Dawn Bremer Named Bremer Volunteer of the Year
St. Paul, Minn. - February 4, 2008 – Bremer Bank, a regional financial services company jointly-owned by its employees and the Otto Bremer Foundation, recognized Dawn Bremer as its 2007 employee Volunteer of the Year. Bremer, no relation to Otto Bremer, is a personal banker in the company's phone bank, at the Bremer Service Center in Lake Elmo, Minn.
Dawn Bremer has worked at Bremer for the past 18 years. She spends approximately eight hours volunteering her time each week. Besides being very active with her church, Bremer volunteers for South Washington County Schools.
"Dawn is an extraordinary individual, giving a tremendous amount of her time to support and give back to others in her community," said Stan Dardis, chief executive officer of Bremer Financial Services. "She exemplifies the values of our founder Otto Bremer, who started Bremer Bank and the Otto Bremer Foundation on the idea of serving clients and also serving their communities to ultimately build healthy communities. We are so proud to have her as a valued employee of our organization."
Bremer received a $500 donation to a charity of her choice. She gave the donation to her church, CrossRoads Church of Cottage Grove. The church is currently building a new facility in Woodbury and the donation will go towards the purchase of kitchen appliances for the new building.
Bremer Financial Corporation
Bremer Financial Corporation is a privately-held, $7.0 billion regional financial services company jointly owned by its employees and the Otto Bremer Foundation. This unique ownership structure is the only one of its kind in the nation. Founded in 1943 by Otto Bremer, the company is headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota and provides a comprehensive range of banking, investment, trust and insurance services to more than 100 locations in Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin. Company profits are distributed in the form of charitable grants by the Otto Bremer Foundation to communities served by Bremer. In 2007, more than $30 million in charitable donations were given across the Bremer footprint and employees donated more than 92,900 volunteer hours to their communities.