In the quiet corners of Mason County, Joan Hasenbank is a woman who moves with purpose — whether she’s navigating a snowy sidewalk with her ski poles or navigating the Community Wish Lists to see who needs a helping hand. At 90 years old, Joan doesn’t just live in the community she loves; she helps fuel it.
The story of Joan’s generosity is inseparable from her history with her late husband, Robert. They spent decades together working their family dairy farm in Free Soil. Robert, a veteran who served four years in the Air Force, was ten years Joan’s senior. They met at a dance in Manistee when Robert approached Joan’s table and asked if anyone knew how to do the polka. Joan did, and a lifetime of partnership began.
Together, Joan and Robert were explorers. They traveled to all 50 states, often on a motorcycle, even trekking all the way to the southern tip of Alaska while pulling a camper. “You don’t ride from here to Alaska without protective clothing,” Joan recalls with a laugh, remembering the leather gear and helmets they wore long before they were required by law.
When it came time to plan their estate, the Hasenbanks made a decision that would forever impact their community. Without children to inherit their farm, they looked to the community they loved and entrusted the Foundation with stewarding their future gift. In recognition of this commitment, Joan and Robert became inaugural members of the Legacy Circle when it launched in 2024. The couple also established a donor advised fund (DAF) at the Community Foundation in 1997. Their goal was simple: to support the “out-county” areas that lacked the tax dollars for beautification and enrichment.
Robert, who would have been 100 this year, has been gone for 11 years. Yet Joan remains as active as ever in pursuing the community goals they shared. She doesn’t let the fund sit idle.
“Our fund was created to put it to good use in the community, ” said Joan.
Joan honors that intent through a wide range of support. She gives annually to the KickStart to Career program, helping to foster hope and opportunity for all youth to know college is possible for them. She also uses her DAF to support the Scottville Clown Band annually, fulfill requests on the Community Wish List, and co-invest in organizations applying to the Community Foundation for competitive grants. Sometimes her giving is personal. When she saw a mother sitting on the ground in a park to watch her child in a sandbox, she funded a new bench so the mother would have a place to sit near her little one.
Joan has a particular soft spot for Circle Rocking “S” Children’s Ranch, an organization providing animal touch therapy, music therapy, and recreation to children with disabilities, and she’s helped fund everything from sculptures in Scottville to a battery-operated snowblower for COVE. She even knits mittens for the Salvation Army and decorates her front window and yard with cheerful holiday decorations so the kids who pass by on the school bus have something bright to look at early in the morning.
Joan doesn’t need to be recognized in a plaque on a wall; her reward is the handwritten thank-you note from the group that “loves their new snowblower” or the sight of children enjoying the new swing she funded. She hopes that by simply being herself and giving what she can, others will be inspired to follow in her and Robert’s footsteps and love their home.