Giving to community through donations of time and money has always been important to Gary and Sue Kuefler. However, the couple, who reside in Avon, have recently found a new way to give that fits them well.
“We saw a newspaper ad that told about the Sauk Centre Area Community Foundation and we thought, ‘Oh, that’s interesting; we should check into that,’” said Sue. “Gary had close ties to Sauk Centre, so we thought maybe we should go with it, and we did.” Gary grew up on a dairy farm near Elrosa and moved to Sauk Centre as a young adult to work for the highway department. He lived there for 20 years before accepting a position in Waite Park and moving to St. Cloud. While in Sauk Centre, Gary found ways to become involved in the community. “When I was in Sauk Centre, I belonged to the Jaycees,” Gary said. “I was pretty active in that, which was part of doing things that help in the area.” He also did the paperwork for Holy Family School bingo fundraisers. Gary said he liked being part of the Sauk Centre community. “We’d get together with a bunch of people and play cards quite often.” He also played in the summer softball league and the Sunday basketball league that Sauk Centre had then.
Sue grew up in Owatonna, but many years later she also spent time, about nine months, living in Sauk Centre when she and Gary were caught between their house in St. Joseph selling quickly and not yet having purchased their home in Avon. “I liked the bike trail being convenient (in Sauk Centre) and the small-town experience,” Sue said. “I also liked the Outpost Mercantile store and the different art things that they have around town. It’s unique.”
How Gary and Sue met and married has contributed to their intentional giving today. Sue was working as a mixed media production specialist, living in Sauk Rapids, Gary was still employed through Waite Park, when both separately, but simultaneously experienced the same kind of sorrow and loss. “Our first spouses died in 2004,” Sue said. “We met at a grief support group. That’s kind of a different way to meet, but that’s how it worked.” They married in 2006, and together they continued contributing but with more thought given to which causes they gave to and how they did so. Intentional giving with local in mind.
“We both (experienced) having spouses die at a younger age, so we always kind of had it in the back of our minds that we should have a plan,” Sue said. “What do we tell people that we want for the future?” They preferred giving locally where they could see the results and knew how their donations would be handled. Together they have contributed to things like pickle ball court construction, fire department fundraisers, donations to local teachers, and funds to build a senior center. “There always seems like there are (needs) that come up,” Gary said. They also kept looking for a way to set up a long-term structure for giving, but many larger nonprofits or charitable groups didn’t seem transparent or specific enough. Plus, many seemed determined to send many flyers with appeals and other information. “You get all the marketing materials in the mail, and it just doesn’t seem as efficient,” Sue said. “We thought there had to be a better way to do this.”
After looking at different possibilities throughout the next years, they settled on the Sauk Centre Area Community Foundation, specifically its Donor Advised Funds. “We liked the way the board was set up and how it was run,” Gary said. “There are a number of people on it, it’s more diverse, and there are lots of options for how you want to participate.”
The Kueflers set up a meeting in their home with Sara Carlson, SCACF’s executive director. “Sara explained the different options and then gave us time to figure things out as to what direction we wanted to go,” Sue said. “Then we came up with a plan and signed the paperwork to initiate our fund. She explained how we could do the granting via a portal. It was about a year ago that we set this up, and we’ve been making a few grants along the way through that portal.” Both Sue and Gary said using the portal has worked well for them. “It’s an intentional and efficient way to give,” Sue said. “You can always look at your dashboard on your portal to see that you’re doing this or that and plan ahead, and you can make a recurring donation if you like, so it’s more efficient than just giving ten dollars here, ten dollars there.” Gary agreed. “It’s a good tool to have,” he said. “You have the say as to where (your financial contributions) are going.”
Today, Gary and Sue winter in Texas and live the rest of the year in Avon. They enjoy biking, walking. camping and gardening. Sue especially likes growing zinnias, Gary tomatoes. “I do flowers; he does vegetables,” Sue said. They also continue to give their time to others. One way is in the form of Meals on Wheels. However, they also know that their financial donations to community needs are in good hands through SCACF.
“I would just encourage others to check it out,” Sue said. “It’s something that is easy to set up and helps you look at what your goals might be for giving. It’s more of a planned, intentional giving and also an estate planning tool for when we pass away.” Gary said it feels good to check their portal to see where their money is specifically going. “It doesn’t seem like you’re doing that much, but when you get the report and look at what you’ve done, it surprises you.”
