Elder Network awarded $40,000 grant

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The Otto Bremer Foundation has awarded a $40,000 grant to the Central Minnesota Elder Network of Douglas County.

The Elder Network (EN) strives to assist older adults achieve richer lives by addressing the challenges associated with life’s transitions.

Through its programs and services, EN’s goal is to provide remedy for emotional, social, mental health, and transportation issues with the intent of enabling clients to maintain their independence well into retirement.

Services are delivered in collaboration with a corps of skilled and dedicated volunteers, area churches, and other community service providers.

The grant will be used to implement a robust marketing strategy that will allow EN to increase its presence and provide services to additional clients throughout Douglas County, according to Gwyn Goodwin-Dalum, EN executive director.

In addition, the grant will provide an opportunity for the board of directors and EN staff to review and implement key features of its strategic plan, she added.

The cumulative goal, said Goodwin-Dalum, is to establish and maintain sustainability for many years to come.

Elder Network was established in 1997 when several members of the community responded to the need to form an agency that would provide support to older adults through the difficult transitions that occur throughout the aging process.

The means by which this was accomplished was through a corps of trained and compassionate volunteers providing companionship, respite care, caregiver training and support, and transportation and chore services to individuals age 55 and older in need of assistance.

Through the years the need for additional services has grown.

In 2008, Elder Network volunteers logged in excess of 4,500 hours serving the needs of 252 elderly clients throughout Douglas County.

For more information about EN and the services it provides, call (320) 763-9084.

To ensure that his personal commitment would carry on, Otto Bremer created the foundation in 1944 to meet the unique needs of communities in Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin.

Over the years, Otto Bremer’s other legacy, the Bremer Banks, owned by the foundation and bank employees, have provided the resources essential to fund the foundation’s grant-making activities.

Leveraging dividends from the bank, the foundation responds to changing community needs by giving nearly $30 million annually to respond to needs that are unique to each community.

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