Tool box auction to benefit FFA members

RANTOUL, Ill. — A Stor-Loc tool box will be auctioned during the Half Century of Progress Show at the Rantoul National Aviation Center with proceeds to benefit FFA members.

The auction is set for at 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug, 26. Forty percent of the auction proceeds will go to the Illinois Association FFA, 40% to the Indiana FFA Association, 10% to the local FFA chapter of the buyer’s choice and 10% to a local FFA chapter of the second highest bidder’s choice.

“We donate a lot to the local FFA chapters and fire departments, but this is the first time we’ve donated a tool box to the Half Century show,” said Jeff Lanoue, a salesperson for Stor-Loc. “We’ve always had a booth at the show.”

The Stor-Loc tool boxes are made in Kankakee.

“Our products are 100% American made,” Lanoue said about the 40-year-old company. “Nothing is outsourced.”

Donating the tool box helps support the community, the company representative said.

“The money from this auction will help quite a few people,” he noted.

Not only is Lanoue attending the Half Century show to represent the tool cabinet company, he will also be taking some of his antique farming equipment to the event.

“I didn’t go to the first show, but I’ve been to every one since,” Lanoue said.

“I’ll be at the show playing with my toys,” he said.

Lanoue plans to plow with his John Deere G tractors.

“I’m John Deere all the way,” the tractor collector said.

“I have a couple of old Gs that are piggy-backed — one tractor is behind the other,” he said. “They did that when they needed more power to pull bigger equipment.”

The collector grew up on a farm near Martinton and enjoys driving his tractors at the show.

“I think it was Max Armstrong that said no one is mad there,” he said. “When you drive through on your old tractor, you see old guys smile and kids smile, too.”

A John Deere 4020 and couple other smaller tractors are also in Lanoue’s collection.

“I always like to have the ones I use,” he said. “I’ve had many John Deere tractors over the years, and if they didn’t get used, I’d sell them and get something different.”