For most Americans, the holidays are a time to enjoy spending time with family and friends, reflecting on the past year, and dining on great food!

But when the average Thanksgiving meal costs $48.90 per family, it can cause financial stress to many of the people Rise serves. Enter our fantastic business partners!

Cummins Power Generation has generously provided meals to families in our mental health programs for the past five years.

“We enjoy doing this as it brings us joy over the holidays, as well,” said Gayle Gruber from Cummins. But with a record number of requested Thanksgiving meal kits this year, Cummins employees were concerned they would not be able to fill the entire need. With a creative and innovative spirit, they teamed up with staff from two of their business associates, Ruan Trucking and the Bobcat Company.

On November 12, Ruan held a fundraising BBQ to raise money. More than 150 people attended the event which featured a “Pie in the Face” contest for which people signed up to throw a pie in the face of supervisors at Ruan and Bobcat.

With these specially raised funds, they were able to meet the need and then some. Through the generosity of their employees, the group raised enough money to create nearly 500 meal kits which were distributed to people Rise supports as well as food shelves across the Twin Cities area. In total, 130 families from Rise’s mental health programs benefitted from their generosity in time for a Thanksgiving feast.

“All of us at Rise are so grateful for the fantastic partnerships we have with our business partners,” said President Lynn Noren. “These Thanksgiving meal kits bring so much joy and comfort to the people we support.”

Here at Rise, we have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season — at the top of our list are our great business partners who support our mission and the people we serve.

Photo: From left: Elden Bojarski, Cummins; Brice Hogan, Cummins; Todd Peterson, Ruan; Gayle Gruber, Cummins; Britney Severson, Cummins; and Mike Jorgenson, Bobcat

This article appears in the December 2018 issue of the Rise Reporter.