Give local on Feb. 14

Community Ambulance Service of New Rockford among those seeking donations during North Dakota's largest 24-hour giving event

he 2019 Giving Hearts Day campaign is set to be the largest campaign in its 12-year history, and this year the Community Ambulance Service of New Rockford (CASNR) is one of the participating nonprofit charities! Community Ambulance Service was the only ambulance service selected this year to participate in North Dakota's largest 24-hour giving event.

On Giving Hearts Day, which is appropriately held on Valentine's Day of each year, CASNR's donors are given the opportunity to support their local ambulance service and have their donations matched dollar for dollar. It is important to remember that those matching funds are only available for the Giving Hearts Day donations, which start at midnight on Feb. 14 and only lasts 24 hours.

Giving Hearts Day is a giving event for charities across North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota and is sponsored by Dakota Medical Foundation, Impact Institute, and the Alex Stern Family Foundation.

For more than two decades, DMF has used the investment returns from the sale of Dakota Hospital to invest more than $100 million in health initiatives that increase the impact of more than 400 regional nonprofits.

​Each year, Giving Hearts Day creates a platform for charities to fund their missions through an ever-increasing community of givers. Last year, more than 28,000 people donated $13.1 million on Giving Hearts Day. This year, more than 450 nonprofits and charitable funds are part of Giving Hearts Day which makes it the largest group yet.

CASNR's Giving Hearts Day organizer, Sara Myhre, said the money raised on Giving Hearts Day will help provide training, updated equipment and will assist in staffing the ambulance service. Myhre says there are three ways to give your tax-deductible donation to CASNR on Giving Hearts Day to receive the matching funds that gives your donation twice its impact.

 1. Write a check to Community Ambulance Service of New Rockford, dated Feb. 14, 2019, and mail it to PO Box 246, New Rockford, ND 58356.

 2. Make an online donation at http://www.impactgiveback.org, click donate, select Community Ambulance Service of New Rockford and follow the instructions given.

 3. Attend the Giving Hearts Day free will soup and salad luncheon at the Community Ambulance building in New Rockford from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Valentine's Day, Thursday, Feb. 14. Containers will be available for a "to-go" meal. You are invited to drop off a check at that time or you'll be able to use the available computers to make an online donation with a credit card.

Students Participate in Video Challenge

The NR-S Multi-Media class prepared a video for the Community Ambulance Service of New Rockford for the Giving Hearts Day Video Challenge. VISIONBank is a proud sponsor of Giving Hearts Day and is the host of the Giving Hearts Day Video Challenge.

Charities participating in Giving Hearts Day have the option to make a video about their organization and Giving Hearts Day. CASNR's video will be available on their Facebook page or at http://www.visionbanks.com/giving-hearts-day until Feb. 14. VISIONBank will then donate to the three charities with the most votes. Don't forget that you can vote daily!

Great Plains Food Bank to supply a million meals this Giving Hearts Day

On Feb. 14 Great Plains Food Bank will share in an effort to raise an unprecedented one million meals to help hungry children.  

Through a network of 205 partner food pantries, shelters and soup kitchens along with programs and services bringing food product throughout the state, the Great Plains Food Bank is helping to provide needed food assistance to the one in nine individuals in North Dakota unsure where their next meal is coming from. Please consider one of the following donations:

 • $90 Provides three meals a day for a family of three for a month.

 • $115 Provides 500 pounds of fresh produce to be distributed to children, seniors and families in need.

 • $190 Supports a child in our BackPack Program for an entire year.

 • $277 Supplies enough meals to operate one of our Youth Summer Meals site for an entire summer.

 • $365 Provides enough meals to feed a hungry child for an entire year.

 You can donate on Feb. 14 or find a link to schedule your donation at https://www.givingheartsday.org.