Semcac Admin

Albert Lea Tribune | By Sam Wilmes  Published 8:47 pm Thursday, January 25, 2018 Community event looks to help those who are struggling Julie Ballinger attended the first Project Community Connect event Thursday at First Lutheran Church hoping to receive needed assistance. Ballinger, who lives in Albert Lea, is diabetic and on a fixed income. “Sometime I have to choose between food, paying my bills or getting my insulin, so this is a good thing,” she said. “This is great.” The three-hour event aimed to reduce poverty and end homelessness by partnering with businesses, citizens, local service providers and faith-based [...]

January 25, 2018 11:00 PM (ABC 6 News)-- It's a way to gauge homelessness in Minnesota. The annual "Point In Time" homelessness count ran from sunset last night to sunrise this morning. As it ended, a first-time event in Albert Lea was working to address the issue of need in the community. "This is an opportunity to sit down with someone or ask questions about resources that maybe you weren't even aware that were in the community" SEMCAC Linda Lares said. Think of it as a one-stop shop to help break the cycle of poverty. It's called community connect. "Each of the [...]

By: Hannah Yang | hyang@postbulletin.com KASSON — The Canadian Pacific Holiday Train came to town Tuesday afternoon. For the first time, the CP Holiday Train rolled into downtown Kasson and stopped outside of the city's fire department, where more than 300 people eagerly were waiting and shivering. After the train came to a halt, the festively decorated metal doors swung down, transforming the rail car into a performance stage. Country music artists Terri Clark, Kelly Prescott and Dallas Smith led the entertainment, singing upbeat Christmas songs as the audience danced and swayed. Attendees dropped off their "admission" of canned and [...]

'Connect' Serves Nearly 700, Task Force Says; Over 500 lbs of Food Collected in Separate Effort By: Deb Nicklay | Published Nov. 21st, 2017, Tuesday Two efforts on Saturday proved that the Austin community always digs deep for its neighbors. Almost 700 of the community’s underprivileged attended the first-ever Community Connect event Saturday, held in Hastings Gym at Austin High School. And, thanks to the Austin High School National Honor Society, the Austin Jaycees and the local National Association of Letter Carriers, 5,100 pounds of food was collected that same day, which will help restock the Mower County Food Shelf [...]

Hannah Yang, hyang@postbulletin.com Sep 8, 2017 Submitted by: Greg Siems, Vision 2020 Director AUSTIN — The Austin Poverty Task Force is planning a one-day event to help people struggling with homelessness and poverty. Community Connect will offer access to resources for those struggling financially. Service agencies, businesses and faith-based organizations are invited to partner with the Austin Poverty Task Force to promote their services in a centralized location. The event is set for Nov. 18 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Hastings Gymnasium in Austin High School. Task force co-chairmen Greg Siems of Vision 2020 and Richard Lemons of [...]

Brian Todd, btodd@postbulletin.com | Aug. 23, 2017 STEWARTVILLE — The city of Stewartville will start sharing its regional bus service with Chatfield beginning Sept. 7. Dan Mulholland, a member of the city's transit advisory committee, told the city council that ridership levels with Rolling Hills Transit are still not meeting minimum standards, and the city's transit bus will run twice a week to Chatfield. "Our ridership numbers don't match the grant money numbers," Mulholland said. "If our numbers increase, we can have our bus back to just ourselves." The bus will make morning runs on Mondays and Thursdays to Chatfield, [...]