Tw ourlife7 17 15

Discovering The Mature Lifestyle Plymouth woman finds hospital volunteering is rewarding.

Page 4

Volunteerism

July 17, 2015

July\ Issue

Burnsville man’s volunteer math tutoring earns award

BY SUE WEBBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER Ron Everist of Burnsville filled a unique volunteering niche for Lakeville Schools that he has continued even while he’s on vacation in Florida.

For the last three years, he has been a math tutor for students at Lakeville’s Area Learning Center (ALC).

His diligence earned him the school district’s Volunteer Service Award this year. The award was presented at the district’s 2015 Staff Recognition Reception May 20 at the Holiday Inn Lakeville.

Everist was nominated for the award by Clifford Skagen, principal and program director at the Lakeville ALC. “Ron has been just an awesome part of our learning community for the last three years,” Skagen said.

At the presentation, Lakeville Superintendent Dr. Lisa Snyder said, “Ron is a vital part of Lakeville Area Learning Center’s community. He volunteers his time to help tutor students in math. In addition, Ron models transformational teaching using Skype and an iPad. Ron works through problems, gives students information and feedback, and also personalizes the learning for the student.

The students that Ron works with have said time and time again that they would not have been successful in their math course without his instruction and help.”

“I was very pleased to receive the award,” Everist said.

His one-to-one work usually was done with seniors who needed help with algebra 2 or geometry, said Everist, who was an engineer with Donaldson Co. in Bloomington prior to retiring.

“Some kids didn’t understand this math earlier and they were struggling,” Everist said. “It’s gratifying to see those kids graduate.”

His hourly tutoring sessions began as a once or twice a week stint, but later ended up as an every day occurrence, he said.

As a result of his tutoring, Everist was asked to give the commencement speech at the ALC this spring, he said.

teacher. The two also are active at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Burnsville.

“We have an amazing volunteer program of 200-300 people at the church,” Anderson said. “At Echo Park Elementary School in Burnsville, the wall is covered with name badges of volunteers. When I saw that I thought we ought to do it at our school.”

Even when Everist was in Florida during the winter, his tutoring sessions continued. “He set up FaceTime with the kids,” Anderson said. “It was a thing of beauty to watch.

Those kids would not have graduated without Ron’s help.”

FaceTime is a videotelephonic software application that connects video calls from one iPhone or iPad to another.

Everist said he “hated to leave the kids struggling” during his four months in Florida. “Steve would send me the problems and assignments online,” Everist said.

Anderson retired at the end of this school year, and Everist said he’ll miss the work the two men did together.

But he’ll probably continue his volunteer tutoring, Everist said.

He has long been a friend of education. Everist earned a degree in engineering at Iowa State University. While he and his wife, Connie, raised their children in Iowa, Everist served for nine years on a school board there. Now they have two grandchildren, ages 9 and 11.

Now that he’s retired, Everist still does some contract engineering design work, and maintains a small machine shop at his home. He also does some work at the Crystal Lake Golf Club in Lakeville.

“I’m fortunate to have good health,” he said.

As a result of his tutoring, Everist was asked to give the commencement speech at the ALC this spring.

“That was kind of like getting another award,” he said, adding that some of the 12 graduates were receiving GEDs and some received traditional diplomas.

His work as a Lakeville school volunteer came about through his friendship with Steve Anderson, an ALC

About the award Each year Lakeville Area Public Schools presents Friends of Education Awards to honor outstanding individual contributions to Lakeville Area Public Schools. The awards recognize people whose service has been ongoing in four categories: Volunteer Service, Business/CommuEVERIST - TO PAGE 3

Page 2 Our Life • Friday, July 17, 2015

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Our Life • Friday, July 17, 2015 Page 3

Everist FROM PAGE 1 nity Partnerships, Distinguished Service, and Education.

