Stories

LifeWorks Celebrates 60 Years

     LifeWorks began serving 18 individuals with disabilities in a Fort Dodge area sheltered workshop in 1966. Sixty years later, LifeWorks serves 134 individuals in residential, employment, and day habilitation services. Much has changed over the course of 60 years. The sheltered workshop service, once sought out by parents of former high school students, is considered segregation today. Medicaid is LifeWorks' primary funder, when it used to have local funding. 

     Teresa reviewed information found in the FY26 Annual Report, including how it helped a family in a difficult situation, employment success, and industry changes. 

     The LifeWorks Charitable Foundation was formed in 2009, received IRS tax exempt status in 2010, and had its first fundraiser in 2011. Funds are intended to be endowed, with a small amount going for necessary expenses. Because funds are invested and only the proceeds are used, the fund has seen good growth. This year, it has funded a sizeable amount of the capital budget. There will be a fundraiser for the LifeWorks Charitable Foundation on November 5th. It features a silent auction, dinner, entertainment in the style of America's Got Talent, and a People's Choice Award for the entertainer earning the highest amount of voting with dollars. 

     With the Foundation providing supplemental funding, LifeWorks is looking forward to another 60 years of offering essential services to individuals.

An article in the Monday “Messenger” announced that Rotarian Dr. Jesse Ulrich was awarded the prestigious Virgil Lagomarcino Laureate Award by Iowa State University.  The award is given to an individual that graduated from the ISU Education School and has since provided outstanding service to the Education Profession.  Dr. Ulrich has his MA and PHD from ISU.

The Wednesday “Messenger” contained a front page discussion of a recently held Candidate's Forum hosted by the Fort Dodge Growth Alliance.  Rotarian Kuhlman was the Master of Ceremony and Rotarian Miller was a primary participants as she debated her opponent for the November Election.  

Monday's guest speaker was Chaz Allen of the Iowa utility Association, whose primary members are:  Black Hills Energy; Mid American Energy;  iTC; and Alliant Energy, the primary providers of gas and electricity energy for Iowa. Through the half hour discussion we learned that gas and electric availability is quickly becoming the best draw to the Midwest for economic development, replacing the prior major draws of available workforce and 4-lane highways.  In this regard, Iowa has ample supplies of both energy sources and has the lowest electricity rate of any  of the 50 States.  To maintain that record involves a long-range plan combined with input from major industries as to their needs 5, 10, and 20 years into the future.  Other major discussion points were:

• Industrial Development is now following utility transmission lines, such as with the proposed steel plant near Keokuk;
• Ten years ago the Iowa long-range plan was completed.  It is now beginning an update phase that will be submitted to the Iowa Utilities Commission who will use the plan to helps set gas and electric rates.  An accurate plan provides stability, with the example being the last rate increase for Mid American energy was in 2013.  A proposal for adjustment is now before the IUC.
• Data Centers are now upsetting the proverbial “apple cart” of planning because of their large need for energy.  In the Midwest Data Centers should not substantially increase the cost to other consumers because of their needs.  Rather, Data Centers will negotiate their energy costs separately with the example of the case in Cedar Rapids where energy will be purchased by the restart of the Palo Nuclear Plant.  This stability will not be true for the Northeast of the United States where rates are set by alternative schedules.
• There has been much misinformation regarding the sitting of Data Centers through social media.  In reality, economic growth in the economy is critical to the maintaining of utility rates.  The fixed costs of energy is shared through all consumers, and if more businesses are added, any increase is shared between more customers.
• Wind and solar are important to Iowa (63% of Iowa power comes from wind), but recent protests to wind farms may soon limit any potential expansions.  Solar farms are now being sited on non prime agricultural soils to avoid the astigmatism of reducing land for food.  Roof, parking lot, etc. locations will become the norm.
• The bottom line is that Iowa needs to have solar, wind, nuclear, gas, and coal, as they all partner with each other to cover a consistent flow to the transmission grid when natural elements or other interruptions occur to sources of generation feedstock.

The October “Rotary Magazine” is devoted totally to Polio, past, present, and future.  It is fitting that this edition precedes the October 24th World Polio Walk that our club will be a participant.  In the modern era Polio has become a nearly forgotten disease that once affected millions.  It is becoming more difficult to find people who remember the “scourge.”  Therefore, our club will aid Rotary International in providing a worldwide emphasis that Polio still exists and our eradication effort is not quite complete.  To that goal the “Rotary Magazine” highlights recent efforts to immunize children in Pakistan by using both native workers who are assisted by people who carry examples of what Polio can do to the human body and its bones.  As quoted in the magazine RI states that the wild strain of Polio is eliminated in all but two countries - Afghanistan and Pakistan, in an area that is hard to reach and is controlled by traditional Islamic families skeptical of all things western.  But the good news is that last year Pakistan had reduced the number of new cases to 17, and from January to October of this year that number is 3.  Google states in a search that the number in Afghanistan in 2026 is 32.  

Fort Dodge can still count older individuals who have the signs of Polio deformities acquired as children prior to the immunization efforts beginning in 1955.  Your eBulletin editor remembers when a child was diagnosed with Polio in rural Nebraska prior to the vaccines all children were confined to their homes/farms and schools closed until the parents were somewhat assured the virus had left the area.  As a young child it was a very scary time, but the quarantines of my parents kept me from the disease.

• Mission: Rotary is a service organization comprised of community leaders of various professions dedicated to humanitarian causes locally and throughout the world. Simply put, Rotary is an organization that is out to do "good" in the world. 
• Vision: It is incumbent upon the Fort Dodge Noon Rotary Club and its Board of Directors to be good stewards of available resources.  The club budgets dollars annually.  The budget may fund identified programs.  The club also has a small “Special Fund” available for requests made throughout the year for unbudgeted causes, which the club and Board may want to support. 
• Eligibility for the Special Fund:  Grants must have the support of one or more members of the Fort Dodge Noon Rotary Club. Funds are granted in support of humanitarian causes.  Causes may relate to youth, poverty prevention/intervention, community betterment, health care, human services, and more.  There are many, many good causes.  There are also limited dollars.  Grant awards will not exceed the dollars available in the special fund.   Preference may be given to one-time projects or to programs that are deemed to have sustainability.  For example, grants may be given to a building project to provide some seed money to start an educational program that the schools will fund in the long term.  Collaboration with other funding sources is encouraged.