Special to the Times Vedette
Nearly 300 people attended the 2025 Tori’s Angels Gala at the Guthrie County Fairgrounds Event Center on Saturday evening, and close to $200,000 was raised.
“We want to thank those attending or donating,” Julie Dent‑Zajicek, CEO and chairman of the organization, said. “We also want to thank the many Tori’s Angels volunteers who organized and staged the event. We extend a special thank you to Brian and Melissa Bahrenfuss, who coordinated volunteers from Panorama and ACGC, and worked with members of the Greenfield and Villisca Lions Club who volunteered to help during the event.”
Highlights of the evening included a welcome from the first sponsored child and namesake, Tori Heckman, and hearing from two of the sponsored families: Casey and John Wheeler, parents of Everleigh, and Christina DeShaw, mother of Ava .
Barb Bahde was honored for 14 years of service as secretary/treasurer of the foundation. The Greenfield Lions also presented a donation.
Tori’s Angels Foundation, founded in 2011, assists Iowa children with life-threatening medical challenges. Benefits provided include insurance copays and deductibles, prescription medicine approved by insurance, travel expenses associated with treatment including mileage, airfare, lodging and meals.
Each child is supported from date of acceptance to his or her 19th birthday. Tori’s Angels has supported 187 children to date. In 2024, the foundation provided benefits in the total amount of $646,500.
The cost of support has nearly tripled since 2022, and the board has taken several steps to promote sustainability. These steps include working with a consultant on growth strategies, purchasing donor management software to improve donor relations, expanding the footprint with a Des Moines fundraising committee, and the decision to hire an administrative assistant to manage communications and coordination. Anyone interested in the position can email admin@torisangels.org. A job description will soon be available at www.torisangels.org.
“We thank Guthrie County Community Foundation and Ten Squared Men of Guthrie County for grants that will assist with expenses associated with our initiatives to manage growth,” Dent‑Zajicek said.
More information on Tori’s Angels can be found at www.torisangels.org.
