Mission
Improving the quality of life in Fort Atkinson by inspiring and supporting enduring philanthropy
Vision
A Better Fort Atkinson
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Up to $30,000 to Fort HealthCare
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to help lease and operate the Shopko building for six months to provide a safe place for our residents to get out and walk and exercise during this upcoming pandemic winter. Fort Healthcare will be supervising the site and will have clear guidelines for usage, which will include wearing a mask. There will be no charge for using the site and it will be open to all. Fort HealthCare hopes to have the building ready for use by mid-December.
To get updates on when the building will open, what the hours will be and more, visit www.forthealthcare.com/wellness. Fort HealthCare hopes to have information posted there soon - so stay tuned! And a big Shopko-sized Thank You to Fort HealthCare for looking for creative solutions to help us get through this unusual winter.
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Fort Scholarships, the online scholarship application website sponsored by the Fort Atkinson Community Foundation, is now open and accepting applications for the 2021 scholarship season.
Local students will find Fort Scholarships to be a very convenient one-stop shop where they can review the eligibility requirements for a whole host of local scholarships and then apply for those for which they qualify. Housed on the site are all 40 of the competitive scholarships offered by the Fort Atkinson Community Foundation, plus many of those offered through Fort Atkinson High School.
To access the Fort Scholarships website, students should start their scholarship search at www.fortfoundation.org, the website of the Fort Atkinson Community Foundation, where they will find a comprehensive listing of all the scholarships offered by the Foundation, along with their eligibility requirements.
Once potential applicants have determined the scholarships for which they are eligible, they can then click on the link directing them to the Fort Scholarships application website.
There are two deadlines for submitting applications – February 1, 2021 for most scholarships to which high school seniors may apply, and April 1, 2021 for all undergraduate and graduate scholarships as well as voc tech scholarships.
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Applications for our AAUW Grants for Gals program can be submitted from Feb. 1st to March 15, 2021. This non-traditional scholarship is offered to provide support to local girls and women to help meet an educational, cultural, leadership, and/or professional advancement need. It is available to girls and women aged 10 and older who live, work or attend school within the Fort Atkinson School District.
We are grateful to our local AAUW branch for providing this unique scholarship opportunity. |
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Updates on Foundation-Supported Projects
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Kennel Club's Puppy Serenade
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On October 16th, the Fort Atkinson Kennel Club unveiled the clay model for "Puppy Serenade," a bronze sculpture currently being crafted by local artist Mark Dziewior. The sculpture will honor the founding members of the Kennel Club - Rita Hasel, Marleen LaPlant and Patty Beran - and their dogs. The Puppy Serenade project, which includes a bench and watering fountain for both humans and canines alike, will provide a nice rest stop in Rock River Park, right where the Montclair Place path meets the park road (see photo below).
The Foundation was happy to provide a grant from our Mary Hoard Fund to help make this project possible. Our thanks to the Kennel Club and to the City's Park and Rec crew for all their work to keep Rock River Park in such great shape!
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Some new poles for old Fort Cosconong
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The City of Fort Atkinson's Parks staff recently did a great job on some maintenance at the Fort replica. They pulled out a couple of dozen rotted poles, some which had already fallen over, ground out the remaining parts of the rotted poles that were still in the ground, and installed new poles. We were happy to work with the City's Parks and Rec Department and the Fort Atkinson Historical Society to partner on this little project.
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Thanks to the Hoard Museum, Unity Project and City Parks staff, five durable fiberglass history panels have now been installed in Barrie Park (pictured above and below), Endl Park, Jones Park, Ralph Park and in front of the Hoard Museum. Detailing the parks' history, the panels are in both English and Spanish to ensure that all members of our community are familiar with our history. The museum panel explores the history of the museum using similar themes as the park panels.
The Foundation was happy to award a matching grant for this project from our Carol Liddle Fund, a field of interest fund that supports projects to improve our parks, gardens and trails. Thank you to Carol for leaving us with this enduring gift.
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Haumerson's Pond Parking Lot
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Thanks to the Friends of Haumerson’s Pond, a very nice asphalt parking lot now sits just south of the Haumerson's Pond warming shelter. There are paved walking paths and sidewalks for easy access to the building. Final grading and seeding is still in the works but we expect that the additional green space that will be created west of the building will enhance the Bark River Nature Park and views of the pond.
The last piece of the puzzle will be a cream brick storage building and FHP hopes to complete that structure as soon as it's safe to once again gather their volunteers together.
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In 2016, the Foundation awarded a matching grant of $50,000 from our Mary Hoard Fund to the City of Fort Atkinson to assist with the purchasing of mature trees to replace all those lost to the emerald ash borer. The grant was to be awarded over a five-year period and provided one Foundation dollar for each dollar raised from the public.
