23nd Annual Lights of Love Tree Lighting Ceremony

Music playing

Hi, this is Melissa Kay.

I am here live at Aspirus Riverview.

We are here on the Expressway.

We got a nice little tent set up, and we are protected from the wind.

The snow is just starting to fall, and this is the perfect setting for lights of love.

I am so excited to be here with the group that we have here at Aspirus.

We're going to start with an interview with Anne-Marie Ott.

She is the volunteer coordinator of Volunteer Opportunities at Aspirus Riverview.

Hello, Anne-Marie.

Hello, Melissa Kay.

out there.

Yes, it's so nice to be here with you.

So can you tell me what your job entails here at Riverview

Hospital?

As the volunteer coordinator, I am responsible for recruiting, training, onboarding, all the things that go along with our volunteer support team here at the hospital.

And as you may know in today's world a lot of people like to give of themselves to give back to communities to kind of enrich their own lives and so we have a lot of different ways that we can use volunteers here at the hospital.

For those that would like to volunteer what are some of the things that they could could volunteer for with your organization?

One of our greatest needs at this time is our home delivered meals program.

Monday through Friday for the noon time meal, we have seven routes of people within our community that either can't cook for themselves or they have no one to kind of help them or they can't do the grocery shopping.

So they order meals through our hospital kitchen and we have volunteers that actually deliver those meals to them.

So we're always kind of in need of new drivers for that program.

We also use volunteers in our front desk space to help way find throughout the hospital, get people to appointments, push wheelchairs for people that can't make the trek to different parts of the hospital.

And they just are there to greet and help people.

We have volunteers in our cancer center as well.

So what kind of time commitment are we talking here for volunteers?

Do you have a range if people only are available for a certain amount of time or what would be the commitment level here?

So

typically we ask for a volunteer to commit to us for a year season if that's possible As far as what they can do our shifts are typically a four-hour shift But again, we can negotiate that if it's somebody that has we have a young student that is volunteering with us right now and the way his schedule works out He's only here for two hours Monday through Thursday In the late afternoon after school and so we're certainly willing to work with people in what their availability is

Well, that's wonderful.

Is there anything else you want to tell our listeners out there about this program?

I know if this is your first year for this lights of love experience.

What do you think?

I'm

liking it.

I think it's really exciting that we got some snow for this Lights of Love event because it kind of adds to the whole atmosphere of lighting up Christmas lights.

I am here at the hospital.

I am located here at the hospital.

So if somebody needs to get in touch with me about volunteering, I can be reached here at the hospital.

And the people at the front desk at the hospital can always direct them to me personally here in the building.

Well, thank you for talking

with me today, Ann Marie.

Thank you very much,

Melissa Kay.

All right.

Well, if you want to volunteer here at a Spires River View, just come into the front desk, ask for Ann Marie.

If you forget her name, which is a beautiful name.

But if you forget, just ask if how you can help volunteer here at a Spires River View.

We will be back with more interviews here.

Come down and join us.

We are having a lot of fun.

And you can be part of this.

The snow is falling.

The trees will be lit up soon.

Our program with the students starts up.

Well, we're started now, but the young kids will be here.

The program starts at 5.30.

Come down and join us.

We are here at Aspires Riverview Hospital.

I'm Melissa Kay with WFHR 97.5 FM.

Hello, and welcome back to Lights of Love.

We are here.

This is a live broadcast happening at Aspirus Riverview Hospital on the Expressway.

I am Melissa Kaye, and I am here.

We've got a lovely group of people that are enjoying the lovely cold weather.

It's almost wintery out here.

No, it's very wintery out here.

It's almost Christmasy with the snow flying.

Now I have with me Tammy Barber.

Tammy, tell me your position here at Aspirus, and then we're going to talk a little bit about the history of Lights of Love.

Hello, my position here, I've been with this hospital since 1999 in the communications and marketing field.

So I get to do the wonderful job of letting people know what we have to offer and making sure they know all the services that are available to them here locally.

And then let's talk a little bit about the history of lights of love.

Do you know how many years that this has been going on?

Yes, I have been here for all 23 tree lightings.

Oh wow, 23, that's wonderful.

