The tradition of the Northfield Jingle Bell Run is that each year 100% of race registration fees go to a local non-profit organization. In honor of the 10th Anniversary of the event, a total of $10,000 will go to 10 worthy charities selected by 10 local groups. The exciting results will be announced on the day of the race.
Left photo: A group of agingmaturemiddle-aged young and perky women runners at the GBM yesterday. L to R: Linda Tollefson, Mary Loven, Laura Tiano, Mary Carlson, Kris Estenson, Nancy Carlson.
They’re hoping that they’ll be one of the ten groups selected to designate a charity of their choice. I hope to have identified those groups by sometime tomorrow.
I got this email from Justin Stets late last night, asking me to post the info below.
Griff: Mea culpa. Mea culpa. We/I have failed to keep you (as the leader in the Northfield online community) in the loop about the 5th Annual 5th Bridge FMSC event happening tomorrow and Saturday. I would appreciate any help you can give in posting the following information. As important, you are always welcome to the event to pack, to take pictures, to blog or to sing (probably in that order, though I must admit I have never actually heard you croon.)
I’m a great singer, as my children will attest but I decided instead to take photos this morning when students from Bridgewater, Sibley, and Northfield High School were packing food.
See the large slideshow of 16 photos (recommended) or SLOW CLICK this small slideshow:
Here’s the background info from Justin:
5th Bridge is sponsoring the MobilePack unit of Feed My Starving Children in Northfield on Friday, November 11 and Saturday, November 12. Over the course of the two-day event, 5th Bridge aims to engage 1,300+ area residents in packing 350,000 meals for starving children around the globe and raising $84,000 to pay for the cost of the meals. 5th Bridge raised the meal total from 250,000 to 350,000 as FMSC identified the pressing and urgent need to send food to the continent of Africa. 5th Bridge has taken on that challenge and we are calling upon more volunteers to help achieve that goal and pack food for children whom you will never meet.
This community has proven to be extraordinarily generous and we’re confident we’ll raise the funds necessary to pay for the meals. To date we’ve been successful at engaging a great range of participants. As an example, we’re expecting Sibley 5th graders and seniors from Millstream Commons on Friday morning. So, in short, this will an event that people of all ages will find rewarding. But we’re looking for more people power to pack meals. There are still a handful of openings for volunteers and we’d appreciate anything you can do to help spread the word.
Yesterday afternoon, local business owners, St. Olaf students, and miscellaneous other volunteers filled hundreds of sandbags on downtown’s west side behind Larson’s Printing.
Dear friends at Locally Grown – The 8th annual Northfield Jingle Bell Run/Walk was held on Saturday the 12th and was a great success. We had a super turn out and early numbers indicate that as a community we raised around $3,500 for the HealthFinders Collaborative. The 2009 planning committee sincerely thanks everyone who came out to run, walk or volunteer!
The Northfield mobile packing event for Feed My Starving Children, which was hosted by 5th Bridge, this past weekend, was a fabulous success. 171,072 nutritious, life saving meals, were packed by 705 Northfield volunteers and over $26,000 was donated by individuals and businesses to cover the costs of the food we packed. Simply put, 468 starving children around the world will be fed for the next year, because of the caring and generosity of Northfield residents.
5th Bridge has secured 800 Northfield-area volunteers to pack 150,000 meals and raise $22,500 for Feed My Starving Children this weekend. It all starts Friday at 11 am at the National Guard Armory and goes all day and all night through the weekend. See the press release (PDF) and the 5th Bridge FMSC page for details including who to contact if you’d like to volunteer.
Among the sponsors, contributors, and team sponsors:
Our local Circle of Service did a meal-packing stint at FMSC’s Eagan facility back in 2005. Here’s the slideshow:
Griff Wigley: Suzy Rook has a sidebar to today’s Nfld News update on last night’s Council meeting. Excerpt: The city administrator and finance director say they have asked for the information on several occasions, including last month...
