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Thursday, June 28, 2018 • Vol. 133, No. 52 • Oregon, WI • ConnectOregonWI.com • $1.25
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Oregon Observer The
Super ‘Friends’ Group’s mission to feed kids is gaining attention, support SCOTT DE LARUELLE Unified Newspaper Group
Photo by Kimberly Wethal
From left, Brielle Zimmerschied, 4, and Claire Polakowski, 5, swirl around in a tea cup at the carnival on Saturday.
Summer Fest 2018
The rain couldn’t dampen spirits at the 54th annual Summer Fest last weekend, with the midway going strong and hardy souls camped out for the fireworks Saturday night despite a steady rain. GH Heating was crowned softball champion, and more than a dozen teams threw bean bags to vie for their own championship in the cornhole tournament. The Lions’ Club held its annual fundraiser, “Thrilla on the Grilla,” which grillmaster Kenny Carl estimated fed about 700 people, complete
with a 50/50 raffle drawing every half-hour by a woman in a giant sombrero. All of this was in addition to the More Summer Fest photos huge community parade, set this year to a “Circus” theme, which Page 7 had nearly the entire route lined with spectators. High school bands set to comMasons handed out chilled bottled pete in the Parade of Bands at Oregon High School later in the evening water, which proved to be a crowd braved the heat and marched in step favorite. and in tune down Main Street. –Alexander Cramer Dozens of floats passed by, most tossing candy to happy kids. The
Inside
The Friends of the Oregon School District started looking to make a difference in the Oregon area two years ago by providing food for students in need. Last year, it expanded its programs to provide educational opportunities, as well. Now the group is looking for more volunteers and partners as it continues to seek ways to help students get the best education they can in the Oregon area. It’s holding an annual meeting on 7:30 p.m. July 31 (location yet to be determined) to answer questions and find ways to get more people involved. That could be donating their time, talents or money. Founders Christine Erickson, Krista Flanagan, Karin Victorson and Julie Swartzmiller – all parents of district students – started the group because they were concerned with the growing number of district students who qualified for free or reduced lunch – around 17 percent, or 700 students, last fall, up from 5 percent a decade ago. To help feed hungry kids, the group started four programs. One is an “Adopt-a-kid’s lunch balance” program. Another
By the numbers 28,957 Snacks delivered to Oregon schools in the 2017-18 school year
483 Food packs delivered for school breaks
220 Food gift cards purchased for school breaks
$6,650 Raised for Adopt-aKid’s Lunch Balance supplies “food backpacks” to students during extended school break. A third provides healthy snacks to help fuel up students during the school day, and the last purchases food gift cards for school breaks. Victorson said all four programs grew last year, and to date, the Friends
Turn to Friends/Page 10
‘Planting purple’ for Pankratz Dozens rally to support longtime educator battling illness
Unified Newspaper Group
Kelly Pankratz is a “born teacher” who has served the community at Brooklyn Elementary School since 2001. When she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March, that community “overwhelmed” her family with support, Kelly’s husband Troy Pankratz told the Observer. “People have been bringing meals and visiting and sending cards and letters and ... trying to find a way to help us,” he said. Then he had an idea. “Kelly loves gardening,” Troy
said. “What if everybody donated a plant and we created a special area so that when Kelly comes home and leaves the house she has something to remind her of all the people supporting her?” That’s exactly what they did on Friday, June 15, when around 50 people, many of them coworkers in the Oregon School District, came together to plant about 300 plants in the Pankratz’s front yard. Troy Pankratz said that when he suggested the idea to some of Kelly’s coworkers, they ran with it, and an “excessive amount of people” completed in one day the amount of work
they’d planned to be done in two. “I had in mind maybe a small garden with a few plants,” he said. “It’s just awesome and it’s far beyond what I had originally (thought).”
Cultivating positivity Kelly Pankratz has taught a variety of subjects in her 15-plus years with OSD, spending the last few splitting time between three schools as a reading interventionist. “She loves helping the kids who need a little bit of extra support with reading,” Troy Pankratz said. “Just
Photo by Amber Levenhagen
Volunteers gather June 15 to plant new flowers and plants in Turn to Pankratz/Page 12 the Pankratz’s garden.
ThankYou! olunteers Oregon Community Sponsors Elite Sponsors
Special Thanks to: Oregon Brooklyn Lions Club, Oregon Brooklyn Mighty Mites, Oregon Fire/EMS Department, Oregon Police Department & Police Explorers!
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ALEXANDER CRAMER