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Category: COVID-19

Photo by Richard Hurd

Timpano Group launches survey project to explore workforce strategies beyond the pandemic

Contact: Melanie Schmidt, Timpano Group president, mschmidt@timpanogroup.com, 608-695-7320

Madison, WI – June 12, 2020 – Timpano Group has joined forces with Blue Rock WI to explore workforce strategies through and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. The project is designed to gather insights from employers and employees about reactions to the pandemic, impressions about remote working as a viable path for progress, and general opinions about what should shape new norms in management.

The project involves surveys open for public input through June 22, interviews, and secondary research. Data gathered will be distilled into an informational report available free for interested parties across sectors, sizes, and industries at the end of the month.

Links to the surveys can be found at https://bit.ly/workbeyondcovid. Responses are confidential and anonymous.

Timpano Group Chief Strategist Melanie Schmidt shared that the project was borne from a perceived gap in actionable information from which organizations could figure out their particular path forward. “We want to move beyond platitudes and surface strategies that can inform better ways of innovating organizational performance,” said Schmidt. “That kind of constructive innovation means asking people working in organizations how they would do things differently based upon what they’ve learned and experienced in the last several months.” Schmidt continued by asserting that the pandemic shone a spotlight on challenges already existing in organizations and this project will provide inspiration for organizations needing to move beyond the pandemic response.

For more information, contact Melanie Schmidt at insights@timpanogroup.com or via phone at (608) 695-7320.

About Timpano Group: Timpano Group is a creative consultancy focused on helping organizations align their strategies, systems, people, and processes to achieve intended results. President and Chief Strategist Melanie Schmidt facilitates progress for her clients across sectors in organizations of varying sizes and interests. She lends particular expertise in strategic thinking, practical planning, talent management, and change leadership. More information is available online at www.timpanogroup.com.

Photo by Richard Hurd

Dane County Credit Union donates $20,000 to local non-profits

MADISON, WI – Several local non-profits are the benefactors of $20,000 in donations made by Dane County Credit Union. These donations help support organizations that are providing needed services for those affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in our community.

Organizations in Madison that are receiving a portion of the funds include:
• The River Food Pantry, 2201 Darwin Road, provides food, resources, and faith to build a stronger community.
• The Allied Food Pantry, 4619 Jenewein Road, Madison, is an emergency food pantry providing nutritious food for those in need.
• Catholic Multicultural Center, 1862 Beld Street, Madison, provides many programs to serve the needs of the community.
• The Road Home, 890 W. Wingra Drive, provides essential service to families who are experiencing homelessness.
• Centro Hispano, 810 West Badger Road, serves the Latino community with a variety of programs.

“Each of these organizations touches the lives of those in need within our communities,” said Shay Santos, President and CEO of Dane County Credit Union. “They provide necessary services and address real issues that are affecting people under our current circumstances, and we are grateful for all they do.”

Checks were delivered by DCCU staff to each organization while practicing proper physical distancing.

Donations provided are in partnership with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago COVID-19 Relief Program.

About Dane County Credit Union
Dane County Credit Union, a $200 million, full-service, not-for-profit financial cooperative, serves everyone who lives or works in Dane County and the surrounding counties. Dane County Credit Union currently has 4 branches in the Madison area with 20,000 members. To learn more, visit www.dccu.us.

Photo by Richard Hurd

Five Area Nonprofits Receive Relief Grants from State Bank of Cross Plains

May 28, 2020, MADISON, Wisconsin— State Bank of Cross Plains (SBCP) has disbursed $20,000 in Relief Grants to five nonprofit organizations with missions aimed at helping communities cope with economic uncertainty due to COVID-19 by providing humanitarian support in various forms. The five nonprofits equally sharing these funds include:

  • Waunakee Neighborhood Connection Corp.
  • Mount Horeb Community Foundation
  • Middleton Outreach Ministry (MOM)
  • Home of Our Own Inc. in New Glarus
  • Community Action Inc. of Rock and Walworth Counties in Beloit

“Without question, there are hundreds of worthy organizations who could benefit from this support,” says SBCP President and CEO Jim Tubbs. “With limited funds available through this particular grant program, we tried to identify nonprofits who could make a large impact across our entire footprint to help as many people in the communities we serve as possible.”

