Laura Backhaus (standing) serves cake to the family. (clockwise around table): Dad Larin, Roman, Leighton, Liam and Rachel.

“My daughter Rachel was only seven months old at the time. I mean, we almost barely remember anything before that,” Laura says. “It’s like the world slows down and time stops and you’re frozen there for a minute. The only thing I could say in that moment was, ‘Is my son going to die?’”

As the battle raged on, Laura got a call from a family member with the news that her workplace was starting a team for St. Baldrick’s. They asked if their team’s honoree could be Leighton.

“As soon as I had registered an account for Leighton, we started to research St. Baldrick’s and we fell in love,” Laura says.

Fast forward to 2013, when Laura learned about St. Baldrick’s night at a Bismarck Bobcats game.

“You know, you feel like it’s a break in the rain. St. Baldrick’s gave us a break that night to just get away. We are looking forward to that again this year, taking the family to an event. Most people know that chemo and cancer treatment, it’s heavy on expenses. So to get a family of our size out to do something like that, it just doesn’t happen very often.”

YOU CAN HELP
The Backhaus family has a family member shaving his head and mustache this year. Uncle Arnie Kraft is on the MDU Resources – Bald as a Light Bulb team. Support him on his fundraising page.

Mason Steckler was diagnosed with cancer at age 3.

Three-year-old Mason Steckler had a bad cough. The doctor told his mom, Melinda, human resources manager at Montana-Dakota Utilities in Bismarck, ND, it might be pneumonia. A week later, the cough persisted. At a second visit to the doctor, an X-ray revealed a tumor that filled half of Mason’s chest, compressing his airway. He was immediately airlifted to Minneapolis. That night, Mason’s condition deteriorated; he was put on a ventilator and underwent radiation to break up the tumor.

Thankfully, Mason pulled through that night and, after spending six weeks in Minneapolis, returned home and underwent two years of chemotherapy to ensure the cancer did not return.

Today, 13-year-old Mason is healthy and active in wresting, football and track. The Steckler family is celebrating 10 years of being cancer-free at the flagship Brave the Shave St. Baldrick’s event March 14. His cousin, aunt and grandmother are cutting off their ponytails and Mason is shaving his head for the second year in a row.

Today, Mason is healthy and active in wrestling, football and track.

“Without the life-saving technology at the University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital, this would have been a very different story,” Melinda says. “Supporting St. Baldrick’s means supporting research that led to treatments like the one that saved Mason.”

YOU CAN HELP
You can donate on Mason’s page, or pick another shavee on the MDU Resources – Bald as a Light Bulb team, or find a St. Baldrick’s event in your area at www.stbaldricks.org.

Joah Royer (left) and her mom Sonia Royer pose together. Along with the help of Joah’s grandmother, the team makes up Joah’s Pink Bags of Hope, which delivers gift bags to hospital patients in South Dakota.

When Joah Royer saw her chance to make the world a better place, she decided to fund her idea like any other 11-year-old – with saved-up Tooth Fairy money.

There was just one problem.

“It got to the point where she didn’t have any more teeth to lose,” says Sonia Royer, Joah’s mom.

Thankfully, Joah’s Pink Bags of Hope was a project folks were eager to get behind. It didn’t take long for donations to start rolling in.

Thanks to donations like Basin Electric’s recent pledge of $1,000, the now 12-year-old’s dream is a reality.

It all started when Joah’s grandparents were both in the hospital, battling cancer.

“I started to make gift bags for my grandma and grandpa when they were doing chemo,” Joah says. “When I was waiting in the waiting room to go see them, there were a lot of other people that didn’t look like they had family members there, so I decided to make gift bags for them.”

What was first thought of as a momentary hobby quickly became so much more. Joah’s Pink Bags of Hope gave hospital patients and their loved ones a reason to smile.

“I just thought it was a good thing to do,” she says. “I just like watching people get my gift bags, and making their day.”

Along with thank you cards, like the ones above, Joah often receives donations from the people she delivers to. They strongly believe in her cause.

Requests for gift bags often reach Joah by word of mouth. She also gets the occasional phone call when hospitals run out of inventory. She does everything she can to tailor each bag to its owner.

If she doesn’t know who will receive a particular bag, she keeps it simple. Chap Stick, hand sanitizers and tissues are amenities many use – and appreciate. This week’s shopping list: stress balls.

