Featured Volunteers
The Volunteer Center is proud to honor this quarter's "Featured Volunteers." Featured Volunteers are extremely important to our member agencies because of their decication and service. Thanks to each and every one of you!
Tammy Clark | Rich Propp | Regner Rejuvenation Committee | Mary Driscoll | Carol Flanders | Arlene Pionke | K9 Friends of West Bend
Friends of Lac Lawrann Wildflower Sale Volunteers | Regner Fest Volunteers
West Bend Friends of Parks and Recreation - Regner Fest Volunteers
The West Bend Friends of Parks and Recreation and the Regner Fest volunteers did an OUTSTANDING job at Regner Fest on Saturday, July 21st. Regner Fest is a new event that is fashioned after “Celebrate Regner” a 75th Anniversary event that was held two years ago. The event included tons of daytime activities for families including free swimming and Rotary splash pad, bounce house, sand castle building contest, All Star Baseball Academy batting cages, Kohl’s Design It! Mobile Lab by Discovery World, Wacky Hair designs by Fantastic Sam’s, Frisbee Golf demo’s, and even an old fashioned Lithia fire truck that the kids could climb explore. Nighttime entertainment included three lively bands and delicious food provided by Riverside Brewery, nummy treats by Candyman on Main and cold refreshments provided by the Friends of Parks and Recreation and its many volunteers. The volunteers did everything from manning the gates, helping set-up and take-down and serving cold refreshments to over 2500 participants. The Friends are just a great bunch of folks who say yes anytime they are called. They always come ready to help in any way they can and they always have a smile on their face. There is absolutely no way we could run our events without our great volunteers.
Friends of Lac Lawrann Conservancy's Wildflower Sale Volunteers
- West Bend Park, Recreation & Forestry
The 25th annual Lac Lawrann Wildflower and Perennial Sale is May 12 this year. The 70 or so volunteers it takes to work the day of the event and the month plus of preparations is a huge commitment and a lot of fun. The volunteers are out on cold days rainy days, and beautiful ones too. Lac Lawrann volunteers are known for their potlucks so lunch is usually included during work days and it is always delicious.
Over the past 25 years, many stories and friendships have developed. One memorable sale was when an ice storm came through the night before the sale, the plants survived (they are Wisconsin hardy), but many trees came down and made travel to the sale more difficult. This year will be another memorable one, not only because it is the 25th annual sale, or the early spring giving volunteers a head start, but this one coincides with the construction of a year round Learning Center which is a long time fundraising goal of the wildflower sale committee. Some of the volunteers from the original sale are still involved including Joan Rosenberger and Bob Stodola.
Mary Driscoll - West Bend Area Chamber of Commerce
The West Bend Area Chamber of Commerce would like to recognize Mary Driscoll for her diligence and generosity in volunteering support for our organization and representing our community. Mary is a 1995 graduate Leadership Greater West Bend. She is a Chamber Ambassador, attending ribbon cuttings and meetings. Mary’s enthusiasm and support of the Chamber events is immeasurable. She continually supports the efforts of the Chamber by encouraging new businesses and promoting established chamber members. She has served on our Golf Outing Committee, assisted at Jazz Fest and helped at the Geocaching event registration pavilion. Mary is the Administrative Coordinator for the City of West Bend. Congratulations, Mary!!!
Carol Flanders - Museum of Wisconsin Art
Carol Flanders has been a dedicated volunteer in the Museum of Wisconsin Art since 2002. She volunteers in the museum’s Archive/Library every Thursday morning and does endless filing of information on over 8,500 Wisconsin Artists and hundred’s of art related miscellaneous files. Photocopying projects, organizing and updating our MWA scrap book of published articles have also been among her accomplishments over the past 10 years. Carol is not only active at the museum but also volunteers in the community for her church. Dedicated volunteers like Carol are definitely a blessing that non-profit organizations appreciate and depend on to maintain an efficient working environment.
Arlene Pionke - UW Extension Washington County
Arlene Pionke has been an office volunteer with the Washington County UW-Extension office for about 9 years. We have several other office volunteers, but Arlene has been with us the longest. We know that Arlene has volunteered for numerous other groups for even longer—Red Cross, Council on AODA, Museum of Wisconsin Art.
Arlene’s duties include stuffing envelopes, labeling materials, collating and folder materials and brochures, and many other tasks that help our office prepare for our educational programs. We asked Arlene what her favorite task was and she said, “most anything”. We also asked why she liked volunteering at the UW-Extension office. Of course being a diplomat she wouldn’t name any one person, she just said, “the people are friendly, and I like doing the work.”
We know that Arlene is a very active person. She is involved at the Hartford Senior Center and she calls bingo at the Germantown Senior Center. With her busy schedule we know that we are lucky to have a volunteer that enjoys working with our office team. Therefore, that “cup of coffee” that she likes so much is a small price to pay for a great volunteer.
Tammy Clark - West Bend Area Chamber of Commerce
The West Bend Area Chamber of Commerce would like to recognize Tammy Clark for her diligence and generosity in volunteering support for our organization and representing our community. After graduating from our “Leadership Greater West Bend” program, in May of 2011, Tammy continues to regularly attend member-sponsored breakfasts, Business After Hours gatherings and luncheons. She is a Chamber Ambassador, attending ribbon cuttings and meetings. Tammy’s presence at these events supports the efforts of the Chamber by encouraging new businesses and promoting established chamber members. She has gone out of her way to run errands for the Chamber, worked on our Golf Outing Committee, and helped at the Geocaching event registration pavilion. Tammy is the Recruiting Director for Principal Financial, located in Milwaukee. Thank you, Tammy and Congratulations!
Rich Propp - Ice Age Trail Alliance Wash/Oz Chapter 
A resident of West Bend and a lifelong farmer, Rich joined our organization just 3 years ago. He has made quite an impact on both the statewide organization and our local Chapter. Rich had perfect attendance for our stateside work weekends for the past 2 years and is only two events short of completing his 3rd year. Closer to home, Rich has adopted the Milwaukee River Segment to maintain, attends every one of our local work days and does emergency chainsaw work throughout the county.
A short story exemplifies his dedication to the trail: During a work project earlier this year, a work crew leader radioed for additional tools to be brought to his location because they were facing some difficult terrain. A few minutes later, the same crew leader gave us an update, “No need to send us the additional tools. We have Rich Propp”. As a symbol of his efforts on a statewide basis, Rich’s picture adorns our tool trailer!
Regner Rejuvenation Committee - West Bend Parks, Recreation and Forestry
The Regner Rejuvenation Committee has been assisting the West Bend Park, Recreation, and Forestry Department in moving forward to improve the heart of our park system – Regner Park. Richard Klumb, Andy Gonring, Tony Spaeth, Mayor Kraig
Sadownikow, Robbie Robrahn, Craig Hoeppner, and not pictured: Jackie Maynard, Jerry Mehring, and George Verheyen, make up an incredible group that has worked to get families and events back to Regner. Their work behind the scenes has spurred interest and generated funding to improve facilities such as the expanded Strachota Bandstand, renovated Kiwanis and Rotary concession stands, a new pavilion and the beautiful Silver Lining Stage. This combined with the Department efforts to build the Rotary splash pad, new restrooms, and upgrades to infrastructure has brought a renewed life to Regner. The Regner Rejuvenation Committee continues to improve our quality of life by enhancing this jewel of a park.
