Cattle Farmers Auction Heifer for $30,000 Donation

Cattle farmers Erin and Mark van Haastert, who has MS, were so thrilled with the care they received from Dr. Michael Levin, they decided to raise money for Dr. Levin’s work by auctioning off a cow. Dr. Levin has been the Saskatchewan MS Clinical Research Chair for more than two years and sees patients at the clinic one day a week.

Mark notes their goal “was $3,000, a nice number for a heifer.”

“But the auctioneer who’d done similar fundraisers said we’d be surprised at what we raised,” Erin adds.

They were. Instead of $3,000 the sale, plus generous donations, made $13,580!

Mark’s parents decided to match with their own $14,000 donation. Mark and Erin used a cash gift from the Farm Credit Corporation and their own funds to bring the total to $30,000 – 10 times their initial goal!