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Mary Richie, incoming Board Chair along with Tom Triplett - Current Board Chair and several other members of the Board of Directors for the Stillwater Area Community Foundation, cut the ribbon at the Chamber celebration for the 10th Anniversary of the Great Idea Competition on September 13th, 2022. Photo courtesy of Ethan Dick Photography.
Stillwater, MN. The Greater Stillwater Chamber of Commerce Celebrated Stillwater Area Community Foundation’s 10th Anniversary of the Great Idea Competition, with a ribbon cutting ceremony on September 13th, 2022. The event took place at the Zephyr Theatre, 601 Main Street North, Stillwater, MN. The Board of Directors and staff, family, friends, Greater Stillwater Chamber ambassadors and staff were there to join in the celebration.
Stillwater Area Community Foundation is a non-profit organization, established in 2010 by a group of community leaders as a way to enable people who love where they live to keep their philanthropic giving local. By combining gifts, great and small, the foundation gives everyone the opportunity to become a local hero.
What would you do if you were given up to $10,000 to make our community a better place? This year marks a decade of community projects that have received funding through Stillwater Area Community Foundation’s Great Idea Competition.
Previous winners have used grants to launch a wide range of projects: planting a pollinator garden, opening a dog park, spiffing up utility boxes with the work of local artists, and making the Main Street stairs more beautiful. Last year’s winner is giving hundreds of area school kids the opportunity to spend a day on the St. Croix River.
The Great Idea Winner for 2022 is Cimarron Community Farm, which has been a source of fresh food and community connections for the Cimarron Park neighborhood since 2010. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a food production system that builds the relationship between the farmer and the community. At the beginning of the season, members buy a share of the produce that will be grown on the farm over the course of the season.
The kids of Cimarron get their hands dirty during their weekly youth program! They offer an exciting, hands-on environment for the kids of Cimarron Park. Participants spend the summer planting and harvesting, cooking with vegetables from the farm, creating art, and developing experiments. At the end of each day, they are excited to bring home their newfound skills as well as plenty of fresh produce.
Working in partnership with Christian Cupboard Emergency Food Shelf and Valley Outreach, Cimarron Community Farm contributes to the bi-weekly food distributions in Cimarron Park. In addition to the vast selection of free food and essentials provided by these organizations, they supply fresh organic produce straight from the farm. More than 100 families are served every other Monday.
Stillwater Area Community Foundation
1809 Northwestern Avenue
Stillwater, MN 55082
Stillwater Area Community Foundation
(651) 342-8268
