Wells Fargo Gives Back

We recently partnered with Wells Fargo on several projects, including Sano and Russell’s home in North Minneapolis.  Although most of their children have grown up and have moved on to college, Sano and Russell’s house is still busy with foster children, daycare children, and children in crisis. They have been foster parents since 2001, caring for children in the community for various periods of time. Unfortunately, early last fall a tree destroyed the thick landscaping that insulated their back yard from a busy adjacent city street.  In order for Sano and Russell to continue hosting children at their home, they needed a fence built to create a safe space for the children to play, learn and grow together.

Over two days earlier this month, volunteers from Wells Fargo helped build a fence and retaining wall at Sano and Russell’s home.  Sano made her famous jerk chicken for lunch for the volunteers on both days, and Sano and Russell and their daughter Jada and friend Josh worked side-by-side with the volunteers.  Sano sent us this note, “I just want to thank you all again for really blessing my family. Keeping kids happy and safe is our first priority. Thanks a million, and if there’s anything I can do to help others, please let me know. I can’t get over this blessing.”

Honeywell and Robbinsdale Cooper High School Team Up at Urban Roots

On May 12th, we partnered with more than 70 volunteers from Honeywell and Robbinsdale Cooper High School to make much-needed improvements and repairs to the facilities and grounds of Urban Roots, a Saint Paul organization with a mission to build vibrant and healthy communities through food, conservation and youth development. Urban Roots cultivates youth leaders and supports healthy communities on the Saint Paul’s East Side through paid internship programs that provide hands-on learning and foster critical life skills around entrepreneurial thinking, resilience and collaboration.  Their experiential “earn as you learn” programs are grounded in improving urban food systems, supporting and fostering connection to Saint Paul’s parks and green spaces, and promoting active living. They provide internship opportunities for 60 + youth annually.

Like many nonprofits, Urban Roots invests its limited funding into their programs. With the support of Honeywell and the hard work of Honeywell employees and Robbinsdale Cooper High School students, we were able to provide repairs and improvements, including building portable benches, constructing a storage shed, repairing and staining picnic tables, building a compost bin, cleaning and re-mulching the learning area, and painting a hallway and exterior stair rails.  Patsy Noble, Senior Program Director of Urban Roots, said of the work completed, “Wow it’s like magic! Every time I come out something new is done. We would never have been able to do this with our staff.”

Thank you to Honeywell and Robbinsdale Cooper High School for partnering with us to help ensure that Urban Roots can continue to serve Saint Paul’s youth!

Saint Paul Area Association of REALTORS Helps a Maplewood Homeowner

We partnered with the Saint Paul Area Association of REALTORS on May 18th to build a deck with steps and a raised garden bed for a homeowner in need in Maplewood.  The volunteers worked hard with great spirit, intuition, and incredible teamwork, coming up with creative solutions and taking on any task with great tenacity.  The steps and deck will provide a more accessible entrance to the home and the new cedar garden area will allow our homeowners to comfortably plant vegetables outdoor this spring.  Thank you to SPAAR for partnering with us to help these homeowners!