Category: Donors’ Stories of Giving

John Felker knew he wasn’t going to go on forever, but he had a favorite cause that he wanted live on. John died yesterday on his 93rd birthday, but his Performing Arts for Youth will continue to send students to plays, operas, dance performances and concerts in 10 area school district as a charitable fund within the […]

The Community Foundation could definitely be described as dog-friendly, at least in the charitable funds it manages. The police departments in the cities of Appleton and Kaukauna and the Outagamie County Sheriff’s Department have established charitable funds to help pay the costs of having dogs on duty. Appleton’s fund received a special gift last Friday. […]

Members of Kiwanis provide cookies at “Light Up the Night” (pre-COVID), in conjunction with last year’s annual Appleton Christmas Parade in Appleton. By Jeffrey Walters treasurer, Appleton-Fox Cities Kiwanis Club As a donor and treasurer of Appleton-Fox Cities Kiwanis Club’s two funds, I’m grateful for the administrative help and investment base provided by the Community […]

A scholarship fund set up to benefit graduates from six Calumet County school districts by a hard-working couple is itself working hard to carry out their charitable legacy. Violet Laack taught in Reedsville, Brillion and Kiel, starting in a one-room schoolhouse, and continued substitute teaching into her 80s. Her husband, Ruben, worked at his cheese factory […]

When Walter S. Rugland’s father, Walter L, Rugland, formed the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region in 1986, working behind the scenes to position this new force for charitable giving was Larry Kath. Walt reflects on the contribution made by Larry Kath, who died Sunday at age 76. (Larry Kath is at the far […]

Pat and Jerry Rickman have a list of reasons for having a charitable fund with the Community Foundation. They want to use some of their retirement savings to support their favorite causes – including education for the very young and for young adults, as well as parks and green spaces in the Neenah area. Both have […]

When Helen and William Burger passed away, they left a legacy gift they hoped would make a difference in the Town and City of Neenah. Their field of interest endowment fund has recently supported the Voting for a Change exhibit, bringing the history of the 19th Amendment to life at the Neenah Historical Society; Neenah […]

The Neenah youth drop-in center YouthGo has done what a lot of families do when they run out of household storage space – they’ve taken over the garage. In YouthGo’s case, first they had to build the garage. They accomplished that with help from the Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Leadership Fox Cities […]

Life-saving transformational gift to local hospitals provides much-needed ventilators By Megan Mulholland, Marketing Director, Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region A donor with the Community Foundation has made a truly life-saving donation to area hospitals as they prepare to care for community members diagnosed with coronavirus. The anonymous donor gave more than $170,000 to […]

Larry Sawyer and Debra McDowall at the grand opening of the new Read Play Learn space at JJ’s Laundromat in Appleton. “Can we do this here?” That’s the question Colleen Holz had when she heard about laundromats around the country designing literacy spaces for kids. She reached out to Lance Nevins, the owner at JJ’s […]

Alan Blake knows from the inside why he can trust the Community Foundation and United Way Fox Cities to do the right thing in helping people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Blake, a retired bank executive, has been a volunteer on committees for both organizations. “We were encouraged and grateful that both the Community Foundation […]

Community members broke ground today on a new kitchen that will benefit the Ascend Initiative, a program of Housing Partnership of the Fox Cities and NAMI Fox Valley. Ascend serves young adults with mental health challenges in semi-independent housing in Neenah. Last fall, the J. J. Keller Foundation invited local nonprofits to participate in Kickstart, an […]