News : Good Neighbors continue to make Vinton a wonderful place

Greg and Patricia Wardenburg

Left to Right: Ryan Tresnak, Wayne Shannon, Eileen Schmidt, Greg Wardenburg, Patricia Wardenburg, John Kemp, Greg Walston, Phil Borleske. Alice Curtis, Kim Kuch, Mark Droessler, Jeff Sindelar, Dan Roesler

Ryan Tresnak

Vinton Unlimited and the Palace Theatre recognize Greg and Patricia Wardenburg, Ryan Tresnak, Greg Walston, the Old School Produce Partners Board, and their volunteers as "Good Neighbors".

Vinton Unlimited and the Palace Theatre established the Vinton Good Neighbor Award in an effort to recognize those whose good deeds may go unnoticed, to encourage people to look for the positive things in our community, and hopefully, prompt fellow Vintonians to participate and become "Good Neighbors" themselves. The goal is to encourage civic pride, which will foster the desire to 'stay local' in all the areas that help make Vinton a great place to live, shop, work, and play.

Good Neighbors look different to everyone, but one thing they have in common is they go the extra step to make our community a better place by doing things that benefit others. It is with great gratitude that Vinton Unlimited, the Palace Theatre, and fellow residents of Vinton honor these Good Neighbors. We wish to thank and acknowledge them for their commitment to our community, the example they set for others to follow, and for making Vinton a great place to live, work, shop, and play. For this Good Neighbor Award cycle, the following people were recognized.

Greg and Patricia Wardenburg were nominated by their neighbor, Sharon Koopman. As a widow, Sharon is grateful to have wonderful neighbors like the Wardenburgs. They have given of their time, helped with lawn mowing, snow removal, weeding her flower bed after her knee injury, they check on her, visit with her, bring her cookies, get her mail when she's gone, or even just sitting with her in the yard and visiting. Sharon believes they are the type of neighbors everyone needs!

Ryan Tresnak was nominated by Tom Husnik and the Vinton Kiwanis Club. When Ryan heard about the Kiwanis Boomtown 5k race to benefit Vinton Shellsburg Backpack Program he started a promotion at Fareway Grocery Store for customers to donate food and or money to the backpack program. He put videos on Facebook promoting the effort and ended up with three full grocery carts of food donated to the Backpack Program. But he didn't stop with that, Ryan then pushed a grocery cart full of food and three 40-pound bags of salt the entire distance of the 5k and finished the race. A great physical effort!

Greg Walston, the Old School Produce Partners, and their volunteers are nominated for donating 350 pounds of produce to the Vinton Food Pantry so far this year. Last year, a total of 15,000 lbs of fresh produce was donated to food pantries in Benton County. They are on track to donate 18,000 lbs this year! There are a lot of hours, sweat, and hard work put into making this feat possible. It's wonderful that our community can offer healthy, fresh produce to those in the community who may be in need.

These Good Neighbors receive a certificate of thanks, a yard sign to display, and two tickets to the Palace Theatre. All of these people help make Vinton a great place to call home!

If you would like to nominate someone for the Good Neighbor Award, please contact Vinton Unlimited at 319-472-3955.

Photos courtesy of Melody Snow and Angie Klinzing