My name is Mike Sprenger and I’m the President of the Board of Directors for St. Mary’s Foundation. How I got to this position and why I would accept this role takes an explanation that spans over many years. 

 

First, I live and work and have raised my family of two children and a handful of exchange students in Presho, South Dakota. I sell insurance, so in my business, I work with a lot of farmers and ranchers as well as teachers, business owners, and retirees.

 

When you live in a small rural community, you get involved. You depend on your neighbors, and they depend on you. For many years, I was actively involved in our ambulance and emergency service and saw first hand how these dedicated volunteers save lives.

 

These volunteers need training and they need equipment. The Lyman County Ambulance service has received funding for both training and equipment from St. Mary’s Foundation. So have many other volunteer ambulance and first responders in Central South Dakota. Lately, the purchase and training in automatic defibulators (AED’s) has been a priority for St. Mary’s Foundation – again to save lives.

 

St. Mary’s Foundation also helped our local clinic through funding of a nurse to receive additional training to become a Physician Assistant, which helped keep our clinic open and functioning. A PA needs a supervising physician to review charts and patient care each week, and St. Mary’s Foundation has assisted in recruitment of physicians to practice in Central South Dakota.

 

St. Mary’s Foundation works with St. Mary’s Healthcare Center to assist in many ways with equipment, training, recruitment and helping pay for things needed by people in this area that can’t be paid for by the hospital or other means – like emergency motel stays for patients or family with no other means of payment who need to be in Pierre early or stay longer than they were prepared to do. Any baby that leaves St. Mary’s Healthcare Center that doesn’t have a car seat leaves with one that St. Mary’s Foundation paid for to keep them safe in the car.  The St. Mary’s Foundation provides a website (http://www.cradleroll/) so babies born at St. Mary’s Healthcare Center can be viewed by family and friends.

 

I believe that St. Mary’s Foundation helps all of us do what we all want to do to help our friends and neighbors in Central South Dakota get healthy, stay healthy and be healthy and is just another way of neighbor helping neighbor. I encourage you to support each other by giving now, and through your will and estate planning, to St. Mary’s Foundation. The money raised here, stays here.

 

Blessings and thanks to all of you – my neighbors and my friends – for your continued support of the good work of St. Mary’s Foundation.

 

Mike Sprenger

 

 

St. Mary's Foundation is very fortunate to have the fine men and women from Central South Dakota listed below serving as members of the St. Mary's Foundation Board.  In addition to being community-minded citizens, they are your friends and family.  As such, they have your best interests at heart and work diligently giving not only financially, but also generously, of their time and expertise to ensure that the Foundation is governed to the very best of their ability. 

 

 

Mike Sprenger, President,

Jamie Maher, 1st Vice President

James Russell, 2nd Vice President

Connie Halverson, Secretary

Jim Laird, Treasurer

Kellie Yackley, Past President,

Ellen Lee, Executive Director

 

James Ellenbecker

Steve White

Denise Hanisch, MD

Shaun Leafgreen

Matt Semmler

Brittany Novotny

Dennis Eisnach

Mitch Weiss

Steve Baker