Give back, get a drink: Prior Lake bar patrons help families for the holidays

Prior Lake American

If you weren’t looking for the Extra Innings Saloon in Prior Lake, you might miss it.

The bar is tucked away near downtown, with an old-time hanging sign announcing the destination.

Inside the bar itself are a handful of regular patrons who treat each other like family. It’s these patrons who, for the past four years, have been quietly raising money to donate to families in need around Christmas.

This year, the bar raised more than $1,600 to sponsor 11 families from St. Michael Catholic Church, Passageways shelter and Friendship Church.

‘Everybody knows each other’

When the sitcom “Cheers” started running in 1982, people wanted establishments “where everybody knows your name.”

For Extra Innings Saloon, this is the reality.

“Everybody knows each other,” patron Dan Bakke said. “Well, not everybody, but it’s a very accepting place.”

It has all the makings of a good, local bar. It’s got a jukebox, neon lights, TVs, darts and of course, beer and liquor. There’s enough space for groups to have their own little table but not enough to be cut off completely from the other groups.

Garrett Staaf has been the owner since July, but has worked at the bar for 20 years. It’s generally open on the major holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving.

“Not everybody has somewhere to go, so you spend a lot of holidays with these people,” Staaf said.

Cherry bombs and charity

Four years ago, some of the regulars realized through a conversation that they were all separately sponsoring families around the holidays.

“I said, ‘We’ve got all these families, why don’t we get together and do it together?’” Bakke said.

The first year, donations were about $600 to $700, with the Prior Lake-Savage Optimist Club matching about $500 directly to the organization.

“It just kind of took off from there,” Bakke said. “It just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger.”

The donations are two-fold. Patrons will raise money, buy gifts, wrap gifts and then give them to the sponsored families. Then on the other hand, the Prior Lake-Savage Optimist Club will cut a check directly to the organization that matches the funds raised by the bar.

“Our job is real simple: Write the check out,” Prior Lake-Savage Optimist Club Gambling Manager James Speiker said. “But we’re happy to do it.”

If people donate about $20, the bar will offer a free drink in exchange.

“People are going to spend money on a drink either way, why not give back and get a drink?” Staaf said.

A church that sponsors families will typically ask the families what gifts they’d like. That message is then passed along to someone like Bakke, who will go out and buy the gifts. They’re often savvy about it, too. Bakke will haggle or look for deals on Black Friday that will yield more for less. Last year, for instance, they were able to purchase $700 in Kohl’s gift cards from Hy-Vee that resulted in an extra $70 in gift cards from Hy-Vee because of a promotion. Then, the Kohl’s purchases yielded an extra $140 in Kohl’s cash.

“That’s the nice thing about us all doing this together: If we did it as individuals, we wouldn’t be able to leverage that,” Bakke said. “When you get a lot of people together, they can do a lot more than any one individual at a time.”

When the families are taken care of and there are extra funds, the bar patrons will purchase every day items that most people take for granted, like bath towels. They’ll also solicit free services from businesses, like a free haircut, to include in gift baskets to give out.

“It’s rewarding to the point that we know that somebody’s getting something they specifically wanted and if it makes their life a little better for a couple weeks, then that’s great,” Bakke said. “Christmas is a pretty stressful time, so anything we can do to help that out. It was more about giving families gifts or things that the rest of take for granted.”

The goal was $1,500 to go to the three organizations and the bar raised $1,600.

“The goal would be to sponsor a whole town, if we could, but that’s probably not feasible,” Bakke said.

A safe place

This year, the bar added Passageways Emergency Shelter and Housing Program to the list. The shelter provides a safe place for trafficked youth, who have been sexually exploited.

Passageways Supportive Housing Case Manager Holly Lien knew Bakke and his wife, Kris, and had talked about the program regularly at Extra Innings Saloon. And the patrons decided to “adopt” her kids for the holiday season.

“I got a Christmas tree and decorated it and one of my youth ... came out and I just heard her go, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s a tree,’” Lien said. “She just had tears because she thought she was going to have nothing for Christmas. When I talked to her about how she felt, she was like, ‘I didn’t even expect a tree. That’s amazing. I’m just lucky to be safe and alive where I am.’”

Lien said she typically works with 18- to 24-year-old youth, with a few 17-year-old kids who are about to turn 18. Passageways provides the youth with a fully stocked one-bedroom apartment to start their lives over.

With what the kids have gone through, something as simple as receiving a gift in a safe place can be everything, Lien said.

“The stories they tell me are incredible of what they’ve lived through and gone through and all the trauma they’ve gone through,” Lien said. “It’s extremely difficult. It’s nice to have a safe place where they know nothing bad is going to happen and they can actually enjoy the holidays.”

The patrons of Extra Innings Saloon are essential because without the money they raised, getting gifts when funds are already stretched tight as a nonprofit would be much more difficult.

“We don’t have a lot of funding just to be able to go buy gifts,” Lien said. “To have people reach out and say, ‘We want to buy the gifts for these kids,’ is amazing. It made my heart melt.”

Lien said she hasn’t told the kids that they’re getting the gifts they asked for but told them not to worry about not having presents.

“We’re hoping to do a little party with them and order pizza,” Lien said. “We’re going to get a little dessert and do a movie and open gifts together. I think they’re pretty excited about that.”

Staaf said as long as the bar has someone willing to organize and distribute the gifts, staff and patrons are willing to help raise the funds.

“They like to help each other out, whether it’s somebody (they) know or don’t know,” Staaf said. “I grew up in Prior Lake so it’s nice to be able to give something back to Prior Lake.”