Citizens of Edina
In January 2021, we forged a new relationship with Edina Magazine to print a feature story on the citizens of Edina who make our city a vibrant community. We wanted to tell the stories of your neighbors who volunteer their time to make a difference.
All have some tie to the Edina Community Foundation—they have been honored with a Connecting with Kids Leadership Award, they’ve served on our Board of Directors, they’ve created a Community Impact Fund, or they’ve volunteered on the Edina 4th of July Parade committee.
In three years, we covered 24 citizens, highlighting their stories and celebrating their contributions. We hope you enjoy the profiles on these Citizens of Edina.
NOVEMBER 2023
Tom Gump
If you’re involved in Rotary and are from Edina, Rotary District 5950, or anywhere in Minnesota, you might know that the name Tom Gump is synonymous with Rotary International.
SEPTEMBER 2023
Carolyn Schroeder
Carolyn Schroeder is a gifted fundraiser, who exceeds expectations and goals. Throughout her life, she’s used her talents and dedication to improve our city in the areas of nursing, children and community.
JULY 2023
Myra Han
Myra Han is anything but an average teenager. In addition to playing violin in the Edina High School concert orchestra, competing in varsity tennis and serving as a lead peer tutor in the writing center, she carved out time to found a student group for Asian American and Pacific Islanders.
MAY 2023
Jim Bizal
Jim Bizal is a builder by trade, forming his own residential building company, Bizal Built Inc., 20 years ago. But what he has built in his personal time is a testament to his dedication to others.
Since 2007, Bizal has led 18 mission trips to Belize to build and maintain Holy Cross Anglican School in San Pedro. The relationship with Holy Cross started as a mission trip with volunteers from St. Stephens Episcopal Church in Edina. The group built classrooms at a newly founded school serving 66 kids.
MARCH 2023
Kurt Vickman
Kurt Vickman is an innovative social entrepreneur who is compelled to make a difference in the lives of others. He harnesses a volunteer network and provides accessible and affordable food in his one-of-a-kind grocery store, Good Grocer, located in Minneapolis’ Whittier neighborhood. Yet, what is most remarkable is how it serves as a “place of empowerment” for those who feel overlooked.
JANUARY 2023
Kelly Streit
For the 12 years Kelly Streit has lived in Edina, she has focused her volunteer and advocacy work on human rights. Starting as a board member for Edina’s A Better Chance (ABC), Streit is now the co-administrator of Edina’s Anti-Racism Collective (ARC), an organization founded shortly after the death of George Floyd in 2020.
DECEMBER 2022
Denny Schulstad
Denny Schulstad had an illustrious 35-year career in the United States Air Force, rising to the rank of Brigadier General. But in our corner of the world, Schulstad, an Edina resident, is known as a public servant, prolific fundraiser, public speaker and mentor.
NOVEMBER 2022
Shrey Ramesh
As a junior pursuing a degree in biomedical engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Edina native Shrey Ramesh spends much of his time studying or at the lab. But in what is undoubtedly a very technically challenging field, he draws much of the drive for what he does from people. The end of the product life cycle is, for Ramesh, the patient.
OCTOBER 2022
Cheryl Gunness
For Cheryl Gunness, education is truly a passion. As the community involvement programs coordinator for Edina Community Education, she oversees a wide range of programs, from the community woodshop to the service letter at Edina High School.
SEPTEMBER 2022
Fartun Ismail
Fartun Ismail is passionate about mentoring immigrant and refugee women and girls. Drawing on her experience of coming to America and facing challenges, Ismail founded the Somali American Women Action Center (SAWAC) in 2017. It creates a community for immigrant and refugee women, providing resources to build skills and confidence, earn an income and gain the respect of their family and community. SAWAC currently serves 48 women in Edina and 76 in neighboring communities.
AUGUST 2022
Scott Crosbie
Long before flash mobs were fashionable, Scott Crosbie created a “flash band,” showing up at the first Edina Parade as well as making surprise visits to church socials, park gazebos or just creating an impromptu parade somewhere. “A police car would join us in the back with its lights on. Everyone thought someone else must have ordered the band,” Crosbie says. “It was great fun.”
