From Corn to hand sanitizer: Local group donates almost 400 gallons to local schools

Posted on January 8, 2021
Central Illinois ethanol manufacturer, Marquis Energy, located in Hennepin, Ill. produced the hand sanitizer. (Photo courtesy: McLean County Ag in the classroom)

By Blake Haas

BLOOMINGTON – To help combat the COVID-19 pandemic, McLean County Ag in the Classroom is donating almost 400 gallons of hand sanitizer to schools in McLean County made from locally produced Corn.

According to Bridget Caldwell, coordinator of McLean County Ag in the classroom, the organization is donating 384 gallons to classrooms across the county.

“We put together between last spring and this fall over 30,000 lessons in baggies, in gallon bags that the teachers could use either in the classroom or away from it,” Caldwell told WJBC News. “That being said, we know that when they start going back into the classroom and we know how hard it was to get hand sanitizer; so my boss (Anna Ziegler, Assistant Manager for Ag in the Classroom), is very much aware of what is going on up and things. And so she knew that some of the corn elevators that create ethanol with Corn was switching over to hand sanitizer…I asked the principles ‘would you be interested,’ so of course, guess what, they all are wanting hand sanitizer.

With Corn being the top crop grown in McLean County, Caldwell said the hand sanitizer is also a teaching lesson.

“I just think it’s really important for the kids to all know and the adults too that their lives are touch by Agriculture in every aspect, so that’s part of it. We at McLean County Farm Bureau, Fair and Ag in the Classroom, we all just want to support our teachers, and this is a time like no other…It’s just one small thing that we can do to show the schools we care about them.

Heyworth schools received a portion of 384 gallons of hand sanitizer. (Photo courtesy: McLean County Ag in the classroom).

“We have a lesson on fermentation so the teachers can take different types of corn and show the kids its a really fun experiment to see how blooms fermentation starts, which was quickest, and that’s what the corn elevators are doing now is they’re creating hand sanitizer now instead of ethanol to support everybody in the county.”

The hand sanitizer donation is distributed proportionally based on student enrollment to public and private schools in McLean county when students return to the classroom.

Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].

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