(Spirit Lake)– The Okoboji-Spirit Lake Good Neighbor Fund is in the midst of its annual fundraising campaign. Board member Darren Anderson says while they raise funds year-round, their main campaign is underway now through the end of the year…
“This year’s goal is $115,000. We’re hoping to reach that goal and be able to kick it out to 26 charities this year. We have six new ones on our list and we hope to distribute that to all of them.”
Anderson says for most of those, the money they receive from the Good Neighbor Fund makes up a significant portion of their budget…
“You know a lot of them are really small, they are local and we do our best to kind of have one spot where we can raise the funds, that’s what the Good Neighbor Fund was originally established. It was established in the 1950’s and it’s a way to give in just one spot and be able to take care of a lot our local charities and their campaigns.”
He adds that 100 percent of the money that’s raised by the Good Neighbor Fund goes to local charities, adding that it’s easy to donate…
“There’s a couple of ways of donating. We have a flier that was sent out and with that, if you didn’t get that or no longer have that, you can donate online at lakesgnf.org and there’s also a QR code there so we try to make it just as simple as we can to make those donations.”
The Okoboji-Spirit Lake Good Neighbor Fund last year distributed more than $121,000, its highest amount ever. Anderson says they hope to build on that this year.
