Inspired Media

“I’m just a banker with a passion for renewable energy,” Larry Grimstad says, in typical humble fashion.

In truth, the longtime Decorah resident is much more than that. He’s a highly respected community leader who has spent well more than a decade working to reduce his carbon footprint on the world and educate others on the importance of doing the same.

“We need renewable energy – wind, solar, and geothermal – and some of us have just got to take the initiative so others will come along,” he told the Des Moines Register in 2012 when asked about his efforts to promote environmental sustainability in Winneshiek County.

Larry, who served as president of Decorah Bank and Trust from 1978 to 2002, put those words into action three years ago when, through his company Decorah Solar Field, he partnered financially with Luther College to erect a $1.2 million array of 1,250 solar panels along Pole Line Road on the north edge of the college’s campus. The eye-catching array provides the bulk of the electricity used by Baker Village, a student-housing cluster that also uses clean energy (geothermal) for heating and cooling.

“I spent my career as a community banker so it’s a natural thing to figure out ways to help build good things for the community,” he says of investing in the array. “The more of that you do, the more you to want to do even more.”

Not surprisingly, Larry is just as generous with his time. He currently serves as board treasurer of four organizations – First Lutheran Church, Seed Savers Exchange, the Oneota Film Festival, and the Winneshiek Energy District – while also participating in events like the recent Decorah Energy Extravaganza that help educate the community about the myriad benefits of clean energy. The event showcased 10 solar-powered homes, including the one he built with his wife, Diane, in the early 2000s.

“It’s my responsibility to my grandchildren,” he replies when asked what drives his seemingly tireless efforts to leave this place in better shape than when he found it. “I have to do what is right for them and their generation.”

– by Sara Friedl-Putnam

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“I’ve always been a big believer in supporting good people doing good things,” says Winona radio personality, Paul Lundquist.

Paul landed in Winona, Minnesota, 10 years ago. At that time, he was hosting a morning radio show with “pretty much no promo budget,” and looking to grow its popularity. So he offered to host things around the community – pageants, contests, fundraising events – and served on area committees. He was “giving back” in every sense of the word, and as a bonus, networking, promoting his show, and meeting folks in the community.

“I had time and a unique set of skills: I’m able to stand in front of large groups of people and not really care,” he says of his total lack of stage fright. “I was broke – I never could cut big checks… but I still wanted to support cool things happening in Winona.”

Indeed, Winona, population 27,546, is home to a lot of cool things. From Midwest Music Fest to the Great River Shakespeare Festival to Boats and Bluegrass to Frozen River Film Festival…and that’s just a handful on the list.

“I love living in Winona – when you say you want to do something, people want to support it. They don’t say, ‘No way can that happen.’ They say, ‘Okay, how can we help?’ Paul says. “We have a small town, but we can do things, have things, have experiences because we support each other.”

In addition to acting as host for many local events, Paul volunteers for Big Brothers, Big Sisters, and Boy Scouts.

“I don’t necessarily agree with all their politics, but Boy Scouts sure had a huge influence on my life,” he says. “I attribute a lot of who I am to my amazing scoutmaster, Gene Klug.”

Paul grew up in Selby, South Dakota – a tiny town of 700 people. He spouts off the tenets of Boy Scouts without pause: trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.

“Gene taught me leadership, volunteerism… he taught me about appreciating not necessarily being the star all the time, but seeing pride in helping others,” he says.

Paul and his wife are expecting their first child in January 2016 – a son – and Paul hopes that one day he, too, will meet his own “Gene Klug.” In the meantime, “I’m going to help create a community I want my son to grow up in,” he says.

In addition to radio work, Paul is a realtor. One would think someone with two jobs is too busy, but he makes it work. His tips for doing the same? Working volunteering into your day job – i.e. networking your radio show while hosting an event – is a good place to start. But, most importantly: find something you like to do. “You’re not going to do it if you’re not passionate about it.”

Next?

“Just ask. Go up and say, ‘How’d you get into this?’ Go to the event. Say, ‘What can I do to help?’” he says. “There’s a volunteer opportunity for everyone. The local Humane Society here is looking for people to come in and play with kittens. You can literally volunteer your time to go play with kittens.”

“Another group is looking for people to volunteer two hours a week to deliver sandwiches to folks who can’t get out of the house. That’s bringing food – LIFE – to people. How cool is that?! Two hours a week.”

Continuing, it’s clear he has the passionate part down pat.

“You need to be one Gene Klug in a town of 700 people. Give one smart-mouthed kid a chance to make a difference. You don’t need to head up a big organization. You don’t need to cure a disease. Helping people can be as simple as bringing them a sandwich. Playing with kittens.” – by Aryn H. Nichols

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It’s easy to let fifth-generation Decorah native Mark Faldet fool you: He’s the kind of guy who, having traveled the region for work at Luther College for 30 years, could tell you – down to the last left-hand turn – how to get to the best pulled-pork sandwich shop in Iowa. BUT, he himself has never lived more than a mile as the crow flies from his childhood home, a farm on the first crest of Locust Road. In fact, he’s never been away from Decorah for more than 13 consecutive days in his 60-ish years. “It was never my intention,” he says, “but it’s been a pretty good bit of luck, or fate.”

Mark’s was perhaps the hardest interview to procure in this series, thoroughly convinced as he was that none of his volunteerism would warrant this kind of attention. Though in many ways, his under-sung turns of community service are among the most accessible – the smallest of gestures that make a small town thrive.

Some will recognize him as a long-time member of Decorah’s city Tree Board, a division of the street department that oversees the planting and maintenance of the town’s majestic boulevard trees. Others cite him as a regular visitor to the area’s nursing homes, where he knows and is known by the generations that created the fabric of his childhood. Through his high school years, his extended family celebrated every aunt, uncle, and cousin’s birthday together.

And still others have seen Mark pushing a self-fashioned broom/pan contraption down Water Street after the annual Nordic Fest parade, taking some of the back-breaking work out of scouring for candy wrappers, paper decorations, and other debris. When it looks like rain, he’s cleaning leaves and branches out of storm drains in his Broadway neighborhood, where he’s lived for 28 years. And when the snowmelt pools and freezes on the sidewalks in spring, he’s been known to scrape and salt his block, then the next, and sometimes the next.

“To stay in the town you grew up in is in many ways a lot harder than moving away to ‘grow up,’” he says, his eyebrows shooting up in reference to youthful antics he had to live down as he matured. “There’s something about the way people in a community like this still depend on each other that compels them to do right by each other, to give back more freely. It’s understood: you don’t give away what you expect to get back – you can always tell the newcomers by this, you know? – but in return, you get a community with the right balance of understanding and generosity and forgiveness. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.” – by Kristine Jepsen

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