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SCHEELS Helping Hands

Making a Difference One Smile at a Time

The patients of M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital are, as a rule, braving difficult circumstances. The pandemic, which has limited the number of visitors these vulnerable children can have to one at a time, has made things considerably harder.

But one day last March, the kids looked out their windows to see something spectacular. There were Superman, Spider-Man, Batman and Batwoman, and Robin the Boy Wonder all waving outside. A jaded adult might have wondered why Superman had a beard, but to the kids these were superheroes in the flesh. And they even delivered cookie decorating kits.

By day these heroes are all mild-mannered SCHEELS associates. Eden Prairie’s own sporting goods and entertainment store encourages their associates to volunteer through their Helping Hands program, and they have an especial fondness for the Masonic Children’s Hospital. Since the program’s beginning earlier this year the associates have helped kids to celebrate Valentine’s Day, create colorful tie blankets bearing the likenesses of Paw Patrol characters and Goldy Gopher, and even treated them to a remote shopping spree at their location in Eden Prairie Center.

“SCHEELS started out as a small, family-owned hardware store in Sabin, Minnesota,” said Lauren Andrist, social media leader for SCHEELS by day and Robin also by day (the selection of women’s superhero costumes, she explains, is disappointingly limited). “We have never adopted the attitude of ‘just another big box retailer.’ We care about our community – especially since all of our associates come from our community. I myself used to intern at the Masonic Children’s Hospital, so when Helping Hands created an opportunity for us all to give back I knew we would have to volunteer there.”

“My God-given talents do not include crime fighting,” said Austin Link, marketing and events lead for SCHEELS and occasionally Batman, “but SCHEELS has created a great way for all of us to do a whole lot of good. Unfortunately we’re still unable to interact with the kids one-on-one due to COVID restrictions, but all of the phone calls and letters we’ve gotten from them have been truly heartwarming.

“SCHEELS looks for other ways to help outside of the Masonic Children’s Hospital as well. We often donate sporting goods to nonprofit organizations. Our associates also volunteer for Feed My Starving Children, the Salvation Army, and food drives around town.”

“We’re also very proud to have partnered with Coach P.J. Fleck and his wife Heather to offer Row the Boat clothing at our stores,” said Lauren. “Made by UNRL of St. Paul, this special line of clothing features the Gophers coach’s famous winning philosophy, and all proceeds go to the Fleck Family Foundation – which in turn donates directly to the Masonic Children's Hospital and Ronald McDonald House.”

“Our director of marketing always tells us to ‘be different,’” said Michael Larson, social media leader for SCHEELS and invincible bearded Kryptonian. “I believe we live up to those words by getting out there into the world, creating real, lasting relationships with people, and doing much more good for the community than we could at our regular jobs.”

“Many of our patients had already been confined to their rooms before COVID hit,” said Nick Engbloom, director of development and community partnerships for the University of Minnesota Foundation. “Once the pandemic started, they could only see one caregiver at a time. You have to imagine one of these kids getting a knock on their door one day and expecting to see another nurse or doctor coming to talk to them about their condition – but instead, it’s someone bringing them a cookie decorating kit from Wonder Woman. That’s one hour of their day that they don’t have to worry about their diagnosis, and that is a game changer.”

Please visit scheels.com/community-involvement to learn more about SCHEELS’ singular support for the communities they are so proud to be part of.

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