Up against a deadline, Lois reaches for the telephone, looking for a sound bite

Leadership Counts in Pelican Rapids
Dedicated community leaders have also been crucial as the small town of Pelican Rapids faced the changes it has seen over the last 30-plus years. The predominately Norwegian community first began working with Mexican migrant workers and their families as they came to labor in Red River Valley fields of row crops. Then the community welcomed Southeast Asian refugees and in 1995, West Central Turkeys sponsored refugee workers from Eastern Europe. In the fall of 1996, 100 Bosnian Romas came to the community unexpectedly.