Yes, this is our 23rd year and it was started by our auxiliary, us FIrvis Riverview auxiliary, which was a group of very dedicated volunteers that we had for many years.

That group has since dissolved because a lot of the people, you know, just have

gotten a little older and not able to volunteer quite as much as they used to, but their tradition lives on.

They brought this idea to our hospital from another hospital that they had heard about, and it's been a wonderful tradition, a great way for people to honor and remember those they love.

because that's the point of the lights of love right they can purchase a light of love for a family member or a loved one or to honor someone who has passed or someone who is is struggling with a disease correct

exactly and the lights are just three dollars so we have a lot of people who

purchase many lights every year and make it kind of their holiday tradition.

And then the lights, the trees remain lit between the hospital and the expressway from tonight through the whole holiday season.

So anytime they drive by, they can think of their loved one.

Wonderful.

Well, thank you for talking with us here, Tammy, and enjoy the holiday season.

You too.

Thanks very much for being here with us tonight.

All right, I'm Melissa K. We are down here at Riverview Expressway Hospital for the lights of love tonight.

Come down and join us.

We've got a nice crowd starting to gather.

Come and be a part of this wonderful thing that has gone on for 23 years.

I'm Melissa K here with WFHR 97.5 FM, 1320

AM.

Hello, and welcome back to our live remote here at the Spirers Riverview Hospital.

I'm Melissa Kay, and we are here for Lights of Love.

I have with me now Lisa Skibba.

She is the vice president of the Ancillary Services.

Lisa, you are here to tell me more about the history of Lights of Love and where those funds go.

Right, so we're very excited to have your program with us tonight.

We're so happy to be able to broadcast to the community, and we're looking forward to everyone joining us.

But as Tammy just explained, the lights of love has been here since 2001.

We had to take a couple years off or change things because of the pandemic.

And then also we lost our trees.

And I don't know if Tammy mentioned that, but we had trees along the expressway we always used.

And we had that bad storm, I think, in 2019.

And we lost our trees.

So we've had to pivot.

But as a community, we're flexible.

So we're excited to have the trees back on the expressway to light tonight.

And the history of this program, as Tammy explained through the auxiliary, was about raising funds to support patients, patient care.

As we know, some patients struggle with either paying for medications.

Sometimes it's

paying for some bills, transportation, you know, where can sometimes be in a transportation desert where it's a challenge for patients who don't have families in the area to get to their medical appointments.

So we do have some funding available that our care managers help, you know, distribute as needed.

in order for our community to be able to receive the care they need.

Or maybe there's some patient care items we need in the clinic.

So it started out primarily through again through the cancer center and the auxiliary.

It's blossomed or we tried to help as many patients as possible.

And then when we start the program here, you are the mastermind behind organizing all of this, which, thank you, fantastic job.

We have a great layout here and a program ahead of us.

What are you looking forward to the most?

Well actually I've been here at the hospital in Wisconsin Rapids for 30 years now so I'm very proud to work here.

I've been more involved as you said in the organization in the last couple years and what's been exciting about that part is we have a great team of volunteers from the actual staff who are excited about these events and they've helped me all along the way so I can't take full credit.

But especially last year, I was so excited to see the crowd and see the community.

And afterwards, have people thank us for putting this on and taking the time.

So that's what's so rewarding for all of the committee from the hospital and clinics who puts this together is that we feel the appreciation from the community as they honor their loved ones.

Well, thank you for talking with me, Lisa.

We'll talk again before the ceremony starts.

Great.

Look forward to it.

And again, thanks for everyone for listening and coming to our event tonight.

Yes.

So

you heard Lisa, come on down.

The crowd is starting to gather.

Oh, the cookies are here.

So you don't want to miss out on those.

Those were delicious last year.

So I hope to have another one this year.

Come down and join us.

We are here at Aspirus Riverview Hospital on the Riverview Expressway.

I'm Melissa Kay with WFHR 97-5 FM, 1320 AM.

Welcome back to Lights of Love.

We are here at Riverview Expressway.

We're located over in parking lot one right by the expressway.

I don't know if you can hear the cars going by behind me, but we are here.

The crowd is gathering.

The cookie boxes have now been opened.

So you want to get here soon because those cookies are going to go fast.

But right now I'm excited to be joined by Cindy Bates.

