Nov. 30, 2020

Giving Back recognizes businesses and organizations that are helping our communities. Here’s a look at who gave back for November.

Click Rain

Digital marketing agency Click Rain distributed $50 gift cards as part of its gratitude campaign. Each of the 38 team members received a packet with two $50 gift cards. They were asked to find someone in the community who has gone “above and beyond” this year to receive the gift. The recipient will keep one gift card and pass on the other one to another deserving individual.

Sanford International

The Sanford International presented by Cambria, raised $272,000 for local charities and organizations this year. Despite the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament generated almost double the amount raised in 2018 and 2019 combined. The designated beneficiaries of the 2020 Sanford International are Sanford Health Foundation, Ronald McDonald House, Boys & Girls Clubs of the Sioux Empire, Sioux Falls Hope Coalition, GreatLIFE Cares Foundation, First Tee – South Dakota Chapter and South Dakota Special Olympics.

Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation

In response to the pandemic, the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation adjusted its annual Excellence in Education Initiative. This year, every teacher who applied for funding through the program received a grant.  More than $16,000 was awarded to teachers who have innovative ideas for classroom projects.

Woods, Fuller, Shultz & Smith

Instead of hosting annual open houses for clients this year because of the pandemic, Woods, Fuller, Shultz & Smith PC is donating $5,000 each to DakotAbilities, The Banquet and East River Legal Services and $2,500 each to Love Inc. of O’Brien County in Iowa and Hope Food Pantry in Sioux Center, Iowa.

Bayer CropScience U.S.

Employees from Bayer CropScience U.S. in Harrisburg recommended the Washington Pavilion to receive a $2,500 grant from Bayer Fund to be used for the purchase of WeDo 2.0 ReadyGo Packs by Lego Education. The Lego packs will engage students in hands-on STEM learning at the Pavilion, particularly in the areas of robotics, programming and coding.

Black Hills Federal Credit Union

Black Hills Federal Credit Union donated $500 to the Pizza Ranch in Tea for the 12 Days of Pizza. The program helps feed families in need over the school holiday break. Selected families will receive Pizza Ranch coupons for one free pizza or eight-piece chicken meal every day for 12 days.

Climberz

Climberz in Tea hosted Climb for Kids and raised almost $2,600 for the Hungry Hearts to help feed children in the Sioux Falls area. The event included a pull-up competition with sponsors pledging money for each pull-up completed. Proceeds also were generated from the climbing pass sales.

Fareway

As a thank-you, Fareway stores offered a 15 percent discount on groceries to veterans and active-duty service members on Veterans Day.

Hy-Vee

Hy-Vee stores donated Thanksgiving meals to feed 80,000 people in need across its eight-state footprint. In Sioux Falls, the seven stores gave meal kits that included a turkey, stuffing mix, corn, green beans, rolls and a pumpkin pie to the Sioux Falls School District, Union Gospel Mission and St. Francis House.

Mary Chilton DAR Foundation

The Mary Chilton DAR Foundation has awarded three grants totaling $27,500 in its final distribution period for the year. The largest grant for $15,000 went to the South Dakota Historical Society to help preserve women’s history in records such as documents and photographs. The South Dakota Air & Space Foundation received an $11,500 grant to preserve and tell the story of Ret. Col. Marty Mahrt of Custer, an Air Force pilot who was shot down and rescued in 1966 during the Vietnam War. As the war was ending in 1975, the Purple Heart winner helped evacuate the U.S. Embassy with the fall of Saigon. A mini-grant of $1,000 went to Downtown Hartford Inc. for an event and a gravestone to commemorate E.I. Oaks, one of the town’s founding fathers. The foundation is affiliated with the Mary Chilton Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The next deadline for grant applications is Jan. 5. Information is available at DAR-MaryChiltonFoundation.org.

Midco

Midco has awarded 65 nonprofits, schools and government organizations in the four states it serves with Midco Foundation grants. In total, the foundation awarded more than $100,000 in grant money this fall, with $33,800 going to organizations in South Dakota. Recipients in the Sioux Falls area were DakotAbilities, Breathe Bravely, Washington Pavilion, Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society, Toy Lending Library, Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota, Sertoma Boy Scout Troop No. 48, Sioux Falls Photography Collaborative, Sioux Falls Family YMCA’s Camp Leif Ericson, Volunteers of America — Dakotas, REACH Literacy, Caminando Juntos, Sioux Falls Public Schools Education Foundation, Ground Works/South Dakota Ag in the Classroom and Lincoln County Fairground Association. Applications for spring grants are available Dec. 1 at Midco.com/foundation.

Southeast Technical College

Sixty-four volunteers from Southeast Technical College took part in the citywide community service event Rake the Town. Students and staff raked at seven homes in six hours, filling 300 leaf bags from the yards of elderly and disabled homeowners in the Sioux Falls area.