MDU Resources got its start serving farm communities along the North Dakota-Montana border. Today, our headquarters are in Bismarck, North Dakota.
In honor of MDU Resources’ 100th anniversary, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed a proclamation recognizing March 14 as the company’s 100th birthday.
The MDU Resources Foundation provided $2,096,290 in grants to 600 charities and organizations in communities where MDU Resources Group companies operate.
Annually, the MDU Resources Foundation supports organizations qualified as tax exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Primary consideration is given to charitable institutions, organizations and programs within the geographic areas where member companies conduct business.
The foundation considers requests in the following categories:
Contributions matching employee volunteer, donation efforts
The foundation also provided contributions to match employees’ volunteering efforts and support of educational institutions in 2023.
Since 1983, the MDU Resources Foundation has contributed more than $42 million to worthwhile charities and organizations.
Learn more about the MDU Resources Foundation at www.mdu.com/about-us/community.
Three members of MDU Resources’ Enterprise Information Technology web development team recently went back to school. Not to learn, but rather to help elementary students discover coding.
Joseph Murphy, Clay Kuznia and Baley Wilson, all associate software developers in EIT, volunteered for Hour of Code at Monroe Elementary School in Boise, Idaho. The event was part of Idaho’s Computer Science Education Week.
The trio heard of the volunteer opportunity from their supervisor. Wilson said he chose to volunteer because it was a good opportunity to share his skills with local kids. Kuznia thought it was a great way to foster interest in computer programming.
“My favorite part of volunteering was witnessing the ‘aha’ or ‘eureka’ moment when they found the solution to the problem, in most cases by themselves or with little help,” Wilson said. “It was cool to see the kids build confidence in themselves and build important problem-solving skills.”
For some classes, the coding lessons integrated popular video games to provide additional excitement for the kids. The students Wilson worked with love the game “Minecraft,” and the lessons provided a coding challenge for this game.
Murphy was paired with a third/fourth grade class, and the students caught on to the coding challenges almost immediately.
“My role ended up being a voice to push the kids to try new things and experiment rather than to teach the lessons,” Murphy said. “Overall, my favorite part of the experience was seeing the kids’ heartwarming enjoyment while problem solving and learning to code.”
Kuznia was assigned to a first grade class and loved seeing so much excitement in the classroom.
“It felt more like a fun activity instead of a lesson, and it was effortless to get the first grade students interested in the activity,” Kuznia said. “Many of the students were overjoyed when completing a section of their Scratch Jr. coding challenge. The kids appeared to be having a great time. Overall, it felt like a positive experience for everyone.”
For the 19th year, employees in Bismarck and Mandan, North Dakota, gave generously in hopes of making the holidays a little brighter for families in need.
Employees at MDU Resources, Montana-Dakota Utilities, the Heskett Station, WBI Energy and MDU Construction Services Group supported the Abused Adult Resource Center’s Hope for the Holidays program by purchasing, wrapping and delivering gifts for 39 families consisting of 144 individuals.
The Abused Adult Resource Center is a nonprofit organization that serves victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in seven North Dakota counties.
Sonya Wald with Montana-Dakota Utilities has led the company’s participation with Abused Adult Resource Center’s program since 2013. At that time, 12 families received gifts.
According to Wald, employees from 36 departments contributed to this year’s effort.
“Abused Adult Resource Center had 300 individuals this year, so our exceptional teams were able to assist with almost half of the community need,” Wald said.
Wald and fellow co-workers Dyke Boese, Dave Wiedmeier, Sarah Kirkendall, Alice Gross and Holly Watts gathered and delivered the gifts, which nearly filled a 16-foot trailer.
Jeff Thiede, MDU Construction Services Group president and CEO, along with RJ Pizzi, director of safety, health and environmental, recently attended the renewal ceremony of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Electrical, Transmission & Distribution Partnership.
The ET&D Partnership is a formal collaboration of industry stakeholders working together to improve safety for workers in the electric line construction industry. It is one of only a few national partnerships between employers and OSHA.
MDU CSG, part of the MDU Resources family of companies, is a founding member of the organization that got its start in 2004.
The MDU Resources Foundation recently awarded 22 scholarships worth $2,000 each to students who are family members of employees from across MDU Resources Group’s companies.
This year’s recipients are featured below.
The Employee Scholarship Program is awarded annually to children, grandchildren and spouses of eligible employees. Up to 30 scholarships in the amount of $2,000 are awarded each year. Since 1987, the foundation has awarded more than $1.13 million in scholarships to family members of MDU Resources employees.
While the foundation funds and determines the criteria for awarding the scholarships, it hires Scholarship America to select the winners.
Scholarship recipients are selected based on:
Ryan Muecke, a senior area representative in the Worland District for WBI Energy, was heading home from work recently when his sharp observation skills and instinct to stop may have saved the life of a teenage boy.
