Bridges of Hope's first Afternoon Tea for Hope on Sunday, May 3, at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Nisswa raised just over $10,000, which was the goal. These funds will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Mardag Foundation and will benefit Bridges of Hope's Side by Side Mentoring Program for women.
Three women involved with the program spoke at the event: Jennifer Perez, Charlotte Wheeler and Kelly Bender. More than 115 guests and more than 25 volunteers, including Nisswa firefighters, attended the event.
The firefighters served guests tea while they enjoyed savory snacks from Prairie Bay and desserts from Edible Art Bakery. Students from the Theresa Kingsley School of Music shared music.
Each guest received a gift from local businesses, including Adirondack, Bloom Designs, Coco & Co, Common Goods, Designs by Nina, Dock Panther, Glynlyon, Gull Lake Yacht Club, J Amelia's, Lakes Country Counseling, Mary Kay-Maggi Wentler, Moxy, Nerium-Cindy Leas, Nisswa Yoga, Thirty-One-Stacy Littman, and Weichert Realtors-Tower Properties.
"We are thrilled with the outpouring of support for this first-time event. It went even better than expected and a great time was had by everyone in attendance," said Jana Shogren, Bridges of Hope executive director.
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The planning committee included Jenny Holmes (Gull Lake Yacht Club), Kate Kuepers (Bloom Designs), Shogren (Bridges of Hope) and Biff Ulm (Zaiser's).
Event sponsors included Thrivent Financial-Tara Hemsing Woitalla, Lake Country Journal, Bloom Designs, Bremer Bank, Cuyuna Regional Medical Center, Dermatology Professionals, Edgewood Dental, Lakewood Health System, Mid-Minnesota Federal Credit Union, Nisswa Smiles, Nisswa Tax Service, Northern Pacific Center and Zaiser's.
