My husband and I enjoyed the 37th Annual FFA Auction this past Sunday (the only time the auction has had to be cancelled was for COVID last year). The park, feed mill, and surrounding streets were packed with cars for the day’s activities. The FFA Alumni uses their funds from events like this auction to support the Gillett FFA chapter. The funds help cover costs of chapter trips, leadership conferences, and the sponsoring of scholarships. It wasn’t all just farm equipment on the auction block! There were other items like bikes, indoor and outdoor furniture, boats, and I was even surprised to find a drum set up for bids! Yoap and Yoap provided their services for the FFA Event, and you can learn about what they provide at https://yoapandyoap.com/ The duties for finding items for the consignment auction are mainly shared by John Timm, Mel Reichwald, Karen Herzog, and Josh Yonker. The other members help to spread the word when the time comes to find items to sell. Members of the Gillett FFA sold foods like burgers, brats, hot dogs, chips, candy and drinks. The meat they sell at the stand is all purchased by the FFA Chapter from Pat’s Market. Pat’s has always been great to work with and the Gillett FFA really appreciates their support!
The FFA Alumni is also involved with events like: Oconto County Fair, chapter Officer interviews, the Holiday Dinner, Breakfast on the Farm and sectional FFA Alumni participation. The FFA Chapter has always been able to count on them for help with chauffeuring, their annual plant sale, chaperoning activities like the middle school FFA lock in, and assisting with coaching teams for Career Development Events (CDE). Are you interested in joining the FFA Alumni? If so, you can contact one of the following FFA Alumni officers • President Josh Yonker, ([email protected]) • Vice President John Timm ([email protected]) • Secretary Julie Rank ([email protected]) • Treasurer Karen Herzog • Chapter advisor Michele DeBauch ([email protected]) A thank you goes to Michele DeBauch for providing me information for this post!
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Last Friday I had a customer come in to my store, and she shared with me that she makes hats for a foundation called Hat Not Hate. I looked up the cause online, and learned that it is an anti-bullying campaign created in 2018 by Shira Blumenthal, an ambassador at Lion Brand Yarn Company. Shira was bullied as a child, so while the mission is a personal one for her, she stresses on the campaign website that bullying is a universal problem. In the US, around one in four kids is bullied. Recurring bullying can lead to depression, anxiety, and suicidal behavior.
The concept of Hat Not Hate is to get knitters and crocheters to knit and crochet blue hats (blue represents awareness and solidarity, and is the color to wear in support of bullying prevention) and donate them to the cause. Hat Not Hate then gives these hats to schools across the country for students to wear in October, National Bullying Prevention Month, empowering them to be strong and stand up to bullying, and to feel encouraged with all the love put into the handmade hats.[1] For the customer that taught me about Hat Not Hate, it is personal for her like it was for the founder. Her child was bullied growing up and she was bullied as a child as well. Since I was bullied growing up, joining this cause has become personal for me as well. Hats have come in to the campaign headquarters from all 50 states and 13 countries around the world. Starting this year, my store Gillett Handiworks will be a drop off site for those who wish to make blue hats for the cause. Hats can be knitted or crocheted-they just need to be at least 75% blue, and the hats will need to be between 16-20 inches in circumference, as that measurement will fit kids ages 5 to 18 the best. Gillett Handiworks will be collecting the hats until July 24, 2021 at which time we will send them out to the headquarters for distribution. Those who wish to purchase yarn for hats at Gillett Handiworks will receive a 15% discount on your supplies. If you would like to learn how to have your school become a recipient of the blue hats, email me at [email protected] and I will supply you with contact information. You can also look for additional information for the organization at hatnothate.org [1] Hatnothate.org When the New Beginnings Resale Store moved from Gillett to Oconto Falls years ago, many were unhappy with the move-including myself. While the Store is struggling in their Oconto Falls location, the need for programs for younger disabled citizens has been growing. One of the actions being taken to assist that need is to move New Beginnings back to Gillett. However, instead of a space on Main St., the store will be built on the New View property on West Park Street thanks in major part to New View Industries receiving a Community Development Block Grant. Because New Beginnings only rents their space in Oconto Falls, there will not be an issue for them to leave their present location.
