Camp Courageous is a year-round recreational respite care and travel program for people with disabilities. Based out of Monticello, Iowa, the organization serves nearly 10,000 campers of all ages each year through programming and activities such as group trips to Iowa football games and trips to the Badlands in South Dakota. Camp Courageous is largely volunteer run, with financial support coming from donations and community fundraising events.
“Our largest one-day fundraiser is our Pineapple Gala,” said Charlie Becker, the CEO of Camp Courageous. “It’s been going since 1979, when an airline began flying in pineapples to Iowa from Hawaii to promote tourism. It’s now a gala with an auction from items donated from the community.”
When the U.S. Bank team reached out to Becker about donating the car for the auction, it was an immediate yes. The Model A replica became the auction’s featured item, generating a significant amount of enthusiasm for the auction and Camp Courageous.
The Model A replica at the Camp Courageous Pineapple Gala.
“It brought people to the table we’d never seen before or hadn’t seen in a while,” said Becker. “It generated so much interest in the camp. Not to mention that our campers loved the car.”
The Model A replica brought in $6,200 for Camp Courageous after a local car dealership took the top bid. It, along with university basketball tickets, helped double what the auction raised the previous year.
“We’re really thankful to U.S. Bank and to everyone who poured their hearts out to make this possible,” said Becker. “It’s a great demonstration of how U.S. Bank cares about their community and customers.”
Throughout the 26-state footprint of U.S. Bank, the company is driven to support local communities. In 2022, U.S. Bank provided $64 million in corporate and U.S. Bank Foundation giving to community organizations. Additionally, employees volunteered a total of 311,000 hours – totaling 35.5 years.
For Nancy Lynk, the Commercial Banking relationship manager in Cedar Rapids who serves as the city representative to the local U.S. Bank Advisory Board, that commitment to service lives on in the partnership with Camp Courageous.
“For more than 50 years, Camp Courageous has built a community of support for tens of thousands of campers and families,” said Lynk. “All of us here at U.S. Bank, whether through this year’s Pineapple Gala or by volunteering, are proud to be a part of that history.”
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