Sanders County Ledger - Your Best Source For Sanders County News

Santa Claus is known for giving presents, but last week he stopped in at Quinn's Hot Springs Resort to show a 7-week-old puppy at a "Plains Family Benefit."

"To have all those people come out to help me was just truly amazing," said Clint Weedeman, who spent 11 days at St. Patrick Hospital after falling almost 20 feet from a roof during a job west of Plains in early November. Weedeman sustained several injuries, including broken and cracked ribs, a broken collarbone and scapula, a collapsed lung, a lacerated spleen, a broken nose, and a concussion. He was rushed to St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula and released just over a week ago. With no workman's compensation insurance and the possibility of being out of work for five months or more, a group of women took it upon themselves to reach out to the community for financial help. In a matter of days after Weedeman was injured, Denise Barton, Cindy Gray, Linda Barnes, and Becky Powley put together a fundraiser, which included a spaghetti and meatball dinner and a live and silent auction.

"It was an over-the-top success," said Barton, who headed up the fundraiser coordination efforts. Within three and a half hours, they raised $16,528 at the Saturday evening event, according to Barton. The live auction alone fetched $9,831, with a left-handed Savage .270 rifle going for $1,300. Mike Hamm of Plains first won the rifle bid at $650, but donated it back to the auction, which raised another $650 the second time.

Gene Johnson of Plains donated his auctioneer skills while Genevieve, 13, and Natalee, 16, Deschamps paraded the 61 donated items through the crowd, all except a purebred black lab male puppy donated by Plains resident Don Pudelka. Santa Claus, aka Dave "Beef" Larsen of Paradise, held the puppy as he moved through the crowd, stopping numerous times for people to pet the dog. Diane Gueths of Paradise won the puppy bid at $425.

The auction had a wide variety of services, foods, drinks, custom made objects, and items ranging from a toy truck that fetched $30 to a Liz DeNoble custom queen size quilt that went for $500. They raised $3,453 on the raffle of a Mossberg .270 rifle. The silent auction of 43 items garnered $1,386. The dinner alone raised $3,244. Powley said that when they were looking for items for the auction that no one who was asked to donate turned them down.

Quinn's Hot Springs Resort donated the food, cooks, and the building for the event. Denise Moreth, the resort's general manager, said eight of their staff volunteered their time to help with the fundraiser. Quinn's also donated gift certificates for two rooms, meals and shows. Moreth also donated three limited edition drawings that were done by her late father, Duke Nielsen.

"When you think of a family going through difficult times with unknown medical and loss of income, well, that is just what a supportive community business member does. Several local businesses participated, we were grateful to help as well," said Moreth.

People from Noxon to Hot Springs, and Kalispell and Missoula, attended the event. There were so many people in attendance, they had to turn some away due to fire marshal codes, said Barton. "I can't say enough about this community and how wonderful they are in helping somebody out," said Gray, who added that they expected perhaps 100-150 people at the dinner, which is what they passed on to the Quinn's cooks, who had to scramble to make extra food.

"It was absolutely amazing; you could feel the love in the room and you realize how many people really care," said Powley. "I am absolutely blown away with the community support and the outpouring for the Weedeman family," said Barton.

"I was shocked to see how many people showed up," said the 38-year-old Weedeman, who is getting around on a cane, but said he still feels a lot of discomfort. "This took a lot of the financial pressure off me," said Weedeman, who has a family of five to support. "I am just truly amazed and thankful."