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An event that elicited emotions of all kinds showcased how turning grief into an ever-evolving mission can inspire a community.

Thursday night’s Karl’s Legacy event at The Hormel Institute, honoring the life of Karl Potach, who died 12 days before his fifth birthday due to pediatric cancer, featured a fundraising milestone that shows the impact of Karl Potach and the legacy he left behind.

The foundation eclipsed the $1 million threshold donated to the Institute, a number that the Potach family said is a credit to all who have supported this mission for more than two decades.

Kurt and Brenda Potach were given keys to the city by Austin mayor Steve King.

The Hormel Institute announced it has established a children’s research fund to support its current labs with ongoing research projects impacting children’s health.

It was announced that due to their philanthropic efforts, Kurt and Brenda Potach will be given the Outstanding Philanthropist Award from the Association of Fundraising Professionals – Southern Minnesota Chapter at an event in November.

“We have been completely surrounded by true and faithful friends in this effort,” Kurt said. “We are remembering Karl in a very positive way. In thinking back over the history of Karl’s short life and where we are at today, he indeed brought tremendous amounts of light and life to our family for that short time.”

Entering Thursday’s event, the foundation had raised $975,600 for the Institute since 2008. That number jumped by $70,000 this year.

Each year, approximately 400,000 children and adolescents aged from birth to age 19 develop cancer.

Pediatric cancer research receives a tiny fraction of the dollars allocated to adult cancer research. The largest single funder, the Federal Government, invests just four percent of its annual cancer research budget in childhood cancer — that is less than $3 per child.

“The money that comes from Karl’s Tourney and the Potach family efforts to raise funds really go to us being able to generate that preliminary data that can get us major funding to help us find the discoveries,” said Ted Hinchcliffe, PhD. 

“It’s tremendous the amount of support we get in Austin,” researcher Charles Day said. “They’ve always been supportive of our institute and our lab. It really means a lot.”

And to those in attendance on Thursday, the support given in research dollars to the Institute and the support shown to the Potach family was evident from start to finish.

Tears were shed looking back at Karl’s battle with pediatric cancer. But there was also hope that money raised in Karl’s honor would benefit others in a similar battle.

“The overwhelming love you guys have in the most difficult time in your life, to take that and to create this, a million dollars in gifts to help families who go through what you went through, to help the Institute … two of the most loving people, Kurt and Brenda,” mayor King said.