Sporting a “Dude, It’s BEEF!” t-shirt is the winner of Beef Bucks’ all-beef hot dog eating contest; eating 12 hot dogs in three minutes on a “sweetheart” of a night at Frost Arena on February 14 during half-time of the SDSU Jackrabbits vs. Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
The next time you attend ANY event at the Sioux Falls Arena, be sure to watch for the Beef Bucks, Inc. signage! For the 2012-2013 season, Beef Bucks has partnered with the Sioux Falls Skyforce to promote the beef industry. Beef Bucks will be giving away Beef Bucks at every Skyforce home game. Just listen to the announcement at the games to participate.
Not only is Beef Bucks promoting beef at every home Skyforce game, the signage will be prominent for the entire 2013 year! This is the second season that Beef Bucks and the Skyforce has partnered to promote the beef industry.
When the people at Beef Bucks, Inc. were notified that their pre-paid debit card for purchasing beef will again be featured as a gift tag on the Wheel of Fortune—this time during the popular game show’s “Salute to Military Families” week in November—they decided to do their part to salute veterans closer to home.
For the second year in a row, television viewers across the U.S. will tune in to see whether or not a Wheel of Fortune contestant is lucky enough to spin the wheel and land on the prize consisting of $1,000 in Beef Bucks. This year, those dates will be November 13 and 15, and again December 18 and 20. To celebrate its return to the nation’s longest-running syndicated television show, the non-profit organization of beef-promoting volunteers will donate Beef Bucks to assist homeless veterans.
“We are so excited to be asked back on the Wheel of Fortune,” says Beef Bucks’ Executive Secretary Nancy Montross. “Knowing Beef Bucks will be featured during the program’s salute to military families in November makes it even more special, and we wanted to give something back to veterans who have given so much. This seemed a perfect way to say ‘thank you’ to veterans in our region who have fallen on difficult times.”
The organization will donate $25 worth of Beef Bucks to 10 different veterans and their families who are being assisted by the VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) Program. The program is a joint effort between the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Veterans Affairs to move veterans and their families out of homelessness and into rental housing. HUD provides housing assistance while the VA provides the veterans with clinical and supportive services. The Beef Bucks will be a type of house warming gift, says Montross, and will be distributed through the VA Black Hills Health Care System around Veterans Day, November 11. They can be used by the veterans to purchase beef either at grocery stores or restaurants.
It is one more milestone for this organization created to promote beef. In 2011, the announcement that Beef Bucks had been selected as a gift tag on Wheel of Fortune created quite a stir. In fact, Bob Montross, the DeSmet, SD, cattle producer who is Beef Bucks’ treasurer and Nancy’s husband, says one reason the beef-buying debit card was asked back to the Wheel of Fortune was because of all the publicity created when Beef Bucks hit the big-time last year.
“They said the Wheel of Fortune producer was blown away with all of the publicity we received across the country,” says Bob, who has a reputation for promoting beef and Beef Bucks every chance he gets. “They were very impressed. They wanted us back on the program.” Over the three programs last winter in which Beef Bucks were featured as a gift tag, two contestants walked away with the $1,000 in Beef Bucks’ prize.
Beef Bucks, Inc. was organized in 1997 and is run by an all-volunteer board of beef producers and consumers. There have been well over $1 million of the beef-only checks and reloadable VISA® debit cards sold, says Nancy. The Beef Bucks are backed by two financial institutions and have been used in more than 40 states. She says sales of Beef Bucks jumped after last year’s publicity surrounding its appearance on Wheel of Fortune. Additional information about Beef Bucks is available at www.beefbucks.org, or by calling 1-888-640-MEAT.
Beef Bucks board member, Bob Montross, presents Brad Poe, representative of Jackrabbit Sports Properties (SD State University) a $400.00 Beef Buck/VISA debit card that will be given to Feeding South Dakota. Beef Bucks awarded $200 for each touchdown the SDSU “Jacks” scored during the 2012 Beef Bowl game to Feeding South Dakota which, in turn, will disperse it among the organizations’ locations to distribute beef to those needing food assistance.
More than 200 golfers turned out on behalf of the beef industry on the tenth anniversary of the Beef Bucks Golf Challenge—the largest number ever for the major fundraising event of Beef Bucks, the South Dakota-based volunteer-run beef promotion organization.
Sporting 52 teams, this year’s Beef Bucks Golf Challenge on August 17 at the Brandon Municipal Golf Course brought together beef producers, beef industry reps, and beef- supporting businesses, consumers and organizations for a day of golf, ending with a grilled steak dinner and auction.
“This event has gotten bigger than we ever thought it would,” says JoAnne Hillman, president of the Beef Bucks volunteer board and one of the Golf Challenge organizers. She explains that the golf tournament started in 2002 with about 20 teams. “The growth and popularity of the Beef Bucks Golf Challenge shows what a small group of volunteers who believe in the beef industry can do.” She explains that some team members this year drove more than 10 hours, or flew in from out of state to participate.
Dollars raised through the golf tournament are used to fund scholarships for college or vocational school-bound young people with a background in the beef industry. Beef Bucks also promotes beef through a number of other promotional events throughout the year. Its main focus, however, is the sale of pre-paid checks and or VISA® debit cards for purchasing beef at restaurants or grocery stores. Since its start in 1997, the organization has sold more than $1 million in Beef Bucks. This past year, Beef Bucks was also featured as one of the prizes on the popular Wheel of Fortune television show. All proceeds from Beef Bucks sales and the Golf Challenge are directed back into the program. The Beef Bucks organization receives no beef checkoff dollars.