JULY 2022
Mark Sifferlin
When Mark Sifferlin agreed to chair the 2021 Edina 4th of July Parade, he thought he was saying yes to creating a parade float for the Rotary Club of Edina. His wife broke the news that he had just been drafted into coordinating a community-wide event that attracts more than 20,000 attendees and boasts nearly 100 entrants.
JUNE 2022
Maureen Millea Smith
Local author and librarian Maureen Millea Smith is a connector. When she’s not helping patrons in her role as adult services librarian at the Edina Library or writing—she’s a published author and contributor to the “Read” column in this magazine, the “Browsers” articles in the Monday Star Tribune and several literary journals—she’s strategizing ways to connect people to discuss important topics.
MAY 2022
Shelly Loberg
On Christmas Eve 2020, Shelly Loberg, a member of the Edina Community Foundation’s COVID-19 Relief Fund Committee, drove through a snowstorm to deliver $500 disaster-relief checks to struggling restaurant workers.
APRIL 2022
Jeff Ohe
Jeff Ohe, owner of Edina-based Cahill Financial Advisors, feels a responsibility to be engaged. Ohe—along with his wife and their four kids—moved to Edina in 2005 for the schools and the community. Feeling blessed by what he has, he wanted to give back.
MARCH 2022
Arnie Bigbee
Arnie Bigbee denotes himself as “kind of a volunteer geek.” After retiring in 2007 from a 32-year career in administration at Mayo clinic, he has committed his time to organizations in Edina and the Twin Cities on the issue of affordable housing.
FEBRUARY 2022
Stephanie Pierce
Stephanie Pierce believes that every city needs people willing to use their skills to make their community better. To live up to this belief, she creates positive change, locally and nationally.
JANUARY 2022
Colleen Feige
Colleen Feige serves as president of the League of Women Voters Edina (LWVE), a nonpartisan political organization that encourages informed participation in government and influences public policy through education and advocacy. She joined the league in 2012 when she retired from her career in the Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C., and Minneapolis. With a background in strategic planning and goal setting, she was drawn to make a difference in politics in a collaborative fashion.
DECEMBER
Ryan Muhlbauer
Ryan Muhlbauer is passionate about creating community and bringing people together. An entrepreneur, who founded Dogtopia of Bloomington, Muhlbauer’s connections to Edina residents in his Christian men’s group and Metro Men’s Club set him on a path to becoming one of the Edina Community Foundation’s Community Impact Partners in 2019.
NOVEMBER
Mary Brindle
Mary Brindle likes to be where stuff is happening, to have, “her fingers on the knobs and be a part of something,” she says. This drive is what led Brindle to say “Yes” when she was encouraged to run for city council (2009–2020). “Yes” to being the Edina Community Foundation’s parade committee chair in 2006 and 2007 and returning to serve as the entertainment chair in 2021. “Yes” to being the 2021 chair of Camp Enterprise, a three-day entrepreneurship, leadership and business ethics camp for high school students. She is also a former Edina Community Foundation staff member.
OCTOBER
Dan Arom
Dan Arom’s friendship with Edina High School (EHS) classmate Spenser Somers set him on his path of volunteerism. A member of the class of 1990, Somers fought cancer for five years before passing away following graduation. Friends created the Spenser Somers Foundation in his honor. As a founding member, Arom works to bring together resources and people to serve others in need. In 20 years, this organization has raised and distributed $700,000 to numerous charitable causes including Loaves & Fishes and Camp Breakaway, a summer camp and year-round support program for children with cancer and blood disorders and their siblings. Every month since 2006, the foundation has led a group of volunteers at Loaves & Fishes in Bloomington, serving over 50,000 meals to individuals and families.
SEPTEMBER
Paul Mooty
Paul Mooty joined the Rotary Club of Edina in 1999. He’s served on the board of directors for the Edina Community Foundation (2011-2019), Fairview Southdale Hospital and the Edina Chamber of Commerce. He’s served on the City of Edina Transportation Commission, was former representative Ron Erhardt’s campaign treasurer and has volunteered as a youth soccer coach for his kids’ teams.
