Donating time

Thousands of handmade crafts, decades of time with the community and with a team behind her, Karen Drake has been a part of numerous events and fundraisers in Creston. Throughout her time across multiple years of volunteer work, she still never wanted to be the center of attention.

Drake has worked at Creston’s Walmart for 35 years and in that time has volunteered thousands of hours to her community through projects ranging from seasonal holiday events to fundraisers.

The small business Karen’s Crafty Corner draws on the owner’s name and is one of the places where Drake works on her crafts for various events. Despite her attention to detail, Drake remains modest about her work, saying she’s “not an artist.”

“I just craft,” she said. “I do because I do... I’m just a crafter.”

When describing her volunteer work, she explains it as “donating time,” seeing how her time can mean more for others.

“I’d rather donate time than money,” she said. “We don’t all have a lot of money, but we all have time.”

Drake was given the Creston Chamber of Commerce’s Volunteer of the Year Award for her work in the community. She will be honored at the Chamber of Commerce annual meeting 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Creston Eagles Club.

Walmart’s appreciation of Drake’s contributions extended to a letter of support to greater Walmart management, wishing to nominate her for the Helen R. Walton Excellence in Community Leadership Award.

“Through all of Karen’s efforts she is able to tell our story to our community and bring fun and excitement along with it,” the letter states. “Karen has been our Community Champion for many years and she is nothing short of passionate about giving back to our community. She participates in all events not only supporting Walmart but also supporting other organizations within the community while always being kind and helping to drive even more participation from our store and associates for the next event.”

Utilizing her employer through Walmart’s Volunteerism Always Pays program, Drake was able to submit 70 hours of extra volunteerism this year. Walmart pays matching grants of $10 per volunteer hour, meaning $700 this year were donated. Drake says her funds through this program were donated to the University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children’s Hospital, which was one of her favorite organizations to raise money.

Alongside other programs from Walmart’s fundraising efforts, the store raised $14,756 this year, all of which will be donated to the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital. During the times she’s visited the hospital as a part of this program, the experience “hypes up” her energy for next year’s fundraising.

Drake credits a lot of the work done in volunteer events to members of the teams organizing the events. She was shy about how awards like this focus on her. “I don’t want the attention on me at all,” she said. “

Local groups Drake has helped raise money include Crestubilee, the after-prom organizers and Crush Cancer, which helps raise money for research into developing cancer treatments. Drake remembers seeing huge groups participating in these events, appreciating those who feel the same need to help others.

One event which Drake helps organize three times a year, and an event she called one of her “passions,” is the Vendor Quarter Auction, which invites vendors to the Eagles Club to participate in an auction of their products. The funds raised during these events typically are donated to local organizations.

Vendors pay fees to be a part of the auction and gather together, raising paddles with a number on them and bidding a quarter into the pot. The winner is chosen after a quick random selection of all the numbers in the pot.

“It is so much fun, I couldn’t do that without the vendors... and all the people that help me get it ready to go.” Drake said. Drake credits three particular individuals for their help, Annette Pingree, Jodi Mobley and Amanda Davis.

This year, the March auction raised funds for Crestubilee, the June auction raised funds for Crush Cancer and the October auction raised funds for Children’s Miracle Network. The October auction raised about $900, with some auctions raising as high as $1,500.

Also this year, after tornadoes struck Greenfield, Drake was contacted by a friend, Kate Redding, to help craft ornaments with the phrase “Greenfield Strong” as a part of “Restoring Christmas,” a local community group which raised $15,000 to distribute Christmas decorations for the holidays. Drake estimated she created 240 ornaments across 30 hours of work for the project.

As a part of offering her business for classes, she schedules time once a month for members of Iowa Focus to build crafts with her. Iowa Focus provides services to individuals with disabilities. Drake helps lead projects during her classes and is proud to share the results each month.

Drake also contributes to Mayflower Heritage Christian School’s classes, where her grandchildren attend. She described how once a year she helps students make gifts depending on the holiday, including Christmas gifts and Mother’s Day gifts.

Every year, she tries to come up with new ideas for crafts to teach in these classes. This year, she plans to teach students how to make a busted canvas, which requires a picture to be placed inside a canvas which has been painted front and back, and a refrigerator magnet which will have tiny characters and objects in them.

“If any school called me and asked me to come, I’d do that,” she said. “Donating my time, and maybe asking to pay for the supplies.”

The 4-H Booster Club also heads to Karen’s Crafty Corner for decorations for their Christmas tree. Drake said she charges minimal amounts, knowing how her work helps raise funds for a good cause.

Other events held by Walmart, such as this year’s first annual disc golf tournament and the Halloween Carnival had contributions by Drake.

Alongside crafts, Drake also has a talent for baking, with her contributing to bake sales with her “most-sought-after” oatmeal cake and apple cinnamon roll bakes. During one pie sale, her oatmeal cake sold for $200. Even so, Drake remained modest, saying how other items during the same sale had sold for higher, recalling how one pie had sold for $500.

Creston PTO also asks for Drake’s crafts for projects of their own. Traditionally, Drake creates $10 projects for yearly fundraisers, with half going to her and the other half going to PTO. However, with this year having a lower turnout, Drake conceded her own fees to the PTO.

“It is what it is,” she said.

Drake, even after all of these events and more, was surprised hearing how much she was a part of. She said she never really thought of her volunteer work as anything special.

“I don’t think of it that way,” she said. “I don’t know what my thoughts would be. I guess I do what’s asked, if somebody needs something, we just do it.