She is the choir director for the third through fifth grade choir from Grove schools.

Hello, Cindy.

Hello.

Would you explain, tell us

about your involvement with this event?

Absolutely.

This is our second year being invited to the event.

The students are absolutely ecstatic that they get to come back and some of the students who've never been here before have only heard wonderful things about being a part of the ceremony.

We've got students third, fourth and fifth grade joining us that are volunteering to be in the choir to begin with.

So they've spent extra time after school helping and working together singing all these tunes and we're going to share three of them with you soon.

All right.

And so

the students at the school, you said that this is extra for them.

So this is above and beyond that these students are doing this.

That's right.

So they get permission from their parents.

We spend about 30 minutes after school, one to two times a week.

And we are preparing also to sing some songs at some nursing homes and assisted living centers in the middle of December.

Oh,

that is so wonderful.

And then

You said this is the second year for you to be involved.

Has the Grove School done

this for more years?

Do you know?

The choir itself has been around for a long time, but as far as I know, it's only our second year being involved in the event.

Okay.

And then you said the kids are excited.

Tell me about that.

They have been talking for this, they've been talking for days.

about this.

Every time they come to the music room, they tell me that they can't wait to do this.

They want people to hear their sound.

And as an extra, they are so excited they get to be on the radio.

Of course.

And then what songs are they going to be singing tonight?

We're going to start pre-program with some Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.

Try to get everyone in that spirit.

And then in the middle of the program, we will be singing some Jingle Bells, another classic that the students absolutely love and adore.

And we'll end with We Wish You Merry Christmas.

Oh, that is the perfect roundup to get us in the Christmas spirit.

Thank you for talking with me, Cindy.

Absolutely.

Thank you so much for having us.

Absolutely.

We will talk with you again soon when you get the kiddos out here.

I'm Melissa K. We are here at Riverview Expressway.

We are in parking lot one.

So if you can't find us, come over by parking lot one.

We're right next to the expressway, right by where the trees were last year.

You can't miss them as soon as they're lit.

They will, which they will be tonight.

So come down, join us.

We've got cookies and so many wonderful people here.

I'm Melissa K here with WFHR 97.5 FM, 1320 AM.

you

Welcome back to Lights of Love.

I'm Melissa Kay and we are here at Riverview Expressway on the expressway.

We're located in parking lot one.

You can't miss us.

We are a big giant group of people and I have a lot of excited people to talk to right here.

With me now are the sixth graders who have written essays for this competition and to tell me about it, are there teachers who know way more about this than I do?

I've got Paige Jacken here with me.

Hello.

Hello.

And Kara, I'm sorry, I don't remember your last name.

Johnson.

Kara Johnson, hello.

Hi.

Well, I'm going to ask you ladies first to tell me just a little bit about this essay competition and how these students were chosen.

So this is our fourth year doing this competition about what giving in the community means to me.

And we have all of the sixth graders at Rams.

write an essay and they can choose if they want it to be an essay or a poem.

And they get to share with us what giving in the community means to them.

Wonderful.

Well, I'm glad that poetry was an option because when I talked about this on the morning show the other day, I said poetry competition.

So I was half right.

That's right.

All right, so Cara, how is the winners chosen?

So each of the ELA teachers, English language arts, we read through all of the essays.

The kids did get a grade for completing it.

And then we chose what we thought were going to be our top contestants.

And so each of us put forward four different names.

And then the committee here at us virus chose these three as winners.

Oh, that's wonderful.

So now I want to talk to the three winners here, and I want you to tell me what the name of your essay is.

First, we'll ask Peyton.

Peyton, tell me what the name of your essay is.

What giving means to me.

And what was your inspiration behind writing this?

Just to show people that giving can be free and it can be shared with everybody.

Wonderful.

And then Breelen, tell me what the name of your essay is.

Mine is Giving to the Community.

And what were you thinking when you wrote this essay?

Mostly just a story that went behind what I had, a story that I have done before.

Something that gave you the inspiration for it, yeah.

Yeah,

that's wonderful.

And then Noah, what is the name of your essay?

What giving to the community means to me.

And then who were you thinking about when you wrote this

essay?

I was thinking about the people that...

The people in the community that you would want to give things to or that would be giving.

