Farm Rescue
helps Emmons County farmers
Allan
Burke,
Farm Rescue crews gave boosts to LeRoy and Ida Scherr of Strasburg and Ed Scherr
of Hazelton last week by seeding their wheat fields.
LeRoy is battling diabetes complications and has kidney dialysis three
times a week while Ed (no relation) is recovering from heart valve surgery
earlier this year.
Bill Gross of Cleveland, N.D., founder of Farm Rescue, coordinated
the volunteer work crews and was at LeRoy and Ida’s
farm Thursday morning. That crew had worked earlier in the week in the Mobridge
area, and the men who worked at Hazelton had come from the Watford City and Halliday area.
Gross launched Farm Rescue, a nonprofit organization, in 2006 to
help family farmers bridge crises so they may have an
opportunity to continue viable operations. The mission is to provide assistance
to farm families that have experienced a major illness, injury or a natural
disaster.
Farm Rescue does not distribute funds to farmers. Gross said
donations are used efficiently to plant or harvest crops free of charge for
qualifying farmers. Labor for operating the equipment is provided by
volunteers, and Gross donates his time.
Commitment
Gross grew up on a family farm, which he now owns, near Cleveland,
and his parents were the late John and Lorraine Gross.
He is a Boeing 747 captain for United Parcel Service, based in
Anchorage, Alaska. He flies worldwide, and it is not unusual for him to be in
Australia, China or Europe.
Having seen the difficulties farm families undergo when there is a
major illness, injury or natural disaster, Gross decided to contribute some of
his time to creating Farm Rescue and to attract sponsors and large and small
donors to make it work. He put in $20,000 of his own money to get it started,
and he does not want any of the money back, noting that the program’s success
is his payback.
One of the first sponsors Gross lined up was RDO Equipment, which
donates the use of the farming equipment. This year, there are two units. Each
includes a 9620 John Deere four-wheel-drive tractor, a John Deere seed and
fertilizer wagon and a 44-foot John Deere 1890 no-till planter.
“We started in 2006 with 30 sponsors and expanded to 64 in 2007,”
Gross explained. “This year, we have over 100.”
Gross said Farm Rescue is gaining sponsors because of media
attention the program receives. He has appeared on NBC’s Today Show, Paul
Harvey, Ed Schultz, RFD TV, America’s Heartland and AG DAY, along with many
local and regional programs.
“Helping one another is not only the right thing to do,” he said,
“it also strengthens our communities.”
South Central Grain of Napoleon, which has elevators in Emmons
County at Kintyre and Hazelton, is a sponsor of the
program.
Many of the sponsors make in-kind donations such as the equipment
from RDO, promotional signs from Newman Outdoor Advertising and pickups from
Stan Puklich in Bismarck.
Gross said, in addition to the existing sponsors, he hopes to
attract cash donations from more individuals to pay for fuel and other
operating overhead.
This year, Farm Rescue is doing spring planting for 26 farm
families and will help with harvest for others.
The organization has a database of 100 volunteers, and 50 are
active.
“Some volunteers are able to donate a few days of labor and others
work for the entire season,” Gross said. “We are blessed with tremendous
volunteers.”
Helping out LeRoy and Ida were Gene Spichke, a retired third generation farmer from Balfour,
and retired farmer Warren Zakopyko. Both men worked
the full two months for the 2007 planting and harvesting seasons, and they are
back this year for the duration.
“I signed up for two weeks and have been working ever since,” Gene
joked.
Putting in Ed’s wheat were Smokey Wright of Minot (second spring
for him), retired foreman of the liquid fuels maintenance shop at the Minot Air
Force Base; retired Washburn Elementary Principal Lowell Rothmann
(32 years as an educator), and Bill Krumwiede of
Voltaire, who retired from Basin Electric Power Cooperative after being a
mechanic at the Antelope Valley Station near Beulah.
Krumwiede has worked with Gross since Farm Rescue was started three years
ago, and Gross refers to him as his “right-hand man.” He read about Gross’s
idea in the Minot Daily News and called to offer his help.
LeRoy and Ida Scherr
LeRoy and Ida (Franck) Scherr were married in
1985. He graduated from Emmons Central High School in Strasburg, and she is a
Hague High School graduate.
They have two children. Heidi is 15 and a freshman at Strasburg
High School, and Scott is 12 and a Strasburg sixth grader.
The Scherrs run 120 cow-calf pairs and
had 70 calves “on the ground” as of Friday.
Their operation includes 1,240 acres, with 420 acres of wheat, 300
acres of alfalfa and the rest is prairie. They milked cows until three years
ago when LeRoy had back surgery.
LeRoy was diagnosed with diabetes in 1986, just a year after he and Ida
were married. Complications from the disease have steadily gotten worse, and he
has had to have surgery on his eyes and now he is battling kidney failure.
The kidney problems were diagnosed in April of 2007 at Medcenter One in Bismarck, and his kidneys were functioning
at 28 percent.
He was evaluated for a kidney-pancreas transplant at the
University of Minnesota in November, andhis kidney functions were at 15 percent.
