Pictured- Ashley Wiehe (Concordia Lutheran High School), Georgia and Mark Ulmschneider, Jon Dize (The Lutheran Schools Partnership)
Congratulations to area ALDE award recipients, honored on June 15 during the 2021 ALDE Virtual Awards Ceremony! ALDE couldn’t meet together this past Spring, so the annual awards were moved to Zoom and Fort Wayne hosted a virtual viewing party.
ALDE is an international community of fundraising and communication professionals that is rooted in the Lutheran tradition of the Christian faith and dedicated to serving God's people in the church and the world. The ALDE Awards for Excellence in Philanthropy recognize those who go above and beyond in answering God's call to serve others - to do justice, and to love kindness and to walk humbly with their God. (https://alde.memberclicks.net/about-us). Three awards were presented to area honorees as ALDE recognized them for their leadership and service.
Ashley Wiehe, Concordia Lutheran High School (pictured, left) - recipient of the Jay Bleeke Young Professional Award
This award honors Jay’s spirit of leadership, networking, welcoming personality, drive for knowledge and enthusiasm for ALDE. The Jay Bleeke Young Professional Award is presented to a young ALDE member who has taken a leadership role within ALDE and has demonstrated exemplary leadership and service to an organization within the fundraising and/or public relations fields. Ashley has led numerous training sessions, mentors those new to the profession, and serves on annual conference teams for ALDE. As someone noted, “Ashley has been a game changer at CLHS! Her attention to detail and diligence of effort has grown our marketing, communications, and overall awareness in our community tremendously.”
Ashley joined the Concordia staff in 2014 as the Communications Manager. She is responsible for marketing, social media, website, photo and video, and all communication efforts within the high school. Ashley lives here in Fort Wayne with her husband and son.
Mark and Georgia Ulmschneider (pictured, center) - Spirit of Giving Award
The Spirit of Giving Award recognizes an individual or family who exemplifies generous contribution of service, time and support that inspires others to greater commitment and involvement. Any individual or family involved with an ALDE organization is eligible for nomination for this award.
Mark and Georgia are active philanthropists here in Fort Wayne. Mark, a retired attorney, grew up in Cincinnati but moved to Fort Wayne to start his career after marrying Georgia, an attorney and professor at Purdue Fort Wayne, at Redeemer Lutheran in Fort Wayne. Mark and Georgia have been strong supporters and advocates of Lutheran South Unity School and The Lutheran SGO program. In addition, they have sponsored the Red Panda exhibit at the Fort Wayne Zoo, annually sponsor the Embassy gala, and serve on various boards including the Bach Collegium. As noted in their nomination, “ their relationship with Lutheran South Unity is what we want every donor-recipient relationship to be: a relationship of discovery and mutual benefit for the Kingdom of God and the community.”
Jon Dize, CFRE, The Lutheran Schools (pictured, the goofy looking guy) - President’s Award
This President's Award recognizes outstanding volunteer service to ALDE during the previous year.
In addition to the accolades, the president of the ALDE board noted that Jon “had some of the best Zoom backgrounds during the pandemic than anyone else she knew.”
Jon has 30 years experience in nonprofit management including fundraising Higher Education, K-12 Education, Religious institutions, Youth Services, Health Care, Long-Term Care, and Economic Development. Jon is presently the administrator of the Lutheran Scholarship Granting Organization of Indiana and Mission Advancement director/Fundraising Coach for The Lutheran Schools Partnership. Jon and his wife live in Fort Wayne and are blessed with two adult boys and a teen aged girl.
The award recipients will also be honored in person during the awards ceremony held at IGNITE: Milwaukee 2022.
