Heart to Home

THUMBS UP: Heart to Home Furnishing has been doing a lot of good for people in the past several years. The volunteer organization takes donations of good quality used furniture and distributes it to families in need, families that need beds, tables and chairs to make their residence into a home.

This week Heart to Home partnered with the Sertoma Club of New Ulm and Gag Sheet Metal to send a truck full of furniture and toys to Kentucky, which had been hammered by deadly tornadoes in December. Hundreds of homes were destroyed, and hundreds of families lost all their possessions. The furniture donated will help them resettle.

Congratulations to all, and also to the many donors who give their used furniture when redecorating or downsizing. They had been so generous recently that Heart to Home has been running short on storage space. It’s a nice problem to have.

Kamolz recognition

THUMBS UP: Congratulations to Brown County Recorder Betti Kamolz, recognized recently as the 2021 Minnesota County Recorder’s Association Member of the Year. She received the award Feb. 16 at the Minnesota Association of County Officers Annual Conference in Minneapolis. Kamolz has worked in the Brown County Recorder’s Office for 42 years, the last 16 as the county recorder.

Drought relief

THUMBS DOWN: Minnesota lawmakers are once again having trouble doing the right thing, or even agreeing on what is the right thing to do, with legislation to provide drought relief to farmers affected by last summer’s dry spell.

House and Senate packages include $5 million in grants for livestock and specialty crop farmers who suffered losses last year, but the two chambers can’t agree on $13.3 million for drought-damaged DNR-managed lands that the DFL in the House wants to add.

We agree with the Republicans. Help the farmers now and deal with the DNR later.