11/21/2025
We just want to extend our sincerest gratitude for all of those that sponsored and attended last Saturday's 2nd Annual Fire Ball Gala. It was truly a great night!
We want to extend our most heartfelt thank you to the amazing committee who worked tirelessly and committed thousands of hours of time to ensure it was a great evening. The event truly would not be possible without the dedication of Diane, Vicki, Amanda, Tiffany, Eileen and Hannah. Another big thank you to our C**n Rapids MN Fire Department.
It wouldn't have been possible without the dedication and commitment of our amazing sponsors. C**n Rapids Youth Hockey Association (CRYHA), C**n Rapids Mat Bandits , C**n Rapids North Star Lions, C**n Rapids Rotary Club, Carlson Toyota, Advanced First Aid, Federal Ammunition, Twin Cities Laser, Purple Hawk Entertainment, PhotoBooth MN, DEVO Fitness, Firefighters For Healing, C**n Rapids Firecracker Races, and C**n Rapids Snowflake Days Celebration. Please visit all of our sponsor pages and learn more about their organization and/or business!
To our amazing emcee Kathryn Kueppers Kruse, a former Miss C**n Rapids and Miss Minnesota, and our Special Events Host, Common Man from KFAN, thank you! It truly was a special night and you both were incredible!
The goal of this year's gala was to raise money for one more Save Station at the C**n Rapids High School, one Save Station for Sand Creek Park, and to pay for a professionally done training video on how to perform CPR and how to use an AED. This video will be made available to provide basic information to as many people as possible. Quickly reacting to a heart attack greatly increases the odds of survival. Every second counts. Sand Creek Park averages about 100,000 visitors a year. With heart incidents occurring in people of all ages, having these Save Stations around our athletic complexes can certainly save lives.
The Save Stations make the AEDs accessible to everyone. They function automatically, with instructions on how to set them up, when to do CPR, and when the AED has determined that a shock is needed. Training is always good to have, but the AED is programmed to walk you through the steps.
This year, a 28-year-old man collapsed with a heart attack while playing pickleball in Eden Prairie. His girlfriend grabbed an AED from a Save Station, performed CPR, and he survived.
Deb Henning, came all the way from Canada and is the Co-Founder of Save Station. She made a surprise announcement at the Gala that her company is going to donate one more Save Station to C**n Rapids! For our friends who play pickleball at Riverwind Park, that will be the likely location for this additional Save Station.
This post is long, but there was so much to say. The Committee is just getting started with this mission, and we hope you continue to join them as they not only build the path to saving lives in our own community but those surrounding us as well.
If you thought the 2025 Fire Ball Gala was great.. just wait until you see what 2026 has in store! You won't want to miss it!
