Pay It Forward - Hero at Heart

“We’re given this opportunity to help this family who just happens to even be part of the Bell family … so let’s take care of them.” 

– Bryan Wagner, Bell Bank Employee

Bell Employees 

Larry Kowalczyk, Joelle Foran and Bryan Wagner 

Twin Cities 

 

Recipient 

Cindy Elmstrand-Castruita

The Need

For Bryan Wagner, the news hit hard. Two police officers and a firefighter-paramedic, all killed in the line of duty – the event rocking an entire community.

 

“I heard about it when it hit the news,” relates Bryan, himself a former police officer. “It always hits hard every time.”

 

It wasn’t long before Bryan connected with two of his Bell colleagues, mortgage officer Larry Kowalczyk and his daughter, Joelle Foran. Larry and Joelle had just received a call from a realtor – and realized that less than a year before, they’d helped finance a house for one of the fallen officers, Paul Elmstrand, and his wife, Cindy.

 

“With the Pay It Forward program, it was a perfect opportunity to help somebody in need,” Larry says.

 

“We’re given this opportunity to help this family who just happens to even be part of the Bell family,” adds Bryan, “so let’s take care of them. Larry, Joelle and I definitely felt that we were given an opportunity to do something great.”

 

The Impact

Cindy didn’t know what to expect when realtor Angie Degel let her know of the upcoming meeting with the Bell team – and even amidst an outpouring of community support, Cindy was taken aback by the generous gift she received. Larry, Joelle and Bryan had worked together to reach out to almost everyone they knew and see who might want to help. In two days, 71 people contributed nearly $35,000 for the Elmstrand family.

 

There were plenty of hugs and tears when Cindy was presented the Pay It Forward check from Bell. Moved by Cindy’s strength, Bryan recalls, “She was thanking us, when we should still be the ones thanking her and her family.”

 

High school sweethearts who had known each other since kindergarten, Cindy and Paul were married by the time they finished college.

 

“It was good to have all that time together,” Cindy remembers. “As long as I’d known Paul, he always wanted to be a police officer … It was definitely his heart. Service and sacrifice.”

 

Now, Cindy says the caring gestures by Bell team members and the community have given her hope – and enlarged her sense of family.

 

“I think it’s really easy to look at people who have died as heroes, but I think Paul really was one,” she concludes. “He made sure that we were going to be okay, and we are. I’ve just been astounded at how many people care.”

 

Through the Pay It Forward program, Bell gives employees money each year to donate to people in need and causes they care about.