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Category: Products

Photo by Richard Hurd

Agrace: January 2022 Update

Volunteers Needed for Agrace Adult Day Center

Volunteers are needed to provide companionship to clients at the Agrace Adult Day Center. Agrace will host orientation for new volunteers Thursday, February 9, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at its Madison campus. Pre-registration is required. To register, call (608) 327-7163 or visit Agrace.org/Volunteer and fill out an application.

Agrace Offers Grief Support Group Options in February

In February, Agrace is offering professionally led, in-person and virtual (accessible with a tablet, computer or smartphone) grief support options.

  • Spouse/Partner Loss Support is a grief support group series for adults whose spouse or partner has died. The six-week series meets Thursdays, February 2 to March 9, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Agrace Grief Support Center. The eight-week series meets Fridays, February 3 to March 24, from 10 a.m. to noon. Pre-registration is required.
  • Bridges is for adults grieving the death of any loved one. Meetings are held every other Wednesday at the Agrace Grief Support Center. In February, meetings are February 1 and 15, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Pre-registration is required for each session.
  • Bridges (virtual) is for adults grieving the death of any loved one. Meetings are held every other Wednesday. In February, meetings are February 8 and 25, from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. via Zoom. Pre-registration is required for each session.

There is no fee for these programs if a participant’s family member was in hospice care in the past 12 months; fees for others can be lowered or waived, if needed. Pre-registration is required; call (608) 327-7118 with questions or to register.

Get Expert Customized Grief Support—by Text

Agrace now offers thoughtful, customized text messages from a service called Help Texts. It’s free and you can sign up even if you are also receiving grief support individually or in a group. To sign up or learn more, visit HelpTexts.com/Agrace.

Agrace Adult Day Center Offers Daytime Care

Do you care for or know an older adult who cannot—or chooses not to—stay alone all day? The new Agrace Adult Day Center in Madison gives seniors the reassurance and comfort of having others with them throughout the day. It’s especially helpful for people who have dementia or trouble with their memory. It’s a welcome break for family caregivers, too. Learn more at (608) 327-7303 or Agrace.org/AdultDayCenter.

Photo by Richard Hurd

WPS Health Solutions: Navy Lt. VanAnh McCormick saluted for Operation Fan Mail

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
DeAnne Boegli
Vice President of Communications
608-512-5754
deanne.boegli@wpsic.com

Navy Lt. VanAnh McCormick saluted for Operation Fan Mail
Program is sponsored by WPS Health Solutions and the Green Bay Packers

MADISON, Wis.—Jan. 9, 2023—The Green Bay Packers and WPS Health Solutions paid special tribute this week to Navy Lt. VanAnh McCormick in conjunction with the Jan. 8 game against the Detroit Lions. Operation Fan Mail, the program that recognizes military families and veterans at each Packers home game, marks its 16th season in 2022.

Born in Chicago, then living in Ohio, then in Florida, McCormick followed her immigrant father’s lead in supporting the Packers. Her father came to Wisconsin from Vietnam in the 1980s to attend college. He quickly became an American football fan and began rooting for the home team.

McCormick took part in the Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps while in high school in Florida. Upon graduation in 2009, she received an ROTC scholarship to attend Loyola University in Chicago. She joined the Navy in 2013 when she graduated from Loyola University. She then served on the USS Jason Dunham, a destroyer based in Norfolk, Va. In 2015, she was selected for nuclear training and went to Charleston, S.C. She was then assigned to the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in Norfolk in 2016. Following a three-month deployment, McCormick went to Naval Reactors Headquarters in Washington, D.C. for shore duty, where she trained prospective officers for all the aircraft carriers. In 2020, she attended department head school in Newport, R.I. Following that, she was selected to be a weapons officer and is now assigned to the USS Forrest Sherman in Norfolk. She has been awarded one Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal and three Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals.

McCormick attended the game with her husband, Dr. Michael McCormick, who was born and raised in Appleton, Wis. The two are celebrating their birthdays as well as their seventh wedding anniversary. Also in attendance were McCormick’s aunt, Julie Maxwell, and Julie’s husband, Jereme Maxwell.

As the honoree for Operation Fan Mail this week, McCormick also received four tickets to the game and a $150 Packers Pro Shop gift card, courtesy of WPS.

The program, which debuted in 2007, is designed to honor families with a member who is on active duty or a member who is a veteran. The Packers and WPS Health Solutions will host a family at each 2022 season home game and recognize the members on the video boards during pregame activities. A total of 157 individuals, families, or groups have been recognized through the program since it began.

The Packers and WPS Health Solutions invite interested families, or friends of eligible families, to submit an essay, 500 words or less, on why a particular family should be saluted this year. Families intended for recognition are those that have a member serving on active duty, or a member who is a veteran. The family member can be a spouse, mother, father, son, daughter, or sibling.

Essays can be sent to Operation Fan Mail, P.O. Box 10628, Green Bay, WI, 54307-0628 or online at operationfanmail.com.

About WPS Health Solutions®

Wisconsin Physicians Service Insurance Corporation (WPS Health Solutions), founded in 1946, is a nationally regarded benefits administrator for a variety of U.S. government programs and a leading not-for-profit health insurer in Wisconsin. WPS Health Solutions serves active-duty and retired military personnel, seniors, individuals, and families in Wisconsin, across the U.S., and around the world. WPS Health Solutions, headquartered in Madison, Wis., has more than 3,100 employees. Within the enterprise, there are three divisions: WPS Government Health Administrators, WPS Military and Veterans Health, and WPS Health Insurance/WPS Health Plan/EPIC Specialty Benefits. For more information, please visit wpshealthsolutions.com.

