Jessica Burhans accepts the Bob & Michelle Harris Award at the United Way of Becker County Celebration of Heroes event, April 28, 2022
DETROIT LAKES (KDLM) – Local heroes were honored, Thursday during the United Way of Becker County’s Celebration of Heroes event at the Holiday Inn in Detroit Lakes.
The event honored ‘Everyday Heroes’ that display selfless acts of kindness, compassion and dedication.
“Heroes are the backbone of every hometown and represent the essence of the United Way. Everyday Heroes touch our lives each day; making us feel safe, making us feel proud; making our lives better in so many ways,” said, Luann Porter United Way of Becker County Executive Director.
This year’s heroes included:
Hannah Barberg, Youth Everyday Hero
From the time she was old enough to bake she thought of others. Over a period of 4 years she raised $4000 through bake sales for Children’s Shelter of Cebu, an organization that helps children live safely, receive an education and health care. She bakes donuts for her church on a monthly basis and has baked cakes for charity auctions. Our hero helped organize and deliver hot chocolate and donuts to Detroit Lakes Schools Bus Drivers during Bus Driver Appreciation week.
When she became a member of the Detroit Lakes Middle School Student Council, she worked to raise funds and created care packages for soldiers who were being deployed. She worked with follow student council members to collect money and baby items to be given to the Lakes Area Crisis and Resource Center. Our hero made and delivered baskets of appreciation for nurses’ stations at the hospital and local nursing homes.
As president of the Detroit Lakes Middle School Student Council she spearheaded the largest food donation drive ever with proceeds going to the Becker County Food Pantry. Working with fellow student council members she encourages and builds relationships by implementing School Spirit Days, Homeroom Quiz Questions and helps create Welcome Back videos. She helped host a Hat Day fundraiser for Suicide Prevention and sold treats to raise money for wildfire relief.
Our hero serves monthly in her church’s preschool classroom. She is a member of the Detroit Lakes Swim Team and Track Team. She also had lead roles in the District’s productions of Mary Poppins and Newies.
Those nominating her for this award state, “She sees the need for change in the world. Instead of waiting for others to make the change, she steps forward and makes it happen. Despite her age she is a role model for all and inspires others to be their best selves. The world needs more Hannah Barbergs to promote the good in our communities.”
Molly Fairbanks, Everyday Hero
“Her positive attitude and smile are contagious to all around her. She believes in me no matter what and pushes me to go further and inspires me to do more” are the words chosen to describe this Everyday Hero.
As an educator, our hero positively impacts her students by helping to build their self-efficacy. The skills they learn in her classroom and the beliefs they begin to hold about themselves are carried with the students throughout their lives. Students know they are cared for and capable of success. Her classroom is organized, warm and inviting and her art projects are current and appeal to students of all ages. She believes all students can express themselves through their art. She always goes above and beyond whether it is for students, co-workers or others in the community.
Sharing art has always been very important to our hero. She takes advantage of opportunities to share student art with the school and community or collaborate on a project with others. Annually, her students showcase their art locally at an art show held at the high school. It is a collaboration with the vocal and instrumental music departments and the elementary art teacher. Our hero has held leadership roles in coordinating Minnesota State High School League art shows in the region. She and her students participated in the Polar Fest snow sculpture contest.
As a student at Detroit Lakes High School she participated in the Annual Day Caring. Since 2019 she has been her school’s coordinator for Day of Caring. She is organized and creative in her approach to recognizing the community needs and instilling in the student body the need to give back.
She strives to create an atmosphere of caring and kindness within the walls of her school. Inspiring message are posted on bulletin boards and pictures of staff members are put in a display case near the front entrance of the building so all students know their faces and names. She created a Kindness Week that included an interactive art mural – Be the I in Kind. She has sought out grants to fund book studies and invited all staff across the district to participate. Recognizing that students sometimes just need a safe place to “be” she applied for and received a grant to create a “Chill Out Room”. She has lead wellness initiatives and organized weekly “treat days”. Each year she creates a staff video to send students into the summer with support and encouragement.
She has been a fulltime art teacher for the past 7 years. And is Frazee’s Head Volleyball coach. She was named Frazee High School’s Teacher of the Year for 2022. For the past 22 years she has been involved with the residents at Lakes Homes & Programming. She and her husband Nick have two sons – Nolan and Max.
Those nominating her state, “She is a hero to so many. She is a positive and upbeat presence and an outstanding representative of our school, district and community. She exemplifies what an Everyday Hero should be.”
Becky Mitchell, Community Spirit Award
Visionary, Innovative, Creative, Energetic and Passionate Leader with a knack to collaborate in order to make good things happen are all words used to describe the recipient of this award.
Community Involvement has always been part of who she is! Building lines of communication and collaboration to preserve the past while preparing for the future are integral parts of her job as Executive Director of the Becker County Museum. She is constantly striving to open the doors of the museum to all people in Becker County. In a survey it was found people 55 and older had a great relationship with the museum but the younger generation had no relationship at all. In order to expose the younger generation to what the museum has to offer she started hosting family oriented events, STEAM activities and events to foster familiarity with the museum.
