MARSHALL — It was a difficult time for the Marshall area community.

In 1980, three young girls died of cancer. Local families experienced firsthand the gaps in end-of-life care available in Minnesota at the time.

“When you look back, Marshall was so much more rural,” said Lynn Cormier, CEO of Prairie Home Hospice and Community Care.

Finding hospice care for a loved one often meant driving as far away as the Twin Cities.

At the same time, community members were determined to help, and planted the seeds for what would become Prairie Home Hospice, Cormier said.

This weekend, Prairie Home Hospice and Community Care will be honoring the contributions of community members during its annual charity event and auction. Cormier said the benefit will include displays looking back at the organization’s history and the people who have helped make it what it is today. Dr. Vince LaPorte will also be the featured speaker.

In the late 1970s and early 80s, LaPorte worked to support families whose children were experiencing serious illness, PHHCC spokespeople said. The cases of cancer among young children in Marshall were something that sparked fear and grief in the community.

“It was so concerning that the Minnesota Department of Health was contacted,” LaPorte said in a news release from PHHCC. “They spent nearly a year trying to find a cause. In the end, it was determined to be inconclusive, simply a strange anomaly.”

One of the families affected was the family of David and Linda Grong. The Grongs’ daughter Jenny died in 1980 at the age of 8. LaPorte said community members like Linda Grong and Betty Lockwood became some of the driving forces behind the creation of Prairie Home Hospice, PHHCC Cormier said.

Cormier said hearing LaPorte’s stories of working with local families drove home the importance of remembering the community history of PHHCC.

“We needed to honor those individuals,” she said.

Over the years, area community members have continued to support PHHCC, and played an integral role in helping the organization provide compassionate and dignified care, Cormier said.

The Prairie Home Hospice and Community Care benefit and auction will be April 18 at The Upper Room. The event includes a social and silent auction at 5 p.m., followed by dinner at 7 and a live auction at 8. Tickets are $75, and can be ordered online at prairiehomehospice.org.