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The Chisago Lakes Area Community Foundation together with donors and supportive community members announced the ‘Big Idea’ grant winner on October 13th at the Franconia Sculpture Park community space. It was a night of history, education and celebration.

The ‘Big Idea’ $10,000 grant was awarded to Laura Green and Michelle Willey of Project Wild Rooted (under the sponsorship of the Center City Fire Department Auxiliary). The grant was written to partner with the Chisago Lakes Area School District to bring outdoor environmental experiential learning field trips to an entire grade level of students over the next four to five years.

The foundation also gave impactful grants to The Age Well Coalition, The Chisago Lakes Good Neighbors Association Adopt-a-Grandparent initiative, The Franconia Sculpture Park and three Chisago Lakes Area School grants to Daniel McGonigle (community ed e-sports program), Pat Collins (CLMS raised garden along the bike path) and Selah Brooks-Powel (middle school music library).

The Chisago Lakes Area Community Foundation is an affiliate of the St. Croix Valley Foundation and is an endowed fund that gives back its interest to our local non-profits on an annual basis. For more information on how you can get involved please contact Kathy Kirvida (board chair) at [email protected] or Noel Stensrud (board vice chair) at [email protected]. The board is always looking for new people with good ideas to make our area a better place to live. The foundation website is clac- foundation.com.

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