Hillman says the Golf Challenge brings in thousands of dollars each year for the organization’s beef promotion efforts, and she says the continued and loyal support from businesses and people in the industry make it possible. “We depend on our industry people for our successful promotions,” she explains.
For example, for the past several years, National Beef®, based in Kansas City, MO, and one of the largest beef processors, has donated the hundreds of 16 oz. rib eye steaks for the Golf Challenge dinner. Fenske Cattle Company, Woonsocket, SD, is a continual sponsor of the tournament’s Putting Contest. And Prostrollo’s Auto Mall in Madison, SD, has sponsored the Hole-in-One Competition for many years. A large number of other businesses and individuals sponsor teams, prizes and auction items to make the event a huge success, says Hillman, who insists, “We can’t thank them enough.”
This year, the top dollar-generating auction item was a Lincoln commemorative rifle donated by the Henry Rifle Company and purchased by Daniel Holt from Fayetteville, AK. Other auction items included a basketball autographed by South Dakota’s-own Mike Miller of the Miami Heat, and a limited edition Bert Blyleven-signed Hall of Fame Induction print from the Minnesota Twins.
The first-place winning teams of the Beef Bucks Golf Challenge Championship Flight were: first place Pharmco Sod Busters; second place Yankton Livestock; and third place J & R Distributing. First Flight winning teams: first place Sioux Falls Regional Livestock; second place Wilson Trailer Company; and third place Avera McKennan. Second Flight winning teams: first place Montross (Bob) Team #2; second place First Premier Bank; and third place Rave Sales. Third Flight winning teams: first place JBS 5 Rivers; second place Steffensen Crop Insurance; and third place SDSU Ag & Bio Science. Winning teams receive a variety of prizes. The winner of Putting Contest, and $250 in Beef Bucks, was Ryan Schoenfelder of De Smet.
For more information about the Beef Bucks program, or to find locations that sell Beef Bucks, go to beefbucks.org. To order Beef Bucks by phone, call 1-888-640-MEAT.
The Pharmco Sod Busters team representing Pharmco of Platte, SD, took the first place in the Championship Flight of the Beef Bucks Golf Challenge. Individual team members are, from left to right: Corbin, Shay, Rocky, and Jason Nelson
Daniel Holt, from Fayetteville, AK, purchased the Lincoln commemorative Henry Company rifle during the Beef Bucks Golf Challenge auction. The rifle brought the auction’s highest dollar amount.
Friday, August 17, 2012 (Weather date: August 24, contact 605-530-0003 or 605-359-1982 if weather is questionable day of tourney)
Brandon Municipal Golf Course
2100 Aspen Ave.
Brandon, SD
Col. Jon Phillips with his Price Discovery Report will be starting the day with his market broadcasts live from the clubhouse.
8:30 – 10:00 a.m. Registration
Purchase mulligan – register for free Husets’ Speedway passes and Skyforce tickets – enter the putting contest
9:30 – 10:15 a.m. Putting Contest
Sponsored by Randy & John Fenske – Fenske Cattle Company – Woonsocket, SD
WIN! $250 Beef Buck/VISA debit card. WIN!
10:30 a.m. Gather at the clubhouse for play instructions
11:00 a.m. Shotgun start
All registered participants will enjoy:
Hole-in-One Competition - Sponsored by Prostrollo’s All-American Auto Mall – Madison, SD
Pin Prizes offered on all 18 holes
5:45 p.m. (approximately) Steak Fry
Steaks courtesy of National Beef
Non-participant steak dinner – $20.00 (reservations required)
Immediately following the meal Live Auction
Auctioneer: Col. Jon Phillips
- Henry .22 caliber Lincoln Commemorative engraved rifle with wall mount – Henry Rifle Company
- Mike Miller Miami Heat signed basketball with case
- Bert Blyleven signed print (limited edition) of his Hall of Fame induction – Minnesota Twins
- 16” girls’ bike, 16” boys’ bike, 10” boys’ bike and Mighty Trike – John Deere Company
- Certificate for processing of a quarter of beef – Howard Cold Storage
- Certificate for 2 bags of seed corn (spring 2013 delivery) – Wensman Seed
- 3 Callaway golf bags – MillerCoors
- Bean Bag Game – Crown Royal
- SDSU Beef Bowl passes with barbeque tickets – SDSU College of Ag & Bio Sciences
If you have not pre-registered your team, please do so by calling 1-888-640-MEAT (6328) or emailing: nancy@beefbucks.org as soon as possible. If you are not planning to have a team in the tournament, please let us know as there is a waiting list wanting to play. This is a fundraiser for the Beef Bucks program with proceeds going to the implementation of the program and the scholarship fund. Plan to come out, have fun, enjoy a day of golf and a great steak meal!
Thanks for your support of the Beef Bucks program.
For the second year, Beef Bucks directors and spouses served up over 200 all-beef quarter pound hot dogs and 1/3 pound beef burgers to the South Dakota State University football squad and coaching staff. This annual event was held on the football field at SDSU on Sunday June 24. Pictured in front of the SDSU Animal Sciences grill are left to right in the back row: Bob Montross, Ray Kontz, Howard Hillman, Ron Moller front row: Eileen Moller, Nancy Montross, JoAnne Hillman, SDSU head football coach Stielgelmeier, Susan Kontz and Jim Woster. Not pictured are directors Judy Blindauer and Delina Nagel.
