One Bathroom at a Time
In a state where the unofficial motto is “Minnesota Nice,” Mower County may just be the nicest place of all. There’s actually a Community Pride and Spirit committee whose sole purpose is to inspire people to do nice things for one another. Among its initiatives are a youth-mentoring program and a “good graffiti” volunteer group. That piece of profanity that once graced a fence near Mill Pond? It disappeared behind a mural that featured three simple words: You Are Beautiful.
Gina and Todd Grundmeier learned all about that beautiful spirit shortly after they moved to the county in 2010. Their house burned down, and they and their four kids lost everything. “There were times we were scrounging
just to buy a gallon of milk,” says Gina. Right away, neighbors started dropping off meals and clothes.
“These folks gave us our first real taste of what community love is all about,” says Gina.
The next year, Todd and Gina were back on their feet. They started a plumbing business called T’NG, a combination of their first names. They also agreed to combine their efforts to do something great for their neighbors in the best way they could. Every year, T’NG Plumbing remodels the bathroom of one family in need—for free. “I just wanted to find a way to reciprocate and give that back to the community,” says Gina.
Local contractors donate materials and labor, and T’NG oversees the pipes and installation. They’ve done five so far, including one for a woman awaiting a kidney transplant, one for a couple who’d lost their son and their daughter to suicide, and one for a paraplegic man who’d been scraping his knuckles on his too-small bathroom door frame for 14 years.
“This was better than winning the lottery,” says Becky Josephson, whose new bathroom allowed her to get an in-home dialysis machine. “The lottery is just money. The love that continues afterward is a life thing.”