Collaboration on Emerging Community Needs: The Foundation collaborates with numerous non-profit groups in the Lake City area. Examples are many:
- Five for Food Drive – This annual fundraiser sponsored by The Foundation directly benefits the Lake City Food Shelf and remains its biggest source of funding. Many of the local non-profit groups such as Kiwanis, Rotary, Lions, Women’s Club, Masons, Knights of Columbus, St. Mary’s CCW, and numerous businesses and individuals, are supporters of this community-wide effort.
- Bike Shelter – This is located at the Lake City Marina and was funded by a joint project with the Lake City Rotary Club.
- Lake City Area Arts – The Foundation annually provides financial support to the LCAA to develop programs for members of our community – of all ages!
- Historical Societies – The Foundation provided significant financial support to both Frontenac and Lake City Historical Societies when they recently celebrated their 160th and 150th anniversaries, respectively.
- City of Lake City Projects – Recently a Community Beautification sub-pillar was added to the Environmental Pillar. The first project under this heading was Community Trees where The Foundation, in cooperation with a Donor Advised Fund, raised over $10,000 that was donated to the city to be used for planting new trees, after many were lost to Emerald Ash Borer infestations.
- Ralph Samuelson Statue – The Foundation donated funds to a local non-profit, Destination Lake City, for a memorial to honor Ralph Samuelson, the man who invented waterskiing on Lake Pepin.
Packing for the Weekend: The Foundation created a Donor Advised Fund with an anonymous donation of $10,000 to match donations made to the Packing for the Weekend project, run in concert with United Way of Goodhue, Wabasha and Pierce Counties. The goal of this project is to provide nutritional assistance to children who would otherwise not get the needed quality of food on weekends and during the summer time.
Celebration of Lake City’s 150th Anniversary. This exceptionally active group of civic leaders planned the activities associated the celebration. The Foundation provided a sizeable financial grant to them and continues to work with them on the finale of the celebration, which is to paint murals on buildings in our community.