Category Archives: Donations

Kiwanis Welcomes Relay for Life for Donation Presentation

Monday Morning
We had 21 members and seven guests at our Monday morning meeting. Joining us were four Fondy High Key Clubbers, Megan Buechel, Katie Bucher, Luckie Cha and Bridget Stollfus and three guests from the American Cancer Society, Katie McCormick, Becky O’Brien and Sarah Karweick. Vickie Goldapske had a “Happy $” for her first deer with a bow and arrow, a 9 pointer that weighed in at 162 lbs. Gary Miller reminded members to watch for the Evening Club Spaghetti Dinner at the KC Hall on November 14th. That also can count as an attendance credit and possibly even an InterClub. John Cooper was the 50/50 Raffle winner and he drew the Ace of Diamonds. While that wasn’t a winner it does take another card out of the deck. Next week’s drawing will have 47 cards with nine pay cards and a pot of at least $70.

American Cancer Society, Relay for Life
John Cooper introduced three representatives from the American Cancer Society (ACS) Relay for Life Team in Fond du Lac, Katie McCormick, Becky O’Brien and Sarah Karweick. Katie is a full-time ACS employee while Becky and Sarah are volunteer co-chairs for the 2013 Relay for Life in Fond du Lac County. As part of the introduction John also presented a check to ACS Relay for Life in the amount of $1,245, which is the amount raised in the past two year’s Brat Fry at Relay for Life. Katie talked briefly about our local Relay for Life and that 2013 will be the 18th Annual in Fond du Lac County. The 2012 Relay for Life raised $284,385, down slightly from the previous year, but still a tremendous event for our community. The 2013 Relay for Life is scheduled for Friday, August 2nd at Fond du Lac High School. While it seems like that date is forever in the future the planning group for the local Relay for Life is already meeting and planning and will have their first Relay Team Meetings in early January. Apparently success drives from the commitment and energy of the local volunteers and dedicated staff of the regional ACS.

St Vincent DePaul and Food for Freedom Bring Kiwanis Update


Monday Morning
We had 19 members and eight guests who joined us for an early breakfast on Monday morning. Our guests were four Fondy High Key Clubbers, Katie Bucher, Luckie Cha, Emily Nett and Bridget Stollfus, our guest speaker, Danny Loomans and his dad, Mitch Loomans, and our District Governor Elect Lynn Messer along with current Lt. Gov. Tonya Alling. Gary Ring announced again that there is a District Brewer Game Outing on September 16th if anyone is interested. Gary Miller is looking for volunteers for an InterClub to the FDL Noon Club on August 14th to help celebrate their 95th anniversary. More details next week. “Happy Bucks” were offered by Pete Vercouteren for the end of a successful EAA last week and Lt. Gov. Tonya Alling for our Club being a model Club plus Gov. Elect Lynn Messer’s upcoming term. Gary Miller has an “Honor Buck” for his wife that he’ll present the next time she gets to one of our meetings. Marlin Towne won the 50/50 Raffle drawing (second week in a row), and he drew the Nine of Hearts. Again, that wasn’t a winner but it took one more card out of the deck. Next week’s drawing will only have 34 cards in the deck with seven pay cards and a pot of over $440.

Danny Loomans, Food for Freedom – July 30
Danny Loomans joined us on Monday morning to tell us about a project he’s undertaking to try and break a Guinness Book of World Record plus supply a lot food for our local food pantries. Danny has taken on the task of collecting over 600,000 lbs. of food in a 24 hour period. Danny has set the dates of May 25, 2013 through May 26, 2013 for this huge undertaking. As Danny explained the size of this endeavor the work that needs to be done was overwhelming. The Sponsorship/Volunteer Proposal lays out the process that Danny is going to follow as he embarks on putting this project together. Our Club will be discussing anything we can do to help with Danny’s monumental undertaking as well as encourage our Key Clubs to also consider if they might be able to help in this record breaking attempt. Check out Danny’s website for more details and progress on the event.

Carol Braun, St. Vincent DePaul – July 23
Carol Braun joined us on Monday morning to bring us up to date on St. Vincent de Paul’s move into their new store on North Peters Avenue. In August of 2011 it was announced that the St. Vincent de Paul Society in Fond du Lac had agreed to purchase the old Copp’s Grocery store for their new Thrift Store. The transaction closed in late September 2011 and the effort to remodel and move into their new location began in earnest. Over 200 volunteers put in over 400 hours of time to get the store ready for their March 2012 opening. A major funding source for the Fond du Lac St. Vincent de Paul Society is the St. Vincent de Paul Store. The thrift store accepts community donations of quality used clothing, household goods, and furniture and sells them at greatly reduced prices. It provides items at no cost to people in times of crisis. The profits from the store provide about half of the Society’s funds for financial assistance to the poor. Additional funds come from money given directly to the Society through its annual fund raising appeal, estates, grants and other gifts. As a totally volunteer Society, administrative costs are minimal, and 93% of the money raised goes to serve the needy in Fond du Lac County.

Recent Donations of Time and Money Aid Local Organizations

Kiwanians never rest. Over the past two months we have dedicated our time and energy to aid three different local organizations in Fond du Lac. Please don’t forget about supporting our upcoming fundraiser at Walleye Weekend.


On April 14th several Kiwanians donated portions of their Saturdays to run a brat fry at PDQ in North Fond du Lac. The efforts of these men and women generated $1,100 for the organization seeking to save the Taylor Park Pool in Fond du Lac.

Kiwanis One Day Service Project was last Saturday, May 12th at the ARC building on North Park Avenue. The fun began with breakfast at the ARC and after a few logistical glitches were corrected the painting began in earnest. The entire building received two coats of paint and according to Executive Director, David Boelter, it looks absolutely beautiful. According to an email from David, the three FDL Kiwanis Clubs saved the ARC approximately $16,000 in painting costs while applying 110 gallons of paint to the ARC building.

Bowling with unmatched Big Brothers/Big Sisters on Sunday, May 20th, at Karl Ray Lanes also recently completed. Thanks go out to members John Cooper, Jackie King, Gary Miller, Charlene Pettit, and Chris Serres and her husband, Jim. These along with three Horace Mann Key Clubbers and seven members of the Winter Guard were in attendance helping with this outing. There were about 25 unmatched “Littles” that had a great time bowling and eating pizza. Thanks to the Youth Services Committee for sponsoring this event.