The West River Health Services Foundation had an amazingly successful day at the “KNDC Farm & Home Show” at the Hettinger Armory on Friday, October 21st. Not only was Ted Uecker, Fund Development Officer at WRHS, able to meet with new and previous supporters of the WRHS Foundation and describe the successful fundraising results that have taken place the last two years; but for a $10 or more gift to the Foundation, area citizens received a pumpkin and a $5 off a turkey coupon to be redeemed at Foundation partner Kennedy’s Fresh Foods in November. This deal was just too good for most people to pass up.
Needless to say, as always, the area citizenry stepped up to the plate big-time once again – giving over 60 gifts to the Foundation, ranging from $10 to $100, and totaling $1,560! This is by far the largest amount of individual gifts received at the Farm & Home Show the last three years! Maybe local people are agreeing that we have to stop taking this top-notch healthcare “close to home” for granted? Or maybe receiving a pumpkin and a $5 off coupon for a turkey, made sense to people for their $10 or more investment in improving local healthcare
No matter what, the WRHS Foundation sure is thankful for all of the awesome community support. We have been on a roll the last two years – surpassing our $500,000 MRI Campaign goal (raised $681,230 to date – and the MRI Scanner is in the house!); our $145,500 “One Room At a Time Together” Campaign goal (raised $155,957 so far); and our $7,500 Mott Community Matching Challenge Campaign goal (raised $34,100 so far). And now we raised another $1,560 from pumpkin sales and a $5 off coupon, for various areas at WRHS and WHLC including: $1,015 toward “Partners In Health”; $275 for our “One Room..”; $120 toward West River Ambulance; $100 for Endowment Fund; and $50 for MRI Campaign.
We also had seven drawings (one each hour) at the Farm & Home Show for “ALL IN TOGETHER” t-shirts and MRI glass coffee mugs. And our largest giver of the day, Erin Timm, received a beautiful bouquet of fall colored flowers from our Foundation partner Prairie Rose Floral. Christi Schmitz, Jean Dix and Sheri Uecker also gave generous gifts and received prizes as well.
Special THANKS to Kyle and Mike at Kennedy’s Fresh Foods for supplying the pumpkins and coupons; to Alyssa and Prairie Rose Floral for the lovely bouquet; to Nolan and Jill at KNDC for hosting this terrific event; and to all of the gracious supporters of the Foundation – together we are making a difference!
And may be the most important event on this day – was the awesome outpouring of support for the Tammy & Kevin Schneider Benefit. Just when you thought the whole world around us was getting kinda ugly, we all witnessed the amazing display of supporting our neighbors in need. That evening, the entire Armory gymnasium was filled with people playing bingo (with all of the winnings donated back and the Jaycee’s matching the total), a staggering amount of live and silent auction items, and numerous free will donations for the lunch and supper. Thank you Western Dakota – proud to live here with you. Onward!
By Ted Uecker, WRHS Foundation