We’re launching our first “25 in 2” fundraising drive beginning on May 4 and running through May 18. The goal of the two-week drive is to encourage 25 donors to set up recurring online monthly donations of any amount.

Southeast Linn Community Center provides essential human services, community programs, and volunteer opportunities for Lisbon, Mount Vernon and the surrounding area. According to Executive Director Nicole McAlexander, automatic monthly donations are vital to the nonprofit organization, helping to support key programs year round.

“Recurring donations provide stable support throughout every season, making it easier for us to plan our budget and to adapt to changing needs in the community,” says McAlexander. It can also be easier for donors to make monthly contributions. Making a $20 monthly donation may be less of a financial burden than a one-time $240 donation at the end of the year.

In preparation for the “25 in 2” campaign, SELCC has streamlined the online donation process. The new form accepts PayPal, Venmo, and credit cards all through the same portal, letting you choose the most convenient way to make a recurring online donation.

If you set up a recurring online monthly donation during the two-week drive, you’ll receive an SELCC sticker to thank you for your support. You will also be entered into a drawing for a chance to win a Southeast Linn Community Center tote bag.

Thanks so much for your support!

Southeast Linn Community Center (SELCC) has expanded its transportation program to serve Cornell College students.

Launched in early April, Ram Rides is a partnership between Cornell and SELCC where students can schedule a ride in advance for planned activities, such as out-of-town medical appointments; flights; religious services; grocery trips; and other errands.

The collaboration began when Doug Shannon, director of campus safety at Cornell College, realized that, even though Campus Safety offered transportation for students, the office didn’t have the resources to cover all the requested rides. With the success of Natalia’s Food Pantry, an SELCC satellite site at Cornell, fresh on his mind, Shannon turned to Nicole McAlexander, executive director of Southeast Linn Community Center. Building on the transportation network SELCC already had in place, they worked together to iron out the details, and Ram Rides was born.

“It is great to see the partnership between Cornell College and SELCC expanding,” said Shannon. “SELCC has long been a staple for support in the Lisbon and Mount Vernon area, and providing reliable transportation for students is a huge win for campus accessibility.”

McAlexander agrees. “We are thrilled to be able to extend our transportation services to Cornell College students,” she said. “We are grateful for the opportunity to partner with Cornell Campus Safety to fill this gap for students.” Previously, SELCC’s transportation program only served senior residents of Lisbon and Mount Vernon.

Depending upon the availability of volunteer drivers, Ram Rides can be scheduled for Monday through Friday from 8am to 5pm. Some evening and weekend rides may be possible. SELCC’s volunteer drivers pick up students at Cornell’s Thomas Commons.

To request a ride, call Cornell’s Office of Campus Safety at (319) 895-4299 or the Ebersole Health and Wellbeing Center at (319) 895-4292. Students should submit their Ram Rides request a minimum of 48 hours in advance.

For more information on Ram Rides, contact Southeast Linn Community Center at (319) 455-2844 or visit selinn.org/transportation.

As a longtime resident of Mount Vernon, Fred Burke is committed to supporting local organizations.

“There are a lot of worthy, caring organizations that help people in Iowa, and in the nation,” said Burke. “But by contributing to Southeast Linn Community Center, I know the donation is going to local people.”

In March, Burke donated $22,425 to the Southeast Linn Community Center, with the bulk of the donation to support SELCC’s food pantry.

“We are very grateful for Mr. Burke’s support,” said Nicole McAlexander, executive director of Southeast Linn Community Center. “We are honored to be the recipients of such a generous gift, which will help us continue to provide for the essential needs of our neighbors.”

A 1970 graduate of Cornell College, Burke designated $2,000 for Natalia’s Food Pantry, a collaboration between his alma mater and SELCC. Located in Cornell’s Ebersole Health and Wellbeing Center, the Southeast Linn Community Center satellite site offers food, personal care items, and clothing to Cornell students and staff.

