Community Foundation holds inaugural meeting

In their first official meeting on Sept. 18, the Somerset Community Foundation voted in board officers, including President Jay Emmert, Vice President Paul Wenzel, Secretary Randy Rosburg and Treasurer Joe Green. Other board members include Scott Wells, Brad Nemec and Casey Goessl. The Somerset Community Foundation has been in the works since April and has finally met the requirements to become affiliated with the St. Croix Valley Foundation.

This first official meeting has set up the Somerset Community Foundation for operation; however, it was officially founded on Aug. 8, 2012.

Rosburg said the organization hopes to create awareness of the community foundation and what it will do to help enhance the quality of life in the Somerset community.

The foundation invited the founders and financial supporters of the foundation to the meeting to recognize their contributions.

“It was nice to have the donors there to honor them and thank them for their donations,” said Emmert.

The foundation’s mission is “to foster, nurture and enhance the quality of life and to serve as a leader, catalyst and resource for philanthropy,” in Somerset.

In that spirit, the Somerset Community Foundation awarded $375 each to Grace Place and the BackPack Program. Emmert said the community foundation board asked the donors to select recipients from three possible candidates the board had identified.

“They decided to split the awards between those two recipients because it stays local,” Emmert said. “It will help the needy children.”

Grace Place, located near St. Anne’s church in Somerset, provides transitional housing for those in need in St. Croix County. Grace Place also runs the Backpack Program, working with the Somerset Food Shelf to provide food for school kids.

The next step for the Somerset Community Foundation, Emmert said, is to form committees in order to carry out the foundation’s mission. He said one of these committees will be in charge of finding more donors to support the foundation.

“We need help making it happen for the betterment of Somerset,” Emmert said. “It’s for everybody, so the more help we have, the easier it’ll be.”

The founders recognized by the community foundation include: Sandy and Brad Nemec, Harold and Theresa Rivard, Joe Green, John and Kelly Montpetit, Mark Vanasse, Paul Wenzel, Dan Baillargeon, Jay Emmert, Joel and Dan Boblit, Linda Skoglund, Matt Mithun and Roy Gruel.

The Somerset Community Foundation will be creating a plaque recognizing the founders listed above as well as the founding board members and the founding advisory board members: Jane Stevenson, Mark Vanasse and Linda Skoglund.

Tags: communities, somerset