Retiring Volunteer Lorene Roste “A Help Beyond Words”
Throughout her professional life, Lorene Roste has found her happy place in the details, working behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly. As a longtime volunteer for PeaceMaker Minnesota, she’s spent hundreds of hours ensuring that bills got paid, records entered, and donations acknowledged.
This May, Lorene is ready to hand the details over to someone else.
“I’m very detail oriented, but I decided a year ago that when I’m 75, I’m done,” she said. “I think I’m done with jobs that require that much attention to detail.”
Peacemaker executive director Dan McNeil called Lorene “a help beyond words.”
“For years, she has been coming into the office on a weekly basis. During our campaigns she is up every night entering gifts into our database. Without cost we have had someone writing thank you letters, paying our bills, doing data entry, researching schools, tracking payments to schools, processing our payroll, preparing bank deposits .... so many, many things to keep the work going. I'm so grateful for her commitment to the mission.”
As Lorene’s time with PeaceMaker winds down, she shared her thoughts about her work with the organization and what comes next. (The following interview has been edited for clarity and length):
Q: Talk a little about your life before you became involved with PeaceMaker MN.
A: I started out as a high school teacher, teaching business education classes for two years in a small town near Duluth. We moved here to the Cities after my husband was transferred, and I took a job as a secretary in the finance department with Health Partners—what was then called Group Health. I worked for the vice president of finance for 12 years as his executive assistant. At that time, Health Partners had only three clinics and 250 employees.
I left Health Partners in 1986, when I had a 10-year-old with chronic health problems and a brand-new baby. After my baby got be a couple of years old, I struck out on my own as a professional organizer for businesses and residences and did that for a few years.
I also taught part-time for about nine years at Inver Grove Hills Community College and Normandale, teaching records management and office procedures.
Q: It sounds like you’ve always been very detail-oriented.
A: That’s for sure. The last 15 years before I retired, I had my own business called Senior Moves. I helped seniors who were downsizing from a house to an apartment or assisted living or even a nursing home. I looked at the diagram of their apartment, picked out what furniture they should take with them, what linens and dishes and lamps. I would bring boxes and pack them, then hire movers and go to the new place and unpack everything. At the end of two or three days, it was like they had always been there.
Q: How and when did you first become involved with PeaceMaker MN?
A: I retired in July 2015. It took about a year to figure out what I wanted to do next. My son Scott was on the Roseville School Foundation Board. He had met Dan McNeil at a Roseville school function and learned that Dan was doing all of the office work after his office worker left. Scott said, ‘Mom would be perfect for you.’
I had already reached out to a different nonprofit that seemed like it would be a good place for me. I sent them an email. They never answered.
I knew I wanted to help someplace, so when Scott mentioned PeaceMaker, I thought, ‘Yeah, I can do that.’
Q: How does PeaceMaker’s mission align with your own values?
A: I think it’s important for children not to suffer from bullying. It’s devastating for those who suffer from it; it can give them lifelong problems.
Last year, (PeaceMaker) started purchasing and distributing books about being a friend and not bullying. They’ve sent out over $20,000 worth of books to schools. Last year, a teacher reported that a mom told her that every night her child asked, “Can we read that book again?” Something resonated with that child. Was she being bullied? We don’t know, but that book was important to her.
Q: What’s been the most rewarding aspect of the work you’ve done for PeaceMaker Minnesota?
A: I know I’m good at keeping good records, which makes it easier for Dan to do his job. A lot of times, when I first arrive, we might spend a half hour or so talking things over and feed ideas off each other because I look at things from a different point of view. I’m more organized, while Dan is a more conceptual, big picture-type person.
Q: How are you preparing to pass the baton?
A: I think I have the records in really good shape. I’m in the process of writing procedures on everything I do. It should be quite easy for the new person to take over, I would think.
Q: What’s next for you?
A: I volunteer at the Mounds View food shelf and I will continue to do that. It’s not as mentally taxing.
Rick Clark will help celebrate Lorene's contributions to PeaceMaker Minnesota's mission with a $500 donation once we receive 10 donations made in Lorene's honor by May 10.