Rain, Sleet, Snow....and Fruit
By Tammy Gigstad
January 30, 2010
These words don’t normally go together but for the JCN High School Band, on December 10, 2009, we made it happen! Although school was cancelled that day, our fruit delivery could not be altered.
The delivery semi-trailer made it from Kansas City to the shed at Gigstad’s. With propane and heaters from Ruralgas (thanks, Ron and Angie Langston), our district (thanks, Dr. Marshall), Elvin Domann and Gigstad’s, the shed went from 8 degrees to 45 degrees within a couple hours.
Around noon, helpers began boxing and bagging fruit. Around 450 boxes were folded and filled with delicious fruit. 231 pineapples were bagged with colorful confetti and 250 bags of peanuts were decorated with “Happy Holiday” stickers. As usual, we had a great core of help including band members, parents, family and neighbors. Band members present for the great adventure were Michael Preut, Andrew Becker, Molly Lyon, Sara Navinskey, Austin Noll, Ed Huyghenbauert, Steuart Hensleigh, Gage Funk, Kymee Noll, Brandi Crail, Haley Showalter, Katie Noll, Ryan Weishaar, Lauren Ballinger, Jacob Abel and Landon Noll. Band Parents who joined in the fun were Kathryn Wolfe, Annette Crail, Nancy Showalter, Kristy Noll, Peggy Hensleigh, Steve Noll, Chris and Rick Twenhafel and Lori Navinskey. Community and family members included Bryce Noll, Shawn and Kevin Lane, Adam Navinskey, Derek Gigstad, Debra Schuler and David Bodenhausen. I apologize if I forgot anyone but I do believe these helpers deserve mentioning as they persevered in undesirable conditions to get the job done. Accountability! I love it!
If you haven’t witnessed or helped with this process, we invite you to join us next year. By making our own sales brochures and boxing our fruit, we are able to cut out the “middle man” cost. A big thanks goes to Mark Baloucca, manager of the Oskaloosa Thriftway. Mark places our order and makes sure it is complete. We appreciate the support the community lends to this fundraiser.
Top salespersons Kymee Noll and Brandi Crail each received $25 in cash. Rounding out the rest of the “Top Ten” were Jordan Kramer, Sara Navinskey, Dallas Edwards, Chelsey Wilson, Molly Lyon, Kaitlyn Tomlinson, Elizabeth Wolfe, Megan Domann, Teresa Noll and Taylor Weishaar. These lucky students will enjoy a meal prepared by Mrs. Gigstad for their efforts. Money raised by each student goes into their account for our May trip to Colorado Springs where we will perform in a contest and do some sightseeing. The band looks forward to representing our community and district and we are hoping for milder weather next December!
