MOODY COUNTY, S.D. (KELO) — With the dry conditions, it’s sure affected farmers and their crops this growing season. With that can come stress, and a group in Moody County is making sure producers have a place to go when things get hard.

Moody County Cares was started by Pastor Alan Blankenfeld in 2018 after seeing the impact stress has on farmers and to shed more light on suicide prevention. The group still meets four times a year at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Flandreau and does other community outreach to let people know what resources are out there.

Blankenfeld farmed for over 30 years before becoming a pastor.

“I understand farm stress and watched a lot of producers struggle and some ended taking their own life, and I just wanted to do whatever we could to prevent that,” he said.

Todd Sanderson, who is vice president of Moody County Cares and a farmer near Flandreau, says he got involved in the group since Blankenfeld was his church’s pastor at the time.

“I get stressed just like everybody else. My wife will tell you I get very quiet when I get stressed and I think that’s a generalization for ag producers. You know, we’re proud and private, and so when them stresses…we hesitate to share with anyone,” Sanderson said.

When the group started, there were about 30 people who gathered from throughout the community concerned about the issue. Their primary goal is to make sure farmers and other community members know there are resources out there to get help. It’s even expanded into the three schools in the county.

“When we started out, we said if we could save one person from taking their own life by suicide, we’d be successful. And I know to date, we’ve saved at least two or three that have come and talked to me about it,” Blankenfeld said.

Blankenfeld says there is such a stigma around mental health and that it needs to be talked about more.

“If you fall and break your arm, you don’t just tough it out. You go and get help. Same thing with mental health. If you’re struggling, if things aren’t good, go and see somebody. There’s help,” he said.

“There are resources and please use them. Anybody has stress in any occupation, we’re aware of that. Agriculture, a lot of times we’re kind of by ourselves, so that makes it more difficult but there are resources. Please make that phone call, do the text message and talk to your clergy. Get help, please,” Sanderson said.

Blankenfeld also attended a training through the South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources for clergy and other church leaders to equip them with the tools they need to help in those tough situations.

If you are struggling, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 988. Avera Health also has it’s own Farm and Rural Stress Hotline.