The Central Minnesota Credit Union in St. Joseph showed its appreciation of cops on National Law Enforcement Day by buying coffee for local police officers with a gift card to The Local Blend in St. Joseph.
Participants in the March 4 event with (center) St. Joseph police officer Matt Johnson are (front row, left to right) tellers Molley Kroska-Stock and Ashley Gwost; (middle row) lead teller Christa Provo and project manager Kim Arvidson, and (back row) personal banker Edgar Moloy and teller Michael Chase.
The College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph was recently named 16th in a list of the best small colleges for 2016.
The ranking was created using the Integrated Post-secondary Education Data System to narrow a list of schools granting four-year degrees or more and with a total enrollment of 4,000 students or less. The schools were then ranked based on net price, retention rate, graduation rate and class size.
Five organizations serving communities in Central Minnesota were recipients of grants by the St. Paul-based Otto Bremer Trust as part of its most recent grant-making cycle to support charitable activities on a wide range of issues such as homelessness, financial stability and domestic violence.
Grants awarded to organizations in Central Minnesota include: Central Minnesota Council, Boy Scouts of America, Sartell, $40,000, to support Scout Reach, a program that encourages young people with financial or cultural barriers to participate in a scouting experience; Central Minnesota Mental Health Center, St. Cloud, $65,000, to support the St. Cloud Area Child Response Initiative, which provides a coordinated community response to children and families who have experienced violence or trauma; CommunityGiving, St. Cloud, $100,000, to build the capacity of community foundations in order to leverage financial and community resources; Promise Neighborhood of Central Minnesota, St. Cloud, $45,000, to provide family support services to low-income children and adults in the Talahi neighborhood of St. Cloud; and Tri-County Action Program Inc., Waite Park, $50,000, to provide free tax preparation to low-income residents of Central Minnesota by IRS-certified, volunteer tax preparers.
In 2015, the Otto Bremer Trust awarded more than $45 million in grants and program-related investments that support charitable activities at more than 500 organizations in Minnesota, North Dakota and western Wisconsin.
