The President of the state's largest rural-based foundation is retiring. Paul Olson has announced that he'll step down from his position as the head of the Blandin Foundation after 25 years. Under his guidance, the foundation has worked to stregthen Minnesota's rural communities, providing more than 100 million dollars in statewide grants and more than 7 million dollars in grants to local communities. Olson also led the development of the Blandin Community Leadership Program, which by the end of 2003, will have trained more than four thousand public and private sector leaders from rural communities. Mr. Olson joins us now. That is Paul Olson who is retiring as President of the Blandin Foundation, which, by the way, is an underwriter of Minnesota Public Radio.