Community Involvement


Community involvement 

Community engagement is embedded in Cemstone's culture. Throughout its long history, our company has supported local efforts to improve the communities where Cemstone employees and customers live and work. We believe the results bond sustainable partnerships that have a lasting positive impact in our communities. Here are a few of the initiatives we support:

Community project completed at Minneapolis Vets Home 

SAINT PAUL, Minn. – Rebuilding Together Twin Cities and partners, Cemstone teams up with Sears Holdings Corp Heroes at Home Program, Tee It Up for the Troops, DayCo Concrete Company, community volunteers for a project to lay a cement patio at the Minneapolis Veterans Home.

"On behalf of the nearly 400,000 Veterans in Minnesota, we want to thank our community partners for their dedication to this project,” said Commissioner Larry Shellito with the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs. “This sends a resounding message of support to all the Residents at the Minneapolis Veterans Home – our nation’s heroes.”

Representatives with Rebuilding Together Twin Cities, partners and volunteers with the 934th Airlift Wing and the 96th Associate Squadron gathered outside building 15 early this morning to break ground while Residents watched the progress.

“The Minneapolis Veterans Home project really captures the spirit of what we do,” said Executive Director of Rebuilding Together Twin Cities, Kathy Greiner. “By working together with all of these great partners, we will be able to make a difference in the lives of many Veterans in our community.”

YMCA White Bear, MN

Cemstone is pleased to support the YMCA in White Bear, MN. 

 For over 150 years, the YMCA has played a significant role in the communities it serves. It remains a non-profit organization committed to meeting local needs.

They offer:
• Health and fitness options for all ages, backgrounds and economic levels
• Youth development initiatives (including free after school programs for children in low-income and at-risk urban areas)
• Activities for seniors
• Child care options to support working families
YMCA Values 
Four words, powerful values: Caring, Honesty, Respect and Responsibility. These are the values at the foundation of the YMCA. They guide the Y’s programs, services and people.
 
CARING: The goals and needs of the YMCA members come first here. The Y truly cares about the  wellbeing of the YMCA members at every touchpoint.

HONESTY: The Y insists on utmost honesty with every interaction. Honesty  results in positive relationships and helps you reach the members goals.

RESPECT: The Y in our community is here to serve everyone with nothing but the utmost respect for the individual.

RESPONSIBIITY: The Y exists to serve the members and the community with programs and services that they find valuable and with results that they asked for. The Y takes its responsibility to its members seriously.acing cancer is hard. Having to travel out of town for treatment can make it even harder. Yet the American Cancer Society has a place where cancer patients and their families can find help and hope when home is far away - an American Cancer Society Hope Lodge.

American Cancer Soceity - Hope Lodge

Cemstone is proud to have had a part in building the Hope Lodge in Minneapolis. The Hope Lodge offers cancer patients and their families a free, temporary place to stay when their best hope for effective treatment may be in another city. Not having to worry about where to stay or how to pay for lodging allows Hope Lodge guests to focus on the most important thing: getting well.

And a Hope Lodge offers so much more than just free lodging. It provides a nurturing, home-like environment where patients and caregivers can retreat to private rooms or connect with others who are going through many of the same experiences.

"Hope Lodge is a place filled with love and support from strangers who quickly become family." – A guest of Hope Lodge in Atlanta, Georgia

Every Hope Lodge also offers a variety of resources and information about cancer and how best to fight the disease. There is access to the American Cancer Society's 24-hour toll-free call center and Web site, as well as a comprehensive on-site library designed to help patients and caregivers make informed decisions.

Simply put, Hope Lodge is a place created to ease the burden of cancer treatment - a place where we give hope a home.

Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity - Run for Others

Cemstone in partnership with St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church of Mahtomedi, MN annually hosts an annual “Run For Others” 5K race. This fun, 3.1 miles road race raises money to support Habitat for Humanity, which builds homes for families in need. The race starts and ends at St. Andrew’s Great Hall; the route flows though the old neighborhoods of Mahtomedi. New in 2010 a 10k race added. There is also a one-mile fun run for children, so everyone can join in the fun! All proceeds from the race go towards the Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity.

Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity brings people together to create and preserve homeownership in our neighborhoods, to partner with hard-working, low-income families to be successful homeowners, and to inspire action that promotes affordable housing for everyone in our community. Twin Cities Habitat will serve more than nine hundred families this year by creating and preserving homeownership in the Twin Cities.

They’re best known for their Homeownership program that builds and rehabs simple, quality homes in partnership with low-income families and the community. We sell the homes with affordable, zero percent interest mortgages, making a 30-year commitment to each new homeowner and to the community in which they live.

Click here for more information on the Habitat for Humanity. 

Courage Center - Maple Lake Camp

Cemstone is proud to support the Courage Center Maple Lake camp.  The camp staff includes health care professionals and well-trained counselors. And our camps are fully accessible in modern resort-like facilities with hot showers and good food.

The Courage Center gives campers a safe place to challenge themselves with activities that help them develop life and leadership skills. And teen campers can gain valuable, first-time work experience through our Counselor-in-Training program. The camp experience facilitates the development of personal strengths, such as self esteem, honesty, responsibility and feeling in control of one’s life. Campers also have opportunities for social interactions, including friendship, positive peer and adult role models, and learning to resolve conflicts peacefully and feel valued by others.

The experiences offered at Courage Camps are particularly important because they facilitate personal growth in areas that may transfer back to home.

The Courage Center is for people of all ages and abilities.  It is a Minnesota-based rehabilitation and resource center that advances the lives of children and adults experiencing barriers to health and independence.  The Courage Center specializes in treating brain injury, spinal cord injury, stroke, chronic pain, autism, and disabilities experienced since birth.  Founded in 1928, Courage Center is a nonprofit organization offering advanced technologies and innovation provided in part through the efforts of thousands of volunteers and donors. 

Casting the Future Together

Casting The Future is an educational program which used the design and construction of the new 35W bridge to reach out to area schools. Supported by Cemstone, Flatiron Manson, FIGG, North Central Regional Council of Carpenters, American Engineering Testing and Bulach Custom Rock, its goal was to create an exciting learning experience for students.

Casting the Future provided nearly 1800 students and teachers, representing 29 schools, with a half-day field trip that included an educational session, hands-on activities and a tour of the construction site.

Students were given a presentation explaining the design and construction of the bridge, the roles of engineers, contractors, the basics of concrete and the importance of sustainable materials.

Cemstone representatives, including Dave Pace and Bill Bunker, gave a short presentation on the concrete mix design by comparing it to a recipe for chocolate chip cookies. Afterward, students made 16” by 6” x 1” glass mosaic concrete tiles that will eventually be placed on the walls of the 2nd Street bridge abutment. 

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

Cemstone and its customer T & J Concrete, played a key role in achieving Minnesota’s first (and likely only) Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The companies combined forces to help build a house in one week in order to help give the Swenson-Lee family of Minnetonka, MN, the new, quality, dream home they deserved. Cemstone’s knowledge of concrete and admixture technologies allowed the foundation to achieve load-bearing strength in just four hours instead of several days. Vicki and Erik Swenson welcomed the four Lee children into their home last fall after their mother, Vicki’s sister, was murdered by an ex-boyfriend.  With soon-to-be four children of their own, the family could no longer fit in their three-bedroom home.

Additional Community Programs Cemstone is involved in...