Battle of the Schools 2.0 rewards schools with students that return library books (Williston Herald)

The Williston County Bookmobile brings reading home by making it easy to check out books from the comfort of one of the many area parks and residential neighborhoods.  To teach children how to be responsible library patrons, the Bookmobile keeps a running tally of books checked out – and then returned – and offers prizes to the schools with the best records.  The Bookmobile checks out an average of 1,000 books a month.

Williston donates in droves to help families affected by apartment fire – but still more is needed (Williston Herald)

After dozens of families were displaced after an apartment building caught fire, the Williston community came forward with “piles of donations” via the Williston High School Cheer Team, Red Cross, United Way, and Boxed Up Generosity. While the organizations are currently looking for short-term support in the form of boxed meals and baby clothes, they are also requesting longer-term items like furniture and pots and pans.

Casey Hillebrand saves hundreds thanks to Fargo-area restaurant birthday deals (Fargo Forum)

For the month of August, a 34-year old Fargo man went on an “extreme couponing adventure” in which he used birthday promotional offers to eat out for free for all three meals each day.  Casey Hillebrand estimated he saved $323 in free meals, and used the money to pay off his remaining student loan balance.

photo by Johnny McClung