Sunday marked six years since two Hills families created an organization to assist families in times of crises.
Game Plan 4 Hope (GP4H) began as a simple idea in 2019 by Missy and Jeff Bass and Heather and Aaron Erickson.
Under the theme of “Harvest of Hope,” the families thanked the 80 supporters attending Sunday’s event at The Cidery at Blackshire Farms in Beaver Creek.
“Game Plan 4 Hope was founded with a simple but powerful mission to come alongside families impacted by sudden tragedy — whether through illness, injury or loss — and help them navigate the hardest moments of their lives when it feels like everything has fallen apart,” Missy Bass said.
Accomplishments of 2024 were also celebrated, including Missy becoming the full-time executive director and the purchasing of the GP4H building on West Third Street in Hills.
“We’ve been able to lay the foundation for our future expansion and enable ourselves to better serve families,” Missy said.
Featured Harvest of Hope 2025 family
Tammy and Loren Roth operate Roth Angus Ranch near Freeman, South Dakota.
They attended Sunday’s event with their four children and other family members after more than a year since Loren’s accident.
“We’re in a pretty good place right now — as good as we can be,” said son Zach. “I don’t know where we’d be if it wasn’t for Game Plan 4 Hope.”
A video created and debuted at Sunday’s event explained how loading cattle into a trailer led to Loren being severely injured in June 2024.
Loren was knocked down by a steer, his head hitting concrete. The resulting traumatic brain injury left the 57-year-old unable to walk and barely able to talk.
His wife, Tammy, is his full-time caretaker.
“I had no idea that day that something like this was going to happen. It changed our lives forever,” she said in the video. “In order to even think about bringing him home, we had to have medical equipment. My house wasn’t handicapped-accessible by any means.”
Nine months after the accident, with medical bills piling up and insurance refusing to pay for rehabilitation, the Roths sought to bring Loren home.
“Meeting Game Plan 4 Hope was the only good thing that happened out of this,” son Zach said. “The next thing you know, we have a bathroom fit for a handicapped person and we have a ramp in front of the house. It was pretty amazing.”
Daughter Ally saw relief fill her father’s eyes at being at home.
“You know we actually saw the biggest progression that Dad had was after he got home,” she said.
Partnerships, pledges assist with mission
GP4H partnered with Reynolds Construction Management (RCM) of Sioux Falls who donated time, labor and expertise to remodel the Roth home in order for Loren to comfortably live at home.
Missy Bass recognized RCM owners Paul and Linda Reynolds for the partnership they’ve formed with GP4H.
“Your generosity has made a life-changing difference, not only for the Roth family, but for other families that you’ve helped us with, and it just shows what is possible,” she said.
“We hope to find more partners like RCM, individuals and businesses who want to come alongside us to help families meet their tangible needs and help them walk through life’s toughest seasons.”
GP4H capital campaign goal for the next year is to raise $250,000 to expand the Hills facility and outreach services to area families.
Trenton Bass, for whom GP4H was founded, explained the organization’s committed service.
“Game Plan 4 Hope wants to be ready to say ‘yes’ to every one of the families who reaches out to us — whether it means providing equipment, emotional support, hope packages, or simply showing up in the middle of the storm,” he said. “We couldn’t do this without community support.”
Gary Esselink, GP4H board president, gave a toast with apple cider to close the Harvest of Hope event.
“We’re not trying to be anything special, but we’re trying to reach out and help people who have a strong need, and hope that we can make an impact on it,” he said.
“We can provide that hope and fill that empty void of what happens when you go to the hospital and you’re ready to come out of the hospital and now what?
“No family has to face their tragedies alone.”
Sunday’s event was also the debut of GP4H’s new logo and redesigned website.
More information and ways to donate to the organization can be found at gameplan4hope.org
About GP4H
Game Plan 4 Hope formed from the life-changing experiences of the Bass and Erickson families from Hills.
Trenton Bass was paralyzed during a football game as a high school senior in September 2017.
Ethan Erickson lost his life to Burkitt Lymphoma/Leukemia in October 2019.
Together the families formed GP4H in 2019 to offer directional, spiritual, emotional and physical support to other families facing life-changing events.
In addition to Esselink, the board includes secretary-treasurer Andrea Parliament, and board members Jeff Bass, Heather Erickson, Trenton Bass and Matt Leedom.
The organization will be welcoming additional board members. Mike Fey, Mackenzie Feldhacker and Melanie Wagner will joing after the first of the year.
Each provides expertise to the board to better serve individuals and families, GP4H executive director Missy Bass said.
Fey’s business is in Edgerton, and lives in Garretson, South Dakota.
Feldhacker is from Hawarden, Iowa, and is an associate professor of occupational therapy at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion.
Wagner is a registered nurse and is a coordinated care case manager for Access Family Medical Clinic in Worthington. Her family lives near Adrian and is one of the families served by the GP4H organization. Her son, Mitchell, was injured in 2020 due to a boating accident.
Missy Bass, one of the founders of Game Plan 4 Hope in Hills, is the executive director of the organization, a full-time position that was created in November.
Tammy and Loren Roth were the featured family at Sunday’s Harvest of Hope event hosted by Game Plan 4 Hope. The Roths told of their journey following Loren’s accident to receiving GP4H’s assistance to remodel the family home to accommodate Loren’s wheelchair and special equipment so he is able to live at home in rural Freeman, South Dakota.
Gary Esselink is Game Plan 4 Hope’s board chairman, and he offered a toast of apple cider in recognition of the organization’s accomplishments in the past year.
Trenton Bass spoke about Game Plan 4 Hope’s capital campaign to raise $250,000 to expand the organization’s headquarters in Hills.
A new logo and redesigned website were revealed during Sunday’s Harvest of Hope event for Game Plan 4 Hope.
