ABOVE: From left: Ian Bents, Tammie Hested, Lakyn Sathoff and Tracy Henning. Sathoff was recently given a Personal Achievement Award through Community Action.

FAIRMONT– Lakyn Sathoff, a Fairmont native, was recently selected for the 2022 National Sargent Shriver Personal Achievement Award. The recognition was made by the National Community Action Partnership and the ceremony took place last week in New York where Sathoff spoke in front of about about 1,400 people.

The award recognizes individuals who have changed their lives, embody Community Action’s spirit of hope, and are now working to make America a better place to live.

Sathoff was nominated by Minnesota Valley Action Council’s (MVAC) Martin County Family Resource Coordinator, Tammie Hested.

“MVAC is a Community Action agency and in 2012 Lakyn came into my office on felony prohibition. She needed her GED and a job. She was kind of at a low point,” Hested said.

Fast forward to 2019, Hested nominated Sathoff for a county award through Community Action.

“There’s an achiever and a supporter award and she got both of them because she got through my program about 10 years ago and she now mentors a lot of other students I work with,” Hested explained.

At that award event, Hested said the executive director, based out of Mankato, encouraged them to nominate Sathoff for the state award.

Of course, everything was cancelled in 2020, but in 2021, Sathoff won the state award. However, the conference was done virtually and Sathoff submitted a video for it.

“The gal from the state said, ‘we need to nominate her for the national,'” Hested explained.

She reached out to Sathoff and said she would need two letters of support from members of the community. Sathoff then reached out to Tracy Henning, treatment court coordinator for Faribault, Martin and Jackson counties, and Ian Bents, family friend.

Henning explained that family dependency treatment court (FDTC) is an intense program that provides a comprehensive wraparound service to parents whose children are in foster care due to substance use and are working to get their children back.

Sathoff started the program in 2014, while she was going to college as Henning said as part of the structured hours, you either need to look for employment or be enrolled in

school. Sathoff graduated from the program a year later and got custody of her twin daughters back.

Now, Henning said Sathoff is very active in the recovery community and is also a sponsor for those in recovery.

“She’s a huge supporter of the program which is good to have because no one wants to be in FDTC. You have to be semi-voluntary to do it, but no one signs up for it,” Henning explained.

Bents has been friends with Sathoff’s fiancé, Josh, for many years and has been personally impacted by Lakyn in recent years.

“The thing I tell Josh is, you and Lakyn aren’t the 1 percent. You’re the .1 percent. The 1 percent get out and do right, but (Josh and Lakyn) are making noticeable change in the lives of not only people in the community who have been challenged with substance abuse, but also with people that haven’t. There’s families throughout the community they impact everyday,” Bents said.

Sathoff’s non-profit, Lakyn Cares, which she started in 2019, focuses on helping local residents, one of which has been Bent’s step-daughter, Ava Terfehr, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma last year.

“I was aware of it (Lakyn Cares), but until being impacted by it…. Lakyn comes out of the woodwork and asked what she could do. She’s a huge-hearted, caring person. It’s incredible to see the impact she makes for people going through an unthinkable event,” Bents said.

To date the non-profit has purchased 15 wigs, tickets to Minnesota Vikings and Lynx games, lodging, funeral food, gas and grocery cards, plus more. The non-profit sells T-shirts and has a bake sale and silent auction to raise funds.

In addition to starting the non-profit, Sathoff had graduated from Minnesota West in 2016 and began working at Hair Etc. in Fairmont. She’s now the owner of the salon. She and her fiancé will be getting married later this month.

When asked what advice she would give to others who are struggling through a rough patch in their life, Sathoff said she would tell them to focus on mental health.

“Mental health illness awareness, I think, is one of the biggest things. A lot of people think, ‘just do it.’ But a lot of people struggle and they can’t get out of a slump. My biggest push is to give yourself a positive atmosphere. No mater what situation people might be in, they need to keep their minds and hands busy,” she said.

Sathoff expressed feeling overwhelmed about the award she was given as she wasn’t sure how to handle the attention.

“You’re a giver, not a taker. You’ve earned this, though,” Bents told her.

Hested stressed that while Community Action is all about helping people, they can’t help those who don’t want to help themselves.

“With Lakyn, helping her was easy because she wanted to help herself,” Hested said.

She said the fact that Sathoff now wants to give back and help others made her very deserving of the award.

“There’s 1,100 Community Action agencies throughout the nation, so if you think of a potential 1,100 nominations, it’s pretty amazing,” Hested said.

As for what’s next, Sathoff just wants to help more people. In fact, she has plans to start anther non-profit.

“My goal is five years, it will be started in the next five years,” Sathoff said.