The Loop

Every Christmas when I was a kid, Grandpa Paulie would give me a $50 EE savings bond. These pink slips of paper weren’t nearly as exciting as the new Barbie outfits and Nancy Drew books I unwrapped. Some (many) years later, however, the 4%-plus rates on those long-neglected pink papers have greater appeal.

The old adage says “a rising tide lifts all boats.”  So how does that play out in community life?

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

In the middle of Appleton’s Arbutus Park,  dark cloth obscured a pair of panels, positioned to create two sides of a triangle. With the covers removed, the crowd of 60 or so seemed compelled to push forward and touch what they saw — a ceramic butterfly mosaic representing the rebirth of a park, and a […]

Juan “Mito” Kudaka believes history repeats itself, because he’s lived it. At age 17, his grandfather left Japan and relocated in Peru. Even though he was unable to speak Spanish, he succeeded enough to send his three children through college. Mito benefitted from that belief in education and was better prepared when he arrived in […]

I always thought I’d be taller. I come from strong Scandinavian stock, drank plenty of milk as a child, and count several close relatives at 6 feet or more. But my long-awaited growth spurt still hasn’t come, and I’ve yet to outgrow an item of clothing before it wears out. Though not as obvious as […]

In many years as a city hall and business reporter, I dealt with a lot of real estate professionals. The successful ones always presented an unwaveringly optimistic facade, no matter the reality or their actual opinions. So when I went to the offices of Coldwell Banker the Real Estate Group Inc. to interview company Chair […]

When someone plans a campaign for a community project in the Fox Valley, the list of people they’d like to champion it is certain to include Joyce Bytof. For a good cause, her answer always normally would have been yes. But a long battle with a rare form of cancer has forced Joyce, chairman 0f […]

As I come to the end of my term chairing the Community Foundation’s Board of Directors, I can say confidently that the volunteers and staff work very hard to strengthen our community for the present and the future. They clearly are helping people make a difference in the lives of others.

The Basic Needs Giving Partnership announced grants of nearly $1.8 million to more than 80 nonprofit organizations in northeast Wisconsin during a news conference today. The grants from the Partnership, which is a collaboration between the U.S. Venture Open Fund for Basic Needs, the J. J. Keller Foundation and community foundations in the Fox Valley, […]