CCA Recognition Awards

Volunteer Spotlight, CCA Recognition 2025-26

By Bill Swift 

At the Annual CCA Meeting, I had the privilege to recognize and honor the recipients of the Jim Little and Ken Moritz awards. We shared slides that listed many of the achievements each of the individuals has accomplished through volunteering and they are impressive. But the recipients’ stories are more than numbers of hours or other statistics. They are stories of creating spheres of impact far beyond the statistics - for other CCA members and those they help through volunteering. Click on the links to read more.

The Ken Moritz Award is bestowed annually on an individual whose broad impact embodies the ideals of community service that CCA’s founder established as a bedrock of CCA’s volunteer effort. 

The Jim Little Award goes to CCA members who have devoted (and reported) an extraordinary number of volunteer hours to charitable endeavors over the last year or so. This is not just an acknowledgement of hours; we look for breadth or depth of impact on the organization(s) served.

It takes teamwork - The Communications Team keeps you connected.

Shout out to Tap Connections' success!

The Jim Little Award

Terri Tapper is the award recipient this year.  Terry has volunteered both during her Cargill career and continued in retirement. She joined Cargill in 1986 and retired in 2016, working in a variety of businesses: Oilseeds, Leasing, Financial Markets, Corporate HR, and Animal Nutrition. She said she was fortunate to meet and become friends within each of those units. 

One of the reasons she joined CCA was to continue contact and have fun with many of these coworkers.  She also wanted to continue volunteering with nonprofits after retiring, and to be able to do it with friends and people she knew was an unbelievable gift.   
 
Terri began volunteering while at Cargill in the early 90’s. Leasing had chosen Paint A Thon as a group to sponsor, and she was active at these events. CIVICS (Cargill Employees Volunteer in the Community) was one she participated in, this later evolved into Cargill Cares. After retiring, she prioritized two areas that meant a lot to her values, Food Security and Housing Security. Through CCA, she was able to participate with Second Harvest Heartland, FMSC and several other similar projects. 
 
During COVID, she looked for a means to continue volunteering and contributing. She began working with Bridging because it was something that continued during the quarantine and she could work from home. People in need could look at Bridging inventory online, virtually talk to people at Bridging, like Terri, order their housing furniture needs, and it would then be delivered. 
 
In 2017, Mary Kurth encouraged (some might call it arm twisting) her to join the CCA Board. Terri became the Membership Lead, reaching out to many upcoming retirees as well as those who had retired and wanted to find a place to enjoy their newfound available time. She became a part of many Vanguard events for Cargill Employees to learn about investing their money. Terri explained at the end of these meetings that CCA is an opportunity to learn about investing their time and a way to keep connected with their friends and former coworkers after Cargill.   
 
Terri remained on the board for 4 years, then she had a higher calling, a grandson. She has a son and is enjoying life as a doting grandmother. At the same time, Bridging remains an important way to work in an area she supports - home security. Staying in touch with the people she worked with in the past. And the new friends she has met through CCA has been the icing on the cake.  
 
Terri has chosen Bridging to receive the $500 award from The Cargill Cares Foundation. 

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It Takes Teamwork 

By Barb Kula 

Just a note to call out to the Cargill Cares Alumni Communication Team that brings CCA members the Weekly Announcements and the Quarterly Newsletters.

As we looked back over the last 40+ years, we acknowledged and applauded the many people, piles of paper, and postage it took to stay connected to SPICE/CCA. Today, we are all digital and that took a team to build that out and convert all our systems into what they are today.
 
Acknowledging and applauding those that made our digital communication happen: Connie Hauswirth, Debi Hruby, Tracy Newell, Colleen Porter, Ceal Regnier, Julie Rothstein, Mary Jo Woolf. 
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And a Big Shout Out to Brad! 

By Bill Swift 

A few years ago, Brad Cross believed that Cargill Alumni should get together and hoist a beer. It was cold, it was winter - but alumni came and it was a hit! ‘Tap Connections’ is the first Thursday of the month. We meet at local Tap Rooms all over the Twin Cities area. 

Start time is 4 p.m. and folks come and go as they choose. Cargill Alumni are not just those who retired or have worked for Cargill; we welcome the currently employed, spouses and partners. We ask you to help spread the word.  Please pass the word on or post to other platforms in which you participate.

Don’t miss the next one, a week later than usual, click on Tap Connection July 9. 

Thanks Brad and cheers to you!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Return to TOP