Northern receives $75K for Auto/Diesel

Montana State University-Northern received a donation from NorthWest Farm Credit Services to add to their funds to build the new Automotive/Diesel Technology Building.

Friday, Montana President of NorthWest Farm Credit Services Bill Perry and Shaud Schwarzbach, the branch manager of the company’s Havre office, met with university officials to symbolically give them a check for the donation at the Student Union Building’s Fireside Room.

“Something like MSU-Northern and particularly the auto-diesel program is something we realized is very important — not only to the university and the students, but also to the north-central Montana communities,” Perry said.

He added that it is critical to agriculture in the Hi-Line communities that people are being trained to work equipment and operations that are used to maintain Montana’s economy.

“That’s really where we come in — where the partnership is for us,” he said.

He said the partnership between his company and Northern is on multiple fronts. The students who come out of the university are potential employees for them and many of them work farms and ranches once they are out of school and thus become potential customers.

“We definitely want to support the communities that we do business in,” Perry said, adding that the company has a branch in Havre and 11 offices throughout the state of Montana. “ … We try to be good stewards of the communities where we work and do business.”

He said they have contributed to other universities, like Montana State University in Bozeman. In addition to universities, they have also given to many communities, and all told, they gave around $300,000 last year for projects in Montana, Perry said.

“We feel a special connection with MSU-Northern, because not only do we have a branch here in Havre, … a number of our customers depend on the types of services that the technicians that come out of the auto/diesel program that MSU-Northern provides. We think it’s a great partnership and, hopefully, one that can continue.”

Perry said Schwarzbach promoted the project to him and pushed for the gift. Perry said the company had a very successful year in 2014 and most of the agricultural producers had good business and they thought now would be a good time to give the gift.

NorthWest Farm Services is an ag-lending cooperative, Perry said at the press conference. They operate in Washington, Idaho and Oregon in addition to Montana.

This is the most recent donations the university has received for the eventual construction of the new building. Northern Interim Chancellor Greg Kegel said the ground-breaking for the project will held in the spring.