You know what?

I thought I wasn't going to ask hard questions and I asked hard questions.

Okay.

What's your favorite soda?

Sprite.

Sprite.

Dr. Pepper.

Oh, that's my man, Dr. Pepper.

All right.

Well, you should come down here and join us because we're having a ton of fun.

The cookies are going fast.

The crowd is filling up.

Come over to Parking Lot 1.

We are here at Riverview Expressway.

I'm Melissa Kay with WFHR 97.5 FM, 1320 AM.

Welcome back.

This is Melissa Kay.

We are live here at Riverview Expressway.

We're located in Parking Lot 1.

If you're having any trouble finding us, come on over by the Riverview Expressway because you will find us.

We're in a tent right here.

We're near the trees where they will be lit up here during our live event tonight.

Right now I have with me Pastor Milt Van Alta.

Van Natta, I'm sorry, I messed it up.

We're at the Baker Street Wesleyan Church.

Let's talk about your collaboration with Aspirus and the mission in the community.

Well, we've been partners now with Aspirus for several years, not only doing compassion work here in the community, but literally around the world.

And we've just used so many different things in our partnership, whether it is medical supplies or medical equipment.

And then we take those and repurpose them for people who have need of them.

So we're just so delighted to be partners with Riverview Aspirus.

And how long have you been a pastor with the Wesleyan Church?

20 years.

It was 20 years on Labor Day.

So been really part of the community now since 1984.

So been knowing this community and working in it for a long, long time.

Wow.

So you were part, were you a part of this when they were originally actual trees here before they fell down during that big storm?

Well, this is my second year involved with this particular program.

But our relationship with the Spirus goes way back before that.

Wonderful.

Well, what would you like to share with people about this mission?

and how they can contribute to this wonderful cause.

Well, I'm really here not only to share about our relationship with Aspirus, but also to be a part of the program and just to share a word of hope at the beginning of the program because, you know, when we're talking about this program, this is remembering.

This is people who have suffered loss and we want to speak hope into that and we want to speak comfort into that.

So that's really how I see my role tonight is to bring that word of comfort.

to bring that word of hope to all the people who have gathered here together.

Wonderful.

So we'll hear more from you soon, Master.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you.

Well, come and join us.

We are here.

The crowd is gathering.

The cookies are going fast.

I stole three.

I promise I'll give them back.

You can see them live on our Facebook page.

Come down and join us.

We're here at Riverview Expressway.

I'm Melissa Kay with WFHR 97-5 FM, 1320

AM.

Welcome

back to our Live Remote.

We are here at Aspirus Riverview.

This is Lights of Love.

The crowd is growing in leaps and bounds.

We want to see all of you down here.

We are in parking lot number one.

You can find us right next to the Expressway.

I'm Melissa Kaye, and right now I am joined by Chris Squire.

He is the president of Aspirus Riverview and Aspirus Divine Savior.

Welcome, Chris.

Thank you, Melissa.

And you said you are pretty new.

in this position.

Tell me about that.

Pretty new.

It's been nine weeks.

It's been a wonderful transition.

Very welcoming community.

We came from Northern Michigan and we're very, very excited to be in Central Wisconsin.

It's a wonderful transition.

So we, we appreciate it.

But you also said that you are a native to Wisconsin, originally from my stomping grounds, practically my back door, where I grew up in Spartacoma area.

You were from originally the Bangor area, correct?

9 miles from where you grew up, Bangor, Wisconsin, so just east of La Crosse.

But yes, my family primarily resides in the state of Wisconsin, especially in the Bangor area.

Wonderful.

Well, what are you looking forward to this evening with this wonderful Lights of Love experience?

It really a well-established event.

I actually met two of the founders to the event.

I guess they arrive every year, so I really appreciate some history from those individuals.

But getting further connected with the community, and again, it's just wonderful to have this level of engagement from the community.

We really appreciate it as an organization.

Wonderful.

Well, if you come down, introduce yourself to Mr. Squire here and shake his hand.

Tell him welcome to the community.

We are glad to have him here.

And thank you for talking with me tonight, Chris.

Thank you, Melissa.

Appreciate it.

All right, come down and join us.

We are here.

We're having a good time.

