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Buffalo Lake Gives Back To Madelia Community At Girl's H.S. Basketball Game

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Friday night's girl's high school basketball game at Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart will now have more meaning for the visiting team from Madelia.

Earlier this week, a fire destroyed several buildings downtown, devastating the small community.

So, on Friday night the Buffalo-Lake-Hector-Stewart team decided to give back.

"It was kind of my idea. Then I had some girls that said 'Hey, can we do something for them?' and I said, 'Yeah that's a great idea,'" Buffalo Lake coach Dan Krause said.

His players took it from there. They're setting up buckets at the gym for people to make donations before the home standing Mustangs take on the visiting Blackhawks, some of whom were directly affected by the fire.

"We're going to throw it all in the bucket, we're going to give the bucket to the coach and we're going to say, 'Here you go,'" Krause said.  "We'll kind of let them do what they want with that, take it to the city, and hopefully it gives them a good start."

The idea got traction when it hit social media.

"Kind of got a little more out there than I anticipated, I guess," Krause said.

He has already gotten emails from people in the Buffalo Lake area about making donations. Some cash was collected before Thursday's game and it's already in the donation bucket.

It wasn't long ago when people Buffalo Lake were in need of this type of assistance after the area was hit by a tornado.

"Our community has been impacted by tragedy," Krause said. "They are aware of what it takes to rebuild and get back on your feet, and get moving forward. So that kind of hits home for some people and they are doing what they can to give back to another community."

The Madelia players are getting a more immediate lift from their counterparts. The Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart girls are providing sandwiches and drinks for their opponents to enjoy on the sixty-mile bus trip back home after the game.

"We have good kids," Krause said. "It's good to see that people are going to come together and support one another, good or bad."

More than $2,760 was raised Friday night.

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