It just goes to show you never know until you try.

On Dec. 16, at the Oxford Tractor Supply Company (TSC), the Oxford High School band program received a donation of not one, but two, brand new Bighorn Powersport utility terrain vehicles (UTV). The vehicles have a combined value of about $18,000. They will be used at band events like camp, competitions and football games to transport water, equipment and students and family members. The donation, by both TSC and Bighorn, started with a letter from Band Booster Kristy Follett.

“On Nov. 10, I wrote a letter to an out-of-state acquaintance whose husband is an executive with TSC. I asked if she would pass my note along to her husband to connect me with someone in the organization. I shared my experience at the Booster meeting the night before,” Follet said in an email.

She said at the meeting Band Director Jim Gibbons “expressed the need for a UTV for the program. He made it clear that while this was something they needed, he was nervous about spending the money. They discussed perhaps looking for a used vehicle or delaying the acquisition another year or two.”

She received her answer on Dec. 1.

“I received a call from Kristi Davidson, Regional Vice President at Tractor Supply Company. She was calling to share that they had received my letter, and she had forwarded it on to their supplier of UTVs, Bighorn,” Follet’s email stated. “Without hesitation, Bighorn agreed to help. Bighorn immediately ordered the vehicles and even went so far as to research Oxford’s school colors to make sure the vehicles would coordinate. Bighorn assembled the vehicles at their location in the Atlanta, GA area. Tractor Supply Company then paid to have the vehicles shipped to Oxford this week so they could be given to the school before Christmas break.” — Don Rush