‭(573) 614-0503‬ [email protected] 705 Laurie Circle, Dexter, MO 63841

2024 H.O.P.E. Campaign Invitation!

A message from our family and partners at the H.O.P.E. Campaign – 

Hello all! Please make plans to join us for the 13th annual fish fry fundraiser in memory of our parents, Larry & Kathy, and our sister, Sara, as well as for all who’ve battled cancer themselves or have fought alongside a family member or friend. This is our small way of giving back. We celebrate H.O.P.E. ~ Healing, Optimism, Prayer and Example. With your help over the years, we’ve blessed so many, but there’s “more work to do!” Please click on flyers with more information about the fish fry, t-shirt and (new this year!) sweatshirt sales. You may e-mail us with questions at [email protected] or find us on facebook at fb.com/larrybjoneshopecampaign

This year’s fish fry is scheduled for Friday, April 26, from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Trinity Methodist Church, 704 West Missouri Street, Bloomfield, MO. Adults $15, Children (10 & under) $10. To-Go orders available. Music by Jordan Copeland!

Link for fish fry tickets and/or apparel:

I haven’t shared our story in a while, so for anyone new to the H.O.P.E. Campaign Family, here’s a brief summary of who we are and what we do. Our family, our community, and our faith are OUR WHY:

Larry and Kathy were married on March 25, 1972. A farmer and a teacher, they raised 3 children, Lora, Sara, and Kyle, on their family farm in Aquilla, MO.

In September, 1998, at age 45, Kathy was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer. She battled courageously and underwent chemotherapy, a mastectomy, a stem cell transplant and radiation. She relied on her faith in God and the love and prayers of family and friends to see her through.

Kathy returned to work in January of 2000 and continued living and loving life. From 2005 to 2010, Larry and Kathy’s family grew to include four grandchildren, Keaton, who is Sara’s, and Sam, Vita Claire, and Anna Kate, who belong to Lora and Joe.

In the fall of 2010, Larry was diagnosed with stage 3B lung cancer. After a short but courageous 4-and-one-half month battle, Larry passed away on March 14, 2011.

Larry had a reputation for always helping others, and his family wanted this legacy to live on. Upon Larry’s passing, his family established the Larry B. Jones H.O.P.E. Campaign. Celebrating Healing, Optimism, Prayer & Example.

Two weeks after burying her husband, Kathy was re-diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. The family was devastated. It was heart-wrenching to even think about another battle like this one.

In October of 2011, the family and the community pulled together for a “Kickin’ Cancer with Kathy” event. Kathy decided all proceeds from the t-shirt sales would go to the H.O.P.E. Campaign.

In its first year, the H.O.P.E. Campaign raised over $9,000. Gifts of $300 were sent out to 30 area cancer warriors. So many others had helped us through both Mom’s and Dad’s battles with cancer. This was our small way of giving back.

In the spring of 2012, one year after losing Dad, we held a community fish fry in Bloomfield, MO, raising nearly $8,000 to help others battling cancer. This became the first annual H.O.P.E. Campaign fundraiser.

In the summer of 2012, our family added Larry “Mason” to the crew. What a blessing!

On November 1, 2012, we suffered the devastating and numbing unexpected loss of our sister, Sara. Her love and laughter live on through all of us.

In 2013, we teamed up with 18 FORE Life, a 501(c)(3) charity. This same year, they celebrated their 1 millionth love-offering dollar given to benefit area cancer warriors.

After a valiant 18-year battle with cancer, Kathy passed away on August 28, 2016. The charity was renamed The Larry & Kathy Jones Family H.O.P.E. Campaign.

In 2017, t-shirt sales, along with memorial and other donations allowed us to raise over $17,000 for the H.O.P.E. Campaign and 18 FORE Life.

Memorial donations have been made for many dear family members and friends over the years, and other fundraisers have been held on behalf of the H.O.P.E. Campaign. We are honored and humbled.

Kyle and Rachel added grandchild number six, Hudson, to the crew in the fall of 2021, and they will welcome the seventh Jones grandchild to this world in June! Elizabeth “Liza” Rhea, will be named after her Nana Kathy Rhea, and we are all over the moon.

With your help, the H.O.P.E. Campaign has raised over $167,000 to date. Since 2000, 18 FORE Life has sent out over $3.7 million in love offerings all over Southeast Missouri and beyond.

Our family knows personally the gifts received with each $1,000 love offering that is given, and we’re honored to work with you so that together we can bless others with gifts of hope, love and encouragement.

