The Fayette Optimist Club was awarded a $1,000 grant from the MFA Oil Foundation to assist with the purchase of new youth football helmets.

The club sponsors the Fayette Youth Football program here, providing pads and equipment.

The MFA Oil Foundation provides support to nonprofit organizations that are working to improve communities where MFA Oil has a significant concentration of members and employees. Since it was established in 1998, the MFA Oil Foundation has awarded more than $3 million in grants.

The MFA Oil Foundation as "a program that allows our company to give support back to the rural communities that are the foundation of our business,” said Tom May, Director of Employee Engagement and Culture. The grants help support many youth programs and organizations active in addressing and solving community problems and improving the quality of life.

The MFA Oil Company, formed in 1929, is a farmer-owned cooperative with more than 40,000 members. MFA Oil is the ninth largest propane retailer in the United States. The company supplies fuels, lubricants and propane to customers in Missouri, Arkansas, Indiana, lowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. Through a subsidiary, MFA Oil operates Break Time convenience stores in Missouri and Big O Tires franchises in Missouri, Arkansas and Kansas; a solar panel installation company, BluSphere Energy; and APM, a wholesale fuel distributor.