Sharing The Harvest

Heart BEAT

About Needs & Good Deeds

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RESCOTT - Perry Dozier remembers going into the Prescott Lions Club building when he was a kid. The wheat grower and county commissioner whose farm is close to town would go there for Boy Scouts meetings, while his parents would attend dances on the second floor during New Year's Eve.

"The Lions hall has been a part of my whole life growing up," he said.

So when members of the club approached him with a novel fundraising idea to pay for a new roof and other repairs, he didn't hesitate.

"It's a good concept," he said about the club's request to donate some of his wheat so members could sell the grain and help cover a $20,000 bill to save the building.

"It's painless and goes to a good cause," said the coowner of Double D Ranch.

Late afternoon on Friday, Dozier became the 11th donor from the Prescott-area farming community to help support the Lion's fundraising campaign, following in the footsteps of Brian Casey, Tom Archer, Steve and Kevin Mader, Greg and Sarah Fletcher, Lewis Talbott, C&C Farms, Kevin Kregger, Mark Grant, Gene and Nadine Gerkey and Ken Buley.

All of them either made an in-kind wheat donation or wrote a check to the club.

As Double D driver Charlie Hat field brought the loaded combine down from the hills off Smith Spring Road, several of the club members gathered around the 2.5-ton truck (donated by Barry, Kevin and Travis Chabre of C&C Frams) for a group shot with Dozier and his sons Logan and Kyle.

While they posed, the combine's chute released 65 bushels of dark northern spring into the '74 Ford 750, a load worth about $500 at the current market price. The donation was followed by a counter donation of refreshments - cold light beers to crown a moment in the field that was as welcome to the cause it was to a sense of community around harvest that's a bit lost with today's conveniences of air-conditioned combine and truck cabs.

The idea to round up wheat as in-kind donations for the club was the brainchild of club members Mike and Julie Himmelberger .

"We were brainstorming about fundraising ideas when Mike brought this up," Julie Himmelberger said. "We both have a background in agriculture so we understood immediately how this could be an easy, fun way (for farmer) to give."

Mike Himmelberger used to own a fuel oil delivery company in the area and often brought refreshments to his clients in the field, so the idea wasn't completely new, but as far as anyone in the Touchet Valley knows, not been implemented before as a fundraiser, she said.

As Dozier pointed out, the cause is an easy sell.

The Lions Club, a central hub of community activity for young and old alike, was erected in 1919 but started leaking in recent years, causing some minor damage to ceiling tiles. Thanks to the generous patience of Gillespie Roofing in Walla Walla, the club can order the repairs and pay the bill as money comes in from the fundraising campaign, which just got underway, Himmelberger said.

"We're very grateful for that," she said.

The club is also grateful to Dave Gordon, general manager of Northwest Grain Growers in Walla Walla, who has been tracking his members' donations so they will not be subtracted from their total yield, Himmelberger said.

Future prospects for the use of the building look bright. The Prescott Lions Club alone is growing in numbers, so much so that it received an award from its organization at the state level for adding the highest percentage of members in the Northwest, doubling its membership to 18.

That may not sound like a big number, but for a town of barely more than 300 people, that's a good representation, said Len and Sandy Conlee, both members of the club.

Meanwhile, other members of the community use the space in the building for everything from proms and wedding receptions to AA meetings and archery practice, and on weekend mornings it's the scene of the well-attended Lions Club breakfasts, also an ongoing fundraiser.

Lions, networked through 46,000 clubs and 1.35 million members worldwide, are known for making generous contributions to such charitable work as eye care and disaster relief. The Prescott club has supported numerous local community projects over the years.

That added to the appeal of the club's building repairs fundraising campaign as the building represents the space where the club holds fundraising events for its charitable work.

The "field" campaign was "very well received," Sandy Conlee said.

Only just starting to gather in-kind donation the past few weeks, the old truck has lined up on the stubble or by the grain elevator seven times, taking from 40 to 150 bushels per donated load, Himmelberger said. The goal is to bring in about 2,000 bushels worth about $12,000, she said.

The fundraising for the Building repair fund, which will also cover the cost of window replacements and new paint, will continue for a while. This fall, it moves indoors with the special evening dinner and benefit appearance of the Frog Hollow Band on Oct. 8, the Conlees said.

For more information and ways to support the Lions Club building project, contact Julie Himmelberger at 509-386-5601.