The End
Welcome back to our morning show at WRCO.
Next up we talk about the St.
Vincent DePaul River Valley Conference and an upcoming fundraiser they have.
Joining us in the studio today, president of the St.
Vincent DePaul River Valley Conference, Jones Aholka and Denny Olson is here, co-chair of the building committee.
You may have watched that kind of coming up from the ground up and a new building in spring green.
So we'll talk about that.
But good morning to the both of you.
Good to have you in the studio with us today.
Good
morning.
Thanks for having us.
Well, Joan, the first thing I want to talk about is a big fundraiser coming up this weekend.
Oh, yes.
We're absolutely delighted.
The shed restaurant in Spring Green is hosting our fundraiser on Sunday, July 12th from 11 to 2.
And we're very excited.
Great food, live music by Jana Johnson and Lydia, her daughter, local
local musicians that are very popular.
We're doing a 50-50 raffle, a basket raffle.
It's just a fun time for the community to get together and raise some money for our effort with the building, the new building coming.
So right now, the goal is to help out a little bit more with the building.
Two goals, Phil.
Two goals.
One for outreach, to help local people in need.
our friends in need.
And the other goal is to fund the rest of the building.
And Denny can get into that a little bit as we get in to talk about the building a little bit more and on how much more we have yet to raise.
But I like to kind of start out and give people a little bit of a
An education, if you will, a little history because most people, when I sit in front of them, they know the word Vinnie's.
They say, oh, I know Vinnie's.
St.
Vinnie's.
Yeah.
But they don't really know the history at all.
And so, you know, back in 1833, a young college student by the name of Frederick Ozenam in Paris, France was challenged.
by his college buddies, basically, to put their faith into action and start to help the poor in Paris, France at the time.
And the only way to do that was to go out and visit people in their own environment and bring food and try to learn about their neighbors.
And so the good news is that they adopted St.
Vincent de Paul, who lived 200 years before that.
as their patron saint, and then carried forward their mission.
And basically, 12 years after they started, it was already in the United States, and the very first St.
Vincent of Paul was in St.
Louis, Missouri.
So the mission expanded quite a bit, and then we basically, when my husband and I moved into the community in 2018,
We kind of challenged or went to the parishes in town and said, how can we help?
What does this community need?
And Father John Silva at the time told us, we need St.
Vincent de Paul.
And my husband and I looked at each other kind of cross-eyed and said, okay, what's the next step?
What I just want to say is that we kind of let a little group of volunteers to join us to begin this St.
Vincent de Paul effort without a store.
So there's eight conferences, St.
Vincent and Paul conferences in our area, and those include areas like Reedsburg, Baraboo, Sock, Monroe, Portage, Muscaday, and we were the only ones that didn't have a store.
So how do you provide resources for people in need, you know, without a store?
So it started out with some very generous, generous contributions and parishioners support from St.
John Parish in Spring Green and St.
Luke's in Plain.
And we basically got quite a few volunteer parishioners to help in this effort and a lot of resources and support from the parish community, including
wonderful support from the parish priest, Father Luke and Father Camude, who carried the torch after Father John.
And so I just wanted to give that a little history.
Instead of waiting for a store to generate some money to help outreach, we had some outreach funds from our parishes, and we could then begin to help people.
And the way we did that was, and we do it to this day, is to go into a person's home.
and meet with them face to face.
So we have trained volunteers that do that.
And we do it in the privacy, in a non-judgmental, compassionate way.
And you don't have to be a certain race, gender, faith, or creed or ethnicity to get help.
All are helped in the River Valley community.
So we typically serve the River Valley School District.
Danny, it's an exciting time for the River Valley area and for Spring Green as well.
It really is, Phil.
Again, thanks for having us this morning.
Going back to 2019 when all of this began, the idea was to help with outreach to people in need, but we needed a revenue stream.
We can't just go to parishioners or people in the community and ask for donations to help these people, so we needed to put our
faith and action.
And at that time, we worked together with Reedsburg and Baraboo Stores.
And since we didn't have our own building yet, we needed a place to do furniture and donation pickups.
And since 2019, we filled the St.
Vincent de Paul straight truck we estimated between 130 and 140 loads of donations.
We got the word out there.
People were great.
They brought clothing, donated items.
And since we didn't have a place to go with it, we worked again with Reedsburg and Bearable.
Those items go to Reedsburg.
They're sold there.
And in exchange, they voucher back our conference for people that are in need of health, people that maybe are displaced from fire, need help with
making expenses each month, and we would send them there.
