Applying Our Principles beyond the office, we are dedicated to making impactful contributions to our community through volunteer and philanthropic work. Giving back not only provides an opportunity to strengthen our local fabric, but also allows us to tap into our team’s skills in new and meaningful ways. For information on each organization, visit the websites listed below.
SECOND HARVEST HEARTLAND
According to Second Harvest Heartland, one in five Minnesota families can't afford the groceries they need. 20% of the state was served by Minnesota's emergency food system in 2025. Second Harvest serves to help those in crisis find stability by utilizing thousands of volunteers, donors, agency partners, staff and community members to help support their mission. In 2025 alone, volunteers donated 72,190 hours of service to help make an impact.
Having first volunteered here as a team back in 2018, Winter & Associates recently had the pleasure of again volunteering for Second Harvest packing boxes of groceries as part of their Commodity Supplemental Food Program. Just one of the many of their impactful initiatives, this program supplies shelf-stable groceries to low-income seniors each month so their financial resources can be used towards other urgent expenses. In the two hours we were there, volunteers packed 542 boxes which equates to 14,363 meals supplied!
Website: https://www.2harvest.org
THE OPEN DOOR
The Open Door aims to end local hunger in Dakota County by providing access to healthy food to individuals and families in need through their amazing food pantries (both fixed-site and mobile), their Mobile Lunchbox Program, and the Garden to Table Program. According to their website, they serve more than 15,000 residents each month and distribute over 3 million pounds of food annually! At least 70% of that is fresh and/or perishable.
Our Winter & Associates team first volunteered in their warehouse in July 2024 and returned again September 2025 to help sort the food that would then get distributed out through their onsite food pantry. We continue to be impressed by their operations and the ongoing dedication of their staff and volunteers. In 2023, they logged a total of 1,260 volunteers donating 38,839 hours of their time towards their mission.
Website: https://theopendoorpantry.org/
URBAN VENTURES
Working to break the cycle of poverty in south Minneapolis, Urban Ventures has a plethora of amazing programs that serve to educate children, strengthen their families, and build a healthy community. They’ve built an impactful program on the values of faith, integrity, empowerment, transformation, diversity, and sustainability.
Our Winter & Associates team has now had the pleasure of spending a day on Urban Ventures’ Lakeville Farm three summers in a row. They provide the crops they grow for free to the Minneapolis families and individuals they serve as part of their Farm & Nutrition program.
Website: https://urbanventures.org/
JEREMIAH PROGRAM
Jeremiah Program offers one of the nation’s most successful strategies for transforming families from poverty to prosperity two generations at a time. The organization prepares determined single mothers to excel in the workforce, readies their children to succeed in school, and reduces generational dependence on public assistance.
Enlisting the help of our family members in February 2019, we volunteered to wear our chef hats for the evening as we provided, prepared, and served a meal for mothers and their young children during Cook For Kids at the St. Paul Campus. It was inspiring to see such amazing families working hard to transform their lives from poverty to prosperity for themselves and future generations.
Website: https://jeremiahprogram.org/minneapolis-st-paul/
CHILDREN’S MINNESOTA
As one of the largest freestanding pediatric health systems in the United States, Children’s Minnesota is committed to improving children’s health by providing the highest quality, family-centered care, advanced through research and education.
Our team and families had a blast at U.S Bank Stadium where we helped raise money and awareness for Children's Minnesota in June 2019. There was dancing, games, face painting, lots of free treats, and our very own Nicole Winter Tietel was chosen to lead the countdown for the beginning of the walk!
Website: https://www.childrensmn.org
AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY
On a mission to free the world from cancer, the American Cancer Society funds and conducts research, shares expert information, supports patients, and spreads the word about prevention.
At Winter & Associates, almost every person we know has been touched in some way by cancer. Our company makes a donation to the American Cancer Society every year in support of research to help the organization save more lives.
Website: https://www.cancer.org/
In 1908, Winter & Associates was founded with a focus on family and building community. Our team is proud to carry on that legacy. From education and child welfare, to combating hunger and disease, we take pride in advocating for important issues and doing our part.
