The 2021 Carrie Young Memorial Dinner and Auction raised a record amount of money, just a skosh under $50,000. Last year’s event, held Dec. 2 at the John Day Elks Lodge, blew by the old mark, raking in over $60,000 according to a preliminary tally. Now we know the news is even better than that: according to a thank-you ad published in last week’s edition of the Blue Mountain Eagle, the 2022 benefit brought in a whopping $88,559.17. 

For those  of you who may not know the background, Carrie Young was a Grant County woman who died in a car wreck in 1993. After her death, her family discovered she had been quietly buying Christmas presents for residents of the nursing home where she worked. They decided to carry on that heartwarming tradition in Carrie’s honor. 

Thirty years later, that tradition has taken on a life of its own. Each year the Carrie Young Memorial brings hundreds of people to the Elks Lodge to enjoy a spaghetti dinner, socialize with friends and bid on glittering and imaginative gift baskets. The money raised not only buys toiletries and gift items for every nursing home resident in Grant County, it also purchases groceries, heating oil and firewood for other vulnerable seniors still living on their own. 

The astounding success of the event is a testament to the passion and persistence of Carrie Young’s surviving family members (especially her sister, Lucie Immoos, the driving force behind the fundraiser), the hard work of many volunteers and the abounding generosity of Grant County residents, who always step up to take care of their own. We honor them all.

In case you missed it, last week’s paper featured stories on the new owners of the Long Creek Store and the completion of Prairie City’s long-running water project, the latest installment of our Grant County Neighbors series and two pages of sports coverage, including a report on the Grant County boys and girls wrestling teams’ successful run at the Jo-Hi Tournament in Joseph. 

This week’s paper will include stories on an innovative teacher housing project in Monument, a Prairie City man’s prize-winning fighting bull and coverage of the Grant Union wrestlers’ performance at the Oregon Classic in Redmond.

As always, I want to take this opportunity to thank our subscribers for their support. We can’t do this work without you!