Five years ago this month, Don Damon won big.
On Nov. 11, 2009 Damon, and his wife Kathleen, were awarded a life-changing $96.6 million Powerball jackpot, one of the largest in Kansas to date. “I wasn’t sure how much I’d won,” Damon had said. “I figured it was $15 million. When they said it was $96.6 million, I about fell over. I’ve been saying for years that I was going to win a Powerball jackpot someday.”
Now, he takes his windfall, and he gives big.
Recently, The Damon Family Foundation made a $100,000 donation to the Clara Barton Hospital Foundation, making them the largest donor to date for CBHF’s “Complete the Dream… Continue the Vision” capital campaign.
“We are thrilled to announce this contribution,” said Michelle Moshier, Executive Director at Clara Barton Hospital Foundation. The generosity of the Damons will go a long way towards reaching the fundraising goal for the expansion project which will help people from all over the area receive the care they need, close to home, she said.
“We are excited to be able to support local groups,” Damon reports. “The Foundation and Hospital do great work and offer healing to so many. We’re proud to be able to use our good fortune to help so many of our neighbors.”
The donation was the clincher that put the capital campaign over the million dollar mark of the Foundation’s $1.4 million fundraising goal. The campaign has been in its public stage, since Labor Day, once it hit $1 million.
“We’ve been fundraising for a little over a year to raise the money to fund the Therapy Services and laundry expansion project for Clara Barton Hospital, located in Hoisington. We started in a ‘quiet’ phase, where we asked our employees and providers to back the addition, then went out to key individuals in our communities to ask them for help, not only with donations, but with asking others to participate as well,” explains Moshier.
The Damon Family Foundation is a charitable organization, founded by the Damons, so that they could use their winnings to help others. The goal of the Damon Family Foundation is to “help create a brighter future for Kansas communities,” and they have supported such groups as Sunflower Diversified Services, Kansas CASA Association, St. Stanislaus Church in Rossville, Paralyzed Veterans of America, and the Brain Injury Association of America, among countless other individuals and organization.
Clara Barton Hospital Foundation is a charitable organization, focused on promoting the health of the patients and communities that Clara Barton Hospital serves.  As a critical access, non-profit, private Hospital, CBHF is using a combination of grants, tax credits, donations, and a pledge campaign to fund the Therapy Services project.