2012 Charity Results

We will be making donations to the following organizations:

Gatehouse Shelter in Danville - $1000

AGAPE (Bloomsburg) - $400

Centre County Women's Resource Center - $500

Easter Seals of Central Pennsylvania - $500

Church World Service, Lancaster - $500

We also collected a large volume of donations for the Danville-Riverside Food Bank. The Daily Item estimated that we had about 5 shopping carts worth of food.

Charity Information

Here's a recycled post from back in January...

This year we are planning our fundraising efforts to benefit the following organizations:

Gatehouse Shelter in Danville - a homeless shelter in Danville that seems to be chronically underfunded and in need of financial assistance.

AGAPE (Bloomsburg) - they have "an on-going mission to serve people in need throughout our area." Their "goal is to 'fill in the gaps' which currently exist between people in need, and the community services available to assist them." Also, they provided a lot of assistance to the victims of flooding in fall 2011.

Centre County Women's Resource Center - "It is the mission of the CCWRC to empower survivors of sexual or domestic violence, and to work toward the elimination of such violence..."

Easter Seals of Central Pennsylvania - "...provides services to more than 2,600 adults and children with physical disabilities and developmental delays, including individuals affected by conditions like autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, spina bifida and traumatic brain injury (TBI)."

Church World Service, Lancaster - "...serves the refugee and immigrant communities of Central Pennsylvania."

We are also planning to make donations of non-perishable food items to the Danville-Riverside Food Bank. We will post information soon about what types of items you should bring with you to donate to the food bank.

2011 Charity Results

The 2011 Elk Toss, Charity Auction, and Winter Festival was a success. We will be donating a total of $2,750 (highest total ever) to the following charities:

Gatehouse Shelter: $750
State College Area Food Bank: $600
Compeer Lancaster: $600
Ronald McDonald House of Danville: $600
Liberty Recycling Center: $100
SOS Children's Villages: $100 (to support a fundraising effort of a class at State College Area High School)

2010 Charity Totals

We're still working on getting things organized, but we should be getting donations to charities very soon. We had some money left in our account from previous years, so we were able to donate a total of $2500 this year. The following charities will receive the following amounts:

Gatehouse Shelter, Danville - $500
Daily Item Needy Family Fund, Sunbury, Northumberland, Danville area - $500
Montour County Summer Concert Series, Danville - $200
Deb's House, Lancaster - $500
Mount Nittany Conservancy, Centre County - $400
Centre Grounds, Centre County - $400

Thanks to everyone who participated or donated to the 2010 Elk Toss and Charity Auction. We could not have raised so much money without you. We hope that you had a good time and we hope to see  you again next year for our 75th year.

Updated Charity List

We've added another charity recipient to the list below. This probably will be the final list, unless something comes up before the Elk Toss.

Gatehouse Shelter, Danville
Daily Item Needy Family Fund, Sunbury, Northumberland, Danville area
Montour County Summer Concert Series, Danville
Deb's House, Lancaster
Mount Nittany Conservancy, Centre County
Centre Grounds, Centre County

We will be again collecting non-perishable food to donate to the Danville-Riverside Food Bank, so make sure you bring cans and boxes of food. They will also be happy to receive grocery store gift cards (Weis and Giant have stores in the Danville area).

Preliminary Charity List

The preliminary list of charities for the 75th Annual Elk Toss, Winter Festival, and Charity Auction...

Daily Item Needy Family Fund, Sunbury, Northumberland, Danville area
Montour County Summer Concert Series , Danville
Deb's House, Lancaster
Mount Nittany Conservancy, Centre County
Centre Grounds, Centre County

We may add another one or two before the event.

2010 Elk Toss Date

We apologize for the lack of recent blog postings, but here's some news to make you forget about our idleness...

Mark your calendars...the 75th Annual Danville German Society Elk Toss, Charity Auction, and Winter Festival will be held on Saturday February 20, 2010 in, near, and around Danville.

Also we would like to announce that our Commercial Donations Liaison (formerly Goutweed Control Technician), Aaron Jensen, married Karen Hagemeier on 9/9/09.

