Lisa Goodman wins ‘fight cancer’ pink pedal tractor for her favorite little farm boy

 

[December 28, 2020] 

On Monday, December 21st, Karen Hargis and Lisa Ramlow of Lincoln Daily News and the Friends and Family Relay Team joined staff and owners from Central Illinois Ag in Atlanta to draw the winning name for a pink pedal tractor.

The tractor is the second one in the last two years raffled off to raise money for the Logan County Relay for Life and American Cancer Society. Last year, the first tractor was donated to the Friends and Family Relay group by the late Ken Harnacke. Ken donated the tractor in honor of his wife who is a breast cancer survivor.

This year, it was a surprise when the relay team’s co-captain Karen Hargis heard from Central Illinois Ag in Atlanta that they wanted to keep the momentum going by donating another pedal tractor. The tractor would be a brand new pink version of a vintage McCormick Farmall “C.” The McCormick brand was the original version of the International Harvester farm implement line.

Matt Voelker of CIA was instrumental in making the donation happen. He did so as a salute to his mother who had breast cancer and an expression of appreciation for the work of the American Cancer Society.

With the donation made, Hargis sought permission to host a raffle from the Logan County Board and Ramlow along with help from CCAonline staff member Bobbie Snyder began putting together raffle boxes to be placed at various locations throughout the county.

Tickets were sold for several months, but like a lot of other activities this year, special sale events were halted due to coronavirus.

The relay team did offer tickets for sale during their pork chop cook-outs in Lincoln, but otherwise relied on the various businesses to promote the ticket purchases among their customers.

The businesses that helped with the raffle tickets included Central Illinois Ag, CCAonline/Lincoln Daily News, Collision Concepts, the Atlanta National Bank.

Tickets sold for $5 each or five for $20. On the 21st, Hargis announced that in spite of the lack of special selling opportunities, the little pedal tractor had raised $905 for the American Cancer Society. She said that the amount was a surprise and a very pleasant one indeed. She thanked CIA for their donation and thanked all the local businesses who had helped sell tickets.

Then it was time to draw the ticket. Gathering around the tractor were CIA owners and employees, Steve and Michael Schmidt, Jake Glandon, Matt Voelker, Abby Miller and Dawn Irwin.

Ramlow joined the group stirring up the tickets and holding the bowl while Voelker did the honors of drawing out the winning name.

The winner of the pink tractor was Lisa Goodman of Atlanta. Lisa purchased her ticket at the Atlanta National Bank.

When contacted, Goodman was very excited and explained that the tractor was going to be a gift for her two year old Tipper. She said that he would be very excited to have the tractor and she anticipated that he would ride the wheels right off of it. She said he wouldn’t care that it was pink, that his joy would be in having this really cool new toy.

On Christmas Eve, Lisa and her partner Greg Paul brought Tipper to the dealership and it was there that the little boy found out that a special gift had been left there for him. True to what Lisa expected the little boy was excited about his new toy. He sat proudly on the tractor for a group picture.

After that, Voelker adjusted the seat on the tractor to accommodate his height and Tipper was put down on the floor to test out his new tractor.

Goodman said that Tipper is a foster child in the household. Over the years, she has fostered more than 15 children, but in 2021 her hope and dream is that she and Paul will be able to adopt Tipper and make him their son forever.

Goodman said she purchased the raffle ticket while at the bank one day because she understands the impact of cancer, having seen a lot of it in her family. She wanted to support the American Cancer Society and didn’t really imagine that she would win.

“But when we won I was super excited because I knew we would put it to good use,” said Goodman.

On Christmas Eve Goodman, Paul, and Tipper were all so excited and happy.

It was a feel good moment for everyone. Local businesses have been hard hit this year with the coronavirus and the staff at CIA understand the suffering that comes with the disease because every member of their staff has had it and thankfully came through on the other side in pretty good shape. That given, no masks were needed by staff and all can see their smiling faces instead.

At the end of it all Hargis commented about the event this year. “Thank you first to Central Illinois Ag for their donation of the tractor to help raise money for breast cancer awareness and support in Logan County. This tractor has had so much positive goodwill in 2020 - from Logan County giving us the permit to raffle it - to every person who bought tickets. Along the way there have been so many who have shared their story of cancer and their desire to help bring an end to it. We have been privileged to be a part of this journey, and for not only listening to your stories but sharing your determination to fight against this awful disease.”

Congratulations to Goodman, Paul and Tipper and our hope and prayer for you in 2021 is that your hope and prayer comes true!

[Nila Smith]