Every year, the Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce counts on many volunteers to help its events come to fruition.

Whether it’s welcoming a new business, planning the Third of July Parade, organizing Business After Hours or planning for the annual agricultural luncheon, to name a few, volunteers are busy year-round.

Deb Steinfeldt and Marty Little, who are active members of the Chamber Agricultural Committee, are two of those volunteers.

Always willing to help with the annual agriculture luncheon, the 4-H Livestock Auction and the third-grade farm tours, Steinfeldt and Little were recognized in October at the chamber’s annual meeting as the 2009 Volunteers of the Year.

Generally, only one volunteer is recognized.

“The ag business is so important to our community and has been since our inception,” said Chamber Executive Director Randy Kehr. “They represent everything that’s good in it.”

Kehr said Steinfeldt and Little are always there to help when the Ag Committee needs to be represented. And they do a good job of supporting the youth programs, even if they includes work that isn’t so glamorous.

“The emphasis on the youth is something that I think the ag industry has always focused on,” he added. “They do such a good job of supporting that. And they do it quietly; they aren’t the ones that demand attention.

“I think they epitomize what we like to see in volunteers who do it for the love.”

Steinfeldt, who actually lives in Buffalo Center, Iowa, said she was caught off-guard to receive the recognition.

“I’m very appreciative,” she said. “I really enjoy working with the chamber committee and the events they’re involved in.”

She’s been involved for almost four years.

Steinfeldt is married with two boys and has been employed at AgStar for 13 years as a financial services officer serving Freeborn County.

She said she enjoys being a part of the Chamber Ag Committee because of the community participation and the agricultural side of it.

“The company that I work for, a lot of our clients — we’re in the ag-related business. A lot of the things we do benefit our clients and the rest of the county,” Steinfeldt added.

She said she was honored to receive the recognition, especially because she does not live in the community.

Little, who also is employed at AgStar, said he, too, was surprised by the Volunteer of the Year recognition.

“We just enjoy doing what we’re doing there,” he said.

He noted his favorite part about being involved with the Ag Committee is taking part in the third-grade farm tours. This year he got to help at the dairy farm demonstration where students got to feed a baby calf with a bottle.

He said a lot of these children have never seen animals like that.

Little and his wife, Arlene, have two children. They live between Freeborn and Alden.

He has been at AgStar for 23 years.

Steinfeldt and Little got involved with the Ag Committee after Jerry Hickman, who was a representative on the committee for several years, asked that the two take his spot.

“AgStar has always had an interest in being involved with the Ag Committee,” Little said.