Bill Gross, the founder and president of Farm Rescue, has been named Daily Point of Light Award No. 7910 by Points of Light for his dedication to volunteer service.
Points of Light is a nonpartisan, global nonprofit organization that inspires, equips, and mobilizes millions of people to take action that changes the world.
Raised on a farm in North Dakota, Mr. Gross’ passion to serve farm and ranch families was informed by his own family’s hardships during the 1980s farm crisis. Despite leaving the farm to become a commercial pilot, he vowed to return to offer a helping hand to families that experience crises that threaten their operations and legacies. And return he did, founding Farm Rescue in 2005. Since then, Mr. Gross has served in a volunteer capacity as Farm Rescue’s president, engaging hundreds more volunteers to provide vital planting, haying, harvesting, and other support to more than 1,100 families.
“At Farm Rescue, we believe that giving is a blessing,” Mr. Gross said in a news release this week announcing his honor. “For nearly 20 years, my life and the lives of so many volunteers have been blessed through service to farm and ranch families. I am humbled to join the ranks of so many amazing volunteers through the Daily Point of Light Award.”
The Daily Point of Light Award uplifts individuals who lead, lend support, and take action for causes they care about on their path to leading a fully engaged civic life.
“The Daily Point of Light Award recognizes individuals who saw a challenge and recognized that they could be the one to use their time and talents to transform their community,” Katie Stearns, chief program and impact officer at Points of Light, said in the release. “We’re pleased to honor Bill Gross for his volunteer work and commitment to making the world a better place.”
President George H.W. Bush was the first president in American history to institute a daily presidential recognition program from the White House, conferring 1,020 Daily Point of Light Awards on citizens and organizations making a difference in other people’s lives and solving community problems. Points of Light continues this recognition and now has more than 7,700 honorees to date.
The award is given five days a week as Points of Light honors individuals creating meaningful change to meet community needs, efforts that often lead to long-term solutions and impact social problems in their local communities.
To learn more about Mr. Gross’s work at Farm Rescue, visit farmrescue.org.
In 2023, Farm Rescue named Nate Clark, a former Deere & Co. executive, as its incoming executive director. Headquartered in Horace, North Dakota, Farm Rescue’s service area now expanded to nine states including Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
Applications for Farm Rescue assistance are currently being accepted and can be obtained at www.farmrescue.org or by calling (701) 252-2017.