20th Edition - April 2012

Dont forget to Order your Tickets early!!

Give us a Call to find out how to purchase tickets for our Great Raffle Drawing at this years Gala ~ Tickets are $5 each. Prizes include: 1. Spring or Fall Power Golf Package at Ruttgers Bay Lake Lodge for 2. 2. Twins Tickets with 1 night stay at a Twin Cities Hotel for 4. 3. $200 shopping card from Brainerd/Baxter Cub Foods. 4. Gas BBQ Grill Need not be present to win The Lakes Area Restorative Justice Project
Cordially invites you to join us at the 4th Annual Spring Gala at Beautiful Ruttger's Bay Lake Lodge for an evening of Wonderful Food, Great Conversation and Beautiful Music!

Friday, May 4th, 2012

Social Hour: 5:00 to 6:00 pm
Cash Bar will be available Silent Auction throughout the evening

Dinner: 6:00 to 7:30 pm

Chicken Breast over Wild Rice, Mushroom Sauce, Fresh Vegetables, Cranberry Relish, Salad, Rolls & dessert

Youth Concert: 7:30 to 9:00 pm

Ripple River Strings & Crosby High School Jazz Ensemble Raffle Drawing to be held at the end of the Concert

$35 per person

For tickets purchased prior to April 20th $40 each after that date Vegetarian meals may be requested with reservation. Reservations required by Monday, April 30th To make your reservation please contact: Janet or Charmaine @ 218-568-4145, by email: janet.wedan@larjp.org or mail check to: LARJP, 4638 CO RD 11, Pequot Lakes, MN 56472

Our Program is Growing & Expanding into new areas and We need You to grow with Us! Now is Your chance to make plans to sign up and attend the Spring Conference Facilitator Training and to join our Great Team of Volunteers working to make a Difference in the lives of Crime Victims, Youth and all Citizens of Crow Wing County? Every year many youth in Crow Wing County are involved in minor offenses like Fighting and small thefts, but some are involved in very serious offenses. Whatever the offense, they need to be held accountable. They also need to learn the harm their behavior caused and they need to decide not to do it again.

You can help these Youth and the Victims they have harmed!!
Volunteers generally donate about ten to fifteen hours per case and accept three to five cases per year. Cases can be scheduled at the volunteer's convenience. Volunteers work in pairs and will be mentored by LARJP staff as long as needed. Volunteers need to be 21 years of age; have their own transportation; a desire to help their community including youth, victims and families; and must complete 20 hours of training as well as four on-going inservices per year.

Three-day LARJP Training Friday, April 27th - 4:00 pm to 9:00 pm Saturday, April 28th - 9:00 am to 5:00 pm Sunday, April 29th - 12:00 pm to 7:00 pm Central Lakes College, Brainerd To get more Information or to Apply to be a Volunteer:
View our website to download description and application ~ www.lakesarearestorativejustice.org If you have any questions or would like to speak to someone about this opportunity please contact:
Charmaine Shepard LARJP 4638 County Rd 11 Pequot Lakes, MN 56472 218-568-4145 email: office.assistant@larjp.org Terri Nault, Volunteer Coordinator 218-839-3522 email: nault8@tds.net or Stephanie Haider, Director of Program Services 612-327-3162, email: stephhaider@aol.com

