Faith, hope and love: A legacy of supporting community wellbeing

With deep roots in the New Vienna area, the Willenborg family has developed a strong belief  that small towns are vital to the fabric of the American heartland. That’s why they created the Willenborg Family Endowment for Community Enrichment: to support organizations that serve and sustain rural quality of life in the New Vienna and Petersburg area.

Dennis and Carol Ann Willenborg taught their children to care for neighbors and elders, and to give of their time, talent and resources. “Lifelong giving has been important to my parents. It’s a way of living out their faith,” says their son Andy, who helped start the fund with his wife, Julie. “Having conversations as a family — with my parents, wife, son and siblings — about directing our fund to meet community needs is powerful and gratifying. It reinforces our family values.”

Faith, hope and love are central to the family’s mission for the fund, which strives to holistically provide for the community’s well-being by addressing social, emotional, physical, educational and economic needs. Annual payouts from the endowment will support places of social gathering, such as local churches and museums; recreational opportunities for children; and services for the protection and care of residents, such as fire departments and social safety net organizations.

Andy is familiar with the power of endowment through his career in finance at Wartburg Theological Seminary and his role in launching the New Vienna Area Historical Society Endowment Fund, when he began developing a relationship with the Dyersville Area Community Foundation.

The Willenborg family makes gifts to grow the endowment’s immediate impact and has included the fund in their estate plans. “Endowments help people realize their charitable dreams and create an everlasting legacy,” Andy says. “We get to be part of the mission today, and my son will be able to keep that mission alive after we’re gone.”