RICHMOND, Ind. — Tom Raper RV recently partnered with Farm World newspaper to donate a utility trailer to the Glenwood Fire Department in Rush County, Ind. in an effort to help meet the goal of acquiring grain bin rescue equipment.

“This trailer is just one step toward our ultimate goal of saving the lives of those trapped and suffocating in a grain bin,” said Rod Richardson, a volunteer firefighter and farmer from Glenwood, Ind. “We don’t want to be the only one utilizing this equipment, we want to help train other departments.”

Richardson has been working with local grain insulators to raise more than $15,000 in sponsorship to purchase a grain tube, harness and bin rescue equipment. Major sponsors include: Falmouth Farm Supply, Bunge, Bill Smith, CGS and Gavalon Grain.

Richardson said the closest grain tube and bin rescue equipment is in Morristown, Ind. and beyond that Fishers, Ind., so this trailer and equipment is essential to the Rush and Fayette County areas.

“If a person is trapped and still alive, we can get to them, put the tube around them, vacuum the grain from around them, and pull them out,” said Richardson, who anticipates getting the remainder of the sponsorship dollars within the month.

“It’s essential to have a trailer to store all of our equipment. This is a real gift from God. We just want to thank everyone who has helped make this happen.”

The trailer is a Hallmark Passport utility trailer, measuring 4 feet by 8 feet, according to Tom Raper RV owner David Bane. “A lot of our customers are farmers and live in farming communities, so this was a natural fit for us,” said Bane, who purchased Tom Raper RV from Raper himself nearly 10 years ago. “We like to work with local municipalities like fire departments, police departments to just be a help in any way that we can.”

One thing that Bane noticed early on was that Richardson did his homework and he was sincere and emotional in wanting to make a difference, change lives and train other departments to be able to utilize grain bin rescue equipment.

“This will all be worth it when this equipment helps pull someone out of a bin and saves a life,” said Bane. “And by sharing this trailer and this equipment with neighboring departments, it will only touch more people and save more lives.”