In the 43 years New View Industries has been in Gillett, this expansion is not the first time that New View has received the Community Development Block Grant, or CDBG. The first time was in 2003 when New View made expansions at that time. The programs taking place at the center have been so successful, that neighboring counties have referred some from their cases to New View industries. The staff at New View have found that the greatest need for programming is with adolescents and young adults ages 17 to 27 that have special needs. Because the programs are expanding, the center needed to accommodate the growth. Some of the goals they hope to reach with this expansion are: training for janitorial work, vocational training, and other training purposes. In order to maintain compliance with HIPAA Laws (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), there will be a split in the building between the New Beginnings store and the area where their clients work on tasks throughout the day. At the beginning of this project, a committee from the county and 4-5 citizens was formed. My husband was asked to be on this committee because of the experiences we have had with our sons-two of whom have autism. The committee was required to notify the public of the hearing they scheduled Tuesday February 9th at New View. At this hearing, the committee shared what was proposed for the expansion, what kind of schedule they have, and what their budget for the project is. The amount of the grant the project is receiving is $1.4 million dollars, and Oconto County is contributing $50,000 for the expansion. The county received their portion of the funding from the Revolving Loan Fund, which was dissolved, and otherwise the moneys would have been lost. The county had applied for a competitive grant, but for two reasons did not receive it.
Because of the amount of greenspace being used to build on to the center, the committee is required to have someone complete an archaeological study on it. The group being hired for the task is from La Crosse, and the study can be completed in one day. The cost for the study is $3,000, and the group from La Crosse will have 30 days from the completion of the study to file the report. They cannot get a start on that until the frost is out of the ground. Another requirement the project will need to abide by for the grant is that the project must be completed by October 2022. The project would need state approval if the project goes 10% over budget. The committee is also required to have another hearing further down the road to let the public know of the progress the building is making. When that meeting occurs, I will be attending to update my readers on how everything is going. I am excited by this development, and what it will do for the young adults that will learn and work at the facility. The Roy Hubbard Memorial Truck Show Committee met on January 30th to get a start on the 2021 show.
This event is not only a way to bring people into our community, but the committee is able to make a difference with the money they receive from the show. From the 2020 Truck Show, four causes received donations:
on June 18 & 19, 2021 at Zippel Park in Gillett. The committee is looking forward to having another great show and getting the chance to make a positive impact on area causes once again. I must apologize for my absence-I appear to have a little case of writer's block. For the past year, our lives have consisted of a flip-flopping between COVID, politics, and once in a while a big-city riot. I tried avoiding that in my blog by sharing bits and pieces from my own life. Now, I highly doubt you want to hear about me making masks, blankets, and towels, which has occupied much of my time in these cold temperatures.
Little towns like ours can get forgotten-and unfortunately do. TV and radio ads cost a lot, and it feels like our go-to newspaper-the Times Herald-has lately become just a copy and paste version of the Shawano Leader. (A side note, I heard from a lady in Wittenberg who said the same thing about their local paper-the Wittenberg Enterprise. The same company that prints their paper also prints the Leader and the Times Herald.) Long story short, I would love a little help from my readers. If you would like to get the word out about an event, please contact me. The event can be a school event, community event, club event (e.g. derbies, raffles), giving recognition to an individual, or (within reason) ranting about an issue in the area. Before COVID, I was quite involved in the community and it was easier for me to learn about events through the connections I developed in my work with organizations. We haven’t been meeting in the pandemic (and I really miss it, as do other active people I am sure). Yes, people can find out about events through Facebook, but you don’t hear everything. The people behind the scenes put a lot of work in, and not everyone can make events to see how they turn out. If I can make a difference in the amount of exposure an event can get in Gillett, it makes "Wendy's Words" worth the work I put into it. There are multiple options for contacting me about your event. You can use any one of the following:
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