While $60,000 raised sounds like a number some could never reach, Chris Kamrath and his sons Miles (15), Luke (13) and Charlie (11) pulled it off through their Cub Scout journeys by selling one order of popcorn at a time.

The Kamrath family has always been involved in Scouts with Chris being an Eagle Scout, Miles working toward becoming an Eagle Scout, Luke at the star rank and Charlie set to move from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts in February.

The family’s reign among the top popcorn sales people is coming to an end as Charlie wraps up Cub Scouts. They have placed between 10th and 25th place in Minnesota and western Wisconsin every year.

For Chris, all of the thanks goes back to a community that has been willing to give regardless of whether times are tough.

“The community is a big piece of it, being a giving community that I think cares about Scouts,” Chris said.

Chris was a Scout growing up and wanted his children to enter Scouts and at least give it a try. Miles entered as a kindergartner and the two bonded over it. Miles was interested in a LEGO Batman prize in return for popcorn sales and they worked their way to getting it.

“Ever since that, then the next year we kind of just would try to go bigger,” Chris said.

The first few years the Kamrath family sold at Somerset and New Richmond, but the last seven years they have been stationed at the grocery stores in River Falls.

Chris said Scouts learn a lot from the fundraising, with lessons such as making a first impression, connecting with people and dealing with rejection and moving on.

The family has sold about $5,000-$7,500 in the five-week selling window on average and they sell for hours on end to reach their goals.

Chris said Boy Scouts helped him a lot in life and Cub Scouts is the best way to get to Boy Scouts. Through raising the money, he hopes more people can get involved and have the positive experiences he did.

“It helped me in interviews, it gave me a skillset, it gave me an appreciation for nature,” Chris said.

Chris said the Scouts know their products can come at a price, but those who are willing to buy do so because of their support for Scouts and the community as a whole. He became the district administrator in Plum City in July and previously served as principal at Westside Elementary in River Falls for six years. Connecting with the community during popcorn sales has also served as a way for him to connect from a school standpoint.

“It quite honestly gives me energy to be out there and see people,” Chris said. “On a personal level I enjoy it, and I think people like seeing me as an administrator.”

Despite now being in Plum City rather than River Falls, Chris mentioned it is still good to make the connections in River Falls.

He saw that despite his three kids having different personalities, they all can do a good job selling even if it takes different methods.

“People will usually give you about five seconds, so they work really hard to kind of polish what that five seconds is,” Kamrath said.

For the last seven years, popcorn chair Alan Berner has met Chris despite the hour of the day or night to meet and keep them restocked. A strong community, sales skills and countless time spent have all gone into the process, and the Kamraths have become some of the best in the popcorn selling game.