Giving Back to SDSM

Giving back to something gives you a sense of ownership and helps build community. Here's how to give back in at least three ways.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to the SMO podcast.

(00:06):
I'm your host, Daniel Bader.
When we talk about community, what comes to mind?
To me, it's where we live or work.
It's the connections we have to a place.
When we talk about building community, we talk about doing some kind of work that makes
the place we live a little better for us or for others.

(00:31):
When we do that work or give back to our community, it does something to us too.
It gives us a connection we might otherwise not feel outside of our family.
It makes us a little bit better and a little more grounded in a place.
Building community is why we have our students choose community service projects.

(00:55):
For example, a group of students exploring interests in the healthcare field recently
held a blood drive at the high school.
Last year, Lakeview Elementary students raised donations of dog toys for Rocket, the SMPD's
canine, not to mention the massive project they did dreaming about what to do with the

(01:18):
former Everbright location.
Giving back helps connect you to where you are.
Today on the podcast, we're going to hear three stories of how giving back specifically
to aspects of our school district have made a positive impact and how you can give back
your time or a financial donation.

(01:40):
This story comes to you in three parts, two institutions building community in South Milwaukee
and a third that is nearly done with its very specific task and how you can choose to help
those institutions in your own giving.
First we hear from Jim Doran-Grecia, a man who has served the community of South Milwaukee

(02:01):
his whole career and continues to do so through our educational foundation, SM Legacy.
Here's Jim.
Jim you have a deep history here in the district and the city, don't you?
I do have a deep history.
Actually in the city of South Milwaukee, my family has been in the city of South Milwaukee

(02:25):
for over a hundred years.
Oh my goodness.
Both of my grandfathers, one was an engineer, one was a tool maker, retired from Bizarre
Ziri.
My mother and father both went to high school in South Milwaukee.
My sisters went to school in South Milwaukee.
Both of my kids are South Milwaukee graduates.
One graduated in 2019, one graduated in 2015 and they both have since graduated college

(02:49):
and are successful on their own.
So I have deep roots in the city of South Milwaukee as a family.
I'm retired from the fire department.
I worked at the South Milwaukee fire department.
I retired a captain and I retired in 1988 after almost 27 years.
So I love South Milwaukee.
Thanks for your service by the way as a firefighter.

(03:10):
That's a huge gift by itself.
South Milwaukee is really a great city historically to work for.
They're good to their people.
The history here is great.
It's a wonderful place to raise your kids.
Years ago in 2005 they were building a new school.
And with that they found that at that time the $42 million that we got in a referendum

(03:34):
was the largest referendum for a school in state history at that time.
And they've had referendums since.
And one thing we have to remember, the people in South Milwaukee when the district and entities
have gone back to them and said we want to do this and this is why and this is a good
choice, the citizens of South Milwaukee have voted positively for that and have passed

(03:54):
the referendum.
So I wanted to give back and in 2020 we built the new high school and I mean 2005 we built
the new high school.
And when you do something for $42 million you can't get every single thing in there.
And they found that there was a couple of things that they wanted that they didn't
actually build into that $42 million.

(04:15):
So they started the South Milwaukee Legacy and they were looking for things to provide
to the school district that the district couldn't provide on their own.
And the mission statement for the South Milwaukee Legacy, which we are a non-profit organization
and we're the education foundation and we get money and give it to entities in the school

(04:38):
district where they can't raise the money.
And our mission is the South Milwaukee Legacy is an educational foundation that enhances
learning experiences in South Milwaukee by raising financial and other resources from
businesses, groups and organizations to fund projects aligned with the goals and objectives
of the school district of South Milwaukee.

(04:59):
So a couple of things, the bigger ticket items right off the bat that South Milwaukee Legacy
was involved in, there's a team building over at the football field where the team
has their meetings at halftime.
We raised the money and helped build that.
And there's a concession stand on the other side.
We helped raise money to build that as well.

(05:20):
So we were very instrumental in both of those things.
So those were the initial things and there were some other things that went along with
that but they established the board, they established the legacy and they were looking
to give back and find things that they couldn't pay for through the city through budgetary
things.
Because you have to be responsible with the money and the money only goes so far.

(05:41):
So I do have a list of some of the things that we participated in in the past.
Yeah, let's hear it.
They created the walk around the Heritage Garden which is out around door 29 and there's
bricks in there in the Heritage Garden and you can buy a brick and I'll talk about that
later.
You can buy a brick and have it placed in there.
You can have your family name on there.