Members of the Lakeville area community were invited to nominate people they felt were deserving of these awards. Nominees were judged primarily on the significance of contributions to the wellbeing of education in Lakeville Area Public Schools over the years. Nominees included district employees and community members

who have contributed to Lakeville Area Public Schools programs and services. All awardees were selected based upon meeting the following criteria: • Achieved above and beyond what is expected in the public school program • Affected one or more of the following: program development, staff morale, community support, student interest, learning environment, and/or general support for public education

• Provided creative leadership in inspiring and/or motivating others to achieve or contribute to public education • Demonstrated continuing support for Lakeville Area Public Schools The qualifications were considered collectively so the persons selected are recognized for their service to the entire district, rather than for one particular project or area of performance.

Edina woman opts to work with children, after 30 years in ministry

BY SUE WEBBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Onward Retirement.

I wondered how I would feel with fewer deadlines and time on my hands.

What would I choose to do — would I be bored or alone?

Retirement Day came with celebrations and a sense of accomplishment and my heart open to the future.

I spent some time, thinking.

Finding ways to entertain myself would soon run dry.

Where would I find relationships and activities that would fulfill my open days?

Who would need me most?

Could I help at church or the hospital or with my neighbors down the block?

I chose children.

Woven between the joys of time to go to plays and concerts, or outdoors, or lunch with friends, were opportunities to care about someone else.

I need not be bored for I could offer to help with schools or parks or grandchildren.

I will keep growing.

And I will not be alone.

I can still contribute to the world and make it better.

--Judith Mattison When the Rev. Judith Mattison retired in 2009 after a 30-year career in the ministry, she decided to wait a year before she became involved with organizational boards of directors or other activities.

Judith Mattison finds it rewarding to work with youngsters, such as this 3-year-old girl, at the Southside Family Nurturing Center in south Minneapolis. (Photo by Sue Webber)

But it was a given that she would become an active volunteer. “To me, volunteering is kind of an automatic thing,” Mattison said. “We’re not here to entertain ourselves. The meaning of life comes from contributing. I just think volunteering is a very important part of contributing to society.”

At the end of Mattison’s self-imposed year off, she said, “I decided to focus on children.”

Her decision wasn’t surprising, considering that the Edina resident majored in elementary education at the University of Minnesota and taught school for four years before entering the seminary at the age of 41.

Now she reads to kindergartners at Bethune School, on the north side of Minneapolis one morning a week.

“It gives me great pleasure to do that,” Mattison said. “It’s so great to watch the little people coming in and learning to socialize. Before they leave kindergarten, they can read.”

Another of her volunteer activities is working with a Development Committee at the Southside Family Nurturing Center in south Minneapolis. The center has since 1974 offered services to children and families in the heart of the Phillips Neighborhood. Ninety-eight percent of the families served are at or below federal poverty guidelines.

“My work tends to be with administration and fundraising,” Mattison said.

“These families deserve a break. The programs are offered at no cost to them, and we see such improvement.”

Though she isn’t in the active ministry, Mattison still occasionally is called upon to preach, and to conduct weddings or funerals. Prior to retiring, Mattison was a minister at Mount Olivet Lutheran Church, University Lutheran Church of Hope, and Bethlehem Lutheran in Minneapolis, and Elim Lutheran in Robbinsdale. Now she has joined Calvary Lutheran Church, a small urban congregation in south Minneapolis.

“From time to time I do something of a political nature, or in the local community,” Mattison said. “It’s informal. A lot of people who are older or sick need visitors.

They appreciate having visitors.”

In the years between teaching school and becoming a minister, Mattison raised two sons and also served for five years on the Circle Pines School Board. She is the author of 14 published books.

“I’m still writing,” she said. “A lot of what I’ve written is poetry, but I’m working on a book now. I’m trying other genres.”

She enjoys traveling, too. A spring trip took her to the South: Memphis, Birmingham, Montgomery and Selma. “It was an interesting trip, a good, positive experience,” Mattison said.

A graduate of Southwest High School in Minneapolis, Mattison at one time served on the board at Luther Seminary in St. Paul and also formerly was a member of the board of trustees at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn.

Mattison is a member of the board of directors at her condominium in Edina.

She has two granddaughters, ages 4 years and 6 months old.

Page 4 Our Life • Friday, July 17, 2015

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Plymouth woman finds hospital volunteering is rewarding

BY SUE WEBBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Inez Bugman had never been in the hospital until 1991, when she had heart surgery.

