Replenishing the Mission
The Initiative Foundation connects a nonprofit needing well repairs with an abundant source of help.
By Gene Rebeck | Photos Courtesy of The Outreach Program of Brainerd Lakes
What do you do when the well runs dry? The Outreach Program of Brainerd Lakes is thankful that someone was more than willing to replenish it.
Based in Nisswa, the Outreach Program provides food assistance through the in-house meals it packages and distributes. Since 2012, the organization’s volunteers have packed more than 4 million meals that feed a family of six for just $1.80. More than 80 percent of these nutrient-dense meals are distributed across Central Minnesota, with the remainder being shipped for U.S. disaster relief and international distribution.
The nonprofit’s mission was unexpectedly halted on Aug. 21, 2024, when the well that supplies its water suddenly stopped working. Executive director Shawn Hansen said the failure wasn’t a complete surprise. “We knew we were having some trouble with our well. We identified that in July—we knew that we should look at upgrading it sometime during the next three years.”
Hansen quickly gathered repair estimates. The proposed price tag ranged from $10,000 to $25,000—money the nonprofit didn’t have. In search of support, Hansen picked up the phone and reached out to her contacts—including the Initiative Foundation—and quickly discovered no emergency grants were available. Hansen’s outreach, however, inspired Community Philanthropy Manager Amy Gray to consider funding possibilities through the Initiative Foundation’s family of Partner Funds.
Jim Anderson, she thought, would be a great fit.
A longtime friend of the Foundation, Anderson and his wife, the late Linnea Anderson, signed an agreement with the Initiative Foundation in 2004 to launch the Anderson Brothers Family Fund. Over the years, the fund’s beneficiaries have included Bridges of Hope, which provides emergency help for families in need; Kinship Partners, which offers youth mentoring; and One Heartland, a specialized summer program for children with autism, AIDS and other health conditions.
“One of the issues driving the Anderson Brothers Family Fund’s community involvement is food insecurity,” Gray said. “The Outreach Program of Brainerd Lakes was right in their wheelhouse.”
Gray contacted Jim Anderson and received a quick reply: “He said, ‘Give me the number, let me make the phone call.’ He jumped into the middle of it and figured out exactly what was needed.”
Before long, a check had been cut to cover the cost of repairs. “The Anderson family money basically paid for our well to be repaired,” Hansen said. “Now we have a well they say is good for the next 20 years.”
When asked about his quick response during a community gathering in September, Anderson was humble in his reply: “It was nice to be able to help.”
A Friend to Those in Need
Hansen was already well acquainted with Anderson and his local generosity. He’d recently helped organize an Outreach Program food-packing event through his church in Crosslake, where he joined middle-school children as they assembled meals for those in need. “The way those kids looked at him—he was like their big grandpa,” Hansen said.
Several months earlier, the Anderson Brothers Family Fund chipped in to cover about a third of the cost to help the Outreach Program mobilize its meal-packing events. Supported by the Anderson donation and a $15,000 grant from the Brainerd Lakes Community Foundation, along with contributions from throughout the community, Hansen and her team were able to purchase a box truck, a delivery van and equipment so they could more easily take packing to the people rather than have it centered at the organization’s Nisswa location. “It moved us from doing eight large packing events in 2023 to 15 large events in 2024,” Hansen said.
Jim Anderson, 81, passed away unexpectedly in early October 2024. The following month, the Outreach Program conducted a packing event at his church “in honor of Jim,” Hansen said.
Eric Anderson, who succeeds his father as advisor for the Anderson Brothers Family Fund, said he plans to continue his parents’ legacy and will seek local guidance to support food shelves, soup kitchens, and other organizations that work to reduce food insecurity. “Mom and Dad always looked to the Brainerd Lakes Area Community Foundation and the Initiative Foundation for advice and support on where the funds are needed and where we can make the most impact,” he said.
He also wants to emulate his parents’ decision to support places with a strong volunteer base “because the money goes further.” The Outreach Program is, he added, “ a very good organization in that way. They not only have a great volunteer base, they make it fun.”
It’s on-the-ground connections like these that have helped to make the Initiative Foundation’s family of Partner Funds more effective. “Our funds aren’t just transactional for us,” Gray said. “Our partnerships are very relational. That allows us to serve as a connection point between the needs and the resources available. We know our partners, we know our donors, we know what their interests and capabilities are, and we know what kind of impact they’re looking to have.”
And that has helped to keep generosity flowing freely throughout Central Minnesota.
The Jim and Linnea Anderson Legacy
The late Jim and Linnea Anderson partnered with the Initiative Foundation in 2004 to create the Anderson Brothers Family Fund, a donor-advised fund. Jim joined the Initiative Foundation’s Board of Trustees two years later and served until 2009. The Andersons received the Initiative Foundation’s Outstanding Generosity Award in 2013, and Jim was named an emeritus trustee in 2016. “Jim and Linnea have a long history of giving back to the community,” Initiative Foundation past-president Kathy Gaalswyk said in 2016 of the Andersons, whose Anderson Brothers family business has done construction throughout the region since 1940. “They’re an extremely supportive employer, and Jim’s a gentle giant who leaves footprints of love and kindness wherever he goes.”