The cookies are going fast.

I will bring those back, I promise.

But come down, grab a cookie.

The kids are going to be singing soon.

So join us down here at Riverview Expressway.

We're in parking lot one right by the expressway.

And I'm Melissa Kay with WFHR 97.5 FM, 1320 AM.

Welcome back to Lights of Love.

We are here at a Spirus Riverview Hospital.

The excitement is building.

The kids are ready.

Lisa, tell me

about what's going on.

We are so excited to have this Lights of Love celebration here in Memorial.

So many people of the community.

The crowd is gathering.

The cookies are being eaten.

And we have our choir ready.

We have our students here going to read.

We're just so excited to provide this to the community.

Again, we've been doing this.

Since 2001, we're just very, very happy to be able to do this and have this part of all the community.

And you are Vice President of the Insular Services.

Tell me a little bit about that.

So I've been here for 30 years, very proud to work for this hospital.

And we, my department is kind of all the clinical areas that aren't nursing.

But at this hospital, at Aspirus, we all work together.

We all pitched in.

I have volunteers here from the other hospital departments helping tonight.

And we just all do whatever we need to make things right for tonight.

We're so excited.

We do want to talk a little bit about the community, things we're able to do in the last year.

In July, we opened a new GI procedure space.

We're very excited with, be able to serve.

patients, private rooms, as well as space for their support person to be in the room with them, which is much better than what we had in the past.

So we're excited about that.

And then a new venture we have is we are currently working on installing a new MRI.

And so that will be available around Christmas time for patients, again, expanding our services, the type of patients that we can see in this particular MRI because it's

upgrade so patients don't have to leave a community that we're able to do things here right in Wisconsin Rapids.

So those are all the things we have going on right now and we're just again so very excited for this event tonight.

Wonderful.

Well is there anything else you want to talk about before we kick things off with the kids singing a song

here?

So again, we're happy to have those who are listening in their cars at the parking lot number one.

Again, if you can't find us, we're on the expressway side.

Are those listening at home?

If you're here with us, there's some cookies up front.

We're going to start the program very soon.

After the end of the program, we'll light our Christmas trees, our memorial lights of love trees.

And then again, just thank you.

Wonderful.

Well, let's hear from these kiddos here.

I'm going to step forward and I'm going to just hold this microphone.

If Miss Bates, if you could turn that microphone on there above you.

It's just a switch.

There we go.

All right, I'm going to hold this and then you guys kick off whenever your teacher says so.

Absolutely.

Give them a round of applause.

Wonderful.

And I do have a special request.

I need to send out a special happy birthday to Emma Jo, who turns 11 today.

Everybody say happy birthday, Emma Jo.

Happy birthday, Emma Jo.

All right.

So I'm going to hand this over to Lisa to get us going here to the first speaker, Mr. Aspirus President, Chris Squire.

If you would step forward here, sir, I will get you set up on the microphone.

Thank you.

Good evening and welcome to the 2024 Aspirus Riverview Foundation Lights of Love Tree Lighting Ceremony.

My name is Chris Squire.

I'm the president of Aspirus Riverview Hospital, and it is my honor and privilege to share a few opening remarks for the ceremony this evening.

First and foremost, we have the Riverview Hospital auxiliary to thank for establishing this tradition 23 years ago, a tradition that is now supported by the broader community of which we serve.

Lights of Love celebrates our loved ones through the purchase of lights and their memory and honor.

All proceeds will be used by Aspirus.

Riverview Foundation's support initiatives focused on our community's greatest health needs, including substance abuse, behavioral mental health, nutrition, and cancer.

Light in its simplest form stimulates sight and makes things more visible.

One can also think of light as a metaphor that can represent knowledge, understanding, love, and personal growth.

I believe in honoring those who have illuminated our path to this point so that we can share our comprehensive knowledge, our nuanced understanding, our unconditional love, and collective growth to further strengthen our community.

Please remember and appreciate what lights your path moving forward.

We're fortunate to have the Aspirus Riverview Foundation to proudly carry on the Lights of Love Ceremony.

Aspirus and myself remain humbled by our good fortune to continue serving and supporting this community.

Welcome and thank you.

Would you please bow with me for the blessing tonight?

