Mt. Angel, OR, Sept. 27, 2021 — Wilco’s FFA Forever Program started in 2012 as a way to support agricultural youth and leadership in rural communities. Over the past nine years, Wilco has donated over $1.5 million to the Oregon FFA Foundation, and no single bigger donation will be made than the 2021 fundraiser in August that surpassed $200,000.

The program is a combination of customer and vendor donations that were given throughout the entire month of August. Customer donations in August surpassed $100,000 for the first time, and vendor pledges increased more than $30,000 in 2021, bringing the total number past $70,000, with an additional $25,000 donated by Wilco.

In addition to this program, Wilco nearly doubled its annual spending at junior livestock auctions in 2021, supporting 4H and FFA members by bidding and purchasing market animals at 26 youth events in three states, the most ever. Wilco contributed to over 150 youth projects and bid thousands of times to bump up prices and assure kids had successful auctions.

In total, Wilco spent more than $130,000 at the junior livestock auctions over the summer.

Wilco’s support of agricultural youth goes far beyond the FFA Forever Program and county fairs, by providing daily discounts to 4-H, FFA, equestrian and other agricultural youth purchases and providing additional rebates to those youth accounts to help jumpstart next year’s projects. Youth rebates are currently arriving in mailboxes in Oregon, Washington and California totaling over $150,000, and can be redeemed in Wilco stores throughout October.

“Wilco’s commitment to supporting rural communities and helping youth in agriculture thrive has never been stronger,” said Sam Bugarsky, President & CEO of Wilco. “Partnering with our vendors, customers, employees and farmer-owners to assure that the future of agriculture is bright is one of Wilco’s core values and is absolutely a highlight of our co-op,” he added.

Wilco is a farmer-owned cooperative, headquartered in Mt. Angel, Oregon, with roots that go back to the 1930’s. Since then, Wilco has evolved into one of the Northwest’s largest agricultural cooperatives, and today serves the unique needs of over 500,000 customers with a farmer-owner base of over 3,000 strong. Wilco’s mission is to strengthen agriculture and rural lifestyles.