The true spirit of Thanksgiving

An amazing individual! :clap:

After 3 years of bad crops, this year's looked good - so Bill Troxel committed to giving Thanksgiving staples to 155 people to symbolize the number a US farmer feeds in a year.

He put an ad in the paper, then he didn't have the heart to turn anybody down who applied or was nominated and ended up providing meals for 208 families at a cost of $12,500 - nearly 8 tons of food!

Richland Center farmer opens his heart ? and his wallet ? to help feed 208 families
By Samara Kalk Derby WSJ

"Bill Troxel has a habit of going into a Walmart or grocery store and seeking out people who look like they may need a little help. He'll walk up and give them a $20 bill. Or if he's in a restaurant and sees a young couple with small children who look like they may be struggling, he'll lay down $20 to help cover their meal.

"People just need to know that somebody's out there that thinks about them," said Troxel, 50.

This week, Troxel has been thinking a lot about his neighbors. On Sunday, the Richland Center farmer dug deep into his personal finances to donate Thanksgiving meal fixings to 208 area families.

His initial intention was to give out 155 boxes of Thanksgiving staples to symbolize the fact that each American farmer feeds 155 people every year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. So many people don't give it much thought and think that food comes from the grocery store, Troxel said. What started as an awareness campaign, grew into something much bigger.

Troxel is no stranger to unusual philanthropic activity, but this was the first year for this particular giveaway ? something he's wanted to do it for the last three years.

"We've just had three of the worst years in farming that we've had since the '80s and the money's been tight," said Troxel, who this year farmed 2,700 acres of corn, soybeans and alfalfa.

"This year in May the planting was early, the crops were looking good. I kind of committed then and said, 'One way or another, we are going to make this work and do it this year,' and I'm really glad I did," he said.

Melinda Jones of Gotham is glad he did, too. Jones' husband, David, works at the Richland Center foundry and she works at the local Kwik Trip. The couple have three children, ages 1, 5 and 11, and were unsure how they could afford Thanksgiving this year.

"It was wonderful," Melinda Jones said of Troxel's generosity. "There are so many families that need help and can't really get it. The middle class is stuck. We make too much to get help, yet we still need it."
Janice Hess, 60, who lives in an apartment complex across from the Richland Center Community Center where the meals were distributed Sunday, also was grateful for the help. Her husband is in a nursing home, and they are on a fixed income.

She is stretching out the groceries she got Sunday, preparing a meal to serve in the commons area of her building today and a family dinner over the weekend. "It's going to make a difference ? really," she said.

"Bill has always been such a good, thoughtful, helpful citizen of Richland County and I've known him since he was a box boy at Burnstad's (Market). He'd box up our groceries when our kids were little."

Both Hess and Jones were nominated for the gift by an anonymous party and both said they appreciate the gesture. "It brings the holiday spirit," Jones said.

A month ago, Troxel put an ad with instructions on how to apply for the Thanksgiving meal in the local paper for two weeks. The applications trickled in at first, but then word spread. Soon, more than 155 people applied or were nominated, and Troxel said he didn't have the heart to turn anybody down.

He heard from young, single mothers and retired farmers with health problems, he said. "There are just so many in need. You just don't realize that every day. You take for granted that everything is fine, but boy, it's just tough out there."

Troxel spent about $60 per meal, including advertising costs and the price of mailing letters to the recipients with instructions on picking up the food. His original budget was $9,000, but he wound up spending about $12,500. He didn't directly produce any of the food himself, instead buying it from ET Foods, a rural grocery in Richland Center.
Although other groups give out food before the holiday ? the Goodman Community Center in Madison gave out 1,000 Thanksgiving baskets this year ? Troxel, with help from his girlfriend, Kristie Lee, organized and paid for his extraordinary gesture himself.

Last year, just before Christmas, Troxel got even more creative in his giving. He bought ten $100 Walmart gift cards and ten $100 grocery store gift cards. He took them to the local radio station and instructed the owner to give them away, but not to people in need.
He wanted the gift cards to go to people who were willing to use them to do something for other people. The names of the 20 people who participated were then put in a drawing for $500 cash to go to the winner's favorite charity.

"What I was trying to do with this promotion is instill in a lot of other people that you can do something to help other people," he said.
On Christmas, Troxel, the divorced father of two sons, 25 and 23, routinely gives his children five $20 bills on condition that they give the money to somebody else.

"It's not easy," he said. "You want it to go to somebody who needs it. You want it to be effective. You don't want somebody to go buy cigarettes or booze or something like that with it. It's hard to identify those people. Some people at first don't want to take it."

As for where his generous spirit comes from, Troxel credits his humble Richland Center upbringing. His father worked for the county highway department and his mother worked for a now defunct company that made tiny motors. He spent weekends on his grandparents' farm.

"We never had an excesses of anything, but we always had enough to be able to share a little with other people or not have to go to a cupboard that was bare," he said.

"I think about that a lot of times, how fortunate I was when I grew up. I never had to face the stuff that a lot of these families face today," he said, adding that the economy is squeezing people from all directions.

"It just comes with my ability to read people and feel for their needs," Troxel said. "I'm just a compassionate person. You can kind of tell when people are hurting and are a little reserved, you just try to step up and help." :clap: