Sue Margheim, the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Community Development Group’s 2026 Volunteer of the Year, has been a Mount Vernon resident since 1999, but she has been volunteering since long before that.
While growing up in Jefferson, Margheim began volunteering in junior high at her church’s Vacation Bible School program, as well as other things in the church. As time went on, Margheim found a love for volunteering that did not stop as she reached her college years.
Margheim attended Iowa State University for engineering and now works as a metallurgical engineer at Collins Aerospace, doing things like working with commercial and military programs to help select materials and finishes for Collins Aerospace’s products.
However, Margheim didn’t go straight from Iowa State University to Collins Aerospace. Instead, she continued volunteering.
“There was a woman that would go into classrooms and talk about how great engineering was and encourage kids to stay with the math and science classes,” Margheim explained. “I started going into classrooms with her about once a month back in 1989.”
After moving to Mount Vernon in 1999 and spending a few years settling in with her husband and two daughters, Margheim’s husband helped to begin Mount Vernon’s annual Chili Cookoff in 2006.
Although she has helped since the event first started, Margheim has now been the chairperson for the Chili Cookoff for the last five years.
Additionally, she had previously been a volunteer volleyball coach for a club team in Mount Vernon. Now, she helps at Chalk the Walk and joins a group of local people who go to streams and creeks to test the water and evaluate whether or not the water quality is safe.
For Margheim, volunteering is not just something to do, but more of a duty.
“I think it’s important that people help make sure the things that we value, and that we’re passionate about, keep moving forward and are able to function and happen, and volunteers are the way a lot of those organizations are organized,” Margheim explained.
It is because of that attitude that Margheim was selected as the Volunteer of the Year, and she doesn’t take that title lightly.
“The fact that they let me be recognized this year was really an honor, because I feel like… I’m in really good company,” Margheim said. “[Mount Vernon is] blessed with a lot of people that step up and do a lot, so to be recognized among that group was really an honor.”
Margheim wants to make sure that other people share her passion for volunteering.
“How many people enjoy Heritage Days, and love coming uptown, love the parade, you know, enjoy having popcorn at the volleyball game that you go to? All of those things are happening because of volunteers. If you enjoy the event, find a way to help, either during the event or before,” Margheim said. “If you enjoy an event, either in Mount Vernon, Lisbon, Cedar Rapids, or in Iowa, find a way to volunteer to keep it going.”
Margheim pointed out that even if people are not available to volunteer during the event, there is always stuff to do beforehand. According to Margheim, there is a lot of prep work, and without volunteers, such events would never get set up in time.
Although Margheim sees volunteering as more of a responsibility of the citizens, that does not mean that it is not rewarding.
Recently, she has gone to the roof of Yock’s Landing and taken photos of the Chili Cookoff.
“It’s kind of fun to step back and look at it,” Margheim said. “We get up there and see all the people. That really, really gives me some joy; to see how many people are coming out, mixing together, having a good time, because of an event that I had a little part in.”
According to Margheim, people don’t need to know what they are doing in order to volunteer.
“Remember that you’re not in it alone; that even if, you know, it might seem daunting, take it in little chunks and get people to help you out; don’t feel like you need to be the only one,” Margheim said.