After she uses donations to purchase gift items for their intended recipients, Joah teams up with her mom and grandma to organize and deliver. Bags are filled and decorated at home, then loaded into a car or pick-up truck to be delivered to a hospital.

Joah, who lives in Fort Pierre, SD, delivers to hospitals all around the state. She’s mostly visited her hometown hospital, as well as facilities in Rapid City and Fort Meade. Sioux Falls is next on the list.

Whenever she can, Joah likes to deliver the bags in person. Needless to say, she makes friends easily.

“I like meeting the people because they’re really nice,” she says.

Joah Royer pays a visit to Kenny Volmer.

Along with requests for other recipients, people often send thank you cards to Joah.

“Sometimes they even send donations back,” she says.

There’s no doubt this girl is helping people, and her mom couldn’t be more proud.

“It’s been an amazing journey,” says Sonia, who also helps Joah manage the group’s Facebook page.

It’s a journey Joah never wants to end. She continues to spread hope, one bag at a time.

“I want to do it for a while,” she says.

To learn more about Joah’s Pink Bags of Hope, visit her Facebook page or email soniamroyer@gmail.com.

Olivia Clyde, at the tournament.

Olivia, age 14, was diagnosed last year with Osteosarcoma, a bone cancer. Olivia, her parents and her brothers, Devin, Alexander and Wyatt, have a long road ahead of them. Dry Fork Station and the community has been helping them offset medical costs with various fundraisers including a silent and live auction held in December 2013.

Eleven teams signed up, including two “Team Olivia” teams selected from Dry Fork Station employees. There was even a team made up of Dry Fork Station management. There were three guns donated and gun raffle tickets were sold over the past two months. More than $10,000 was raised total including the tournament and gun raffle ticket sales.

All winning teams donated their winnings back to the family.

More than 100 dancers were there to shake it! Basin Electric employee Annie Lindseth leads the group.

Basin Electric’s Nicole Perreault leads some dancing, even while 8 1/2 months pregnant!

Mark Anderson was shaved during the zumbathon for the third time.

Dancers get their green on in many ways, including green lipstick. That’s Abby Beehler on the left and Sarah Hoekstra on the right.

FUN FACT
Last year, the Get Your Green On! Zumbathon was featured in Ladies Home Journal: Basin Electric employee featured in Ladies Home Journal

YOU CAN HELP
Check out all the teams in Basin Electric’s Brave the Shave campaign and support your favorite!

IN THE NEWS
KXMB CBS 12: Dozens dance for a good cause

KFYR TV: Zumba for a cause

Big smiles at the Get Your Green On! Zumbathon. Love to see it. #bravetheshave @Bismarck_Y @stbaldricks http://t.co/LHRAqNRgEh—
DakotaGasificationCo (@Dakota_Gas) March 02, 2014

Basin Electric directors (from left): Marshall Collins, Paul Baker & Mike McQuistion

Three new directors joined the Basin Electric board in December: Marshall Collins of District 5, Mike McQuistion of District 7 and Paul Baker of District 10. They replaced retiring directors Wayne Child, Roy Ireland and Reuben Ritthaler, respectively.

Collins, McQuistion and Baker are part of the 11-member board that directs the business and affairs of Basin Electric. Each director is elected to a three-year term representing one of 11 membership districts.

Basin Electric welcomes the three new directors to the cooperative family and invites you to learn more about them through Basin Today’s occasional “Meet your directors” series, the latest of which was published in the January-February 2014 issue. Read the Q&A where Collins, McQuistion and Baker each provide insight into his cooperative background and his expectation for the future.

A photo Jim Eppard took while waiting out the storm.

Winter is coming to its end. Slowly. It’s getting there.

In South Dakota, winter started in a big way back in October. A horrible, early storm dumped inches and inches of snow, clogging up highways, bringing down power lines, and killing lots of cattle.

Many people were stranded in their cars. The Eppards (Jim, LouAnn and Hannah) were rescued in dramatic fashion by lineworkers from West River Electric Association.

Read the story in the January-February 2014 issue of Basin Today Magazine: Count on the co-op to warm you up

Hannah, Jim and LouAnn Eppard, at West River Electric Association to ride out the storm.

