The Loop

Some people wonder what my husband, John, and I mean when we say that “we are all living with dementia.” We use this statement to indicate that nearly all persons in our community—regardless of age—know at least one individual who is experiencing the progressive memory loss and mental confusion that comes with Alzheimer’s disease or […]

The Fox Valley lost a true mover and shaker with the Oct. 31 passing of Joyce Bytof. That’s how I knew her from a distance through the years. An interview in May gave me a closer experience with this extraordinary woman. I saw beyond the successful businesswoman to an individual who was convinced her will […]

Where other people see problems in an inner city neighborhood, John McKnight sees assets. McKnight is a professor emeritus at Northwestern University, an author and co-creator of Asset Based Community Development. He visited the Fox Cities recently to check out Neighborhood Partners, a project that seeks to build on the assets of the central Appleton neighborhood […]

Residents of a central city Appleton neighborhood will have resources available to grow their own food, reduce their energy usage and renew their neighborhood through a partnership of nonprofits, funded by a $55,000 grant from the Environmental Sustainability Fund within the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region. 

“Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.” A.A. Milne You have heard the advice — plan ahead! Finally, after many years of working with other nonprofits, worrying about emergency situations we would regularly see and responding to requests for funding something […]

After attending the Council on Foundations’ Fall Conference for Community Foundations in San Diego last week with my colleague Shelly Leadley, our director of donor services, and 700 other people, we left with these key takeaways shared at one of the sessions on community leadership:

My coworker Rosie Sprangers and I recently attended an emotional presentation of iPads to eight amazing students from the Kaukauna Area School District. Why was it so special? The students have cognitive or developmental disabilities, and iPads help them communicate more effectively at school and home.

We suspect it. We talk about it. We’re pretty sure it’s true. The people of the Fox Valley region are a pretty generous bunch. A recent national study says we’re right. The latest Columbus Survey says the folks around here rank in the top 100 nationally — 66th to be exact — in per-person giving […]

Wow. Has there ever been a week in the Fox Cities like the one we just experienced?

You know your true friends, right? They’re the people you don’t necessarily see every day —  maybe you’ve lost track of each other a bit — but if you need them, they drop what they’re doing and help. You know they’re a phone call away. You know they’ll give it their best shot. You know […]