CAC seeking much needed donations for food shelves
The Community Action Center has put out a last call for donations to the Open Your Heart July fundraising challenge. 
Open Your Heart is an annual statewide challenge that raises money for food banks during the month of July. Minnesotans can donate to their local food banks directly and then at the end of the month, food banks will receive an additional percentage of donations of up to $4000 matched by the organization Hunger Solutions.
Anika Rychner, Senior Director of the CAC, said they have participated in Open Your Heart before, but this year is an especially important fundraiser. She said not only are people in the community feeling the effects of higher food costs, but food shelves are as well. Federally subsidized and donated commodity foods that are normally available to food banks are down by 50% this year.
Rychner pointed out that donating to the Open Your Heart fund between now and Sunday July 31st can significantly stretch that donation’s impact. Not only will it help the CAC receive a donation match from Hunger Solutions, but several anonymous donors in Rice County have also come forward to match donations up to several thousand dollars each. Because of this, Rychner said those monetary donations will have more than double its normal affect.
Rychner also said, as always, food donations are welcome at the CAC’s food shelves in Northfield and Faribault, as well. But she emphasized that monetary donations can be utilized by the CAC or any food shelf extremely efficiently. She said the CAC can stretch donations for food purchases up to ten to one because they can leverage their buying power and buy in bulk from suppliers.
“We’ve seen a 50% increase in people accessing food from us since January. That’s incredibly significant,” she said. “And we have reduced free food from the government, so we’ve been forced to think creatively. It’s a very important time for us to support our neighbors.”
In addition to monetary donations, the CAC is currently recruiting volunteers to work in Northfield and Faribault. To volunteer or donate, visit communityactioncenter.org.
Community School program receives funding extension
The Northfield School District has announced that funding for the Greenvale Community School Program has been extended for another
three years after a Community Learning Grant was extended for another three years by the Federal Department of Education. Additionally, the program, which has seen great success at Greenvale Park Elementary School, is being extended to both Bridgewater and Spring Creek Elementary schools.
Established in 2017, the Community School program establishes several after-school programs for students as well as the families of those students, in an effort to help close the achievement gap.
Among the activities and resources offered to the adult members of the families are Zumba, Yoga, diabetes education, all through the HealthFinders Collaborative, as well as adult English classes, and evening art classes. The program also sponsors celebrations for events like Day of the Dead. And bus transportation is provided to and from the surrounding neighborhoods.
Northfield Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Matt Hillmann said inviting families to be participants in the program is the key to the program’s success.
“When families are engaged at their child’s school, we are all working together as partners. And the student is the one who wins.”
With that in mind, Hillmann said the expansion of the program is something he is very excited about. The growth was spurred by a requirement that some of the funds received from the American Rescue Plan Act be put toward after school activities. The Community School program has been among the most successful in the district, so Hillmann said expansion was an obvious choice. He said the three schools will share some staff, and coordinators for Bridgewater and Spring Creek are being hired right now.
Hillmann said the program is assisted by Healthy Community Initiative and Northfield Promise for data collection and reporting. He said the data shows what he believed would happen through this program at its inception.
“Over that time at Greenvale Park, we have seen the academic performance of those students improve, we have also seen family engagement and the families’ perception of the school environment go up as well. We know the Community School model is a successful one, because it brings everybody to the table to make sure that we’re doing the most important thing we can do, and that’s supporting students in every way that we can.”
The extended programs at Bridgewater and Spring Creek, Hillmann said, will begin this fall.
Division Street hosting Crazy Daze today
And it’s Crazy Daze today on Division Street. Northfield’s annual shopping event, sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, is back with new
events and vendors.
Sales and events are happening throughout Downtown Northfield. Thirty businesses not located downtown will have booths on Division Street as well. Other businesses like Used a Bit and the Clothes Closet will celebrate with sales at their locations.
There will be two barbeque food trucks serving food throughout the day. Tin Tea will also be selling egg rolls at Bridge Square.
There will be many family-friendly events, including the traditional hula hoop contest outside the Rare Pair at 2:00pm and a brand-new two-story rock-climbing wall. After the hula hoop contest Pam Thompson from the Northfield News will do a newspaper toss. The Northfield Hockey Association will be doing a trick show on rollerblades. There will also be the annual classic car and jeep show outside the VFW around 5:00pm.
The Chamber of Commerce will also have a booth at Bridge Square where they will have Chamber Bucks for sale which can be used at businesses during Crazy Daze. For every $100 of Chamber Bucks you buy, you’ll get $10 free up to $1,000.
Minnesota businesses interested in doing business in the Northfield area can also sign up at the Chamber of Commerce booth to join the Chamber of Commerce at 50% off for the first year. This deal will only be available today and tomorrow.
Chamber President Jane Bartho said, the Chamber has been running Crazy Daze for decades, but this is the first time they have offered something like this.
“It’s a wonderful organization, a great association, great people to work with of course, and lots of ways to support the community within a Chamber membership. So, we’re going to be crazy and throw that out for two days only.”
The Chamber has members from many cities, not just Northfield, including Owatonna, Waseca, and Lakeville. Bartho said, “It’s not where you live, it’s where you’d like to do business or increase your business.
Crazy Daze is today from 7:00am to 7:00pm.
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
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