, 
, 
, 
, 
, 
, 
More than a dozen volunteers with A.C.E. of SW Minnesota packed 300 reusable cloth bags with free essential products at Grand Prairie Events in Luverne Monday.
They donned facemasks and put distance between each other while filling each bag with toiletries like shampoo, conditioner, toothbrushes and toothpaste, deodorant and toilet paper.
“We want to help people get through these trying times,” said Linda Wenzel, the Rock County A.C.E. volunteer coordinator.
Wenzel is also a member of #Luv1LuvAll along with elementary school counselor Marie Atkinson-Smeins.
Earlier this year, Wenzel and Atkinson-Smeins requested a $5,000 grant from the Southwest Initiative Foundation.
The City of Luverne Angel Fund was given $1,000 of the grant to assist residents who are behind on utility bills. The rest of the grant was used to purchase products for the gift bags.
“What gave me the idea is that my church gives comfort kits using trial-sized items,” Wenzel said. “I thought, ‘Why not go bigger?’”
However, the full-sized bottles of personal care products are also more expensive, so Rock County Food Shelf organizers and Sunshine Foods of Luverne helped stretch the grant money at wholesale cost, rather than at retail prices.
Sunshine also donated candy bars and a portion of the $10 gift cards to be used at the store.
“If we had to buy all this, it would easily retail for $8,000,” Wenzel said.
The essential products were distributed Monday across all age groups from young college students to families to retirees.
Wenzel has already received positive feedback.
“Linda, the bags are wonderful,” read one message. “Who do we thank?”
The #Luv1LuvAll is a group of community members tasked to create opportunities that help and/or support individuals and families move above deficiencies outside their control. They contributed $500 toward the project.
The 300 gift bags were intended to relieve the social isolation and economic toll the coronavirus pandemic has had on members of the community.
They were distributed to neighborhoods in the community identified by organizers as areas potentially in need.