Partnership starts with listening

Mary Ann Weber loves the sound of summer in Wishek, North Dakota: kids riding their bikes to the community pool, grandparents watching swimming lessons from outside the fence, and children laughing, splashing, and just being kids.

A South Dakota native, she has lived in Wishek for more than three decades with her husband, a lifelong local resident. Today, she is one of the people others turn to when the town has a need. She helps lead Wishek nonprofits and has advocated for a new community pool. A regular presence at local events, she is always ready to support young people and keep an eye on the parts of community life that can be easily taken for granted until they are gone.

That local knowledge is what made Mary Ann an important partner when Orsted wanted to support the community around Badger Wind. To learn what Wishek needed, Orsted’s team and Mary Ann talked about the town—its families, its students, its gathering places, and the projects already underway. “I think it just developed into a relationship, versus ‘I want money. You have money to give,’” Mary Ann says.

Nowhere has that been clearer than the Wishek pool. Built in 1939, the pool served generations of local families. Now, the community is working to replace it through a multi-million-dollar project that Orsted is contributing to. It will bring back one of Wishek’s most important summer gathering places.

To Mary Ann, it’s more than just a pool. It is where kids learn to swim, where lifeguards gain confidence and leadership skills, where families gather during reunions, and where young people spend long summer days away from screens and close to one another.

The pool also reflects a bigger question Mary Ann thinks about often: what does a small town need to keep families connected, give young people a reason to believe in home, and create opportunities that last beyond one summer?

That same question guides her work with a local nonprofit, Wishek Area Dollars for Scholars, which supports graduating seniors and continuing students who are pursuing higher education, technical training, and career paths beyond high school. For Mary Ann, the value of a scholarship goes beyond the financial help. It’s the message behind it: someone believes in you, and someone is willing to bet on your future.

She has seen what that belief can do. She remembers one student who struggled academically when he was young. Years later, she watched him keep applying, updating his materials, continuing his education, and building a future through persistence and hard work.

Whether it’s the pool, the scholarships, or Mary Ann’s broader community work, it’s all about giving young people reasons to feel connected to Wishek. Not because they are expected to stay forever, but because they know home will still be here if they choose to return. “Go away and get your education,” she says, while reminding them: “You can always come back.”

To Mary Ann, being part of the community means more than making a donation and moving on. It means checking back in. It means asking how the students are doing, how the pool is coming along, and what the town needs next. It’s about staying in touch after the first conversation, because trust is built through follow-through.

That is what lasting partnership looks like in a place like Wishek. It starts with listening to the people who know the community best. It grows through practical support for the things families already value. And it lasts when both sides keep showing up—not just for a project, but for the people who will live with it for years to come.