WILLMAR — The Willmar Area Community Foundation is celebrating its 25-year anniversary Thursday evening and honoring its Awards in Philanthropy for 2023. The organization’s event Thursday at the Willmar Conference Center has been sold out.
Terry and Kristen Tone of Willmar are being honored with the foundation’s 2023 Award in Philanthropy for their outstanding leadership, volunteerism and philanthropy.
The Willmar Rotary Club is being honored with the foundation’s 2023 Innovative Impact Award for its example of community building and charitable investments.
The Tones, who met at Luther College in northeast Iowa and have been married for 45 years, have crafted a reputation as engaged, involved and passionate volunteers and donors to causes they care about, according to a news release from the foundation.
“Anyone can lead, at any age and from any chair. It’s OK to start small because that often leads to great things that will change you as much as it helps others,” said Kristen Tone in the release.
“When you succeed, it is an obligation to give,” said Terry Tone. “Our parents both instilled in us the importance of being involved and volunteering. It is amazing what you can do. If we can do it, anyone can.”
After stops in Owatonna and Mankato, Terry Tone’s career in medical administration brought him to the former Affiliated Community Medical Centers in Willmar. Kris Tone found a career in vocational rehabilitative services for the state of Minnesota. While pursuing their careers and raising three children, the couple found time to volunteer and make gifts to support causes important to them or the community.
Now, grandparents of five, the couple continue their volunteer efforts with the Kandiyohi County Food Shelf, Habitat for Humanity, Family Promise, the Willmar Area Community Foundation board, the Willmar Area Women’s Fund Steering Committee and the United Way. Both worked on the Destination Playground project, Terry Tone as a build captain and Kristen Tone on the Food Committee.
The Tones also reflected on their legacy.
“Partner with organizations that have a pulse on the community, pool resources with others and tackle things together. Be part of local solutions,” said Kristen Tone.
“Building a playground, rehabilitating a Habitat home and meeting a little girl who will have a bedroom of her own for the first time, picking up food donations for the food shelf — those things change you. … It’s been incredibly rewarding,” said Terry Tone.
Contributed / Willmar Rotary
The Rockin’ Robbins five-week concert series at Robbins Island Regional Park has become a summer destination event for many families in recent years.
“We set out to do something fun, that would build community togetherness in this awesome park we have. It has become part of the fabric of our community and allowed our club to make significant improvements to the park while supporting critical work in the broader community too,” said James Miller, Willmar Rotary Foundation chairperson, in the news release.
To date, the Willmar Rotary has raised $456,000 via the free concert series. These club resources have helped support the Destination Playground, the park entrance renovation and now the organization has its sights set on a permanent, dual-stage amphitheater to host both concerts and smaller community events at Robbins Island Regional Park.
Kids have been a focus for the club since it began in 1978, according to Bill Adams, club president.
“For decades, we have donated dictionaries to local third-graders, supported high school students towards graduation, … created Rotary Readers to read with local grade schoolers to improve literacy, and sponsored international exchange students,” Adams said in the release.
While the original Willmar Rotary Club began in 1978, a second Rotary Club called the Willmar Lakes Rotary was chartered in 1998. Seven years ago, both clubs agreed to merge and work collaboratively on their shared mission. That is also when the Rockin’ Robbins idea became a reality.
“We can do more when we work together. Relationships help move ideas and projects forward in the community. The energy is infectious and Rotary is a great platform to grow yourself and serve your community,” said Miller.
(Contributed / Willmar Area Community Foundation)
Willmar Area Community Foundation
The foundation, established in 1998, has now grown to nearly $27 million within 130 funds. Since its inception, the foundation has granted more than $13 million back to the Willmar Lakes area groups and projects.
Governed by a 15-member board of directors who live and work in Kandiyohi County, the foundation has four full-time staff working from their office in Willmar.
To mark its 25-year anniversary, the Willmar Area Community Foundation is awarding a $10,000 Founders Day grant to Lutheran Social Services to support senior dining in Kandiyohi County.
Contributed / Paul Middlestaedt
“During anniversary years, our board honors our founders with a special grant. The very first grant ever made by WACF twenty-five years ago was for $500 to support the senior congregate meal site in Spicer,” said Sara Carlson, executive director.
In the coming year, the foundation will be launching a special Non-Profit Boost Initiative to further support the capacity and resilience of local non-profits in addition to granting more than $250,000 in unrestricted resources to projects and programs that serve Kandiyohi County residents.
The organization will maintain the work with the Willmar Area Women’s Fund, the New London-Spicer Area Fund, Vision 2040 and KCEO program. The foundation will continue to assist on local housing planning, childcare capacity, enhancing the quality of life for persons with special needs and responding when disasters occur in Kandiyohi County.
“Our founders felt establishing a community foundation should be a gift to the community that will last forever, and we take that to heart every day at WACF,” said Carlson.
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