Community Rallies to Help Developmentally Disabled

Final numbers are still being calculated, but tens of thousands of dollars were raised Thursday night to help local individuals with developmental disabilities. 

“Reach for Ralph” is the biggest fundraiser of the year for Wayzata-based nonprofit Hammer Residences, and Thursday's event may turn out to be the most successful yet since the first "Reach for Ralph" gala five years ago. 

"Our community is just fantastic," Hammer Residences CEO Tim Nelson said. "Wayzata and communities all over the western suburbs are extremely supportive. They always have been. To have all of these people here helping us raise money and showing their support is amazing."

Money raised Thursday night will help supplement funding Hammer receives from the government to provide a wide variety of services to children and adults with developmental disabilities—funding Nelson said isn't enough by itself to provide clients the kind of care and comfort Hammer has rendered since 1923.

"Government funding covers most stuff, but it really doesn't allow for the quality of life that we feel is important," Nelson said. “We need better funding from the government, which is going to be a pretty tough thing.” 

Augmenting Hammer's staff are more than 500 volunteers who donate their time during the course of an average year, helping with everything from filing paperwork to simply sitting down for a chat. 

"They add so much to the quality of life," Nelson said. "They become directly involved in people's lives and take them out to movies, go out to coffee and treat them like friends.”

Many of those friends were in attendance for Thursday's charity event, including Deb Eaton—who was teasingly called "Hollywood" after being profiled by KARE-11 earlier this week. Click here for the full story.

“I’m so excited,” Eaton said Thursday. “Everyone looks so beautiful.”

Thursday's fundraiser took place at BMW of Minnetonka and through donations of services, cash and silent auction items was supported by dozens of businesses, individuals and professional sports teams. Several hundred people attended this year's "Reach for Ralph" fundraiser, which was hosted by television journalist Rena Sarigianopoulos.

“The Reach for Ralph event is actually named after a little boy named Ralph, who had a disability few people understood in the 1920s,” Bridget Ulrich, a development and communication specialist with Hammer, explained earlier this week. “Most people believed Ralph should be placed in an institution. But, a woman named Alvina Hammer believed Ralph deserved to live in a loving environment, and Ralph soon became part of the first Hammer School.”

Also on hand Thursday was Miss Minnesota 2011 Brittany Thelemann, who mingled with guests and posed for pictures. Jazz vocalist Nancy Harms laid down the soundtrack for the night, and Minneapolis restaurant SEVEN served up top-shelf cocktails and wine.