Page TTuelve 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



April, 19} 2 



I Believe In the Community Unit Plan 



By AN IROQUOIS COUNTY UNIT DIRECTOR 



THE Community Unit plan with a 

 leader in each of the 19 local units 

 has been in operation long enough in 

 Iroquois county to prove its value. 

 There is more interest shown by the 

 membership of the Farm Bureau I think 

 than ever before. I know that state- 

 ment to be true for the past seven years 

 as I have been a Farm Bureau member 

 for that length of time. , r, ; C;v 



When I was still at home my father 

 was a member, paid his $ 1 5 yearly with 

 only a vague idea as to why he did so. 

 He never attended a meeting and I am 

 satisfied did not know of the work his 

 organization was doing. He got no di- 

 rect benefit as he did not use his organi- 

 zation. What benefit he derived in- 

 directly he knew nothing about. His 

 job was farming and such matters as 

 reduction in transportation costs, taxes, 

 and other items which directly affected 

 his income he took as a matter of 

 course — knew he could do nothing 

 about it. 



Money Isn't All 



Any organization to be effective must 

 be backed by the interest of its mem- 

 bers. You can't pay in $15 a year and 

 then say, "I paid my dues, now let's see 

 you do something to help me." That 

 attitude taken by a membership won't 

 get anywhere. You've got to take an 

 active part in anything if you are going 

 to get something out of it. Give your 

 moral support as well as your money. 

 You will have to know the problems of 

 the people in your community, know 

 what it is that they expect to achieve 

 through co-operative effort or what in- 

 formation they want that can be had 

 through the Farm Bureau. 



Your Farm Adviser hasn't time to 

 visit everyone and discuss his personal 

 problems, whether it be how to select 

 seed corn, how to feed dairy cows, or 

 raise hogs according to the sanitation 

 plan. Here is where your local leader- 

 ship comes into the picture. For ex- 

 ample, a resident of the community has 

 been appointed leader in a project of 

 dairy feeding*. He will be required to 

 attend a dairy feeding school along with 

 other leaders from the various units. 

 He will then be qualified to give the 

 information to his neighbors. Thus all 

 the people will have been informed, the 

 organization helped, and the project ; 

 leader will have had a gratifying expe- 

 rience by being able to serve his organi- 

 zation and community. Care must be 

 taken, however, in choosing project 

 leaders. The unit leader should con- 

 sider carefully the qualifications neces- 



Shelby County Farm Bureau's 

 New Home 



sary in a man for him to be able to 

 serve in the project he intends to pro- 

 mote. 



Enthusiasm and Sincerity 



The unit leader must have enthusi- 

 asm and sincerity to get the confidence 

 of the people he is trying to serve. If as 

 Unit Leader you find you have made 

 a mistake in your appointment choose 

 someone else and try again. An in- 

 active or inefficient leader will get you 

 nowhere. Remember, you want to de- 

 velop interest among your members. 

 You can do it through your project 

 leaders if they are willing to make an 

 effort. 



So far I have spoken of the member- 

 ship already in the organization. There 

 is another reason for having an active 

 community unit, namely, your neighbor 

 who doesn't belong to the Farm Bureau. 

 You need him and you will have to 

 make your organization so attractive 

 that he can't stay out. 



He may not know what the Service 

 Company, or Shipping Association is all 

 about. He doesn't know that Farm 

 Bureau members get their serum at cost 

 or their auto insurance at a substantial 

 saving, or that Country Life offers lower, 

 net cost life insurance. More than that, 

 he doesn't realize that it was by co- 

 operation that these things were made 

 possible. 



Interesting Non-Members 



A good way to arouse the interest of 

 the non-member who is your neighbor 

 is through community meetings spon- 

 sored by the Farm Bureau and Home 

 Bureau. I say this from experience for 

 we have held our third community 



Shelby County Farm 



Bureau Has New Home 



THE Shelby County Farm Bureau 

 recently moved into its new home, 

 the building formerly occupied by the 

 Citizens National Bank at Shelbyville. 

 Shelby is the eighteenth Farm Bureau 

 in Illinois to buy its own building. 



The Shelby-Effingham Service Com- 

 pany, the Shelby County Livestock 

 Marketing Association, the Shelby 

 County ■ Produce Association, and the 

 general agent of the I. A. A. -Farm Bu- 

 reau insurance companies have their 

 headquarters in the new building in ad- 

 dition to the Farm Bureau office, advises 

 Walter S. Batson, farm adviser. 



Members of the Shelby County Farm 

 Bureau voted in their annual meeting 

 in October to leave the matter to the 

 board of directors, who were given full 

 power to act. Upon the advice of 

 Donald Kirkpatrick, legal counsel for 

 the Illinois Agricultural Association, 

 the Shelby County Holding Company 

 was organized to finance the project. 



The holding company issued 7 per 

 cent cumulative stock and made a loan 

 of $7,500 to the Farm Bureau, which 

 in turn gave a first mortgage on the 

 building and a promissory note. V. 

 Vaniman, director of insurance service 

 foi: the I. A. A., helped organize the 

 project. 



It is estimated by the board that al- 

 lowing for all expenses and taking into 

 consideration present rental income of 

 the building, the monthly expense to 

 the Farm Bureau would be only a little 

 over $43. 



The ladies' reception room, a feature 

 of the new Farm Bureau home, was re- 

 cently completed. Mrs. Charles Krile 

 and Mrs. Carl Middleton supervised the 

 decorating and furhishing of the room. 



meeting in our unit. They have been 

 interesting, well attended, and people 

 are learning what the Farm Bureau and 

 the Home Bureau have accomplished. 

 We believe these meetings will be the 

 means of adding to our membership de- 

 sirable members who will have caught 

 the co-operative spirit. 



The development of Community 

 Units will be the major project for 

 1932 in Iroquois county. It is, I be- 

 lieve, the most important work yet 

 undertaken. It will require some time 

 and effort in each community. But 

 through this plan we can build a bigger 

 and better Farm Bureau in 1932. 



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