News Photo by Darby Hinkley Pictured, Jason Barbeau and Bobby Barrigar, of Farm Bureau Insurance, stand in front of the refrigerated trailer that will be heading downstate this weekend to be used to distribute food all over Michigan. The Farm Bureau Agent Charitable Fund, established in 2018 by Barrigar and other founders, has a mission of ending hunger in Michigan.

ALPENA — This Michigan company is doing what it can to end hunger in Michigan.

Bobby Barrigar is a founder of the Farm Bureau of Michigan Agent Charitable Fund, established in 2018 as a way for agents to come together to give back to the community and state and make a bigger impact.

“The group of Farm Bureau agents got together,” and asked, “What kind of splash could we make if we pooled our money through all of the agents across Michigan, because we’re a Michigan-based company, how big of a splash could we make if we pooled the resources in together?” Barrigar asked. “So we threw that out to the agents at our agency convention, and we said we’d like to initially raise some money tonight, when all the agents were together, and see what the interest is in launching this Agent Charitable Fund.”

The response was immediate and huge.

“We raised approximately $375,000 that night,” Barrigar said.

Barrigar is a founding member and will be the president of the ACF in January, he said.

“All of the agents, 400-some agents across Michigan, are what helped donate to this,” Barrigar said. “At the beginning, in ’18, we got with Dr. Phil Knight, who heads the Food Bank Council of Michigan, and we said, ‘Our mission is to end hunger in Michigan, so what can we do to work alongside you guys to help?’ And he said, ‘We need refrigerated trucks badly.’ So we decided we are going to donate to them one refrigerated truck a year, for five years. And this is our third trailer.”

Barrigar owns Farm Bureau Insurance Robert Barrigar Agency in Alpena, and Jason Barbeau is opening the Farm Bureau Insurance Jason Barbeau Agency in Rogers City on Monday.

Both men are excited about doing what they can to end hunger in Michigan.

“It’s nice working for a company with a mission to help support the communities that we’re in,” Barbeau said.

Barrigar explained plans for the refrigerated trailer.

“It’s going to Saint John’s on Saturday,” Barrigar said of the 53-foot trailer, which was parked outside of Omega Electric in Alpena on Thursday. “We purchase the trailer, and Omega wraps it for us, and they give us an amazing deal to do the wrap. And then we’ve got ‘Alpena, Michigan’ put right on the back. So, this will travel the whole state and be picking up and delivering food for kids, with our hometown traveling around on the back.”

Barrigar is extremely grateful for the generosity of those who have contributed to the Agent Charitable Fund, so they can continue working with the Food Bank Council of Michigan to provide nourishment to families statewide.

“Their plan is to have one of these refrigerated trailers at each region across Michigan,” Barrigar explained.

Food will be distributed by regional food banks throughout the state.

For more information about the Farm Bureau of Michigan Agent Charitable Fund, or to donate, visit EndHungerInMichigan.org.

The Agent Charitable Fund is a donor-advised fund within the Michigan Foundation for Agriculture. It serves as a fund for Farm Bureau agents, clients, and partners to contribute to charitable causes throughout Michigan. Following the purpose and vision of the Michigan Foundation of Agriculture, the fund grants monies to provide food, build agriculture awareness, educate and help citizens throughout the state.