Mary Mellen and Lynn Johnson are converting the former Winnebago School Building, pictured above, into Winnebago’s Veterans Resource Center and Academy. They have already held several events there.

Mary Mellen and Lynn Johnson live in the Twin Cities area, but have been spending a lot of time in Winnebago, working hard on making the Veterans Resource Center and Academy (VRCA) there a reality.

The couple, married for 50 years, has become part of a team trying to get the VRCA functioning. It is located in the former Winnebago School building.

Mellen is the interim executive director and Johnson is the safety director.

“We have known Randy Olson for some time, and he approached us about this project in Winnebago,” Mellen says. “We felt it was a very worthwhile project and wanted to help as much as we could.”

Olson, of Winnebago, is a veteran and part of the VRCA board. Johnson is also a veteran, having served in Vietnam during the war there in the 1960s.

It was two years ago, in May of 2020, that Garth Carlson and his company, Veterans’ Enterprises, Ltd., in Madelia, purchased the former school building from the city of Winnebago for $61,000.

The plan was to turn it into a facility for veterans to live, get help if they needed it and be able to learn job skills.

“The resource center part of the name is for helping veterans,” Mellen says. “The academy is the vocational center part.”

She explains they have been in contact with a vocational school in Mankato and still want to partner with them in creating a vo-tech school in Winnebago, both for veterans and others.

“We also want to make the place available for events for the community,” Mellen says. “For local concerts and other events. Genesis Academy has been in support of this.”

They have had a few events of their own. Just before New Year’s, the VRCA was the site for a personal safety and martial arts demonstration.

“We had two experts here to give a demonstration on how people, especially young girls, can stay safe,” Mellen says. “There were 17 teenage girls who came to the event.”

Keeping people safe, especially young girls who could be the targets of sex traffic operators or other criminals, is one of Mellen’s passions.

“We are having another speaker coming here on Monday (Jan. 24),” she explains. “It is Julie Quist, who is the chairperson of the Child Protection League of Minnesota. I hope everyone will come and hear her message about keeping our children and grandchildren safe.”

The event is set to start at 6:30 p.m. Quist is listed as also speaking on the topics of comprehensive sex education and Critical Race Theory.

Mellen and Johnson explained that one of their biggest concerns at the moment is fundraising.

“This is a very large building,” Johnson explains. “It is taking a lot of money to get it fully functioning.”

He adds that a veteran skilled in boilers has gone through the boilers at the former school to get them functioning and keep heating the place.

Mellen says they have remodeled three spaces so far: one sleeping room, a lounge for veterans, and a Space Force room.

“The Space Force room is to get people excited and motivate them,” Mellen, who has a degree in conceptual design, says. “I am using it as my office at this time.”

One of the biggest problems they are facing is the fact that they need to put a sprinkler system in the building, if veterans are going to live there.

“The school did not have one, but we would need to install one,” Johnson says. “And the cost could be as much as $100,000.”

Mellen adds they have 10 or more major donors, both corporations and individuals, who are willing to contribute to the VRCA.

“We are a non-profit, but we need to become a 501(c)(3) to accept these donations,” Mellen says. “Because of the pandemic, the IRS is bogged down and we have not gotten that certificate yet.”

There was a fundraising kick-off event at the VRCA when it first opened, and Mellen says they want to have another one this spring. There were issues with holding the event during the pandemic, but Mellen adds this next one will be held a bit differently.

The couple is looking forward to the fundraising and the creation of the center the way they envision it – a place for people to go forward, and to wave the flag proudly.

“We have always been helpers, and we want to help here,” Mellen says. “COVID has shut down some of our plans but we still are working on moving forward, and help veterans as well as make a connection to the community.”