Last week, I had the privilege of being in the communities of Redwood Falls, Marshall, Montevideo and Olivia to celebrate with more than 120 of our closest friends over the past 25 years from Redwood, Lyon, Chippewa and Renville counties.
As guests shared their favorite memories, it was incredibly inspiring to hear how others have experienced the work of SWIF, and how they have seen our work ultimately benefiting their communities. There were so many great stories, but here are a few of my favorites:
- A gentleman from Morton spoke about how great the Morton Area Community Foundation has been for the well-being of their community, from city beautification to bringing people together to collectively share their time and talents.
- Another gentleman, from Marshall, spoke of the strides made in telecommunications in southwest Minnesota due to SWIF’s efforts with the TNT (Technology and Telecommunications) program, and how a very rural area was brought up to speed technologically, greatly enhancing the region’s ability to communicate more effectively with an ever-changing world.
- In Montevideo, several people spoke about how our CCP (Connected Communities Partnership) program did great things for their community, engaging leaders to sit down and really think about where they were as a community, how they got there, and how they could improve it in the future. Many guests saw great benefits, especially in how it got business leaders to work together collaboratively to share a vision and to collectively take ownership in looking out for the community’s well-being.
- In Olivia, a very engaged member of the Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart School Foundation board gave testament to the impact made both on the school, and himself personally, by the BL-H-S School Foundation being brought about. Not only were enhancements made to the school and student experience, he credited the Foundation with changing how he engaged in the community as a philanthropist.
In all of these stories, SWIF acted as a catalyst; but ultimately, it was you all—the community leaders (all of you are leaders!)—who took our vision and brought about great things for your community. So let me say, many thanks to you for all you’ve done for southwest Minnesota in the last 25 years!
