HELPING TO HEAL
Grand-Prize Winners
The Gillunds of Grand Forks and the Heitkamps of Petersburg, North Dakota, in their Wizard of Oz regalia. At left, Brent and Brendo Jo Gillund with kids Benjamin, age, 6, and Anastasia, 6; at right, Charles and Sarah Heitkamp with daughter Farrah, 11.
Brenda Jo Gillund's father lives 75 miles from the nearest health care facility, and during his six weeks of daily radiation treatments for cancer, he had to pay to stay in a motel. Through Brenda Jo's work as an
oncology nurse in a rural area, she learned her father's story was not unusual. So she and her friend, Sarah Heitkamp, whose mother also battled cancer, formed Filling the Gap. They help cancer patients with the costs of lodging and transportation and provide free nutritional supplements.
To raise money, they and their families have made and sold glass-bead bracelets, hosted an art opening, and held an annual fund-raising dinner with a silent auction. And this year, everyone dove in to their craziest event: A sing-along screening of The Wizard of Oz. Every member of the Heitkamp and Gillund families dressed in a homemade costume, and together they encouraged the audience to "Drop a house on cancer!" The creative ideas for raising money keep coming: Sarah recently opened a coffee shop, Porpoura, where a percentage of the proceeds and all of the tips go to Filling the Gap.
Sarah Heitkamp:
"One of the first gentlemen we helped with gas cards and a place to stay had been sleeping in his car in between treatments."
Brenda Jo Gillund:
"After our program was in place, we got him a hotel room. The look on his face when we told him it was all covered! He had tears in his eyes, and his wife gave me the biggest hug."
Farrah Heitkamp, 11:
"I feel awesome when I sell a bracelet because I know where the money is going."
Anastasia (Tacy) Gillund, 6:
"I help plan parties and make bracelets. You pick the beads, and you can make a bracelet all by yourself. I've made, like, 200!"
Brent Gillund:
"When Brenda Jo ran into a patient in the store, Tacy said, 'Did you help him?' I was able to say, 'We all did.'"
