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80 farmers come together to help Avon neighbor

AVON, Illinois – Two months ago Andy Pecharich could barely stand, let alone take care of his farm. He’s recovering from a double lung transplant. &...

AVON, Illinois - Two months ago Andy Pecharich could barely stand, let alone take care of his farm.

He's recovering from a double lung transplant.

"I`m making pretty good headway I think," said Pecharich.

Pecharich has learned if you need help, you don't have to look far to get it, or even ask for it.

"Great guy. He`d do the same thing if somebody else had a problem, he`d be there to help too," said farmer Andy Schmalshof.

On Thursday, October 19th, 80 farmers, 20 Semis and 15 combines gathered on Percharich's farm to harvest 500 acres of crop.

"We`ve got people combining the corn and hauling it to the rail shuttle and then people will combine beans this afternoon," said neighbor Dave Serven, who organized the gathering.

Normally harvesting would take Percharich two weeks or more to finish, but with the help from this group of farmers, it took them only one day.

"This is the end product you worked all year to raise your crops and harvest it and get it to the elevator so this is a great feeling to get it all done," said Serven.

Even though Percharich is eager to get back to farming, "I would love to be in one of those combines right now, that's my favorite job," he says it's comforting to know his friends will lend a hand.

“Its almost been to the point of overwhelming response that we’ve gotten, certainly quite humbling," said Percharich.

With the work today Percharich won't have any major farm work to do until Spring.

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