friday takeout

Nationwide Insurance, a key partner to the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety (NECAS) at the College, enlisted the support of NFL legend Peyton Manning to help promote grain bin safety training. Manning’s video praises Nationwide for its support of grain bin safety and the rescue training NECAS delivers throughout the US.

NECAS has built two state-of-the-art mobile grain entrapment simulators to teach grain safety and grain bin rescue to rural volunteer fire departments. With these mobile props, NECAS has supplied training in Confined Space-Grain Bin Entry and Grain Bin Rescue in 32 states and Canada’s Ontario and Alberta provinces. The training has 27 documented rescues of victims trapped in the grain.

Wondering what to do with an unwanted gift card you received over the holidays? According to Bankrate, 51 percent of American adults have unused gift cards. The monetary equivalent left on the table is $116 per person and a whopping $15.3 billion nationwide! The main culprits are letting the card expire, losing it or the store going out of business. Instead of letting that happen, this article has great ideas on how to make sure it's put to good use - including exchanging it on various sites for cash or a different card, donating it to someone or someplace that could use it or buying items for those in need. And if you exchange your card for cash, you can use that to purchase the low-cost compost bin through Winneshiek County Conservation that we mentioned in last week's post. Time is running out as orders must be placed by Jan. 31. One other reminder - if you're taking advantage of the warmer weather before the snow comes again and removing your holiday lights, remember you can drop unwanted lights in the recycle box in the entrance to Student Center.

- Kara Holmstrom