© 2011 CROSS Center

Please make a donation to the CROSS Center. Any amount is greatly appreciated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

320-968-7012

 

Email Us

 

Cross Center of

Benton Co, MN

150 Fourth Ave.

P.O. Box 205

Foley, MN 56329

 

Mondays:

1pm-4pm, 6pm-8pm

 

Thursdays:

10am-3pm

 

 

Welcome to The CROSS Center

 

NEWS

 

• Come Join Us at the 3rd annual Stone Creek/CROSS Center Golf Fundraiser on May 6.  Read More!

 

• The CROSS Center is in need of a platform truck like this one.

 

• A special thank you to Coborns for donating 3,457 pounds of food during the month of March!!

 

• The Spring Newsletter is now available. Read It Now!

 

• CROSS is again collecting the Coborns Ham Cards. Bring them in during our open hours or drop them in the mail slot at the Rainbow building. If you are not planning on getting a Ham this year, please bring us your receipts NOW, as you get them.  We need the hams as soon as possible in order to serve the CROSS customers when they come in for food. No one has gas for a second trip. BE SURE you bring us the WHOLE receipt, do not cut them. Receipts that have been cut can not be used. Thank you for helping us share hams this Easter.

 

• The web address has changed, we are now foleycrosscenter.org.  Please update your bookmarks and links!

 

 

What We Need Today:

Juice, Sugar, Pancake Mix, Syrup, Laundry Soap, Tooth Brushes,Toilet Paper, Diapers, Clean Plastic Bags

 

 

Renovation!

 

       The Rainbow building is ready for renovation! The leaking roof has been already repaired and sealed with a 20 year guarantee. The roof was a priority and glad to have it done first. Work on the building interior will start in a couple weeks. The goal of the renovation is to make the old building as energy efficient as possible and also safe for clients. The building was donated to CROSS of Benton County a year ago by Foley Tax Service and John Reed.

       A special thank you to Carol Schimnich for again sharing and donating her grant writing skills for the CROSS Center mission. An Otto Bremer grant was awarded the CROSS Center for the renovation, recognizing the importance of the service CROSS provides for the residences of Foley and Benton County.

       The grant will cover most of the renovation cost. The CROSS Center needs some help with donations and fund raisers to pay a share in the project. Please consider what you may be able to do to help.

       During the renovation, the free clothing and household program will be moved to the office that is located next to Benton Insurance, just down the street from the Rainbow building. They will be at that location until the work is done.

       No clothing or household item donations can be accepted during the renovation. You can save your donations for CROSS until we are back in regular business or you can take them to thrift stores that are accepting donations. Thank you so much for your cooperation during this process.

       The food shelf will be business as usual during the Rainbow renovation and will gladly accept any food donations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CROSS Gives Thanks

 

       There are wonderful people among us and CROSS Center would like to thank all who helped make the holiday programs a success.  We thank those who purchased gifts for families from the Giving Tree.  We also thank those who donated toys for Toys for CROSS, especially Andi Rahm and Confirmation students from St. John's Catholic Church who held Candy Cane Sunday, a huge fund raiser to purchase toys.  Because of your generosity, many area families enjoyed a wonderful Christmas.

        We thank the First Presbyterian Church for providing the space for the toy distribution.  Thanks to those who gave of their time to get ready for the toy distribution, especially the deacons and YUPS from First Presbyterian Church,  Confirmation students from St. John’s Catholic Church, CROSS volunteers, Boy Scouts and the Foley Kiwanis Club.  Thanks also to those who volunteered to pick up the toys and gift bags from the various businesses and those who coordinated all the gifts coming in to the CROSS Center.

       CROSS also thanks the area banks, businesses and churches who so generously agreed to sponsor a Giving Tree or toy box – Frandsen Bank & Trust, Frandsen Auto Bank, Falcon National Bank, and Heritage National Bank of East St. Cloud, Benton County Courthouse, Benton County Courts Facility, Coborn’s, First Presbyterian Church, Foley Rexall Drug, Gustavus Adolphus Lutheran Church, St. John’s Catholic Church and St. Paul’s Lutheran Church.

