Green ribbon campaign draws attention nationwide
By Tammy Swift
The Forum
The nation is throwing a life-line – made of miles of green ribbon – to Red River Valley flood victims.

Four days after Concordia senior Karin Dahl unveiled a plan to sell green ribbon pins for flood relief funds, people across America have taken notice. So have area communities: 28 of them, to be exact.

Dahl’s plan involves using the Salvation Army’s kettles as collection points to raise $500,000 for flood relief by May 7. She asked for a minimum donation of $5. Since news of the project, called "Volunteers Make It Happen" spread, volunteers have been fielding calls from as far away as Seattle. The callers have wanted to buy ribbons, get more information or even match funds.

"The only word I have for it is phenomenal," Dahl said Friday, between juggling her final day of classes at Concordia, an internship, and the booming campaign. "I don’t even know of anyone who has given under $5. People are so generous. But like I told the volunteers, if a little boy comes up with $1, we certainly are not going to turn him away."

As of the latest count Friday morning, the campaign had raised $14,647. Still, it’s hard to keep track of the amount, because the fund-raiser is going on in so many communities at the same time, Dahl says.

And the amount raised keeps raising – thanks to a generosity that runs as deep as the Red. One enthusiastic volunteer called in to Boyd Christenson’s radio talk show Thursday, and said he collected $2,500 in the two hours he’d manned a kettle at the West Acres Hornbacher’s.

The volunteer told of one man who walked up and handed him a blank check. He asked the donor how much he wanted to write the amount for: Five dollars? Ten? "Five hundred," the man said.

Another person walked by and dropped in three $100 bills.

"When I first envisioned this, I thought it would be a great fund-raiser in Fargo-Moorhead to benefit the entire Red River Valley," Dahl said. "I didn’t know this would go regional, let alone national. I can not tell you how flabbergasted I am by the response. People in this community really do make it happen. The kindness, the generosity, the human spirit are really in abundance in this region."

Original kettle sites at area WalMarts and Hornbacher’s stores have been joined by new locations at all Fargo-Moorhead Norwest Bank locations; Lite Rock 105 studios, 2501 13th Ave. S.W.; and WDAY-TV studios, 301 8th St. S.

The Royal Neighbors of America Fraternal Life Insurance booth at West Acres will staff a kettle, and the organization plans to match funds up to $1,500, Dahl says.

There also will be green ribbon/kettle posts at Norwest bank locations in Bismarck, Mandan, Grand Forks, Jamestown, Valley City, Wahpeton, Grafton, Hillsboro, Dickinson, Minot, Bowman and Scranton, all in North Dakota; and Fergus Falls, Detroit Lakes, Barnesville, Thief River Falls and Rothsay, in Minnesota.

The campaign has spread to various other towns, too, including Henning, Perham and Waubun, in Minnesota; plus Hankinson, Casselton, Lidgerwood, Milnor, Gwinner, Dickinson and – Dahl’s own hometown – Forman, N.D.

Today, Dahl plans to send green ribbons, along with a letter about her project, to President Bill Clinton and all of the U.S. representatives and senators in Washington.

The project still needs more volunteers to man kettle collection points, assist with office tasks or help make green ribbons. Potential ribbon-makers can drop by Room 340 of Concordia’s Science Center, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

For information, call (218) 299-3755, or write to: Karin Dahl, P.O. Box 3496, Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn., 56562.