The Brainerd Lakes Area Community Foundation Board of Directors announced this year's Award in Philanthropy recipients will be the Ruttger family.
"Chris, Joanne, Ann and Jack Ruttger have displayed a strong sense of community and a passion for helping others," the board announced in a news release.
The Ruttger family has operated the Ruttger's Bay Lake Lodge as a family resort for over 119 years and has employed hundreds of people. They have been involved in numerous fundraisers, their lake association and educational opportunities across the community. In 2005, the Ruttger Enhanced Reading Fund was established at the BLACF and since then, it has gifted over $75,000 to Crosby-Ironton and Aitkin elementary schools to support reading activities. "Because of their generosity, these schools now have two of the best Level Reader libraries in the state of Minnesota," the news release stated
Karl Samp, executive director of BLACF, stated, "The Ruttger family epitomizes what it means to be generous, yet humble in your giving. They don't just give financially, but of their time as well. We are honored to have them as our 2018 recipients of the Award in Philanthropy."
The Award in Philanthropy will be presented to the Ruttger family Thursday, July 12, at Grand View Lodge. The Brainerd Lakes Area Community Foundation will also be celebrating its 20th anniversary that evening and recognizing the growth of the foundation. For additional information about the event and tickets, contact tfoster@communitygiving.org or call 877-253-4380.
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The Brainerd Lakes Area Community Foundation, in affiliation with CommunityGiving, is a public charity that attracts and administers charitable funds for the benefit of the local community. Since 1998, BLACF has grown to over $10.4 million in assets and awarded over $4.7 million in grants to nonprofits. CommunityGiving is a collaboration of community foundations united under a single framework to create efficiencies that maximize the impact of donors.
Learn more at www.CommunityGiving.org/Brainerd .
