Mahaska County Outreach Donates To Mahaska Health Foundation

Mahaska County Outreach representatives Mary Blakely and Mark Tennison (both left) present a check to Mahaska Health representatives Kevin DeRonde and Cathy Stahl (both right) in the amount of $1547.10 for the Mahaska Health Foundation.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Mahaska County Outreach is a non-profit organization that has been a part of the Mahaska County community for more than 30 years, located at 114 North 1st Street in Oskaloosa.

The store is stocked with donated items from the community, and each month the thrift store hosts a sack sale. During the sale, you pay $7 for whatever you can stuff into a sack, and those proceeds go to a specific community organization.

The Mahaska Health Foundation was the recent recipient of the funds generated by the sack sale. The Mahaska Health Foundation serves as the fundraising arm of Mahaska Health.

Mark Tennison with Mahaska County Outreach explained that the board selects the charities within Mahaska County to donate the funds to from the sack sale.

The sack sale for February generated $1547.10, with 100% of those dollars going to the Mahaska Health Foundation. That’s over 220 bags filled over the Friday and Saturday that the sack sale happened.

Tennison said that they have visitors from other counties to the store to take part in the sack sales. “Anything you can fit in a sack.”

Mahaska Health Foundation Director Cathy Stahl, who serves for a volunteer board, explained, “We support the mission of the hospital.” The Mahaska Health Foundation board looks for where the funds can best be used in the hospital.

“A donor can say, have this go to the greatest need, which is what we had at Mahaska Outreach,” explained Stahl. “There are also people who want to designate where their donation goes. We get a lot of memorials for the Hospice Serenity House for example. It’s vital that we honor our donor’s intent, but for the fund, we get for the greatest need, our foundation board works with the hospital board in determining where those funds should be utilized. There’s a lot of thought that goes into how these funds are going to be spent.”

Mahaska Health CEO Kevin DeRonde thanked Mahaska County Outreach for the donation.

You can find out more about Mahaska County Outreach by visiting them on their Facebook Page HERE – https://www.facebook.com/mahaskaoutreach/