Through Rotary, Mooty participated in the club’s service to Moses, a young boy from Nairobi, who Rotarians flew to the U.S. to fix his strabismus (crossed eyes). Rotarians and other Edina residents chipped in funds or donated services to cover airfare, hospital costs, dental work and translators. Six months later, Mooty spearheaded a fundraising effort to fund Moses’ education through high school.
AUGUST Maxine Wallin
Maxine Wallin is one of Edina’s foremost community philanthropists. A librarian by training, she values education and founded Wallin Education Partners with her husband Win in 1992. What started as a scholarship program for 14 students has grown into a nonprofit offering scholarships with a support framework, creating a nationally respected college completion program. Uniquely, the first scholarships targeted “C” students because the Wallins recognized that while cost was a barrier to college access, there was also a dearth of scholarships aimed at those who weren’t earning top grades. The focus started at South High School in Minneapolis and now offers scholarships to students from 38 Twin Cities-area high schools.
JULY
Regina Neville
Over the past 20 years, Regina Neville has served Edina and Edina Public Schools (EPS) in a myriad of leadership positions—with school PTOs, Parent Leadership Council, Edina Education Fund and the Edina School Board. She’s also volunteered her time in Edina Bands, Edina Theater, Girl Scouts and the National Alliance on Mental Illness. She currently serves as the Valley View Middle School Theater director. In addition, Neville is the EPS representative and board chair of District 287, a collaboration of 11 west metro school districts. Throughout her service is an ongoing search for how do we grow? How do we serve better? Where is the need?
JUNE
Rick Murphy
Rick Murphy’s community service contributions are felt in Edina and beyond. His connection to Edina is through his family’s multi-generational businesses, Grandview Tire & Auto, Edina Tire & Auto, and Murphy Automotive, which support the work of the Edina Community Foundation as “Hometown Champions,” donating $2,500 annually.
May Paul & Wendy Arneberg
In 1994, Paul Arneberg offered his first juggling club through the Wise Guys program of Edina Kids Club; by 1998 he launched Jugheads independently, continuing a 26-year journey of mentoring thousands of Edina and metro-wide preteens and teens. It’s a team endeavor with his wife Wendy. Students learn to juggle, but it’s so much more. Paul and his staff teach goals, connections and virtues through the tool of juggling. Kids learn confidence, establish tight friendships and learn leadership among other life lessons.
APRIL
Nia Diaby
A sophomore at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Nia Diaby has already made an impact on the world, starting when she was in elementary school. Following a 2011 trip to her father’s native village in Senegal, West Africa, Nia and her sisters Mariam and Sirah raised $3,000 to build a well at the school so students wouldn’t need to walk across the village at lunchtime for water.
MARCH
Ukasha Dakane
Ukasha Dakane has been an Edina resident for seven years. He is an extrovert whose interest in connecting led him on a journey from helping other East African immigrants forge a path in a new culture to a stop at the 2019 National Prayer Breakfast at the White House and a run for Edina City Council in 2020.
FEBUARY
Wayne Kostroski
Wayne Kostroski didn’t set out to found an event that would fund 25 million meals. A local restauranteur since 1980, Kostroski toured a St. Paul food bank in 1985, was struck by the need and realized that he was in a position to help.
Tapping food industry connections in 1992 for Super Bowl XXVI in Minnesota, Kostroski worked with former Vikings players Scott Studwell and Bob Lurtsema to create the first Taste of the NFL, pairing renowned chefs and NFL players in each of the NFL cities. The premier event became nationally recognized as a “party with a purpose.” For 29 years, every dollar raised has gone to hunger related charities.
JANUARY
Nick Legeros
Nick Legeros is an Edina sculptor whose work sets a high standard for public art in our community. He has created several bronze sculptures acquired by the Edina Community Foundation for Centennial Lakes Park—Reflecting on Friendship, Dreaming of Flight and The Glamorous Days of Flight. The latter two are a tribute to the women and men of Northwest Airlines, many of whom lived in Edina.