When president Arthur Ward and the other staff at Pattison Agriculture learned of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash, they knew it would affect not only their team but the whole community.

And when they saw the overwhelming support for the Humboldt Broncos GoFundMe page, they decided to support another organization - STARS, which had responded with three helicopters.

“A lot of us have spent a lot of hours on hockey buses and football buses and baseball buses and band trips,” Ward said.

“We know there are remote areas, that if people get into trouble and need some help, hopefully this money will help STARS continue to do their work.”

Staff held a variety of fundraisers, and the Canadian and American John Deere charitable foundations also contributed.

On Monday they presented a $100,000 cheque to STARS.

“You want to hopefully raise enough to make a difference. And then when we saw the support we had from our partners at John Deere, it was pretty overwhelming,” Ward said.

Cindy Seidl, STARS provincial director of operations and flight nurse, said the gift was incredible.

“It’s going to make such a huge difference for us to our program.”