“You hear all those terrible stories about hospitals, but it was such a positive experience for me that I decided when I felt better I would like to give back a little bit,” Bugman said. “It really struck me after I was in the hospital that everyone was so helpful. When I needed something, someone was always there.

But the nurses are spread kind of thin sometimes.”

In 1994, the Plymouth woman began volunteering at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park, and she’s been a regular at the hospital ever since. In May, she received the Earl Dresser Quality of Service Volunteer award from Park Nicollet Health Services in recognition of her years of volunteer service.

“I was surprised and real excited about that,” Bugman said.

According to Amy Homstad, manager of Volunteer Services at Park Nicollet Health Services, Bugman was this year’s only recipient of the Earl Dresser Award. “The award has been given annually since 1987 to between one and three volunteers,” Homstad said.

Bugman was nominated for the award by the hospital staff on the fifth floor with whom she works, Homstad said.

Bugman works on the fifth-floor surgical unit each Thursday morning. In the afternoon, she talks to recovering heart patients, as part of the Mended Hearts program.

“I always tell heart patients and their families that their doctors can fix them, but we know how they feel,” she said. “It gives them kind of a lift to know that they will get out of that bed. It’s as rewarding for me as it is for them.”

“The volunteers are treated with such professionalism from the doctors, the

“I decided when I felt better I would like to give back a little bit”

She’s made it a point to stay busy ever since she and her husband moved to the Twin Cities from New York in 1970

also attends an exercise class and a yoga class weekly.

“I have two brothers and two sisters and they’ve all had heart surgery, some twice,” Bugman said. “I feel so fortunate.

Our family has been pretty lucky.”

The Bugmans have three children, four grandchildren and five greatgrandchildren.

About the award

Inez Bugman (left) is shown with Amy Homstad (right), manager of Volunteer Services at Park Nicollet Health Services, after Bugman received the Earl Dresser Quality of Service Volunteer award this year.

nurses and the whole staff,” Bugman said. “Being able to assist and know that you are helping is so rewarding. Sometimes it’s as simple as helping someone who needs a nail file. People really appreciate what we’re doing.”

She’s found the volunteer work also is a social outlet. “Most of us volunteers are right up there in age, and we get together during breaks and at lunch time,” Bugman said.

She also has found another way to extend comfort to people. When Bugman lost her son to a heart attack 10 years ago, she was given a prayer shawl. “It was such a comfort to me,” she said. “When you can’t sleep, you wrap it around you and know that someone prayed for you while they made it.”

Nine years ago, Bugman started a prayer shawl group at her church, Pax Christi Catholic Church in Eden Prairie. “We’ve made more than 100 shawls,”

Bugman said. “It’s a nice group.

She also volunteers monthly at a shop that sells products made by senior citizens.

“It’s good to stay busy,” Bugman said.

She’s made it a point to stay busy ever since she and her husband moved to the Twin Cities from New York in 1970. “I had a hard time adjusting without my extended family, but now Minnesota is home,” Bugman said.

She began by getting a job at the Hopkins School District, where she worked for 23 years, until 1994. “I started out in the lunchroom at Burwell School and then graduated to the media center,” she said. “I also helped at the Hopkins switchboard for many years and in the transportation department.”

As a result of her heart surgery, Bugman and her husband got in the habit of walking three miles each morning, an activity they have continued. Bugman

According to Homstad, Park Nicollet Health Services volunteers can be nominated for the award if they are 18 years or older, and have volunteered a minimum of 200 lifetime hours at Park Nicollet or have been an active volunteer in good standing at Park Nicollet for a minimum of one year.

The following are given as award criteria: “The volunteer you nominate should be someone whose efforts affected and impressed you: • A volunteer who greatly affects our mission of supporting the health, healing and learning of those we serve.

• A volunteer who makes a difference and goes beyond the call of duty to help patients, families or staff in our organization.

• A volunteer who demonstrates the Park Nicollet Head, Heart, Together competencies.”

