Steele named BP Citizen of the Year

Talk to Sadie Steele for any length of time, and you’ll hear the same four words again and again:

“I just like helping.”

That generosity of spirit is what helped seal the decision to name Steele the 2025 Citizen of the Year, awarded by the Blooming Prairie Area Chamber of Commerce.

She will be recognized at the chamber’s annual banquet, set for Jan. 22 at the BP Servicemen’s Club.

Additional honorees are Main Street Dental Clinics as Business of the Year and the Servicemen’s Club as the Nonprofit of the Year.

Steele was nominated for the award by Blooming Prairie Police Chief Greg Skillestad, and was a popular choice among the Chamber board members.

“Her dedication to giving back in a community she is not from is what stuck out,” said BPACC Executive Director Karen Peterson. “She has made a lasting difference to so many.”

Steele is not only not a native of Blooming Prairie, she has been a resident for just seven years.

It should be no surprise to the people who know her that her path to a small town in southeast Minnesota came from her desire to help.

“I was going to a church in Minneapolis,” Steele said, “and taking care of people there, and the pastor knew a family here in Blooming Prairie.”

It was the Roger Amundson family, and Steele was asked if she could help care for Amundson, who was ill.

“And the rest is history,” she said.

So, she just packed up her life and moved from Minneapolis to a place she’d never even visited?

“Yes, ma’am,” Steele said. “No family, no kids – so it was not that big of a deal for me. I was needed here. I just like helping; that’s my thing.”

She was born in Louisiana; her parents named her after her father’s twin sister.

Her father saw her giving nature when she was still a child; her mother believed Steele’s caring and nurturing ways would lead her to be a nurse.

“It was something I was born with, I guess. It feels wonderful to help, and I’m so used to doing it,” Steele said. “I took care of my grandmother when I was 13, and when my mom got sick, I took care of her until she passed away.

“Then I just kept on taking care of people,” she said.

Despite her penchant for caregiving, Steele didn’t go into health care as a profession – but knows now she may have missed her calling.

She retired “years ago, but there’s no retirement when it comes to helping. You do what you can,” she said.

Like pull up stakes and move to Blooming Prairie.

After Amundson’s death in 2017 – she was called “a special caregiver” in his obituary – Steele found more people who could use her compassion.

She visits multiple people throughout the week, providing care in their homes.

She visits Prairie Manor Nursing Home every chance she gets, especially over the holidays.

“I try and save up so I can buy everybody a little gift and some candy and stuff, so they don’t feel lonely or left out for Christmas,” Steele said.

She interrupted herself with a reminder: “Somebody just called me the other day and asked when I was coming over, so I gotta get there tomorrow.”

In between those stops, she helps where she sees need.

“If somebody tells me they need help, if they don’t have food, who am I to judge?” Steele asked. “You can spend what little you have to help somebody else. It is just a joy to help somebody, to know somebody’s eating, because of you.”

That includes on Thanksgiving.

Steele gave several turkeys to Skillestad to distribute to those in need.

“He knows them better than I do,” she said. “So that’s what we’ve been doing, and last year we (helped) with Toys for Tots. I do what I can.

“You know, I live paycheck to paycheck, so it’s not that I have a lot,” she said. “I just like helping. If you tell me you don’t have, then you’ll have it, if I can help you in any kind of way.”

Still, she knows there may be people who take advantage of her kindness.

“I don’t know if they actually need it, but if they say they need it, then they’ve got it, if I can at all give it to them,” Steele said. “If I have a few extra pennies, why not share with someone else?”

Though her parents are long gone, “they would be so proud,” Steele said of her award.

“And I was so surprised and so happy, and so honored that they chose me,” she said. “It’s … it is just such an honor.”

Expect to see Steele dressed to the nines as she accepts the award.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what Sadie wears to the banquet,” Peterson said. “Knowing the amazing outfits in her closet, she’ll probably be better dressed than me. She is such a sweetheart.”

There will likely be plenty of people there to celebrate with her, including Skillestad and others she said have become special.

“I have this family here in Blooming,” Steele said. “I have so, so much family right here. I am very blessed.”

It reminded her of something from her church, First Lutheran Church in Blooming Prairie.

“It says ‘the welcome place,’ and this whole town has welcomed me with open arms. I just love it here in this little town.”

BP Chamber Annual Banquet

What: BPACC annual banquet

When: Thursday, Jan. 22

Where: BP Servicemen’s Club

Time: Social hour at 5 p.m.; dinner at 6:30 p.m.; program to follow

Tickets: $45, available at the Servicemen’s Club or on the Chamber’s website

2025 Citizen of the Year: Sadie Steele

2025 Nonprofit of the Year: Blooming Prairie Servicemen’s Club

2025 Business of the Year: Main Street Dental Clinics