About CCOOL

This group was founded to coordinate services and events for international agricultural work exchange interns/employees in Detroit Lakes, MN. Workers/Students come from around the world. As of 2019, pioneer group members were from Uganda, Rwanda, South Africa, Colombia, Philippines, Vietnam, India, Georgia, Jamaica, India, Tanzania, Kenya, and Haiti, among others! CCOOL's mission is to connect international intern workers with local organizations and individuals who can help them make the most of their time in the area, by giving them opportunities to attend and participate in various community events and activities in our lovely corner of Minnesota.

Welcome to the Lakes!

CCOOL outreach started when Janelle 🏳️‍🌈 of Detroit Lakes, MN, met Brazilian and Ukrainian interns doing horticulture placement training at a local greenhouse, but outreach was put on hold for 13 years while she lived out of state, until the Janzen family met another intern, Godfrey. It was winter when he and his coworkers arrived in "the frozen north," and most of the international interns had never seen snow before; you can imagine what that meant! Upon arriving in town, Godfrey looked up his church denomination in the phone book, and walked to the address after work, to ensure he would know how to get there for services that weekend. The trek took him almost an hour, in sub-zero weather. After walking to church the next day, Godfrey met the Janzens who struck up a conversation with him and learned more about his situation and that of his coworkers. Soon discovering a deep, trusting bond in their shared faith, Godfrey and the Janzens formed a friendship, the Janzens offered Godfrey rides to church, and were soon introduced to his friends/coworkers.

Godfrey and the other interns were fairly recently arrived to their work/study internship from their home countries in warmer climes, and most had neither warm winter clothing nor enough money in their first weeks of work to purchase any of the essentials. They would walk to work, church, and the grocery store, sometimes in windchills as low as -40°F. The Janzens asked if they could offer assistance to the intern group, and aided in the following ways:

• Offering needed rides to church, grocery store, and the thrift store (a new concept, given that the only stores that the interns had been shown were the local grocery store and WalMart!)

• Fundraised and reached out to local stores to cover the costs of startup wardrobes appropriate to the local climate and work environment (snow pants, gloves/mittens, snow boots, scarves, and other cold-weather gear and work clothing).

With the growing relationship with the interns and the difficulty inherent in coordinating rides for multiple people at different addresses, Janelle, who had befriended Brazilian and Ukranian interns in this same situation 13 years prior and who had heard about the efforts to help interns arrived in early 2019, decided to do what she could to help from 1,000+ miles away. She came up with the organization name and created an online platform to facilitate communication and organize outreach efforts - and the Community Cultural Outreach Of the Lakes (CCOOL) Facebook page was born! She also created this website, and put together a welcome packet complete with temperature, snowfall, and rainfall averages for each month of the year (so interns could have an idea of how to prepare for the weather), a listing of nearby grocery stores and thrift shops, area maps and events from the local welcome guide, and a listing of all local places of worship for those of various faiths.

CCOOL efforts continued and grew to include gatherings and local events that helped the interns feel they were becoming a part of the local community and had local friends and adoptive families! Recently CCOOL founders have considered applying for non-profit status to aid in fundraising efforts to be able to help new interns rotating in on a regular basis, not just the original group that had been Godfrey's coworkers (most of whom moved on to other work/study placements or returned to their home countries in the fall of 2019). This website was set up to formalize, facilitate, and streamline CCOOL outreach efforts and information sharing.

Through combined efforts with various volunteers, the students/interns participated in and benefited from the following activities/programs:

• Grocery store runs: interns do not receive regularly scheduled rides to purchase food, and so are extremely grateful for periodic volunteer offered transport to local grocery stores

• Thrift store visits: CCOOL fundraising covered the cost of winter and work clothing for the interns, as well as buying used bicycles to give interns greater autonomy of movement in warmer weather

• Snow tubing at Detroit Mountain: a cultural experience for the interns, many of whom hadn't seen snow before arriving in Detroit Lakes! Also allowed interns to meet community members and form friendships outside of work

• Various Farm visits: to the Aakre farm, gave additional insight and experience to interns on agricultural topics

• WMSTR Steam Threshers' Reunion at Rollag: Admission fees graciously covered for CCOOL members by the Steam Thresher's Reunion

• Breakfast on the Farm: Hawley, MN

• Tourism/leisure activities: visiting the headwaters of the Mississippi River, kayaking, canoeing, boating and water-skiing

• Home Dinners: hosted by the wonderful CCOOL volunteers!

• Evening campfires & yard games: hosted by the wonderful local CCOOL volunteers!

• Short turn-around transportation for interns going to new work placements on near-immediate turnaround.