Posts by category: Volunteers
October 12th, 2011 | Giving, News, Team Building, Volunteers
It was a race to support a variety of charities. Volunteer teams of employees at Land O’Lakes corporate headquarters raced to complete a number of projects which included assembling birthday bags after which each group was required to sing Happy Birthday.
Cheerful Givers board member, Corey Cox, cheered them on.
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September 19th, 2011 | Giving, Volunteers
At 84, Kathleen Beckman hasn’t slowed down in her monthly project of assembling birthday bags. Born on a farm in Central Minnesota, she worked until 2010 when she was looking for fun ways to fill her days.
She learned about Cheerful Givers while reading her local newspaper and immediately began assembling bags. She says she “enjoys shopping for pretty bags and small gifts to fill the bags and loves the idea that these little bags might make some needy child happy.”
In addition, she crochets scarves and shawls for a ministry at her church and proudly states “my volunteer projects give me a purpose in my life.”
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August 29th, 2011 | Birthdays, Giving, Team Building, Volunteers
“For more than 100 years AAA has been involved in making our communities better places to live and thus this opportunity with Cheerful Givers is a wonderful way to reach out to children and ensure they all have a happy birthday.”- Randy Williams, Regional President, AAA Minnesota/Iowa.
As part of a recent meeting, employees and leaders at AAA Minnesota/Iowa assembled 500 toy-filled birthday gift bags at their Burnsville, Minnesota location. The event was described by those who participated as “fun, a real team-building activity and great way to give back.”
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August 26th, 2011 | Birthdays, Children, Schools, Volunteers
Vacation bible school students at St. John the Baptist School in Savage, MN spent a week helping others, and one of their projects was to create birthday joy for more than 100 less fortunate kids. Andi Little, Director of Faith Formation, said the group is anxious to do it again. 
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August 16th, 2011 | Volunteers
Congratulations to Minnesota Twins, Jim Thome, on his 600th home run!
We appreciate the support of this great hero. 
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August 2nd, 2011 | Volunteers
By Janice
I was really ecstatic when I ran across your site. Because in April, I had a dream of making birthday gifts for needy children. This has been heavy on my heart because as a child I grew up never really celebrating my birthday. My parents divorced and my mom was always sickly and money was scarce, so birthdays were something we never talked about. I never told anyone but I felt like I was not important, forgotten, and like no one cared because I never got to celebrate my special day. No one ever made my birthday a big deal, so I learned to not make it one either. Still to this day, I don’t celebrate my birthday.
So, now here I am in my forties, and I ran across your website. Seeing your site, a tingly feeling came all over me like oh, wow this is it! This has really inspired me. I take it as a sign that I should work on Birthday Bags. I was thinking maybe I can do 10 bags a month until I am able to do more.
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July 18th, 2011 | Birthdays, Giving, Volunteers
After winning a hot baseball game on Sunday afternoon, several Minnesota Twins players joined their wives at Target Field to assemble 230 toy-filled birthday gift bags. Claudia & Michael Cuddyer led the effort and were joined by couples including the Morneaus, Pavanos, Repkos, Bakers, Blackburns as well as others.
Many thanks to this great baseball family for all they do to support others!
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July 1st, 2011 | Giving, Volunteers
Kelly Hoag, MP Manager at Target in Minneapolis got creative with her team in preparing to create birthday bags.
“We actually went to Target and shopped as a team and then came back to the office and put all of the bags together. We also gave each team a $75 budget and gave points to the team that could get closest to their budget without going over; all teams came within .49 of their budget.
The teams had a blast!!!”
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June 23rd, 2011 | Family, Volunteers
I’ve been involved with Cheerful Givers since the mid-90s. My introduction to the organization was through an early redesign of their website. I was invited to be a board member a few years later and have been honored to serve in that capacity ever since.Currently, I co-chair the communications committee, help update the website and newsletter and coordinate Cheerful Givers’ social media efforts. I make my living designing things like websites and blogs. I feel fortunate to be able to share these skills as a board member.
Though Cheerful Givers, my daughters have been exposed to the experience of giving to others in need. Seeing them finally “get it” during a family bag blitz is one of my fondest memories. They’ve learned that small actions can make a big difference and eagerly look forward to the next volunteer event.
I’m incredibly thankful to be part of Cheerful Givers.
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June 13th, 2011 | Donations, Funding, Volunteers
Thanks to the 20 Cheerful Givers volunteers who helped at Target Field on Saturday with the Minnesota Twins “split the pot raffle.” As a result of these efforts, $1,700 is being donated to Cheerful Givers.
Congratulations also to Debra Price, the lucky Twins fan, who also receives $1,700.