According to Homstad, nomination forms were accepted for one month this spring. “Then a committee comprised of Park Nicollet staff and volunteers read the nomination forms and scored them based on the above bullet points,” Homstad said. “The names were redacted, so the committee did blind scoring.”

In 2014, 1,135 volunteers volunteered time to Park Nicollet, Homstad said.

“Our program starts at age 15, and our oldest volunteers are in their mid-90s,” she said.

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Our Life â&#x20AC;˘ Friday, July 17, 2015 Page 5

Seniors can make a difference in the world Older adults like to complain â&#x20AC;&#x201D; about the weather, the younger generation, the government, the schools, health care, politicians, cable TV service, moral standards and a host of other topics and targets.

Some of this griping is healthy. After all, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a lot to complain about today.

But bellyaching is never enough. A life of constant complaining is like a steady diet of persimmons. It puckers your personality and wrinkles your soul.

Un f o r t u n a t e l y,

Summertime is good volunteer time

Guest column ... by Bob Ramsey

many seniors believe that complaining is all they can do. They think they are powerless to change things, solve problems, right wrongs or help others, because they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have any position of authority, any constituency or any clout. Of course, they are wrong.

Regardless of status or station in life, there

is a lot older adults (or any adults) can do to influence and improve conditions and make the world (or at least their world) a little better. There is no age limit on helping out and doing good. Everyone, regardless of age, can make a difference.

Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re here.

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m reminded of the story of the woman who as so appalled by the violence and injustice in the world that she railed at God, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Why

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donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t you do something about all these problems?â&#x20AC;? God replied, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I did. I created you.â&#x20AC;?

I rest my case.

Summer is one of the best times for older folks to volunteer. The need is great. Schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s out and many people who work in non-profits are on vacation.

Besides, the weather is better, the days are longer, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s easier to get around and seniors are eager to get out after being cooped up inside all winter.

The beauty of summertime volunteering is that you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to

â&#x20AC;&#x153;sweat it,â&#x20AC;? because: â&#x20AC;˘ You get to choose what you do. You can do what you love. â&#x20AC;˘ You choose where you volunteer. â&#x20AC;˘ You pick when you volunteer. â&#x20AC;˘ You decide how much time you spend volunteering. â&#x20AC;˘ You can stop whenever you want. â&#x20AC;˘ Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re appreciated, and â&#x20AC;˘ You make a differ-

ence.

Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not to like?

Summer volunteering is cool. Try it; youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll like it.

Bob Ramsey is a l ifelong educator, freelance writer and advocate for â&#x20AC;&#x153;Vital Aging.â&#x20AC;? He resides in St. Louis Park and can be contacted at 952922-9558 or by e-mail at joyrammini@comcast.net.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;A life of constant complaining is like a steady diet of persimmons.

It puckers your personality and wrinkles your soul.â&#x20AC;?

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Page 6 Our Life • Friday, July 17, 2015

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Volunteer work takes New Hope woman to the library, church and beyond

BY SUE WEBBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER “I’m kind of a busy person; I don’t like to sit,” said Zelda Zahn, a 35-year resident of New Hope.

She’s up at 5:30 a.m. each day and is at the Northwest YMCA to work out starting at 6 a.m. six days a week.

“That’s what keeps me going,” Zahn said.

But a lot of what she does during her busy days keeps other people going as well.

Zahn is a seasoned long-time volunteer in a variety of settings.

“I like all of my volunteer work,” Zahn said.

She spends Monday mornings volunteering at the Rockford Road Library in Crystal. “I really like the library,” she said.

“It makes me aware of all the books that are out there.”

Another day is spent helping with service bulletins at her church, Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church in Plymouth, where she also sings in the choir.

She and her husband, Carl, left Peace Lutheran Church in Robbinsdale in 2003, after Carl’s retirement from 23 years as the church’s minister.

Much of her volunteering involves helping with food and meal preparation at numerous venues. Four times a year, she works with Loaves and Fishes to serve meals at River of Life Lutheran Church in Minneapolis. For several years, Zahn worked with the KidPack program that packaged meals for elementary school youngsters to take home for supplementary nutrition on weekends. And she and other church members help with Feed My Starving Children on a regular basis.

