WOW! We had a GREAT night on Friday, May 20, to celebrate southwest Minnesota and the Southwest Initiative Foundation’s 25th Anniversary. Thank you so much to all who came, making it just an awesome evening of connecting and celebrating southwest Minnesota.
A big thank you to Karen Grasmon and the whole SWIF staff team for an outstanding job designing, planning, organizing, setting up and carrying out a very successful 25th Anniversary celebration banquet.
We owe a special thanks to all of the past and present board members and advisory committee members who were able to be there. We will forever be in debt to our founding board members for all they did to create the Southwest Minnesota Initiative Fund–now Southwest Initiative Foundation.
It was great to have a distinguished emcee, John Lauritson, a native of southwest Minnesota from the Milan/Montevideo area and now a news reporter for WCCO-TV.
And congratulations and thanks to our award winners. All of them are committed leaders that are making a significant difference in southwest Minnesota. Read more about these award recipients on our Event page.
- The Collaboration Award went to Western Minnesota Prairie Waters Convention and Visitors Bureau, a program of the Upper Minnesota Valley Regional Development Commission.
- The Innovation Award went to the Fabian and Lorraine Sheehan Family of Bird Island whose family is well-known for its LP gas business, Rural Computer Consultants, a software development business and their extensive community involvement.
- The Leadership Award went to Glen Herfurth who has often been described as “Mr. Montevideo” a tribute to his contributions through the community.
- The Philanthropist Award went to Warren Herreid II and Jeannine Rivet, who are Growing Home Circle Members of the Southwest Initiative Foundation and have been the impetus of many initiatives and projects in Luverne, Rock County and beyond.
- The Southwest Initiative Foundation Award went to The Robert and Helen Remick Charitable Foundation Trust. The trust honors Bob Remick who died in 1998. He was a depot employee, high school teacher, farmer, and artist. The Trust has contributed almost $4.5 million to 75 charitable causes in southwest Minnesota since 2000 including the Southwest Initiative Foundation’s general endowment, Early Childhood program, a memorial scholarship fund and given the first gift of farmland through the Foundation’s Farmland Retention Program.
I hope our guests enjoyed the evening as much as we did! What was the most memorable part of the celebration for you?
