Dorchester Times: Dorchester Grad Is Focus Of Saturday Fundraiser

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Dorchester Grad Is Focus Of Saturday Fundraiser

A large fundraising event to benefit a Dorchester High School graduate is scheduled for this Saturday, Jan. 12.

At the age of 27, Aaron Stutzman was diagnosed with cancer last fall. Throughout the past several months, Stutzman has undergone intensive chemotherapy treatment. However, due to the the length of his employment prior to his diagnosis, insurance has not covered the bulk of Stutzman's medical expenses.

Stutzman, a pharmacist at Wal-Mart in Crete, and his wife Missy (Velder), also a native of Dorchester, have one son, Devan.

Saturday's fundraiser will be held at the Seward Ag Pavilion located at the Seward County Fairgrounds. A free-will offering meal will be held from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. A large auction will start at 1:30 p.m.

Items for the auction will include: a family weekend get-a-way package; a five-year old horse; a meal for a family of four; a Mexican dinner once-a-month for a year for six people; NU basketball tickets; antiques; home furnishings; and a large selection of services. There will also be a silent auction and retail boutique.

All proceeds will be sent to the Stutzman's to help with medical expenses not covered by their limited insurance.

For those unable to attend, donations payable to Aaron Stutzman can be mailed to: Tosha (Stutzman) Springer, 2510 Denton Rd., Milford, NE 68405.

7 comments:

AnonymousJanuary 9, 2008 at 4:44 PM
Will be a very good event and I thank you for this story.
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AnonymousJanuary 9, 2008 at 10:33 PM
To be so young and have so much on your shoulders, god bless everyone who is involed in the blessing for this great man, and his family. God works in mysterious ways, this will be such a blessing for them.
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AnonymousJanuary 10, 2008 at 10:50 AM
I encourage and challenge everyone reading this to attend the auction or at least send a small donation to the Aaron Stutzman family. Even $20 would mean a lot to a family struggling to pay hefty medical expenses related to cancer treatment.
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AnonymousJanuary 10, 2008 at 12:36 PM
I will take you up on that..........
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AnonymousJanuary 10, 2008 at 3:46 PM
Plan on being there -- it is great to see so many people come together and help out this young couple. It is a blessing to know Aaron and Missy, as well as their families. You couldn't ask for better people. Will accept the challenge...hope to see lots of people there.
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AnonymousJanuary 15, 2008 at 10:42 AM
We can't thank everyone enough for the love and support you have given to the Stutzman family. The benefit was a great turnout with all of you help in the surrounding communitys like Dorchester, Milford and Seward. A special thanks goes to Judy Roth and Lance Riley, and the rest of you know who you are and we thank you agin. Thanks again for everything that everyone has done to help out Missy and Aaron and little Devan. Thanks for the gifts that were donated and monetary donations, plus the support from friends, family. Thanks again for the help and love you showed them.
Love the Velder family.. God Bless you all..
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AnonymousJanuary 15, 2008 at 12:27 PM
We would also like to add Crete, and Friend. Sorry for not mentioning them. If we have forgotten any other town, we are sorry. Again thanks for the support.

The Velder Family
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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."