“The Benefit Gun” Raises Big Bucks

It's not a magic gun that can blow away cancer cells or eradicate a disease. But Harvey Halverson's old Remington 721 rifle with scope is doing the next best thing.

In less than seven years this gun, worth maybe $400 today, has been sold 55 times at 12 benefits, raising $40,125 for people in need, thus earning the nickname, "The Benefit Gun."

"It's a cool story, how that gun has gone full circle," says Harvey's son, Dan of Lansing. "And now it's coming back to us."

Dan's son, Zach, became the first beneficiary in May, 2005.

Two more people from Lansing - Rich Mckee, 36, who is battling colon cancer and Daryl Bolson, 63, who is fighting prostate cancer - will benefit from the gun's sale these next two weekends.

"My dad only used that gun once and that was on an elk hunt in the 1970s," Dan says.

Harvey, who died last March 17 at the age of 88, was a World War II Navy veteran, an owner of the Lansing Garage and a man who truly believed in "community." He enjoyed surrounding himself with people, whether it was on the volunteer fire department, running into them at the Allamakee County Fair or working through the Immaculate Conception Church. He liked to hunt and came up with the idea to donate his gun after his grandson, Zach, had been diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma that produced a softball-sized mass in his right lung.

Zach, now 27, lives in Bozeman, Mont. He'll graduate in December from Montana State University with a degree in mechanical engineering, yet still battles cancer. Initial treatment shrunk the tumor, but he's had countless chemotherapy and radiation sessions, two stem-cell transplants and is now on an experimental drug through the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Knowing that folks cared from the start, especially his grandfather, provided a needed boost says his father.

The May, 2005, auction of donated items at the New Albin Community Center lasted well into the night. When friends heard the rifle had been donated by Harvey, bidding soared. Ray Whalen paid $700 for it, in the name of New Albin Savings Bank, and returned it to be auctioned again. Pat Birgy, Harvey's son-in-law, bought it and took it back to Michigan.

Early in 2009 Pat donated the gun to a friend fighting cancer and it was auctioned twice again, for $1,100 and then $800. By Thanksgiving, 2010, the gun had become a regular on the Michigan circuit and was known as "The Benefit Gun."

With Pat Birgy's help, Dan tracked down the gun in Michigan and had it sent back for these two auctions, both at T.J. Hunter's in Lansing:

The first begins at 3 p.m. Saturday for Rich Mckee with the live auction starting at 5 p.m. (For more information or to donate call Roy Mckee at (563) 538-4940.)

The second begins at 2 p.m. March 24 for Daryl Bolson with the live auction starting at 5 p.m. (For more information or to donate call Dan Halverson at (563) 419-5472.)

A plaque listing donors and a running total of the money raised will accompany "The Benefit Gun" back to Michigan.

"Our hope," Dan says, "is that this ‘Benefit Gun' will continue to touch the lives of many more families for years to come."