2023 Hometown HEROES Magazine LINCOLN DAILY NEWS May 2023 Page 19 Among Aue’s varied employments, her first job was at Bob’s Roast Beef. When the family left Lincoln for a period of time starting in 1982, Aue remained, so she has been a Lincoln resident for almost 54 years. When Aue opened Culvers, she followed Lincoln IGA’s Charlie Lee’s lead of giving back to the community through fundraising events for organizations. One community event Aue supported was the Relay for Life for cancer. When Reifsteck was survivor Chair for the Relay, Culvers had a fundraiser for the event. Reifsteck’s team and others worked in shifts to make Aue’s effort generate more funds. Continued -- Another of Aue’s motivations for giving back has to do with her late sister, Lucinda Reifsteck, who was in an automobile accident on Valentine’s Day morning in 1985 at the young age of 24. Lucinda was in a coma for a year after the accident and was unable to walk or talk for the remaining 27 years of her life. Tonita Reifsteck said Elaine lost her sister twice, once with a car accident that left her paralyzed and the other time when her sister died. On April 8, 2017, Culvers held a fundraising event for Stacy Peacock, who had been injured in an accident in October 2016 that left her paralyzed from the chest down. For this event, Aue chose to donate 100 percent of the sales. Teena Lowery’s 2017 interview with Aue for a Lincoln Daily News article about the fundraiser revealed Aue’s reasons. Aue said she first saw news of Peacock’s accident in a paper and then somebody brought in a flyer to Culver’s and asked for a donation. She said, “it kind of hit home because of my sister’s accident many years ago. I know what it’s like...It hits home. It hit hard.”
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