(06:02):
We have people from sororities go in there.
We have people like if someone graduated or did something nice.
We have a student that won a Grammy Award here, Kyle Olson won a Grammy Award.
Yeah, I just met him.
His family bought a great big 12 by 12 and you can buy a brick, the money goes to the
legacy and the brick goes there.

(06:22):
So what we created and built that.
Right, so it doesn't only recognize the gift, you can do it in honor or in memory of somebody.
Oh yeah, class reunions, buy it and put like class whatever and put a couple little logos
on there.
We've done some really nice stuff down there.
There were tiles that the old high school was built in 1928 and the tiles over there

(06:44):
in the high school in the hallway, we actually had those moved and brought them over to the
high school here and they're in the Heritage Hallway now.
So we did that plan and installed historical memorabilia in the hallway.
There's that tree of life down there, that totem pole tree.
We sponsored and funded that.

(07:06):
And we purchased the tree of the garden, the totem pole, display signs around the garden,
the Sullivan gymnasium, Spotholes field, Teff gymnasium.
We helped with the signs there.
All the signs that say Rocket John way.
Rocket John was a huge South Milwaukee sports fanatic.
He went to everything.

(07:27):
So when he passed away, we had street signs placed, Rocket John way, we put those there.
We contributed to the marquee signs, you know that beautiful Yamaha grand piano in the PAC,
we bought that.
Okay.
Yeah.
We purchased the main and performing arts, the heritage tree, which I'll talk about later,

(07:49):
the trophy display case done by the music department.
And those are all things that we had done before we repaired all the musical instruments.
They had a shortfall there.
In the last like eight or nine years, web training for leaders, there's teachers that
go to web training.
And it's how they teach kids how to help younger kids.
Like the eighth graders take the training and they help the sixth graders, they'll mentor

(08:12):
like a group of sixth graders and a teacher has to go to school for that.
So we've paid for that.
And the link training, the scoreboard and the swimming pool, we bought that.
The award banners, those great big banners for when South Milwaukee got accredited.
We bought all of those.
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
Music stations and microphones for the music department.
We have a phenomenal choir and singing program here.

(08:34):
The music department here is fantastic, but that acapella choir is fantastic.
We bought the microphones and some music stations for that and they actually use those in the
school.
Well, and equipment like that, where would a high school student have a chance to operate
equipment on soundboards and mixing and microphones?
So we thought that was really a good investment and Lee Stovall, who was in the music department

(08:57):
at that time, came to us and we bought that stuff.
And I know that they still use it.
Sure do.
That was a really good investment.
Music station, the microphones, like I said, the display boards in the elementary schools,
we bought those.
We bought a couple of kilns.
The last kiln that we bought is in the high school.
And Mr. Cartwright wrote that grant and it was a kind of a specialty grant because that

(09:21):
kiln is a specialty type kiln.
You have to know what you're doing with that.
So he was able to teach his kids how to use that specialty kiln for making like pottery
and stuff and putting some finish on there.
And actually after we donated that to him, he made like three beautiful pieces and put
them in the PAC auction and used those pieces to raise money for the PAC.

(09:41):
Oh, how about that?
We gave something back and then he gave back what we gave back.
So that really worked out.
We bought lots and lots of things, small things.
I got a whole page of stuff that we've purchased, but I don't know that we need to go into all
of that, but we do.
We raise money and then we give it back to the district and teachers write grants and

(10:04):
grants and scholarships and I'll talk about that at the end.
Sure.
So if someone wanted to donate or I mean, you mentioned buying the bricks and doing
other things.
Yeah.
Do they have a say in like what they want to donate towards or I know this X has to
happen.

(10:24):
I want to give a gift in that or is it generally to the fund and then people, the board kind
of decides how to allocate that?
We have found if people want to give their hard earned money that they want to know where
it's going.
So when you go on the donate card, if you say, okay, I hear you're raising money for
say the football field or you're raising money for the music department, I want to give to

(10:48):
that or they can say, give it to the general fund or they can say, Hey, I know that you're
raising money for this.
I want to donate it to that.
And then they know exactly where their money is going, which makes it easier if we have
to raise money for a capital project.
If you go to Caterpillar or Walmart and say, Hey, we need X amount of money.
It's for this.
They're more apt to write a check as opposed to say, Hey, we're South Milwaukee legacy.

