Food pantry launched at Century College

An on-campus food pantry opened recently at Century College to help students struggling with hunger.

The pantry opened March 26 and will be open Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., in Room 1010 on West Campus.

Current students who are facing financial difficulties can take home a bag of food at least once a month. The pantry's ordering, tracking and student registration will be managed with software provided by the White Bear Area Emergency Food Shelf.

Century has raised $5,000 to start the food pantry, but needs another $5,000.

The pantry will be operated by Judy Lykins, who directs the school's Service Learning program. Alison Schram, operations manager for the White Bear food shelf, will set up processes and procedures.

Century College has more than 12,000 students, half of whom are Pell-grant eligible, coming from households at or below the poverty level.

The White Bear Area Emergency Food Shelf was established in 1977 and served more than 10,400 individuals last year.

Children's Dental Services, which serves uninsured and underinsured children and pregnant women, will open in the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) clinic in the county's Headwaters Service Center in Forest Lake.

In 2009, Washington County contracted for services one day a month at the Cottage Grove Service Center. Children's Dental Services handles all scheduling, billing and other logistics of providing care.

In Forest Lake, the program will replicate the service delivered in Cottage Grove. If the Forest Lake site has enough demand, the service will continue to staff it each month.

The following weekend hazardous waste collections are planned for the next three months:

Hugo: April 20 household hazardous waste collection 8 a.m. to noon, Public Works Building, 6900 137th St. N.

Stillwater: May 18 household hazardous waste collection 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Lily Lake Ice Arena, 1208 S. Greeley St.

Forest Lake Transit Center: June 1 household hazardous waste collection and document shredding 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Shredding of confidential paper will be offered for the first time this year at the collection date in Forest Lake. Shredding also will take place at the Washington County Environmental Center, 4039 Cottage Grove Drive in Woodbury, on April 19 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., on July 12 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and on Sept. 20 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Jennifer Wallen and Marla Olson have joined the Youth Service Bureau Inc. board of directors.

Wallen is a director at Thomson Reuters and a Woodbury resident. Olson has been a psychologist in the Stillwater Area School District.

Youth Service Bureau has offices in Cottage Grove, Stillwater and Woodbury.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) will install a groundwater monitoring well in the county's right of way at Woodbury Drive and Commerce Drive in Woodbury after receiving approval from the Washington County Board.

The well will be part of a network to provide long-term information about Minnesota's groundwater quality. Under the agreement, the MPCA is responsible for all of the costs and risks associated with well installation and monitoring.

The MPCA intends to monitor the well indefinitely, the county said.

When Washington County rebuilds Orleans Street from South Fourth Street to Fourth Avenue in Oak Park Heights and Stillwater, driving and parking lanes might be built narrower to leave room for a three-foot boulevard on the north side.

Residents have had difficulty clearing sidewalks once plows remove snow from the road because sidewalks abuts the curb.

The proposed total width of 40 feet includes 11-foot through lanes, reduced from the 12-foot existing lanes, and nine-foot parking lanes, reduced from the 10-foot existing. Broken storm sewer pipes will be replaced and a bump-out will be installed at South Third Street.

The county requested a similar variance from design standards for the total width on Third Street from Orleans Street to 423 feet north of Willard Street in Stillwater. That variance was approved and construction was completed in 2012.

The cities of Oak Park Heights and Stillwater have sent letters of support of the variance request.

Cottage Grove Habitat for Humanity will be building townhomes at Mississippi Dunes from May 6 until the end of August, and 15 to 18 volunteers are needed daily Monday-Friday.

Visit www.tchabitat.volunteerhub.com to sign up. Groups can sign up by e-mailing Riley.Moynihan@tchbitat.org or calling 612-305-7166.