The trade association provided several thousand dollars in assistance to cattlemen hit by Hurricane Katrina, in 2005.
“Markets aren’t just businesses, they’re important parts of their communities, and the marketing choice for thousands of independent cattlemen,” Santomaso said “These producers hit by these incredible storms are our customers, our neighbors and our friends.”
Individuals who want to help in the relief effort can send checks, made out to “LMA/Kansas Relief,” 10510 N.W. Ambassador Drive, Kansas City, Mo., 64153.Labels: financial aid, scholarship, student loans |
