Members of The Rotary Club of Rochester welcomed Laurel Podulke-Smith on February 26th the club's newest member. Alison Good is Laurel's sponsor.Elected to the Olmsted County Board of Commissioners in 2022, Laurel Podulke-Smith takes up the work of local government as her life’s legacy. She is a longtime community leader, an avid volunteer, and serves on numerous non-profit and community boards. Laurel draws from her background in education, healthcare, and organizational leadership to perform the role of elected official with humility and determination. Laurel grew up in an artistic household and is a life-long advocate for the performing and visual arts. The job of elected official is a good fit for her as she combines community leadership, neighborhood advocacy, deep care for her fellow humans, and optimism for a vibrant future.
Laurel is a nearly lifelong resident of Rochester’s Kutzky Park Neighborhood, and lives on a little urban homestead with her husband Darin, their dog, Rudy, and a small flock of backyard chickens. Their homestead will soon be host to a colony of honeybees, as Darin is taking up beekeeping in retirement. Around the homestead you will often find Laurel baking sourdough bread, brewing kombucha and water kefir, and fermenting vegetables. During the summer she and Darin grow much of the food they eat, preserve what remains, and give away all they can. They start plants in a greenhouse in the spring and save seeds in the fall. Every Mother’s Day they host a neighborhood plant give-away where they give away hundreds of starter plants to neighbors and fortunate passersby.
As a champion for the visual and performing arts in Southeastern MN Laurel has served on the Rochester Civic Theater Board of Directors. She is a founding member of the “Squirrel Association” comedy improv troupe. She is a co-founder of Olmsted County’s Transforming Trash Artist in Residence program. And she is in early discussions with a non-profit organization aiming to build a state-of-the-art performing arts center in Rochester, MN. She hopes to be an ally to that initiative as well.