September 10, 2023
The Hunger Task Force, West Milwaukee, Wis.
Kubota Tractor Corp., Grapevine, Texas, has awarded $600,000 to five communities across the U.S. through its “Kubota Hometown Proud” grants — an annual program that encourages municipalities and nonprofit organizations to partner with their local Kubota dealership to apply for grant funding consideration.
This year, the program received nearly 800 community revitalization project applications before Kubota selected its five $100,000 regional grant winners. Then, all five were put up for a public vote to determine one “Community Choice Grant” winner to receive an additional $100,000. The Community Choice Grant was awarded to Lucasville Community Park, a new park concept for a small town in Ohio that needed a community gathering place.
“Kubota is proud to give back to the communities where our dealers live and work,” said Todd Stucke, senior vice president for Kubota North America, and senior vice president for marketing, product support and strategic projects for Kubota Tractor Corp. “This year the Kubota Hometown Proud grant program saw applicants from nearly every state in the country. We are incredibly honored to support this year’s projects and hope our funding and equipment will assist in bringing each winner’s vision to life to serve each hometown for many years to come.”
The 2023 Kubota Hometown Proud Grant Program winners include:
• Lucasville Community Park (Lucasville, Ohio). Together with their local Kubota dealer, Ricer Equipment, project organizers will use the grant monies to build an amphitheater and construct the next phase of the park that consists of building a quarter-mile paved walking path to make the space accessible to all.
• Black Farms, Food and Families Project (Lebanon, Tenn.). The project, in partnership with Absolute Kubota, the New Farmer Academy at Historically Black College and University (HBCU) Tennessee State University (TSU), will use its grant to build an educational greenhouse to help revitalize minority interest in agriculture through an heirloom “seed-to-feed” project.
• The Children’s Village (Coeur d’Alene, Idaho). The Children’s Village applied for their grant in partnership with their local Kubota dealer, Coeur D’Alene Tractor, to benefit a trauma-responsive safe haven, providing crisis youth housing and family support services.
• Hunger Task Force (West Milwaukee, Wis.). Hunger Task Force, Milwaukee’s free and local food bank, includes a 208-acre urban farm that grows fresh produce for local families. The farm is supported by 5,000 volunteers and equipment from its local Kubota dealer, Lochen Equipment. The grant will help to purchase equipment for the farm.
• The Giving Grove (Dallas). The Giving Grove community orchard program helps volunteers install and maintain fruit trees and berry bushes that provide a free source of fresh food for urban neighborhoods. With the support of Schaffer Kubota, the grant will allow GROW North Texas to purchase a truck and landscape trailer to transport trees and supplies to the 24 existing orchard sites around the region.
For more information about the Kubota Hometown Proud grant program, visit KubotaHometownProud.com.
