The Minnesota Beyond the Yellow Ribbon (BTYR) had a busy 2024 filled with events, support opportunities and achievements.

Established in 2008, BTYR provides a comprehensive community and corporate support network that connects and coordinates agencies, organizations and resources to meet the needs of Minnesota’s Veterans, service members and families in all military branches.

“I really enjoy what we get to do,” said Stefanie Hurt, BTYR community outreach coordinator. “It truly is a blessing to be able to support Minnesota’s military community.”

BTYR has grown to include 87 companies and organizations and 53 community networks. Their combined efforts improve the lives of Minnesota’s Veterans, service members and military families in the places where they live, work and serve.

According to the BTYR team, one of its most memorable moments of the year was providing holiday food for military community members in need through the annual efforts known as Operations Turkey Drop and Merry Meals. In November 2024, with the help of BTYR partners and volunteers, Operation Turkey Drop moved an estimated 1,000 items weighing approximately 10 tons. Volunteers packed 500 meals kits: 300 from Meals from the Heart and 200 from the United Christian Academy. In addition, 500 turkeys were donated by the Minnesota Wild and Thomson Reuters. Then the Minnesota Department of Transportation moved the turkeys and kits to Thomson Reuters where they were loaded onto vehicles and delivered by BTYR volunteers to armories and air wings. Family readiness teams then distributed the food to those who registered to receive them.

“Moving 10 tons of food with volunteer support to armories and air wings was amazing,” said Hurt, who served as project lead for Operations Turkey Drop and Merry Meals.

During the winter holiday season, Operation Merry Meals gathered, packed, transported and distributed about 300 meal kits filled with groceries, along with approximately 600 packs of assorted meats donated by Hunter’s Harvest to help those in need in the military community.

Taylor Kristoffe-Jones, BTYR corporate outreach coordinator, said it has been great to see both efforts grow and help those in the military community. “It’s so heartwarming to know that we were a small part in making our service members and their families’ lives a little bit brighter this holiday season.”

Other Great Community Work in 2024

The Community Networks coordinated 313 events, served 11,050 volunteer hours, sent 2,544 packages to deployed service members, and provided $380,361 in assistance to Veterans, service members and their families. Just some examples include:

• Watonwan County BTYR helped a Veteran who was moving for a job.
• Isanti County BTYR network participated in an elementary school event to honor Veterans.
• Farmington, Rosemount, Burnsville, Big Lake and Lower St. Croix Valley BTYR networks honored high school students joining the military and awarded scholarships to children of Veterans.
• Hibbing-Chisholm Area BTYR cleaned Veterans’ headstones at a local cemetery.
• Owatonna BTYR hosted 50 women Veterans and service members at a retreat.
• During the holidays, more than 600 bags of groceries and a variety of meats were packed and delivered for families in need at armories and bases statewide.
• Taunja Moe Forbes joined the BTYR team as a community outreach coordinator. Forbes said being part of BTYR allows her to give back to Veterans, service members and their families. “I’m proud and grateful to have a chance to be part of such a worthy cause,” Forbes said.

Corporate network

The Corporate Network supported 92 events, served 3,378 volunteer hours, sent 743 packages and provided $305,637 to assist those in the miliary community. Examples include:

• Donaldson Company, Inc. donated $6,250 to the Bloomington Veterans Memorial and Thomson Reuters donated more than 300 turkeys to military families for the holidays.
• The Minnesota Building & Construction Trades’ Ribfest raised an estimated $27,000 to fund its military community support efforts.
• U.S. Bank, along with Freedom Alliance, donated a vehicle to two Gold Star daughters.
• Tokyo Electron donated to a clothing drive and Fairview Health Services donated 200 books for the 133rd Airlift Wing’s Family Day.
• Minnesota State Colleges and Universities participated in Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program events and 3M participated in the Team Red, White and Blue Walk/Run.
• The Minnesota Twins, Minnesota Vikings and Minnesota Wild hosted military appreciation events.
• Through the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s Orange Overwatch, department trucks and snowplows escorted buses of 500 deploying service members to the airport.
• Medtronic hosted 300 service members at the Women’s Leadership Forum.
• Boston Scientific hosted BTYR’s first community and corporate conference.

The network also welcomed eight companies and organizations. They included Children’s Minnesota, the City of Minneapolis government, Medica, the Minnesota Department of Transportation, Replenex, Slalom, Travelers and U.S. Steel.

Into 2025

This year, Hurt and Forbes plan to increase volunteer support and collaboration within the community network. They also look forward to hosting the BTYR Spring Conference at Camp Ripley for community and corporate networks. In January for the corporate network, Kristoffe-Jones launched the bi-monthly Lunch and Learn series, in which subject matter experts discuss topics, such as how employers can support deploying service member employees and their families.

Learn more by visiting the BTYR website and on Facebook.