Category: BGS in the Community
Highland Friendship Club's Eighth Annual Lanes for Friendship
November 12, 2014 | Angela WoessnerSaturday, November 8, 2014, marked the Eighth Annual Lanes for Friendship, a fundraising event for the Highland Friendship Club, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit located in St. Paul (“HFC”). Lanes for Friendship was held at Brunswick Zone XL in Lakeville and featured the Minnesota Twins’ Joe Mauer and other special guests. The event includes a silent auction, bowling, door prizes, a lane where you can win prizes from Chipotle, a VIP area and luncheon for certain sponsorship levels, food and fun! Bowling teams consist of 4 team members (selected by the team sponsor), one HFC member, and a special guest. Besides Joe Mauer, special guests included Minnesota Twins’ Manager Paul Molitor, Golden Gopher Baseball Head Coach John Anderson, members of the Golden Gopher Baseball Team, retired MLB umpire Tim Tschida, Minnesota Twins’ minor league manager Jake Mauer, Cincinnati Reds’ player Jack Hannahan, KARE 11 personality Eric Perkins, and many others. HFC was founded in 2002 by two parents who wanted to offer young adults with disabilities the opportunity to spend time with their friends, lean social skills, try new things, and more importantly, have fun! Today, more than 200 young adults with disabilities are active members and participate in art, swimming, cooking, fitness and music classes in addition to other weekly fun activities designed especially…
Read MoreA Spooky Halloween Tale (True Story!) from BGS
October 23, 2014 | Scott M. LepakPeople may think that lawyers don’t have ghost stories. While it may be true that no self respecting ghost wants to bother trying to scare someone who is skeptical as a profession (and often does not stop talking long enough to hear ghostly noises), you might be surprised that some lawyers have spooky tales. Anoka, Minnesota is the Halloween capital of the world. It is famous for inventing trick or treating. It also has many interesting ghost stories. The Anoka County Historical Society has ghost walking tours in the summer (it is not really ghosts that do the walking – the people on the tours walk while hearing stories about ghosts). The main fire station in Anoka is relatively new and very nice. It is also reputedly haunted with strange noises and unexplained events. Some say they are from a firefighter who tragically died many years ago when a horse drawn fire wagon tipped over on him crossing rail road tracks. Others think it is someone or something else. I stopped in the fire department this week to visit with the Fire Chief. He was busy giving an interview to a grade school reporter so I thought I would let my secretary Sarah know that I was running a little late. I texted…
Read MoreHabitat for Humanity: Building Hope Together
October 15, 2014 | Scott M. LepakOn October 3, 2014 BGS helped build its most recent Habitat for Humanity house. This house was a single story house specially constructed to meet the needs of a disabled family member. Another great thing about this house was that it is located in Columbia Heights, a City where we have been honored to serve as City Attorneys for the past 23 years. Our work crew arrived expecting to put on siding but the wet weather from the previous day had put the project slightly behind schedule. We spent the morning disassembling scaffolding and hauling it through the mud before we could get to our main jobs of putting up a center post on the porch and installing fascia and trim. The work crew of Tracie Davis, Lynn Geistfeld and Liz Schading turned out to be the best fascia installation crew with flawless teamwork and attention to detail. The work crew led by our best carpenter (who is our IT pro in his regular job) Brian Harvison showed flashes of productivity but work periodically slowed as the lawyers on the crew, Dan Ganter, Scott Lepak and Jon Erickson, periodically paused to engage in spirited debate and instruction to each other on the proper way to perform simple tasks. The Habitat for Humanity job…
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