Pay It Forward - Always Family

Bell Employee
Edie Bartels, Retail File Review
Fargo, N.D.

Recipient
Carol and Tracy Dietrich

The Need
In June of 2021, Carol Dietrich, a retired Bell employee, found out her husband, Tracy, had bladder cancer. Then, after Christmas, they found out the cancer had spread into his bones and lymph nodes.

“They’ve told him chemotherapy and radiation won’t take his cancer away, but it’ll ease the pain,” explains Carol, who worked as a retail underwriter in Bell’s downtown Fargo location and was recognized by the North Dakota Bankers Association for 40 years in banking before retiring. Carol says she’s getting through with faith and support from family and friends.

One of those friends is Edie Bartels, who works on Bell’s consumer file review team in Fargo and has worked at Bell since 1999.

“The doctors haven’t given him a very long outlook,” Edie notes. “They told him 9 to 16 months. I think the doctors in Nebraska have shortened that. I know he is in a lot of pain. The cancer just keeps spreading.”

The Impact
Carol and Edie used to work together and became close friends, so when Edie found out what Carol and Tracy were going through, she decided to use her Pay It Forward funds to help. Her co-workers quickly joined in the effort.

“As soon as I sent out this mass email, every day, I’d get an email from someone saying, ‘I want to donate to Carol. She is going through so much right now, and I just loved working with her,’” Edie remarks. “I was overwhelmed. I just knew she would be astounded by the generosity, but she is loved.”

By putting their Pay It Forward funds together, employees were able to raise $90,000 to help ease Carol and Tracy’s financial burden.

“I would never have dreamed that I would be on the receiving end of a Pay It Forward gift. Bell is family. And I'm just so thankful,” Carol comments. “Edie has supported me through so many things in my life. She is just a wonderful, wonderful friend.”

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