After one North Dakota farmer suffered a heart attack, neighbors rallied to save the 1,000-acre harvest.
Lane Unhjem, 57, was operating his farm when abruptly smoke billowed from the combine harvester. Working to put the fire out, he went into cardiac arrest. Unhjem was sent to a trauma center in Minot, N.D., and is in stable condition.
When residents heard about the news, they created a small army to help, leaving their harvests behind. Sixty farmers aided Unhjem, harvesting durum wheat and canola crops, filing 15 semi-trucks. Without his neighbors’ aid, 1,000 acres of crops would have perished.
“I talked to a couple of farmers, got their equipment, and then other people just started calling and we had equipment offered from all over the place in the county, and their workers to go with it,” family friend Jenna Binde said in an interview with KFYR TV News. “We are small here. It’s a very tightknit community.”
Don Anderson, who also helped, celebrated those who stepped up to help their neighbor in need. “You reap what you sow! That’s the old saying that can apply to a lot of things in life. Well, today, it has a two-fold meaning – harvesting crops and helping friends,” he posted on Facebook.