Heavenly Father, so many of us here tonight are carrying in our hearts the memory of a loved one who has gone on before us.

Father, tonight would you bless us with comfort as we hold their memory dear in our heart.

Father, as we light these lights and we remember

Would you generate hope in our hearts?

May we leave here feeling thankful and hopeful.

Oh, please be generous to us through your spirit tonight.

We pray and bless us.

Amen.

All right.

Next, we're going to have our student essay readers come on up.

I'm going to have you introduce and say your name and then read your essay.

So come on over here, Peyton.

Hi, my name is Peyton Grassill.

The title of my poem is What Giving Means to Me.

Giving to me means making somebody happy and can cheer them up when they feel badly.

Don't get me wrong, I like receiving too, but giving cheers me up when I feel blue.

You don't have to be smart, mean, or tall.

Giving should be shared with all.

Giving makes the day brighter when it's cloudy and gray and makes it feel like a sunny day.

The gift doesn't have to be brand new or number one on the charts.

The best gifts come from the heart.

The gift doesn't have to be big or grand.

It could be something as simple as waving your hand.

Even a quick smile or holding the door or doing a simple household tour.

Giving is great and our community is too, but giving to each other is the best thing we should all do.

Wonderful.

Next we have... Hi, my name is Breeland and the title of my story is Giving to the Community.

To me, giving to the community means creating a place where no matter how much money you have, or what kind of circumstances you are in, you are still able to feel a part of something bigger.

We can see examples of giving to the community all through Wisconsin Rapids.

Whether it be donation sites for warm winter clothing, school supplies, or the Humane Society, or larger foundations that make it possible for us to have fun things to do, like lunch by the river.

by the river and events at McMillan Library.

Every day you have a chance to give back to your community in some way.

Giving is all around us.

When I was five I had to go to the hospital.

I was scared but when I got there the nurse handed me a stuffed animal that someone had donated.

Just that little jester made me feel more welcome and safe.

Again, when I was 10, I had to be med-flighted to Marshfield Children's Hospital.

This time, I was very scared from both me and my parents.

My parents were offered a place to stay at the Ronald McDonald's house, and I was given a homemade blanket that's in the container of fun activities.

My family and I felt very thought of and a part of a caring community during my stay.

Even though we were far away from home, caring communities are all around us.

People find many ways to give to their communities.

By volunteering, you are helping without expecting anything in return.

Giving to the community can also be cleaning up the highway or streets.

By cleaning up roads, you are showing pride in keeping your community looking nice.

People coming into Wisconsin Rapids will notice how much you care when your outdoor spaces are at their best.

Even just smiling at someone or selling lemonade for a cause can spread joy and help others.

By doing anything that will make people feel welcome, appreciated, or care for, I believe you are giving to the community.

There are people who care deeply about their communities all around us.

Thank you.

Hi my name is Noah Linsmeyer and the title of my story is What Giving to the Community Means to Me.

Albert Einstein once said, only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile, which leads me to explain what giving back to the community means to me.

Offering a helping hand has taught me kindness, patience, and resilience.

Volunteering, opening doors for others, and offering a kind smile are some of the ways I give back to my community on a daily basis.

I find that giving back to the place we call home should be part of our daily life.

Oftentimes giving is contagious.

It gives us a great sense of happiness and it also

helps us build strong relationships.

Starting with a small act of kindness will gradually inspire us to do more around the community without the need of receiving anything in return.

But in the end, I find that the skill of helping others is really a gift to ourself.

Reflecting on what giving to the community really means to me is that there's always hope for our future when we give back.

Life has a funny way of giving back what you put in.

I challenge you the next time you

You take a look around your community to see where you can help.

The main thing to remember is if we all start today by doing just one small thing for our community, we can change the world.

Wonderful.

All right, next up we have two songs by our choir.

If you guys could gather around again.

Wonderful.

Let's give them all a big round of applause.

All right.

Next up, we have a community message from

Michelle.

First off, let me start by saying I'm not a public speaker, but through the journey that my husband and I and our family have been on with cancer, we vowed to just share our message and hopefully that can inspire hope and faith and love in anyone else that might be fighting any kind of fight of disease or cancer in their life.

