Benson Public Schools receive $30,000 from Amundson-Ohana Foundation

By Reed Anfinson
Publisher
Benson Public Schools received $30,000 in donations from the L.A. Amundson-Ohana Foundation last week.
Three $10,000 checks were presented by First Security Bank President Brent Grube last week with one going to Discovery Kids at the Northside Elementary for a playground sunshade. The checks also went to the Benson Baseball Association to help pay for a new concession stand and to Benson High School to buy weight room equipment.
“Benson Public Schools is grateful for the partnership and support from the LA Amundson-Ohana Foundation,” supt. Dennis Laumeyer said. “Over the years, the foundation has donated tens of thousands of dollars that directly impact and improve opportunities for student academics and extra-curricular activities. Thank you to the LA Amundson-Ohana Foundation and First Security Bank for their generous donations.”
“The LA Amundson Foundation has a fantastic record of giving back to its communities, and this is another example of its generosity,” District 777 Board of Education Chair Brian Samuelson said. “We appreciate the donations and its willingness to support youth and families in our community.”
These are by no means the first donations to the community and its residents. Since 1993, 863 Benson High School graduates, whose families have their primary banking relationship with First Security Bank, have received over $1 million in scholarships.  It also donated to other causes in the area.
Lloyd Amundson is the owner of First Security Bank of Benson as well as eight other Minnesota rural banks. He also owns two banks in North Dakota and two in Iowa.
As Amundson and his wife, Barbara, reflected on their good life in 1992, they wondered what they could do to give back to the communities that had supported them and the good fortune they had experienced in their lifetimes.  
“We were talking how lucky we have been with our education and being in the right places at the right times and meeting the right folks,” Amundson said. “We asked ourselves ‘What can we do for these towns that have been loyal to us,’ and decided that scholarships would be the best thing we could do.”
 
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