I was born in rural central Minnesota and raised during the Great Depression. I attended a small country school. Photos courtesy of Jerry Viste The school had a small library which consisted of one small bookshelf. One day when I was in the fifth grade, I was sitting quietly at my desk, not doing anything, …
“Life would be incomplete without the humanities.” Read More »
I was born in 1942 when Lois was quite a popular name. Photo courtesy of Dawn Davis My name is Lois Potratz and I belong to a Lois Club chapter in Wisconsin. It was founded in Minnesota, I think in 1979, but grew to have chapters all over the country. Half the states in the …
When I was four years old, my mom and I were listening to the radio and they were broadcasting this fundraiser for the local food pantry. I didn’t know what a food pantry was, and at that point I didn’t quite understand that not everybody had enough food. My mom explained it to me, and …
“We get to hand out food right to the people who need it.” Read More »
I moved to Wisconsin from Minnesota to go to school at Northland College in Ashland. I knew I was interested in environmental studies, which is kind of what Northland focuses on. Then, I got a chance to study abroad in Central America my sophomore year. Photos by Megan Monday “We traveled around to different small …
Bringing a Community Together, Piece by Colorful Piece Read More »
I grew up in Hixton, Wisconsin, on my parents’ farm. My sister and brother are 20 and 21 years older than me. Photos by Megan Monday “Because my parents were older by the time they had me, my mom and dad always felt that I didn’t get the best of everything. But I never, ever …
“Our town needed better access to medical care.” Read More »
We caught up with some very colorful (and cold) participants at the Polar Plunge in Madison. Photos by Megan Monday “In retrospect, maybe these little outfits were a bad choice?” “I dunno man, my teeth are chattering too hard to think.” “I participated once in the past, so this year I convinced my crew of friends to …
Dorecia: I found out that I was pregnant when I was 17 years old. I was scared, I didn’t know what to do, and I hid the pregnancy for as long as I could. Photos by Megan Monday No one knew for six or seven months. I was always a good student, I even skipped a …
I grew up going up north. We lived in Sheboygan and vacationed near Three Lakes on the Chain of Lakes. Photos courtesy of Nick Vander Puy When I was ten years old, one of my uncles said, ‘There’s a powwow at Lac du Flambeau on Thursday night and we’re gonna go. But I have to …
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo. I was raised on a farm right outside Mineral Point. The land was settled by my great grandfather. My parents had an internationally renowned herd of Aberdeen Angus cattle. But in the ’70s there was a long …
My passion for community development started with organizing PTOs when my kids were in school. After PTO there were sports boosters, so that was the very beginning of it. I always just enjoyed getting volunteers organized towards some sort of project or vision, and I really believe in building communities from within. Photos by Megan …
“We decided to turn that challenge into an opportunity.” Read More »
Daniel: For most of my life I have worked with people of varying abilities, helping them to establish vocations and opportunities to work. A few years ago, I had this idea that some of the young people I worked with would really enjoy farm work. Photos by Megan Monday I heard about a program going on …
“This helps our local growers and our food insecurity challenges.” Read More »
We caught up with some voters in Madison on Election Day to hear their thoughts on practicing their civic duty. Photos by Megan Monday “Although this is a primary, the whole country is looking at Wisconsin right now. We’re the only state voting today, so we can definitely make an impact. People are looking to …
