Giving Hearts Day will take place on Thursday, February 8. Crookston entities participating in this year’s event include the Riverview Health Foundation, Benedictine Living Community-Crookston, Care and Share of Crookston, and Scruffy Tails Humane Society. The Crookston Cathedral School will also be taking part in this event.
This will be the 18th year of Giving Hearts Day. The Dakota Medical Foundation started this event in 2006 to initiate a day of giving. “This began just in northwest Minnesota and North Dakota area,” said Benedictine Living Community-Crookston Foundation Director Cassie Rudie, “This was initially only an online donating opportunity, and now it’s branched out to checks and goods are accepted as donations.”
Each year, the Benedictine Living Community-Crookston and Riverview Health Foundation take part in the Giving Hearts Day event to raise funds for a specific item within their organization.
Riverview Health is searching for donations toward new sterilizers to place in the operating rooms. “With this new equipment, we’ll be able to increase surgery hours by 7%,” said Riverview Health Foundation Director Randy Schoenborn, “Reduce the amount of downtime associated with maintenance by 50%, and reduce the number of cancellations and reschedules by 25%.” Sterilizers are used on every piece of equipment within the operating rooms, and Schoenborn mentioned that this is a significant priority within Riverview’s building.
Last year, the Benedictine Living Community-Crookston raised funds during Giving Hearts Day to help pay for updates to the elevators in their building. This year, they want to raise funds to replace an outdated Wander Guard System. In the summer of 2023, the Benedictine raised funds during its annual Glow Golf Tournament, which will also go toward the new Wander Guard System. “This is a bracelet monitoring system that will alert our staff,” said Rudie, “If a resident or a tenant is wander-prone and they approach that exit, our staff is alerted. This helps make sure that person doesn’t exit the building.” Rudie also expressed that the Wander Guard System helps ensure the safety of residents and tenants and also helps keep family members of the residents at ease knowing they are being monitored.
Giving Hearts Day is scheduled for the second week of February each year near Valentine’s Day to symbolize donating from the heart. “Maybe we have bigger hearts this time of year,” said Rudie, “If people feel that they want to give back to the community, this highlights all of the non-profits in our Crookston Community and around the area.”
Schoenborn spoke about the importance of Riverview Health’s services, keeping those services close to home, and how donating will allow these services to continue. “When you think about what is offered at Riverview Health, people don’t have to go out of town,” said Schoenborn, “One couple told me that when they retired, they decided to move to Crookston because of health care and other options. That’s something you think about when moving to other communities.”
To donate to Giving Hearts Day, visit https://app.givingheartsday.org/ and select which organization you would like to donate to. Those who don’t want to donate online can see whichever organization you intend to contribute to and drop off money in a check or cash form.
