Tag Archives: fond du lac

UW Extension and Clarity Care Stop by Kiwanis

This is a two-week update for you from August 21 & 28

Monday Morning
We only had 14 members at Monday’s meeting along with our guest speaker, Michelle Tidemann. Marlin Towne continued distributing the dinner tickets for our 36th Annual Pork Fest on September 27th. It’s not too early to start selling. Gary Ring encouraged all members to think about alternate meeting places for our Monday morning meetings as we evaluate what to do about the price increase proposal that we’ve received from the new restaurant/banquet operator at the Ramada Hotel. Bonnie Baerwald won the 50/50 Raffle drawing and drew the Nine of Clubs, not a winner, but gets us one card closer to a possible winner. Next week’s drawing will only have 30 cards in the deck with six pay cards and a pot of over $488.

FDL County UW-Extension Parenting Newsletter, August 30
Michelle Tidemann, Family Living Educator at the UW Extension joined us on Monday morning to give us an update on the Parenting Newsletter Project. The University of Wisconsin-Extension produces and distributes three series of educational newsletters for parents – “Preparing to Parent,” “Parenting the First Year,” and “Parenting the Second and Third Years.” These newsletter series are age-paced, so parents receive a newsletter specific to their child’s age. For example, the parents of a 24-month-old toddler receive information on the physical, intellectual, and social skills being developed by children this exact age, and learn ways to promote optimal development. Parents receive the newsletters free, usually in the mail. UW-Extension offices across the state coordinate the distribution of the newsletters with community partners, including local health departments and hospitals, and dozens of other businesses and service clubs, such as Kiwanis. In 2010, UW-Extension began to offer a new option for newsletter delivery. Electronic delivery is free to the 72 county Extension offices around the state, their local partners and the families they serve. If they choose electronic delivery, parents will receive an email each month with a link to the newsletter specific to their child’s age. Currently about 50% of the newsletters are sent via e-mail.

Clarity Care, August 23
Mary Kummerow-Johnson is the Director of Marketing for Clarity Care. She joined us on Monday morning to tell us about Clarity Care. Clarity Care, Inc. is a private, non-profit agency dedicated to providing care and services to individuals with acute, chronic or long-term conditions, including those with disabilities and special needs. From in-home healthcare, to senior living options, to employment services, they enable their clients to feel in control of their lives and remain an active part of the community. A leader in providing quality care since 1972, Clarity Care serves individuals in the Fox Valley and Central Wisconsin regions, including Appleton, Green Bay, Marshfield, Oshkosh, Fond du Lac and beyond. Their employees collaborate with area agencies, case workers and employers to deliver compassionate care within every service line. They treat all of their clients as if they were their family members, often providing them with the assistance needed to gain a level of independence. This ensures that all people – regardless of age, health, income or ability – feel safe, happy and respected under Clarity Care’s attention.

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.

Fond du Lac Volunteer Center Shares Opportunities

Monday Morning
We had 17 members along with our guest speaker, Nancy Zompolas and Jackson Goldapske, who tagged along with Mom, at Monday’s meeting. Bob Kahl had three “Happy Bucks”, one for his daughter who is a 14 year cancer survivor, his son who is a 5 year cancer survivor and his wife who is in her first year as a cancer survivor. Gary Ring also had a “Happy Buck” for his attendance at last week’s UCC’s Na-tional Youth Convention at Purdue Uni-versity. Sharon Kollman also anted up a “Happy Buck” for their trip to Traverse City, MI to see their grandson perform in a traveling band performance. Pete Vercou-teren won the 50/50 Raffle drawing and had Dan Leeds draw for him. Dan drew the Eight of Spades, not a winner. Next week’s drawing will only have 36 cards in the deck with seven pay cards and a pot of over $416.

Fond du Lac County Volunteer Center, Nancy Zompolas
Nancy Zompolas, Executive Director at the FDL County Volunteer Center since February of this year, joined us on Monday morning to update us on things that are happening at 650 N Main Street.
The Volunteer Center of Fond du Lac County’s Mission is to promote wellbeing through the connection of volunteers and resources with community needs.
They connect people with opportunities to serve:

  • Provide information and services to all potential volunteers
  • Connect people with a variety of opportunities in various sectors of the community

They build capacity for effective, local volunteering:

  • Provide information to agencies and organizations on best practices in volunteer management
  • Provide training on volunteer management
  • Consult with agencies and organizations to help enable them to utilize volunteers effectively
  • Offer fund development opportunities

They Promote Volunteering:

  • Promote the value of volunteering
  • Recruit and connect volunteers to com-munity needs
  • Recongnize volunteers