Community Service

Eden Prairie gathers to GIVE

Joanna Werch Takes

November 27, 2025

2 women smile while sitting behind a table with a lacrosse stick on top of it — Local organizations sought volunteers and shared information about their services at the GIVE Gathering. Dawn Huestis, left, and Brooke Jones staffed the Eden Prairie LaCrosse Association booth. Photos by Joanna Werch Takes

This November, Eden Prairie community members and organizations gathered to talk about giving.

The annual GIVE Gathering highlights opportunities to give to the community through volunteering at the participating organizations. The event also educates those attending about services available through the local nonprofits, social service agencies and civic organizations.

*Attendees at the GIVE Gathering learned about volunteer opportunities and services. Many booths offered activities and treats along with information.*

This year’s GIVE Gathering had 37 booths, said Olivia Antilla, the outreach and engagement supervisor for Eden Prairie Schools’ Community Education. The GIVE Gathering is a partnership among Eden Prairie Schools, the Eden Prairie Community Foundation and the City of Eden Prairie.

Participating organizations ranged from local chapters of long-established groups like Pheasants Forever and the League of Women Voters to high school clubs such as Lift Up and Talon Robotics, sports associations, and groups supporting victims of domestic violence and people facing food or housing instability.

Eden Prairie High School student Sadie Mitchell, left, founded the Lift Up Club to provide tutoring to younger students. “Kids love being around teenagers,” Mitchell said. At right, members of the Talon Robotics team show off a robot. Pictured left to right are Ally LaMonthe, Ingrid Moe, Connor Patrick and Viki Pham.

Tours, children’s activities

Zlata Ponomarenko, 3, of Eden Prairie was a participant in the face painting offered at the GIVE Gathering.

The 2025 event also included tours of Eden Prairie Schools’ Valley View Campus. The district purchased the building at 11840 Valley View Road in July 2024. It now houses the district’s TASSEL program for students ages 18-22 with special learning needs and the Area Learning Center (ALC) for students in grades 9-12 who have not found success in a traditional school setting.

“I like it better than traditional high school,” said junior Zara Boakai, who led one of the tours of the second-floor ALC. The space features both common areas and workstations for students, and breakout rooms set up for specific subjects like art.

Kevin Krantz, left, an Eden Prairie High School graduate, attended the GIVE Gathering to represent the Citizens Utility Board, which works with residential and small-business utility consumers for affordable, clean energy. At right is the Eden Prairie Schools booth, staffed by Hamdi Abdi, community development specialist, left, and Reta Johnson, family resource coordinator/homeless liaison.

Children’s storytimes — offered in Spanish, Somali and with an Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) focus — took place in the lobby of the Valley View Campus during the GIVE Gathering, while food trucks and the Eagle Express mobile classroom bus were parked outside.

At left, Eden Prairie Local News publisher Mark H. Weber and social media coordinator Brianna Collett speak with Amira Eromosele, community engagement coordinator for SouthWest Transit, reminding her and the rest of the community that yes, Eden Prairie still has a local newspaper. At right, Jeff Sylvester speaks about the Great Water Pheasants Forever chapter. Approximately four years old, the chapter serves members in western Hennepin County, including Eden Prairie, though most of the land it purchases to preserve habitat for pheasants and other wildlife is in surrounding counties.

More children’s activities, like face painting and hands-on art activities, were offered in the lower-level solarium, where most of the GIVE Gathering’s booths were set up.

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About the Contributor

Joanna Werch Takes, Managing Editor

Joanna Werch Takes began her professional journalism career at a weekly community newspaper in Iowa. After moving to Minnesota, she spent several years as an editor at a magazine aimed at hobbyist woodworkers. Joanna and her family have lived in Eden Prairie for over 20 years. She is a former member and officer of the Eden Prairie Women of Today service group and a former Girl Scout leader in Eden Prairie.