Community
Twister of Fate
From the ruins of a devastating tornado, Wadena finds ways to invest in itself. By Mike Mosedale | Photography by John Linn
Under the bright skies of a recent September afternoon, Wadena Mayor and Initiative Foundation trustee Wayne Wolden toured some of the construction projects in this central Minnesota city of about 4,000. There was plenty to take in. With its handsome brick storefronts and art deco movie house, the old downtown looks the same as it did before disaster struck two years ago. But just a few blocks away, the story is very different. The most conspicuous new addition in this quarter of town: the gleaming Wadena-Deer Creek Public School. After the mayor expounded on the virtues of the $38 million complex’s geothermal climate control system, rain gardens and silver LEED certification, he pointed to an even more unusual feature of the design: a gymnasium that doubles as a storm shelter rated to weather winds of 250 mile per hour. “That thing is built to withstand an EF-5,” said Wolden, referring to the Enhanced Fujita Scale, which ranks the severity of tornados. Wolden’s familiarity with such meteorological terminology stems from June 17, 2010, when an EF-4— the second most powerful category on the scale—ripped through Wadena and surrounding areas. The mile-wide twister, which was part of the largest one-day tornado outbreak
in state history, caused widespread carIn September, the city received a big nage. In Wadena, the hardest hit city, it boost when the state’s Department of destroyed about 100 buildings—including Employment and Economic Development the school, the community center and the announced that it selected the proposed fairgrounds—and damaged another 400. Wadena Regional Wellness Center for a Fortunately, no lives were lost. $4.2 million grant. One of just nine projects At the time, the disaster and its immedipicked from a broad field of applicants, a ate aftermath was the subject of plenty of new community center had been on the news reports and even an episode of “Storm city’s agenda for a dozen years. Chasers” on the Discovery Channel. After Ironically, the tornado that wreaked so the cameras left, however, came the commuch havoc helped pave the way for the plicated and sometimes nettlesome matter project because it destroyed the existing of planning and rebuilding. While the school construction costs were cov- “The new center will be a point of community ered by insurance (plus a connection as well as a rural health and $985,000 grant from FEMA economic driver.” for the storm shelter), Wadena was left with a raft community center. With assistance from of challenges. City leaders scrambled to save the Initiative Foundation, volunteers have the businesses that suffered the most, even already raised more than $3 million in pridonating land to help Leaf River Ag rebuild. vate donations for the $10 million plan. The recovery effort has involved extensive collaboration between public, pri“We administer a fund so that volunteers vate and nonprofit parties, including the don’t have to get mired in the administrative Initiative Foundation. Through a combidetails,” said Kilian. “The new center will be nation of grants, online fundraising and a point of community connection as well as an emergency business loan fund, the a rural health and economic driver. We are Foundation has contributed about a half also able to accept non-cash gifts like stock million dollars to Wadena recovery efforts, that provide more tax advantages to donors.” according to Matt Kilian, vice president for Although Wadena has suffered some external relations. loss of population, Wolden said the amenities at the new wellness center may help reverse that trend. The 50,000 square foot, city-owned facility will house the only public lap pool in the county. The center will also boast a warm water therapy pool, or, as the mayor referred to it, “a hot tub on steroids.” The Tri-County Hospital will contribute $47,000 annually for access to the therapy pool. That arrangement, the mayor said, illustrates the value of actively seeking partners to help pay for public projects. “This is finally coming together,” Wolden gleefully added. “And it’s been a 24/7 party Wayne Wolden, Wadena Mayor in this town since we got the news.”
14 Initiative Foundation Quarterly
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