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L-R: Joanna Gaines, Guy and Ginger Coombs,
Curtis and Carilynn Coombs and Chip Gaines. |
A family dairy farm in north-central Kentucky has received some badly needed help from an unexpected source:
HGTV stars Chip and Joanna Gaines.
The Coombs family was hit hard this year after
Dean Foods dropped their contracts with more than 100 small dairy farms; the family had to sell most of the cows from their farm Jericho Acres. After seeing an
NBC News feature about the plight of the Coombs family, Chip Gaines called them in July to ask how he could help and the families became friends, Tammy Shaw
reports for the
Henry County Local.
The Gaines family owns an umbrella company called
Magnolia, and under that, a crowd-funding apparatus called Chipstarter which they hope to use to help other families.
"The Gaines family invited the Coombes to attend Silobration, in Waco, Texas, Magnolia’s annual festival featuring a free vendor fair, food trucks, daytime activities and evening concerts," Shaw reports. "At a concert, Chip Gaines asked the family to come up on stage, then showed a clip from footage a film crew, on behalf of the Gaines family, shot during two days on the farm." After showing the film, Chip presented them with a no-strings-attached check for $50,000.
"We will be eternally grateful for their graciousness and the wonderful people they are. I’m blessed to be able to call them friends," Cherilynn Coombs told Shaw. The family plans to build and operate a micro dairy processing plant and perhaps open a farm store to sell agricultural products. If successful, they say they could create a place that could help other dairy farmers in the same situation.
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