All in attendance at the 59th annual Junior Livestock Sale on Saturday afternoon at the Barron County Fairgrounds saw the ripple effect that a simple act of kindness can make.
About three-fourths of the way through the auction Holly Hargrave of the Columbia Livewires 4-H Club had the auctioneer announce as she entered her 154-pound lamb into the show ring that she would be donating all proceeds of the sale to her friend 11-year-old Lexi Anderson of Cumberland, who is in need of a heart transplant.
Lexi is the daughter of Jamie and Tamala (Riebe) Anderson and the granddaughter of Roger and Darice Riebe, and David and Amy Anderson.
While Holly led her lamb around the ring for all bidders to see, Lexi followed and two of her cousins held with a sign that said “Love for Lexi.”
Bidding rose well beyond the average price per pound, stopping at $55 per pound with J&A Northwest Construction as the top bidder. Just a moment later, it was announced that the top bidder would donate the amount to the family and asked the auctioneer to rebid it.
During the second round of bidding, the lamb sold to Bob Lentz for $50 a pound. He also said he would give away the amount to the cause and to rebid the lamb a third time, when Two Rivers Accounting was the top bidder at $43 a pound. It requested a rebidding a fourth and final time, when Don Peterson of the Barron Vet Clinic purchased it for $30 a pound, again donating the amount of the sale for the heart transplant as had the previous three top bidders.
When the bidding was finally complete, $27,412 had been raised for Lexi’s transplant surgery.
In a Facebook post after the auction, Lexi’s mother Tamala said, “Our family would like to send a heartfelt thank you to Carla Hargrave — your family is truly amazing! — Barron County 4-H, Barron County Fair, Kevin Roske, J&A Northwest Construction, Bob Lentz, Two Rivers Accounting LLC, Dr. Don Peterson and all the bidders at the Livestock Sale on Saturday, the organizers of the 50/50 raffle, Barron County Junior Livestock Project, Barron County Junior Leaders, the workers at the carnival during the fair, and of course our family who has been there every step of this crazy ride. Your generosity has warmed our hearts and we are truly grateful for your kindness.”
Carla Hargrave, Holly’s mom, shared how the gesture started.
“When I told my daughters that Lexi did not make the cut off for her lamb to sell on auction, they both were pretty sad about it. I mentioned to them that they could sell one of their lambs and donate the proceeds to Lexi’s benefit to help her. They both instantly said ‘yes, let’s do it.’ No hesitation.”
She added, “Holly said, ‘the Bible says it is better to give than to receive, and God would want us to do this to help Lexi.’ They chose Holly’s lamb because it weighed more [than Hattie’s 126-pound lamb], and that would help bring in more money for Lexi. We live in a wonderful caring community that steps up to help each other. We never thought it would sell for a total of $27,400.”
The mother of the exhibitors added, “Throughout the fair, other youths were selling 50/50 raffle tickets at the grandstand events, selling bracelets and putting tip jars at the food booths all to help Lexi with her heart transplant surgery.”
Another fundraiser, a Love for Lexi benefit, is Sunday, Sept. 8, from noon to 4 p.m. at the Cumberland American Legion Post 98, for the 11-year-old who was diagnosed with restrictive cardiomyopathy. This form on heart failure is extremely rare, very aggressive and has no cure. Thus she is facing a heart transplant and was placed on a waiting list in May.
An account has been set up at Cumberland Federal Bank named Benefit for Lexi Anderson for any others who wish to help the family. For more information, contact Tanya Riebe, Lexi’s aunt, at 651-757-5757.
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