When she took over the helm of the museum plans were already underway to build a new museum that would replace the current museum building that is aging and beyond repair. Under her leadership the stakeholders were once again brought together to create a vision of how best the new museum could serve the people of Becker County. It was decided a stand-alone building would not work. The new plans call for a 30,000 square foot history, science and children’s museum that would become part of the community center complex. Plans are to work hand in hand with the Historic Holmes Theater in programming.
Her community involvement does stop with the museum. She was the key person behind the “Penny Floor” in the Holmes Theater. She is a member of the Ice Harvest & Ice Palace committee. Using her mosaic artistry she created two sailboats for the 150 sails up in DL project celebrating Detroit Lakes’s 150th anniversary. She has served on the Lake Region Arts Council, the Lake Park Economic Development Committee, Propel DL inaugural board and the Lake Park School Board. She is an active member of Detroit Lakes Kiwanis.
She was named Detroit Lakes Woman of the Year is 2019 and awarded the Detroit Lakes Regional Chamber of Commerce Launch Award.
She and her husband, Kevin, have 4 children – Greg, Ryan, Emma and Eden.
Those nominating her state, “A true everyday hero is someone who finds the time to share their talents, overcome obstacles, persevere, and endure despite everything. She has done that and more!”
Meadowland Surveying: Scott & Tiffiny Walz, Community Spirit Award (Business)
This Detroit Lakes Business and its owners have defined themselves by their commitment to others and their community!
When organizers behind the plans to build a “super-sized” ice palace for the 2018 St. Paul Winter Carnival scuttled the project, the news was greeted in Detroit Lakes by disappointment. Local volunteers had been working hard behind the scenes for more than a year on plans to harvest the ice from Detroit Lake as the principal source of building materials for the St. Paul structure.
The loss of the St. Paul palace construction was turned into a win for Detroit Lakes! Volunteers decided they would construct an ice palace in Detroit Lakes. “We are really excited that we can still bring something this fun and exciting to our community”, stated our heroes.
The first ice palace took 1000 blocks of ice to build and was 24 feet tall, 60 feet long and 30 feet wide. This year’s palace needed 2000 block of ice that were 20 in. thick and weighed more than 600 lbs. The castle had a footprint of 32′ tall x 95′ wide x 24′ deep, the largest to date. The frozen structure also features a throne and professionally carved ice sculptures.
In 2018 the Detroit Lakes Ice Palace was recognized with the Only in Minnesota Award for “Best New Event of the Year” – for the construction and opening of King Isbit’s Ice Palace.
Many volunteer hours were spent learning how to cut blocks of ice and figuring out how to construct the palace safely. Throughout the entire process there were two constants who really pulled this project along.
With his engineering background He pulled the team together to build the palaces. He also cut ice, stood side by side with other volunteers and built the palaces block by block, all the while working in ridiculously cold temps. Meanwhile She organized volunteers, meals, special gifts for donors and touched every aspect of the volunteers effort. They set aside their business goals and gave time, financial resources and their own staff to make it happen.
Those nominating them for this award state, “They will say it took a community and it did, but things really only get done when you have great leaders and that is what they are. They took this incredible challenge, tapped into community resources, friends and people around the globe to learn how to make magic in Detroit Lakes.”
Jessica Burhans, Bob & Michelle Harris Award
Community spirit and leadership are very important aspects of her life. She has served on committees and boards for the United Way, Detroit Lakes Rotary Club, Chamber of Commerce, Cancer Society, Dollars for Scholars, First Lutheran Church and DL High School Academy.
She is a past president of the United Way. Serving on many of its committees doing outreach to the community. For the past 10 years she has been a volunteer for Day of Caring working right beside our students.
For a number of years she has been a Detroit Lakes Regional Chamber Ambassador. She is involved in welcoming new businesses to the area and works on the Welcome Back to School Teacher Event. She has volunteered for the Cancer Society’s Relay for Life for several years. And rung the bell for the Salvation Army Red Kettle campaigns.
An active member of the Detroit Lakes Noon Rotary Club she exemplifies the groups motto of “Service Above Self”. She has volunteered countless hours to Rotary projects such as Reading to Children, Rotary Dictionary Distribution, Rotary Food Truck Fridays, Rotary Spaghetti Feed and coordinated and the packing of Food 4 Thought Backpacks for children. She was named Rotarian of the Year in 2020.
She is an active member of First Lutheran Church serving as a 1st Lutheran Church Council and serving on the 1st Lutheran Foundation. She is actively involved with the church’s youth serving on the Confirmation Committee.
She recently gave her time and talents providing meals at the Holbrook Farms Retreat, which is dedicated to military widows who lost their spouse in the service. The experience provided survivors the opportunity to get away and spend time with those who have gone through similar tragedies, helping them with their healing process.
She is employed at Midwest Bank and is a dedicated team member. She has been named “Woman of the Year” and most recently, recognized as the Best of the Lakes “Volunteer of the Year”.
Family time has always been a priority for her. She treasurers her time with her husband, Brian and 3 children – Logan, McKenna and Brock.
Those nominating her for this award state “She embodies the Bob & Michelle Harris award. She truly understands the importance of being a contributing member of the community and gives selflessly of herself. She will go the extra mile for others and does not expect anything in return. She earns the respect of others by treating them with respect, professionalism and by letting them know they matter and are valued.”
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