$25,000 grant will help Cares for Cancer impact 50 people

Farmers Union Oil and Cenex selects Cares for Cancer for their 25 tho Hometown Pride Grant.

HANKINSON, N.D (KVRR) – Farmers Union Oil and Cenex selects Cares for Cancer for their $25,000 Hometown Pride Grant.

It will give out 10 grants a month of $500 to people in Hankinson and surrounding rural areas to help with medical expenses.

CHS and their energy branch Cenex has given this $25,000 grant to local non profits four times a year since 2019.

By the end of the year, local organizations that Cenex serves will have received over $400,000 in Hometown Pride grants since the program first started up.

“We do look to partner with organizations that really looking to make a long standing impact and high impact on the members of the community,” CHS Sarah Haugen Director of Marketing and Communications said.

That sums up Cares for Cancer, a non profit with 28 volunteers working around the clock to find people struggling with medical expenses.

“When we started this it was a lot of work to get everything together when we started Cares for Cancer,” Cares for Cancer President/Chair Tara Steffens said.

She says volunteers have worked some long hours behind the scenes, finding people in need by word of mouth. They have been giving grants since 2011.

“For our total granting so far we’ve granted a quarter of a million dollars worth of grants,” Steffens said.

“I think anytime you can help a community become stronger and help members of those communities where you live and work it has a great meaning to people. As far as an organization that’s helping people who are dealing with a serious medical illness, id say most of us have probably been touched by someone with an illness or going through a hard time in their lives,” Haugen said.

“We have an actual separate committee that’s all based of volunteers that goes over the applications each month, and decides who gets granted. There’s really nobody that ever gets turned away,” said Steffens.

Steffens says people in her community rely on this aid even when some are too proud to ask for it. They touch about 70 people a year within a 40 mile radius of Hankinson. She says in rural areas resources for things like this can be scarce. With this grant they will be able to help an additional 50 people and that is major.

Cenex threw in an additional $5,000 in gas cards too so people will get $100 worth of gas.

“Even if some of the medical bills are taken care of it’s just the gas, even to get to and from chemo and radiation when it’s five days a week. In the world we live in right now gas prices are atrocious, so you know that’s not covered by your health insurance,” said Steffens.

Both parties are excited to see this really hit home and boost people in their own backyard.

If you have a nonprofit or a benefit coming up, speak with your local Cenex to get nominated.