Cargill Cares Alumni

Volunteer Spotlight


Volunteer Updates – Caring for our Community - Now More than Ever
Click on links to read more about the following:

Check out Cargill-sponsored events: Cloud Coach and 4 Access Partners

Don't miss upcoming volunteer events:

Read the weekly CCA Announcements, visit the Volunteer web page and/or the CCA Event Calendar


CCA Membership

Currently, we have about 1,000 members. About 40 percent attend volunteer, social or education events. However, we know you are interested in keeping up to date on what is going on with your fellow Alumni. Based on our info, approximately 70 percent of you open the Quarterly Newsletters, Weekly Announcements and Obituaries. 

CCA volunteers reported more than 15,000 hours in calendar 2024 – that translates to a value of over $500,000! “Now More Than Ever” you have made a difference. Thank you SO MUCH for your work! 

 

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Fall Clean Up at Dakota Trail 
By Shirley Boyd 

Five CCA volunteers – Jack Staloch, Barb Kula, Lori Childs (pictured left), John Estall and Shirley Boyd – spent a couple of hours on a drizzling morning at the end of October picking up trash from the Three Rivers Dakota Rail Trail. Although the weather was damp, the trees were full of vibrant colors -- and we did not have to dodge many bicyclists.

Come join us when we do our spring cleanup. Contact sraeboyd@gmail.com if you want to be on the invite list! 


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Pack Food for Kids With ‘Every Meal’ 
By Mary McCullough 
 
Please join us for this fast-paced opportunity to help prepare weekend food bags that will be distributed to schoolchildren. Our next event is Friday, Jan. 16, from 1-3 p.m. Check the CCA Event Calendar for a monthly Every Meal opportunity.  
 
Over 300,000 Minnesota children live with food insecurity. Without consistent access to enough good food, hunger on the weekends is very real. Every Meal is changing that by providing weekend food bags directly in students’ backpacks. They work with over 375 schools to provide food each weekend to the students. 
 

If you have questions, please contact Mary McCullough at jmcdmac@aol.com

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nullTurning Hunger into Hope with

Feed My Starving Children  

By Thom Schultz 


As we turn the calendar toward a new year, Cargill Cares Alumni will have another chance to have a real impact on people’s lives. That was the experience on Sept. 14 when CCA joined other FMSC volunteers for a packing session. In just one shift we packed 32,400 nutritious meals - enough to feed 88 children for an entire year! That is real impact. Tangible. Trackable. Human. And we can do it again. 

We are organizing another FMSC volunteer event in February 2026 - and we want YOU there. Whether this will be your first time or your fifteenth, the experience is always the same: 
• camaraderie 
• energy 
• purpose 
• results you can count 
 
Together, we transform hunger into hope — one meal at a time. Bring your family and friends. We continue a tradition of not just staying connected but serving together. 
 
More details will follow, including the specific date in February, but please plan now to join in. Let us help end childhood starvation around the world — and let us do it together.       

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CCA Makes an Impact at The Good Acre  null
By Jan Weisberg 

In 2025, CCA volunteers helped The Good Acre (TGA) empower farmers and nourish our communities. Our last food share packing event for the season was Oct. 17. This season TGA moved 15,192 food boxes to Twin Cities’ homes and directed $2.9 million in purchasing to local farmers! 

CCA members and guests supported this effort by volunteering 195 hours of their time, an estimated value of $6,780, according to Sarah Hoveseth, TGA Director of External Affairs. “We are so grateful for the continued support and time of everyone who made it out this season,” Sarah said. “The numbers are clear; you make a difference at The Good Acre!” 

Thanks to those of you that volunteered this year, and I look forward to seeing them and hopefully others next spring! 

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Open Arms of Minnesota: What We Accomplished Together! 
By Jan Weisberg and Jerry Lichtsinn 
 
October 17 was CCA and Cargill’s last Minneapolis Open Arms Kitchen event for 2025. Open Arms is a nonprofit that prepares and delivers nourishing meals free of charge to approximately 3,650 critically ill Minnesotans, their care givers, and dependents. We packed 2,636 meals, 518 nausea packs, and prepped hundreds of pounds of food. 

Volunteers are the heart and soul of Open Arms. My thanks to all of you that volunteered this season! 


After the new year, we will work with Open Arms to schedule next year’s Minneapolis Kitchen events. 
If you are interested in volunteering next year, please let us know at:
janiceweisberg01@gmail.com 
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Supporting a Great Cause at the null
Second Harvest Heartland Gala
 

By Julie Rothstein
 
CCA members switched out their Cargill volunteer t-shirts for cocktail attire at the annual Second Harvest Gala held at The Depot in Minneapolis on Oct. 11. Cargill was a gala sponsor again this year and invited CCA to join employees at the event. It was a fun evening with silent and live auctions, speakers, and delightful food and music. And best of all, the event raised funds to provide more than 3.9 million meals for children, seniors, and families across our region! 

Attending from CCA were Tom Geisen, Joan Prairie, Mike and Sharon Lane, Deanna and Ryan Reisdorfer, Sara McFarlan, Betsy Rasmussen, Phil Deeney and Julie Rothstein

    

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Bridging in January

Bridging provides donated furniture and household goods to families and individuals transitioning out of homelessness and poverty.


The next event is Jan. 14, 2026, from 1-3:30 p.m.











Monthly at The Food Group

The first Wednesday of every month, CCA packs boxes and bags to feed the hungry. The Food Group’s anti-hunger work serves all 87 counties in Minnesota and areas of Western Wisconsin.


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Trivia History Question #1: 

Do You know Your Cargill History?

What was the first year Cargill executives were trained on the company’s first electronic digital computer? 
 
U.S. Corporate Execs get computer lesson 


                                                                                                                           



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CCA Participates in Cargill-Sponsored Eventsnull

Best Prep Thanks Cargill for Coaching Summit  
 
Approximately 175 Washburn High School students were able to hear from a Cargill employee career panel, take a tour of the Cargill headquarters, complete a scavenger hunt, share lunch with their mentors and, most importantly, connect with an adult who cares about them. 
 
“You were all wonderful hosts, and I can’t thank you enough for your time, flexibility and energy,” said Dakota Anderson of Best Prep. “And what a photogenic bunch you are!”