Inspired Media

Ward Budweg has helped build a library in Rwanda, install a clean-water-catching system in Panama, and paint an orphanage in Peru.

But perhaps no place has benefited more from his unrelenting service ethic than Decorah, Iowa, his home of more than 30 years.

“Pay it forward or give it back – it makes no difference,” says Ward, a local carpenter, handyman, and self-described “helper.” “I just know that without the assistance I received from people in the past, I would not be in a position help others today.”

Today this New Hampton, Iowa, native volunteers as council president of Decorah Lutheran Church and a board member of the Decorah Rotary Club, an organization he has also served as treasurer, vice president, and – you guessed it! – president since becoming a member in 1984. He’s also served on the local Elks Club board, completed terms on local tourism and parks and recreation boards, volunteered as director of the annual Nordic Fest Elveløpet race (during its infancy in the mid-1980s), and helped get the Decorah Rotary Club’s Loop de Loop race – which just marked four years in September – up and, yes, running.

It’s no coincidence that much of Ward’s volunteerism through the years – from chairing meetings to picking up garbage along Highway 9 – has been intertwined with the work of the local Rotary chapter.

Indeed, were it not for the generosity of the New Hampton Rotary Club years ago, says Ward, there’s a very good chance he would never have earned his bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Northern Iowa in 1980.

“They loaned me $1,000 to finish my degree, and I never had to fill out a single piece of paperwork because they trusted me to pay it back,” he recalls. “I repaid that thousand dollars years ago, but I will never be able to repay the kindness, generosity, and belief in me those Rotarians showed. That is what continues to motivate me to give back whenever – and however – I can.”– by Sara Friedl-Putnam

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Lucas Zellmer had no idea the extent of poverty in La Crosse, Wisconsin – where more than 15 percent of the population lives below the poverty line – until moving there in 2012.

“The first time I rode through the city, I noticed far more homeless or impoverished people than I had ever seen in my hometown of Blooming Prairie,” he says. “The poverty was impossible to ignore.”

Wanting to “make a difference,” Lucas soon began to split his time between studies at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse, where he majors in biology, and volunteer service at the St. Clare Health Mission free clinic and the Place of Grace soup kitchen, which serves some 250 meals a day. He learned not only about the missions of both organizations but also about the people they serve – men and women without reliable transportation who are often able to land jobs but unable to get to them consistently.

“It was clear to me that there was a real demand for accessible, reliable transportation among the homeless and impoverished populations of La Crosse,” says Lucas. “Sometimes getting to jobs is more challenging than securing those jobs in the first place – I wanted to do something to fill that transportation void.”

In April, Lucas launched Wheels for All, a small nonprofit that provides single-speed bicycles – they require less maintenance than those with multiple gears – to those who need them the most. To date, he has fixed up and given away more than 20 bicycles, most of which have been donated by his family and supportive community members. As word of the organization spreads – WKBT-TV in La Crosse profiled Lucas and Wheels for All last July – Lucas hopes to help even more individuals who would benefit from having their own two wheels.

“I founded Wheels for All because I love knowing I have helped someone in difficult circumstances,” he says. “We may only be providing bikes, but seeing the recipients’ faces when they receive them – and hearing them describe how those bikes will help them – is such a powerful thing.”

To learn more about the organization – or make a donation – visit Lucas’s Go Fund Me page.
– by Sara Friedl-Putnam

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If you blink, you might find that Lanesboro Community Theater dynamo, Bebe Keith, has disappeared. When the Community Theater’s Silent Movies in the Park After Dark or the “Over the Back Fence” variety show are in production, she’s everywhere at once. Don’t worry, though, she’ll turn up soon, maybe in costume – the veteran actor played Mary Poppins in summer 2015 – but more often with script or cell phone in hand, as a director or plain old worker bee.
“I just love performing,” says the former kindergarten and first grade teacher and 25-year veteran actor. She and husband Pete moved from the Twin Cities to Lanesboro in 2006, when Bebe started working full-time as a glass mosaic artist and author. Her work has been commissioned by the Mayo Clinic, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and Children’s Hospital in Boston.

“My schedule now is a little more flexible, working as an artist,” she says – the better to get on the horn and throw together two original skits, for example, when a guest artist for “Over the Back Fence” cancels at the last minute. She’s one of nine local volunteers who organize the monthly live radio show, and is also the host of the regional PBS/KSMQ arts and culture show “Off 90.”

Plus, Bebe has moved into mentoring local rookie directors, both for the annual downtown Lanesboro silent films exhibition in September, and the 2016 winter production of six short plays by David Ives. The dozens of hours volunteering to plan for, fund-raise, paint sets, or cue staging for each project don’t even cross her mind, she says.

“It’s my way of having fun, letting go, and socializing with people across my community, all mixed in one. I feel so happy participating – and seeing so many other people participating for the first time, whether they’re in the audience or behind the camera,” she says. “Yes, it takes time and work, but a feel-good activity that everyone enjoys? Totally worth it.”– by Kristine Jepsen

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