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 aging mature middle-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.

See:

• All the LoGro blog posts and photo albums of Jingle Bell Run going back to 2005 (NB: as of this morning, Google Picasa’s embedded slideshow feature is FUBAR)
• Jerry Smith’s article in the Nfld News for more detail on this year’s event: Jingle Bell Run/Walk unveils new element for 10th anniversary.

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.

Here are the two-hour spots we’re trying to fill:

• Friday, November 11 from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.
• Friday, November 11 from 5 to 7 p.m.
• Saturday, November 12 from 8 to 10 a.m.
• Saturday, November 12 from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.

All sessions will take place at Perkins Specialized Transportation (1800 Riverview Drive). A complete schedule and online registration is available on the 5th Bridge FMSC page.

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.

Candy Taylor, Executive Director of 5th Bridge, was the volunteer coordinator. See the 5th Bridge flood volunteer page and the Northfield.org flood volunteer information page for more info.

See the album of 14 23 26 54 photos, the large slideshow (recommended), or this small slideshow:

The Northfield Healthy Community Initiative Mini-Grants Program is this year’s charitable recipient.

See my Jingle Bell Run photo albums from 2005, 06, 07:

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!

Top finishers are posted on the JBRW home page, along with the names of “local businesses and individuals who contributed food, beverages or winner prizes.”

See the 200+ photos in the Fifth Bridge Flickr photo set of the event or this small slideshow:

See my photo albums from 2005, 06, 07:

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.

See the 2008 FMSC photo album or this slideshow:

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:

See the album.