Community

The Icebox Radio Theater kicks off its new season with a show titled “Laugh ‘til Your Knob Falls Off” on Friday, Sept.

This article has no body content. Login to continue reading Login Sign up for complimentary access Sign Up Now Close

The starting line of the Labor Day family-fun Color 5k, hosted by the Rainy Lake Medical Center Foundation, was a sea of brilliant white t-shirts worn by runners and walkers of all ages Monday.The untimed 5-kilometer event started and ended at Smokey Bear Park just before the start of the annual Labor Day Picnic, sponsored by the Koochiching Labor Assembly and International Falls, that also drew a good crowd on a sunny day.At different points throughout the Color 5k route, runners or walkers are doused from head to toe in a different colored powder.

The annual Snicker’s Bash, hosted by Voyageur’s Riding Club of International Falls, is known for its generosity to community members going through tough times and fun.This year, Snicker’s Bash will raise money to allow the club to focus on helping multiple people throughout the year, said Karen Snider, club treasurer, and Carl Jantzen, a member and organizer.

The gains from learning Tae Kwon Do are as varied as the students taking lessons by Karate North through ISD 361 Community Education.With beginners lessons, for ages 10 and up, starting Sept.

The North Shore Mental Health Group has partnered with the Icebox Radio Theater in International Falls to raise awareness of mental health issues in the region.Radio Station KTWH in Two Harbors is helping share the message.“We are a collection of community members from Finland, Silver Bay, Isabella, and Beaver Bay, along Lake Superior, here to build a community where it is safe to talk about mental well-being, and to live well with and encourage treatment for mental illnesses, brain injuries, and disorders,” said Dean Rudloff, a member of the North Shore Mental Health Group.NSMHG members volunteer host educational events like “Mental Health 1st Aid,” “QPR,” and “Be There” and support activities like G.L.A.D, a confidential peer support Group for people Living with Anxiety and Depression.“We all have mental health and regardless of a person’s unique challenges, need the potential to sufficiently recover from the effects of mental illnesses to lead a personally satisfying life as an integrated member of society,” Rudloff adds.To bring their message to a wider audience, the group reached out to the Icebox Radio Theater, which for 20 years has been performing new and classic radio drama, heard around the world on its website.The group knew they could count on the Icebox team to recreate their message in a public service announcement.According to“Mental health issues are some of the most significant challenges facing our community,” said Jeffrey Adams, executive director of the Icebox Radio Theater.

Robin Monahan, Falls High School class of 1962, said he doesn’t have the self-discipline to write a book of his experiences serving in a field hospital in Vietnam, but talking about it seems good therapy.And, he said, it may help others who experienced the things he did.“This has been a long time in coming,” he said.When Monahan came home from Vietnam and left the service in 1968, “it was difficult, impossible actually, to talk to anyone about my experiences in Vietnam out of fear of uncomfortable discussion or even hostility, given the attitude toward veterans at the time.”He served from April 21, 1967, to April 1, 1968, during the Tet Offensive, in a surgical field hospital, working in one of six operating rooms that worked 24 hours a day for 45 days.“It gave me a new perspective of what hard work is, working 16-hour shifts,” he said.“Twelve months I worked in an operating room and it’s a special sort of trauma,” he said.

Last week at the Rotary Club of International Falls club meeting, Club Secretary Amy Mortenson reported that the funds donated by the club to Learning Tree had helped to support the purchase of supplies for 142 backpacks for children in the upcoming school year.The Learning Tree program is one that has hearty support from the club and one that supports the mission of improving childhood education in the community.There was also a discussion about the previous week’s Poverty Simulation.

Dave Skallet and Jim Merthan are the 2024 International Falls Bass Champions, in the 20th IFBC.2023 champs Tony Jackson of International Falls and partner Ian Waterer, Winnipeg, held the lead to the end, but veteran anglers Skallet and Merthan edged by with a slightly larger bag of 39.54 pounds to take the win.The top 10 shows a mix of previous IFBC champs and veteran anglers with newcomers with less than one pound separating the top three finishes.Top 101.

STAFF REPORTThis year’s Lunch Buddies mentoring program at Falls Elementary School needs volunteers.United Way of Northeastern Minnesota is recruiting mentors to match with local elementary students for this coming school year’s Lunch Buddies mentoring program.The program matches first through fourth grade students with screened, trained volunteer mentors to share one lunch break each week during the school year.Mentors are screened through an application, interview, and background check and receive training before meeting with their mentees.