Kent Knutson

2020 COMMUNITY VOLUNTEER AWARD RECIPIENT

Kent Knutson, the Stoughton Area Resource Team (START) volunteer of the year, lent a helping hand to the community by donating and delivering beds for local adults and children in need.

Knutson, a board member of the Stoughton Area Community Foundation for over 20 years, started volunteering with START two and a half years ago after he heard that it was in need of help with making deliveries.

Executive Director of START Cindy Thompson wrote in an email to the Stoughton Courier Hub that many of the people START serves were sleeping on air mattresses, wooden pallets, couches, or on piles of soft material like pillows, blankets, towels and clothing. Knutson himself donated bedding such as mattresses, frames and box springs, as well as delivered other bedding supplies donated by community members.

Knutson told the Hub that recipients have always been “extremely appreciative and very helpful,” and seeing their excitement makes the community service hours worth the work.

One day, just before Christmas Eve, Knutson said he had delivered a racecar bed to a young boy.

“This little boy says, ‘Mom! Mom, is that my bed?’ He was so excited,” Knutson said.

Thompson praised Knutson’s dedication to helping out his neighbors, even during a pandemic.

“Through Kent’s commitment to our mission of providing a safety net for those in crisis, START has been able to address this need in hopes to provide our neighbors with a good night’s rest,” Thompson wrote.