Beautiful Savior, which has a licensed kitchen, has begun another food-related project, an idea Zahn brought back from a trip to Iowa. The program is called Meals of Encouragement. Church workers purchase food and gather once or twice a month to pack 200 to 300 meals (similar to TV dinners) and freeze them.

“Anyone is welcome to help themselves

A lot of what she does during her busy days keeps other people going

to meals in the freezer, to take to a neighbor who is sick, someone who has a new baby or has had a death in the family,” Zahn said. “It’s a really good program.”

For five years, Zahn tended flower gardens at the church. One day she noticed a neighbor’s garden that seemed to need attention, “I said to my neighbor, ‘Do you mind if I work on your garden?’” Zahn said. “She said, ‘Are you for real?’ Sometimes people get busy. They had a little baby. I just thought I should go over there and do some weeding.”

Zahn has recollections of numerous church mission trips in which she has participated, including a three-week stint in New Orleans to help with flood relief. “The temperature was in the 90s every day, and we were wearing HazMat suits, masks and boots,” Zahn said. “It was really hard work.

We call it mucking. We were emptying out houses right down to the studs.” They also sanded, stained and varnished church pews that had been ruined by the floodwaters, Zahn said.

Other mission trips have taken her to Gary, Ind., for a week and Iowa City, Iowa, for a week.

She also spent 10 years working with Habitat for Humanity, using sick days from her full-time job to help build homes for first-time buyers. “I learned to use a Sawzall and a nail gun,” Zahn said. “It was great fun.”

Zahn, who grew up on a farm in western Minnesota, near Benson, worked full-time as an executive secretary at the Northwest YMCA for 22 years, until she retired in 2002. She and her husband have three children and six grandchildren: Heidi and her family live in Idaho, Steve and his family live in Kentucky, and Nancy and her family live in Mayer, Minn.

The Zahn family also has hosted numer-

Zelda Zahn spends Monday mornings volunteering at the Rockford Road Library in Crystal.

(Photo by Sue Webber)

ous exchange students through the years with whom they have maintained contact.

When Carl’s ministry took him to college campuses, the family regularly hosted for-

eign exchange students, Zahn said. The family started in Marshall, Minn., moved to Michigan, and then spent seven years in Mankato before coming to the Twin Cities.

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Our Life • Friday, July 17, 2015 Page 7

New Brighton auto repair dealer also donates his time to help others

BY SUE WEBBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER Pat Whelan is busy running PJW Automotive in New Brighton, and honing his skills as a bike racer. But he also finds it important to volunteer his time to important causes.

He works with Cars for Neighbors, a nonprofit organization that provides assistance to families in Anoka County through car donations or car repairs.

“I originally got acquainted with the organization through the Twin Cities North Chamber of Commerce,” Whelan said.

The 400-member group serves the cities of Columbia Heights, Fridley, Blaine, New Brighton, Shoreview, Arden Hills, Mounds View, Roseville and Spring Lake Park.

The group connects with independent car repair shops that donate their time on a monthly basis to repair cars for people in need.

“They get the parts to us and we do the labor free,” said Whelan, whose shop is a drop-off site for the organization. “Once in a while I get to hand the keys over to the car’s new owner and it’s pretty rewarding.”

“Some cars are really tough,” Whelan said. “They’re beyond fixing and get sold for scrap. The money goes back into the program. There’s value even in just the scrap alone.”

He has a variety of other volunteer activities. Whelan works at the National Sports Center Velodrome in Blaine helping to train young racers. Built to host the 1990 Olympic Festival track racing events and National Championships, the Velodrome at the National Sports Center has been the venue for track cycling for more than 25 years. It has hosted US Olympic Trials, US National Track Cycling Championships and several world-class competitions including the EDS Cup and MN Fixed Gear Classic. Racers at the venue have won multiple US National Championships in both sprint and endurance events.

Whelan also is a member and one-time local president of the Business Network International, a worldwide group with 170,000 members in 58 countries that has 160 chapters in Minnesota. The group, the world’s largest business networking, referral and word-of-mouth marketing organization, cleans up parks, collects money for food shelves, and has worked at shelters in Minneapolis and with Feed My Starving Children.

