FREMONT, Neb. (June 23, 2016) – The Fremont community rallied together on June 14 to raise a record $127,765 to support the early intervention and child-abuse prevention programs at the Rupert Dunklau Center for Healthy Families®. Over 300 packed the Fremont Golf Club to show support for Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska (LFS) and the night’s honorary chairs, Hazel and Sid Dillon. Sid served on the LFS board of directors from 1994 – 1999, providing leadership and direction to a growing organization. Having lived generous lives, Hazel and Sid were well-deserving of the evening’s honor.
The event’s success can certainly be attributed to the leadership of the event chairs, the Dillon children, Cathy and Dr. Dwaine Peetz, Lori and John Sajevic, Patty and Sid Dillon, Jr., and Tanya and Blake Dillon.
Cathy Dillon Peetz shared her gratitude for the outpouring of community support, “On behalf of my family, I would like to say what an honor it was to recognize our parents, Sid and Hazel Dillon, for their years of service to the community and to Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska. We were all touched and inspired by the incredible life-changing programs provided at the Rupert Dunklau Center for Healthy Families®. So many parents are desperate to learn how to care for their children and create a safe, healthy environment for them. We are so fortunate to have LFS and these wonderful programs in our community. It brings us great joy to be a part of the LFS mission.”
Advisory Chairs, Cathy and Brad Holtorf with Melissa and Dr. Mark Johannsen, provided a highly popular Yeti cooler raffle package that raised $2,350 in raffle sales. At the end of the evening, Carol Bohling of North Bend won the raffle prize. She then donated it to be auctioned off by Carson Day, the evening’s auctioneer, which raised an additional $900 for children’s programs.
Pastor Stephanie Tollefson of First Lutheran Church served as the Emcee and her husband Pastor Marty Tollefson provided the blessing of the meal.
Highlights of the evening included a heart-felt toast by Blake Dillon to his parents as they prepared to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. Brad Holtorf, LFS board chair, and Terry McClain, LFS Foundation board chair, ignited a standing ovation for LFS President and CEO Ruth Henrichs as she too was preparing to celebrate an anniversary—40 years of service to the ministry of LFS. With all these festivities the focus of the event remained on the vulnerable children served and their parents who work hard to break generational cycles of poverty, isolation, addiction and abuse. Success stories do happen – but only because the parents, the staff and the community work together.
Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska opened the Building Families Boutique (now the Rupert Dunklau Center for Healthy Families®) in 2007 – on the same Fremont site where LFS founded an orphanage in 1892. The Center focuses on early intervention, healthy parenting education, and supports at-risk families with children under age five and expectant mothers. Since its opening, the Center has served over 1,116 Fremont-area families with 1,815 children. The garden level of the building houses LFS’ adult behavioral health services.
Since its inception, the Center has continued to grow and provide more services to the Fremont community. “It is because of the leadership of three Fremont families – Linda and Terry McClain, Ruth and Rupert Dunklau and Hazel and Sid Dillon – it was their dedication to early childhood intervention 9 years ago that made the Center and eventually this event possible!, said Ruth Henrichs, president and CEO of LFS.
Event videos and photos are located at https://www.lfsneb.org/fff-2016/
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