Midwest Pride and Ride trucks. (MWPR photo)
The annual truck and tractor show an Iowan started in honor of his daughter, who died of cancer, has reached a major fundraising milestone.
The Midwest Pride In Your Ride has raised a million dollars for the American Cancer Society since 2011. Greg Preussner of Delhi is on the committee that stages the show every year on the first weekend of May, at the raceway in Earlville.
“We ended up with 205 or 206 trucks from 11 states there, 45 or 50 farm tractors and vendors were here,” he says. “It turned out good. It really did.”
The group needed to raise a little less than $132,000 to cross the million dollar mark this year — and the total raised over the past 12 years now sits at about $1,000,800. Eldon Jaeger, a trucker from Worthington, Iowa, started the event to honor his daughter, Brenda, who died after a 14 year battle with cancer. The annual show features a truck pull, drag racing for semis and a survivor convoy on the opening night.
“Eldon figures there’s about — a total over the weekend — over 140 people volunteering to help all three days,” Preussner says. “But it wouldn’t be a show if we didn’t have the community support and we’ve definitely got their support and it makes that one of the premiere truck shows in the United States.”
The first event in 2011 raised a little over $20,000 and it’s been growing ever since
(By Janelle Tucker, KCMH, Manchester)