Contact: Noe Lopez (UMM Student)-translator (hable espanol) and/or Allan Saugstad ([email protected]) of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans-Services
Services Available: financial advice on savings, investments, insurance, retirement, etc...
Services Available: NONE at this time
Playing soccer with the UMM Men's/Women's Intramural Soccer Team.
Contact: Stevens County-Social Services
Contact: Stevens County Food Shelf
-According to a regular volunteer, they do have some "mexican" (e.g. burrito/taco shells) food that comes off and on-depends on the donations.
Contact: Stevens County Humane Society
Services Available:
Article:
Revisiting immigration�s past
Morris Sun Tribune
Published Wednesday, January 09, 2008
"By Tom Larson
Sun Tribune
Nancy Huot opened LaTienda in May 2006 and envisioned the store as a cultural resource as much as a place for Hispanics to find familiar grocery items. Huot�s efforts to bridge the cultural gap between Hispanics and majority populations in West Central Minnesota led the Morris Human Rights Commission to honor her with the 2008 Human Rights Award.
Nancy Huot opened LaTienda in May 2006 and envisioned the store as a cultural resource as much as a place for Hispanics to find familiar grocery items. Huot�s efforts to bridge the cultural gap between Hispanics and majority populations in West Central Minnesota led the Morris Human Rights Commission to honor her with the 2008 Human Rights Award.
Nancy Huot had some political capital with the Morris City Council and she didn�t waste time letting it be known she was willing to spend it....more (see La Tienda
La Tienda opens doors to area�s Hispanic community
Morris Sun Tribune
Published Saturday, May 12, 2007
By Tom Larson
Sun Tribune
La Tienda owner Nancy Huott and manager Marco Chapa
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La Tienda, a grocery and services store geared to the area�s Hispanic community, is open on Morris� main street.
The brainchild of Nancy Huot, La Tienda went from concept to opening in about six months.
Huot said that while La Tienda caters to the needs of Hispanics, that isn�t its sole aim.
�We�re hoping the whole community comes and sees what�s here,� Huot said. �We want to make a store for everybody.�
La Tienda is a building adjacent to Bremer Bank on Atlantic Avenue in Morris and will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Mondays through Saturdays.
The store would offer retail items such as perishable and non-perishable food, clothing and other items specific to the Hispanic culture that can�t be found in Morris.
La Tienda also offers other services, such as help with mailing, wire transfers, check cashing, and soon will have a computer available for Internet use.
There are magazines and music selections, and Huot intends to publish a weekly news flier that will bring news headlines and sports scores from Spanish-speaking countries.
Huot told the Morris City Council earlier this year that, �It will be an outreach store, not just a retail store.�
Currently, many in the minority community have to travel to larger cities, such as Willmar or St. Cloud, to find products with which they are familiar, Huot said.
Such a store in Morris will not only help bridge a cultural divide, it will help keep consumer dollars at home.
In conversations with community organizations, Huot estimates the Hispanic population in Morris and surrounding areas at between 250 and more than 500, depending on the season.
Comfort and convenience is the aim of any grocery business, but they are of even greater importance to people who are adjusting to a new culture and language.
Huot hired Marco Chapa as La Tienda�s manager. Chapa has experience with ordering inventory and other tasks crucial to the operation, having worked in a restaurant and bar in Saltillo, Coah, Mexico.
�He�s been a huge help,� Huot said.
La Tienda carries products familiar to Hispanics.
�They walk into a store and they know what this is,� Huot said, picking up a box of a laundry soap popular in Mexico. �But we wouldn�t have any idea. It�s the same from them shopping (in U.S. groceries). It will be nice for them to be able to know what they�re buying. A lot of it is the same stuff, just familiar brands. It�s about being confident in what you�re buying.�
Most of the store�s good are ordered out of Chicago, but the produce comes from the Twin Cities, and meats and dairy products are coming from local producers. They�ve been helpful, Huot said, noting that Hispanic customers use the same types of meats but they are cut differently. Hancock Meats has worked to produce those cuts.
Convenience is also important for the area�s Hispanic population. Many work six-day weeks, then face the prospect of driving several hours to find products.
Huot said she�s already heard from potential customers in South Dakota who intend to shop in Morris.
�When you have one day off and you spend two or three hours of your day driving, that�s hard,� she said. �I knew most of the Hispanic workers had to go out of town to shop, and it seemed like a long way to go to buy products we can find right here in town. (The store) became kind of a �why not� thing.�
a Tienda manager Marco Chapa sells a phone card on the new grocery store�s first day of business Wednesday in Morris. La Tienda owner Nancy Huot saw for need to such a store in the area after learning that Hispanic residents spent hours driving to larger cities to buy familiar items.
a Tienda manager Marco Chapa sells a phone card on the new grocery store�s first day of business Wednesday in Morris. La Tienda owner Nancy Huot saw for need to such a store in the area after learning that Hispanic residents spent hours driving to larger cities to buy familiar items.
