Read a Book, Help A Cowboy

by Shanna Hatfield

Today kicks off my sixth annual Read a Book, Help a Cowboy Campaign! Yeehaw!

Today through December 24,  ten percent of the net proceeds from any Shanna Hatfield book purchase are donated to the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund.

The JCCF is a non-profit organization that assists rodeo athletes who’ve sustained catastrophic injuries and are unable to work for an extended period. The JCCF steps in and steps up, offering support to injured cowboys until they can get back on their feet and back to competing.  The JCCF also dedicate one hundred percent of all contributions received for disbursement to eligible applicants without any administrative fees being subtracted. When you donate $1, that whole dollar goes directly into the fund.

Founded in 1990 by the Justin Boot Company in partnership with the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) and the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA) the fund was granted 501-C3 status as a non-profit charity organization in 1991. To date, the JCCF has awarded nearly $8 million in need-based financial assistance to almost 1,100 injured rodeo athletes and their families. Among those who serve on the board are recording artist Charlie Daniels, Professional Baseball Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan, and former Dallas Cowboy star Walt Garrison.

Back in 2013, I was researching details for The Christmas Cowboy, the first book in the Rodeo Romance series.

I wanted to know how much medical care an injured cowboy would receive at a rodeo versus going to the hospital.

In the story, the hero is a saddle bronc rider named Tate who sustains an injury at a rodeo.

In an attempt to get my facts straight for the story, I reached out to the Justin Sportsmedicine Team®. Through mobile medical centers, they provide care at more than 125 PRCA rodeos annually.  Their responses to my questions were extremely helpful and that was when I first learned about the JCCF. I was so impressed with the Justin Sportsmedicine Team®, I wanted to do a little something in return to express my gratitude.

So I launched a campaign to donate a portion of my book sales to the JCCF during the month of December.

In 2015, I added the month of November to my promotion, including two months to raise funds for JCCF. This year, I’m extending the promotion period for my Read a Book, Help a Cowboy campaign to begin today, October 1!

If you enjoy rodeos and the cowboys who make them possible (or reading about them in books), I hope you’ll take a look at the JCCF. It’s a great organization that really does make a difference when these cowboys are injured.

And I hope you’ll take a look at my books, too!

You can find my books in digital, paperback, hardback, and audio formats. I write sweet historical and contemporary romance, rural humor, and I’ve also written a children’s book, cookbooks, and entertaining guides.

A new book that officially releases tomorrow (but just happens to be available today!), is A Cowboy Christmas. It features more than 70 recipes with full color photos, holiday how-tos, entertaining tips, gift and decorating ideas. 

It also has nine interviews with rodeo and ranch families and four of them know first-hand how incredible the JCCF can be when a cowboy is injured. 

Here's a recipe from the cookbook:

Chocolate Chex Trees

These yummy and adorable trees are so simple to make and a great project if you have kids at home who need something to do. Set them on a disposable plate, foil-wrapped piece of cardboard, or a large sugar cookie wrapped in cellophane for gift-giving!

Yield: Makes 6 trees

Ingredients:

3 cups Chex Chocolate cereal

6 pretzel sticks (the thick kind, made for dipping)

½ cup peanut butter

¼ cup Nutella

3 tablespoons butter, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

Mix the peanut but­ter, Nutella, but­ter, and pow­dered sugar in a bowl.

On whatever you plan to use for a base, mold the peanut butter mixture around the pretzel stick until it stands upright and forms a slight cone shape.

Hold it steady by using the tip of the pret­zel as a han­dle and begin insert­ing pieces of cereal into the peanut but­ter mix­ture in a sym­met­ri­cal pat­tern around the stick. You can tip the cereal pieces up or down, depending on your personal preference. Add more cereal pieces, stag­ger­ing them as you move upward, until you get near the top.

For the top of the tree, use broken pieces or cut them in half to get the smaller scale of branches near the top.

Use two pieces of cereal back to back to form the top.

Dust with powdered sugar. 

USA Today bestselling author Shanna Hatfield is a farm girl who loves to write. Her sweet historical and contemporary romances are filled with sarcasm, humor, hope, and hunky heroes. When Shanna isn’t dreaming up unforgettable characters, twisting plots, or covertly seeking dark, decadent chocolate, she hangs out with her beloved husband, Captain Cavedweller.

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