SELCC’s school supply program and holiday food boxes program each received $1,000. Burke also designated $500 for the Mount Vernon Parks and Recreation scholarship program.

“Southeast Linn Community Center does a wonderful job of serving people in our area,” Burke said. “There seems to be a need.”

Southeast Linn Community Center is launching an initiative called Community Eats! The FREE dinner for all community members will be held on the third Thursday of the month from 5pm to 7pm during March, April, and May. The first Community Eats! will be March 19.

“We look forward to gathering around the table to share a delicious meal with friends and neighbors,” said Executive Director Nicole McAlexander. “Our vision is to be a connected community where every person thrives, and this is one more way to make that vision a reality.”

Community members are encouraged to bring their families and meet friends at the center to enjoy their meals. Dinner will also be available for carry-out.

More than 30 community members, including Cornell College staff and students, celebrated the opening of Natalia’s Food Pantry with a ribbon cutting on Wednesday, February 25. Located in Cornell’s Ebersole Health and Wellbeing Center, the Southeast Linn Community Center satellite site offers food, personal care items, and clothing to students and staff at Cornell College.

Last fall, SELCC board members John Gruber-Miller and Anna Butz, both Cornell employees, heard that there was interest in starting a food pantry on campus. In September, SELCC Executive Director Nicole McAlexander met with Ebersole staff to discuss how we could team up to provide more convenient access to food for students.

Cornell’s Student Health & Student Life staff were dedicated to this initiative. They found and prepared a space, recruited student volunteers to work pantry shifts, decided on a name, and created marketing materials. SELCC, with our decades of experience in pantry operations, provided processes, volunteer training, food safety guidelines, food sourcing, and the oversight. All of this came together remarkably quickly, and in less than two months, Natalia’s Food Pantry began serving the Cornell campus, just in time for the November holiday break.

“Our vision at SELCC is that we aspire to be a connected community where every person thrives,” said Nicole, “and this partnership is a perfect example of community connection.”

In its first three months, Natalia’s Food Pantry was visited more than 100 times by over 75 students/staff, and more than 500 pounds of food were distributed.

Southeast Linn Community Center had a very busy holiday season in 2025!

This year, we partnered with Together We Achieve and five other area organizations to streamline the holiday food box sign-up and distribution process throughout Linn County. The new partnership allowed us to distribute November and December holiday meal boxes to more families in Mount Vernon, Lisbon, and the surrounding communities without duplicate sign-ups or long lines.

In November, we packed 275 boxes full of Thanksgiving classics — from green beans and potatoes to turkey and gravy — to help provide our neighbors with a hearty Thanksgiving meal. We are so thankful to St. John the Baptist Catholic Church for providing turkeys. Altogether, our partnership provided November food boxes to 2,220 households in the Linn County area.

We distributed December food boxes to more than 630 people in 220 different households. Overall, our collaboration with Together We Achieve and the Linn County Sheriff’s Office served over 800 area households. We are grateful to the United Methodist Church of Mount Vernon for donating holiday hams for the December food boxes.

Our Adopt-a-Family program provided gifts to 75 local families — more than 330 individuals! — based on their wish lists. To make sure that every family received their requested items, we worked with the Lisbon and Mount Vernon Community School Districts, St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, Seeds of Faith Lutheran Church, and the United Methodist Church of Mount Vernon, as well as many individual donors.

In addition, thanks to a generous donation from Toys for Tots, we were able to hold a holiday “shopping experience” for local families. More than 55 parents and grandparents selected gifts from 11 tables full of free toys, stuffed animals, puzzles, and games, which brightened the holidays for 207 local children. We also offered free gift wrapping!

We greatly appreciate all of our volunteers who contributed their time and energy to making the holidays shine for our neighbors. Thank you to all the people and businesses in our communities who donate and support these programs with their generous spirit. We could not do it without you!

Sugar cookies! Shortbread! Scotcheroos! Gingersnaps! Chocolate peppermint bark! Peanut butter fudge! Milk chocolate dipped pretzels!