       CROSS extends a BIG thank-you to the Benton County News for printing the articles for these and other CROSS projects.

 

God Bless You All for Your Generosity!

 

 

Toy Distribution

 

       December 17, 2011 was a day of Christmas. A day of giving, caring, sharing, and loving Gods children. It was not an easy day; it was a day of hard work and was a long day.  In fact it started Friday afternoon, December 16.

       Saturday, December 17, was the Toy Distribution for 200 needing children in Benton County. We had been doing registration and collecting toys for this day for the last 2 months but the physical "getting the toys ready" preparation was on Friday.

        Friday at 4:00 the Kiwanis group was scheduled to come and load the toys at the CROSS on a trailer to be hauled over to the 1st Presbyterian Church, where the distribution is held.

        At the church, the youth group from the 1st Presbyterian church and the youth group from the St. John's Catholic Church were there to unload the trailer, haul the toys into the fellowship hall, take down the round tables, and set up the long tables, haul all the tables from the Sunday School rooms for us to use, and then the hard part - follow directions.!!! Oh! but these kids were amazing, in no time they had all the tables set up as directed, the boxes and totes of toys were unloaded and set up on tables by age or category.  

       More volunteers from the community, mostly adults, came about 5:00 to arrange and organize the toys in a fashion of display. It could be very over whelming for the parent to find that special toy for their child, so they did whatever they could to give it organization. It was very well done.

        That room had a major alteration and it was all done by 6:00.  Very amazing indeed. We were ready for 78 families (200 children) to come for the toys.

        Saturday, at 11:30, more volunteers came and after orientation were ready to chaperone each parent as they selected gifts for their children. They were able to choose a main gift, numerous stocking stuffers, stuffed animals, knit hats, scarves, mittens, games and puzzles. They started at noon and done at 5:00.   We saw happy grateful parents as they left for home.

       At 5:00, the Boy Scouts came and again a major alteration as all leftovers (including garbage) were hauled into the  trailer, tables returned to their places, table decorations returned and etc. The goal is to leave it looking as good as it did when we came on Friday. Again another group of great guys that really know how to move stuff and leave it looking good. The trailer was unloaded at the CROSS Center. All done and on our way home at 6:00.  

       What a day!! What a Christmas it was already. What Spirit !!  What energy !! Many thanks to all who made it happen; starting with the donation of toys to the final clean up. Great job!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What We're About ...

This web site seeks to introduce you to the work and ministry of the C.R.O.S.S. Center in Benton County. It is our hope to acquaint you with the reasons for its existence, the resources it provides and the opportunities YOU are afforded to make a loving and significant difference in the lives of many of your neighbors who find themselves in a time of real crisis or need. Through a dedication to ongoing education, commitment, partnership and resourcing, the C.R.O.S.S. Center seeks to develop a growing awareness of the basic needs around us for food and clothing; to generate a passion to address those needs with compassion, love and care; to foster a willingness to partner together to accomplish much more than would otherwise be possible; and to challenge one another to each do our part to provide the best resources possible, to serve those in need through volunteers who truly care, and to support clients with what it takes to meet their real emergency needs. Whether you find yourself in the role of donor, volunteer or recipient - the ministry of the C.R.O.S.S. Center seeks to address real needs with compassion, integrity and a loving response. To that end, I hope you will join with us and play your part in making a real difference in the lives of those in need!

 

 

C.R.O.S.S. Mission: To provide encouragement and assistance to residents of Benton County who are experiencing short-term difficulties in meeting their basic needs for food and clothing.  Assistance is provided regardless of race, color or creed for those who qualify.

 

 

"America is the richest country in the world.  And yet tonight, thousands of your neighbors will go to bed hungry.  It may be your child's schoolmate who is undernourished and has difficulty learning on an empty stomach.  Or it could be a co-worker, a working mother whose low-wage job doesn't make ends meet.  Perhaps it's an elderly neighbor who has to make a decision whether to delay filling a prescription or buying groceries.  The faces of hunger are as broad as the faces of America."

                               David Jasby, General Mills