All photos by Boreal Community Media

By Boreal Community Media - June 1, 2023

The love and devotion that Joan Gardner-Goodno demonstrated for Cook County over the years in her role as Executive Director for the Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation was clearly felt on Thursday afternoon.  A large group of community members gathered at North House Folk School to show their gratitude, share their stories, and to to celebrate Joan's recent retirement.  Joan had served  as the organization's first Executive Director since 2007.

Joan's tireless work and advocacy for organizations in Cook County on behalf of the Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation is a legacy that will never be forgotten.  We at Boreal Community Media will be forever grateful for the strong support of the Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation.  Some of the past grant awards that we received allowed us to develop our youth technology internship program, offer multiple summer technology camps for Cook County youth, and provided funding that allowed us to onboard additional freelance journalists. 

An image of the program honoring Joan is below:

To learn more about Erik Torch, who will be stepping into the role as the new Executive Director at the Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation, follow this link to the March press release.

The Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation was established in 1975. Upon Mr. Johnson’s passing in 2006, the Foundation hired its first Executive Director and focused its grantmaking efforts on significantly improving life for those living along the North Shore of Minnesota in the communities of Cook, Lake, and Southern St. Louis Counties. Today the Foundation holds $27M in assets and provides over $1M in grants and scholarships annually. 

The PDF attached at the end of this article is the speech that Paul Nelson, Chair of the Sawtooth Mountain Clinic Oral Health Task Force, dedicated to Joan at the celebration.