PIERRE — It didn’t take much: a salad, some soup and a place to sit — and one area woman raised almost $1,000 to give to the Pierre Area Referral Service holiday Food Share program.

Helping people in need comes naturally for Carrie Mikkonen. She was a registered nurse for more than 40 years and, currently, she travels across the state in an oral health mobile truck helping children in need receive dental care.

Shawna Bleecker | Capital Journal Carrie Mikkonen (from left) addresses the women who came to support her fundraising luncheon event Nov. 7 at Dishes while Bonnie Fischer and Janice Bartels look on. Mikkonen raised almost $1,000 for Pierre Area Referral Service holiday Food Share program. Advertisement

"I’ve seen first-hand the hunger in South Dakota," said Mikkonen, who organized the luncheon to raise money for families in need. "I think a lot of times we don’t think South Dakota has it as bad, but sometimes it truly is."

While shopping online one day, Mikkonen saw an ad for Macy’s Feed the Hungry Campaign and decided she wanted to get on board.

"People around the United States were to hold an event to raise money to give to Feeding America and Macy’s would match it," Mikkonen said. After further research, Mikkonen saw there wasn’t anything planned in South Dakota.

"So I registered a Nov. 7 event," she said. Mikkonen had planned to use Pierre’s meals store Dishes as an eating place.

After a phone call, it became apparent the money Mikkonen would raise would go to Sioux Falls or Rapid City.

"That is not what I had envisioned at all when I saw this advertisement from Macy’s," Mikkonen said. "If I would have stuck with Feeding America, Macy’s would have matched it but I don’t know how much we would have got locally."

"She was so taken with the Macy’s thing," Dishes co-owner Ellen Lee said. "We decided to do our own thing and the money will go to feed local hungry families."

So she struck out on her own and not only met her goal, but also doubled it.

Lee closed her healthy-to-go meal store for an afternoon, and Mikkonen and about 50 of her friends ate an autumn lunch complete with a pumpkin angel food cake to help feed local families.