The Lions Club is working to help long time Kalida businessman Tim Maag with his battle with kidney disease.
Reprinted from The Putnam County Sentinel - Wednesday, March 29, 2006 Edition
Raffle Winners at Tim Maag Benefit Announced
The "Neighbors Helping a Friend" committee has announced the various raffle winners at the recently held Tim Maag benefit.
The winner of the gun vault was John Pimpas.
The cash prize winners were: 1st - $500 - W. J. Isabrandt; 2nd - $300 - Blake Moore; 3rd - $200 - Renee Wortkoetter; and 4th - $100 - Tom Erhart.
The Lottery Forest of Trees winner was Barb Niese.
The lucky winners of the quilts were Joe Turnwald and Dennis Bendele.
Thank you to everybody who purchased tickets to support Tim and his family.
A limited number of tickets are still available for the Three Minute Kalida IGA Shopping Spree to be held at a date to be announced. Tickets can be purchased at the Union Bank in Kalida, K & L in Kalida, Niedecken Insurance in Ottoville, or All Temp Refrigeration outside of Delphos.
The Scrap Steel and Aluminum Can Recycling part of the benefit will continue through the end of April. Scrap steel drop off points are located in Kalida at Stan's Repair and Remlinger Mfg. and in Ottoville at M & W Trailers and Miller Contracting. Steel appliances will be accepted, however no microwaves, TV's, or computers can be accepted. Aluminum can drop off points are next to Krybert's on the square in Kalida and in Ottoville at M & W Trailers.
Reprinted from The Putnam County Sentinel - Wednesday, March 22, 2006 Edition
By Nancy Kline
Editor
Dr. Moser , Tim Maag's kidney doctor specialist, was among the many guests supporting Tim Maag and his wife, Deb, during a fundraiser held last Sunday at the Kalida K of C to assist with medical costs. "When one of us is sick, the whole town is sick,"
These were words spoken during a phenomenal fundraiser held Sunday at the Kalida K of C Hall.
Organizer Bob Holtkamp estimated the hall was filled with over 1,000 people during the evening auction.
A special fundraiser for Tim Maag, was held Sunday, March 19. The event included four bands, an auction, a bake sale and chicken, pork chop and sausage meals.
"I'm overwhelmed," said Maag. When first approached by Holtkamp about the idea of a fundraiser, Maag said no.
But Holtkamp told Maag the people wanted to do something to help.
Help came in the way of a vast amount of donations and over 100 volunteers who organized and worked during Sunday's event.
Tim was born with a renal condition that eventually caused one kidney to fail completely and had to be removed nine years ago. This past summer, his remaining kidney also failed and he had to start dialysis three times a week. A side effect of his illness and his medication also caused him to have a hip replaced. All of this scattered over just a few months and is an enormous expense as well as being physically disabling.
While Tim waits for a transplant, the cost of insurance, medications and treatments continue to rise. That is where both Ottoville and Kalida decided it was time for neighbors to help a friend.
Tim owns and operates the Kalida IGA so he is well established in both communities.
"Tim has always been there to help when any activity was planned in the community," Holtkamp said. "Now the communities are stepping up and helping him and his family."
Sundayís activities began quickly when nearly 1500 chicken meals were sold. Half of these meals had been donated by suppliers for Kalida IGA.
Over 500 Italian sausage sandwiches were also sold along with 1,000 pork chop dinners. There were also eight turkeys that were deep fried or smoked that were sold as servings during the event.
A separate raffle for a 30 gun vault donated by Buckeye Custom Fabricators raised over $5,000.
With Aaron Siefker as the auctioneer, numerous donated items that were auctioned raised over $21,000.
This included a Budweiser neon sign titled "At the Lake" that was first auctioned with a high bid of $1,400 by Richie Vorst, Kalida.
Vorst immediately donated the item back to be re-auctioned.
With bidding starting at $1,000 the second round of bids ended at $1,400 again. This time the high bidders were Larry and Steff Heitmeyer, Ottoville.
They immediately donated the item to Deb Maag, Tim's wife.
"The crowd went nuts," Holtkamp said."I don't think there was a dry eye in the crowd."
Even Dr. Moser, Tim's kidney specialist, was a guest at the fundraiser. Upon arriving at the event, the size of the crowd and amount of support from the community amazed Dr. Moser. He acknowledged that his eyes were moist upon seeing the support.
"On a scale of one to ten I give this a 12," Holtkamp said. "and I give it a 100 for the amount of donations and volunteers who came out for this event."
"I feel great," Tim responded when asked how he was feeling. "Look at this crowd. This is amazing. All this support."
Tim said his family is currently being tested to find if anyone is a match for a kidney donation. He also has two non-relatives who have indicated they are his blood type and would be willing to donate a kidney if a relative match is not found.
A scrap metal and aluminum collection is under way with the proceeds being donated to Tim and his family. All aluminum cans can be brought to collection spots in Ottoville and in Kalida in collection binds next to Kryberts, downtown in Kalida, or in front of M & W Trailers in Ottoville. Scrap steel can be brought to Stan's Repair at 7315 Road L, or in front of Remlingers Manufacturing in Kalida, and in Ottoville, containers will be located at M & W Trailers east of Ottoville on 224, and also across from Miller Contracting on Route 66. Steel appliances will be accepted and if you have large items of scrap metal or vehicles, contact Bob Holtkamp at 419-532-2408 or Jerry Markward at 419-453-3331 and arrangements will be made for a pick up. Televisions, computers and microwaves unfortunately can not be accepted.
This scrap metal collection will continue until Earth Day in April.
The Kalida Lions have held many Fund Raisers over the years to help families in the Kalida community. One very unique fund raiser, held in conjunction with Earth Day 2005, was a scrap steel and aluminum can Recycling Benefit. The Kalida Lions partnered with OmniSource and the Kalida Firefighters for this large event. Over 300 tons of scrap steel was collected. In addition, a 53' semi van trailer was filled with aluminum cans. All proceeds went to two families who had recently lost their young fathers/husbands to cancer. Below are some photos taken the day of the fund raiser.
