A Sangamon County company specializing in drainage material made its annual donation to the Simmons Cancer Institute yesterday.
Springfield Plastics President Steve Baker presented members of the Simmons Cancer Institute in Springfield with a check for over $137,000 from their 2022 Drain For the Cure fundraiser. Since its inception nine years ago, Drain for the Cure has donated over $675,000 to cancer research and patient services at Simmons Cancer Institute in Springfield and John Stoddard Cancer Center in Des Moines, Iowa. Donations were made by employees, customers, vendors, business partners, and friends of Springfield Plastics.
Donations were also collected through an initiative held by Dale Himstedt of D&H Drainage and Shane Gray of S&J Trucking called Grain for the Cure in which Himstedt and Gray picked up donations of grain right from the field from any farmer willing to drop a few bushels into their dump wagon. Himstedt and Gray then took the grain to a local elevator to be sold in the donors’ names. Himstedt brought in over $22,000 and Gray, along with a match from the Scoular Foundation, received $10,000 in donations to further Springfield Plastics’ fundraising efforts.
The local communities where Springfield Plastics operates also got involved in the fundraiser through Game for the Cure, a football game hosted by Auburn High School. Cancer survivors and their families were given an opportunity to share their stories at half-time. Attendees could purchase Drain for the Cure merchandise and proceeds were all donated to this year’s fundraiser.