About 18 years ago, Mary Grasdalen was teaching at Alden-Conger school when an incident happened that Grasdalen didn’t want to see happen again.

It was the Monday before Thanksgiving and one of the fifth grade Alden-Conger boys wasn’t feeling well. The staff found out that the boy hadn’t eaten all weekend. The only thing in his mom’s refrigerator was salt and mustard.

They brought him and his younger brother down to the cafeteria to get a peanut butter sandwich. But it didn’t stop there. With some help, Grasdalen got Thanksgiving dinner to that family. And not even there did it stop. Grasdalen figured they wouldn’t have a Christmas dinner either, so they brought the family dinner for Christmas.

Grasdalen didn’t stop there. She formed the volunteer program Spirit of Christmas.

Now Albert Lea’s Grasdalen has been honored with Alliance Pipeline’s 2008 Minnesota Community Hero award. The award recognizes an outstanding person from Minnesota that improves the quality of life of residents in the community. Grasdalen does that through her Spirit of Christmas program.

Spirit of Christmas provides Christmas dinners for needy families living in the Alden-Conger School District or open-enrolled in the Alden-Conger School District. The program also provides items for the children including socks, a T-shirt, a hooded sweatshirt, toys and stocking stuffers. The food comes in the form of a gift certificate to a local food store for food items only.

Age: 60

Address: 2201 Stevens St.

Livelihood: retired Alden-Conger teacher

Family: husband, Loren, sons Keith and Eric, grandchildren Cory and Jordan

Interesting fact: Mary and her husband, Loren, collect Steiff bears.

Last year the program helped 23 families, totaling 57 kids. Grasdalen said if a family requests help, they help them and they have always been able to help all the Alden-Conger families that request it.

“It’s surprising to see what severe poverty exists in our community,” she said.

Grasdalen’s core group of helpers includes Sheri and Kevin Opseth, Linda and Robin Klocek, Janet Bremseth and Grasdalen’s husband, Loren. The community hero said she gets a lot of help from the area, including churches, businesses, local individuals and Alden-Conger teachers and staff.

And for all of Grasdalen’s help, her neighbor and longtime friend Ardus Sanderson decided to do something for the Spirit of Christmas founder.

Sanderson said she saw a letter to the editor in the Albert Lea Tribune encouraging readers to nominate someone they found deserving for the Alliance Pipeline’s Minnesota Community Hero award. Sanderson said Grasdalen was the first person who came to her mind.

“She’s done so much. She cares a lot for the needy,” Sanderson said, “She just put her whole heart into it for many many years.”

Grasdalen said she was so honored when Sanderson asked if she could nominate her for the award.

And she was even more surprised when she found out she won.

Sanderson, who was “elated” when she found out Grasdalen won, ended up being the first one to tell her the good news.

“To actually win this is amazing,” Grasdalen said.

She said it costs about $6,000 to $7,000 each year for the Spirit of Christmas program, so the $2,500 Alliance Pipeline is giving to the program will help out a great deal.

“Mary Grasdalen’s giving spirit is emblematic of a true community hero,” Rick Bartlett, Alliance’s area manager in North Mankato, said in a press release.

Sanderson said that Grasdalen is giving, not only for her Spirit of Christmas program, but to many people in her community. She doesn’t let anyone spend a holiday alone, her home is always open and if you are sick you can call her in the middle of the night and Grasdalen will help you out.

“She is an amazing person and very humble,” Sanderson said.

Grasdalen said she would like to encourage people from our area to continue to nominate others so there can be more local winners.