By Rich Larson, News Director
Laura Baker Services Association will hold their annual fundraiser gala on Saturday, December 5th, but like many things this year, the global pandemic has forced the organization to move away from their traditional setting.
What had been a formal event is now an online presentation called the Beacons of Hope Gala. Video presentations will be made throughout the evening highlighting the services Laura Baker provides and spotlighting a few members of the Laura Baker Staff, as well as some of their clients.
The gala this year is especially important to Laura Baker, because in the face of the pandemic, much of their funding has been jeopardized. LBSA Executive Director Sandi Gerdes said that 95% of the funding Laura Baker receives comes from Medicaid. There are concerns that Medicaid will suffer some deep cuts in the next federal budget, jeopardizing not just services offered by Laura Baker, but similar organizations across the country. And while the federal government did try to mitigate some of the funding issues this year with the CARES Act, Gerdes said those funds only account for a small portion of their losses.
“The pandemic has created deep financial losses for providers, and the CARES Act funding that was provided has been insufficient to address those losses. The CARES Act provides for about 2% of revenues for providers, and our losses have been much greater than that. There is real concern that services for people with disabilities will be impacted; that services go away for many people.”
The Laura Baker Beacons of Hope Gala is Saturday, December 5th at 7pm. It is free to watch, but guests are asked to RSVP HERE on the LBSA website at laurabaker.org.
Listen to Sandi Gerdes’ entire conversation with Jeff Johnson HERE.
St. Olaf must modify plan to gain CUP approval
The proposed redevelopment of the property around the far west end of St. Olaf Avenue is causing some concern about traffic in the neighborhoods around the St. Olaf campus.
St. Olaf college has proposed a redevelopment plan that would build a new residence hall on the south side of St. Olaf avenue and townhouse style student housing on the north, along with a new 200 stall parking lot.
Last week the Northfield Planning Commission held a public hearing regarding the issuance of the Conditional Use Permit for the project but rejected the parking lot because the board found it to be “excessive.” The Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend that the City Council approve the Conditional Use Permit only if the new parking stalls are removed.
No word from St. Olaf yet on how they plan to proceed.
Salvation Army calls for volunteers
And the Rice County Salvation Army is sending out an emergency plea for Bell 
Ringers in Northfield. Jim Dale, the Rice County Red Kettle coordinator said yesterday that they are in dire need of volunteers to attend the kettles.
This year, the bell ringers are only out on Fridays and Saturdays, except for the week leading up to Christmas, and this week, leading up to Thanksgiving. Dale said despite the lack of volunteers, the campaign is progressing well. He was quick to single out the Northfield Police Department as an example of how organizations can help.
Anyone interested in volunteering for the Red Kettle campaign can do so by calling Jim Dale at (715) 733-0575, or going to registertoring.com.
