MONTICELLO– The 44th Annual Pineapple Sales for Camp Courageous began Thursday, July 29, and runs through Wednesday, Aug. 11, at over 30 Hy-Vee Stores located throughout Eastern Iowa. It started as a dream of a few United Airlines employees in 1978 and turned into one of Camp Courageous’ largest annual fund raisers. Hy-Vee stores compete on displays, money raised and other special events hosted in their stores for Camp Courageous.
According to Kay Kress with Hy-Vee, “It has become a wonderful tradition for the stores and the shoppers.”
Other participating Hy-Vee locations include stores in Bettendorf, Cedar Rapids, Cedar Falls, Clinton, Coralville, Davenport, Dubuque, Iowa City, Marion and Waterloo.
The 42nd Annual Pineapple Gala is Friday, Aug. 20, at the downtown Cedar Rapids Doubletree Convention Center beginning at 6 p.m. It is one of Iowa’s largest charity silent and live auctions offering hundreds of items available for bid. The silent auction includes everything from wine and golf packages, Hawkeye, Cyclone and UNI packages, to numerous themed baskets. Highlights of the live auction are a weeklong stay at a Colorado mountain chalet, a new boat and more. There is also a silent auction table devoted to limited edition die-cast tractors. To view auction items, visit www.campcourageous.org/2021-pineapple-gala.
This year’s event honors Randy Lee and Janet and Denny Zahrt with placement on the Honorary Board, the highest honor bestowed by Camp Courageous. The camp also honors its relationship with WMT for the past 47 years.
Camp Courageous is a year-round recreational and respite care facility for individuals with special needs. In its 47th year, Camp Courageous serves nearly 10,000 campers with special needs annually. The camp is run primarily on donations without government assistance or formal sponsorship and without people paid to raise funds for the camp. Meaning everything is donated to the camp whether it be supplies, time or other resources; meaning it goes directly to benefit the campers.