On July 15, 23 members of the Bismarck-Mandan Young Professionals Network gathered at Camp Hancock in downtown Bismarck for the first annual Young Professionals Day. The program started at 1pm with brief remarks from YPN President Stacey Thomas, Bismarck Mayor Mike Seminary, Mandan City Commissioner Dennis Rohr, Claudia Berg, Director of the State Historical Society and Laurie Morse-Dell from the North Dakota Young Professionals Network.

Throughout the afternoon, members worked on service projects which included repainting the exterior of the Bread of Life Church and cleaning out the flower beds as well as the bushes on the property.

“The State Historical Society appreciates the young professionals’ efforts to assist in enhancinh the quality of life in our community. These hands on projects are a great way to get to know the history of a place and appreciate what we have in our own backyard,” said Claudia Berg, Director of the State Historical Society.

Camp Hancock was established in 1872 and the Bread of Life Church happens to be the oldest church in Bismarck. Along with the service projects, the network hosted a free will donation over the lunch hour and employees of Starion Financial contributed by having a jeans day. The combined efforts resulted in raising a total of $369.00 for the State Historical Society.

Special thanks to Houston Engineering for sponsoring lunch and to BNC Bank for providing the grill. This event would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of the planning committee- Dave Lehman, Heather Welle, Jerry Haas, Stacey Thomas, Jamie Jackson, Kari Pollert and Mariah Rittel. The Bismarck-Mandan Young Professionals Network was pleased to make an impact on Camp Hancock and looks forward to the next Young Professionals Day in 2017!