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Tent-village display a sight for sore eyes

But then there are learning opportunities that encourage young people to step outside their own limited worlds.

At Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter Thursday, an interactive tent-village display recreated a refugee city. Camp Darfur, a traveling exhibit, educates students about genocide while allowing them to consider what it might really be like to have to live as a refugee.

Face it, few young people spend much time thinking about heavy issues in faraway places. Textbooks and lectures don’t inspire them the way hands-on experiences such as these are capable of doing.

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Many supporters helped Operation Kids fundraiser

The Free Press reported Aug. 15 on The Lost Soles, who were trying to run a 200-mile, all-night relay from La Crosse, Wis., to Minneapolis.

The relay took place Aug. 22-23 and the Lost Soles came in 25th among 167 teams with the time of 28:05:12.

Our team ranged from 23-year-old athletes to a 70-year-old mature runner. If you have any doubts that Boomers and Generation X can work together, our team was the perfect demonstration. We got lost; we got rained on; we passed many runners; we got passed by many runners; we ran under the beautiful star-filled night sky, and most of all, we all had a blast even though we were entirely sleep deprived.

We could not have done this without the support of many people in our community. We would like to thank Jim Rueda, Shane Frederick and Pat Christman of The Free Press for publicizing our story.

Our team was fundraising for Operation Kids. The article helped us raise almost $800 so far.

We also thank Mark Greenwood who personally arranged a rented van and Chris and Melinda Sturm who let us use their van.