Collins organizes effort to assist Kansas Farmers

After hearing of the devastating wildfires that burned thousands of square miles across parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Colorado recently, Englewood resident Courtney Collins realized it was time to go to work.

Collins made some phone calls and learned that there was not nearly enough hay for the cattle that survived the fires. “So that’s what we decided to do,” Collins said. Collins and a small army of volunteers delivered hay, bottled water and cash donations to – coincidentally – Ashland, Kansas and neighboring town Englewood.

To get the word out, the 27-year-old mother of three quickly learned how to harness the power of Facebook live and she made quite a connection.

“We had a tremendous response,” Collins said. “On Friday we delivered 511 bales (large round bales) and 250 square bales of hay. Some delivered on Friday and came right back, we stayed until Sunday – we went and helped to fix some fence and one man had a barn burn, so we helped him take care of that.”

Collins said the farmers and ranchers they worked with were very appreciative. “They were in tears,” Collins said. “To get that much hay that quickly was amazing.” The story of the wildfire devastation reached national media and Facebook had numerous stories and postings of farm families in need.

One Kansas farmer had 3,000 head of cattle and lost 900 head to the fires. Collins said the seven hour trip to south central Kansas took longer than expected as there were seven blowouts on trailer tires.

“I have to give credit to Jacob,” she said of her husband, “he was my pit crew – he was getting drivers back on the road in no time at all.” Still, the drive took some as much as 13-hours.

But Collins says it was worth every minute. “I can’t type,” she said of her live video updates. “You can’t get the emotion of the story to people like you can when you are live.”

Collins also credited those commercial donors who provided feed and those who gave cash to pay for gas. “My drivers didn’t want the money,” she said, “we gave it about $2,000 to the town fund that is providing families future needs.”

After a week of working to organize and then take the trip to help others, Collins said she learned something important: “I realized that I haven’t been doing enough to help people and I should have been doing so before last week,” Collins said.

“We’re a big farm family. Whether they are a mile away, or 10,000 miles away – we are a family and this is what we do.” Collins added that she was hoping to return to Ashland, Kansas in April to bring more supplies to farm families in the area.