Rush driven by gratitude toward community

FAIRFIELD, Ill. — “Giving back to the community” isn’t just a cliché. It’s a lifestyle for folks like Matt Rush and his family.

“I just feel really strong about giving back. I just feel like I’ve been blessed to be born and raised here. Fairfield is a town of 5,000 people. I don’t plan on leaving. You never know, but I just feel really strongly about giving back,” he said.

He farms alongside his father, Jim. They raise corn, soybeans, wheat and cattle.

Rush and his wife, Sarah, have two children. Their son, Jacob, is an accountant in Evansville in southwestern Indiana, and their daughter, Lucy, enlisted in the Illinois National Guard and attends University of Southern Indiana, majoring in political science, while enrolled in USI’s ROTC program.

Sarah is the Wayne County CEO program facilitator for area high school juniors and seniors enrolled in the program.

The CEO program allows students to learn from local business leaders and develop workforce skills of problem solving, teamwork, self-motivation, responsibility, communication and professionalism — the heart of a student’s development throughout the experience.

After graduating from high school, Matt attended Frontier Community College in Fairfield for two years and then on to Southern Illinois University Carbondale where he received a degree in agriculture education and a minor in agricultural economics.

“I student taught, had full intentions of maybe being an ag teacher, and University of Illinois Extension reached out to me my junior year and offered me a job here locally,” he said.

Rush worked as a 4-H youth development and Extension program educator in Wayne County for eight years before returning to the farm in 2014.

His decision coincided with what was happening in Extension at the time.

“In 2014, Extension changed a lot and the opportunity arose to come back to the farm. It’s a lot of kids’ dream to come back to the family farm and I took it. The opportunity presented itself,” he noted.

Volunteer Fireman

Following in his father’s footsteps, Rush joined the Fairfield Fire Department in 2000 as a 16-year-old junior firefighter and moved to firefighter status when he turned 18.

“My dad joined the department in, I believe, 1984. So, I’ve been around it my whole life and obviously you want to follow what your father has done,” he said. “He has since slowed down a little bit and now serves as a fire district trustee.

“The department is all volunteer. There’s 20 or 25 of us that feel the same way I do, just about giving back to the community. We don’t receive a paycheck. I’m OK with that. I’m proud of that. We just try to protect and serve the community.”

Community Service

Beyond his many years as a volunteer fireman, Rush also serves on the Fairfield Community High School Board, Fairfield National Bank Board and Fairfield Memorial Hospital Foundation Board and is Grover Township supervisor.

He’s served on the hospital foundation board for over a decade and can occasionally be found having lunch in the hospital cafeteria.

“It’s a place to have a good meal and visit with the community members,” he said.

Rush is in his sixth year on the high school board, currently serving as president on his alma mater’s board.

He’s also on the 4-H Foundation.

“The 4-H Foundation is pretty near and dear to me after working there. I grew up in 4-H and so it’s kind of a full-circle moment to be able to come back on serve on it,” he said.

Rush was president of the Wayne County Farm Bureau Young Leaders Committee and a district representative on the Illinois Farm Bureau Young Leaders Board.

Illinois Corn

When Rush was first approached about serving as Illinois Corn Growers Association’s District 13 director, representing Clay, Edwards, Jefferson, Lawrence, Marion, Richland, Wabash, Wayne and White counties, he agreed to one three-year term.

“I ended up serving nine years. It was an incredible experience,” said Rush, who was elected ICGA president for the 2022-2023 term.

“I went off the board in November. I told the staff, it’s not goodbye, it’s see you later. That organization gave me way more than I gave them and I will resurface at some point around it. It’s provided me a lot of friendships and a lot of education that I never thought I would get. It’s just a top-shelf organization.”

Porch Talk

AgriNews’ visit with Rush was held in the farm shop’s office on the south edge of Fairfield, the site where the family’s original farmhouse once stood. The office includes several chairs for visitors.

“The one thing we were adamant about was to put an office in the shed where neighbors and friends and family could gather and share stories. That’s what we wanted and that’s what’s happened,” he said.

“We just like when neighbors stop by and I think that’s a lost art, right? The gatherings, the front porch visits and everything else.

“I’ve got a friend of mine who always says if there were more front porch conversations, the world will be a better place, and there’s lot of truth in that.”