Oakes Family Scholarship

08/27/2026

Overwhelming response! Had a great time helping out at Pearl Park with Annunciation Church and so many members of the community. Met new friends, connected with old ones! Thousands of items of school supplies, resources for homeless youth, and hundreds of hours donated to get a jump start to the new school year!

08/27/2026

The sun is shining and we’re gleaming about helping our community tomorrow!

For Annunciation’s day of service, we’re supplying and packing supplies for Minneapolis Public Schools and Avenues of Youth with:

Pencils
Crayons
Notebooks
Markers
Sticky Notes
Feminine Products
Colored Pencils
Folders
And a whole lot more

Reminder: 100% of your donations go to helping those in need. Consider donating today!

08/26/2026

This Thursday, we will be participating in a volunteer and donation drive at Pearl Park in Minneapolis to honor the victims and families hurt at Annunciation Church one year ago. We will be donating school supplies to Minneapolis Public Schools and packing care kits for Avenues of Youth.

Please consider joining us by volunteering (https://forms.cloud.microsoft/g/QXAexkErKv)

or donating to the Annunciation Hope and Healing Fund (https://secure.myvanco.com/L-ZM37/campaign/C-1619X)

08/21/2026

Check out the results to our first annual supply survey

08/14/2026

Come celebrate the start of the school year with teachers who rock! All proceeds will go to supplying teachers materials, curriculum, and SO MANY PENCILS.

Join us with Arcana 81 at The Driftwood with night of music and helping teachers start the year strong.

$10 Cover - Doors at 7 PM

Arcane 81 is a local alt rock band with musicians who work in special ed, high school and supporters of the Oakes Family Scholarship. Members have been involved with the Twin Cities music scene since the 80’s and 90’s

08/05/2026

Hey there schoolers and scholars!

We hope you’re having a great summer vacation! With the school year quickly approaching, we wanted to get an idea how best we can support teachers and students.

We’re conducting a survey to understand classroom and school supplies that educators need. Your feedback will help us identify common needs and guide future efforts to support local schools and programs. Please take a few minutes of your time to help us and your community out!

Scan the QR code to fill out our anonymous survey:

Like and share with all of your education and teacher, social worker, counselor, child care, everything friends! The more data the better (teachers love gathering data, am I right?)

07/20/2026

07/16/2026

We’re thinking about our community in the Northwoods this week, especially our close friends who teach in the Ely School District, those work at outfitters, and students who live in the surrounding areas. Those same friends have started coordinating resources to help volunteers and those affected by the fires. Please consider sharing or helping anyway you can!

Many community members have been offering help through the What's Up Ely, MN? page (and others), but there has not been a coordinated way to connect those resources with the people who need them.

Ely Community Response is working to bring local needs and available resources together in one central place so support can be timely, effective, and useful.

Find local resources here:
https://substack.com/

Use this form to request help or share what you can offer:
https://forms.gle/6GBjMSxghHTzDFhr5

Please follow and share the Ely Community Response page to help us reach more people.

Questions or concerns? Email us at: [email protected]

06/05/2026

Happy that we have opportunities to be involved with our communities in many different ways! From ICA Food Shelf, to Hopkins and St. Louis Park students, to making memories with volunteers and students, this school year has been a blast! Have a great summer Transition Plus students and thanks for all your hard work!

With the school year coming to a close, we wanted to give a big shoutout to Transition Plus students for volunteering at ICA! Each week, groups come in to help out with various tasks at the shelf. From bagging coffee grounds, separating pet food, assembling Grab-N-Go bags, and sorting compost, these students have been helping hands since the school year started. We are so grateful to have them volunteer - have a great summer Transition Plus!

Oakes Family Scholarship

05/21/2026

Congrats to our former students from Bois Forte and beyond! Miigwech for letting us hangout with you during our recent trip to award scholarships. It was great to catch up with the students and staff in the North Woods Native American Resource Room, can’t wait to see you everything you accomplish!