(11:11):
Why don't you give us a check and we'll find a way to spend it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We do have people donate and throughout the year and they can just go on our website at
smlegacy.org.
We do still have the website.
We're in the process this year of totally redoing our website.
We want to get with the times and do a couple of different things, but the website is still

(11:31):
active and you can look on the South Milwaukee legacy website and it tells all about our
heritage tree and the walk and it tells our mission statement is on there, grants and
subsidies and all the things that we do is all on there and drop down tabs.
Yeah.
I'm really glad we're chatting because Rachel Abraham is going to be the next guest on and

(11:54):
I think she's mentioned the piano and, and then you also mentioned, you know, that maybe
SM legacy pulled back a little bit while launching a legacy was going on and John Gillespie is
going to come on and talk about how close they are to being finished.
But that kind of sets the stage where you're telling me before we started that some legacy

(12:16):
is going to kind of ramp up again a little bit.
We are going to ramp up and we are going to start the funds more, some more projects.
The thing about the building the legacy, you got to remember that's different than South
Milwaukee legacy.
The South Milwaukee legacy is the district education foundation and we raise money to
give back to the school for programs and items that they can't fund.

(12:39):
The building the legacy is primarily was for the sports fields.
Yeah.
And the thing about it is that we donate a lot of money to the sports programs and the
arts and all other things.
So if we would have been raising money for the sports field, we would give it to them
anyways.
Yeah.
So we just kind of pulled back because they raised a lot of money.
The football field is spectacular.

(13:01):
The other fields that they built, the baseball field, the track and field stuff, the softball
field talk about money well spent.
When people come to South Milwaukee and go to that football field and see that beautiful
field or see our beautiful baseball field, it's like a wow factor and they've done an
outstanding job.
They raised so much money and kudos to those guys.

(13:22):
You mentioned Rachel Abraham, who was our South Milwaukee PAC director.
She came from the private sector.
She was in a big private sector job and came to South Milwaukee because she lives here.
Her son went to high school with my son.
Phenomenal young man.
And Rachel is a phenomenal person as well.

(13:42):
She's actually a sitting member on the South Milwaukee legacy.
Ah, okay.
And has been for a very long time.
And John Gillespie is a legacy in this town.
Yeah, he sure is.
He's two time Hall of Famer.
He's given so much.
And that whole committee, I think it started when I just when I started here.
And yeah, it's purpose driven, right?
And they're almost done and then they'll be done.
But SM Legacy or Milwaukee Legacy is here for the long haul.

(14:05):
We want to ramp up again.
Yes.
Yeah.
You'd mentioned before a little bit about scholarships.
Can you tell us more about that?
Sure.
We actually have two two avenues to request money for us.
One is the grants that we give.
And those are primarily for school employees, teachers and principals.
They say, OK, we want to do this, but we can't afford it or we can't get the money for that.

(14:28):
So then they'll come to us and those are things which is nice having the superintendent sit
on our board because she might say, oh, no, in next year we have money earmarked for that.
And when we do get a grant, the principal of that building must sign it.
So whatever whoever requesting a grant wants is something that the district can support
by software for four thousand dollars for a school and then have to have a six thousand

(14:52):
dollar installation fee that the skirt a thousand dollar a year maintenance fee that they would
have to do.
Yeah.
Those are grants and that's all on the Web site.
But we do we give up to two one thousand dollar scholarships out every year.
And Mr. Daniels in the high school, he is the school to work coordinator, Chris Daniels.

(15:15):
Fantastic.
He does.
What a champ.
He does a really nice work.
So we work with him quite a bit and we have our applications on the Web site.
They can download the application.
They fill it out.
We give up to two one thousand dollar scholarships and we're we're looking for kids that want
to go to technical school.
So if you have someone that wants to go to M.A.T.C.

(15:37):
say for carpentry or for cabinet making or wants to go into HVAC, we would be the ones
that would give that give that to them.
The requirements are you have to be in good standing with the South Milwaukee School District.
You have to maintain a minimum of two point five grade point average.
And a lot of scholarships are looking for a little bit higher of a college student.

(15:57):
We're looking for a hard worker, someone like you're getting a two point five and you're
working hard.
That's what we're looking for.
They submit the application and we look, look them over and then we try to get those in
before the school publishes their their book on scholarships.
They have a nice little breakfast.
Yeah, yeah.
And we want those kids to go and sit there too, because they got a scholarship as well.

