Are you ready for our first “Dealership Spotlight” of the year? To start off 2022, we are putting the spotlight on a dealership that goes out of its way to help groups reach their fundraising goals every day of the year. Fresh Alternative Fundraising, LLC is a family-owned business that opened its doors over two decades ago. This year they are celebrating their 25th business anniversary.
Since the beginning, the family behind this dealership has made it their mission to make fundraising as easy and hassle-free as possible. Offering personalized customer service and unique programs, Fresh Alternative Fundraising does whatever it can to support the missions of schools and organizations throughout their communities.
History
Before starting Fresh Alternative Fundraising, LLC, the previous owners, Monte and Kathy Wendel, were farmers. They worked as part of their family farming operation in North Dakota. One day, Kathy was reading a magazine while sitting on the grain cart and saw a story about Butter Braid® Pastries. She learned all about the brand and its mission to “Share the Good” by offering its products only through fundraisers. To Kathy, this sounded like a great opportunity for her and Monte. Soon after, Kathy and Monte retired from farming and opened their own fundraising dealership.
Years later, the two retired and sold the business to their daughter Stacy Wendel-Monilaws, who had been working alongside them since they opened. Currently, Stacy is on her 24th year with Fresh Alternative Fundraising, now located near Sanborn, North Dakota. Stacy’s husband, John, joined her in the business in 2017. Together, they organize fundraisers for groups all over North Dakota and western Minnesota.
Changes to the Dealership
After so many years, some things have certainly changed for Fresh Alternative Fundraising, but a lot also remains the same. It’s still the same great people and the same excellent service from start to finish! That being said, the business has made a lot of progress in its 25 years of service.
When Stacy started, she would work with the customers, pre-pack orders, and do a lot of the deliveries. Now, the business has grown so much that she is unable to see her customers as often as she’d like. However, she still checks in with them at every stage of the fundraiser to help make sure it is a success.
Stacy and John have a great team working with them at Fresh Alternative Fundraising. They work with a fun group of ladies on the dayshift. There is also a weekend crew that comes in to help pre-pack the orders for each group. This helps make every fundraiser as easy as possible. Fresh Alternative Fundraising’s delivery drivers are family friends who value customer service. They wrap the sale up by getting the pastries to the groups and by giving them a heartfelt “thank you” for supporting their local fundraising dealership.
Fundraising Groups
Stacy’s dedication to helping others is how Fresh Alternative Fundraising has been able to help so many groups reach fundraising success. She’s worked with all kinds of groups, large and small, from high schools and elementary schools to extracurricular clubs to daycares. In its many years of service, Fresh Alternative Fundraising has helped groups raise over $15 million for local causes.
Group leaders love working with the team at Fresh Alternative Fundraising. The personalized customer service and streamlined processes make running a fundraiser easier than ever. Groups especially love that they pre-pack every order because it adds to the simplicity of the sale and makes delivery day a breeze. Kate, from the Rossman Elementary PTO, raves about her experience. “This is the nicest, timeliest, and most professional fundraising company we have ever worked with!” she says. “Even with our growing number of sales every year, Fresh Alternative Fundraising works with our schedule from preparing orders to follow up questions. Can’t wait for the next one already!”
Melanie Popejoy, leader of the Grand Cities Children’s Choir, writes, “As a choir director, the music and the singers is where I want my focus to be. However, to offer those valuable musical experiences, fundraising is a necessity…We have utilized Fresh Alternatives Fundraising for over 10 years. Stacy Wendel-Monilaws and her team make all the work manageable and communicate with you through every step in the process. They are extremely positive and do a great job of encouraging us to meet our goals.”
Fun Facts About Stacy
When you’re a business owner, you get a little taste of everything. Stacy’s been involved in setting up the fundraisers, loading the delivery trucks, packing orders, and more. Every day is different. Personally, her favorite days are the ones where she gets to roll up her sleeves and really focus on the work. She says she always works best with blue jeans and a ponytail!
Both Stacy and John have some pretty unique hobbies that they enjoy whenever they aren’t helping groups go above and beyond their fundraising goals. John spends his free time collecting and restoring antique Farmall tractors. He currently has over 25 in his collection. While he’s busy restoring, Stacy is leading a local martial arts class. It turns out Stacy is not just a master at fundraising; she’s also a master in Taekwondo. In fact, she’s been teaching her All-American Taekwondo team for over 20 years. It’s a great opportunity for her to work on her skills and get even more involved in the community she loves.
All of us here at the Butter Braid brand are happy to have the team at Fresh Alternative Fundraising as part of our fundraising family. Stacy and her team truly love what they do and really enjoy helping groups succeed. And they’d love to help your group reach their fundraising goals in 2022. If you are in the North Dakota or western Minnesota area and want to run a fundraiser, give Stacy a call or sign up online! Let them help your group start the new year off right with an easy, fresh fundraising program.
Connect with Fresh Alternative Fundraising today!
Website: https://freshalt.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/freshalternativefundraising