State Bank of Cross Plains applied for and received the grant funding through the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago’s COVID-19 Relief Grant Program for members to use in support of small businesses and/or nonprofit organizations affected by the pandemic. FHLBank Chicago’s goal was to rapidly deploy relief funds where they are most urgently needed, tapping into the independent community banks who have a pulse on local communities throughout Wisconsin and Illinois.

“These grants are just one part of our overall effort to investigate and act on the opportunities available to help our customers and the communities we serve as a whole navigate this current economic crisis,” Tubbs explains. “Our work is definitely not done.”

Early on in March, State Bank of Cross Plains made a donation to the United Way of Dane County to support their efforts toward helping the homeless and keeping food pantries fully stocked and operational. In addition to these charitable endeavors, SBCP has been extremely active assisting more than 1,045 area small businesses successfully apply for Paycheck Protection Program Loans, which helped secure more than 12,300 jobs.

“The dedication of our bank family to process so many loan applications far exceeded my wildest expectations of what we could accomplish together,” shared Tubbs. “Our focus was to step up and help people complete this process so that the small business owners, their employees, and all the members of the community they serve could worry less and concentrate more on the important stuff.”

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State Bank of Cross Plains is known for our modern, progressive approach to supporting businesses and consumers by offering services more typical of larger financial institutions in an environment that values one-on-one personal relationships and community involvement. State Bank of Cross Plains is a $1.3 billion institution, offering a full range of business and personal financial services including business, real estate, and consumer lending, as well as wealth management and financial advisory services. We now also provide Crop Insurance and Ag Lending Services. SBCP has 15 convenient locations in Dane, Rock, and Green Counties. Member FDIC and Equal Housing Lender.

For additional information, contact Marketing Communications Manager Ian Folger at 608-826-3515. 

Photo by Richard Hurd

Thysse: We Can—Do It Together

For Immediate Release

WE CAN—DO IT TOGETHER
The Community of Oregon Unifies Through Art Installation

Brooke Barney
Thysse
608.249.6951

OREGON, WI, May 22, 2020 — After campuses made a nationwide decision in March to close, Maddie LeBrun, Oregon native working through her last semester of undergrad at St. Norbert College, returned home.

In light of the pandemic, Maddie resolutely believes that art can serve as an instrument for healing, encouragement, and public understanding. Because of the sudden inaccessibility of printing presses, her printmaking class switched gears from letterpress to public text-based installations, prompting the creation of her hand-painted WE CAN series, initially installed at Firefly Coffeehouse.

“Art is especially important right now because it can be a contribution when we have nothing else to give” stated Maddie LeBrun. “We place so much of our identity and value on ephemeral titles—the jobs we have, the places we go, the people we talk to—that most of us feel lost when we can’t maintain those routines. These days we wake up in the morning and we can’t always do whatever we want, but we can still choose to make something good, and we can still choose to make something for others.”

“I’d like to thank Jeanne and Uriah Carpenter at Firefly for housing my original work,” continues Maddie, “Thysse for reaching out to print posters for the community, and my family for graciously working around my studio endeavors, even (and especially) when they take up the entire kitchen table.”

Today, this message of hope and unity can be seen in the windows of residents and businesses throughout Oregon’s Village.

“We at Firefly Coffeehouse are absolutely committed to supporting both the arts and education, and view our very public role downtown as a place to build community” said Jeanne Carpenter, Owner, Firefly Coffee House and Village President. “We are delighted to showcase Maddie’s original work and thank her for brightening Oregon’s spirits while the world is paused.”

Poster prints are provided free to the public by Thysse and available at all three Oregon Kwik Trip locations as well as Bill’s Food Center.