David Henson: Peter, you have the Internet you do the research. Use San Francisco as a baseline (an accepting place) – gays there have very high rates of depression and drug use.
Peter Seebach (Seebs): Those are fascinating beliefs, but conveniently for us, the research has already been done, and they’re wrong. Legalizing gay marriage has no effect on the observed incidence of homosexuality, and the concept of...
David Henson: John, I understand sexuality to be a continuum and not a hard and discrete fact. I earnestly believe that if gay marriage is approved many more people will experiment with gay sex and some numbers will get AIDS (and depression and...
Peter Seebach (Seebs): Kiffi, I am not sure that is fair. As long as peoples’ condemnation does not translate into hostile action, I am of the general opinion that people have a right to condemn behaviors they disapprove of, whether or not...
kiffi summa: David: it does not profit a discussion to take comments to the evaluation point outside of the context within which they were written. I fully resent your remark: “your views seem highly intolerant”… I have...
john george: Living where we do, it is only a few blocks walk to North Street and a grand view of the sunsets. Also, with our neighbors’ mature white pines & spruce, our covered deck affords outdoor enjoyment with a fair amount of...
Griff Wigley: Props to the newspaper and Suzy Rook for mentioning LoGro twice in the story: Fire Department officials, including Fire Chief Gerry Franek, did not respond to several requests from the News for association financial records or...
Griff Wigley: Posted to Northfield News at 1pm: Ethical questions arise over Northfield Fire Relief Association expenses Donations made to Northfield Fire Relief Association aren’t public dollars, but that hasn’t extinguished city...
Griff Wigley: Curt/Robert, There’s a summary of the Rescue Squad on Page 21 of the 2009 NFD report to the City. It doesn’t mention that there’s a Rescue Squad Association. The last paragraph states: The Northfield Rescue Squad is...
Robert Palmquist: If Hvistendahl’s motivation was to keep the financials from getting known, his submitting a memo like that just really backfired. I agree, why would these financials be such a secret??? And why did the NRSA hire a lawyer to...
Curt Benson: So Hvistendahl has found another place to wet his beak. You ask a good question, “Why is it important that the City not know the Northfield Rescue Squad Association financials?”
Jim Haas: Happens to me a lot. So much that my lovely wife had to coin a term for it: she says I have datelexia.
norman butler: Since coming to my adopted country 16 years ago I have observed, amongst other things, that not putting the day with the date is both common and peculiar to Northfield (MN? USA?).
John Thomas: Just a reminder, advance tickets for Girls Night Out 2012 can be purchased on The Grand’s website at http://www.thegrandnorthfield. com/public-events. Your tickets will then be available at a special “Will Call” at...
Liz Reppe: This is a great place to buy plants! Jeni is very knowledgeable and they are both really helpful. You get great service and plant expertise, but the prices are not higher than other places in town.
Griff Wigley: Jordan Osterman, the new Sports Editor for the Northfield News, scooped me on Saturday. I’m glad! Northfield high school mountain bike team forming As a club sport, mountain biking would have no official affiliation with either...
Griff Wigley: Good suggestion, Curt. I’ll do that for next week’s blurb. I have been verbally emphasizing the importance of having girls on the team, especially since their points on race days count more than boys’ points. Other...
Curt Benson: Hey Griff, I wonder if you shouldn’t put a bit more emphasis on the idea that you’re recruiting both boys and girls for this team. And that the scores for both the boys and girls make up a team score. I think that in the...
Griff Wigley: It should be noted that this team does not yet exist! So this meeting is for those student-athletes (and their parents) who might be interested in joining this new team.
bill metz: While most of how Jake is being remembered revolves around, and rightly so, his great and wonderful talent as an artist and teacher and the works of sculpture he has left for our and the next generations enjoyment, I have had the...
