Vietnam may be over 8,000 miles away from Minnesota, but a group of 80 people are soon going to make the long trek.
Our own Don Hickman, along with his wife and two kids are among those in the group planning to go - their daughter, Ellen, was adopted from Vietnam almost ten years ago. Hickman’s family will be helping to build houses as part of their six-day venture.
The Catalyst Foundation (the trip's sponsor) is a nonprofit based in Northfield, MN, that improves the lives of at-risk Vietnamese by working to prevent child trafficking and building houses and schools. Once the homes and schools are built, children learn to read and write and be recognized as citizens so they are better able to receive assistance.
Hickman’s family traveled to Vietnam in 2000 to adopt Ellen, so this time they want to go and return the good deed by helping in anyway possible. 
While in Vietnam, Hickman’s daughter wants to bring school supplies with to teach the Vietnamese children English. The trip is set to take place in this month and each of the families are expected to donate $3,000 to help purchase building supplies.
Hickman is hoping people are willing to donate to the Vietnam Aid Expedition to help raise the funds needed. For more information or to donate contact Don or visit the Catalyst Foundation at: http://www.catalystfoundation.org/
Kathy recently received a new chair for the office from the Anderson Center of St. Cloud.
She received the chair as a “Thank You” for participating in the Anderson Center’s Roundtable Forum - a gathering of Minnesota business leaders who are committed to excellence and business development.
The chair is eye-catching and fits in quite nicely with its wood frame, blue cushion and engraving of the Anderson Center Roundtable’s logo on the backrest of the chair.
What's the significance of a chair?
“It’s about partnership,” she said. “Having gone through their Executive Forum, I can attest to the high quality of their training.”
She went on to say: “We're proud to be a partner with the Center in supporting the growth and development of local companies that provide quality jobs. These services complement our business financing programs and community and economic development mission very well.”
The Anderson Center’s mission is to provide management and business development services that facilitate economic progress in Greater Minnesota. They work with the six Minnesota Initiative Foundations by proving scholarships to nonprofits and other small organizations so that they can attend a Center Forum.
Learn more about the Anderson Center at: www.acmbd.org.
We are incredibly excited to share news about a loan that we just closed on a few hours ago...
Larson Boat Company has been a key business in Little Falls since the early 1900's. At it's peak a few years ago, the facility employed nearly 900 people. Because of the economic crisis though, boat sales plummeted, jobs were cut and the whole company was at risk.
With the help of four other organization we helped put together a financing package that will keep the Little Falls manufacturing facility open and secure about 170 full-time jobs. (Larson also hopes to add another 150-175 more jobs over the next couple years.)
The other groups that were involved included:
- The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development's Minnesota Investment Fund,
- The Economic Development Authority of the City of Little Falls,
- Community Development of Morrison County and,
- The North Central Economic Development Association, Inc.
In the words of Kathy Gaaslwyk, our president: "I’m very proud of our organization for being involved in this project—it’s a great example of why we exist and why we do business loans."
And even though we share this good news, our thoughts go out to the 180 people who were recently laid off from the Crestliner/Triton manufacturing facility here in town. It sounds like some of those people will be able to relocate to New York Mills but it's still a harsh blow to a lot of families here.
And it's proof that there's still a lot of work to do to bring jobs back to our central Minnesota cities!
For more information about the Larson Boat Company project read the official news release from today, a recent article from the Morrison County Record or visit the Larson website.
Vietnam may be over 8,000 miles away from Minnesota, but a group of 80 people are soon going to make the long trek.
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