While Muecke was driving down a county road, he spotted the tire of an all-terrain vehicle sticking up out of a ditch. He slowed as he got closer and could see hands waving from under an overturned four-wheeler.
“I pulled safely off the road as quickly as I could and ran over to find a teenage kid with his leg pinned under the four-wheeler,” Muecke said. “He was not bleeding and didn’t appear hurt, but his leg was pinned and he couldn’t get out from under the machine.”
Muecke asked the boy if it was OK for him to try rolling the four-wheeler up enough for him to try to get out from under it. When the boy said it was, Muecke was able to lift it and the teen scrambled out.
Muecke said that after making sure the boy was OK and able to walk, the teen helped Muecke push the four-wheeler back onto its wheels. Another truck pulled up at that point, and the other driver also helped push the four-wheeler out of the ditch.
Muecke noted that the accident happened because the boy had a poorly secured load on his four-wheeler — a tank sprayer for spraying weeds. When a strap holding the tank came loose, it caught the front wheel and caused the ATV to flip down the steep embankment.
“I’m glad I was there to help, and that everything turned out OK. It could have been a lot worse if that ditch had been full of water or the tank had come loose and landed on him, or if fuel from the ATV had spilled,” Muecke said. “It was a good reminder to always make sure equipment is secured properly.”
For his actions that day, Liberty Mutual honored Muecke with the Life Saver Award “for outstanding courage and humanity.”
More than 40 Bismarck-Mandan, North Dakota, employees volunteered during their lunch hour to serve meals for the Summer Hunger lunch program.
The MSA United Way and Bismarck Public Schools partner to provide free, hot meals to children under age 18 at 11 sites throughout Bismarck. Volunteers are instrumental in getting the meals to the mouths of hungry kids.
Employees from MDU Resources, WBI Energy, MDU Construction Services Group and Montana-Dakota Utilities, including the Bismarck Service Center, volunteered to serve meals.
The employees adopted two of the 11 sites throughout Bismarck to serve meals Monday through Friday. Each of those days, from June through mid-July, two employees at each site served meals, and many employees were repeat volunteers during the six weeks.
Kellie Erhardt, internal auditing director at MDU Resources, led the efforts on behalf of the company. She served as the liaison between United Way, recruited volunteers and managed all coordination efforts.
“Volunteer time and energy are invaluable to this program to help achieve its goals and serve our community,” Erhardt said. “It’s so amazing to see how our employees are quick to help, and some even included their families in this volunteer opportunity.”
We’re proud to announce that Nikki Ferderer, assistant to the chair of the board and the president & CEO, has been named to the Bismarck Mandan Chamber EDC’s 20 Under 40 list.
In her role at MDU Resources, Nikki provides support to the CEO and board of directors of the region’s largest publicly traded company. She is a trustworthy team player who, no matter how busy she is, maintains her professional and friendly composure and makes it all look easy!
Ferderer joined MDU Resources in 2008 and was promoted to her current role in 2016.
Read more about Ferderer and the other professionals recognized at https://issuu.com/bismarckmandanchamberconnection/docs/08chamberedc_connissuu_ae6fac43132d83
Cakes and birthdays go hand in hand. But for families struggling to make ends meet, a birthday cake and celebration can bring added financial stress.
In honor of America’s birthday, July Fourth, employees in WBI Energy’s Bismarck, North Dakota, office created Caring Cake Kits to help struggling families celebrate their loved ones’ birthdays.
Patty Fillion, administrative assistant at WBI Energy, rallied her co-workers around this initiative. Payroll teams from MDU Resources and Knife River, which are both located in WBI’s building, also participated.
Employees donated enough supplies to create 42 kits. Each Caring Cake Kit includes:
The employees’ efforts were in collaboration with K&R Designs and the Dream Center Bismarck, both in Bismarck, North Dakota. The Caring Cake Kit is K&R Design’s community initiative, and the kits are distributed through the Dream Center’s food pantry.
Inspired by personal experience
Caring Cake Kits is the brainchild of Kelly Allen, co-founder of K&R Designs. It was inspired by her own experience during a time of financial hardship.
When her husband lost his job during the pandemic, they couldn’t afford a cake for their child’s birthday. It was also during this time when they became familiar with the Dream Center, as they used its services, including the food pantry.
The Caring Cake Kits initiative is one way the Allen family pays it forward and helps others in need. They partnered with the Dream Center, which distributes the kits through its food pantry. This ensures families in need never miss a birthday celebration.
About the Dream Center Bismarck
The Dream Center Bismarck is a nonprofit center dedicated to serving low-income and struggling families, children, elderly, disabled, veterans and individuals in the Bismarck-Mandan, North Dakota area.