The Sioux Falls City Council on Tuesday night (6/5) recognized four individuals for being "siouxperheros" within the community. Mayor Paul TenHaken and Councilor Rick Kiley presented each with the "Siouxperhero Citizen Recognition Award."

The recipients were Susan Randall, Mark Sanderson, and Gary and Lynne Wurgler. Each were recognized for the following reasons:

  • Susan Randall

"Susan Randall led the way to bring South Dakota into compliance with core protections for youth under the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act. She also worked as an effective advocate for improving children’s mental health services and early childhood education. She has been part of the campaign to keep the history of the Sioux Falls Stockyards alive. The Stockyards Ag Experience interactive museum is one outcome of that collaboration. She is also active with the Pettigrew Heights Neighborhood Association and helped to reestablish the All Souls Church, whose roots date back to the 1880s. She also helped establish church programs to bring community-wide awareness to Native American Day and social justice issues surrounding Native Americans."

 

  • Mark Sanderson

"Mark Sanderson has spent decades contributing to the betterment of the Sioux Falls community. Mark is retired from a teaching career that spanned decades. His students included inmates at the penitentiary and at-risk youth at Volunteers of America. An advocate for prisoners’ rights, he has long provided sweat lodge materials for Native American inmates’ spiritual needs at the penitentiary. He is a past president of the Pettigrew Heights Neighborhood Association, connecting people and bringing kindness to that core neighborhood. He and his wife, Susan Randall, landscaped and planted the green space around the yellow triangular sculpture “Obtuse,” near 12th Street and Grange Avenue. With a master’s in divinity, he helped reestablish All Souls Church in the 1970s. He has served that community ardently from service lay leader to teacher over the last 40 years. Through his church, his goodwill also impacts the larger community as he provides pastoral care to the sick, the troubled and marginalized, both inside and outside of the church. He not only holds his church’s principles dear, he lives them every day. Mark’s jovial, caring personality has touched thousands in the Sioux Falls community."

 

  • Gary and Lynne Wurgler

"Gary and Lynne both volunteer in many events and causes in Sioux Falls. Both are very active at Abiding Savior Free Lutheran Church by serving as the child care leaders and participating in the Christmas gift programs. Gary is a leader in the Bible Study Fellowship, which is an international Christian interdenominational fellowship of laypeople who offer a system of structured bible study. Lynne bakes goodies for shut-in people and delivers them and gives of her time so freely, and Gary is a proud veteran who now serves as a chaplain for the Sioux Falls Police Department."

The City Council established the Siouxperhero Citizen Recognition Program to emphasize positive stories, people and developments in Sioux Falls and encourage others to become more active, positive forces in the community.

If you know of someone in the community who you think is worthy of the Siouxperhero Citizen Recognition Award, nomination forms can be found at www.siouxfalls.org/myhero or by visiting Carnegie Town Hall located at 235 West Tenth Street.

Nominations that meet the eligibility requirements will be reviewed by a panel consisting of four City Council members, two Sioux Falls residents and one City staff member who will recommend nominees to the full City Council for recognition. Once approved by the City Council, the Siouxperhero(s) will be recognized on the first Tuesday of each month at 7:00 PM at the start of the regular city council meeting.


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