~ Many Hands Make Light Work ~

From the Executive Directors Pen Jim Oraskovich___________________________________________________________ Supporting LARJP Program Growth
All of the people involved with the Lakes Area Restorative Justice Project for the seven years we have been in operation have played important roles to help develop an effective and progressive program. Our updated strategic plan has addressed additional service opportunities we could provide in Crow Wing County. The time has come to look ahead to new growth. My own personal focus has moved from managing finances to being available as a learning leader. While it is still important to manage the finances, the real measuring stick that the public uses to determine success is the help our agency provides to juveniles in need. The main focus of our program continues to be to provide direct and timely services to juvenile offenders who have caused harm and enable them to repair the harm done; through our restorative justice conferencing program. We are now preparing to use the circle conference process to help schools manage behavioral issues such as bullying, harassment and technology misuse. We are trying to coordinate efforts with local schools, social services and other service providers to address truancy. We plan to use our programs knowledge and experience with restorative practices to meet these unmet needs. We are also looking at ways to work with post adjudicated cases in the pre sentence process to reach victims and their offenders not normally referred to our program. As we begin to provide the new services being created by these areas of expansion we will see an increase our program expenses for the extra time and work our staff will invest. We have written these program expansions into recent grant applications for the Unity Way, Essentia Health / St Joseph Foundation and the Office of Justice Programs Community Crime Prevention grant. We are also in the process of writing grant applications for the Otto Bremer Foundation, Office of Justice Programs Crime Victims Services grant and possibly the Initiative Foundation. Because of the economic recession the entire country has been experiencing, competition gets tougher and tougher every day for securing grants. As the demand increases for the dollars available all programs fall under more pressure to secure the necessary funding to operate. We are hopeful to be successful with enough of our grant applications to secure the needed funding to move ahead with our plans. Another method of funding to cover the added program costs is to begin to develop a support group of sustaining members. During the upcoming summer months staff and Board Members will be making one to one contacts with potential donors who believe in our mission, to support LARJP on an ongoing basis through regular monthly or annual contributions. This process has been under development by the Fundraising Committee and is ready to be put into practice. Donor recognition practices have also been updated during this process as well. In closing I encourage you to register for the Spring Gala on May 4th at Ruttgers Bay Lake Lodge. We have a couple great groups coming to perform for us, the meal is always excellent and we will have great selection of silent auction items available in addition to the raffle drawing mentioned on the front page of the newsletter. Join us for an enjoyable evening and show your support for our program at the same time. Enjoy the wonderful spring we have been experiencing!

~ Preview of the Spring Gala Entertainment ~

One of the great groups coming to entertain us at this years Spring Gala is the Ripple River Strings under the leadership of Arnie Anderson. The following is excerpts of an article about the director from the Brainerd Daily Dispatch. Thurs, June 05, 2003 - JOHN HANSEN, Staff Writer

Sweet music comes from family of fiddle makers - Father passes on knowledge of craft to his daughter
GARRISON -- Arnie Anderson traveled halfway around the world to get an education in making violins. His daughter, Sarah, doesn't even have to leave her house to get the same education. Arnie, 58, was trained at a school in Cremona, Italy, in the 1970s and he's passed on his skills to his daughter. The Andersons' home is tucked into the woods on land homesteaded by Arnie's grandfather. The maple trees on the property would make good violin wood. But pulling out the chain saw won't be necessary. A few years ago, Arnie shipped in 4.5 tons of tigerback maple wood -- the key ingredient in a good stringed instrument -- from Europe. For Arnie and Sarah, fiddle making is their passion. Playing music is just a hobby. They both will play in the Nisswa-stmman this weekend as part of the large group, Skal Klub. Both play the fiddle, of course. Arnie also plays the harp, while Sarah favors the cello -- she is in a six-piece cello group called the Yo Yo Mamas. Arnie's wife, Louise, plays the piano and zither. Their youngest daughter, Mindy, 16, attends Lake Region Christian School in Baxter and is just starting to get into fiddle repair and varnishing. Their son, Brenden, 21, is a drag racer. Arnie grew up in Brainerd, the son of Swedish and German-English parents. The Anderson household often was filled with the sounds of old-time waltzes and polkas. His dad played violin, his mom played piano and Arnie played accordion, at least at first. In his junior year at Brainerd Junior College, he picked up a violin. Arnie Anderson and his daughter, Sarah, run a fiddle making shop out of their rural Garrison home. Arnie makes about 10 to 15 instruments per year. Sarah, who recently took up the trade, has made two fiddles and a cello. "I was headed for an industrial arts career, but then I started taking music courses," Arnie said. He got a degree from St. Cloud State University and briefly taught music at Mankato State University. Then he went on a longdistance biking tour through Europe. He was headed for Israel, but when war broke out there, he found music calling to him again. "I headed for Venice instead, and I met an American who told me about a violin school in Cremona. I said, 'I'll do it for a year and then go back to teaching,'" Arnie said. He stayed for four years, and learned a trade that would last him a lifetime, and then some. When Sarah first picked up a cello, the instrument was bigger than she was. "I think we have photos of me playing a cello when I was 6," she said............ Fiddle making is not a profession for the impatient; varnishing alone takes a month. Fortunately, the Andersons have mood music available. The tunes of choice on the shop's CD player: Celtic for Sarah, classical for Arnie. The Andersons' customers have been pleased with the sounds coming from their instruments. Arnie's violins and violas fetch $5,500 with cellos going for $6,500. Sarah's violins sold for $3,000 each. Arnie's customers range from students in the Brainerd High School orchestra to a musician in Singapore. He currently has a two-year waiting list as he can only produce about 10 to 15 instruments per year; he's never had to do any advertising. Arnie said when he first moved back to Minnesota, he was the only fiddle maker in the state. Today, he is one of several, as events like Nisswa-stmman have fed the recent hunger for authentic Scandinavian folk. Arnie will be working on his first bass over the summer, and someday he hopes to make a harpsichord. But he still uses the methods he learned in Italy. "Italians have always been known as the great violin makers," he said with a smile. "Of course, now it's Minnesotans."