Pat Whelan owns PJW Automotive in New Brighton and also volunteers his time with a number of important causes.

“Over the last 10-12 years, I’ve also been involved in the Alliance of Automotive Service Providers in Minnesota that helps run skills events and competitions at the vocational-technical schools every spring,” Whelan said. The group includes 700 independently owned automotive service businesses and industry suppliers.

Another of his projects has been Lights on for Safety, a drive to replace burned-out bulbs in exchange for a food donation.

Whelan also is working with the nonprofit Minnesota Cycling Center to build a new venue at 28th and Central Avenue in northeast Minneapolis.

The National Sports Center currently manages the current Velodrome in Blaine, but it will be closed in 2019, according to Whalen.

“The MNCC is the replacement project in the design and finance stages right now,” Whelan said. “We hope to have it operational in the next five to six years, or about the same time NSC closes.”

Once it’s built, The Minnesota Cycling Center is expected to host activities of all kinds, including velodrome racing or BMX racing, world-class events and weekly racing on the velodrome and the

BMX track. It also will have a VeloKids Cycling program to teach kids ages 9-18 track cycling skills and BMX techniques and racing games. After-school programs will give kids a safe, comfortable learning environment to improve their academic achievements.

The venue also is slated to offer infield sports leagues for volleyball, tennis, basketball, soccer and lacrosse teams, as well as fitness and strength training. A youth job-training program will employ community youth, training them as bike mechanics and retail shop associates and adding professional skills for future employment.

Expos, concerts, conventions, meetings, corporate events and family gatherings will be held in the 3,000-seat venue, as well.

“A lot of people have bought in already,” Whelan said. “We’re working with the Minneapolis School Board, the Minneapolis City Council and the Minneapolis Parks Board.”

A native of Golden Valley, Whelan is a graduate of De LaSalle High School, majored in English at the University of Minnesota and acquired technical and mechanical skills at a school in White Bear

Lake.

Whelan started repairing cars in high school, starting his own small “unofficial” business repairing neighbor’s cars. “When I was in high school, I and a bunch of buddies formed a business working on cars,” Whelan said.

While attending the U of M, Whelan worked part-time for his brother’s race car shop that built, maintained, and repaired race cars for a variety of drivers in the local racing community.

Whelan went on to work full-time for the next six years as a technician for a maintenance, repair, and race car shop in White Bear Lake. He opened PJW Auto in New Brighton in 1980. The shop began in a 3,000-square-foot facility with two toolboxes and two technicians: Whelan and his close friend Tom. Whelan, along with help of a customer who was a general contractor, built the current 6,000-square-foot facility in 1985.

His 35-year-old shop has four other employees, Whelan said.

Although he’s been riding bikes for 25 years, Whelan didn’t buy his first bike until he was 40. He started racing 10 years ago.

The racing brought him a silver medal in the UCI Track Cycling Masters World Championships in Manchester, England, in October 2014. He placed second in his age category. “Categories at this event, Worlds Masters Track Championships, are divided into five-year groups,” Whelan said. “I am in the 65-69 group.”

“I rode five separate events in a one week time span,” Whelan said. “It’s called a Scratch Race; first one across the finish wins, next is second, 20 laps long, 5 kilometers in distance. A group-mass-start event with about 21 riders racing each other at the same time on a wood 250-meterlong track that has 43-degree-angle banking. We ride fixed gear bikes that have only one gear, no ability to coast and have no brakes.”

This was his fifth attempt, riding four to five events per year, Whelan said. “Sydney in 2009, best finish was an 11th; Portugal in 2010, best finish was a 6th; Manchester in 2011, best 11th; 2012 best 9th; and then 2014, best was 2nd in the Scratch race with a 3rd qualifier in a Flying 200 qualifier race and ending in 4th overall in the Match Sprints,” Whelan said. At the US Master Track Champs last year in Redmond, Wash., he ended up fourth in four of six events entered.

Page 8 Our Life â&#x20AC;˘ Friday, July 17, 2015

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