Thank you for inviting my husband Joe and I here tonight to celebrate with you the lights of love in our community It is a true gift to be able to share our journey with you and hope each one of you can make take a little bit of Courage strength and love away from the night Some of you may remember me from back when I spoke here at the ceremony in November of 2020 at that point

My family was a little over a year into a Hodgkin's lymphoma diagnosis for my middle son, Kale.

Our cancer journey started when Kale was a freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the fall of 2019.

Only a few months into his freshman year, he went to the walk-in clinic due to a nasty cough that had been lingering for weeks.

The mother in me figured it was bronchitis or maybe even pneumonia because he had just started at a new school and had a whole new host of germs that he was exposed to.

However, that was not the case.

After an x-ray at the clinic, he was told to go directly over to UW Health where he was admitted to the hematology unit.

There, he was handed a life-altering diagnosis of Hodgkin's lymphoma

after identifying a 15 by 10 centimeter mass in his chest.

Our family was shaken, stunned, and could only lean into our faith, family, and community for what was to come.

Within days of his diagnosis, Kale immediately started a six month chemotherapy treatment plan going every three weeks for infusions.

It was a grueling treatment for him to endure to say the least.

A few months after finishing up his treatment plan,

We held out hope for the next scan.

We were hoping that it would bless us with the words cancer-free.

Unfortunately, his new scan showed more cancer, and we were told he relapsed.

Once again, our world was spinning as our child started again another treatment plan of harsh chemotherapy to prepare himself for an autonomous stem cell transplant.

Cale again bravely endured so many infusions, blood draws, surgical biopsies, scans, inpatient stays, injections, radiation, immunotherapy.

It was week after week of trips to see his oncologist for labs, checkups, treatments, all while working through the isolation of COVID.

For too long, cancer and COVID ruled all of our actions and the choices that we made.

Our days and nights were filled with fear, prayer, and uncertainty as we watched Kale struggle through all of it.

However, Kale, he was our hero.

He kept his chin up, his faith strong, and his fight even stronger.

He truly was the anchor that kept our family grounded through this.

After being inpatient for almost four weeks for his transplant and during radiation and immunotherapy afterwards,

Kale finally had time to heal, reset, and rejoin life.

He was given the great news of a clear scan in the spring of 2020, which filled our hearts with such gratitude and relief.

We were cautiously optimistic with this good news and stayed upbeat and hopeful as best we could.

Unfortunately, living through one relapse already made it difficult to keep the negative thoughts and fears at bay.

We focused hard on being optimistic, but it seemed like there was more looming.

It was hard to determine if it was fear or intuition at that time.

Either way, we continued to appreciate the good days that we did have.

It was about at this time that I then spoke at the 2020 Lights of Love Ceremony.

So many of my words from that night still hold true.

The care, the support, and love the community gave our family was humbling to say the least.

The foundation was a large part of our blessing during that time.

They were generous to provide Kale with the nutritional drinks when he couldn't keep food down.

Each time we walked into the cancer center here, we were greeted with such warm and compassionate staff that truly cared for Kale and cheered him on.

We held onto faith, hope, and love that surrounded us by the amazing community.

Without the support that we received, I'm not sure that our resolve would have been as strong.

Unfortunately, about a year after that speech, Cale called me from college to say that he had a small lump on his back.

This prompted another PET scan and an additional biopsy which proved that his initial mass in his chest was showing new activity.

Again, what a devastating hit.

The grueling emotions of what Kale had already endured through the years came rushing back.

We were mad.

How could this be happening to our son again?

How could some warriors be cured after their initial treatments?

And here was Kale, now facing his third line of treatment.

To get to what?

We didn't know.

There are no guarantees.

We wanted him to be normal, and he wanted to be normal.

He wanted to go back to college and just live life free of disease.

This is when our family and our prayer warriors pulled together again to carry us through these hard moments, giving us strength to put one foot in front of the other and keep fighting for Kale.

Kale immediately transitioned to an inpatient chemotherapy plan for several sessions to get him to the final goal, an allogenic stem cell transplant.

We were so grateful to know that our oldest son Max

was a 100% match for Kale and was willing and able to donate his healthy stem cells to his brother to save his life.

On October 5th of 2022, Kale received healthy, strong bone marrow from our max.