2009 Charity Totals

We have added up the money raised at the Elk Toss, Charity Auction, and Winter Festival and have determined that we will be donating a the following amounts to the following charities:

$750 to the Gatehouse Shelter in Danville
$600 to the Milagro House in Lancaster
$600 to the Centre County Women's Resource Center
$150 to the Montour County Recreation Authority Summer Concert Series
$200 to Heart-to-Hand Ministries
A canoe-load of food for the Danville-Riverside Food Bank

The charities should be receiving their portion of the $2300 from us in the near future.

Also coming soon...a full recap of the Elk Toss and other events.

Elk Toss Charities

Our current plan is to split the proceeds from the events and auction between the following charities:

-Gatehouse Shelter in Danville
-Heart-to-Hand Ministries
-Centre County Women's Resource Center
-Milagro House in Lancaster

Auction Items

Sometimes, rarely, we get questions about what to bring to donate to the Charity Auction. The answer is simple - bring things that you honestly think that someone else will want to buy. Some of the popular items from years past have been homemade infused liquors, other alcoholic beverages, quality artwork, musical items, functional household appliances, clothing, gift certificates to restaurants, etc. Please do not bring things that you would have otherwise thrown in the trash.

This year, we will also be having a silent auction. If you have any items that you feel are very special, post a comment to this blog entry and we will add it to the list of silent auction items.

Oh, and one more warning. Please do not sample food or alcohilic auction items before they are auctioned off.

Food Bank Donations

The economic downturn has put a lot of extra demand on food banks. Please try to bring non-perishable food to donate to the Danville-Riverside Food Bank. For ideas of what to donate to the Food Bank, check out the needs list on the website of the State College Area Food Bank. If you would like to donate a grocery store gift card, you should know that there is a Giant and a Weis store in the Danville area.

2009 Charities

Happy New Year...

We've been tossing around some ideas for charities for the 2009 Elk Toss and have come up with the following:

Gatehouse Shelter
Heart-to-Hand Ministries (www.hearttohandministries.com)
Centre County Women's Resource Center (www.ccwrc.org)
Milagro House (www.milagrohouse.org)

There is a chance we may add another one before February 21, so stay tuned.

2009 Elk Toss is Scheduled

The 75th Annual Danville German Society Elk Toss, Winter Festival, and Charity Auction will be held on February 21, 2009. All events will be held in and around Danville.

This year promises to be an Elk Toss that is dumber than any of the other 74 Elk Tosses. If you do not attend, you will miss out on the stupidity that is the Elk Toss.

The most up-to-date and useful information about the event will be posted to this blog, so be sure to check back often.

Note: if you have access to a large and docile elk, please email us if that elk would be willing to be tossed.

2008 Charities

The tentative list of charities for the 2008 Elk Toss has been determined. We may add another one or two, but for now the list is as follows:

• Central Susquehanna Opportunities
• Centre County Youth Services Bureau
• Columbia County Volunteers in Medicine (added 1/21/08)
• Montour County Rec Authority (to assist with development of canal path)
• Montour County Summer Concert Series

If you would like to see another charity added to the list, email us.

Preliminary Elk Toss Schedule

Here's the preliminary schedule for the 2008 Elk Toss, Charity Auction, and Winter Festival:

Saturday February 16, 2008

8:00 am - Pappas Restaurant for Annual ScrappleFest

9:00 am - Salvation Army Shopping Trip

10:00 am - Jerseytown Tavern in Jerseytown Jerseytown - Burger Eat-Off, Presentation of Certificate of Appreciation

11:30 am - Arrive at Wagner Farm - Scrap Iron Toss, Salad Toss, Ice Roping, Sled-Dog Race, Chicken Race, Block Shoot, Beard Contest, etc.
Charity Auction and live music will be held between each event
Annual meeting and officers reports
Pot luck style food

4:00 pm - ELK TOSS followed by more competitions and auction

7:00 pm - Leave Wagner Farm and head to downtown Danville

8:00 pm - Tour of Danville begins at Pine Barn Inn bar, continue to fine establishments such as Mulberry's, BJ's, American Legion, LT Evans, etc.

10:00 pm - Music by Slimfit and Van Wagner, and magic by Fred Iobst at the Pub

Late - Cheese Cosmos at Danville Sub Shop

Food Bank Donations

We're once again collecting non-perishable food items for the Danville-Riverside Food Bank. Here are some suggestions as to items to bring to donate.

