The Hastings Area Rotary Club recently recognized five community partners whose work helped transform an idea into a permanent home for the club’s Cycling Without Age program.
Chris Moore, Eric Dietz, Tammy Champa, Kristine Wehrkamp Herman and Scott Doran were named Paul Harris Fellows during the club’s July 30 meeting at the 2nd Street Depot in Hastings. The five were honored for their roles in developing the Hastings High School Pathways program and coordinating the partnership that led to construction of a new storage and maintenance shed for the club’s trishaws.
Rotary District 5960 Assistant Governors Dayle Quigley and Paul Baessler also attended the meeting.
The new shed, located at Tilden, provides a central place to store and maintain the seven trishaws used by the Hastings chapter of Cycling Without Age. The bicycles allow trained volunteer pilots to take seniors and others on rides through the community, giving passengers an opportunity to enjoy fresh air, familiar surroundings and time with volunteers.
The local program recorded 257 rides for more than 500 seniors in 2025. Rotary has trained 109 volunteer pilots to operate the trishaws, which serve people connected with Park Ridge, Oak Ridge, Benedictine Regina, the Hastings YMCA and the Hastings Senior Center.
Those numbers also help explain why the club needed a dedicated building. As the program grew, so did the need for protected storage, room for maintenance and a dependable place for volunteers to prepare the trishaws for future rides.
The project brought together Rotary members, Hastings High School students, educators, businesses and other community supporters. Students involved through the Pathways program gained hands-on construction experience while helping complete a building that will continue serving the community.
“We had a very special meeting this morning recognizing the work and collaboration of the High school’s Pathways program and the development of the shed to house our trishaws,” the club shared after the presentation.
The completed building reflects the larger purpose of the Cycling Without Age program. The project connects students who are developing practical skills with seniors who benefit from the trishaw rides, while also giving local professionals, businesses and volunteers a way to contribute.
“This project touches all generations from the students who helped construct the shed to our seniors who enjoy the wind blowing through their hair,” the club shared. “This project also built countless connections between business’s, students and community.”
Moore, Dietz, Champa, Wehrkamp Herman and Doran were recognized for helping bring those groups together and moving the project from an idea to a finished building in 2026.
The Paul Harris Fellowship is named for Rotary founder Paul Harris. Harris helped establish the first Rotary Club in Chicago in 1905, creating an organization where professionals from different backgrounds could exchange ideas, build friendships and serve their communities.
The Hastings club has used Paul Harris Fellowships to recognize service locally, including previous recognition of people connected with police, fire and other community work. The July 30 presentation continued that tradition by honoring people whose coordination and support made the Cycling Without Age shed possible.
Rotary member Scott Northard thanked fellow club members for supporting the project and attending the recognition ceremony.
“Thank you all for attending the meeting yesterday to honor our Paul Harris Fellows who helped make the CWA Shed a reality,” Northard wrote after the meeting.
The Rotary Club also recognized several people who supported the effort outside the group of five honorees.
Jeff Carlson received special thanks as the project’s “idea man.” Greg and Janet Stotko were recognized for supporting the project throughout its development, while Don Bettis was thanked for serving as the program’s mechanic and groundskeeper.
Donor support has also played a significant role in building the local Cycling Without Age program. The club purchased its seven trishaws with help from supporters including Don Bohlken, Ron and Terry Ferris, Friends of Dan Rother and the Doffing Fund.
The shed now gives those trishaws a home and provides the program with a practical foundation for continued growth.
For the students involved, the project offered the opportunity to work on a real building that serves a clear community purpose. For Rotary volunteers, it provides a space to store and care for important equipment. For local seniors, it helps ensure the trishaws remain ready for the next ride.
The finished shed may be a simple structure, but the work behind it represents something larger. It brought together education, volunteer service, business support and community need, all centered on a program designed to help people stay connected.
That combination made the July 30 meeting more than an awards presentation. It was also a celebration of what can happen when several parts of a community share their skills, resources and time.