LeRoy and Ida realized the seriousness of his condition April 18 when
he became ill working on a tractor. He tried to walk to the house but felt so
weak that he lay on the ground. They immediately sought medical attention, and
he was in the hospital for 10 days in Bismarck.
By December 18, the level of his kidney function had dropped to 8
percent. That was the date that Bismarck doctors discovered he had had two
heart attacks, and they installed four stints to undo blockage in his heart
arteries.
A temporary catheter was put in his chest at that time to make it
possible for kidney dialysis to be done. A fistula was also put in his arm, but
the catheter was necessary until his arm healed. His physician is Dr. Abel Tello, Sr.
Now, he has dialysis every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at Medcenter One in Bismarck. He leaves home at 9 a.m. and
gets home about 5 p.m. after having undergone four hours of treatment.
He is exhausted when he gets home, but on the other days he
usually can feed cattle. Ida and the kids do the rest of the chores and farm
work.
Family members and neighbors have pitched in to help the family
and to take or ride along with LeRoy on the days he
receives dialysis.
LeRoy was evaluated for a kidney transplant last November, and he was
briefly on the “active” list before being moved to “inactive” because of his
heart problems.
“There are some kidney donor prospects in my family, but I have to
be in better shape before a transplant can be scheduled,” LeRoy
explained.
Today (Thursday), LeRoy will see Dr.
Rick Howard, a Bismarck cardiologist, to determine the condition of his heart
arteries. If there is further narrowing of the arteries, he will need to have
open heart surgery.
LeRoy and Ida are very appreciative of the Farm Rescue help.
“I’ll tell you it really helps a lot to have our wheat seeded,” LeRoy said. “It takes away some of the stress and anxiety
and worrying about getting the crop in.”
In addition to lots of help from neighbors and relatives, LeRoy and Ida have been helped by Manager Brad Stabler and Northern Plains Cooperative in Strasburg and
Francis Krumm and the Hague Farmers Elevator.
The Scherrs were going to have their
seed cleaned in Strasburg, but the elevator’s grain cleaner broke down. Stabler had the seed loaded into one of the co-op’s semis
and taken to Krumm’s elevator where it was cleaned.
Then the semi brought the seed to the Scherr farm.
“The semi is here as long as we need it for seeding,” LeRoy said. “Brad and Francis bent over backward to help
us. We really appreciate it. There are still a lot of nice people in the
world.”
Ida said the kids are a big help.
“Heidi helps cook and clean, and she even brings lunch out to the
field,” Ida said.
LeRoy said Scott is the “grease monkey,” keeping the mower conditioner
and combine in shape and getting into the tight places.
Neither of the kids complains even when it’s time to pick rocks.
“We are so grateful to Farm Rescue and can’t thank them enough,” LeRoy and Ida said.
Ed Scherr
Just before Christmas, Ed Scherr was up
for the day working on his Hazelton farm when he started to feel light-headed and
couldn’t walk straight.
“My heart started pounding, and I thought I was having a heart
attack,” Ed explained.
His sister, Corrine Baumiller, drove him
to the emergency room at St. Alexius Medical Center in Bismarck.
The doctors discovered Ed’s heart was out of rhythm.
“They were about to zap me with the heart defibrillator when my
heart went back to normal,” Ed said.
He was given medication and sent back home. An appointment was
scheduled with cardiologist Dr. Stan Diede and
surgeon Dr. Michael Brown on January 2.
“They discovered I had a leaky valve inside my heart and that
there was a slight tear that had to be repaired,” Ed said. “Had the tear gotten
worse, it would have been all over for me.”
Ed underwent surgery on January 14, and a ring was used to repair
the micro-valve inside his heart and to keep it tight. His heart was stopped
and re-started during the procedure.
The doctors joked that you can’t work on an engine while it’s
running.
One of his lungs had to be collapsed during the surgery.
After Ed was released from the hospital, he stayed at Heidi and
Wyatt Kalberer’s house to receive some nursing care
while he was recovering.
He developed pneumonia as a result of the doctors having to
collapse his lung during surgery. He was treated at home. A couple days later
he suffered sharp pains in his side, and his pain medication didn’t touch it.
Corrine again took him to the emergency room.
“The doctors discovered I had blood clots in my lung, so I was
back in the hospital for another 10 days,” Ed recounted. “Not only could the
pneumonia have been fatal, if one of the clots had moved to my heart, I would
not have survived it.”
Ed is recovering but won’t be able to think about getting back to
his normal routine before June. In the meantime, he can’t lift anything heavier
than a gallon of milk, which eliminates hauling calves around or working with
seed and equipment.
“I was worrying about getting my wheat planted because my brother,
DeWayne, is in the middle of calving,” Ed said. “I didn’t know how we would get
everything done.”
That’s when Farm Rescue’s help was made available.
The crew and the parade of John Deere equipment arrived Thursday
and seeded 400 acres of wheat and oats for Ed. They started that morning and
were done around noon on Friday.
“Farm Rescue is a wonderful organization,” Ed said. “It was an
incredible thing for Bill Gross to start the organization to help so many
people. I appreciate the help so much.”
Reprinted with permission of Emmons County Record. April 23, 2008