Linda Riddle, MCH Board Member, Honored

Linda Riddle of Duluth has worked tirelessly as an advocate for women and children in Minnesota since fleeing an abusive marriage in 1987. After a stint volunteering, Linda served for 15 years as director of Houston County Women’s Resources. She moved to Duluth in 2007 to lead the Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs, an organization internationally renowned for its model of responding to domestic violence.

She was among six Minnesotans with long histories of service to their communities who recently received the 2009 Virginia McKnight Binger Awards in Human Service. The $10,000 awards honor Minnesota residents who give their time to improve the lives of people in their communities.

Since 1985, The McKnight Foundation has given the awards each year to recognize Minnesotans who demonstrate the difference one person can make in helping others. The awards are named for the Foundation’s former chair and president, Virginia McKnight Binger. Mrs. Binger served the Foundation for nearly 50 years as a board member, as president from 1974 through 1987, and then as honorary chair until her death in 2002. Although her parents, William and Maude McKnight, established the Foundation, it was Mrs. Binger’s personal compassion and generosity that set the standard for the Foundation’s work.

Other winners included: Nancy Guenette, mentor to Minneapolis high school and college students;  Mohamed Hassan Osman of Columbia Heights, co-founded the Confederation of Somali Community in Minnesota, the Dugsi Charter School, and the Somali American Education Program; Ken Porwoll of Roseville has given free haircuts for the past 25 years to clients at the Listening House, a homeless shelter in downtown St. Paul;  John Poupart of West Saint Paul, facilitator of the Dakota Ojibwe Language Revitalization Alliance; and Renee Tomatz, founder of the Family Investment Center in Hibbing.