Maurices marks Difference Making Day with help for 21 local groups

About 300 Maurices employees spent one day across 21 Twin Ports nonprofits, a burst of labor that brought fresh paint and other improvements to a West Duluth club site and underscored how much local social-service work still depends on donated time and money.

Maurices marked its 12th annual Difference Making Day with volunteers spread across the region, part of a company identity it traces back to its founding in Duluth in 1931. The retailer says it now has about 900 locations across the United States and Canada, and its leaders have long cast community giving as part of the company’s core values.

One of the most visible work sites was the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Northland’s Dave Goldberg Family Branch, inside the Essentia Health Duluth Heritage Sports Center in West Duluth. The club says the branch serves youth ages 6 to 18 across northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, and that the organization operates five club branches with more than 40 youth-development staff.

The club’s mission is not just recreation. Its branch model includes meals, tutoring, mental health services and mentorship, which puts the volunteer day in sharper context: a single afternoon of painting can improve the space, but it does not solve the ongoing need for staff, food, safe supervision and after-school coverage. For summer 2026, the West Duluth branch is scheduled to be open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., a schedule built for families who need a dependable place for children while adults work. During the school year, the branch is open Monday through Friday from 2:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Membership costs $20 for the year, from January through December.

The broader list of organizations Maurices supported this year was wide-ranging and local, including United Way, PAVSA, Eco3, the American Red Cross, First Witness, Lake Superior Zoo, Great Lakes Aquarium, Animal Allies, Northland Adaptive Recreation, St. Luke’s, YMCA, Safe Haven, Northwoods Children’s Home, Mentor North, ISD 709’s Unity in the Community, Life House, Ronald McDonald House Northland, Duluth Parks and Rec and Second Harvest.

Goldfarb said the event reflected the company’s long-running commitment to community service, while president Bennett Morgan joined the volunteer effort along with coworkers. Maurices says the company’s hometown remains Duluth even as its retail footprint reaches hundreds of communities across the continent.

For St. Louis County, the significance is practical. The region’s nonprofits are still being asked to absorb the strain of childhood hunger, child supervision, mental health needs and family instability, and a corporate service day can help a room, a program or a pantry breathe for a moment. The deeper question is how long those organizations can keep meeting those needs without the same volunteer surge, year after year.