(16:18):
You got kids getting scholarships going to nice four year colleges.
But these kids go into the technical schools are equally as important.
And South Milwaukee does do a great job with the technical program.
I hope you have a podcast on that.
Yeah, we should do unbelievable.
And if anyone wants to apply for that for the scholarship, they just go on our South
Milwaukee website, SM Legacy dot org.

(16:40):
They download that application.
The instructions are all on there, tells them exactly what to do and how to fill it out.
And Chris Daniels will actually help them fill it out as well.
He keeps a bunch of printed ones in his office that he'll give to them and he has meetings
with them and he offers it to them.
So we do appreciate that.
And those are the scholarships that we give.

(17:01):
And we're very proud of that.
We are looking for the hardworking kid that wants to go into the trades.
Yeah, because school is expensive.
And you know that that thousand dollars and actually it was five hundred.
We just upped it to a thousand dollars.
That money is very helpful for you know, books are expensive and schools expensive.
And what what we do is we have them finish their first year or their freshman semester,

(17:27):
their first semester.
They give us their either report card or something that they finish it and we write them a check.
That's great.
I actually got a scholarship like that helped by my first computer.
You know, it wasn't like it helped pay for those books and the computer and and meant
that I didn't have to go to the computer lab that I could write right in my dorm.
Because those help they really do.

(17:51):
So when someone someone donates, tell me about the leaf versus the brick or or kind of what
some of the incentives are.
All right.
So we do have two programs and one is that we call it the heritage tree and that heritage
tree.
It's located on the wall right across from the entrance of the PC and it's got leaves

(18:12):
on there and you can buy a leaf and we have three levels of lease.
We have bronze, silver and gold leafs and you can buy a leaf and we will.
We have a place that engraves and that has a graphic designer there.
So the people tell us what they want and then that graphic designer designs that to the
best fit for that leaf.

(18:33):
And and with those three, you know, and it's across from the PC forever.
Yeah.
And people come in and out.
Oh God, this PC is busy.
She shuttles a lot of people through that PC with all the things she does.
So that's over there.
We have people that honor loved ones and friends, they honor organizations or groups, lovers
of the arts, anyone that you might want to memorialize or say a family member.

(18:56):
You can buy a leaf and hang it up there and it'll be there forever.
And you can always see you come to a program at the PC and there it is.
If you have come to the school for something, you walk down that hallway.
There's and Esther's leaf.
And there's our family leaf.
And it's a little bit of pride, too.
So and those you can buy on the website.

(19:17):
And I always we take the order.
They do the artwork and then we always send it to the people before we have it engraved
for their approval.
OK, it's not specific for anything, right?
It's just if that's how you want to recognize your family with the leaf, that's one way.
Or you'd mention the bricks outside and the bricks are what we call the heritage walk.

(19:37):
It's right outside door 29.
It's like right outside the the South Milwaukee arena there.
Yeah, the fieldhouse.
And we have bricks out there and we sell multiple different size bricks.
It goes from one hundred dollars for a basic four by eight all the way up to a thousand
dollars.
And the thousand dollars is a really big one.

(19:59):
But again, creative brick does all of our engraving and they will put whatever you want
on there.
And then the nice schools do that for their class reunions, like the class of 50 tours
that wanted to have something that and then they put like a couple of musical instruments
on there to meet the times.
And then they put class of 52 or a class of 55 or class in 1980.

(20:24):
And they they have these these class reunions.
And sometimes I get there's money left over.
What do you do with this money?
Well, you get back to school.
They build that let's go over there and buy a heritage brick and put a brick out there.
And then you come back for a football game 10 years later, 20 years later.
Hey, look, there's my class brick.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And they're very easy to order.

(20:44):
They're on the website.
Our phone numbers on you can always call and ask one of us and we'll get you lined up.
So the the heritage tree where you buy the leafs and the heritage brick, we'll use that
for our fundraiser to buy a thing like if you wanted to buy a five hundred dollar brick
and say, hey, I want the money to go to the music program.

(21:05):
We'll earmark it for that.
Yeah, we'll do whatever you want with the money, as long as it's something that are
in what we do in the in the school district.

(21:32):
What you just heard was music from a theater alumni event, part of the South Milwaukee

(21:59):
Performing Arts Center's 20th anniversary celebration.
If you're a listener to the podcast, you'll remember executive director Rachel Abraham.
It's hard to understate the impact the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center has had on
generations of music and theater students.
The nonprofit theater depends on donations, as we'll hear, and puts them to work building

(22:23):
community in South Milwaukee.
Rachel, welcome back to the SMI podcast.
Thank you for having me.
Thanks.
Today, you know, as our guests have heard, we're talking about ways to give back to institutions
in South Milwaukee that are associated with the school district.
What are the avenues for the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center?

(22:48):
Thank you for asking.
There are several ways that community members, alumni and others can give back to the performing
arts in South Milwaukee.
And one of the main ways is through contacting us on our website.
People can give monetarily.
They can support our outreach efforts.

(23:09):
They can volunteer their time.
They can they can become ushers or ticket takers, those kinds of things.
And they can also support us with ideas about what they'd like to see in terms of future
programming.
What we need the most really is financial support for some of our outreach programs.

(23:32):
And there are ways to give and learn more on our website.
So that's kind of why I'm directing folks there, because we've got limited time today.
But people can go and explore there and learn more about how to do that.
Sure.
So I guess I should step back for a second.
South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center is funded through the Recreation Department and
the city and the school budget that way.

(23:54):
Correct.
Not the city budget, the school district budget and that fund 80.
What do those donations, what would they go towards?
What does your budget pay for?
And that's a great question.
Sure.
So the school fund, we do receive partial funding for our budget through the school
district through the Recreation Department budget.

(24:18):
That funds about a third of our operating budget.
So the rest of that money to balance our budget comes from earned income, shows, our youth
theater program, rentals and charitable contributions.
So two thirds fully comes from either earned or charitable contributions.

(24:41):
I see.
And what, I don't know, budgets are funny, but how does that parse out?
Like the, when we're talking about expenses, are we talking about keeping the lights on,
cleaning services, but what are we paying for?
Primarily it's all the above, but primarily it's for programming, staff, overhead costs

(25:06):
such as equipment, maintenance, supplies and those kinds of things.
So the charitable contributions piece of our budget is important for outreach.
So things like getting into senior living centers, providing performing artists to folks

(25:26):
who can't get to the theater anymore.
Sponsoring some of the shows in downtown South Milwaukee for at the farmer's market downtown.
These are things that we cannot charge tickets.
We can't gain any earned revenue for those events.
So we rely on donations, charitable contributions and those kinds of things for those types

(25:50):
of events.
Whereas for our performing arts series shows, we can charge a fee, we can charge tickets.
So that helps pay for those programs.
For our rental events, we have a rental fee structure in place.
So those events essentially pay for themselves and actually create revenue for the school

(26:12):
district.
But we do want to keep our ticket prices low.
We do want to occasionally when possible invite those touring artists to present student workshops,
which might cost a little bit extra.
And so we do rely on charitable funding as a portion of the overall budget.

(26:35):
And it's a much smaller portion, but it's a very important piece of the pie because
it does allow us to support the community with those outdoor concerts and those senior
centers.
Our youth programs in part rely on those charitable funds as well so that we can again keep those

(26:56):
costs down for student enrollment.
And what are some of the vehicles that charitable donations can come through?
I know we've been talking about you presented the school board about the foundation.
That's one vehicle.
Yes.
Yes.
So there are a number of ways individuals write checks, they can pay by credit card.

(27:19):
Some of our regular patrons will do that when they place an order for tickets when we announce
new shows each May.
So they might add on to their ticket purchase.
They might add on an extra $25 or a hundred dollars.
And that money then goes into our charitable donations funds.

(27:42):
They can also support our fundraising events.
We will have our second annual golf outing for the arts this coming September so they
can participate, make a donation, sponsor, nominate a sponsor, connect us with sponsors.
So all of those things help.

(28:04):
We have recently established through the council, the South Milwaukee PAC Council, I just want
to clarify that is a separate entity.
It's an all volunteer organization.
They are their own 501c3 and they support us with fundraising advocacy and so on and
so forth.
We have recently established an endowment fund with startup monies very generously donated

(28:31):
to us through the Uren family.
So Jackie and Connie Uren were both teachers.
Connie was in the school district for a long time.
English teacher, I'm sorry, Spanish teacher and also a drama teacher here in the theater
program for many years.
So we're very pleased to have been included in their estate plans and with the council's

(28:58):
help and a financial advisor, they've now established a fund that is an endowment that
will in years to come help produce funds that can support these programs for future generations.
So we're super excited about that.
There is more information about that on our website.
Yeah, okay, so that is separate.

