CAREER

■ Angus breeders

gain national recognition

Flying W Ranch, W R Bar Ranch, both of Pequot Lakes and Four Ace Angus, Fort Ripley, gained national recognition from the American Angus Association.

Flying W Ranch was recognized for having 29 registered Angus cows included in the Association’s 2013 Pathfinder Report. Four Ace Angus was recognized for having one registered Angus cow. W R Bar Ranch was recognized for having 16 registered Angus cows.

Only 1,992 of the more than 25,000 American Angus Association members are represented in this year’s report, according to Bill Bowman, chief operating officer and director of performance programs of the Association with headquarters in Saint Joseph, Mo.

The Pathfinder program identifies superior Angus cows based upon recorded performance traits economically important to efficient beef production. These traits include early and regular calving and heavy weaning weights, Bowman says. More than two million eligible dams with more than 6.8 million weaning records were examined to determine Pathfinder status.

All registered Angus cows that meet the strict Pathfinder standards are listed, along with their owners, in the Pathfinder Report that is published annually by the Association.

The 2013 Pathfinder Report lists 8,680 individual cows and 234 Pathfinder sires. It is published online at www.angus.org and printed copies are available from the association. The largest number of Pathfinder cows from a single herd this year is 96. Started in 1978, the Pathfinder Program continues to recognize outstanding breeders participating in the Angus Herd Improvement Records Program.

■ HealthSource to host donation drive for the March of Dimes

BAXTER—HealthSource Chiropractic and Progressive Wellness, Baxter, is providing a community health screening for the March of Dimes by in exchange for a $10 donation to the not-for-profit organization.

Donations will be accepted at the office located at 7656 Design Road Suite 100 until March 31, but contributors are encouraged to call and set up an appointment.

The March of Dimes works to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality.

EVENTS

■ Chamber to sponsor

Business After Hours

LITTLE FALLS — The Little Falls Area Chamber of Commerce will conduct its next Business After Hours networking event from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Thursday at the Chamber of Commerce, 200 First St. NW, Little Falls. Hosting the event is Comfort Keepers, Marshik Insurance, Minnesota Fishing Museum, Pam Kauppila State Farm Insurance and PrimeLending.

This event is free and open to all chamber members and their employees. For more information, call the chamber at 320-632-5155.

■ Chamber announces businesses, volunteer of the year

LITTLE FALLS — The Little Falls Area Chamber of Commerce announced its 2012 small and large business of the year and its 2012 volunteer of the year.

The 2012 Small Business of the Year is Silkers Studio, Little Falls. Since 1957, Silker Studio has been providing professional portraits, wedding, commercial, editorial and travel photography, specialty photofinishing services, DVD shows and graphic design services photographing nearly 2,000 weddings and 650,000 school pictures in 21 countries and 32 states. The chamber’s 2012 Large Business of the Year is Mid Minnesota Federal Credit Union (MMFCU). The credit union started in 1956 with seven members and $175 in deposits, MMFCU has grown to eight branches and 35,000 members. The Little Falls branch has grown 54 percent in the past four years. The 2012 Little Falls Area Chamber of Commerce Volunteer of the Year is Jeff Tschida, West Side Bar. At the age of 15, Tschida started volunteering at St. Gabriel’s Hospital. For the past 40 years, he has given generously of his time and talents to not only the Chamber of Commerce, but also the Little Falls Lindbergh Lions, West Side Improvement Association, City of Little Falls through the Park, Recreation & Tree Board, Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Council, Pheasants Forever, Eastern Morrison County Four-Wheeler Club and the Little Falls Rifle & Pistol Club.

Honorees were recognized at the chamber’s 124th annual meeting Feb. 28 at the Falls Ballroom.

For more information contact the Little Falls Area Chamber of Commerce by calling 320-632-5155 or www.littlefallsmnchamber.com.

WORKSHOPS

■ ‘Going Into Business For Yourself’ at CLC March 9

Central Lakes College has scheduled a “Going Into Business For Yourself” class at the Business and Industry Center in Brainerd from 9 a.m. to noon March 9.

This session covers all areas of business start-up, helpful advice on how to get your dream off the ground and stay profitable, including financing a new venture.

Follow-up counseling is available to qualified individuals from the Small Business Development Center’s team of consultants at no charge to the individual.

Tuition is $49 per person plus $29 for each additional business partner. Instructor is Jay Bock.

Deadline to register is March 4.

To register go to http://clcmn.augusoft.net/. For more information contact the SBDC at 800-933-0346 ext. 8140, or 855-8140.

■ Series aims to help people

be successful entrepreneurs

An Advantage business series includes four short one-and-a-half sessions to help people be better prepared if they are looking to start a business and some sessions contain information helpful to those already in business. Follow-up counseling is available from the Small Business Development Center’s team of consultants at no charge.

Accounting tools is 6-7:30 p.m. March 19 at Central Lakes College in Brainerd at Room E151. Enter at Door No. 6. Accounting is the business function of recording, reporting and analyzing financial information. Accounting can help owners make smart decisions through the careful analysis of financial information relating to current operations and new business opportunities. This session will review the most popular accounting tools used today. Participants will also learn what types of information they should expect to get out of their accounting system to run their small business. Watch for the other upcoming sessions in the series; Business Planning, Forms of Business Structure and Marketing Your Small Business.

Cost is $30 per person, per session or $100/person for all four. Instructor is Jay Bock.

Deadline to register is seven days prior to the class date. For more information, go to http://clcmn.augusoft.net/ or contact Melissa Pikula at 855-8140 or sbdcuser@clcmn.edu.

■ State Farm offers $25,000 grant

Do you have an idea that would make your community a better place to live, and would $25,000 be a game-changer?

Through Wednesday, State Farm is offering people from the United States and Canada the opportunity to submit a cause for a chance to win a $25,000 State Farm Neighborhood Assist http://www.statefarm.com/neighborhoodassist grant.

Neighborhood Assist is a youth-led philanthropic program that empowers people to identify issues in their community. Then the program connects them with a local nonprofit that may help solve the problem by providing an opportunity to receive one of 40 $25,000 grants.

In 2012, State Farm grants reached 22 states and 40 communities that ranged in population from 222 to eight million people. Examples of winning causes include helping an animal shelter replace its rescue van and assisting organizations that support the homeless and impoverished. Six neighborhood parks were built or improved, while more than 65 percent of the causes directly impacted youth.

The cause that received the most votes in 2012 was Skate for Change http://www.skateforchange.org, a group of skateboarders committed to giving back to the low income and homeless in Lincoln, Neb.

When the maximum of 3,000 submissions are received by the deadline, the State Farm Youth Advisory Board will review all submissions and identify the top 200 based on a scoring rubric. The top 200 causes will be announced on Facebook on April 4 and anyone who has the free Facebook application can vote for their favorite causes with up to 10 votes per day until April 22. On April 29 on the Facebook app, the top 40 vote-receiving causes will be announced.

How to submit a business note

The Dispatch welcomes business notes submissions via email to renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com, or fax to 218-829-0211, or via the online form at www.brainerddispatch.com, via mail to Brainerd Dispatch, P.O. Box 974, Brainerd, MN 56401 or use the drop-off box in the alley next to the Dispatch building on James Street. Questions are welcome to Renee Richardson at 855-5852.