Aldermere Achiever Continues To Inspire

Aldermere Achiever 4-H Club member William Jackson’s generous project to raise a steer, sell it and give the proceeds to Make-A-Wish continues to inspire others. Several youths throughout Maine are also raising steers or lambs with the idea of making a donation to a charity.

William’s unselfish and inspirational act also led Mark Masterson and Jim Chalfant (neighbors, volunteers and friends of Aldermere) to approach Farm General Manager Ron Howard to discuss ways to help other young people who wanted to follow William’s example for giving. Together they developed a new Aldermere program that accepts donations to buy a steer from the Farm; then youth apply to receive and raise the steer, sell it at Windsor Fair and donate most of the profits to a charity of the 4-Her’s choice.

In January a steer was purchased by Mark and Debby Masterson along with Jim Chalfant and his colleagues at Town and Country Realtors. As the selection committee, Mark, Jim and William selected Aldermere Achiever’s own Cailand Sweeting to be the first recipient. Cailand (with no influence from farm staff!) kindly chose Aldermere to receive the proceeds from her project, due to “the good things that the farm does for the community.” Plans are already in place to expand the program for others in 2008 as the full impact of William’s thoughtfulness continues to grow.