In 1986, Marilyn Adams was confronted with every parent’s greatest fear; she found her 11-year-old son Keith dead. Keith suffocated in a gravity flow wagon while helping on his family’s farm in Iowa. Keith’s death inspired Adams to create Farm Safety 4 Just Kids (FS4JK), a nonprofit organization servicing the United States and Canada. FS4JK aims to increase public awareness and understanding of hazards to children-kindergarten thru sixth grade-on the farm. Recently, FS4JK added rural driving and ATV safety programs for high school students and educational opportunities and resources for adults to create a healthy, safe farm environment. In 2004, Monsanto’s Matthews, Missouri site established its own FS4JK group-the Semo chapter. «We started the chapter because we felt the need to educate our area youth on the hazards that exist on the farm and in the rural setting,» Robert Cook, Monsanto safety technician, said. «There had been an increase in accidents in our area involving children-ATV accidents, flowing grain incidents, farm animal accidents and exposure to chemicals.» For the past six years, the Semo chapter has participated in an annual tri-county safety camp for fifth grade students. The chapter has also conducted safety demonstrations and puppet shows in classrooms, held youth conferences and hosted all-day safety meetings for employees. «Several plant employees participate in FS4JK activities at local schools or during community events,» Lenda Pearson, Monsanto administration specialist, said. «With the assistance of the New Madrid County Central FFA, Kelly High School FFA and the Scott County Health Educator, we reached more than 3,700 students in 2009 with important information about farm hazards.» In 2009 alone, the Semo chapter hosted 19 events and reached more than 25,000 individuals overall. For its efforts, the chapter has received recognition from local newspapers, television stations and FS4JK, including FS4JK’s 2009 Professional Chapter of the Year Award, Horizon Award, and the More Than 10,000 People Award. «This chapter has made a positive impact by showing that Monsanto is concerned with the well-being of our communities and not just as a business wanting to sell a product,» George Lance, Monsanto conditioner supervisor, said. «We as a group feel we have contributed to the safety awareness of problems found in rural areas, and have had a lot of fun working with the students.»