Care & Share organizers report strong community giving

Kasson-Mantorville Area Care and Share organizers weren’t able to top last year’s results, but they still did well fundraising for area families in need of financial assistance.
Jenny Carrier, president of the Care and Share board of directors and co-chair for the auction, said they raised over $30,000 this year, during the Nov. 14 event held at K-M High School. Some donations continue to trickle in until Christmas, she said, so the tally likely will increase to $35,000.
“Last year we had an outrageously phenomenal year,” Carrier said. “This year it was a little bit lower, but cash donations are still coming.”
Care and Share is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to support families and individuals in need within the Kasson and Mantorville area with food, gifts, and cash donations during the Christmas season, as well as helping those in hardship throughout the year.
Cash donations, meanwhile, can be directed to Matt Bradford at Home Federal Bank, 502 Mantorville Ave. South, Kasson MN, 55944.
Giving trees for the Christmas Gift distribution are located at Hardware Hank in Kasson and The County Seat in Mantorville. Here community residents can pick up a tag to donate a gift to a child in need, with unwrapped gifts being returned to the giving tree by Tuesday, Dec. 5.
All of the residents helped via Care and Share funding are from the Kasson-Mantorville area.
Last year Care and Share funding served 110 children and 40 adults, along with funding six organizations including A Place at the Table, Ready Set Learn and Faith in Action.
They are on track to serve a similar amount of residents this year, Carrier said.
“It seems there’s been more needs coming through this year,” she said. “We will hopefully be able to serve all of the applications that come in. It always depends on the community fundraising support and how much we actually raise.”