WINTER ISSUE 2015 2014
A Special Supplement to
living
Wilken devotes many hours of her time to hospital, school, church By AMY HANSEN
OST news editor ahansen@osceolaiowa.com
OST photo by AMY HANSEN
Julie Wilken works the front desk area at Clarke County Hospital.
Walk in to the Clarke County Hospital’s main entrance and you’ll see Julie Wilken’s smiling face waiting to greet you at the front desk area. It might not be well known, but Wilken has a long history with dedicating her time to the hospital. She was one of the founders of Clarke County Hospital Auxiliary. In the early 1970s, Wilken was new to the Osceola area and taking a tour of the hospital. She asked if the hospital had a coffee shop, which it didn’t at the time. “I didn’t think anything more of it, and the next week, I got a call would I like to help start an auxiliary,” Wilken said. “They evidently had one at one time, and it went under.” Wilken said she and two other people got together and helped to form the current auxiliary, and it’s been going ever since “through a lot of dedicated people.” Beyond the auxiliary and front desk area, Wilken continues to devote a lot of time to Clarke County Hospital. She also substitutes at the gift shop when needed. Methodist church Osceola United Methodist Church is another place Wilken gives her time and efforts to. Currently, she serves on a funeral community that helps with lunches. She has also been a mission coordinator, Sunday school and Bible school teacher. Wilken said it’s important to her to stay active in her church. “Any church, any organization will die if they don’t have active participation from their members,” she said. “I don’t
know how you could be a member of a church and not be an active member of that church.” School system Education is another important area for Wilken. “It started when my kids were in school and they needed volunteers, and they started a program in the elementary that I joined, and I enjoyed it,” she said. “I just think education needs our support. It needs all the volunteers it can get.” Wilken has also served on the Green Hills Area Education Agency (AEA) board for 25 years. When it comes to volunteering handson locally, Wilken helps pack backpacks with the Clarke Backpack Buddies program at the elementary school. The program is an effort to feed children who are in need of food over the weekend. Wilken still aspires to set a good example to her own three children. “I hope I’ve instilled in my kids that they need to give back to the community. There are many reasons why Wilken does stay so active in the community — physically, mentally and emotionally. “I think you have to give back to a community if you want the community to grow and be the kind of community people would want to move in to,” she said. “I think it’s important for people my age to volunteer or it gets them out of the house. It gets them to not think about themselves. I think if you’re home all the time and doing nothing, you tend to fixate on every little thing that might be wrong with you. You don’t do that when you get out. There’s always something new to focus on. It just wouldn’t be any fun to be home all the time.”