Vandals broke into the Lohman Community Center building earlier this month.
Faced with adversity, the community did what came naturally: Members rolled up their sleeves and got to work on cleanup Saturday.
The town vowed to have the center, at 8910 Lincoln St., back in business soon.
The structure is a multi-purpose building for the community. It has been a schoolhouse and a church. It was once used as the town hall. Now, the community uses it for gatherings, events and club meetings.
Travis Zumwalt said his parents entered the building through its downstairs door Nov. 11.
They noticed there weren't any lights on, and there was a table in front of the door. When they moved the door and turned on the lights, they found shelves overturned, the cash register on the floor and Styrofoam cups scattered about.
Nothing was missing, Keith Ziegelbein said.
It was simply vandalism.
The worst of the damage occurred upstairs, he said. The door was broken. A window was broken. And whoever vandalized the building broke a number of fluorescent lights.
Glass from the light bulbs was spread across the floor.
And, the community responded. They gathered early Saturday afternoon for the cleanup. Within about half an hour, the structure had been cleaned and much of the damage had been repaired. Community members replaced a couple of doors and nailed plywood over broken windows.
"In the '60s, nobody wanted this old schoolhouse," Ziegelbein said, and added the community got together to buy it. "It's really just a community building."
Insurance doesn't cover vandalism, he pointed out.
"We have so much of our German resources here in town - and the Dutch feeling that 'We can fix that,'" Ziegelbein said. "Since there's no insurance involved, you've got to dig a little deeper and fix it. We'll get it all fixed."
Zumwalt had salvaged doors from a building of similar vintage, and quickly replaced all that were damaged, he added.
"We'll be back in business. We're getting this fixed for a ham and bean dinner," Ziegelbein said while laughing. "We're calling it ham and beans because there is more ham than beans."
Chicken noodle soup will be available too.
The ham and bean dinner is one of two big fundraisers held annually for the building. Revenue generated from the meal is used to keep the lights on. The dinner is 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Dec. 5, Ziegelbein said.