Western Kenosha County an estimated 700-plus people turned out Friday evening to support a local farm family that suffered major loses to their property in a May 1 fire.
The Herda Farm in Wheatland lost its cow barn and suffered other damage to structures in the fires. No people were hurt and all the farm’s cows also survived.
In the immediate wake of the fire, the Bristol Striver 4-H Club, which has some Herdas among its members, was moved to action. Club General Leader Corie Lea Bies and club President Aria Elfering brainstormed ways to help and came up with Friday’s spaghetti dinner and an outdoor movie night. The fundraising effort was then taken up as a Kenosha County 4-H effort.
The spaghetti dinner Friday kept the Central High School cafetorium near full for most of the 4.5 hours it was held. Besides the dinner, the event included raffles and live and silent auctions, with all proceeds going to the Herda family. Central High School’s Jazz Central also performed at the event.
About the impressive support shown for the Herda family, Bies said “Everyone knows what it is like to put your heart and soul into something, and we never want to imagine what it’s like to lose it. Unfortunately, that’s what happened here — and our community is amazing in the fact that we hang together in those times to bring out the positive and help. Definitely proud to call this community home.”
In this video, Ben Herda thanks the community for its support:
Here are more photos from the event:
