Community

Navarino Nature Center will hold a volunteer training day on Sept. 7.

The nonprofit center depends on volunteers to work with staff to provide environmental education programs to the general public and students in northeast Wisconsin.

The training day is for anyone interested in learning more about volunteer opportunities at the nature center, which include working in the gardens, maintaining trails, helping with bird surveys, grooming cross-country ski trails and assisting with special events, office support, fundraising, educational programs and maintenance.

The program will include introductions, a brief history of the nature center and discussion of the types of volunteer positions available.

Volunteers help with events such as Youth Conservation Field Day, Fall Color 5K Run/Walk, Fall Family Fun Day Open House, Halloween, Artfest and Frozen Fun. They also assist with school group visits.

Navarino Nature Center will hold its annual fall open house from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 8.

Activities will include wagon rides through the Navarino Wildlife Area, candle dipping, children’s crafts, scarecrow making, bird feeder building, face painting, rope making and more. There will be food and other family friendly activities going on as well.

The nature center’s 11th annual geocache event will be held that day as well. All caches are hidden in the refuge area of the wildlife area, so as not to impact hunting on the wildlife area.

As the day’s events draw to an end there will be a sunset wagon ride at 4 p.m. Seating is limited to 25 people and you must RSVP. The rustic 2½-hour ride goes from the nature center to the Wolf River flowages and back. Wildlife observed in previous years include ducks, geese, egrets, Sandhill cranes, river otters, owls and beavers, just to name a few. Cost for the wagon ride is $6 NNC members and $10 general public.

Shawano Pathways, with help from the Shawano Optimist Club and a Thrivent Action Team grant submitted by Jen Bisterfeldt, has purchased 23 hand-held stop signs to be used for community events.

“During our ‘Run/Walk the Mini-quilts’ event on Sept. 24, participants will be crossing several city streets,” said Matty Mathison, coordinator for Bike the Barn Quilt. “We want to keep people as safe as possible, so we’re utilizing as many safety practices as we can.

“Not only are crossing guards vital, but their visibility and effectiveness will be much greater with orange vests and these hand-held stop signs.”

Mathison also offered her appreciation for the cooperation and involvement of the Shawano Police Department and Shawano County Sheriff’s Department.

“Shawano Pathways, along with the Police Department, is hoping that other organizations will take advantage of utilizing these stop signs for their events,” Mathison said.

Navarino Nature Center will hold its 27th annual fundraising banquet Sept. 22 at The Gathering in Shawano.

The nature center is a nonprofit organization that promotes environmental education programs to the general public and students in northeast Wisconsin. All funds raised at the annual banquet will be used entirely for daily operations and programming at the center.

The banquet will include raffles (holiday, basket, backyard, wingspan, gun, freezer, wheelbarrow, 50/50, all-ticket, etc.), silent and live auctions. Photos of some of the items will be posted on the nature center Facebook site as the banquet draws near.

The social hour starts at 6 p.m., with dinner at 7 p.m. at The Gathering, 2600 E. Richmond St., Shawano. The raffles and auctions will start shortly after diner.

Tickets are $45 per person, $80 per couple or $400 for a table of eight. Banquet sponsors pay $250.

Go for the gold this summer and fall with an assortment of beautiful perennial bloomers for your yard, garden and property. August is the peak bloom time for a number of garden perennials, many of which gleam in brilliant golden yellow.

You’ll find a number of interesting, unusual perennial and native wildflowers, perfect for the late summer climax of color. Mix and match with other colorful plants to create a spectacular show. The color gold pairs well with just about any other color, especially pink, blue, purple, orange and white.

August brings many of our wild native sunflowers and similar plants into glorious golden bloom. Plants such as cup plant, compass plant, prairie dock, black-eyed Susan, Jerusalem artichoke, woodland sunflower, prairie coneflower and others bloom profusely in the late summer garden and prairie.

The American Red Cross has scheduled two more blood drives in the area as it tries to overcome a critical blood shortage this summer.

Blood drives will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 26 at Menominee Resort and Casino, N277 State Highway 47-55, Keshena, and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 29 at the Shawano County Courthouse, 311 N. Main St., Shawano.

The summer months are among the most challenging times of years to collect enough blood and platelet donations to meet patient needs, according to the Red Cross. Many regular donors delay giving while they take vacation and participate in summer activities.

In appreciation for helping to save lives, those who come to donate blood or platelets with the Red Cross now through Aug. 31 will receive a $5 Amazon.com gift card claim code.

The first Shawano A.W.A.K.E. Sleep Mask Style Show for people with sleep apnea will be held Sept. 20 at The Gathering in Shawano.

A.W.A.K.E. stands for Alert Wellness and Keeping Energetic, a program of the American Sleep Apnea Association, which includes ThedaCare at Home.

A sleep mask, also known as a continuous positive airway pressure mask, is an effective method to treat sleep apnea, a chronic condition where muscles in the back of a person’s throat relax and the airway narrows or closes as one breathes in. As a result, throughout the night a person’s breathing repeatedly stops and starts.

Those who suffer from sleep apnea can wake up 30 times or more each hour, causing chronic fatigue and contributing to increased risk of high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, obesity and diabetes.

Studies show that one in five adults suffer from mild sleep apnea and that one in 15 adults suffer from moderate to severe sleep apnea.

The Clintonville Area Foundation has selected “Rock and Roll to a Record Goal” as the theme for its seventh annual gala. The event is slated for Oct. 22 at Mason’s Ridge in Clintonville.

The gala is the foundation’s only annual fundraising event.

“Everything is falling into place nicely, thanks to the hard work of the members of our gala committee,” committee chairwoman Joanne Doornink said.

Those attending the event are welcome to dress in costume representing their favorite era of rock and roll music. Themed artwork by retired Clintonville High School art teacher Helen Waalkens will be featured at the banquet in the decorations and centerpieces.

Following dinner, catered by Mathew’s Supper Club, the annual Community Hero Award will be presented. The award and accompanying charitable fund were created by Dan Olk, a 1975 graduate of Clintonville High School who now works in Ames, Iowa, as a soil biochemist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Most days, rain or shine, Jim Borchardt and his son, Mike, are out walking the sidewalks of Clintonville. It is something the father and son have been doing for many years.

Mike is not exactly sure when it was that he and his sister, Lori, started walking, but remembers they would challenge each other as to who would go farther.

Jim enjoys walking, too, but he started doing it for health reasons after he retired and was told he had an aneurysm. The exercise has helped him drop about 20 pounds.

Father and son walk together for 2 or more miles Monday through Friday. Mike walks every day, but Jim doesn’t walk on Saturday and Sunday — he prefers going out to eat. They also stay inside if there is heavy rain or the temperature is below zero.

Jim said he has taken a few falls while out walking, when there is ice under the snow, but has not broken any bones.

Musicians from all over the country will be setting up camp this weekend at Mielke Park for the 38th annual Shawano Folk Music Festival.

The festival opens Friday night and continues through Sunday with indoor and outdoor folk music performances and a variety of other activities. Besides the musicians, there will be crafters, quilters, writers, buckskinners and more.

The evening performances take place inside the Mielke Arts Center, while the daytime performances during the weekend will be spread out across four outdoor stages. There will be opportunities for festival attendees to join singing circles, dances and other activities.

Mark Dvorak, the honorary festival co-director for 2016 and a Chicago-based musician, is a favorite among the musicians in this year’s lineup.

“I’ve been going up there (to Shawano) off and on for about 21 years. … It’s one of my faves,” Dvorak said. “They’ve done a great job the last several years upgrading the program.”