The process was again grueling for Kale, but he continued to dig very deep and face the setback with the courage and faith that he was so known for.

We continue to focus on positive moments and not let our thoughts linger in the what-ifs.

Cale focused back on school and healing as we took steps away from those memories.

Our family was finally given the news we prayed for in January of 2023.

Cale was finally cancer-free and has remained in remission since then.

We know many of you here tonight grieve a loved one that was not able to hear those words.

Some of you are survivors yourself who fought and dug deep to beat this terrible disease Most of us have all had have had a loved one touched by the word cancer disease disability or loss I Asked that when you see these trees you reflect and remember the fight the love and the heroes who touched your heart

My son Kale is my hero.

His light will shine as a reminder that we can do hard things.

His light will remind us that this journey, although filled with fear and anxiety, also had moments of gratitude, compassion, and strength.

We do not know where our cancer journey will take our family in the future, but today we will continue to be grateful for the community and the support it has given us.

As you drive past these beautifully lit trees, let them be a reminder of the commitment and encouragement from the community we believe in.

We truly appreciate the support from all of the donors of this amazing foundation.

When you make a financial commitment, remember my son and all the other lights on these trees that represent a warrior.

Remember that when you make a donation to the foundation, you're helping your neighbors, coworkers, family, and friends.

Remember that without your deep commitment to this foundation, my family and many others would have had an additional financial burden to carry while already carrying so much emotionally and physically.

So thank you.

Thank you for helping light these trees of faith, hope and love for all that lean in and need the support they provide.

As you remember your loved ones that your light represents,

Please remember the gratitude of those that you are supporting.

Thank you.

Thank you, Michelle.

That was

beautiful.

And now I believe it is time for us to do the lighting of the tree.

So if everybody over on this side wants to or split so you can see the tree, we're going to do a countdown together.

And we're going to ask the kids to help us do the countdown.

And do we have someone over there and ready to go?

OK, so come up here, young man.

You're going to help us lead this countdown.

Are we ready?

Should we start?

Should we start from 10?

Okay, are we ready?

Here we go.

10, 9, 8,

7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0!

Now as you come by you will be able to see the beautifully lit trees as you drive by the Aspirus Riverview Hospital here.

We would like to thank everyone that participated in this.

Would you like to do it Lisa?

Thank you for everyone who came in attendance tonight and participated.

Thank you to our 2024 community business sponsors, Richie and Felner Richie Funeral Homes, honoring the lives and celebrating memories of our loved ones.

Solaris.

who has donated the lovely cookies, so make sure you get a cookie before you leave tonight.

Thank you to WFHR1320WIRARI for the broadcast this evening.

A special thanks to our lights of love volunteers, Nancy Sorensen, Nancy Meyer, and Elaine Semerle.

Thank you to the Ram 6th grade writers and their teachers, Paige Jacken, Cara Johnson, Amanda Mantick, and Abigail Crisa.

Also, special thanks to the Grove School 3 to 5th grade choir, Directors Cindy Bates and Sarah Morbrocker.

Again, thank you all for your attendance, and we hope to see you next year.

Alright, thank you everybody.

We're gonna do one more resounding round of Root Off the Red Nose Reindeer.

Everybody can join in this time.

Are we ready everyone?

Alright, here we go.

Root Off the Red Nose Reindeer.

Had a very shiny nose.

And if you ever saw it, saw it.

Wonderful.

All

right, I want to send out a special thank you to everybody tonight.

Thank you to Lisa Skibba for organizing all of this and all of our speakers, Anna Marie Ott, Cindy Bates, the choir director with the third through the fifth graders.

Thank you to all the fifth graders out there.

Paige Jacken and Cara Johnson, our student readers, Peyton Grassel, Breelen.

Breelen Lau, Noah Linsmeyer, Pastor Milt Van Natta, Chris Speyer, and of course, Lisa Skibba.

Thank you for joining us here tonight.

I am Melissa Kaye.

This is the Lights of Love Live Remote from Aspirus Riverview Hospital.

As you drive by, think about the beautiful...

things that you heard tonight and the wonderful things that this foundation does for our community.

Thank you for joining me.

I'm Melissa Kay with WFHR 97.5 FM, 1320 AM.