As part of its commitment to become a Yellow Ribbon Company, Laborers Local 563
provided support from cooking to supervising the Minnesota National Guard’s Family Fun Day in June. “We are working to become a Beyond the Yellow Ribbon organization at the state building trades level,” said Local 563 member and Minnesota Building Trades President Joe Fowler. The local regularly does job site feeds, bringing out their tractor-trailer which easily transports cooking grills and all the necessary supplies to feed, in this case, a small army. “They were expecting 1,200 people but I think they surpassed that.”

Minnesota has one of the largest contingents of National Guard in the nation. But when a soldier is called up and deployed, their family shares in the sacrifice. Beyond the Yellow Ribbon embraces those affected by military deployments, helping them through a myriad of resources provided by local businesses to navigate everyday life with a family member gone. Adds Fowler, “We are fortunate to be apart of it.”