(29:19):
That's through the council, but through that entity.
But that's exciting because that will eventually reap benefits back to the PAC.
Yes.
So if folks want to consider including the Performing Arts Center in their estate plans,
that is huge for us because every little bit helps.

(29:43):
Those funds can be earmarked for the endowment fund to grow and continue supporting the performing
arts in South Milwaukee for many years to come.
And since we work with the council and a financial advisor, if anyone has questions about how
that works, we can put them directly in touch with a financial advisor to give them guidance

(30:05):
on how to do that.
So we talked about individuals, but it got me thinking a lot of at least and we'll talk
to John Gillespie about the Launching a Legacy Foundation next, but they have sponsorships
of our football field and the press box.

(30:25):
Could a business sponsor a performer or a show that you've lined up?
Absolutely, and we encourage that.
So we do have monetary sponsors.
We have in-kind sponsors who provide services.
So we work with some fantastic sponsors in the area who might provide meals to our artists.

(30:47):
So Skyline Catering, the Bucyrus Center here in town does all of that.
We work with Ken Cook Printing, who they print all of our printed materials, complimentary
for us, the Courtyard Marriott by the Milwaukee Airport hosts and provides rooms for all of

(31:10):
our touring artists.
So those people really help support us with in-kind services.
Donors who are business owners or individuals who want to sponsor an artist are certainly
able to do that as well.
And they can just reach out to me for information about how to do that.

(31:30):
Sure.
And then you had mentioned that there are ways to give, even if a financial donation
isn't something you can or want to do.
There are other ways to give back to the PAC.
Absolutely volunteer.
We always need ushers or ticket takers, docents, people who greet our patrons at the door, point

(31:56):
them to where the entrance of the theater is, that kind of thing.
And it wouldn't be just for our performing arts series shows because a lot of our volunteers
obviously want to attend those shows and be there for those shows.
But we also have a number of other events, rental events, dance competitions.

(32:19):
Those are sort of what I would refer to as our bread and butter events.
They help us bring in revenue to the PAC and into the school district to help us manage
this somewhat complicated budget.
It's certainly not rocket science, but there's a lot of parts and pieces that go into it
and there's a little bit of a delicate balance.

(32:40):
So when we have volunteers willing to come for four hours on a Saturday and be there
during a dance competition to help greet people who've never been here before, show them where
to go, make sure that our policies here at the school district are being enforced, that
people feel welcome, and meet some other really great volunteers and people in the process.

(33:05):
We've got probably 60 volunteers right now and about half of them are very active.
And there's a little bit of turnover, but we really value our volunteers because they
allow us to do what we do.
Could not operate without them.
And you mentioned something about ideas.

(33:26):
Ideas, absolutely.
I research every idea that's brought to me.
So a patron might suggest an idea for a show or a program and I love getting those types
of inquiries or suggestions because they're not all a great fit for our theater, but sometimes

(33:47):
they are.
I just love hearing from people what do they want to see more of, what would they like
to see differently.
So ideas are always welcome.
I can't promise that we'll get all of those shows here, but I do want to hear from people
in terms of what they would like to see more of.
And how should they get you those ideas?

(34:09):
They can email me.
That's probably the best way.
And my email addresses are Abraham.
And then the last part is kind of tricky.
It's a lot.
But it's our Abraham at sdsm.k12.wi.us.
Yeah, that's a lot.
It's a lot.
It's on the website too.
So the other way is just to call me.
Call me at the office.
It's 414-766-5048.
Awesome.
Well, thank you again for being on here and for all the work that the Performing Arts Center

(34:45):
does.
And thank you to the volunteers and to the donors who make it possible to have an institution
like this in South Florida.
We couldn't do it without them.
So we really appreciate everybody's support.
And thank you, Dan, for having me on today.
You bet.
Thank you.
Finally today, perhaps one of the biggest visual changes brought about in part by financial

(35:22):
donations is the launching a legacy campaign, which is less than $50,000 away from having
raised $1 million towards the recent $3.8 million debt-free renovation of the district's
track, football, softball, and baseball fields.
Joining us remotely is John Galesky, the co-chair of that effort.

