Much obliged

In the month of July we served 1,150 meals over 25 serving days (we closed for the Fourth) for an average of 46 meals per day. The averages in August are running about the same.

Once again, there are many people to thank for another successful month of service. We are blessed with the very best network of volunteers in the community.

Food donations were received from a number of anonymous sources in August. In addition to these, Woodland Good Samaritan Home sent lots of food, as did Park United Methodist, St. Andrew's Parish and Heidi Wagner. Thanks to all of you for remembering our ministry together in feeding the hungry.

A special word of thanks to Kentucky Fried Chicken who donated boxed meals at short notice to help us cover an evening in which a faithful coordinator had a family concern which prevented her from bringing her group. Park UMC stepped in to serve the meal that night. What a team! Thanks for the privilege of working together with all of you!

Bob Evans

Manager

Sharing Bread Soup Kitchen

British soccer camps

I would like to express my appreciation to the Brainerd Family YMCA and its Program Director, Dave Tagtmeier, for bringing British Soccer Camps to Brainerd (featured in your article on August 12th). It was by far the best sports camp for kids which I have ever been a part of. My seven-year-old son attended and thoroughly enjoyed the entire week. The coaches from Scotland and England helped him have a great time while working on his skills and learning more about soccer around the world. My wife and I were able to watch parts of the camp, and we were both extreme.y impressed with how the British coaches worked with the kids. Their focus was on helping the kids to have fun while they learn skills and instilling in them a love for the sport. I was glad to learn that the YMCA will be bringing British Soccer Camps back to Brainerd again next summer. It is a great program and a wonderful opportunity the YMCA has made available to our kids in this community. Thanks, YMCA.

Daniel E. Werthman

Brainerd

Kinship Partners

The Blueprints Program at Kinship Partners had its final meeting this past week. This summer's program of eight sessions included time fort the kids to make their own lunch before starting the designated activity for the day. Our sessions included t-shirt designing and printing, a science fair, a nature walk at the Paul Bunyan Nature Learning Center, a community service day at Pequot Lakes' Bean Hole Days, a MinnAqua fishing event, and a beach party at Cragun's Resort.

The learning experiences the 20 participating children had would not have been possible without the help of many people.

Kinship Partners would like to thank the following: Brad Carlson from Minnesota T's for providing materials and staff talent and time to help us design and print our Blueprints' t-shirts; Kathy Trees from Pequot Lakes for arranging for us to help with Bean Hole Days' clean-up; Beth and Deb from the MinnAqua Program; Travis from the Paul Bunyan Nature Learning Center; the Brainerd Parks and Recreation Department for allowing us to use the pavilion at Lum Park; Irma Cragun for letting us use the beautiful beach at Cragun's Resort; and Harv Johnston for tracking down dry ice pellets for our root beer experiment.

An especially heartfelt thank you to volunteers Fran Rodahl, Chad Forslin and Becky Miller for everything they did to make it possible for the Kinship Partners kids to have an enjoyable, educational experience in Blueprints 2000.

Pam Bundy

Kinship Partners

Activity coordinator

Parent Mentor Program

The Parent Mentor Program sends many gratitudes to several people and organizations which made it possible for the Parent Mentor Program to attend a two-day horse camp at Timber Bay Camp and Retreat Center.

We thank Timber Bay for a great time and for discount rates that made the retreat attainable, Family Service Collaborative for camp funding, St. Joseph's Foundation for training/education dollars to hire speaker Harry Walsh who did an excellent presentation on family issues, Mike Thielen for providing evening music.

An abundance of appreciation to mentors: Karlyn Anderson, Cindy Clow, Gail Fitch, Jane Giese, Becky Lapka, Marlys Lindert and Julie Owens. Thank you for staffing, organizing craft projects, games, hike trips, etc. Your generosity of time and energy put into this event was unbelievable. Your blissful smiles and creativity made camp a joy for all. Thank you to Tracy Lease and Mashona Doucette for providing babycare and to Casey Wagner for assisting with cabin staff.

Lynnette Wagner

Coordinator

Parent Mentor Program