Getting there didn’t happen overnight, but it has been an aggressive resource development program. In fact, the cooperative’s first venture with a renewable wind project began only about 12 years ago with two 1.3-megawatt turbines north of Chamberlain, SD. It was a small project in cooperation with Class A member East River Electric Power Cooperative, but it was significant on multiple levels and opened a door to further opportunities.

Read more in the story Renewed focus on renewables in the January-February 2014 issue of Basin Today. The article explains how Basin Electric added more than 757 megawatts of renewable capacity to its portfolio in just over a decade, and what the cooperative is doing now to increase that capacity even more by exploring both wind and solar opportunities.

There’s a lot to enjoy while working at Basin Electric

Chances are you’ll never meet anyone quite as gracious and content as Terrie Rath.

As Basin Electric’s newest housekeeper claims a corner office chair after a full day on her feet, it takes her about a second to think of a list of pros that go with working at the cooperative.

“I just like everything,” she says with a smile.

It’s a simple answer, and Rath goes on to explain she has a lot to be thankful for.

“I always say, ‘God’s always had his hand on my shoulder,’” she says.

Be part of the cooperative family. Watch the video

When Rath started working at Basin Electric’s Headquarters in January, she quickly realized what it truly means to be part of the cooperative family. It’s a culture where peoples’ first priority is to look out for one another.

Family – it’s a subject that hits close to home for Rath.

It was years ago when the housekeeper was on her own as a young teenager in Columbia, hearing about a nice Minnesota family that wanted to take her in.

“I was very fortunate there because families don’t usually want to adopt older kids; they want babies,” she says.

Years later, a friend – one of Rath’s fellow housekeepers – told her about the position when it first opened up. Today, she not only keeps the cooperative in ship shape, but she brightens hallways and offices with her cheerful spirit.

“Everybody just seems to care,” she says. “You see different people all day long, and they’re all so friendly to you. They acknowledge you. They ask about you and how you’re doing.”

Find your niche at Basin Electric

Along with the people, Rath enjoys her work. A lot of her responsibilities involve organization and planning, which she thrives at.

She believes in sticking to a schedule, as well as keeping the right attitude.

“A positive attitude – it goes a long ways,” she says.

The cooperative offers great benefits

The benefits Basin Electric offers are also something Rath appreciates. She has a competitive benefits package, including a retirement plan, which she’s never had before.

“They offer all that, so that’s very nice,” she says.

Camaraderie lives here

All in all, Rath is happy to be part of a group that thrives on a culture of camaraderie like no other.

“We all help each other,” she says. “I’m just glad that I made this move.”

U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy has accepted an invitation from U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp to visit North Dakota on Friday, Feb. 28. Heitkamp will host the visit, which includes discussions with Basin Electric officials and a tour of the Great Plains Synfuels Plant. She wants McCarthy to hear directly from North Dakotans on how EPA policies impact the state.

Heitkamp and McCarthy plan to talk about the future of coal and utilities, and how the renewable fuel standard will impact the state’s ethanol industry. The discussions will be open to the press.

A Feb. 24 news release from Heitkamp’s office reads, in part:

“In my many conversations with Administrator McCarthy, I repeatedly encouraged her to visit our great state, and to hear from folks who actually have to implement and comply with EPA regulations every day. I’m grateful that she agreed to visit North Dakota, and this trip will be an opportunity for North Dakotans to have their voices heard,” said Heitkamp. “I’m looking forward to having meaningful discussions about the need to find a real path forward for coal, and how ethanol provides good jobs and has environmental benefits that shouldn’t be overlooked.”

“North Dakota offers the country a broad array of energy opportunities. I’m glad Senator Heitkamp invited me to visit and I’m looking forward to spending time with her and hearing the views of the state’s residents,” said Administrator McCarthy.”

Heitkamp first invited McCarthy to North Dakota when they met during McCarthy’s confirmation process to be EPA Administrator. When the EPA recently announced an 11-city listening tour to gain insight regarding the agency’s work on an existing source rule, Heitkamp called out the agency for overlooking North Dakota, a state that has a major coal producing industry and is still heavily reliant on coal fired power as the major source of electric generation.

Read the news release in its entirety on Heitkamp’s website.

]]> http://basinelectric.wordpress.com/2014/02/24/heitkamp-to-bring-epa-head-to-north-dakota/feed/ 0 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 basinelectric U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota