48th Winter Institute - In Review

Touted as a merger of academic horsepower and business horse-sense, the 2010 Winter Institute proved to be just that.

The 48th annual academic and business event, held March 4 in St. Cloud, drew nearly 500 people throughout the day.

This was the first time the foundation joined with St. Cloud State University, the St. Cloud Area Chamber of Commerce and Times Media to sponsor and organize the event.

The morning's academic event was at St. Cloud State and the afternoon/evening business event followed at the Best Western Kelly Inn. The evening's events kicked off with an interactive panel discussion, complete with a new twist: live text polling. (It really was pretty fun to see the results coming in the on screens up front!) The discussion was moderated by Minnesota Public Radio's Chief Economics Correspondent, Chris Farrell.

That was followed by the traditional area economic forecast and something new this year - some comedy (and yes, even a non-economics person like me found it pretty funny!) from Yoram Bauman, The Stand-Up Economist.

Many agree that the economy is slowly turning around, including Randy Olson, our VP for Economic Opportunity, “I think the worst is behind us. What happened in 2009 was probably the worse we’ll see. It’s important for our region to have a strong economy because it means there are jobs, growth and consumer spending.”

The attendee survey revealed that half of the participants were there for the first time - 60% said they'd attend again!

The event also received some nice media coverage - take a look (or listen)!

St. Cloud Times Articles:

• Economists, business leaders focus on future at Winter Institute
• Experts say Great Recession is over

Minnesota Public Radio:

60 people + 1 day = 11,664 packaged meals

Many people get time off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but for VISTA and AmeriCorps members, it’s a day on; a day for a community service project.

At the MLK National Day of Service Event (this past January 18) nearly 60 people helped pack food for the Kids Against Hunger (KAH) program at their warehouse in Sauk Rapids.

This was the first time the VISTAs and AmeriCorps members worked with KAH. They decided to work with KAH this year because it’s a great cause and it was something they could all do—indoors, said Chris Fastner, our VISTA Program Manager.

“The whole process of that day was empowering,” said Fastner. “It was a unique opportunity for all these VISTA and AmeriCorps members to come together and do something as a group that was very tangible with an immediate result.”

That day there were 11,664 meals (54 boxes) packaged, which were all taken and shipped to Haiti.

KAH relies heavily on volunteers to help in the packaging process so that they can send food worldwide when it’s needed. According to their website, “More than 8,000 volunteers have packaged over 5 million meals since opening on March 1, 2003.”

For more information about KAH visit: http://www.kidsagainsthungercm.org or about the VISTA program visit: http://www.ifound.org/effective_volunteers.php.

To see all the pictures from the days’ event visit the MN Initiative Foundation VISTAs’ Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=photos&gid=126833602116.