Category Archives: Donations

How to Defeat Cancer

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Monday Morning

We had 17 members and our guest speaker, Katie McCormick from the American Cancer Society.  “Happy Bucks” were offered up by Charlene Pettit for a weekend trip back to Iowa for a wedding and family get together but a rainy drive home and also by Steve Millin for not only his and Mary’s wedding anniversary but also in celebration of his in-laws 68 year wedding anniversary celebration over the past weekend.  John Cooper was the 50/50 Raffle drawing winner on Monday but he drew a non-winning Seven of Spades.  Next week’s drawing will have 34 cards with six pay cards and a pot of at least $224.

Katie McCormick, American Cancer Society

John Cooper introduced Katie McCormick, our local representative for the American Cancer Society (ACS) and also the local Relay for Life ACS Coordinator.  John & Charlene presented Katie with a check from our efforts at last year’s Relay for Life Brat Fry.

Katie then talked about the history of the local Relay for Life.  The local Relay started 30 years ago in 1985 and raised only $19,500.  Last year’s Relay raised over $210,000, even with the ugly weather they had, and over the past 30 years they’ve raised over $5.7M.  ACS estimates that over 400 lives a day are saved as a result of the funds raised by the various Relay for Life events held around the county.  Katie also noted that ACS gets 70 cents of every $1 raised back into patient related programs, many of which our local citizens are able to take advantage of right in our local community.

The ARC of Fond du Lac Represented

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Monday Morning

We had 20 members at our Monday meeting but unfortunately our speaker wasn’t able to make it.  “Happy Bucks” were offered by Del Waldschmidt for finally moving into his new house, Steve Millin for the Badgers return to the Final Four, Vickie Goldapske for her 26th year wedding anniversary, Charlene Pettit for not getting a ticket when she was pulled over for a broken taillight and didn’t have her insurance card in her car and Jan Krug for Barb Vercouteren’s Celebration of Life on Saturday.  Gary Miller was able to put together an InterClub to the Noon Club for Tuesday, March 31st.  Gary also provided a brief update on several issues that will be discussed and voted on at the International Convention.  Vickie Goldapske was the 50/50 Raffle winner on Monday and she drew the Four of Diamonds, another non-winner.  Next week’s drawing will have 43 cards, including eight pay cards, and a pot of at least $113.

The ARC of Fond du Lac

Our planned program from the FDL ARC wasn’t able to make our meeting on Monday morning so Steve Millin and Dave Krug stepped in and gave an impromptu program about the ARC.  Steve is a past Board Member and current Finance Committee Member and Dave is a current Board Member.  ARC has been in the Fond du Lac community since 1963.  They held their first capital campaign last year and raised over $1.3M, $200,000 over their original goal.  The funds will be used to upgrade the infrastructure at their N Park Avenue headquarters in addition to construction of two new group homes on Mustang Lane and eventually two group homes in the North Fond du Lac area.  They currently have eight group homes with the addition of their two newest homes on the south side of the city.  Their first group home opened in the late 1970s and was the first residential provider for people with disabilities in the city.

ARC serves between 800 – 900 clients annually in one of their six programs; Adult Day Services, Community Enrichment, Residential Services, Direct Service Provider Training, Transportation and Youth Community Enrichment.

We Gave Away iPad Minis?!?

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Monday Morning

We had 17 members at the beginning of Monday’s meeting but that number grew to 18 after we inducted our newest member, Dr. Caron Daugherty.  Dr. Daugherty was sponsored by Bonnie Baerwald and is the Dean of General & International Education at Moraine Park Technical.  Caron hails from the Ozarks region of Missouri but seems to have adapted well to Fond du Lac and Wisconsin.  We also had our guest speaker, Shannon Schultz from the Fond du Lac School District at Monday’s meeting.  Gary Miller is organizing an InterClub to the Evening Club for Wednesday night, December 17th to support our Club member Steve Millin, who will be the program that night.  Check your calendars and let Gary know if you can attend.  Happy Bucks were offered by Pete Vercouteren who is glad to be back and hopeful that Barb’s hospital encounters are over, Gary Miller for his helping out at the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day, Bonnie Baerwald for getting her outside Christmas decorations up on Sunday before the rains came, Sharon Kollman for being thankful she’s back from the warm beaches of Florida and finally Vickie Goldapske for fun deer camo with her family this past weekend.  Chris Serres was the 50/50 Raffle winner and she drew the Three of Clubs, another non-winner.  Next week’s pot will be $31 with 49 cards left in the deck and nine pay cards.

Shannon Schultz, Fond du Lac School District

Shannon Schultz joined us on Monday morning to talk about the benefits of the iPad Minis that our Club has donated to a number of students in our community.  Shannon is the Autism Program Support Teacher for the Fond du Lac School District and is in her fourth year in this role for the school district.  Shannon has been an educator for 18 years, 15 of those in the Fond du Lac District.  Shannon works with children and young adults in grades kindergarten through age 21that are on the autism spectrum.

Our Club has donated a number of iPad Minis to autistic students in both the Fond du Lac and North Fond du Lac School Districts over the past several years as part of the Past Governor Messer’s Project.

Shannon used two of her students as examples of how the iPad Minis are used by these students to function in everyday life, from a communication device to a scheduler that helps a high school student get ready for school and get to his job helping to serve breakfast at school, without someone helping him every step of the way.   The specialized apps that are available for the iPad Minis provide these students with a new whole world.  With the rate of autism now at 1 in 65, there is plenty of need for these kinds of instructional aids.