State again? Might as well just stay in St. Paul, donations needed for local shelter

Wow, another team going to state? What is going on around here? First the jazz dance team, then the swimmers and a diver make it to state, then the entire wrestling team makes it to state, and now the girls basketball team is heading there this week? Wow is all I can say. Congratulations to Coach Walker and his girls for beating Grand Rapids and earning a berth in the tourney. The girls have been playing great all season and all of their hard work has finally paid off. They play Wednesday at Williams Arena at the University of Minnesota. What an awesome accomplishment!

We are all rooting the girls on, hopefully they will come home with a big trophy. Remember that Recycled Wardrobes is holding their Prom Dress Chrity Fundraiser Event right now. It is a great opportunity for a girl to purchase a beautiful prom dress for a fraction of what dresses cost new. Recyced Wardrobes has two locations, Lindstrom and North Branch. Thanks to the Alsaker family for such a kind gesture. Congratulations to Colleen Mether of Lindstrom. Colleen is this year’s winner of a free subscription. Colleen entered her name at the Home Show and was drawn from over 450 entries!

Well, as the saying goes, "Ask and you shall receive". Last week I wrote about a reader who asked if I could please collect donations for a local shelter instead of down to Minneapolis. He made a great point and I agreed to try and find a homeless shelter closer to home. I should first preface this with on Saturday my son and I drove the latest bunch of donations to the Minneapolis location and they were beyond ecstatic to receive such a generous gift. Back to the local aspect, as it turns out, last week at the County Board meeting, a gentleman was there letting the commissioners know he has opened a homeless shelter in Pine City. Now I know Pine City is not in Chisago County, but he said that the new shelter takes in homeless people from Chisago County. Voila! It is like someone was sending me a message! So... now I am continuing to ask for donations. I know there are many who have both adult and children's clothing and supplies they would love to donate. If possible, when you bring your donations to the Press, if you could please seperate the adult and childrens clothing, I will then take the adult donations to the new shelter and the childrens to Minneapolis. There are a ton of needy kids that still in need of donations at the shelter. Once again, I can't begin to say this enough - God bless you and thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Chisago Lakes lost another icon this week. Russ Johnson has left us. Some of you will not recognize the name. For those of you who have lived in the area for a while, think 66 gas station. Russ and his sons will forever be a fixture of downtown Lindstrom’s history. Russ was an approachable man who loved to tell you stories about “back in the day”. Our prayers go out to his family.

The County Press is embarking on a new form of media. We have formed a new way of marketing local businesses, and from what we can tell, it is going to be a huge success. Please see page 6 for more information. The reason for my writing about it today is simple.  If you are a local business and you have been trying to figure a way to bring more customers through your door, please give us a call. We are offering a free introductory offer to any and all businesses interested. Give us a call at 651-257-5115 and we can help your business today.