McFarlane Donates Time, Equipment to Veterans’ Cause

A one-of-a-kind piece of tillage equipment recently rolled out of McFarlane Manufacturing Co.’s plant in Sauk City, Wisconsin.

Welders, fabricators, painters, and other staff built a 14-by-30-foot tiller for an online fund-raising auction for Operation Eagles’ Wings, which flies veterans’ to Washington D.C. to visit war memorials.

In Sauk City, proceeds support the Badger Honor Flight, a regional effort of Operation Eagles’ Wings.

McFarlane General Manager Todd Lassanske said employees jumped at the chance to build the equipment, which was customized in red, white and blue with an image of the flag-raising at Iwo Jima.

Employees donated hours of vacation time to work on the machine, or clocked out and worked past their shifts to get it built, assembled and painted.

“The staff here didn’t get bonuses last year,” Lassanske said. “It was the first year in most employees’ tenure here that they didn’t get a bonus. I wanted to be sensitive to that. So I grabbed about 30 people and said, ‘I know none of us got bonuses last year, but what if the company donated everything for this project?’ It was a group of welders. One hundred percent of the hands went up in favor.”

Lassanke said the company’s suppliers donated about $10,000 worth of materials for the project, too.

Fritz Wyttenbach, a central figure in the effort to raise money for the veterans’ program, said the project from McFarlane Manufacturing was stunning.

“McFarlane’s has gone above and beyond,” Wyttenbach said. “They do so much for the community.”   Source: Sauk Prairie Eagle  Member since 1976 – Flexharrow.com