Thank you for supporting the Larry & Kathy Jones Family H.O.P. E. Campaign and 18 FORE Life. To learn more or to make a donation, please visit: larrybjoneshopecampaign.square.site

Sincerely,
Lora & Joe, Kyle & Rachel,
Keaton, Sam, Vita Claire, Anna Kate, Mason, Hudson and little Liza Rhea

The Ben Kruse 18 FORE Life Foundation is a 501(c)(3) Public Charity and your donation is tax-deductible.

 

It’s time for the 2023 H.O.P.E. Campaign!

A message from our family and partners at the H.O.P.E. Campaign – 

Hello all! This coming March marks the 12th anniversary of Dad’s passing and 12 years that our amazing community has pulled together to help us with our mission of benefiting others who are battling cancer or other life-threatening illnesses. We are truly humbled and blessed, and we cannot thank you enough. We’re excited to announce this year’s fish fry has been scheduled for Friday, April 14 at Trinity United Methodist Church in Bloomfield. Please see the attached flyer and t-shirt order form. Fish fry tickets and t-shirts are also available for purchase online: http://mkt.com/larrybjoneshopecampaign. Please help us spread the word!

Click here to view our 2023 Fish Fry Flyer and Click here for the t-shirt order form.

Fish fry tickets and t-shirts are also available for purchase online: 

Thank you so much for your support! Lora, Kyle, and families

~ In memory of our parents, Larry & Kathy, and our sister, Sara, as well as for all who’ve battled cancer themselves or have fought alongside a family member or friend.

This is our small way of giving back! We celebrate H.O.P.E. ~ Healing, Optimism, Prayer, and Example.

Since March 2011, our charity has raised over $154,000 for area cancer warriors and individuals faced with a life-threatening illnesses.

The H.O.P.E. Campaign is a division of 18 FORE Life, a 501(c)(3) charity, with a shared mission of benefiting area cancer warriors and individuals with life-threatening illnesses.

To date, 18 FORE Life has sent out $3.4 Million in love offerings to families all over Southeast Missouri and beyond. The generous donations and support to the charity have truly made a difference. But, there’s “more work to do!”

You may e-mail us with questions at [email protected] or find us on FB – fb.com/larrybjoneshopecampaign

The Ben Kruse 18 FORE Life Foundation is a 501(c)(3) Public Charity and your donation is tax-deductible.

 

It’s time for the 2022 H.O.P.E. Campaign!

A message from our family and partners at the H.O.P.E. Campaign – 

Hello all! This coming March marks the 11th anniversary of Dad’s passing, and 11 years that our amazing community has pulled together to help us with our mission of benefiting others who are battling cancer or other life-threatening illnesses. We are truly humbled and blessed, and we cannot thank you enough. We’re excited to announce this year’s fish fry has been scheduled for Friday, April 29 at Trinity United Methodist Church in Bloomfield. Please help us spread the word!

Thank you so much for your support!  Lora, Kyle and families

Click here to view our 2022 Fish Fry Flyer and Click here for the t-shirt order form.

Fish fry tickets and t-shirts are also available for purchase online: 

Thank you so much for your support! Lora, Kyle and families

~ In memory of our parents, Larry & Kathy, and our sister, Sara, as well as for all who’ve battled cancer themselves or have fought alongside a family member or friend.

This is our small way of giving back! We celebrate H.O.P.E. ~ Healing, Optimism, Prayer and Example.

Since March of 2011, our charity has raised over $137,000 for area cancer warriors and individuals faced with life-threatening illness.

The H.O.P.E. Campaign is a division of 18 FORE Life, a 501(c)(3) charity, with a shared mission of benefiting area cancer warriors and individuals faced with life-threatening illness.

To date, 18 FORE Life has sent out over $3 Million in love offerings to families all over Southeast Missouri and beyond. The generous donations and support to the charity have truly made a difference. But, there’s “more work to do!”

You may e-mail us with questions at [email protected] or find us on fb @ fb.com/larrybjoneshopecampaign

The Ben Kruse 18 FORE Life Foundation is a 501(c)(3) Public Charity and your donation is tax-deductible.

 

WE DID IT – 3 MILLION Dollars in Love Offerings!

Video Transcript:

Hey everybody, it’s Scott with 18 FORE Life. It’s been a while and about 10 days ago, we sent out our three millionth dollar in Love Offerings, and that is since 2000. I’ve been meaning to make this video and let you all know and kind of announce that and it was our goal. We knew this summer at one point we would send that out and it happened. And we’re very excited about that. We’re very grateful for the event this past June and the support that we had and just the support that everyone gives our charity.

And so we’re excited. And then at the same time, we know there’s not a cure and we just continue to get names and addresses in. And we’ll work towards four million dollars until they tell us there is a cure, we just know we’ve got more work to do until that time comes.

