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Lights at Kennedy makes season bright

As Christmas approaches, the campground at John F. Kennedy Memorial Park has once again been transformed into a holiday wonderland. The 21st annual Lights at Kennedy will help make the season more festive for area residents and visitors. Additionally, the event raises money to support local service groups. Although it is now mid-December there is still a chance to see it. Lights at Kennedy will be open from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Free will donations will be accepted. Some of the donations will support the philanthropic efforts of the event’s sponsors, the ...

Bikes for Tykes brings cheer to kids

These days, cars, pickups and SUVs share the showroom of Fort Dodge Ford Lincoln Toyota with an entirely different kind of wheeled vehicle. That vehicle is the bicycle. And there are a lot of them, maybe hundreds of them, in the showroom. But before long they will be going out the doors to be distributed to kids who would not otherwise get a bicycle of their own. The effort is called Bikes for Tykes. The annual Bikes for Tykes drive has a simple mission: making Christmas merrier for youngsters. Each year hundreds of new bicycles are donated so that children in families facing ...

Area heart patients will benefit from new clinic

There was a time a few months ago when it looked like the Fort Dodge area was going to be without a nearby source of cardiology care. In April, Iowa Heart Center surprised everyone, including its own patients, by announcing it would no longer provide 24-hour, seven day a week services in Fort Dodge.That was troubling news to say the least, considering that heart disease is a leading cause of death. Faced with this dire scenario the leadership of UnityPoint Health -Fort Dodge worked behind the scenes to put together a cardiology clinic to replace the services that would be lost when ...

Help Salvation Army by ringing bells

Like Christmas trees and turkey dinners, the red kettles and bell ringers of The Salvation Army are a traditional element of the holiday season. Just about everyone has seen the kettles and heard the jingling bells over the years. And hopefully, just about everyone has put some donations in those kettles to help those less fortunate. Now, The Salvation Army needs some help to keep that fine tradition going. It is in need of people willing to stand next to a kettle and ring the bells. In recent years, recruiting bell ringers has proven to be a tough chore. However, it is not ...

A Time for Angels helps those who mourn

The death of a loved one is the emotional equivalent of getting hit by a train. There’s almost nothing that can create the bewildering range of emotions that the death of a loved one can generate. The range of emotions can include anger, fear, sadness, loneliness and other feelings that defy ordinary description. And those emotions can hit hardest during the holiday season. The staff of Gunderson Funeral Home and Cremation Services is well aware of that. So for 26 years, they have organized an event called A Time for Angels to help soothe the pain of people who have experienced a ...

This holiday season, support your hometown businesses

Tens of millions of Americans will do most, if not all, their holiday season shopping with giant online retail operations this year. They will argue that it is more convenient or safer for them to do so rather than patronize local brick-and-mortar stores. Local retailers, from mom-and-pop specialty shops to the big-box stores, rely on Christmas shoppers for significant chunks of the revenue that keeps them open year-round. If they have a bad holiday shopping season, they suffer terribly. Some may not survive long into the new year. So what? Well, put on your thinking cap for a ...