Category: General

Many people don’t like to think about what happens after they’re gone. Earl Kinjerski and Patricia Schoenborn-Kinjerski aren’t only thinking about it, the De Pere couple has made extensive preparations. Locked away in their safe are the obituaries they wrote a few years back and a special plaque for their cemetery marker commemorating Earl’s service […]

Hi! I am Stefany Murillo, and I have joined the Community Foundation as the Accounting and Payroll Senior Associate. My role is divided to support the finance team, the human resources team and database operations. Being at the Community Foundation brings me honor and excitement as I combine my passion for numbers and philanthropy. It’s […]

Hello blog readers! My name is Alex Kent and I am spending the summer months as the marketing intern here at the Community Foundation.

Hello! My name is Vijay Hira, and I am excited to join the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region, where I will support the Finance and Operations Department, including the Foundation’s facilities related matters. Before joining the team, I worked at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, where I provided a wide range of administrative […]

Giving students fun experiences with science and technology now, may kindle enough interest to make predictions of a substantial shortage of workers to fill needed tech jobs a decade from now not as dire as projected. Fox Cities students with an interest in science and technology are having those experiences through MegaBites, a learning experience […]

John and Connie Meinke are clear about what their charitable passion is, but rather than it being a particular organization, their passion is for an issue — hunger. In the community foundation world, that’s tailor-made for a field of interest fund. It’s more focused than the usual donor advised fund, but not directed at a […]

Imagine your loved one actively engaging in singing, games, activities, conversation, and creative fun, like this recent outing to a Timber Rattlers game. Local Memory Cafés provide an innovative form of social engagement for people living with dementia, cognitive decline, or other memory loss. By Harper Smith, Program Manager, Fox Valley Memory Project Fox Valley […]

The Fox Valley Memory Project has a new, free, evidenced-based program called Memory Link, providing support and resources to those living at home with memory loss and their caregivers within Calumet, Outagamie, Winnebago and Waupaca Counties. As resource navigators for the Memory Link Program, we have been warmly embraced into our participants network of support. […]

By Julie Filapek, Neighborhood Partners program of Goodwill NCW What is the purpose of an organized, connected neighborhood? The Jefferson Park Neighborhood (JPN) in Menasha has written their own answer through the pandemic. In 2019, JPN Connector Vicki Bokelman knocked on hundreds of doors to learn about neighbors’ knowledge, skills and interests. Because the JPN […]

Happy trails! The Bright Idea Fund within the Community Foundation recently awarded a grant to the City of Menasha Parks and Recreation to extend the Paper Trail in Menasha up to Nature’s Way, closing an unsafe gap in the trail and bringing two sides of the community together while encouraging outdoor recreation. By Brian Tungate, […]

Children not yet old enough even to go to school will be the beneficiaries of Catalpa Health’s latest mental health counseling program, supported by a $40,000 grant from the Community Foundation’s Bright Idea Fund. Six nonprofits received funding totaling $179,600 for  projects meant to protect children, foster volunteerism and improve our  quality of life. The […]

An in-school mental health screening program that works to save students from suicide was recognized with a special category of Insight Magazine’s Thinc! Innovation Awards after identifying 1,190 Fox Valley students at risk of suicide. Samaritan Counseling of Menasha received the special award for Excellence in Community Response at the sixth annual Technology & Human Innovation Networking […]