By Rich Larson, News Director
As it has been for just about every walk of life, 2020 has been a challenging year for non-profit groups. Many non-profits rely on an annual event, 
often times multiple annual events, to bolster their fundraising efforts. But due to the Covid-19 pandemic such things were impossible this year, and so non-profits have had to get creative.
To that end, Northfield Shares will host a virtual fundraiser called Northfield Shares an Evening of Entertainment on January 23rd. The online event will feature a broad lineup of artists and entertainers, all with a connection to Northfield, in the hopes to raise money for the various programs the foundation runs.
Northfield Shares program director, Carrie Carroll, called the program a non-traditional virtual fundraiser. While viewers can expect to see and hear the requisite wonderful music that is always associated with these events, the presentation will also feature visual arts, humor, film and even food.
“We’re even going to go into the realm of Culinary arts, aka restaurants. Some of our local restaurants are partnering with us to be creative or maybe offer a drink for the night, or a special meal that people can pre-order and pick up. So, we’re really trying to engage our full community in all different shapes, sizes and forms.”
Carroll said that while 2020 has been a challenge, Northfield Shares has still been able to do some good work for the community.
“The share in Northfield’s Future Fund was something we would call a smashing success. We were able to raise $170,000.00 and then turn around and distribute that money, plus other dollars, to our local non-profits. [We wanted to] help them through a year where obviously they were not able to do their fundraising as typically done. We felt really good about that. We have a board member that uses the phrase ‘Raising All Boats,’ and we like to think that that’s what we’re really about, helping the whole community.”
Among the people lending their talents to Northfield Shares an Evening of Entertainment are Casey Wasner, Stina Nesbitt, Ben Wang, The Over and Back Band, Sam Ryden, the Northfield Youth Choirs and many more.
Northfield Shares an Evening of Talent is set for 7pm on Saturday, January 23. It will be free to watch, but registration is required. To register visit northfieldshares.org/entertainment.
New show, National Security This Week, hosted by Jon Olson, set for Wednesdays at 9am
And yesterday, KYMN announced a new show set for Wednesday mornings. National Security This Week will be hosted by Jon Olson, a retired Naval Intelligence officer, Minnesota native and adjunct professor at Carleton College and Metropolitan State University.
Olson said the reason he decided to do a show like this was to help fill in some of the gaps in the way Minnesotans look at the world.
“Here in Minnesota, we really don’t think too much about national security and how national security challenges and issues around the world might impact us. I think that was driven home, particularly for our farmers, when the trade war began with China. That was a direct impact, with the tariffs and everything else, and how it affected people here in Minnesota, and the Minnesota economy. And we also don’t think very much about conflicts that are taking place around the world, and the fact that we do have young Minnesotans that join the military and are sent into harm’s way.”
Olson said that, as a recent candidate for State Senate, he would sometimes see a general lack of understanding in how issues of national security related to Minnesotans, referencing the recent trade war with China. He feels his expertise can offer some better perspectives on such issues. More importantly, he said, he has quite a few contacts in the world of National Security and he is going to bring those people to his show to lend their expertise as well.
“We’ll have retired and current foreign service officers serving in the State Department to come in and talk about the diplomatic engagement piece. We’ll have retired or current members of the military coming in and talking about military and intelligence related topics that directly reflect what’s happening out there in the world today. And we’ll have people come in and talk very specifically about trade issues. Because those things impact us here in Minnesota.”
National Security This Week will premiere on KYMN next Wednesday at 9am.
A more in-depth conversation with Jon Olson can be heard here.
