On Saturday the 16th of February we held our fourth annual Meatball Mania Fundraiser. This was by far our largest year, and we owe it all to the amazing 13 meatball chefs that took their free time to make some over the top meatballs!

This fundraiser would not work if it wasn't for these amazing people. We determined the best meatballs of 2019 a little differently. Instead of an actual judge, we did peoples choice and whoever had the most donation dollars in their jug was the winner!

MJ Byrne won Best Balls with a stuffed up version, Jack Reed took a classic route and got Better Balls, while Shirley Knaack turned sweetness into Good Balls!

At the end all 13 of the chefs helped us raise over $700. That money was raised by the community to go into a non endowed fund that gives back to the community throughout the year.

In the end, I can't give all of the credit to the chefs because let's be honest deciding which was the best meatball was the hard part! Huge shout out to everyone that came down to visit and taste the meatballs, you are the rock stars that show what this community is really all about...giving back!

I’ve asked for the recipes of this year's and previous year's meatballs, We want to put together a cookbook so that everyone can enjoy the yummy meatballs we all tasted. Keep an eye open for that cookbook release date! 

As you know, we love to support the community!  Another way we hope we're helping is to have ARC volunteers help in the store and courtyard each Thursday morning.  Our volunteers tend to rotate every few months, so you'll see lots of new faces.  Here is Rashad and Kathleen having fun.

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Life in Michigan is, well, kind of like Russian roulette, but with the weather. Nobody knows what will happen next. This last week of January has been unpredictable, from 40 degrees to arctic temperatures. Through this all, though, my amazing employees here at OERTHER'S have faithfully pushed on and allowed us to remain open so no animal has to go hungry or driveway unsalted.
So if you have been thankful we were open during this time, let the employees know, because I can only tell them so many times.

​Stay safe out there and lets cross our fingers the next weather shift is into spring!