(35:46):
Well, John, thank you even remotely for coming back on the podcast.
You're welcome.
Pleasure to be here.
So tell me, what's your experience been?
Gosh, it's been two years, maybe three, of launching a legacy.

(36:08):
And what's it been like giving back to the community through volunteering like this?
Yeah, for launching legacy.
Well, I think my whole life being a South Milwaukee resident and a student from the
high school, raising my kids there, seeing my grandkids now going through the school

(36:30):
system, it's always been just part of what I do to try to give back to the entire community.
And South Milwaukee's been it for the years that I coached and then going into doing the
launching a legacy to try and leave things better than we found them.
And that's really been the key.

(36:52):
I want the students in our community to be able to have things that not only others have,
but what's better than others have.
And that's really what we've provided.
And anybody that's gone to see the football field, the baseball field, what we've done

(37:13):
with the track, the fact that the girls have a home on the softball field, people comment
all the time to me about just how awesome it is.
And some of them just can't believe that now we South Milwaukee have these kind of things.
So yeah, so that kind of leads to the next question, I guess.

(37:34):
Think about your donors and think about the people you run into that either through a
booster group or personally have donated.
What does that, how does that change us?
How does that help build community?
Well, I think the evidence probably starts within the group of people that we have that

(37:55):
are on the committee.
There's a lot of dedicated South Milwaukee homegrown type people that understand the
importance of it.
And there are a lot of my friends and people that I know that hang around with that they
see what we have.

(38:15):
They understand the importance of it.
They also have kids that went through the program and now they have their grandkids
coming through.
So all of those things are important to them for their kids to have the same thing.
And I guess a lot of what's been in your literature for this has talked about how this isn't only

(38:39):
for athletes, right?
I mean, having these, having this kind of investment from the community kind of lifts
up all the kids because they are all going to use it, right?
There's no doubt about it.
I mean, just from the FIED standpoint, being able to get out in a great place to be able
to go there.

(39:01):
And maybe as time goes by, they'll go out and not even think about how nice it is, but
they won't have to go back and think about how bad it was at one point where all of this
is improved for them.
And now whether they go over to the baseball diamond or they're on the football field,
whatever it is they want to do as a FIED department or any extracurricular activities, soccer,

(39:30):
whatever it is that they're doing, they now have a pristine place to go and use every
day almost to the point where I think some of them will be spoiled as to how nice it
is.
Yeah.
So what do you say to people when you run into them in the community or when you're
at an event and you're asking for donations?
What's your pitch?

(39:51):
Well, before we had it, the pitch was that we're going to have these things and not everybody
believed us.
They didn't think that it was actually going to come to fruition.
They didn't think it was going to happen as fast as it did.
And so now at least going to ask for donations is a little bit easier because it's there.

(40:12):
The hard part is people think that because it is there that we're done raising our money
for it and things like that.
And we are very close to getting to that finish line.
And so we're hoping that people will still contribute to that knowing that we got to
get across the finish line.
And then we also have maintenance and repair things that are just going to be part of it

(40:36):
that we want to still be able to raise money for to continue to have what we have.
Okay.
Well, John, thank you.
Thank you for volunteering in South Milwaukee and for leading, co-chairing the Launching
Legacy Campaign.
You guys have done great work.
I can't imagine how many burgers you slung at the Brewers games or the countless meetings

(40:58):
you've been in and just having to sell us all the time.
Thank you.
Well, thank you.
Yeah.
Well, you're welcome.
The big thing, again, is I think the group that we had in our committee of about 10 people,
but they were the right people and was well driven.
The people that were on there understood the importance of it and it was a pleasure to

(41:23):
be a part of it.
Well, people listening, if they want to donate still, you can head on to launchingalegacy.info
that will get you to the donor page.
And there are other ways to give on there if it's not just a media financial, if you
want to talk about there's some naming rights still, I believe, out at the stadium and some

(41:44):
other ways.
So that's where they should go.
Right.
And if the name rights thing is still open, there are things that we are still looking
for and it's great advertisement.
So thanks for listening to the SMWay podcast.
I hope this has shed some light on all of the ways you can give back to South Milwaukee,

(42:08):
either with your time or your treasure.
You can find ways to give to these institutions through our website or by doing a Google search
of each of them or by calling the district.
Thanks for listening and we will see you next week.