MOLINE, IL After all the online votes were counted, Eric Moores, a high school building trades instructor in Woodbine, Iowa, was crowned the grand prize winner of the inaugural John Deere "Small Machines. Big Impact." contest last night at the 2017 John Deere Classic pairings party.

As the winner, Moores will take home a new 333G compact track loader (CTL) with a WorkSite Proâ„¢ bucket attachment to help with his project "Teaching Tomorrow's Builders," which includes hands-on learning in his building trades high school class, as well as other community improvement projects. 

"The thing I love most is building homes, and this is a wonderful opportunity to teach kids all I know. Many of these kids come into the class not even knowing how to use a hammer," said Moores. "But through hands-on learning, they come away with skills they can use for the rest of their lives. And quite possibly, use to find very lucrative and rewarding careers." 

As a result of the overwhelming response to the contest, John Deere also announced that it will help the two runner-up finalists complete their community projects with a yearlong lease on a skid steer or CTL from John Deere Financial. The runners-up are Daryl Bridenbaugh of Putnam County, Ohio, and his project "Building Houses and Hope"; and Tom Noble of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and his project "Fielding Student Success." Additionally, each of the finalists' local dealers - Horizon Equipment in Woodbine, Iowa; Northwest Tractor Company in Ottawa, Ohio and CL Boyd in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, teamed up with John Deere to make a $2,000 contribution to each project.

"We are thrilled to help all three of these inspiring people make a difference in their communities by using John Deere G-Series machines," said Graham Hinch, Division Manager, John Deere Commercial Worksite Products. "We can't wait to follow them on their journey and watch them complete their projects."