• Raisins or other dried fruit
• Laundry soap, bath/hand soap
• Canned beef stew and/or chili
• Canned meat such as Spam or chicken
• Jello or pudding, including diet varieties
• Canned pasta (spaghetti, ravioli, etc.)
• Instant mashed potatoes
• Coffee, Tea and Hot Chocolate
• Cooking oil
• Mayonnaise/Salad Dressing
• Dry cereal and oatmeal
• Baking and pancake mixes
• Dry macaroni or noodles
• Tomato products such as paste, diced, stewed, crushed
• Sugar and sugar supplements

This list was edited from one on the State College Area Food Bank website. Their list said they had sufficient supplies of soup and canned tuna. The Danville-Riverside Food Bank is probably in the same situation.

We're looking into whether the Danville-Riverside Food Bank accepts gift cards.

Once again, if you can bring more donated food than the combined total of the DGS Presidents, we'll buy beer for you all day.

2007 Elk Toss Charities

We raised a little over $1500 this year. This is less than last year, but still very impressive considering the weather caused a few people not to be able to attend. The total amount raised is the second highest in DGS Elk Toss history.

We will split the money between these charities (and maybe more):
Good Samaritan Mission of Danville
Centre Wildlife Care
Northcentral Pennsylvania Conservancy
Montour County Summer Concert Series

The final number will be posted here as soon as we get it and determine how much will go to each charity.

Thanks again to everyone who made the day possible.

Recap of 2007 Elk Toss Events

The 2007 Elk Toss, Charity Auction, and Winter Festival was quite a success considering the weather conditions. Here's a quick recap of the event results. More will follow here and on the DGS Website.

Burger Eat-off: Jason Zerbe (3:45)
Elk Bugling: John Zerbe
Salad Toss: Joe and Mickle McMonagle (Franz and Steve disqualified after photo review)
Scrap Iron Toss: Van Wagner
Chicken Races: not held due to weather
Beard Competition: Karl Shellenberger (photo)
Elk Toss: Mike Wilkinson (52'0"), Dave McGovern (45'5"), Franz Klingermann (44'7"), Todd Summers
Ice Roping: Ryan Zerbe (award purchased in auction)

If you have photos of the event, email them to us.

2007 Charities

The money raised at the 2007 Elk Toss, Winter Festival and Charity Auction will benefit the following organizations:

• Good Samaritan Mission of Danville
• Northcentral Pennsylvania Conservancy
• Centre Wildlife Care
• Montour County Recreation Authority Summer Concert Series

We will also provide donations of non-perishable food to the Danville-Riverside Food Bank and jeans to the Good Samaritan Mission.

If you plan to attend, make sure you bring jeans and food to donate.

Updated Elk Toss Schedule

Actually, there are no major changes to the schedule, but it has been confirmed that Jerseytown will open at 10 am for us. We will only stay there until about 11 am before heading to the Wagner Farm. We'll provide directions if you want to stay in Jerseytown a little longer than that. Here's the schedule again.

Elk Toss Schedule - February 17, 2007
8:00 am - Pappas Restaurant for Annual ScrappleFest
9:00 am - Salvation Army Shopping Trip
10:00 am - Jerseytown Tavern in Jerseytown (570-437-2251)

• Jerseytown Burger Eat-Off
• Presentation of Certificate of Appreciation
  

11:30 am - Arrive at Wagner Farm

• Scrap Iron Toss, Salad Toss, Ice Roping, Sled-Dog Race, Chicken Race, Block Shoot, Beard Contest, etc.
• Charity Auction and live music will be held between each event
• Annual meeting and officers reports
• Pot luck style food
  

4:00 pm - ELK TOSS followed by more competitions and auction
6:00 pm - Leave Wagner Farm and head to downtown Danville
7:00 pm - Tour of Danville begins at Pine Barn Inn bar
8:00 pm - Music by Slimfit and Van Wagner, and magic by Fred Iobst at the Pub
10:00 pm - Continue Tour of Danville with stops at other fine establishments (Mulberry's, BJ's, American Legion, LT Evans, etc.)
Late - Cheese Cosmos at Danville Sub Shop