Much obliged

Just before the snow fell, residents and staff at Bethany Good Samaritan Village were graced with a gift that will grow and provide great pleasure in the years to come. Jeff Dirks, a horticultural instructor at Central Lakes College, and many of his students donated one entire day to transplanting perennials in our newly developed Healing Garden. In a matter of eight hours, they transformed the courtyard, and along with their hard work, just the gift of their enthusiastic spirit gave a transfusion of new energy to our residents and staff. We thank you, Jeff and students, and we can hardly wait to see what comes up next spring!

Lilja Behr

Chaplain

Lois Lahr

Community relations director

Bethany Good Samaritan Village

Child Protection Team

The Crow wing County Child Protection was pleased to bring Dave Pelzer, award winning author and survivor of extreme child abuse to the Crow Wing County area Oct. 22 and Oct. 23. Mr. Pelzer appeared in Crosby-Ironton School, Washington Middle School, Pequot Lakes School and Brainerd High School as well as delivering a keynote presentation to an adult population at Tornstrom Auditorium. Mr. Pelzer's presentations are always inspirational and uplifting.

The Team is proud to be able to financially support this endeavor with Radiothon to End Child Abuse Funds along with Community Education ISD 181, Community Education ISD 186, Crow Wing County Attorney's Office, St. Joseph's Medical Center Foundation and The Brainerd Daily Dispatch.

We have been encouraged by the positive response from students and community members and are confident that Mr. Pelzer's message was well received. Thanks to all who worked so hard to make this project such a success.

Debra Anderson

Chairperson

Crow Wing County Child Protection Team

Brainerd

Salvation Army

The Salvation Army would like to acknowledge and thank the Boy Scouts for the fantastic job they did during their food drive. They collected around 9,000 pounds of food for our food shelf. This was several hundred pounds over last year's amount.

Our community is growing and food shelf usage is on the rise. Without the support we receive from sources such as the Boy Scouts, we wouldn't be able to meet the increasing need in our community.

Thank you again for a great job well done!

Salvation Army

Brainerd

Tornado relief

A very special thank you goes out to all who helped us after the tornado in mid-June. Your help was greatly appreciated!

Robert and Rita Matthews

Brainerd