Primary Pulmonary Hypertension News - Menu Community responds when needs appear July 12, 2005 - There is an African proverb that says, "It takes a village to raise a child," ...and the "village" of Clay Center and surrounding areas has risen to that challenge again and again. Consider the case of Meagan Fowles, the 17-year-old young woman recently diagnosed with primary pulmonary hypertension, and for whom a big fund-raiser was organized. After diagnosis, she had spent 20 days in Children's Hospital in Denver getting her heart back on track and adjusting to seven new medications. She came home after that, but must return to Denver because she is retaining water around her heart again. Her spirits are okay, but she is having chest pains, and now, in addition to the oxygen she is on 24/7, she also has an IV (intravenous) line for medications. The fund-raiser started with a telephone call from Meagan's uncle, Junior Charest, to Linda Underwood. Linda has been the "spark" that has turned on the great engine of caring and generosity in this community for a number of years now, beginning with Lanny Siebold back in 1998. She set into motion a whole number of wheels that have resulted in just over $7,000 (to date) being donated. To that amount will be added incoming funds from both a second on-air auction on KCLY and a large raffle. When Linda hung up the phone from Charest's call, she immediately contacted Ray's Apple Market to find an agreeable weekend on which to hold a sandwich sale. The Deli Department at Ray's, run by Mike Smith, handles all the food buying and preparation of the sandwiches that are sold for a fund-raiser, deducting only the cost of the food. Linda and Fullington's co-worker, Dawn Bentley, then began calling a long list of volunteers to help make signs for the sale and to sell the food. "Very often, during a fund-raiser like this, people will look me up and ask to be put on the list to help," Linda said. Next, she called KCLY, our local FM radio station, to set up a time for an on-air auction. She has found that eight items are the most that can be efficiently auctioned off during a half-hour broadcast. If she can find substantially more items than that, a second auction is scheduled, as was the case with Meagan. That auction was held Friday, July 8th, with a lot of KCLY promotion the previous week. Linda submitted a story to the Dispatch on Meagan's situation, which ran on the front page, and she wrote, printed and passed around flyers with the schedules of what was going to be held and when, to be put up in prominent places around town. And finally, she began to accumulate items for the raffle. "Junior Charest and the other contractors in the area donated a DeWalt 18-volt, 5-tool combination drill and saw kit (worth $680), and a Weber Genesis Silver Series gas grill (worth $600), for the raffle" Linda said. "Brooks Yamaha of Manhattan, the Citizens National Bank, Trumpp Cabinet and Union State Bank donated a child's battery-run John Deere 'Gator' car that will hold two 3- to 8-yr-old children. "And finally, on display in Ginger's Uptown window, is a blue-jean backed quilt made by Jessica Backus for the raffle. Everything except the quilt can been seen at Fullingtons Lumber Yard," she continued. "The raffle drawing and announcement of the winners will be live on KCLY at 1 p.m. on July 29th." (Note: Tickets will be on sale at Fullington's and Ginger's until the day of the raffle, July 29th.) The funds collected from each portion of a fund raiser are handled through Linda's church, St. Paul Lutheran. Funds are available from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, to match funds raised from a community for situations like this. In most cases, the maximum amount allotted is $500, but in Meagan's case, the maximum was raised to $1,500, and that amount of money has been added to her fund. Linda has a dozen stories of incredible generosity from all over the community during this fund-raiser. "On June 23rd, John Anderson of SUNNY 102.5 FM broadcasting from Abilene, devoted his entire call-in show to Meagan's story, raising $1,100 from auctioning Country Stampede tickets to donated fireworks to pledges called in by the people listening," Linda said. "One 9-year-old boy from Manhattan named Dane Deiter, found a pair of Country Stampede tickets on a golf course, and when he heard John Anderson's program on air, he called and donated them to be auctioned off, even though 'Big and Rich,' one of the lead acts at the stampede, was his favorite and he really wanted to use the tickets himself. "When our own KCLY staff found out, they decided to send Dane two of their tickets, and Al Blubaugh, who works at KCLY here but lives in Manhattan, delivered them to the boy's door. "A man named 'Johnny' who is currently an inmate in the Clay County jail, heard the Abilene broadcast. He realized that as a smoker, he was damaging his lungs when here was a girl fighting to take each breath. He decided to donate the amount of money sent to him by his family ($100), to Meagan's fight to save her lungs. "Don Martin, a farmer from the Broughton area, was the high bidder for an autographed Minnesota Linx No. 3 practice jersey with Nicole Ohlde's signature on it; after paying for it, he gave it to Meagan. "Dave Foor of KSAL-AM radio in Salina contacted me after reading a piece about Meagan in the Journal, and to date, we have done two "Kansas Live" shows on air, the first one about her and the second a follow-up on her current condition. "Daily, I get money in the mail for Meagan," Linda continued. "One came in today from Jonesboro, Ark., another from Hays, Kans. On one of the checks, there was a note that said, 'God still answers prayers!'" Linda's eyes tear up when she is recounting these stories. "People are so good," she said. "We're so grateful to all the volunteers and to the community and the many, many businesses that donated auction and raffle items for all their help. It could never happen, otherwise. It is really a tremendous, concerted effort." It takes a village... |