News

After this last year it finally feels that we can see that there are brighter days ahead.  Nonprofit organizations in the area, however, are still feeling the impact of COVID-19 and will continue to feel those effects for some time.  That is why GiveMN.org is presenting another spring online giving event for nonprofits and schools in Minnesota from May 1-11. Last spring, $5.2 million was raised in the opening days of the pandemic.  This fundraising event is geared to help nonprofit organizations and schools plan for what happens next, continue to move through this crisis or to simply re-open their

Amy Glass is an RN at Kiesler Wellness Center working for Northland Counseling Center. Advocating for people and helping them make choices that benefit holistic health is exactly what she hoped she would be doing someday as a nurse. Admittedly, Amy is a person who thrives on setting and obtaining goals and is determined to find ways to meet them, but she didn’t know what she wanted to do with her life for many years. There were obstacles and barriers to overcome to find the right path. She started and stopped her education after high school several times; she worked

Did you know there is crisis funding available for residents in the Greater Itasca Area? Has COVID-19 created a crisis in your life?  If you, or someone you know, are in need of crisis funding, you can get help through the Itasca County Sharing Fund.  Crisis funding is for basic life-sustaining need items (food, shelter, clothing and health needs) and basic well-being and human dignity needs (transportation, employment and workforce issues) that are not available from other sources.  In 2020, the Grand Rapids Area Community Foundation, the organization that manages the Sharing Fund, granted over $100,000 to residents in need.

Roger Betz was an educator who wanted to increase high school students’ interest in the trades. He was instrumental in creating the layout at the Greenway High School for shop classes, started a carpentry program in Greenway, taught in Greenway for 23 years and now he and his family have established a scholarship fund at the Grand Rapids Area Community Foundation to help Greenway students pursue two-year vocational degrees. He wanted both boys and girls to pursue trade vocations and believed those careers would be rewarding for students. Roger graduated from Grand Rapids High School in 1949 and then enlisted

Lilah Crowe, of the Itasca County Historical Society, says that the top question she gets at the Historical Society is, “What is the building in Grand Rapids that just says “Bank” on it?” “Bank” is the word etched into the side of the two-story brick building located at 350 NW 1st Avenue in Grand Rapids and occupied by the Grand Rapids Area Community Foundation and other businesses. This is one of the historical buildings in Grand Rapids and people often wonder about its history. Recently, the Grand Rapids Area Community Foundation updated the awnings outside of their offices on the