Building bridges between people

with special needs, community

By KEVIN SWEENEY

Journal Editor

NEW ULM -- When the New Ulm Sertoma Club presents its Service to Mankind Award to Mark and Brenda Wiger on Thursday, it will recognize two people who have made service a major part of their lives.

As owners of MBW Co., the Wigers and their employees are dedicated to service. It is their business to help people with special needs, who need services and assistance to do things we all take for granted -- to live in their own homes, to be a part of the community, to live life to the best of their ability.

As citizens of New Ulm, they have found ways to be involved with group activities that work to help others and build community.

For the Wigers, service is a part of who they are. "We're products of the '60s," Mark says, half jokingly. But their parents and families have always encouraged them in a lifestyle that involves helping others, Mark said.

The couple came to New Ulm 25 years ago after teaching special education in Prior Lake. They found some of the school's regulations restricted their ability to work with students who needed special help. They felt that opening a business to provide service to people in their homes would be a way to be more directly involved with what they wanted to do.

At the time they came to New Ulm, society was undergoing a shift in its policies and philosophies regarding people with special needs. Instead of committing these people to institutions, society started looking for ways to "bring them home," as Brenda describes it.

When they first came to New Ulm, there were no residential services for special needs people. Today, they have staff providing a wide range of services. Some services provide the seven-day-a-week support people need to stay in their own homes, remain among friends and be a part of the community. Some services provide individualized support, from help with managing money and budgeting, to health care, to nutrition.

Some services allow people to take the step of moving out of their parents' home and establishing themselves in their own homes.

Through it all, said Brenda, MBW's goal is to be a bridge to the community for their clients.

Over the years, Mark has been involved in other organizations aimed at helping people. He has been a member of the New Ulm Human Rights Commission, and the District 88 School Board. He has been an organizer in the Healthy Community/Healthy Youth organization, which seeks to "appreciate the talent and capacities of our youth, and raising their level of awareness and presence among us." The main goal of HC/HY is to build "assets," a list of personal and community supports that help young people become more successful.

The Wigers have also been active in the National Night Out program, which for the past six years has worked to build neighborhood relationships with annual block parties and programs. The goal of the NNO is to combat crime by getting neighbors connected and having them look out for each other. It also works, said Mark, to strip away stereotypes and labels people use to identify each other. It's helpful for his clients, he said, when people get to know each other as individuals, and not by the labels they may have.

As for receiving the Service To Mankind Award, which will be presented Thursday night at the New Ulm Country Club, the Wigers feel the award is an opportunity to recognize not just their efforts, but the efforts and contributions of their clients and colleagues, and the total community involvement in building a better community.