Blessed to be able to give back
By Jeff Kurowski | On Mission
ALLOUEZ — Debbie Ruggles describes her co-workers at the Aging & Disability Resource Center (ADRC) of Brown County as “amazing human beings.”
ADRC partners with seniors and persons with disabilities and their caregivers, serving to assist them through all of life’s changes and challenges by offering a broad range of services.
Ruggles, a member of Resurrection Parish in Allouez, was first hired to work for Grounded on the Go, the accessible food truck inspired by the ADRC’s Grounded Café.
The ADRC and Grounded Café inside the ADRC are located at 300 S. Adams St. in downtown Green Bay.
“The café was shorthanded, so I’m working there,” said Ruggles. “There are people with disabilities from multiple organizations that come in and work with us. Some come in with a caretaker who stands alongside them.”
“It’s such a great place that does a lot of great things,” she said.
Ruggles integrates her faith at the workplace, including her connection with one of her co-workers, a young man, who she said was told that he couldn’t work due to his disability.
“He’s amazing. He works the front. He’s learning a little bit about how to cook, and he welcomes everybody. He’s always on the food truck,” said Ruggles. “One day he was talking about church. He asked me if he could try my church.”
Ruggles said she gladly took him to Mass at Resurrection Church.
“He was so excited. He was nervous to meet everybody,” she said. “He told everyone [at work] that he went to church with me.”
Ruggles grew up in Oak Lawn, Ill., an Irish Catholic neighborhood in the Chicago suburbs. She graduated from St. Francis School of Nursing in Peoria, Ill., and worked primarily as a trauma/surgical registered nurse for 18 years. She met her husband, Dr. Scott Ruggles, a general and colorectal surgeon from Little Rock, Ark., while working at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago.
“I had stepped away from the Catholic faith for a number of years in my 20s and early 30s, until we got married [in 2000],” said Ruggles. “Scott wasn’t Catholic, but we got married in the Catholic Church.”
In 2002, they moved to Northeast Wisconsin. Their neighbors Jack and Marge Manley [both deceased] invited them to Resurrection Parish.
“I did RCIA [Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults] to relearn [the faith],” said Ruggles. “Mrs. Manley was my sponsor. Scott was baptized but not confirmed. In 2005, on the Easter Vigil, all three kids (now young adults) were baptized and [Scott] was confirmed.”
Volunteer involvement for Ruggles started in the Catholic grade/middle schools attended by her children: Resurrection [now Father Allouez Catholic School] and Notre Dame of De Pere. She chaired six school auctions.
Her path of service continued at Notre Dame Academy in Green Bay. Ruggles chaired the fundraising event “Tritonfest” three times and was a lead team member for the school’s golf outing for five years. Four years ago, she helped create the Notre Dame Academy Booster Club in support of athletics.
“Everyone looks down when I come their way,” she said with a laugh. “When I first started doing auctions or fundraisers, I said, ‘I’ll do anything except ask people for money.’ It was my most uncomfortable thing to do. That’s exactly what I’ve done the last 15 years.”
Ruggles’ involvement at Resurrection Parish has included nine years on the parish council, serving as the core leader of the fish fry and serving on the parish golf outing leadership team.
“I like planning. I like being organized,” she said. “I like spreadsheets, even though my kids say I’m horrible at it.”
Since 2021, Ruggles has traveled with a group of Resurrection parishioners to serve the poor in Okolona, Miss. Her mission experience has also included Heal the Children trips for medical service in Colombia, South America.
Ruggles said that “life changed” two and a half years ago when she was introduced by Tony Pichler to Whatsoever You Do, Inc., in Green Bay. Pichler is a co-founder of the nonprofit.
Whatsoever You Do is an umbrella organization that supports five programs. Ruggles joined the StreetLights Outreach team that provides a presence to people living on the margins in Green Bay.
“I always wanted to do something like that,” she said. “Serving people [meals] and building friendships on the street to block parties in the park in the summer to hosting events at the [Whatsoever You Do] House of Hospitality has been an incredible journey. I’m learning every day to be able to meet people where they’re at, not where I or anyone else thinks they should be. It’s such an impactful organization.”
Ruggles points to Luke 12:48 as inspiration for outreach: “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much will be asked.”
“Scott and I have been so blessed,” she said. “Service is my way to give back and show gratitude.”