They'll have their vouchers.
It's kind of a hand-in-hand work with these St.
Vincent, Riedsburg, and Bearable, and those vouchers have worked very well until we've come to the point now where parishioners and people have wanted to see a building of our own.
We go to their homes, we pick this up, and, you know, where does this go?
Well, it's going to go to Riedsburg.
Well, it'd be nice if it would stay in Spring Green.
So we're going to work with Raidsburg and Baraboo and continue to work with them.
But the donated items will be in spring green in the store.
People can donate.
They can go there and shop.
And we're hopeful that this all will be completed before Halloween
Halloween.
Why is coming quickly?
I mean, Joan, you talk about you, you started from ground zero, you know, and here you are this year.
It's an exciting year.
I think, you know, we had.
We had two major anonymous benefactors that came to the parish priest and came to us, and I think it was sort of a challenge in a way, because it started out where we didn't know that our community could really support St.
Vincent de Paul, but when we started doing sort of marketing research and started looking at rural poverty, and what does that look like?
And we discovered, too, in all the data and whatnot, that there's a tremendous amount of folks that need help.
About eight to 13% live below the poverty line.
And you know what?
It's so difficult in a small rural community, when everybody knows each other, to call and ask for help.
And they don't want their neighbors necessarily to know that they need help.
And sometimes, you know, a neighbor doesn't know their neighbor needs help.
And so this is a great way to begin the process and have a physical footprint, you know, in the neighborhood where somebody can walk in the door and sit down and meet with someone in an outreach office and talk about, you know, their situation.
And many times these folks, when you meet with them, say it's so nice to meet somebody that cares.
you know, and can point us to other resources, you know, to help us.
So we're thrilled that we just managed to land a piece of property that was right next door to the spring green food.
that's also, you know, building a location and right in front of the, you know, the spring green community gardens.
And then we've been working with the school district with Lauren Glassbrenner, who wants to work with us to identify and help and assist, you know, school families as well.
So it's turned into quite the project.
I guess what's what's the status of the building and you know you're getting there
it sounds like we're getting there yeah the the building is up it's not enclosed as yet we have some of the windows to complete but the actual structure is there we're about a third of the way complete with the with the concrete pour on the floor and
We're waiting on subcontractors.
Sometimes they can make it in a timely basis, but we know how that goes with the weather.
But it's moving along very nicely right now.
It's a pretty good size
building.
It's 12,000 square feet.
10,000 of that will be the thrift store, the outreach center, offices, and the no nation drop off bay.
So it'll be pretty good size.
And we hope to fill it.
bring the people in.
The nice part about the fact that it's going to have an outreach office there, right now, Joan has the outreach coordinator and the people that assist there.
For the most part, they're going into people's homes to help.
And I think having a neutral site to come and talk and open up about your needs is a little beneficial for those in need.
They may be a little hesitant with having strangers come to their home.
That building will be there.
There'll be a sign on the front.
And if they want to walk in, the door is always open when we're there.
And that'll be a real benefit to those that are in need of assistance.
During your time, Jonah, being a part of this, I'm guessing you, you have witnessed some really rewarding things, haven't you?
Yeah, no question.
It's kind of emotional talk about for sure.
Um, but you know, we have examples of, you know, single dads that, you know, maybe, uh, uh, lost their income for a short period of time and can't maybe make, make their mortgage payment.
We work often with single parents, single moms too, that struggle with, okay, they have a job, but now who takes care of the children during the summer or issues like that, where you're on the precipice of not being able to cover your bills because you've got to deal with childcare situations.
And then there's always,
situations too that if you're unemployed and you're looking for work, your cell phone is your link to applying for jobs.
You also need a workable car.
We've worked with some people that are single, that have great jobs, but don't have a great car and struggle with it continually breaking down stories like that.
We've also worked with seniors, elderly people that, you know, some that are living maybe a little bit more in isolation than they, you know, would like to.
We've dealt with just families that have gone through fire, you know, that work with all the agencies that help them, but then when the dust settles, you know, might need a little bit of extra help.
So there's
There's many, many different stories of folks that have been thrust into a situation that they didn't expect.
And the hardest thing is to pick up the phone and ask somebody for help.
That's the hardest thing.
So we want to be able to take care of ourselves.
We don't want to have to reach out.
But when we go into the home, my husband and I just did a home visit yesterday.