With the passion Arnie has for his craft, the program is sure to be Wonderful!!

Sustaining Membership Opportunities

We now have the means available for you to be able to contribute your tax deductable donation directly out of your checking or savings account on an automatic monthly or annual basis. To get further information on this wonderful opportunity, please contact: Executive Director, Jim Oraskovich at: (218) 568-4774 or executive.director@larjp.org or Administrative Assistant, Janet Wedan at: (218) 232-6544 or janet.wedan@larjp.org Inquires may also be mailed to: Attn: Administrative Assistant, Lakes Area Restorative Justice Project, CO RD 11, Pequot Lakes, MN 56472 We can also discuss options available to add a donation to LARJP directly into your will.

Remember that you can find us at ~ www.lakesarearestorativejustice.org

Join us on the web and meet the Board Members, see what the projects goals are, find out what upcoming events are taking place and when and more. Dont forget to come find us on Face Book too! You also have quick access to us through our contact us email links or use these addresses: Jim Oraskovich, Executive Director.executive.director@larjp.org Stephanie Haider, Program Services....stephhaider@aol.com Terri Nault, Volunteer Coordinatornault8@tds.net Janet Wedan, Administrative Assistant..janet.wedan@larjp.org Charmaine Shepard, Office Assistantoffice.assistant@larjp.org

Give us a Call at 218-568-4145 4638 Co Rd 11, Pequot Lakes, MN 56472

LARJP Board of Directors
David Slipy, Board Chair Christine Palmer, Vice Chair Valerie Macklem, Secretary Jon Weston, Treasurer Connie Friebohle Bob Hoeft Jim Hummel Greg Johnson Eric Klang John Newhouse Ray Niemann Kate Petersen Troy Schreifels Paul Tesdahl Mgt Training Consultant, Breezy Point School Counselor, Pequot Lakes Business Owner, Baxter Accountant, Brainerd Past Program Participant, Brainerd Retired Minister, Deerwood Retired Businessman, Pine River Retired Business Owner, Backus Police Chief, Pequot Lakes Business Owner ~ CEO, Brainerd Business Consultant, Pequot Lakes Police Officer, Pequot Lakes Police Sgt - School Resource Off, Brainerd Retired School Superintendent, Deerwood

Active Conference Facilitators

Sandra Bergstrom Gary Brown Toni Czeczok Connie Friebohle Marlin Gens Erik Hendrickson Troy Houde
Ron Johnson David Jones Jack LaBarre Bridget Larson Rebecca Lee Pam Lillehei Patricia Madison Karen Mertes Cindy Moore Amy Odegard Terry Prettyman Charmaine Shepard Cheyenne Velazquez

Wanda Jones

Our Mission:
The Lakes Area Restorative Justice Project is a community directed, operated and supported nonprofit organization located in Crow Wing County, whose mission is to restore community by involving juveniles who have caused harm, the people who were harmed, and local citizens in a process which addresses the needs of the victim, holds the youth accountable for restoration, and promotes healing for all.

April 2012
20th 27th 29th
Spring Gala discount ticket price deadline

New Facilitator Training See page Central Lakes College, Brainerd, MN Regular Full Board Meeting Crosby 7 pm

30th

` 4th

May 2012
Spring Gala Fundraiser See Page 1