Holiday Newsletter

December 2024

As many of you know so well, I rely on Heidi and Kurt and their effectiveness during the workday. They are so reliable and kind to me. What you may not know but could guess is how kind and reliable they are in their communities. In particular, Kurt came to us here at Shamrock with a request - to offer some of our resources as a way to give back during the Holidays. In particular, around the food shelf he volunteers. We appreciate the energy and kindness from you for Toys for Tots in the past and, for many practical and philosophical reasons, we are switching things up this year and supporting the Friends in Need organization.

Please read a note from Kurt below and support Friends in Need if you are so moved. No gift is too small. As always we are grateful for you and your consideration. We will match the first $2,000 raised from our Shamrock community.

Best of all Holiday Wishes,

Will

Kurt Invites Us To Join Him and Give To Our Friends In Need

As we head into the 2024 holiday season, we at Shamrock have decided to switch things up and support another worthwhile charitable organization other than Toys for Tots. You may not know, but I volunteer at Friends in Need food shelf every Wednesday evening and serve as the board president. I started volunteering during Covid, and the experience has made me feel like I was making an impact, that I could see firsthand.

Although the food shelf primarily services residences of St. Paul Park, Cottage Grove, Newport, and Grey Cloud Island, the need is widespread. We have seen an increase across the surrounding area, and 34% of our September clients were from outside our primary service area, and within the 34%, 42% were from St. Paul. As the need grows, so will our need for community and volunteer support. To support Friends in Need, Canadian Pacific KC promotes the Holiday Train that stops in Cottage Grove. The Holiday Train is a brightly lit train featuring musicians from one of the train cars. It is always a special event, and to see adults and children enjoy themselves warms my heart on a chilly night.

I am thankful to Shamrock for allowing me to leave early on Wednesdays to volunteer and for all the things we take for granted, like food on our tables. I hope you will check out the Friends in Need food shelf and take a virtual tour: FIN Virtual Tour, If you would like to donate to Friends in Need with a check, you can visit their website. We just ask that you enter Shamrock on the memo line for tracking purposes. If you would like to donate from your Shamrock accounts, we can do DTC (nonretirement accounts) or prepare the Charitable Distribution (retirement accounts) paperwork for you.

I hope you have a warm, loving holiday season.

Kurt

2024 has been a strong market in US equities. The Fed reached their goal with inflation and has made a rate cut recently. As we enter 2025, some comments I have heard is that we are entering uncertainty around US Policy. In fact, it was called a "Policy Fog". That seems as apt a description as I have heard. Tariffs, corporate taxes, government spending and inflation are all items the economy and markets will need to react to. As always, let's stay connected and, although we have never lived in the time we

are in today, we do have tools to get us through. That much is clear. 

Take care and let's talk soon.

Peace,

Will

10 of my favorite cities. Subject to change😜

1. St Paul, MN - my children are from there!
2. Boston, MA - walking the Freedom Trail
3. Austin, TX - the concentration of American music on 6th Street without the infinite Bachelor/Bachelorette parties of Broadway in Nashville, TN 
4. San Diego, CA - ocean views, city size and beauty. Plus, my family and I experienced the largest earthquake that city has had for a minimum of 120 years (all the farther I could go back)!
5. New York City, NY - Frank Sinatra says it all.
6. Banff, Alberta - it's really that whole part of the world expanding up into Jasper and down into Glacier. So Beautiful, makes me feel reassured, small and awestruck!
7. Rome, Italy - incongruent driving landscape and a city that's been rebuilt on top of itself 7 times!!! 
8. Florence, Italy - mostly because it represents the Tuscany region which I thought was so beautiful and I LOVED the wine.
9. Galway, Ireland - it feels like a deeply connected community to me.
10. Paris, France - contrary to what I'd heard, it's a welcoming city. It's set up to have millions of visitors to come in each month and share in its history and hospitality!

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