The race between two strong candidates

This letter is paid content. Twenty years ago, I retired and made the decision to follow my family to Grand Forks. Great Decision. It  has been a vibrant, caring place to live.

During the earliest years of my life here, I was able, as a 65+ senior citizen, to audit classes at UND. It  was my privilege to sit in on Honor’s Program classes Robin David taught, thought probing subjects that  added insight into diverse societies in our world.

Later, I became involved in the program for refugees who were settling in Grand Forks. It was a time of  chaos; we were bringing in a fairly large number of people without a lot of help for staff assigned  resettlement responsibility. As soon as Robin became aware of what was happening, she set to work  helping to resolve the problems. Robin saw the need for an organization that would attract volunteers,  train them, and coordinate the work they were doing. Thus was born the Global Friends Coalition, a  group that has a tremendous impact in more comfortable transition of a variety of new cultures to  Grand Forks and of Grand Forks to new cultures.

Robin is a skilled organizer, one who can identify issues that need to be confronted, and knows how to  set about addressing them. I am pleased to support her as she steps up to run for public office.

Betty Bloomquist

Grand Forks, N.D.