By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
St. John and Macksville fired up the ovens for a good cause. On April 28, employees from the St. John and Macksville branches of SJN Bank of Kansas raised nearly $2,800 from a bake sale to benefit Central Kansas CASA, Inc. Each of the branches donated an additional $500 to the non-profit that helps abused and neglected children. SJN Senior Vice President Diane Fisher was happy to hand over the check last Friday.
"We just really wanted to do something more than just the normal," she said. "We know there are kids out there that struggle and don't have the best life, and we wanted to be able to help in some small way."
The Kansas CASA Association is a network of 22 community-based programs that recruit and train volunteers to be advocates in court for abused and neglected children. Central Kansas CASA works within the boundaries of the 20th Judicial District, which includes Barton and Stafford counties. Executive Director Jennifer Gregg called the bake sale and donation a true gift.
"We really have one major fundraiser each year and that is our Chocolate Auction," she said. "We have recently lost some grant funding just due to funding shortages. For us, this is a huge blessing because it fills the gap of funding we had previously been receiving. We do operate off a very tight budget, so just knowing that the funds are there to keep operating as we have been is extremely precious to us."
Thirteen SJN employees from St. John, and three from the Macksville branch baked several tables of goodies for the sale.