About the artist

Maddie LeBrun is a designer and illustrator from Oregon, Wisconsin. She loves lettering, late nights spent in-studio, and the color yellow. Her public work is continually featured across campus as she works part-time as a poster designer for the St. Norbert College Art Department. Maddie’s most recent personal work uses a traditional alphabet to share her steadfast love for the earth and the belief that living a more sustainable life is within reach for everyone. You can learn more about Maddie and see more of her work on Instagram @mlebrunstudio

About Thysse

Thysse is a third-generation, innovative company in Oregon, WI, specializing in visual communication. We are a design, printing and manufacturing company and we have the imagination and tools to customize projects, whatever they may be. We think about how your story is being told through your direct mail, your catalog, your fleet vehicles, your apparel, the sign outside your door, and the design of the lobby inside your door. We are where you go with your brand. For more information about Thysse, please visit www.thysse.com.

Photo by Richard Hurd

Monona Bank Supports Contributes $82,300 to 19 Area Non-Profits

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 20, 2020

Contact:
Mark Schellpfeffer, 608-223-5141
mschellpfeffer@mononabank.com

Monona Bank Supports Contributes $82,300 to 19 Area Non-Profits

(MONONA, Wis.) – Monona Bank announced today it will donate $82,300 to 15 area food pantries, and four other Madison-area non-profits who are working to assist our neighbors in need during the COVID-19 crisis. The donation was made possible through the bank’s “Strength in Neighbors” campaign which was initiated by a $20,000 grant the bank received from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago’s (FHLB Chicago) COVID-19 Relief Program.

“We’ve seen a dramatic increase in requests for COVID-19 assistance, specifically asking for help in providing meals for area residents,” Paul Hoffmann, President & CEO of Monona Bank, said. “As a locally-owned community bank with close ties to many non-profits in our communities, we are in a unique position to notice the needs facing our communities quickly,” Hoffmann added. “Monona Bank knew they needed to get involved, especially since we believe we are only truly successful when the communities we serve prosper.”

Hoffmann and the Monona Bank Board of Directors quickly decided to create a “Strength in Neighbors” campaign to help our neighbors survive the COVID-19 crisis. With so many qualified groups asking the bank for assistance, the bank decided to apply for the FLHB Chicago grant. But Monona Bank wanted to do more and increased its total contribution to $82,300 through a combination of bank, board, and employee contributions. “Our Board leadership was outstanding in immediately donating their own personal funds and encouraging others in our bank to give generously,” Hoffmann added. To make even more funds available, the bank also redirected funds they normally would have spent on various community and bank events which were cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns.

The hardest part for the bank was deciding where to donate the grants due to the numerous worthy requests the bank had received for assistance. “We kept hearing the pressure on our local food pantries was incredible, so we focused our funding in this one key area that we knew would have significant impact on our neighbors,” Hoffmann said. Based on stats from the Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin, Monona Bank’s donation to area food pantries will provide more than 192,000 meals for Dane County area families.

Monona Bank chose 15 local meals-related non-profit organizations to support including:  Goodman Center Food Pantry, St. Vincent de Paul, Middleton Outreach Ministry (MOM), St. Stephen’s Food Pantry in Monona, Second Harvest Foodbank of Southwest Wisconsin, The River Food Pantry, FEED Kitchens, Dane County Humane Society, NewBridge Senior Services, Oregon and Brooklyn Area Food Pantry, Belleville Food Pantry, Sauk Prairie Food Pantry, Northwest Dane County Senior Services, Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church Cottage Grove Food Pantry, and the Madison Area Food Pantry Gardens.

In addition, the bank decided to support Forward Community Investments (FCI) in their campaign for Nonprofit Emergency Capacity Building Grants, Common Wealth Development, the Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center and Operation Fresh Start.

About Monona Bank (www.mononabank.com)

Monona Bank is a locally owned and managed bank with over 160 employees at nine locations in an around Dane County. Monona Bank believes that “together, we prosper.” Founded in 1991, Monona Bank believes there is “Strength in Neighbors” and is committed to making our communities great places to live, work and raise a family.

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