The SELCC Bake Sale fundraiser that normally takes place on Magical Night is now virtual! All the goodies you know and love without having to go out in the cold and stand in line. Buy some for yourself, as gifts, or take them to your next holiday gathering. (We won’t tell that you didn’t make them.)

All proceeds support Southeast Linn Community Center programs and services.

We’re holding our annual Halloween soup supper on October 31, 2025, from 4:30 to 7:30pm! The menu will include soups, chili, bread, and desserts, and you may dine in or carry out. We will be accepting freewill donations to benefit the programs and services at SELCC.

“We love being part of Halloween Town and seeing all the spooky and silly costumes,” said Nicole McAlexander, executive director of SELCC. “We invite everyone to stop in to enjoy a delicious meal with your friends and neighbors.”

SELCC is a nonprofit organization that relies on donations from generous individuals and local businesses to provide programs and services to Mount Vernon, Lisbon, and the surrounding communities.

All Mount Vernon and Lisbon educators are invited to join us for our very first Educator Open House on Wednesday, October 29, from 4-6pm at Southeast Linn Community Center, 108 S. Washington Street! Come take a tour of our spaces, talk to our volunteers, and learn about all the programs and services we offer to the Mount Vernon and Lisbon communities, as well as the surrounding rural areas.

We’ll be serving delicious refreshments prepared in SELCC’s commercial kitchen. PLUS, we’re partnering with the Teacher Store to provide you with FREE classroom supplies! The Teacher Store truck will be parked right in front of SELCC. Classroom teachers, paraprofessionals, school counselors, school health professionals, and administrators are all welcome to shop for free supplies. (Be sure to bring your school ID!)

If you are not an educator, but would like to stop by and get a tour of SELCC during this time, we welcome you! Please note: Teacher Store supplies are available only to educators with their school ID.

Please RSVP by Friday, October 24. Feel free to let other Mount Vernon/Lisbon K-12 educators know about the open house, so they can reserve their spots as well. We can’t wait to see you!

Our Summer Meals program was a huge success this year!

In 2024, we served free lunch once a week as a pilot program. This year, with the help of the United Methodist Church of Mount Vernon (UMCMV) and First Presbyterian Church of Mount Vernon, we were able to expand the program to serve free meals every weekday throughout the summer. Meals were provided three days a week at SELCC and twice a week at the churches in Mount Vernon.

All meals were prepared in SELCC’s commercial kitchen by staff and volunteers. Meals were open to all, including kids who were home alone and rode their bikes to lunch, kids who came with their babysitters, and grandparents who brought their grandkids. We also served several families throughout the summer who were struggling to balance working from home with caring for their children.

We served 2,666 meals total, averaging 49 attendees per day. Leftovers were packaged and distributed to community members through our food pantry, leaving us with zero food waste. 

In addition to enjoying meals together with neighbors, people were encouraged to select and take home fresh produce provided by SELCC’s community gardens and local growers. At the end of each week, we also gave out weekend snack bags to each child. Five hundred eighty-one snack bags were distributed throughout the summer.

Children had the chance to socialize and to stay for free enrichment activities some afternoons, freeing up their parents’ or grandparents’ time for work responsibilities. The energy was amazing!

This program was truly a collaborative effort. In the spring, our Activities Coordinator worked with the local school cafeteria staff to plan meals based on the students’ favorites. We met with UMCMV and First Presbyterian Church leaders to plan scheduling, volunteer recruitment, and publicity.

More than 110 volunteers assisted with meals throughout the summer, providing over 800 hours of service. Church volunteers helped with cooking, transporting food, serving meals, cleaning up, and packing leftovers.

Thanks so much to Gary’s Foods for doing a “register round-up,” and to all the shoppers who contributed! Funding was also provided by a private donor and a grant from the Linn County Fund at the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation.

We are excited to continue our Summer Meals program next year!