Cargill Cares Alumni - Volunteer Spotlight

Cargill Cares Alumni

Volunteer Spotlight

CCA Recognition Awards 2025

FMSC Pack at the Park

Three Rivers Dakota Trail Clean Up

Cargill/CCA together for HandsOn

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

CCA Recognition Awards

Volunteer Spotlight, CCA Recognition 2024-25
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.

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. This year we have two recipients.

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.

Read about the Award Winners:

Ken Moritz Award: Roger Wherry

Jim Little Awards: Deanna Riedorfer Julie Rothstein

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The Ken Moritz Award 2025

Roger Wherry
By Bill Swift

We are thrilled this year to award this honor to Roger Wherry.

If this award was not already called the Ken Moritz Award, it would be called the Roger Wherry Award. Roger epitomizes the awards description. He began coordinating Cargill’s build projects while working as an accountant for Waycrosse, the family office for the majority of Cargill owners.

After retiring in 2010, he has worked incessantly at Habitat for Humanity, leading and training groups to build affordable housing, helping others achieve the dream of home ownership. Some winters, Roger goes to San Diego and volunteered there as well. One does not have to look very hard to understand why Roger was chosen this year:
• 1,500 volunteer hours in 2024 (2,080 hours generally is considered a full work year)
• 7,600 volunteer hours starting in 2015
• 1,150 days -- over 8,000 hours during the past 31 years
• AARP’s State Andrus Award for Community Service in 2022

I asked what motivates him to spend so many hours on Habitat projects, Roger said: “It’s about the kids who live in these homes. They’re going to have a much more stable life living in their own home.” But Roger’s contributions are more than his hours. His leadership inspires others to volunteer, encourages those that do, and to return again and again. For those who do not know what to do, he trains. For each hour he volunteers it is multiplied by those he works with him. And when the on-site group realizes they do not have the right tool - Roger always seems to have one in his truck. His sphere of influence is huge.

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Jim Little Award 2025

Deanna Reisdorfer
By Bill Swift

Deanna Reisdorfer worked at Cargill for 10 years in HR North America, leading the Talent Performance Team.

Deanna’s story is about engagement and enhancing lifestyles through volunteering.

When I asked Deanna why she was so active in volunteering, and why she did it, she said: “while still working at Cargill, our team would volunteer at least once per year at Second Harvest, so I knew I wanted to continue that. A number of us retired at the same time. We had a great team and wanted to stay engaged. We were great friends and did not want to lose our connections. Volunteering regularly was a way for us to stay connected, have fun, and make a difference”.

During her first year following her Cargill career, she investigated which volunteer activities fit her best by volunteering at 11 different projects. Five of those were CCA sponsored projects, while the others were independent of CCA, such as Bundles of Love (newborn care packages), A Place For You (homeless center) Pine City Food Shelf, Public Schools, VFW, and more, amassing over 460 volunteer hours. In addition, she served on the board for A Place For You.

Deanna created a sphere of engagement so that she and the Talent Recruitment Team could stay engaged and help many others in need of food, clothing, or housing.

Trivia History Question #2:

In what year was the last wire sent at Cargill?

Note - the wire was sent by Thaine Dirks and credited Jim Cargill as saying the system was “the best invention since the beer can opener”.
a. 1987
b. 1990
c. 1996
d. 2002

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Jim Little Award 2025

Julie Rothstein
By Bill Swift

Julie Rothstein worked for Cargill for 14 years in Marketing and the Food Ingredients Business, retiring in 2020.

When asked why did she became so active with volunteering? She said one of her main goals when retiring was to get involved with a nonprofit and do more volunteering.

She heard about CCA and called John Keefe to learn more. John invited her to a CCA Board Meeting and when the meeting was over, she was a Board Member! She now fills many of the roles of the Vice President and serves on the CCA Executive Committee.

When Joe Fournier stepped down from leadership of the CCA project at Second Harvest, she offered to step into that role. Joe had big shoes to fill, but Julie recreated a group that shows up almost every week. Recently, Julie and the CCA team were nominated by Second Harvest and awarded the “Heroes Through Service” volunteerism award in the Twin Cities.

Julie has been volunteering at a variety of non-profits since retiring: Interfaith Outreach, Red Cross, Rein in Sarcoma, and has now increased involvement at Second Harvest by helping people apply for SNAP benefits for food assistance.

Julie’s story is not just her hours, but the sphere of opportunities her efforts create for other volunteers, and ultimately, the impact it has on those in need of food and assistance.

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Feed My Starving Children Hits It Out of the Ball Park

FMSC Pack at the Park, Target Field, was a big HIT on Friday, May 16! What an opportunity to turn hunger into hope with your own two hands by packing life-changing, nutritious meals for children in need across the globe. Thanks to Mary Kurth for sponsoring the CCA group.

By the numbers for our shift:

Across the globe, hunger kills 1 person every 4 seconds
Over 400 volunteers, including CCA members, made an impact
504 boxes were packed = 108,864 meals = feeds 298 kids for a whole year

The two-day event packed 881,928 meals in total

The next CCA FMSC Pack will be Tuesday, July 29, 2025, at the Chanhassen location.

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Three Rivers Dakota Trail Spring Clean-up

Members tackled trash pick-up of the Dakota Rail Regional Trail segments sponsored by CCA. The team wanted to help maintain a pristine, trash-free, environment for your and others’ biking, running, skating and walking pleasure.

Clean-up Crew: Jack Staloch, Lori Childs, Rob Goedken, Barb Kula, John Estall

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CCA/Cargill HandsOn

Twin Cities Event

A group of CCA Volunteers brought their energy and compassion to an inspiring event held at the Cargill Office Center in late April. This initiative, sponsored by “HandsOn Twin Cities,” is aimed to support the YMCA of the North, fostering growth and empowerment for local youth.

CCA and Cargill Volunteers worked together to pack bags filled with cooking utensils, thoughtfully assembled to equip youth with tools to help ensure safety in the kitchen. These essentials were not only practical but symbolized opportunities for young individuals to engage in an activity – cooking -- that nurtures healthy, sustainable practices, creativity, responsibility, and self-reliance.

Terry Garvert, Shirley Boyd left, and Phil Deeney, right, join Cargill volunteers at the Cargill Office Center

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