Neighbors Helping Neighbors

Celebrating the spirit of giving that builds the foundation of St. Croix Valley.

By Madeline Kopiecki

The Stillwater Area Community Foundation funded the cleaning and reclaiming Fairy Falls, pictured here. WHILE THE ST. CROIX VALLEY is sprawling, it contains a through line that represents the hallmark of every healthy community: supporting its own. For this Best of St. Croix Valley issue, we want to check in with a few stellar nonprofits and programs that share time, resources and passion throughout the community.

Youth Action Hudson (YAH) This youth-led program is built of Hudson High School students who create their own programming throughout the year to engage and enrich the surrounding community. “Currently, we run 10–15 programs that our youth implement and participate in,” says YAH executive director Meredith Arcand.

The longest running of these programs is Peer-to-Peer, which provides resources and presentations to middle school students. “YAH youth reach out to their peers, engaging them in positive selfimage, how to prepare for high school and how to be a positive participate in your community,” Arcand says. On average, she notes that 66 percent of all middle school students report learning something new from these presentations.

The youth-led nature of YAH also allows members to introduce events and programs of their own, which can keep pace with the ever-evolving needs faced by students today. One such program is the Mental Health Youth Ambassadors program, launched in January 2022. “The goal of this program is to equip teens with the tools and information so they can become active at identifying a peer in crisis and know how to direct them to the proper resources,” Arcand says.

Arcand says she’s most proud of the program’s 47 youth participants. “Their lives are full of many things they have to do, and volunteering is not something they have to do; it is a choice,” she says.

St. Croix Valley Foundation (SCVF) SCVF partners with 10 affiliate community foundations to encourage charitable giving, collaboration and connection between community members and the causes that speak to them. SCVF is steward to more than $90 million in assets, which they’ve raised through cash donations as well as gifts of appreciated stock, real estate, life insurance policies and more.

SCVF’s affiliates focus on local giving and local grant making, explains marketing manager Ellen Montgomery, while SCVF itself provides staffing, administrative, financial, investment and legal support for affiliates. This assistance frees up the more locally-focused affiliates to devote their attention to community projects and needs.

One affiliate, the Lower St. Croix Valley Community Foundation, recently coordinated a massive and multi-year bike trail restoration, spanning the communities of Lakeland, Lakeland Shores, Lake St. Croix Beach, St. Mary’s Point and Afton. In Stillwater, the Stillwater Area Community Foundation funded the restoration of the Stillwater stairs, a popular haunt of morning fitness climbers, and funded the cleanup and reclamation of Fairy Falls, where trails fell victim to erosion. The Hudson Community Foundation has recently funded W.H.O. Books, a program that seeks to provide young readers with books focused on diversity, equity and acceptance.

“These are just a few examples of the many ways that the local grantmaking of SCVF affiliates impacts communities throughout the St. Croix Valley,” Montgomery says. “... These projects rely on the generosity of those who support their hometown via their community foundation, caring for the place they love today and forever.”

Learn about Valley Outreach at stcroixvalleymag.com.

Youth Action Hudson; 715.386.9803; youthactionhudson.org

St. Croix Valley Foundation; 715.386.9490; scvfoundation.org

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