Donation locations, fundraisers established for injured Remsen St. Mary’s students
Community members across Siouxland are rallying together this week in support of the Remsen St. Mary’s students injured in Saturday’s bus crash.
In response to requests from the public, the Remsen St. Mary’s school administration has set up accounts at two banks in Remsen to accept donations. Accounts are available at American Bank and Iowa State Bank in Remsen under the name “Remsen St. Mary’s Catholic Schools Girls Basketball Donation Account” for members of the public to donate funds.
Additionally, fundraisers have been set up to support the students. The Subway in Le Mars hosted a fundraiser last night, with 20% of all sales going towards the hospitalized students. Schools in the area, including Le Mars Community and Gehlen Catholic, wore blue on Monday to show support, and the Diocese of Sioux City announced that counseling would be provided to students and families at Remsen St. Mary’s.
In a statement released via the Diocese, the school and the families thanked the public for the “outpouring of prayer and concern” for the students affected. As of Monday afternoon, the three students are still in hospitals in Sioux Falls and Omaha.
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City council awards three contracts for infrastructure, facility projects
The Le Mars city council awarded three contracts to bidders during their regular meeting yesterday afternoon.
After being tabled twice in previous council meetings, the council awarded Hoogendoorn Construction a contract for the new wastewater industrial pretreatment facility for $30,499,000. Hoogendoorn was not the low bidder for the contract; a bid from Watertown-based Sentry, LLC came in $331,000 lower than Hoogendoorn’s bid. Per Iowa Code, the council is not required to award the lowest bid if the bid is for public utilities, instead stating that bids can be awarded “in the best interest of the city.” Five of the six bids submitted were at least $1.5 million below the estimate for the project at $34.7 million. The new facility will be funded through sewer revenue bonds.
The council also awarded a contract to Hulstein Excavating for a drainage repair project on 18th Street SE for $137,012. Funding for the project will come from the Storm Water Fund. 14 bids were also received for the Southwest Commercial Development project; the council awarded the contract to Steve Harris Construction for $2,230,497, with the cost reimbursed through urban renewal TIF funds.
A hearing on the rezoning of the Dogwood Industrial Park was also held during the meeting, but no one in attendance commented. The next city council meeting is scheduled for December 2nd at noon inside of City Hall.
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Sparklight delivers special donation to Food Bank of Siouxland
Local internet provider Sparklight delivered a special service to the Food Bank of Siouxland yesterday morning.
Karl Pauling, Sparklight’s regional marketing director, says they wanted to help local families who may be struggling with obtaining food assistance in recent weeks in time for the upcoming holidays.
Sparklight purchased the frozen turkeys with the help of a local Hy-Vee food store.
Sparklight employees delivered the 150 turkeys in a procession of bucket trucks and technician vehicles as a gesture underscoring the company’s spirit of service and community connection.
This is the only turkey donation the Food Bank of Siouxland is scheduled to receive this year, making the contribution more impactful.
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