I wanted to thank everybody and also just let everyone know that thanks to that big event in June and then thanks to the donations, honestly, that we get year-round and we did it and were going to send out some Love Offerings this week, that’ll push us right on past the three million dollar mark. And again, start working on four. Thank you.

I wanted to show you, I don’t know if I’ve shown you all this before, but I had to move into this big tub and it is overflowing with cards and letters. We even got one recently. We even got one, just there’s honestly, there’s three million dollars worth of thank you notes in there is what that is. But we got one just recently this summer, it was a Christmas card that a fellow wrote on there and he said, you know, Christmas came early and he sent us a thank you card that was actually a Christmas card. I thought that was pretty cool. These folks’ attitude and spirits and toughness and strength and faith and hope and all of that is just incredible. And when they write these thank you letters or notes, it’s just it just inspires us to do more. And so thanks again. And until next time, we will see you later.

Our Drive to $3 Million Fundraiser Begins

 

Drive to $3 MILLION

Thanks to you, the Ben Kruse 18 FORE Life Foundation has been able to serve more individuals and families battling cancer. Your support and belief in our cause keep us going strong.

We have exciting news! We are asking our friends and biggest supporters to rally their families and networks to help our DRIVE to $3 MILLION (we have sent out $2,890,000.00 in love offerings since 2000) this year.

Now through the end of April, we’re looking for at least 10 supporters to raise $1000 each – the amount for providing one Love Offering to help ease the financial burden of battling cancer.

Awesome New Gear

And as a reward for your hard work, we’re giving away some awesome 18 FORE Life gear. We’re super proud of these brand new items:

When you raise a total of $250 for 18 FORE Life, you’ll earn your choice of a Cap OR a Bucket Hat.

Cap and Bucket Hat 2021

When you raise a total of $500, you’ll earn a Cap or a Bucket Hat AND a Vest.

Vest 2021

When you raise a total of $1000+, you’ll earn a Cap or Bucket Hat, a Vest, AND a Jacket.

Jacket 2021

Get Started Now!

Getting started is easy to do, and it’s fun. We’ll even give you all the tools you’ll need to make a difference. With your help, I know we can reach our campaign goal by April 30, 2021.

When you create a personal fundraiser page today for the Ben Kruse 18 FORE Life Foundation, you’ll help ease the financial burdens of those fighting cancer and show a caring sign of support from the community.

Will you help provide at least one $1000 Love Offering?

The Ben Kruse 18 FORE Life Foundation is a 501(c)(3) Public Charity and your donation is tax-deductible.

Sincerely,

Scott Kruse

It’s time for the 2021 H.O.P.E. Campaign!

A message from our family and partners at the H.O.P.E. Campaign - 

2021 H.O.P.E. Campaign T-shirtHello all! I pray this message finds each of you doing well. I can’t believe it’s been 10 years this March since we’ve lost Dad, and 10 years that our amazing community has pulled together to help us with this cause. We are truly humbled and blessed, and we cannot thank you enough. We’re excited to announce this year’s fish fry has been scheduled for Friday, April 23 at the Bloomfield City Park. Click here to view our flyer and Click here for the t-shirt order form. Fish fry tickets and t-shirts are also available for purchase online: 

Please help us spread the word!

Thank you so much for your support!  Lora, Kyle and families


~ In memory of our parents, Larry & Kathy, and our sister, Sara, as well as for all who’ve battled cancer themselves or have fought alongside a family member or friend.

This is our small way of giving back!  We celebrate H.O.P.E. ~ Healing, Optimism, Prayer and Example.

Since March of 2011, our charity has raised over $123,000 for area cancer warriors and individuals faced with life-threatening illness.

The H.O.P.E. Campaign is a division of 18 FORE Life, a 501(c)(3) charity, with a shared mission of benefiting area cancer warriors and individuals faced with life-threatening illness.

To date, 18 FORE Life has sent out nearly $3 Million in love offerings to families all over Southeast Missouri and beyond. The generous donations and support to the charity have truly made a difference. But, there’s “more work to do!”

You may e-mail us with questions at [email protected] or find us on fb @ fb.com/larrybjoneshopecampaign

The Ben Kruse 18 FORE Life Foundation is a 501(c)(3) Public Charity and your donation is tax-deductible.

