When people ask Chuck Donnelly—who was recognized Monday for his volunteerism in Oakdale—why he’s willing to devote so much time to community service, he says, it’s really selfishness that motivates him.

“I tell them I’m selfish because I get so much more than I give,” he said. “Whether it’s the joy of the child that you’re helping or the community spirit from all the volunteers, on so many levels you get way more than you give.”

Donnelly was recognized as a Local Legend at the Eastside/Downtown St. Paul Martin Luther King Jr. Community Breakfast Monday, Jan. 16, at First Lutheran Church for founding Building Bridges, a partnership that aims to improve the lives of children and families who live in Oakdale Village Apartments and Gentry Townhomes.

Inspired by Role in Courts

Donnelly advocated for children as a volunteer guardian ad litem in the Washington County courts for 11 years, he said. His role was to represent the child’s interests in court cases that could affect their welfare.

And although he found the role rewarding, it made him want to do something proactive to prevent child abuse rather than just react to it.

“People don’t mean to be bad parents,” he said, “they just don’t have the skill set.”

In 2007, he started the organization, which includes representatives from Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Transfiguration Catholic Church, Oakdale Elementary School, Oakdale Village Apartments and the Oakdale Police Department.

The Group’s Work So Far

Donnelly is from Oak Park Heights, but he focused on Oakdale because, he said, the city does a good job of tracking police calls by neighborhoods—so he’d be able to tell if the group was making a difference.

They set out to provide mentoring for parents, a resource center with information for families on all the various services available to them through government and nonprofit agencies and an afterschool program, he said.
Donnelly admits the group’s goals were a little beyond their reach.

“You start out with a grand vision, and you end up with what’s practical,” he said.

Still, the group did find success in establishing a tutoring program for a specially selected group of Oakdale Elementary School students.

They ran an eight-week pilot program early last year, and they’re planning to start it up again this fall.

To do that, they’re raising money to pay a coordinator to run the program, said Lynea Geinert, mission volunteer coordinator at Holy Cross Lutheran Church.

Donations toward the program were taken at the breakfast, and Holy Cross Lutheran Church Pastor John Stiles said he hoped the visibility of the award might draw more support and financial backing for the program.

It’s not the first time the churches have been involved in a tutoring program for Oakdale Elementary students, Stiles said. One existed at the church about 10 years ago, he said, and so there’s always been a need for such a program.

“It’s always been a really delicate dance,” he said, “because you want people in the community to be at the table, so it’s not we know what you need … it’s like, ‘What do you want.’”

Listening to the community and responding to their feedback has been “a hallmark” of Building Bridges, Stiles said.

Stiles said he fully expects the group will meet its goal and get the tutoring program up and running by fall.

“What we’re trying to do right now is continue (Donnelly’s) vision in this community,” Geinert said to the group of about 150 at the breakfast, “where children have a safe place where they can flourish and work to realize their dreams.”