Mpls.St.Paul Magazine recognizes the Twin Cities’ most dedicated volunteers of 2007.
October 2007
Illustration by Randall Nelson
Photographs by Travis Anderson
Last month, ten deserving Twin Citians were honored with the
2007 Rusty and Burt Cohen Volunteer Award for efforts that ranged from packing
Thanksgiving dinners in the cafeteria at Cretin–Derham Hall to building homes
for children in Rwanda. As they were inducted into the Mpls.St.Paul Magazine
Volunteer Hall of Fame, they weren’t just representing themselves—they were
representatives of what one study found was the most philanthropic community in
the nation. According to the Corporation for National & Community Service,
more than 1 million Twin Citians volunteer 106.7 million hours each year—and
with the recent I-35W bridge collapse and flooding in southern Minnesota, the
giving spirit has been even more abundant. These ten outstanding individuals
hold their heads up high knowing they are not alone in their mission—they have
an empathetic army at their back—1 million strong.
Barb Olson Aslesen, Bill Foussard, a core group of five people, and more than 1,000 last-minute volunteers make up the Thanksgiving Meals on Wheels program, feeding 14,500 Twin Citians each Thanksgiving.
As a result of Archie Givens’s good deeds, the library and housing complex that now stand over the once desolate corner of University and Dale in St. Paul is “a pretty cool thing.”
Friswold has led both the University of Minnesota Alumni Association and the University of Minnesota Foundation and helped raise millions of dollars for the U.
Frey's work has always been about “tending to the emotional needs” of individuals, but now the oncology nurse–turned–counseling psychologist is widening her scope.
The long list of
organizations to which Collins has given his time include the
Special Olympics,
Interfaith Outreach and Community Partners,
University of St. Thomas for Senior
Citizens’ Education, Dorothy Day
Center, and much more.
After her first time to the tiny African country, Wiederkehr made supporting a Rwandan home for abandoned children and orphans—and a second one that opened this year—her personal project.
For fifty years, Gary Wilson has worked as a volunteer coach for the North and Northeast Minneapolis sports teams and has coached more than 3,000 youths.
The walls of Rubenstein’s apartment are filled with plaques thanking her for years of service—1977 Jewish War Vets Person of the Year, United Jewish Fund award for volunteerism in 1999, and on and on.
As a member of the Junior League of Minneapolis for the past twenty-five years, Becky Odland has mastered chairing committees, spearheading fundraisers, and welcoming new members.
Since 1990, Mpls.St.Paul Magazine has been honoring volunteers in its annual "Volunteer Hall of Fame" feature. Here are all of the people we've recognized for their philanthropic efforts.
© 2008 MSP Communications, Inc. All rights reserved