Sincerely,

Scott Kruse

2021 Charity Banquet Guest Speaker Announcement

Dick Vermeil - 2021 Banquet Guest SpeakerFirst off, thank you for making the 2020 Ben Kruse 18 FORE Life Charity Golf Event such a huge success. Even in the face of a pandemic and at a time when we had to face big adversity, you stepped up and allowed us to have a “normal” fundraising year. We were able to send out just under $200,000.00to area families fighting cancer. Make NO mistake: having our sponsors step up and lead the support is the reason this happened! We are just $120,000.00 away from sending out $3 MILLION since 2000! This will happen before June and will be just another reason for celebrating BIG. 

2021 Banquet Guest Speaker

So, it is time to begin planning for this year’s big event on the weekend of June 4-5! We want you to be the first to know that our guest speaker will be none other than Super Bowl Champion Head Coach Dick Vermeil! No doubt his message will be interesting, entertaining, passionate, and relevant to our crowd.  

We Want Sponsors’ Ideas

As we begin picking out items for gift bags and preparing for the event, let us know if you are interested in once again sponsoring the tournament. If you already know how you would like to sponsor, let me know. If you have new ideas, let’s do it! I can share ideas with you individually and we can team to make 2021 our best event to date! While last year was to be our 20th Anniversary celebration-this year will be the real celebration and we look forward to seeing everyone come together the weekend of June 4-5! 

Thanks again for always supporting 18 FORE Life!

The Ben Kruse 18 FORE Life Foundation is a 501(c)(3) Public Charity and your donation is tax-deductible.

Sincerely,

Scott Kruse

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

Wishing you a happy and safe Christmas! Thank you for being a part of the 18 FORE Life Family.

We have sent out $180,000 in love offerings this year with a grand total of $2.85 MILLION sent out since 2000. As long as there are people fighting cancer, we have more work to be done!

Please consider making a year-end donation to 18 FORE Life

Your donation makes ALL the difference and is 100% tax-deductible.

We just updated our donation page with Network for Good. We think it’s super convenient and hope you feel the same. Network for Good has been in this game for a long time and is a secure platform for online credit card payments. You can even set up reoccurring donations to 18 FORE Life on a monthly, quarterly, semiannually, and annually frequency.

Remember, ANY amount is appreciated and your donation will go directly to an individual/family in need of help during a time of struggle.

Please update your 18 FORE Life contact information

If you’re seeing this message, then at some point you signed up for our email newsletter. However, we just started using a new system with better tools that will help us stay in touch and keep you informed about what is happening with 18 FORE Life.

As our lives seem to move more and more online, we will be leaning on this method of communication heavily in 2021. We’re asking everyone to please click on the button below to update your information. You will need to input your first and last name and email address and, if you like, please include your cell phone number. We have big plans to incorporate text messaging soon. Thank you!

The Ben Kruse 18 FORE Life Foundation is a 501(c)(3) Public Charity and your donation is tax-deductible.

Sincerely,

Scott Kruse

THANK YOU!

As 2020 winds down and we close out this unprecedented year, we want to say THANK YOU for allowing us to persevere and continue making an impact on families fighting cancer. We continue to be blown away by the support of the 18 FORE Life Family! May God Bless you and your family during the Holiday Season. 

Please consider making a year-end donation to 18 FORE Life

Your donation makes ALL the difference and is 100% tax-deductible.

We just updated our donation page with Network for Good. We think it’s super convenient and hope you feel the same. Network for Good has been in this game for a long time and is a secure platform for online credit card payments. You can even set up reoccurring donations to 18 FORE Life on a monthly, quarterly, semiannually, and annually frequency.

Remember, ANY amount is appreciated and your donation will go directly to an individual/family in need of help during a time of struggle.

Please update your 18 FORE Life contact information

If you’re seeing this message, then at some point you signed up for our email newsletter. However, we just started using a new system with better tools that will help us stay in touch and keep you informed about what is happening with 18 FORE Life.

As our lives seem to move more and more online, we will be leaning on this method of communication heavily in 2021. We’re asking everyone to please click on the button below to update your information. You will need to input your first and last name and email address and, if you like, please include your cell phone number. We have big plans to incorporate text messaging soon. Thank you!

The Ben Kruse 18 FORE Life Foundation is a 501(c)(3) Public Charity and your donation is tax-deductible.

Sincerely,

Scott Kruse

2020 Golf Event Team Photos

We want to thank everyone – golfers, volunteers, and sponsors for making this year’s event such a success.  The smiles on all of our golfer’s faces in the newly posted team pictures say it all.  This truly is ‘more than a golf tournament’ and we are blessed to get to make memories with each of you.  Until there is a cure for cancer, we will continue to work to help families fight and beat this disease.  2021 will be a monstrous celebration so mark your calendars. 

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE TEAM PHOTOS ON FLICKR

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