FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky students are helping farmers affected by last year’s floods. In January, high school students showed off how they fixed farm equipment. Now, they’re ready to be delivered to families in need.

What You Need To Know

  • Students in the Commonwealth fixed farm equipment for flood survivors

  • The Kentucky Horticulture Council launched the Eastern Kentucky Farm Equipment Flood Damage repair program in January

  • David Neville helped the KHC deliver the repaired equipment

  • Various high school agriculture programs across the state helped repair flood-damaged equipment

Kentucky students fixed several pieces of equipment and they’re ready to be taken back to eastern Kentucky. 16-year-old Jimmy Charles McBee and his classmates were loading a tiller on the back of the pickup truck.

“We fixed ‘em if they were salvageable or we had to deem them unsalvageable and possibly maybe use other ones to help different ones,” McBee said.

His classmates at Western Hills High School in Frankfort know him as “Jimmy In The Shop” and on his off days, he works on his neighbor’s farm.

“I was at work when the flooding had occurred,” McBee said. “And all I could think was—I had family lived down there and they were alright. All of them other people they lost every time. It’s just a very heartbreaking time.”

The July floods ravaged many parts of eastern Kentucky, wiping away the livelihoods of many communities, including farmers.

So Jimmy and his classmates did their part, and fixed broken pieces of farm equipment.

“I mean, they’re kind of difficult to put together. I’ve took quite a few apart myself,” McBee said. “The tillers were always very dangerous to mess with. You can lose a finger very easily.”

David Neville, who’s helping with the Kentucky Horticulture Council, transported the equipment to eastern Kentucky. He said it was the least he can do.

“We’re not gonna build all the houses back in eastern Kentucky, but this gesture with these tillers and these young folks, I think, can make a difference in their world,” Neville said. “And I’m pretty certain that in the future they will impact other people in a very positive way.”

It’s a small gesture to return smiles and hope in communities recovering from the floods.

“So this is a gift to them people in eastern Kentucky and community,” McBee said.

The Kentucky Horticulture Council launched the Eastern Kentucky Farm Equipment Flood Damage repair program in January.

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