We go in and ensure people that
you know this is confidential and that we're here to help you and we're really glad that you reached out.
and will help you get through this troubling time, and then hopefully down the road, you can volunteer at the store, which some people have said, hey, I want to give back.
I want to give back.
And so we take their name down.
And while I'm mentioning that, I just want to also say that we're always looking for employment.
We have some jobs now for part-time and full-time assistance.
So people can email us.
at our SVDP River Valley at gmail.com.
That's S as in Saint, V as in Vincent, D as in DePaul, and P as in Paul River Valley at gmail.com.
And we'll send them a job application.
And the other thing at our fundraiser this Sunday will also, if anybody wants to volunteer at the store, we have a list of about 16 people.
And we're definitely going to bring them on board to help out.
which also engages the community, and people can give back that way.
And then we've also hired a store manager who's been, her name is Kali Bolin, and she's a local gal from Springgreen.
Grew up on a farm there, and she's, boy, her work ethic, and she's all dialed in.
She has a strong history in retail, and we're just delighted to have her, and she's been training the last three months and is ready to
keeps asking Denny what the progress is on the bill.
And when we're going to open, but yeah, what's going on.
So it's a combination of people that are employed and then volunteers that run the store then.
Yes, yes.
We're hoping to, there's one store in the in the Baraboo conference, Salk, Jared Van De Hea up in Salk.
They employ quite a few, not employ, but have quite a few volunteers up there.
And
That definitely helps with the payroll because those volunteers eliminate the need for more, you know, full and part-time positions.
So we're hoping to engage those volunteers in a similar way and getting more people involved in the community is always a good
thing.
It's interesting, Jenny.
You know, I think the store, you know, is the forefront, but we're learning about so many things behind the scenes that, uh, that take place that we don't even know about.
That's right.
Feel a good point.
Um, also I want to mention that even though the store is in spring green, it is the river valley conference making up.
Obviously, the River Valley School District of Spring Green, Plain, Lowen Rock, Arena, some of the surrounding areas like Loretta and Lime Ridge.
It's all part of this collective group that's working together.
And I'd like to also point out the hard work that's gone into this project.
It's been two and a half years from day one, and it's grown from a simple, maybe a 3,800 square foot building to
almost 12,000.
So we had to start building or otherwise it would have gotten so big we wouldn't have had room for it.
So I'm joking there obviously.
It's all based on the economic factor of it all and the need for a thrift store that generates revenue.
And the people that have really been involved in this are Bruce Culver, Jack Schluter, Matt Limix, Dennis Limix, and Joan and I also sit on that committee.
They bring their specific expertise to this project.
They have different knowledge and ideas about a building, and everything has just come together.
And they've done a great job, and obviously we couldn't have done any of this without their help.
But having that building, and if anybody is wondering, the actual address is 890 West Moore Street.
It's just north of the high school.
and a block south of highway 14 behind Ring Brothers.
As you're coming in on 14, you'll turn south.
A block down on the corner between Westmore and Somerset sits our building.
So if you're driving through Spring Green and want to look at some areas that are new, drive by tell us what you think.
And out front, Jack Schluter designed a beautiful finished compilation of the building, if you will.
You can kind of see the building and the sign.
side by side and you can see how it's going and get an idea how it will look when it's finished.
So we're excited.
And I think when people see it and we have that visual there, they'll certainly support it.
And we've had discussions with people already that will ask, when is the building going to be finished?
I've been storing all my goods in the basement.
I want to get them out of there.
When can I bring them over?
So hang on October.
fingers crossed will will be opening the door for donations.
I
think it's important too, Denny, you point out the fact that your coverage area, but we don't have to necessarily be in the River Valley School District to donate or to volunteer
or
anything or buy,
right?
Absolutely.
And I don't know that Richland Center has a, has a St.
Vincent to Paul facility here.
So if you want to donate to St.
Vincent to Paul and it's all strictly nonprofit,
Um, obviously we have ongoing expenses with the building and payroll, but the rest goes directly to helping those in need.
And if you want to do that with us, I mean, you can, you can drive cross country.
Well, we don't look at license plates.
You can come from out of state
anywhere
and bring whatever you want.
And you'll have a real key place to donate to where people can drop off things.
Yes.
There'll be a covered canopy there, you know,
Regardless of whether pulled in will have assistance there to unload your, your goods and take them back into the donation warehouse and we'll take it from there and we'll be, we'll be happy to have it.
It's exciting time.
We've got a lot of building going on in spring green then seems to be.
