MUSCATINE, Iowa–With the holidays close at hand, the staff of Rock Valley Physical Therapy knew they wanted to help out several residents of Lutheran Living in need of gifts. In a staff meeting, one person put forward the idea of holding a pie in the face contest, where patients could put their donations in a cup for a staff member of their choice, and the three who received the most donations would get pies in their faces. Amused with the idea, everyone got on board with it and made a donation setup.
Initially, Ashley Ravenscraft, a physical therapist assistant and physician liaison with Rock Valley, and her colleagues hoped to bring in a few hundred dollars through the fundraiser, believing people would put their spare change in the donation cups and nothing more. Their patients quickly exceeded their expectations.
Within the first week, the contest took off. Patients loved the idea of having fun for a good cause and readily donated, with one person splitting $300 between three different people. “That’s when I realized it was going to be big,” recalls Ravenscraft.
In the second week, a leaderboard went up, and the patients and staff alike enjoyed tracking who had received the most donations. Along with several more sizable donations, people also brought in items from the Lutheran Living residents’ wish lists, such as Pringles chips and new pajama pants. With a generous match from Rock Valley, the pie in the face fundraiser brought in a total of $1,700, and Regional Manager Mike Wright, Vice President Steve Wieskamp, and Scott Morel, who specializes in strength and conditioning, each got a pie in the face.
Because the fundraiser collected more than enough money to buy gifts for the Lutheran Living residents, Rock Valley Physical Therapy took suggestions from their patients for other organizations to support. In the end, the selected the Muscatine Center for Social Action’s domestic violence shelter, First Presbyterian Church’s Emmaus Café (which provides a free Sunday lunch to anyone who needs it), It Takes a Village Animal Rescue and Resources, and No Foot Too Small (a non-profit started in Iowa to support families that experienced pregnancy loss). “We feel like we got everyone from young, to animal lovers, to older people,” Ravenscraft detailed.
A fun opportunity to bring people together before the holiday’s, Ravenscraft felt good about what Rock Valley Physical Therapy accomplished. “In the world, there is so much controversy, but it started us off right and it shows how much Muscatine really cares about their community, and it gives us hope,” she said.
Though this year’s pie in the face contest has just wrapped up and the three pie recipients have only just had time to wipe the pie filling off their faces, Rock Valley Physical Therapy has already started planning to make it repeat tradition. “We’ve already started saying this needs to be an annual event,” Ravenscraft reported. “Even the people who got pies in their faces thought it was totally worth it.”
