Kennedy’s Fresh Foods did it again. They stepped up for our community healthcare system by gifting 50 huge, orange pumpkins and 5 tasty turkeys. How does that equate to helping our local healthcare? First of all, they didn’t have to do anything at all! They could go on about their business, selling groceries and making their profits. But Kennedy’s look at things differently than the Amazon’s and Sam’s Clubs of the world. They pay it forward to local, rural community nonprofits as a way to say “thank you” to their regular customers. Secondly, Kennedy’s has access to pumpkins and turkeys.
And they agreed to give our West River Health Services Foundation 50 pumpkins and 5 turkeys, if we could get our area community members to give $10 or more for a pumpkin at the “KNDC Farm & Home Show” at the Hettinger Armory from 11am-6pm on October 21st. Then, if local folk gave $10 or more, they’d be entered into a drawing each hour, for one of five turkey gift certificates at Kennedy’s. It’s what we call a “win-win-win” for all of us.
Cutting to the chase – 54 community individuals and families gave from $10 to $500 each, totaling $2,026 in one afternoon at the Farm & Home Show for the local healthcare system! Where did the gifts go? People gave $946 for our “Healthcare Heroes Endowment Fund;” $550 for “Partners In Health Club;” $225 for “WRHSF Scholarships;” $165 for “West River Ambulance Service;” $50 for the “General Fund;” and $30 each for “Physician Recruitment Endowment,” “Western Horizons Living Centers,” and our “WRHS Surgery Center.” Wow! Thank you. Our WRHS Foundation is grateful.
The five people drawn for free 16 pound turkey gift certificates at Kennedy’s Fresh Foods included: Jean Dahl, Karmen Eslinger, Cindy Ham, Byrdee Butterfield and Mary Steg. Plus, we had youth drawings for a coloring kit, a lava lamp, a hover ball and two card games (Skipo and Uno Flip). The winners were: Patricia Knudson, Mark West, Daniel Skogen, Camdyn Fried and Briggs Boxrud. Congratulations to all who entered into the drawings and thank you for stopping by our WRHS Foundation booth.
Special thanks to Kennedy’s Fresh Foods for gifting us 50 pumpkins and 5 turkeys. We were amazed at the response – thirty minutes into the show and half the pumpkins were already gone! By 3 pm, they were all gone! Unbelievable! And thank you to Nolan Dix at KNDC for hosting the event. We enjoyed being back out visiting with the public, as we had missed the last two Farm & Home Shows due to the Covid pandemic.
In fact, we are back in full force with our 44th Annual “Community Turkey Luncheon” on Thursday, November 3rd, 11am-1pm, at the Hettinger Lutheran Church Basement. You can call Ted at 701-567-3666 between now and November 2nd to place an early delivered order. Or call 701-567-2598 the day of the event, November 3rd, to place your delivered order. Or, better yet, you can come to the Hettinger Lutheran Church Basement, dish up and sit down with your friends and enjoy a hot turkey dinner – including homemade turkey, dressing, gravy, cranberries and your choice of pie. All for a goodwill donation, which helps propel our WRHS Foundation’s “Academic Loan Program,” while at the same time paying forward a gift to the Hettinger Backpack Program. Let’s keep the momentum going! Onward!
By Ted Uecker, WRHS Foundation