A thank you to you for helping raise more than $10,000! Money that will stay right here in our community.
Ryan Chevrolet Raises More Than $10,000 for Local Cancer Patients at “Improvised” Annual Breakfast Fundraiser
7th Annual Free Pancake Breakfast/Breast Cancer Awareness Event Converted to “Drive-Through” in Nod to COVID-19 Concerns
Minot – Ever-rising COVID-19 cases across North Dakota weren’t enough to dissuade a local automobile dealership from raising badly needed funds to support local cancer patients and their families. But in order to pull the event together in the middle of a pandemic, Ryan Chevrolet owner Kathleen Gaddie and her store’s leadership team needed to get a little creative.
Rather than open the showroom for a sit-down breakfast for the public as in years past, Ryan Chevrolet decided to close its Service and Parts Department for the day, allowing for the public to enter the service drive in the comfort of their automobiles. Volunteers – Ryan Chevrolet employees donating their time – approached each vehicle from a distance, took orders and collected donations.
“We read in the news everyday about public events being cancelled or postponed out of respect for COVID-19,” said Gaddie. “And we completely understand and respect the caution these organizations are taking. But we also know that cancer doesn’t discriminate. It doesn’t take a vacation because of a pandemic. There are individuals and families right here in Minot and Ward County – our friends and neighbors – who are still fighting this fight every day. They need our support every bit as much today as in any other year.”
The Ryan Chevrolet team – each outfitted in pink Chevrolet Breast Cancer Awareness shirts - prepared for 400 breakfasts to be served Saturday. Preliminary numbers indicate that 385 breakfasts were actually served – a number on par with those served in previous years.
More than $4,600 was raised from public donations. Factoring in Ryan Chevrolet’s pledge to match every dollar collected, Trinity Health’s Cancer Patient Participation Program in Minot will receive support in excess of $10,600.
“We are hopeful next year we can return to a more traditional sit-down breakfast,” said Gaddie. “But for this year, in these times, we did the best we could to raise some badly-needed funds. I couldn’t be prouder of our people for pulling this off or more thankful for the people of Minot who joined us today and donated so generously.”