Field of the Future raises $23K for Ronald McDonald Family Room

After a big harvest of spring wheat, the proceeds from a very unique plot of farmland were donated to help local families with sick children.

The Redhead Equipment Field of the Future is an initiative which turns their Prince Albert testing field into something much more than a place to try out new equipment. Agriculture Sales Manager Arron McLean said Redhead grew a crop on their testing plot for the past five years, with the proceeds donated to a different local charity each year. This year the field’s wheat crop raised $23,803.62, McLean said, which was presented to the Ronald McDonald House Family Room at the Victoria Hospital this afternoon.

“We had no idea how many families around Prince Albert and the area use this room every day,” McLean said. “We thought it was a great cause.”

This year marks another big milestone for the Field of the Future, McLean said. Since its beginnings in 2013, the initiative has raised more than $200,000 for local charities and community groups in the Prince Albert area.

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Marcelline Zimmer, director of operations with Ronald McDonald House Charities Saskatchewan, said the family room – the only one of its kind in the province – has been visited nearly 9,000 times by more than 700 families since their doors first opened in September 2016.

“It’s a big deal for the people here in P.A. to know that they have this support in their very own pediatric unit,” Zimmer said. “So many good things have come from this harvest.”

Tammy Forrester, the charity’s CEO, said the donation will help cover the room’s operating costs in the coming year. Basics like coffee and healthy food are supplied, she said, as well as amenities like fresh baking, clean towels and shower supplies.

“They can just spend some quiet time here in the hospital, in a space that feels a little bit more like a home,” she said.

Taylor.macpherson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @TMacPhersonNews