HISTORY

The power of one – Alice Lee Lund had a vision for helping others.  Those who knew Ali knew that she loved life, including children, pets and the welfare of those in her community.  It is no surprise to those who knew and loved her that the woman who dedicated her life to helping others would continue to do so after she passed away.  Add to that the power of one more – her brother Wes Moholt and the number of people and animals that Ali and Wes have helped has grown exponentially!  Wes has often said that Ali would be tickled with helping so many people and animals!

Ali had the dream and vision to create a lasting legacy by providing funds to various charities she named and Ali would say she wanted the trust to go on forever.  Sadly, Ali passed away in March 2001 and Wes took over the reins for her estate and eventual trust.  We recall Wes saying several times, “I don’t know if this can go on forever?  We don’t have the funds.”  But with Wes’ admirable dedication to Ali and her memory, he rolled up his sleeves and began working diligently.  Through Wes’ dedicated work and forward thinking, he sold the North Dakota farm Ali grew up on, but he wisely held onto the mineral interests.  Several years later, Wes rolled up his sleeves again and skillfully negotiated leasing all of the reserved mineral interests. Wes didn’t just hand out the money to charities, he traveled to visit the charities and intuitively would find just the right item they needed, such as funding a computer lab at Camp Mak-A-Dream, a children’s oncology camp, so the children being treated for cancer, who were away from home maybe for the first time could communicate directly with their families.  What a connection Wes established for all these campers! 

In August, 2013 at the very young age of 83, Wes started thinking of retiring as Trustee.  When Wes spoke with us about taking over as Successor Trustee, we were so extremely honored to be asked to step into his shoes and humbled with the responsibility of carrying on Ali’s legacy.  We joke that it took more than one person to fill Wes’ shoes, but we sincerely mean that.  Since 2013, we have continued to meet with Wes and of course, our official photographer and Wes’ traveling companion, Joan Lance, to do site visits at Camp Mak-A-Dream, UM and other charities.  Another great idea of Wes’ was to fund a zipline.  Watching Wes retain his title as the oldest person to zipline at Camp Mak-A-Dream will always be one of our favorite memories.  However, along the way, we also remember the eloquent stories Wes and Joan would tell us of Ali and her adventurous life and her desire to support education (especially to impact the lives of children), animal welfare and healthcare (specifically serving cancer patients and their families and end of life care).

Through Wes being a loving brother, an astute business person, and mostly his determination and dedication to Ali’s memory and her legacy by working so hard for so many years, Ali and Wes have built a charitable trust that just may last forever.