Kicking Cancer’s Grass: Kelso & Co. + Heritage Tractor Partner for a Cause
Since 2022, Heritage Tractor, a John Deere dealership with locations across Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Illinois, and Kelso & Co., an Illinois-based, women-owned business, have partnered to raise awareness and provide direct financial support to women in the trenches with breast cancer. Each October, the partnership launches a limited-edition T-shirt for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, with 100 percent of proceeds benefiting the Rural Gone Urban Foundation’s Love Bombs program.
Love Bombs are no-questions-asked grants given to women navigating a breast cancer diagnosis. These grants are designed to create space—space to make memories, ease financial strain, or simply have a few moments where cancer isn’t in control.
Why This Fundraiser Matters
Breast cancer remains one of the most prevalent and devastating diseases impacting women worldwide. This year alone:
287,850 new cases of breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in women.
43,250 women are projected to lose their lives to metastatic breast cancer, an incurable form of the disease.
1 in 8 women will face a breast cancer diagnosis in their lifetime.
By leveraging the power of community and social media, this fundraiser has gained nationwide support from well-known digital creators including Kylie Epperson, Beyer Eats and Drinks, Mary Pat Sass, FarmFitMomma, Farm with Zoe, Akex Templeton, The Farmer Grayce, Katie Dowson – Seed Life, This Farm Wife, Devin Fenner, Katie Dowson, Brooke Taylor - Rural Gone Urban, and Ag With Emma.
A Legacy of Impact
Each year, the fundraiser introduces a shirt design that reflects the grit and resilience of those facing breast cancer. The results speak for themselves:
2024: Shuck Cancer — $18,558.98 raised
2023: Grow Through What You Go Through — $11,512.37 raised
2022: This is My Crop Top — $25,921.67 raised
In just three years, more than $55,000 has been donated directly to women through the Love Bombs program.
Heritage Tractor & Kelso & Co.: A Commitment to Giving Back
Heritage Tractor’s roots in agriculture and rural lifestyle solutions, paired with Kelso & Co.’s creative, women-owned apparel business, make this partnership uniquely powerful. It merges purpose-driven design with a meaningful cause, creating impact far beyond the farm.
For the Rural Gone Urban Foundation, the fundraiser is about making sure women in the trenches of cancer feel supported, seen, and free to live fully in the moments that matter most.