“They just grew up in a society where people helped each other.” It was certainly tax advantageous for the family, Shirley admits, but Welk had something else in mind. The success of his show attracted numerous requests for assistance, and the good-hearted, thrifty musician, who grew up a poor farmer in Strasburg, North Dakota, created the charity to handle them. Welk himself created the foundation in 1960. “I can hardly believe it, but here we are,” says Parker, attributing their successful successions to innovative encouragement, savvy structure, and thoughtful celebration of their family’s history. This year, the $1 million family foundation re-established the Junior Board for a new generation of potential family philanthropists, now ages 2-17. Lisa, Shirley’s daughter, became president. In 1997, Shirley stepped aside to allow one of the next generation board members to assume leadership. For Shirley, it was an obvious way to involve the family.
His daughter, Shirley Fredricks, became the foundation’s president in 1980, and quickly established one of the nation’s first next generation boards in 1983. It is through activities like these that the Welk Family Foundation continues the legacy of giving begun in 1960 by musician and entertainer Lawrence Welk. When the children heard that they had not only succeeded but that they had raised enough money for two units and the family board was going to match the funds they had raised, Parker says, “You could have heard the hollering, the cheering, the excitement all the way in DC.” “There was no way they were leaving without raising this money, and they did it.”
“They were really invested in it,” says Lisa Parker, the foundation’s President. The children went out in teams throughout the resort raising funds by selling doughnuts. It would cost around $1,000, and the children, ages four to 14, were going to help. The shelter hosted a preschool and therapeutic learning center that needed a new air conditioner. Gathered at a family-owned resort in San Diego for the family’s annual meeting, the fourth generation of Welk family members was told about a local shelter for homeless families. A few summers ago, the board of the Lawrence Welk Family Foundation issued a challenge to young family members.
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