Judie Storandt is a retired disability rights advocate who relocated from Washington, DC, to El Dorado in 2011, in order to live near grandchildren after retiring.

Since then she has volunteered with several local nonprofit organizations, and with others founded Kids Need To Eat in 2013 (renamed Kids Need To Thrive in 2022).

Judie has been involved with nonprofit projects to provide meals and fellowship for the homeless in Minnesota, Washington DC, and Kansas. She has a Mennonite background. She has been a foster parent, and a Big Sister.

In 2014, Judie helped launch KIDZFEST El Dorado, a successful parenting information fair for three consecutive years. She has been a long-standing member of Soroptimist International of El Dorado.

Born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Judie earned a PhD in Spanish at the University of Wisconsin in 1974, and a law degree from the University of Iowa in 1980. She practiced law for 32 years in Minnesota, Louisiana, Indiana, Oklahoma, and Washington, DC.

During her varied and prolific law career, she primarily specialized in civil rights and Constitutional Law issues at the federal and state level. She litigated two major class action lawsuits. 

Judie has worked for the Minnesota Attorney General Office, where she represented the Minnesota Department of Corrections. She also worked for private law firms in Minnesota and Indiana. She founded and was the Director of the non-profit Louisiana Capital Defense Project. Over a 13-year period, she represented people on death row in Louisiana, Indiana and Oklahoma. She also had a solo practice in Indiana focusing on criminal defense and prisoner civil-rights litigation. She spent six years advocating for disability rights at the national level before retiring.

Judie is married to Peter Storandt. Their blended families include six adult children, ten grandchildren, and one great grandson. They attend St. James Episcopal Church in Wichita.

In 2018 they purchased blighted properties adjacent to their home to clean them up. The lots have been used for a Sculpture Garden and Prairie Artscape – creating green spaces open to the public. Visit their website (PrairieArtscape.com) and the project’s Facebook page (“Restoring Roots Prairie Artscape“).

Contact Information:

Judie Storandt
105 Race Street, El Dorado, KS 67042
Phone: 405-308-9158 (cell/text)
Email:  jgstorandt@msn.com
Facebook: “Restoring Roots Prairie Artscape“