Photo by Jenny Kirk Cathryn Sleiter and her daughter, Yasha Sleiter, work side by side picking grapes at Prairie Breezes Vineyard as part of a fundraiser for Southwest Swim Club on Friday in Cottonwood.

COTTONWOOD — For the past five years, the Marshall-based Southwest Swim Club has had a unique partnership as part of their fundraising effort. Instead of selling products, they decided to do a little good old-fashioned labor. And by picking grapes at Prairie Breezes Vineyard in Cottonwood, the group is helping owners Darrell and Ruth Dirckx with the harvest.

“We pay them a price per pound once the grapes get weighed,” Darrell Dirckx said. “Then we write them a check and everyone is happy. We’re thankful they do this. It’s a great partnership. How many other groups have to sell candy bars, butter braids and fruit?”

Throughout the day and early evening on Friday, Southwest Swim Club (SSC) coaches and members, along with many of the swimmers’ parents and siblings, took part in the grape-picking process.

“They were looking for youth groups to come out and help with the harvest,” SSC co-coach Brian Stucke said. “We typically pick about 12,000 pounds or so a year. In about the middle of August, we find out when the grapes are going to be ready for harvest. Then (Ruth Dirckx) asks if we want to do it again. It’s been a good fundraiser for us every year.”

While some volunteers had been picking grapes since 8 a.m., others weren’t able to work their shift until after school.

“We have about 30 out here (Friday),” Stucke said. “My son, Jacob, has been here all day with me because Holy Redeemer hasn’t started school yet (because of renovation delays). We’ve also had other Holy Redeemer kids out here all day. Some of them just went back to Marshall for after-school stuff and then some of the kids are just now getting done with school and are coming out to help.”

For the most part, SSC members signed up for four-hour shifts on Friday and from 8 a.m. to noon today.

“A couple of years ago, we started doing the Friday afternoon shifts,” Stucke said. “That gives us a little bit of flexibility with schedules and stuff. The last five years, we’ve picked this (same) acre and then at least part of another acre.”

Stucke said SSC is run by parent volunteers and that the local nonprofit USA team relies a lot on membership dues and fundraisers. Along with the cost of renting the pool at Southwest Minnesota State University, proceeds are often used to by different types of equipment.

“We use these funds to kind of help us buys equipment and other things for the club, like fins, kick boards and pool buoys (equipment that assists in keeping bodies positioned correctly when being taught different strokes),” he said. “It also helps keep out fees down.”

Stucke said SSC averages about 60 members from age 6-18. He and his wife Jennifer’s daughter, Kaylie, 15, is among the competitive swimmers, as is young Yasha Sleiter, who just started last year.

“Yasha just started swimming last year and she was already going to the regional championships in the spring,” Brian Stucke said. “She started by making one length in the pool. Now, she swims lap after lap after lap. It’s fun to watch the progress of the swimmers, especially when they’re young because they make remarkable progress in a hurry.”

When asked what her favorite was, Sleiter said: “The backstroke.”

SSC’s membership includes youngsters from around the area. While they all have the opportunity to swim year-round, both male and female high school students now have the opportunity to swim competitively through the Minnesota State High School League — the girls on the Marshall squad and the boys through a cooperative with Montevideo.

“Sophomore Noah Dunn has been outstanding help out here picking grapes,” Stucke said. “He’s been doing this since he was little. Noah swims with us for our swimming club, but he’ll also be one of at least three boys who will go to Montevideo to swim with them from December through March or so.”

When the volunteers first arrived, each of them was given a bucket and a special tool for snipping off bunches of grapes.

“We call it a grape fork,” Ruth Dirckx said. “They’re nice because you can’t cut yourself or cut anyone else. We have a great crew out here (Friday).”

Gabriel Wolske seemed to have the snipping process down fairly well.

“You just slide the (grape fork) in there and cut (the twig),” Wolske said. “It’s easy because we already have a vineyard at home. Since I picked grapes about a week ago, it’s easy than if I’d just done it this year. It helps that I know what to do.”

Wolske said he is a SSC member.

“I swim, but only in the winter because in the summer, I’m busy with other things,” he said.

Having been established more than a decade ago, Prairie Breezes Vineyard continues to expand.

“There’s roughly 4 acres here with nine different varieties,” Darrell Dirckx said. “There are 600 plant. If you get 1,200 pounds, that’s 20 pounds on a plant, which is about a pail.”

Dirckx said the acre of grapes that the SSC helped harvest averages between 7,000 and 11,000 pounds.

“If they also do the Marquettes over there, that’ll be another 1,200 pounds. The more they pick, the more money they make.”

Dirckx estimated that it takes about 10-15 pounds, depending on the year, to make a gallon of wine.

“This batch if going to Carlos Creek Winery in Alexandria,” he said. “They go into what is called Minnescato. It’s a Minnesota-scato and it’s carbonated. It does quite well up there.”

The SSC season starts on Sept. 17, with new swimmer tryouts from 6-7 p.m. at the SMSU pool. The first day of swim practice is the following day.

“New swimmers interested in joining the club can come and try out,” Stucke said. “If they can’t make it then, they can come a different day otherwise. We let them try it out for a week before they have to decide whether to join to now. We want them to like it and have fun. Most of them that start end up staying.”