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City loan to aid store geared to area�s Hispanics
Morris Sun Tribune
Published Saturday, January 13, 2007
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A modest loan from the city could mean a better quality of life for Hispanics and other minorities living in the Morris area.
The Morris City Council on Tuesday approved a $12,500 loan from its Revolving Loan Fund to help develop a proposed store catering to the needs primarily of the Hispanic community.
Council members approved the loan in their role as the city�s Economic Development Authority.
Nancy Huot, of Morris, is proposing to open the store, La Tienta, on March 1. Currently, she�s working to obtain space in what was a video store adjacent to Bremer Bank on Atlantic Avenue in Morris.
Huot told the council the store would offer retail items such as non-perishable food, clothing and other items specific to the Hispanic culture that can�t be found in Morris.
La Tienta could eventually offer other services, such as help with mailing, emailing, wire transfers, check cashing and other assistance geared to people who are new or unfamiliar with the area, Huot said.
The product line and services could be expanded to serve other minority communities if the need arises, she said.
�It will be an outreach store, not just a retail store,� Huot said.
Currently, many in the minority community have to travel to larger cities, such as Willmar or St. Cloud, to find products with which they are familiar, Huot said.
Such a store in Morris will not only help bridge a cultural divide, it will help keep consumer dollars at home.
�We could bring that shopping that that community does back into Morris,� Huot said.
In conversations with community organizations, Huot estimates the Hispanic population in Morris and surrounding areas at between 250 and more than 500, depending on the time of year.
The store�s predicted first-year cash flow is based on having 80 customers per week spending an average of $25. Huot, who has a degree in agriculture finance, estimates $15,000 in start-up expenses. The proposed city loan pay-off is over five years with payments beginning four months after the funding date.
For contact info: 320.589.0272
Lastly, one topic that wasn't discussed at this was this community issue: -"What good is it having the "migrant workers" here?"
-Some myths and f.a.q are that I've heard so far:
Myth: "They" are taking all our jobs?
Fact: The jobs "they" usually take are ones that no one wants
Myth: "They" are taking trying to befriend young girls (underage) in the community and cause trouble?
Fact: Some of them are already married
....more related issues/topics
Dinner intended to make immigrants feel at home
By Brian Williams, Sun Tribune 05/11/2005
It was a festive Cena De La Communidad.
That�s Spanish for �dinner for the community,� explained Bobby Goodfellow, chief organizer of the Friday night event that filled the fellowship hall of Assumption Church.
The event was conceived by a group of students in the service learning portion of Stacey Parker Aronson�s Spanish class at UMM. They planned a dinner with authentic Mexican cuisine as a means of helping immigrant farm workers in the Morris area feel more at home here.
The food was ample and received good reviews in this Cena De La Communidad, enjoyed by many from both the UMM community and general community. It sent a message that the new immigrant residents ought to feel fully at home in West Central Minnesota, lest there be any doubt.
Goodfellow estimates there are between 100 and 200 immigrant farm workers who were the main honored guests for the Friday gathering.
The public supper was �intended to help them feel more comfortable in the city and general community,� Goodfellow said. �They come to town to buy things, go back home, and might not feel as part of the community as we�d like them to be. With this dinner they can come, enjoy the meal and make connections with each other along with students and other community members.�
The immigrants are primarily from Mexico and employed mainly by Riverview Dairy Farm and West River Dairy Farm, both in Stevens County.
The dinner was free. Its sponsors included the International Programs Committee at UMM, the United Latinos (a UMM student organization), the Morris Human Rights Commission, Assumption Church, UMM Food Services personnel, and an anonymous donor.
The Morris Human Rights Commission was represented at the supper, continuing its work helping ensure that the immigrants are fully knowledgeable about wage laws and other rights.
�This supper helps make them truly feel like members of the Morris community,� Goodfellow said.
Being new has its challenges for everyone, but in the case of people looking at cultural barriers, that challenge could be seen as more daunting, in Goodfellow�s view.
He explained that �I�ve seen where these farm workers might not feel as welcome as they might. It think it�s the responsibility of people in the town and on campus to help them all know that they are members of the community here at Morris, and what�s more, all of us want them to be here!�
Will the Cena De La Communidad become annual? Goodfellow said �we hope to pass it on to the United Latinos, so hopefully a student group will handle this annually.�
Goodfellow, 20, is a UMM sophomore from Mound Westonka High School, Class of 2003. He�s pursuing a double major in Spanish and geology at UMM. Why did he choose UMM? This goes back to a summer scholars class that he attended here between his junior and senior years in high school, he said. The scholars class was called �Biotechnology: Tinkering With Nature,� and it was taught by Van Gooch and Tom Turner. Students from a five-state area attended. �I was hooked on Morris,� he said said. He�s looking ahead to graduate school, specifically several programs intended to bring college graduates to foreign countries to help teach English. He gave as an example the Japanese English Teaching Program. His hard work helping make the Cena De La Communidad successful will suit a resume in this career nicely.
Stacy Aronson, an associate professor for UMM's Spanish program
a href="http://www.teacherweb.com/MN/Morris/WindyRoberts/">Windy Roberts
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