A Cayley teen is feeling a huge sense of accomplishment after a steer she raised sold for $46,306.90, all in support of the High River Hospital’s maternity ward.
Seventeen-year-old Jodi Giles of the Longview 4-H Beef Club led her 1,399 pound steer, Cobalt, into the auction ring at Century Auctions in Aldersyde May 22. He sold for $29.50 per pound to the Eastern Slopes Philanthropists, who turned around and sold him to the final buyer, May and John Lockhart of High River, for $3.60 per pound.
Proceeds from the sale will go to the High River District Health Care Foundation’s Delivering a Better Experience campaign.
The foundation aims to raise $500,000 to go towards the $1.4 million cost to renovate the hospital’s maternity ward.
“It was really cool just the fact that the steer brought in that much money and I had a hand behind it, that it was my project and I was able to help out that much,” Giles said last week.
Giles has been a member of the Longview 4-H Beef Club for three years.
“One of my older sisters had joined it and it looked like a lot of fun,” she said.
Her responsibilities since receiving Cobalt in October included feeding, halter breaking, providing fresh bedding, bathing and brushing to prepare him for the auction.
“It’s a pretty proud moment when you can stand there and see everything you’ve done,” she said. “It’s really cool to be on the end of that lead and go, ‘this is what I’ve done’ and see the end result.”
Stephen Hughes, Longview 4-H Beef Club leader, said Giles was chosen to care for the donation steer because it’s the last year her family will be involved in 4-H. The Highwood High School Grade 12 student is enrolled in the agriculture management program at Olds College this summer where she will major in finance.
“It’s a different family every year and this family has been in 4-H a long time with three daughters,” Hughes said. “This was their last year so I thought it was a nice way for them to finish. They’ve always been really involved and a great family in our club.
“It was an honour to bestow that responsibility on them.”
Hughes said the donation steers always do well to raise money for the foundation.
“It’s a good example of the strength of our club and community that surrounds us,” he said. “One of the goals in 4-H is to give back to the community.”
Selecting the hospital as the donor recipient was an obvious choice, Hughes said.
“A strong, thriving hospital in a rural community is really important,” he said.
“It makes sense to us and appeals to people in the surrounding area.”
Cathy Couey, the foundation’s fund development and communications officer, is ecstatic with the success of this year’s donation steer.
“We are putting it towards this project to see the development of our maternity care suites,” she said. “It gives us a heck of a boost to start our campaign. We are sure excited to start off the campaign this way.”
The foundation has been a recipient of the club’s donation steer the past six years, with money raised helping to fund infant resuscitation and warming units, the teen healthy clinic, cancer clinic and emergency department, she said.
“It’s a great initiative on so many levels,” she said. “Obviously, there is the financial benefit that comes back to support the foundation, but the other element is teaching these young people in our community the importance of philanthropy and the importance of giving back to the community.
“They get to see the impact of the work they do and what a difference it can make.”
Couey said the Lockharts have always been the final bidders, and are donating cuts of beef to Okotoks’ Sandstone Lodge, Nanton’s Silver Willow Lodge and Black Diamond’s High Country Lodge. A portion will also go to the hospital to be raffled off with proceeds going to the Delivering a Better Experience campaign, she said.
“It’s the steer that keeps on giving,” she said. “This is an incredible community initiative that not only significantly impacts our local health care but helps to develop strong community-minded individuals.”
