What would you do with $6 million?
A local area charity does what makes sense - they give it all away.
Pheasant Heaven Charities Inc., is gearing up for their annual calf fry this Friday to have more in their coffers to do just that again.
"Phesanat Heaven Charities is a non-profit organization created in 2004," said board member and treasuer Matthew Rome. "Initially it was created as a scholarship organiztaion, but quickly transitiioned to help folks with medical needs - catastrophic medical events. People who are going through tough times. We assist them."
It's not the medical expenses themselves that the organization typically focuses on.
"Most of the time we wouldn't go for paying the medical expenses, but we would help with mortgage payments or rent, utilities, a car payment or maybe we would give them a gift card to pay for their fuel to and from their medical doctor appointments," Rome said. "We might buy their hotel room or put them up for a week if they have to go to places like Wichita, Amarillo or Kansas City - just so they didn't have to worry about the expenses on the side and they can focus on gettig well."
Rome became a board member in 2017, and by that time Pheasant Heaven had been an organization for 10-12 years.
"Last year we celebrated 20 years," he said.
Rome has known about the organization since he was in high school.
"I had always gone to their event," he said. "One of our biggest events and fundraisers was always our annual calf fry. It's always the Friday before opening day of pheasant season. The idea behind that is to get all the hunters in town together and do a big feed. It's a BYOB event. We have live auction and a raffle. People who attend will hear all the stories of how we help people in need."
In the 20 years the organization has been going, they have helped a lot of people.
"I think we hit $6 million in fundraising last year or the year before - a pretty large amount of money," Rome said. "We have given it all away. There is a small amount we use to operate with, but nobody gets paid on the board for doing this."
According to Rome, Pheasant Heaven gives away more scholarships in the State of Kansas than any other scholarship committee.
"As far as dollars go we don't," he added. "But at one time we give 40, $1,000 scholarships away. We have restructured that now because there are a lot of scholarship opportunities out there and $1,000 doesn't go very far when it comes to college unfortunately."
Something unique about Pheasant Heaven scholarships is they aren't necessarily one time gifts.
"If you apply and are awarded it you can get it all four years you are in school," Rome said. "Now there are five top scholars and of that five, four get an initial $3,000 then $1,000 every year after that. The top winner gets an initial $5,000 and $1000 every year after that."
Recipients are chosen who are within 50 miles of Hugoton.
"Hugoton is the central location, so we support the Oklahoma Panhandle, eastern Colorado, and then the counties of Grant, Haskell, Stanton, Cimarron, Morton, and Seward," Rome said. "The goal is eventually to be big enough to help more."
Pheasant Heaven actually has three committees that are outside of the board of directors, according to Rome.
"We have a really good group of people," he said. "Our benevolent committee handles catastrophic medical and medical needs. Our Love From Above committee is strictly helping with cancer patients. And then we have our scholarship committee."
The Love From Above committee has some cancer survivors on it, Rome said, and they are all passionate about making a difference.
"They have provided cancer centers with Ipads for the patients to use while they are getting their treatments and supply them with comfort bags that have a blanket, water bottle - things she said helped her when she went through cancer treatments."
There are 10 members of the Pheasant Heaven board and then six to seven people on each of the committees, Rome said.
"All of them are volunteers," Rome added. "It seems like a lot of the people we have in Pheasant Heaven are a 'pay it forward' type of situation. Either they were helped or a family member of theirs was helped in the past and they want to come and help the organization that helped them. It's crazy how many people we have say they want to help."
Rome understands that first hand.
"My twin sister was diagnosed with cancer - she is a cancer survivor," Rome said. "Pheasant Heaven helped her make her car payment the entire time she was getting her chemo treatments."
Other examples of people who have been helped by the organization include a young family with a child who had some physical challenges. The organization helped get him a special bike to get around on.
Another child had such bad dental issues that he was about to the point he could not eat. Pheasant Heaven paid for some dental reconstruction surgery.
It's the stories of those helped that make the difference.
"We were in Ulysses recently to go on the radio to talk about our event," Rome said. "While we were at the radio station a guy came up and asked why we were there. We told him and he said 'you guys helped me a bunch'. It's really cool hearing that we have helped someone."
All of those involved are very passionate about the work they do. Rome said they have had a "change of the guard" of sorts and those who originally started the organization stepped down from their board positions.
"They still come to our meetings and help out at different things," he added.
Along with the calf fry, Pheasant Heaven hosts golf tournaments and other fundraisers in order to keep on giving.The calf fry is a big event.
"Friday we will serve close to 1,500 people," Rome said. "We cook 600-700 pounds of calf fries and about the same amount each of beef and pork. We raise somewhere around $100,000 that night from people supporting us, and the best part is we turn around and give it all away. It's charity through the power of community."
For more information go to pheasntheavencharities.com.
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