Fundraiser planned for Bubba
Following a hunting accident last November, longtime Minneota businessman Bubba DePestel has incurred a large amount of medical expenses.
To help defray some of those expenses, a free-will Chili Fundraiser has been set for 5-8 p.m. on Saturday, April 21 at Bethel Fellowship Church.
The fundraiser will include chili with all the fixings (bread, cheese, sour cream, crackers), hot dogs for the kids, and lemonade and water.
There will also be a silent auction, bake sale and face painting for the kids.
The silent auction already includes over 100 items and community members are donating the baked items.
“We are very grateful and so blessed with a lot of thing,” said Penny Orth, Bubba’s fiancée.
“And this is one of them. It was kind of emotional when we found out they were doing this for Bubba.”
Anyone wishing to donate an item for the silent auction or a baked item for the bake sale can contact Caryn Hetland 507-530-5179 or Carla Thompson 507-530-5011.
“We have 22 people that have volunteered to make chili,” said Hetland.
“So we will have a variety of different kinds, which is good.”
DePestel accidentally fell out the back of his deer stand after firing a shot at a buck around 8 a.m. on Nov. 4.
The 15-foot fall left him with numerous injuries, including a collapsed lung, fracture of the fourth vertebrae, fractured right clavicle, broken scapula, and multiple fractured ribs.
After a two-week stay at Avera Hospital in Marshall, DePestel was transferred to the Sioux Falls Hospital where he had surgery that included the insertion of numerous pins and screws.
Upon returning to Minneota a week later, DePestel became a resident of the Minneota Manor in order for him to undergo daily physical therapy.
He was able to return home on Feb. 16, and continues to rehabilitate.
DePestel owned Bubba's Bar for many years on First Street in Minneota. He sold the business to investors of City Hall Bar & Grill in Jan. 2017.