Photo Courtesy of the Wellman Community Club Facebook page
A long-time local organization under the direction of new leadership is ready to enhance the experience for those living in and visiting Wellman. For more than 100 years in some capacity, the Wellman Community Club has served the city. At the start of 2025, a new group of club officers took the helm including Club President Abbi Patterson, Vice President Sara Klostermann, Treasurer Nicole Slaubaugh and Secretary Nathan Klostermann. Patterson joined KCII news to talk about the goals of the new leadership and the group. “Our biggest goals as a group are just to increase attendance at our events, come up with new ideas for those events to make them new and fresh. We’re working on our community involvement as a whole. Working on increasing volunteer numbers. But also having a presence within the community in general. Allowing people to know that we’re here and we’re a space that they can come with ideas and feedback on things. Make Wellman a place that people enjoy living and want to come and visit.”
Aligned with this new direction is a focus on outreach to allow for more community involvement. Members of the Wellman community are invited to join one of the club’s committees, which are tied to events they are responsible for in any given year, including the Wellman 4th of July Celebration, Street Dance, Trunk or Treat, and Light the Night. Klostermann shares what committee membership is and why it’s a great way to be involved. “With the opportunity for committee positions, that’s a really great way for people to be involved with things that are close to your heart but won’t take up as much of your year. It wouldn’t even require necessarily being at every meeting. If you’ve got ideas, it would be a great opportunity to add to some of the things we haven’t thought about, or pitch in and now maybe we can offer something new because we have a few extra volunteers.”
If you would like to join a committee or find out more about the Wellman Community Club and their work, listen to Wednesday’s In Touch With Southeast Iowa Program available, free, online, at KCIIradio.com under the podcasts tab.