Pelican Rapids rummage sale honors Faith Westby, raises charity funds

A free-will-donation rummage sale at 802 5th St. SE in Pelican Rapids turned into a community tribute to Faith Westby, raising money for Ronald McDonald House and other charities that reflected the 16-year-old's life and values.

The Annual Faithkeepers rummage sale ran Friday, May 8, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday, May 9, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Organizers framed the sale as both a fundraiser and a remembrance, using donated items and local participation to support causes tied to Westby's story. The event also underscored how a small-town fundraiser in Otter Tail County can become a focal point for grief, gratitude and service.

Westby, born June 19, 2002, died March 16, 2019, at age 16, while she was a sophomore at Pelican Rapids High School. She was the daughter of Peter and Jeannie Westby and the sister of Haley Westby. Faith was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church and confirmed at Central Lutheran Church, both in Pelican Rapids, placing her life squarely within the faith community that now gathers in her name.

Her obituary said she loved Special Olympics basketball and track and that she "started a ministry without even knowing" by bringing communities together. Those words have come to define the way neighbors remember her, not only as a student and athlete, but as someone whose life drew people toward one another.

The medical history behind that legacy also helps explain why Ronald McDonald House remains central to the fundraiser. A Ronald McDonald House Southeastern MN and Western WI feature said Faith lived with a rare, multi-system disorder and already had undergone heart surgery. Doctors later found a large atypical adenoma on the left side of her liver and multiple adenomas on the right side. In July 2017, she received a liver transplant with an organ from Logan Luft, a 15-year-old boy who died after an ATV accident that same month. The two families later connected, linking two painful stories through one act of donation.

Faith stayed at the Ronald McDonald House in Rochester during treatment, and her obituary listed memorials to Ronald McDonald House, Special Olympics of Pelican Rapids, Make-A-Wish Foundation, LifeSource, or the Faith Westby Memorial Fund. The rummage sale carried that same spirit forward, turning donated items in Pelican Rapids into support for families facing the same kinds of medical hardships Faith knew firsthand.