Medical treatments, especially those for various kinds of kidney disease, have come a long way in offering advanced treatment options. With those medical breakthroughs come rising costs. The Holmes County Kidney Fund, Inc. was founded to help individuals and families with the expenses associated with treatments, medications and other costs many families have difficulty covering for those battling a kidney disease.

The nonprofit holds an annual fundraiser to help support their clients. This year the fundraising action is scheduled for the first Saturday in June at the Mt. Hope Auction Barn in Mt. Hope.

“My mother, Lizzy Ann Yoder, started the organization in 1976 to help families to primarily offset the costs of medications and to pay for transportation to and from dialysis,” said Marv Yoder, current chairman of the Holmes County Kidney Fund.

At any given time, the organization can be helping 35 to 40 people. If there is money still available, they will also give money to research and to help with doctor and hospital bills for those without health insurance.

“My brother, Vernon, had a kidney transplant and was one of the first persons in the area to have a transplant. Soon after, my mother started the fund to help families with the high costs of kidney disease,” Yoder said.

Vernon Yoder, who was the chairman from 1977 to 2006, had his first kidney transplant in 1972 and a second in 2008. “I had my first transplant at Cleveland Clinic and my mother and I met a woman associated with the Kidney Foundation of Ohio and they helped my family with the costs of my first transplant,” Vernon said.

His mother gathered quilts from the area and sent them to Cleveland to be auctioned in their annual fundraiser. Soon after Vernon’s first transplant, there were others in Holmes County that needed transplants. “The woman from Cleveland suggested to my mother that she start a fund in Holmes County so that the money could be kept local to help others in our area. So that’s what my mother did.”

In Vernon’s first transplant, both his kidneys were lost. His brother, Andrew Jr., donated one of his kidneys. In 2008, that kidney began to fail and Vernon’s niece donated one of hers. Vernon is on 26 different medications and the Holmes County Kidney Fund has been instrumental in helping him through the past few years.

The only fundraiser used is the annual Kidney Fund Mt. Hope Auction on Saturday, June 4. There is also a kickoff event held on Friday evening, June 3, at the Mt. Hope Auction Barn, with a volleyball tournament, food, and live entertainment with John Schmid, Amos Raber, and Lena Mullet.

Friday night’s events start at 5:30 p.m. Saturday’s auction will kick off with a pancake and sausage breakfast at 6 a.m. The auction starts at 9 a.m., with furniture auctioned at 10:30 a.m. and a quilt auction at 1 p.m. There will also be barbecued chicken, homemade ice cream and a bake sale available throughout the day.

Just a few of the items scheduled for auction include a 30-by-40 foot building built on the winning bidder’s level site, two complete new bedroom sets, a new open buggy, a standard-bred buggy horse, ponies with harnesses and carts and two quarters of hormone-free processed beef from Doughty Valley Meats, among hundreds of other items.

All proceeds from the auction will go to help patients in Holmes, Wayne, Tuscarawas and Coshocton counties. According to Yoder, there are between 300 and 400 merchants donating items from those same counties. “This is only possible because of the generosity of the local volunteers and the local merchants,” Yoder said.

To donate items, drop them at the Mt. Hope Auction Barn on the day of the auction. To arrange for items for the auction to be picked up, to become a volunteer for the fundraiser, or to become a board member, call Marv Yoder at 330-465-8318 or 330-674-6268. If donating a quilt, drop it off at Miller’s Dry Goods in Charm or Mt. Hope Fabrics in Mt. Hope by June 1.