This past week at the Cass County fair, the Cass County Right to Life organization put on a contest celebrating the life of newborn babies to raise funds for the organization.  The Precious Baby Contest welcomed contestants from any of the parent fairgoers.

Cass County Right to Life, an affiliate of Michigan Right to Life, is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization set out to “protect the precious gift of human life from fertilization and natural death.”

The Precious Baby Contest started on Monday, July 30 where parents would have to enter their babies before the deadline at the end of the day. In total, there were 17 babies that were entered, hailing from communities such as Cassopolis, Edwardsburg, White Pigeon and even Sturgis.

To vote for the most precious baby in the group, a visitor had to make a cash donation to the organization. In total, $1,248 were donated by fair-goers to the contest, and each baby won prizes given by area businesses. In addition, the top three babies also received $100, $75 and $50 from Right to Life. McDonald’s in Cassopolis also donated 25 free ice cream cone cards, with the top nine contestants each receiving one card while the remaining eight contestants each received two cards.

On Saturday August 30 at 8 p.m., the votes were counted and the winners were announced. The top three winners of the Precious Baby Contest included Greyson Sobieski of Cassopolis who won a $100 and $25 gift certificates from Cass Auto Supply, Kylie Conrod of Sturgis who won a $75 and $20 gift cards to LaPlace for Latte, and Anaka Majewski of Cassopolis who won $50 and $20 gift certificates from Dussel’s Farm Market. 

With the $1,248 donated to the organization, the money will go back into the company’s efforts to “further its educational outreach to the community” by providing support to the Michigan Right to Life Educational Fund, so they can raise funds for their television ads and phone service. The funds raised by the contest will also go to support the Right to Life of Michigan and the Pregnancy Care Center of Niles.