Susan Pohlman, WRAP Board Member & Devoted Community Volunteer
By Jodi Harris
Meet Susan Pohlman, a kind-hearted woman, who has given so much of her time and talent to our community. Her smile is genuine, and she is the person everyone would love to spend time with. Full of energy, she welcomed me into her beautiful home, and I instantly felt comfortable.
She is a WRAP volunteer and board member and so much more! Born and raised in the small town of Austin in southern Minnesota, she still loves her home state very much. She and her husband own a second home on the lake, in the town of Prior Lake, which is about 90 minutes from her hometown. She and her family love the outdoors and enjoy their pontoon boat, kayaking, and other outdoor activities when they are there.
Susan and her husband, David, have one daughter, Julia, who is 24 years old and lives in Minneapolis. She is an Account Manager for a retail services agency.
Susan began volunteering as a stay-at-home mom while raising Julia. She enjoyed helping at her daughter’s schools for many years. She gave her time and talent to Arthur Elementary; Franklin Middle School and Washington High School as Julia grew. Susan served as the Volunteer Coordinator at Arthur Elementary and Franklin Middle Schools and continued her involvement at Washington High School as a co-leader of the band parent’s group. She said she genuinely enjoyed supporting her daughter throughout her school years.
Over the years since Julia graduated from high school, Susan has volunteered for a variety of organizations. When Julia was in college, she was an intern for The Zach Johnson Foundation, and Susan volunteered there too. She currently volunteers for the Fur Fun Dog Rescue where she drives dogs to veterinarian appointments and takes them back to their foster homes. She previously enjoyed volunteering at the Heartland Greyhound Adoption Chapter in Cedar Rapids, where she often transported retired Greyhounds from Dubuque to Cedar Rapids to their new forever homes. Susan has always enjoyed working with the elderly and has been a volunteer for Aging Services for years. She drives elderly people to appointments often too.
Susan’s biggest inspiration to join WRAP is her mother, Kay, who lives in Austin, Minnesota with her stepfather. Her mom is handicapped due to a bicycle accident which created a sudden need for safe home access. She was fortunate to have already had a home that was handicap accessible, but many others are not so fortunate and cannot afford to hire a contractor to build a ramp for them. So, Susan was inspired to help build ramps for those in need.
She loves the flexibility of being a community volunteer so she can be free to visit her mom often and help with her care.
Her hobbies include building and home improvement projects around her homes. She and her husband work together as a team, and she loves seeing a project come together. This is another reason volunteering for WRAP was so appealing to her. She loves working on builds, learning new skills, and getting to know other WRAP volunteers better. She recently joined the Board of Directors for WRAP, too.
If you, your group, or anyone you know would like to volunteer, the WRAP website is listed below, along with the other organizations that are noted in this story. WRAP can use your donation of time, talent, building materials, and funds to help as many people gain accessibility to the world as possible.
https://www.zachjohnsongolf.com/Foundation.aspx