Ross Currier: It was an honor for me and the NDDC to work with Jake. His pieces of sculpture in our community send a powerful visual message that Northfield is an Art Town. I still marvel at his clever and creative approach to building social and...
paul krause: The memorial service will be held at 11am. Doors to the Chapel will open at 10am for a chance to visit with family members and friends to share memories of our dear friend. Anyone who would like to view the documentary Harvest (which...
kiffi summa: Come on, Griff… you say you’re “more than a little clueless about about investments” but you “just happened to notice”… and from what you said, were reading analytically, etc etc… Once...
Griff Wigley: I’m more than a little clueless about investments but I noticed on page 14 in the April 24 Council packet that the Fire Relief Association has 85% of its pension portfolio in stocks. Isn’t that a bit risky/aggressive for...
Griff Wigley: Has there been any media reporting on the intergovernmental meeting in Bridgewater Township that was held on April 25 re: the Rural Fire Protection District and the City of Northfield?
Jim Mangan: I noticed this morning that a few of the newly planted trees along South Highway 3 have a pronounced lean. Could it be storm damage?
Ross Currier: It’s great that someone is enhancing the connection between downtown and uptown. I know they coordinated their work with MNDoT, City staff, and the Streetscape Task Force. Uh, raise your trowels in a toast to the Northfield...
Vicki Serreno: I wish I’d known – this is my neighborhood since I left Northfield in 2010. I’d have shown up to support them.
Kathie Galotti: My neighbor and sometimes babysitter Maggie Kennedy appears in this video as well! Go Maggie, and Cliff and Sophie and Parker and everyone else! Well done, guys!
Peter Seebach (Seebs): Heh, we had those when I was in college. Guess we’re making progress, they’re starting years earlier now!
Sandy Vesledahl: Thanks for blogging our garage sale Griff! We are at 2018 Jefferson Rd, Suite 1, thanks to the Jasnoch Family for allowing us to use the space. We will be there until 5:00 today and again from 8-2 on Saturday. We’ve had a...
Bright Spencer: I have an 8 year old dog that has not been neutered, has not reproduced and never been out unleashed except in our yard. It costs nothing to care for your pet properly.
Bright Spencer: To see this makes me so happy! Best of luck to you!
Peter Seebach (Seebs): For what it’s worth, I’m pretty happy with the whole process so far, although we found exciting new things out about the land development code, such as “the rules for calculating how tall a building is for...
Peter Seebach (Seebs): Not a hot tub, a swimming pool. One of those backyard pools you can get at k-mart, and the greenhouse is so we can use it a couple months earlier in spring and later in fall.
Arlen Malecha: I wish more establishments had outdoor seating & dining. Now that our offices (Coldwell Banker South Metro www.CBSouthMetro.com are downtown, I love to see people sitting and dining outside. It is fun to walk up and down...
Sean Hayford O'Leary: I would say the current configuration of Division Street makes me grateful not everyone is doing it. Sidewalk dining brings a lot of livelihood to the street — but I’ll admit that I’ve been occasionally...
Griff Wigley: Rebecca, there are several Northfield eating and drinking establishments that have outdoor dining with tables and chairs, serving alcohol, but not SIDEWALK dining. Downtown ones that come to mind: The Tavern, Chapati, The Cow, Froggy...
Rebecca Bliss: Timely post, Griff -I didn’t realize this. I was just commenting to my husband about how nice it would be to dine al fresco now that the weather is getting warmer. Guess this is another discovery for the new...
Patty Gallivan: MOST Northfield volunteers are waiting for someone who DARES boost a program with evidence of effectiveness to come forward with leadership to actually make a difference with students in our Northfield schools. Make sure to let us...
Kathie Galotti: Personally, for me, I would rather have my tax dollars going to support health care and education than to set up a large infrastructure to protect against what seems to be (at least from published, reputable sources) a small...
Griff: Mea culpa. Mea culpa. We/I have failed to keep you (as the leader in the Northfield online community) in the loop about the 
Current Discussion Threads