Benefit Prize For Caledonia Fire Chief Stolen

Caledonia, in southeastern Minnesota, is known for its good sports teams and good hearts. They had put together a raffle to raise money for their ailing fire chief, who is suffering from ALS. According to KSTP TV, a benefit was being planned for Sept. 12 to raise money for Chief Chuck Gavin.

The grand prize for the raffle was going to be a refurbished 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass. The committee bought the car for $15,000 and hoped to sell about 600 tickets. About 350 tickets have been sold so far at $100 each.

The car was parked at Dave's Auto Sales in Caledonia, inside with the keys in the ignition. Owner Kevin Haas went on vacation, and came back to find a window broken and the grand prize gone. It was the only thing stolen. According to the town's police chief, they think the car was stolen about 1PM Sunday. There were eyewitness reports of the car just outside of Caledonia and later in the town of Hokah and near La Crescent.

Gavin had planned to quit his job as chief, which he has had for 15 of his 24 years in the department, but his crew talked him into staying.

Another car may be found for the raffle, but there are some paperwork hurdles to get through that the state gambling authority requires.

If you have any information, please call the Caledonia Police Department at (507) 725-3889