CARGILL GROCERY HUNT

ICA greatly appreciated the efforts of CARGILL employees from the business units of Ag Horizons, Malt, Salt, and Animal Nutrition. The first ever grocery scavenger hunt for ICA was great fun and had wonderful results! Because of the $10,000 that ICA received that day, ICA reached our 2008 MN FoodShare goal of 125,000—combination of dollars and pounds—by March 31. $10,000 was 8% of our goal! And the additional $10,000 match from Cargill Global will bump our April donations as well, so we can continue to feed our neighbors in need and buy more nutritional food for distribution. Of course, our congratulations to the Ag Horizons Employees who won the competition, but—as was mentioned—ICA’s clients—your neighbors in need—are the real winners!

Thank you to Les Iceton and Cheryl Hunter of Cargill for arranging this and to corporate for approval and matching of the funds! And to all the employees who were willing to rise early, do some running and lifting, and help ICA—you are our heroes!

Thank you to Cub Foods for hosting what ICA is anticipating will be an annual event!

FINAL MN FOODSHARE TOTAL!

MARCH MN FOODSHARE—2008
ICA GOAL—125,000—Combination of Dollars & Pounds

Thanks to the generosity prominent in all ICA donors, ICA reached and surpassed its March MN FoodShare goal of 125,000—combination of dollars and pounds. Our final total is 156,630! Of this total, $104,408 are dollars and 52,222 are pounds of food! This awesome response is greatly appreciated. You have the giving spirit!

The funds raised from the Hopkins and Minnetonka Schools in their Empty Bowls and Full Bowls events were the highest ever! These events accounted for almost 50,000 of our 156,630 total. To have our youth (and their parents and the staff at our schools) have the empathy and concern to raise these funds for their neighbors in need is so admirable. Thank you! Thank you!

ICA’s business partners helped us in many ways from sponsoring a grocery scavenger hunt to food drives to in-kind donations of bread and produce from our grocery stores—all again modeling a generosity that is so very admirable and appreciated.

The many individuals who responded with their dollars and volunteer time are invaluable to ICA. All of the 52,222 pounds that ICA received had to be delivered to ICA, unloaded, weighed, sorted, and packed for our clients. This food should last us for six weeks.

The civic organizations—Lions, Rotarians, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Chambers of Commerce, to name a few—again pooled resources to assist ICA in our mission as well.

Our 33 congregations continue to be very supportive and we appreciate their ongoing food drives, monthly donations, and volunteer groups.

This is a truly rewarding time to work at ICA. We are once again made aware of your generous support and we thank you for your help in fulfilling ICA’s mission: to offer hope as we provide assistance to our neighbors in need!

ICA has been evaluated by the Charities Review Council and has met all standards.