Carl Bates is a farmer in Galva, Illinois, but this season, harvesting his crop yield has become an enormous obstacle.

Battling a terminal cancer, Carl and his family were worried they would be unable to complete the harvest.

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Source: TODAY

Reaching out to some other farmers in the community, the Bates family hoped to get some help in their time of need. Only expecting a little help, the Bates were surprised when a whole team of helpers arrived at their doorstep on September 25th.

“With this being a small town, [all of the farmers] talk and word spread,” Carl’s cousin Jason Bates told TODAY.

Source: TODAY

Source: TODAY

With a couple local businesses contributing to the community event, harvesting equipment and food was provided for the volunteers.

“We had 10 combines, 16 semis and around 40 people. We ended up with all these people showing up and had to organize,” Carl told reporters.

Carl was motivated to be out in the field working with the many volunteers despite his current cancer treatments, so he rode along as they harvested the crops.

Source: TODAY

Source: TODAY

“It took about 10 hours to harvest all 450 acres, which would have otherwise taken us nearly a week. One of the things we’ve noticed is how great it is to see people help each other for a change as opposed to all the bad news stories out there,” Carl added.

The incredible support from the community members of Galva made an otherwise daunting harvest season into something amazing.

Read more about this incredible community and what they did for this farmer at Shareably!