Over the last four years, the local Beautification Council has successfully raised enough matching funds to allow the City to purchase and plant well over 300 large trees. Pictured above are city foresters and members of the Beautification Council celebrating a $2,000 gift made last year to the Fort Tree Fund from the FAHS Class of 1969 in honor of their 50th class reunion.
2021 will be the final year of the grant. Currently, there is still $17,831 of grant money available for matching and $4,500 in the Fort Tree Fund which is providing the matching money. So there's still plenty of room to grow the Tree Fund and take advantage of the Foundation match.
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| Join us in welcoming Kaylee Kidd in her new role as the Foundation's communications and marketing assistant! This is a new position for both Kaylee and the Foundation, and we are excited to see how her role develops. A Fort Atkinson native, Kaylee enjoys traveling and spends most of her down time at home cooking and baking with her daughter, Finnley, or trying to wear out one of their five rescue animals. |
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The Community Foundation is pleased to announce that Lisa Caras has been appointed to serve a five-year term on the organization’s Board of Directors. She was nominated by PremierBank and will be replacing Scott Housley who has completed his term and who will spend 2021 serving the board as past chairman.
"We look forward to Lisa joining the Foundation Board," remarked 2020 Chairman Housley. "Her financial expertise and her perspective as a member of a new generation of leaders in our community will be very welcome."
Caras, a graduate of Fort Atkinson High School, attended Miami University in Ohio where she received an undergraduate degree in finance. She then spent a few years in California working as a financial analyst for Intel.
After earning an MBA at New York University, she worked as a senior consultant with IBM before returning home in 2017 to work for Jones Dairy Farm where she is currently the Marketing Manager.
"It is a great honor to be appointed a director on the Fort Atkinson Community Foundation Board," noted Caras. "I hope to make a positive impact on the very community I grew up in. I’m eager to learn from and work with the Board on opportunities that make a difference in Fort Atkinson."
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Goodbye to Kristin Wallace
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Kristin Wallace is finishing up her final year as the Foundation's past chairman, ending six years of dedicated service on the Board of Directors of the Fort Atkinson Community Foundation.
Kristin’s ability to get right to the heart of the matter during our board discussions, along with her outstanding communication skills, made her a very valuable board member. During her time on the board, Kristin anchored our scholarship program, serving on dozens of selection committees, all of which were made better by her careful review of applications and her thoughtful analysis.
She added great value to our board and to the lives of hundreds of local students. We are grateful for her dedicated service to our community.
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Thank you to our supporters, donors, and project champions for another great year. Our 2019-20 annual report is now available, both in short form as a four-fold brochure and the more detailed version published in the Daily Jefferson County Union.
You can see both of them by clicking on the button below. |
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The Foundation was honored to receive the 2020 Heart of BASE Award, recognizing its role as a founder and steadfast supporter of our BASE out-of-school-time program.
We would like to acknowledge the good work of BASE Executive Director Alicia Norris and a dedicate group of board members and BASE staff who know how essential this program has become to our community. Even during these challenging times, they have continued to offer their services, albeit in a new and unexpected fashion. Our role at the Foundation is to foster success in our community. We are proud of the great success that BASE has become.
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We would like to take a moment to note a life well lived. Mr. Theodore W. Batterman died on July 29, 2020 at the age of 92. Ted and his wife Marilyn, who passed away in 2011, left an indelible mark on Fort Atkinson, both because of Spacesaver, the company they founded, and because their philanthropic activity benefitted so many Fort Atkinson organizations. You can read all about their many contributions to Fort Atkinson via the link below.
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A teacher, an adventurer and a lifelong learner, Dorothy Merriman lived a life of service to her community before passing away in late September at age 97. She and her husband Robert were both educators, passionate about the importance of education. It is most fitting, therefore, that their children asked us to direct all gifts made in Dorothy's memory to our Dr. James and Therese Fitzpatrick Educator Scholarship Fund to assist Fort Atkinson students seeking to become educators.
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John McKenzie came to Fort Atkinson in 1986 to become President of the Bank of Fort Atkinson (later Johnson Bank) and spent the next 34 years making our community better, including serving a six-year stint on the Foundation's Board of Directors. Every year, John and his wife Wendy made a gift to the Foundation's General Fund so it was very fitting that the McKenzie family requested that gifts made in John's memory be directed to the hardworking and critical fund he always supported.
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The word obituary derives from the Latin 'obire' meaning 'going toward' or 'to go forth.' It has an active ring to it that seems very fitting for Ted, Dorothy and John.
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