Yeah.
That's good.
Yeah, that's good.
The other nice thing about donating items is it's a sustainable way to repurpose goods.
And that's always great.
One of the mission of St.
Vincent de Paul is to, you know, bail, for example, bail apparel that is unsalable and then deliver those to jobbers that give them to the
corporations that need rags and things like that so that stays out of the landfills.
So it's an environmentally sustainable practice that we try to repurpose and recycle everything that we take in.
Hence, we really truly ask that if you're going to bring donated items, please have them be saleable and not things that you would throw in a dumpster.
So that's a good way to help too.
Could you describe the corridor of care?
I know you've kind of hinted at that a little
bit.
Yeah, it's kind of a tagline that we started using and incorporating the fact that, again, the spring green food pantry is next door to us, which also will serve people that need assistance with food, and also the spring green gardens, community gardens right behind us.
And so there's three of us there that
We'll serve the same group of people and then of course We're less than a half a mile down from the school district
from the
schools So thinking that's kind of a corridor there of people that can you know go to the food pantry on the third Monday of the month and then come over to the st.
Vincent de Paul and
you know, get clothing for their kids, you know, before school starts, you know, those kinds of things.
The fundraiser this Sunday is an important event then, isn't
it?
It very much is.
We're looking forward to a really good time to involve the community and the businesses there and the parish community as well.
Anybody that wants to come is invited.
We also have, we'll be handing out our little sheet to invite people to, if they do want to.
support us financially can go on the wall of hope recognition at the actual facility when you come in the building.
We're going to recognize people that have donated towards the building and they'll be
able
to get information on that.
But I also want to give one last plug here for anybody that needs help.
The phone number is 608-588-5044.
And again, that's 608-588-5044.
That's our number for outreach assistance.
And then again, if you're interested in volunteering or interested in the job application, email us at SVDPrivervalley at gmail.com.
Dennis.
Dennis.
Now, one final thing about the building fill.
We're about 93% there with the cost of construction.
Our goal is to be debt free.
every dollar we can keep within the operation is a dollar we can use an outrage so our goal is to be mortgage debt free and we need about another six or seven percent of the cost of the building and we'll be there.
Go ahead.
Well good luck with that.
Thank
you.
When you do the ribbon cutting when you open the doors hopefully in October or November you're going to have all kinds of emotions because this started with a conversation with your parish priest and here it is coming to fruition.
What's that going to be like Joan?
It'll be difficult for me because I'm an emotional person So but there are it's teamwork there are so many people to thank in the community get us this far I mean when Denny and I and our treasure Donna slaney and Pat slaney was on the pickup crew and I could name a number of people in our Vincentian group Jack and Mary Schluter all of these folks It's emotional for all of us because we've we've
started from scratch.
where Rick, it's interesting Rick and I didn't know anybody because we were newbies to the community and we still are because we've only been here for eight years.
But everyone else that's in the group grew up here and has roots here and it's so wonderful to see everybody come together as a team and work together to make this happen.
And to see the results and the thankfulness, the thankfulness of some of the people that we help is just, it's emotional.
They're just, they just didn't know where else to go.
So yeah, we're excited to invite everybody to come out on Sunday from 11 to 2 at the shed in Spring Green.
Also want to thank Shannon and Nikki Stevens, owners of the shed and Troy Day and his wife have been gracious and generous with their time and support to move this effort forward as well.
Dennis, I know it's rewarding for you, kind of a lifetime member of the community to see this do for issues.
It
will be.
It'll carry on longer than longer than I'll be around.
So it's kind of nice to plant a seed like that and watch it and watch it grow.
I would like to point out too, we are a Catholic based group.
But we are non denominational and who we help.
So if you're out there and you need help, don't feel like you have to be a regular Sunday, um, attendee at mass.
Uh, if you need help, we're there for you.
And, uh, denominational or not.
Great.
Thanks for coming in, you guys.
Thank you, Phil.
Glad to be here.
Thanks, Phil.
Come on back and talk to us when you know a little bit more about the opening and all of that.
We would love that, because obviously there'll be a grand opening and we'll be very excited to talk about that.
So we'd love to come back.
Big news, not just for Spring Green, but for the entire area here.
So
thanks
for what you do.
Thank you, Phil.
You bet.
Jones Aholka and Denny Olson joining us here on this report from the morning show, St.
Vincent de Paul.
Don't miss the Summer Fundraiser Gathering 11 until 2.
at the shed coming up this Sunday.
