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Drive-thru baskets

Two families provide Easter cheer for hundreds

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Amanda Baker makes sure that the whiskers on her husband, Todd “Hoppy” Baker, of Baker Electric are just so Saturday morning during the Baker Electric/Ball Plumbing Easter basket giveaway at their joint shops.

Easter has changed a bit for Meghan Lamoureux and her family this year.

With social distancing guidelines in place, public Easter egg hunts canceled and churches closed for in-person worship.

“We’re not getting together with family,” she said. “We’re in isolation by ourselves. We will have an egg hunt a home though. We usually go to the Eagle’s hunt, visit my parents on Sunday and go to church. We’ll have church on Facebook.”

Her children, including Joey Lamoureux, 5, still got an Easter Basket though when Todd and Amanda Baker, of Baker Electric and Dan and Sharie Ball, of Ball Plumbing, gave away 200 Easter baskets at their joint shop in Fort Dodge on Saturday morning.

“It’s pretty amazing they’re doing this for the kids,” Meghan Lamoureux said.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Dan “Bunny” Ball and his wife Sharie Ball, of Ball Plumbing, hand out Easter baskets Saturday morning at Ball Plumbing/Baker Electric. About 200 baskets were given away.

The chill morning proved to be an excellent occasion for Todd Baker to become Todd “Easter Bunny One” Baker.

“It’s warmer,” he said. “It’s fun, I think the kids love it.”

His wife Amanda helped provide some guidance to proper Easter Bunny etiquette.

“You need to wave at the kids,” she said.

The families decided to do the basket giveaway as a way to help the community and give families that might not otherwise have an Easter a way to get one.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Huxley Potratz, 1, watches as the Easter Bunny hands him an Easter basket Saturday morning during the Ball Plumbing/Baker Electric giveaway at their joint shops. His mom, Kelsey Heintz, at left, is all smiles.

“It breaks my heart,” she said. “It’s a big thing.”

At another open shop door Dan and Sharie Ball were doing the same thing. Ball as Dan “Easter Bunny Two” Ball and Sharie Ball as his bunny eared assistant. The bunny helpers and other family members went beyond just mere ears though, they also wore a face mask and surgical gloves.

Ball wasn’t planning on wearing the costume to any service calls.

“It would be tough to work in,” he said. “I don’t know how long it would last.”

He was hoping that it would help the children have a better Easter.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Meghan Lamoureux, of Fort Dodge, snaps a picture of her son, Joey Lamoureux, 5, after he got his Easter Basket at the Baker Electric/Ball Plumbing giveaway Saturday morning.

“Just because the world’s in a crazy place,” he said. “The kids don’t need to pay for it.”

It wasn’t just drive up either.

The family said a truck driver had stopped his rig on nearby Iowa Highway 7 and walked over with his daughter in hand to get a basket shortly before the official 9 a.m. start time.

They both walked away smiling.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Amanda Baker checks over some of the 200 Easter Baskets that are ready to be given away Saturday morning at Baker Electric/Ball Plumbing.

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