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Oregon Observer Thursday, December 7, 2017 • Vol. 133, No. 23 • Oregon, WI • ConnectOregonWI.com • $1

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Holiday season kickoff Santa came to town last Friday night to help light the downtown Christmas tree and share time with kids from the community. After about 20 minutes of caroling at Waterman Park, Santa arrived on a fire truck with its red lights flashing, and stepped out to cheers from the crowd and smiles from the kids. He shook hands and took pictures for a few minutes, before leading the crowd in a rendition of “Jingle Bells” and setting off for the fire station. Volunteers and firefighters handed out hot dogs and chips while Chef Dave Heide dished out his chili to a line that snaked out the door. There were community tables set up where the fire-safety vehicles normally sit, and people shared a meal as the empty firefighting uniforms hung in the lockers lining the walls. Kids shared a quiet moment with Santa in a side room with a big Christmas tree while parents snapped pictures. Proceeds from the event went to the Oregon Area Food pantry, and a quickly filling donation jar and a formidable pile of nonperishable food items were prominently displayed just inside the front door.

Unified Newspaper Group

More photos from the tree lighting, chili dinner Photo by Alexander Cramer

Baby Harper Cornell, 4 months, seems to approve of the Christmas traditions on display at the chili dinner at the fire station on Dec.1

Oregon School District

New communications director spreading the word Oregonian Mundinger hopes to connect with residents

your front door. T h a t ’s h o w i t was for the Oregon School District, who SCOTT DE LARUELLE put out the word earUnified Newspaper Group lier this year they were looking for Sometimes when you’re looking a communications for the right person for the job, you director. After sevdon’t have to look much further than e r a l m o n t h s o f

searching, they filled the position last week by hiring Oregon resident and district parent Erika Mundinger. An Onalaska native who received bachelors’ and masters’ degrees in communication at UW-Madison, Mundinger has spent most of her career in that field, including 12 years Mundinger

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An effort to build a new Oregon Youth Center is already off to a great start. The nonprofit group that organized the fundraising and construction of the new Oregon Area Food Pantry announced Monday it had received an $800,000 donation for the youth center. That means the community needs to contribute $200,000 toward the $1 million project in order to build a new facility for Oregon School District kids, Oregon Community Resource Network board member Randy Glysch told the Village Board on Monday. Before the official announcement, Glysch had told the Observer “an anonymous donor” had come forward with a gift of $800,000 for the youth center. But he said it’s important to have broader community involvement, as well. “I believe it doesn’t mean as much to the community if all the money’s given by a single or a few donors,” he said. Glysch, Oregon Youth Center director Diane Newlin and building contractor Dan Bertler discussed the project with

Inside “A day in the life” at the Oregon Youth Center Page 12 village officials Monday and said they would like to build a new center at the site of the existing building, 110 N. Oak St. Newlin told the board the building, which used to be a village EMS garage, “has some serious issues” and a new building would “be something that people can be proud of.” She said the existing youth center, a prefabricated metal structure, is outdated and wasn’t designed for its current use. It also has problems with layout inside and outside that make supervision difficult. Glysch said he and other OCRN representatives have been visiting other youth centers to get ideas of what to include in a new facility. He said organizers haven’t determined how large the building should be, but estimated it could be 10,000 to 12,000 square feet. Village administrator Mike Gracz said he’s not opposed to the project but warned against boxing in the nearby Oregon Police Department building. He said that building might need to be expanded in the near future and suggested the village could

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How to help To make a donation to the $200,000 Community Challenge, visit the OCRN website: oregoncrn.com. To send a check by mail: Oregon Community Resource Network, c/o McFarland State Bank, 2580 Ironwood Dr., Sun Prairie, WI 53590. More information: contact Randy Glysch, OCRN chair, at rgbk316@charter.net, or call 291-0648

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Right next to a1 FuRnituRe

OYC gets $800K gift BILL LIVICK

Inside

Mon-Fri 9-5 Sat 9:30-3

Village of Oregon

Nonprofit group plans fundraising ‘community challenge’ for $1 million project

– Alexander Cramer

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