Area Organizations Honored for Innovations

(KNSI) — The Greater Saint Cloud Development Corporation packed the Riverside Terrace in Sauk Rapids Thursday to celebrate a year’s worth of awards. President Patti Gartland said that under normal circumstances the Innovation Awards would be handed out in November and the GSDC Awards in February. COVID altered those plans and everything was recognized at the organization’s spring meeting instead.

Four organizations were honored with an I-Award. Two went to area nonprofits, a third to a new company, and the last to an established business. The Greater St. Cloud Public Safety Foundation was recognized for establishing a community outpost in a high-crime neighborhood in the southern end of St. Cloud. The COP House has had an immediate and positive impact and allows law enforcement officers to show a more human side to residents of the city. Already, similar facilities are planned in Waite Park and St. Cloud’s east side.

Waite Park municipal staff were recognized for planning and constructing The Ledge Amphitheatre. Rising from a neglected stone quarry, the venue now gets as many as 80,000 people per year through its gates. It is attracting marquee talent like Sheryl Crow, scheduled for this summer.

MK1 engineering has developed a potential solution to a problem that has plagued corn farmers for 60 years. The company’s aerotube ensures that each seed goes into the ground tip down. That allows the plant to grow as efficiently as possible, increasing yield. Executives Keith Strang and Mitchell Dille say they have tinkered with the device’s design as many as 2,000 times during the prototype phase of research and development.

Wolters Kluwer was celebrated for quickly creating software that could aid lenders in processing paycheck protection program applications, getting stimulus relief money to businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Greater St. Cloud Development Corporation handed out the Community Catalyst Award to Granite Partners and the Leadership Award to Dr. George Morris of Centracare. Norm Skalicky was honored posthumously with the Community Pillar Award.

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