Impact-Cando Connection Fund Surpasses $100,000 Mark!

$2,500 Granting Opportunity Awarded

There has been a buzz around the Cando area, but it hasn’t been an invasion of mosquitos.  Rather, it has been about who might be the donor that helped the Impact-Cando Connection Fund surpass the $100,000 fundraising mark.  The donor pushing the hometown fundraising effort over $100,000 would be given a $2,500 granting opportunity to be awarded to Cando-area charitable entities. 

The Impact-Cando Connection Fund Advisory Board Members, Rusty Papachek, Jill Eggl, and Cindy Eggl announced the donation opportunity during the 2012 Impact-Cando Connection Fund Golf Tournament at the Cando Golf Course on July 21, 2012.  Donations continued to come in at a nice pace over the months following the tournament.  The trio thought that the mark might be reached during the 2013 Giving Hearts Day event, but fell short, reaching $96,583.87 following the 24-hour online fundraising event on February 14, 2013. 

So, the wait continued, with the hopes that following a mailing to nearly 2,500 Cando alumni, businesses and residents, the mark would be reached.  The fund continued to grow to $98,203.87, following the large mailing, which meant that once the letter to potential hole sponsors for the 2013 Impact-Cando Connection Fund Golf Tournament went in the mail, it most likely would be a hole sponsor’s check that pushed the fund over $100,000 raised since inception.  And that is what happened.

A number of checks were received during the month of May, and as efforts to confirm additional hole sponsors were launched on June 3rd, donors were asked to not only date their checks, but also indicate the time they wrote the check.  Donations given online already had the date and time stamp on the donation. 

The $100,000 was reached on June 3, 2013 at 2:05 p.m. with a check from the Cando Dairy Queen – R.J. and Katie Miller.  The Millers, who are six-time hole sponsors and who have supported Giving Hearts Day as match sponsors for both years, are in the process of deciding where they want the charitable dollars to be designated from the qualified list of Cando area nonprofit and governmental entities. 

It has taken, quite literally, hundreds of donors and gifts – 582 gifts from 169 donors - to reach this significant fundraising mark.  The advisory board members want to thank all of the donors who have so generously contributed since the fund’s inception in 2008.  Over $68,000 has been granted back to 12 Cando area charities, and grants have had an impact – exactly as they were intended.  Efforts will continue as we reach for the next fundraising milestone.  If you are one of the donors who have helped us reach the $100,000 mark, thank you very much!