REACH, Inc. has been named one of ten nonprofits in the country to receive a 2026 Kubota Hometown Proud grant, and the money is going straight into a Klamath Falls program that puts adults with developmental disabilities to work.

The award is worth $50,000 — $25,000 in cash and a $25,000 voucher toward Kubota equipment. REACH is putting the equipment half toward a Kubota T2290 lawn tractor and a GR2120 garden tractor, along with attachments, for its Ready Set Mow: Jobs & Mobility program. Ready Set Mow trains participants in lawn care and grounds maintenance and then puts them to work, with the training and the employment running together.

The grant was celebrated on Tuesday, September 15, at Pelican Tractor on South 6th Street, where REACH staff and participants gathered with the local Kubota dealer to accept the check and take delivery of the new machines.

Pelican Tractor partnered with REACH on the application and on the equipment side of the project.

"We are passionate about partnering with REACH Inc. because their Ready Set Mow program opens doors of opportunity for people in our Klamath Falls community," said Joe Riester of Pelican Tractor. "By providing the best turf equipment, we are directly investing in their job skills and economic independence. It is incredibly rewarding to work hand in hand with a program that transforms lives while building a skilled workforce."

REACH, Inc. provides job training, employment support and economic opportunity for adults with developmental or intellectual disabilities in Klamath Falls. The organization says the new mowers will expand what the training program can take on, let it serve more participants, and give those participants hands-on experience with professional equipment — the same machines they would use on a commercial crew.

The scale of the competition is worth noting. Kubota's Hometown Proud program received more than 1,100 applications from across the country this year, and ten were funded. Now in its sixth year, the program has distributed more than $2.9 million in funding and equipment to local projects nationwide, and this year's winners range from agricultural education and workforce development to food security, youth empowerment and environmental stewardship.

That a Klamath Falls nonprofit came out of that field is a genuinely good week for the Klamath Basin.

A full list of the 2026 recipients and the program's official rules are at kubotahometownproud.com.

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_Press release and photographs provided by Kubota Tractor Corporation via Evan Eagan (916-897-6374, evan.eagan@omc.com). Photos by Kubota Tractor Corporation._