Prez Sez - Congrats Jeff!

3.17.24

What a privilege it was attend the American Legion Post 15’s annual awards presentation this past Friday evening, March 15. Elaine and I, along with several other SFCC members were present to honor and recognize club member, and SFCC Secretary, Jeff Gifford, as he received the Post’s Life Saving Award. We could not be more proud of Jeff for receiving this incredible award. Below is the text of the presentation of the award to Jeff that we wanted to share with our club members. Congratulations Jeff!

“On the evening of January 17, 2024 the Sioux Falls Corvette Club met at the meeting Room of Look’s Market. One of our members, Ron Kersbergen, who has a heart history, collapsed as he walked through the doors to attend the meeting.

Jeff Gifford (who is the SFCC Secretary and a member of American Legion Post 15) immediately got to Ron and checked his pulse. Not finding one, he started CPR. He was joined very shortly by two nurses and a retired Minnesota firefighter who happened to be in the Look’s restaurant having dinner. The four of them performed CPR until the Sioux Falls Fire-Rescue paramedics arrived and took over.

The great news is that Ron survived and was discharged from the hospital a week later. The cardiologists told Ron’s wife, Cindy, that if it hadn’t been for Jeff starting CPR when he did (which was less than one minute after Ron collapsed) that Ron would not have survived.

We are so happy that Jeff is here tonight to receive this award, and that Ron and Cindy Kersbergen are also here tonight. It is the first time that they have seen each other since the night of January 17th. Let’s have a hearty round of applause for them!”

Dakota News Now did a nice story on the presentations as well and it can be found here: https://www.dakotanewsnow.com/2024/03/16/heroes-honored-sioux-falls-american-legion-saving-mans-life/