“We are happy to continue this tradition in the spirit of the season,” said Bill Kamke, Community Healthcare Foundation Board President. Each year, community members sponsor hundreds of Love Lights for the festive holiday display in front of the CMH Primary Care Clinic in Oconto Falls. “This is a special program for the Foundation in which all donations are specifically earmarked for this purpose,” said Kamke.

 

“We’re going to do some shopping for the pantry,” said Jackie Linzmeyer of Feed My Sheep. “We’re going to try and find some Christmas hams,” she added. Located in a classroom of the St. Charles school building, the Lena food pantry is open each Tuesday from 10 to 11 a.m. as well as 6 to 7 p.m. and serves an average of 40 families per week.

 

Bread by the Bay has similar plans for the donations. “Meat is the most costly,” said Wayne Conklin of the Oconto food pantry. Operating out of the United Methodist Church, it serves an average of 65 families per month, who in turn often volunteer for the food bank, according to Conklin. Bread by the Bay is open the first and third Tuesday of each month from 3:30 to 6 p.m. with registration starting at 3 p.m.

 

Kingdom Come volunteer Dorothy Ellner estimates that their Oconto Falls food pantry feeds approximately 100 families each week. “This donation will provide funding for the pantry,” said Ellner. Kingdom Come is open every Tuesday with registration from 9 to 11 a.m. and 5 to 7 p.m.

 

Donors from throughout area sponsored Love Lights to honor and memorialize loved ones. While the red and green lights sparkle outside, commemorative displays listing the names of the memorials and honorees are located inside the Oconto Falls Primary Care Clinic and Community Memorial Hospital.

 

“We’ve been very lucky,” Linzmeyer said of the generous community support for the food pantry.

 

In addition to its annual Love Lights campaign to support area food pantries, Community Healthcare Foundation, which was established in 1990, raises funds for healthcare scholarships and to support projects for access to and enhancement of medical services available at Community Memorial Hospital in Oconto Falls and the CMH Primary Care Clinics located throughout Oconto County.

 

Community Memorial Hospital is a full-service hospital serving the greater Oconto County with a 24-hour, seven days a week, physician-staffed Emergency Department, obstetrics, intensive care, inpatient and outpatient surgical and diagnostic services, rehabilitation, an oncology outpatient clinic, Urgent Care Center and CMH Birthplace. Additionally, six Community Memorial Hospital Primary Care Clinics are located throughout Oconto County. For more information call (920) 846-3444.

 

Photo Caption #1: Community Memorial Hospital CEO Jim Van Dornick (left) and Foundation Director Diana Hucek (right) present Feed My Sheep volunteers (from left) Helen Thomson and Jackie Linzmeyer a $550 Love Lights donation.

 

Photo Caption #2: Wayne Conklin of Bread by the Bay (center) accepts $550 Love Lights donation from the Community Healthcare Foundation board members (from left) Bob Oseland, Alison Dolibois, Bill Kamke, and Dick Marquardt.

 

Photo Caption #3: Kingdom Come receives $550 Love Lights donation. From the left: Community Healthcare Foundation board members Dick Marquardt and Bob Oseland, Kingdom Come’s Carol Coopman and Dorothy Ellner, and Foundation board members Alison Dolibois and Bill Kamke.