News Photo by Darby Hinkley Cheryl and Ron Lemke stand in front of their garage, which is full of donations ready to go to local charities. The couple has dedicated their life to serving the community.

ALPENA — Ron and Cheryl Lemke served in their careers as a school counselor and nurse, respectively, and now they serve the community with their time and resources, and hope to inspire others to do the same.

Ron came to Alpena 50 years ago after teaching at the University of Wisconsin. He continued his career in education at Alpena High School for 35 years.

“I did just about every job you could imagine, from job placement, counseling, special needs, CTE, vocational classes, area students, cosmetology, all our follow-up studies, research, any or all other duties, as assigned,” Ron said. “I had 600 nannies all over the United States with my parent helper program. So I did a little bit of everything over that 35 years.”

Cheryl was a school nurse in the public schools for 26 years, earning School Nurse of the Year from the Michigan Association of School Nurses out of 172 school nurses at that time. She then continued to work as a nurse in hospitals.

The Lemkes have been married 46 years, and started giving to the community 45 years ago. Cheryl retired 11 years ago, and Ron retired 17 years ago, but they have kept very busy, donating their time, as well as money, gas cards, clothing, shoes, boots, gloves, hats, scarves, mittens, blankets, pots, pans, dishes, glasses, and more to those in need.

“When I worked in the school setting, I saw such a need with kids,” Cheryl said. “I traveled the district. I saw the need. Kids would come to school without any socks on in the winter, or boots, coats. They’d come with a light sweatshirt, and that was it. The elementary level.”

She and her husband both saw a need for warm clothing, and they felt compelled to step in and help out.

“It was the need we saw at school when we worked that, for me, really carried over after retirement, because there’s always a need,” she said. “You see a need in your community, and you just try and fill a little part of it.”

Cheryl said she was raised to help others.

“I came from a family of helpers,” she said. “Hard workers. And so, that was part of my upbringing.”

They give to at least 37 charities now.

“All of what we’re doing now is multiplied by 10 what we did 45, almost 50, years ago,” Ron noted. “We were always involved in everything, volunteering, fundraisers. And then, once we retired, it mushroomed into much bigger.”

In addition to donating to local charities, the Lemkes collect and coordinate two loads per year to go to Pine Ridge Lakota Indian Reservation in South Dakota. They send clothes, shoes, boots, coats, hats, mittens, blankets, and school supplies. The Lemkes also send shipments of clothing to Poland and Ukraine.

Ron said that at the end of each season, they buy out the stores’ sale inventory of coats, hats, mittens, boots, and other cold weather wear to donate to local charities. If a store is going out of business, Ron will arrange to buy out the clothing inventory and donate it, or keep it in his own garage until the right season rolls around again to distribute the items.

Local organizations that the Lemkes regularly donate to include K-12 School Success Workers and all elementary schools in the APS district, Alpena Baby Pantry, Children’s Closet, Friendship Room, Trinity Sunday Supper, Grace Lutheran Food Pantry, Hope Shores Alliance, Salvation Army, St. Vincent dePaul, Boys and Girls Club, Alpena Senior Citizens Center, Friends Together, Alpena Cancer Center at MyMichigan Medical Center Alpena, Preschool Programs, Aces Academy, Sunrise Mission Homeless Shelter, Alpena Public Safety Facility, Sunrise Centre, Alpena Veterans, clothing to the homeless, Bay View Center, Alpena County Animal Facility, Immanuel Lutheran School, Second Chance Boys Home, United Way, Thunder Bay Junior High Arts Program, Summer Robotic, Dial-A-Ride coupon books for Friendship Room patrons, Foster Closet in Alpena, and Hospice of Michigan.

They also provided donations to essential workers and businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The couple has been honored with several awards for their generosity and community involvement, including the Older Citizen Award for Alpena, the Red Crittenden Make a Difference Award by the Boys and Girls Club of Alpena, and the 2021 Outstanding Citizens of the Year Award. They also served as Grand Marshals in the 2022 Fourth of July parade in Alpena.

Ron might seem familiar to youngsters, as he has served as a certain jolly old fellow at Christmastime for 56 years.

He also delivers food daily to local people in need. The Lemkes helped send the Alpena High School Robotics Team to Texas this year, and the DECA Club to New York in 2022.

Ron added that four years ago a local “angel” stepped forward to assist in their endeavors, for which he is very grateful.

“My angel, he’s at 11,700 pair of socks that he’s gotten me, to deliver,” Ron said. “Hundreds and hundreds of pairs of underwear. Leggings and sweatshirts and thousands of pounds of potatoes.”

Ron doesn’t get much sleep, but he says he doesn’t need it. He gets up early and gets to work making sure people have what they need.

“We have a four-car garage behind the house you can’t get in, the one-car garage in the front you can’t get in, because we just keep buying whatever we can, and as people need it, we make sure that it gets there,” Ron said. “We just had another shipment go to the Ukraine in the last week … And school supplies, and I have people that knit for me and make stuff, so there isn’t much we don’t buy or try to get.”

“I’ve always considered ourselves very blessed,” Cheryl added. “We were lucky. People always thought that we would write it off on taxes, that’s why we’re doing this. We never have. It’s not what it’s about.”

“I really feel good that we can do it,” Ron said. “I can’t pass anything up. I know somebody needs it.”