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Photo by Richard Hurd

Dane Buy Local Research

January 3, 2023

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Colin Murray, Executive Director, Dane Buy Local

(608) 729-7342/office • (608) 712-3440/cell • colin@danebuylocal.com • danebuylocal.com

Madison, WI – Dane Buy Local solicited the help of Civic Economics, an economic analysis and strategic planning consultint firm, to analyze data and provide a report on the local economic effects of dollars spent at locally owned businesses versus national chains in Dane County, Wisconsin.

Dane Buy Local surveyed both local retailers and restaurants about their business practices with regard to revenue recirculation. The results showed collectively, the retail businesses return 47.4% and the restaurants return 60.7% of their generated revenue to the Dane County, Wisconsin, economy.

For comparison purposes, Civic Economics analyzed the annual reports of major national retail chains finding the stores return an average of 13.6% of their generated revenue to the local markets which host their stores. Additionally, the annual reports of three major national restaurant chains were analyzed, finding they averaged 30.4%.

Civic Economics presented the results of the surveys and annual report analyses to Dane Buy Local, the City of Madison, the City of Sun Prairie, the City of Middleton, and Dane County, in addition to the Indie Impact Study Series. The information they provided details the economic impact of independent retailers and restaurants versus national chains on the Dane County, Wisconsin, economy.

For the complete report with graphics, go to https://danebuylocal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Dane-County-Indie-Impact-2022.pdf

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Photo by Richard Hurd

The Madison Concourse Hotel’s Children’s Holiday Party is Coming December 19

Contact:
Joan Herzing | Marketing Director
jherzing@concoursehotel.com | 608 294 3009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THE MADISON CONCOURSE HOTEL’S CHILDREN’S HOLIDAY PARTY

MADISON, WI – December 16, 2022 – The Madison Concourse Hotel and Governor’s Club will host over 140 children on Monday night, December 19, during their 25th annual Children’s Holiday Party. 

The hotel, with co-sponsorship by the NFL Alumni Madison Chapter, will give an early Christmas to Madison-area children from various area community centers and children’s organizations. 

Activities included cookie decorating, crafts, performances by a local magician, dinner and the chance to have a photo taken with Santa Claus or the Grinch by Lifetouch photography. Each child goes home with a gift bag containing a jacket, backpack and hat. Other local sponsors include Top Promotions, UW Provisions, Primrose Custom Designs, Lifetouch Photography, Latitude Graphics, and Revel

See here for a photo gallery of a previous Children’s Holiday Party.

Please contact Joan Herzing if you would like to stop by between 6:00pm and 7:30pm for photos or video footage, feel free to contact her by cell at 608-630-0933 the night of.

The Madison Concourse Hotel and Governor’s Club is Madison’s largest hotel with 373 rooms and over 27,000 square feet of meeting space. They are recipients of Corporate Report Wisconsin’s Corporate Citizenship Award and have a 25+ year the “Hotel with a Heart” program to give parents of disabled children a night together with room and dinner. The hotel also donates rooms to cancer treatment patients though the American Cancer Society, and donates tens of thousands of dollars in room nights, meeting space and cuisine to dozens of area non-profits each year.

For additional hotel information, please visit us at www.concoursehotel.com

Photo by Richard Hurd

Wisconsin Union: Winter Carnival, a winter recreation event series, returns Feb. 6-11 for 83rd year with more than a dozen brand-new events

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dec. 14, 2022

Contact Information:
Shauna Breneman, Communications Director
Email: sbreneman@wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 262-8862

READ RELEASE ONLINE: union.wisc.edu/about/news/winter-carnival-2023

Winter Carnival, a winter recreation event series, returns Feb. 6-11 for 83rd year with more than a dozen brand-new events

MADISON – From themed ice skating to maple taffy making, the Wisconsin Union’s free wintertime revelry series the Winter Carnival returns for an 83rd year to Madison, Wis., Feb. 6-11, 2023. The series includes more than a dozen new events and the continuing of traditions, such as placing a to-scale, inflatable replica of the Statue of Liberty’s head, arm, and torch on frozen Lake Mendota Feb. 10-11, 2023.

Winter Carnival features a blizzard of indoor and outdoor wintertime activities, including arts and crafts, outdoor recreation, film showings, food-making, and more presented by departments and clubs at the Wisconsin Union, with additional programming by community partners.

The Wisconsin Union’s departments and clubs present the following Winter Carnival events:

Additional programming is presented by area partners University Recreation & Wellbeing (Rec Well) and the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association (WFAA), including the following:

“Winter Carnival brings together traditions and the unexpected, as evident by the list of events that includes – to name a few activities – petting ponies, maple taffy-making and ice skating,” Outdoor UW Director Dave Elsmo said. “Winter Carnival is a quintessential Madison experience unlike any other and a great, fun reason to venture out from home this winter.”

The Wisconsin Union has served as Winter Carnival’s headquarters since 1940. Since then, student leaders and staff at the Union have created an annual events lineup that provides community members and visitors with reasons to celebrate the chilly winter season. Many events nod to the Carnival’s long history and campus traditions.

For instance, the tradition of bringing the Statue of Liberty to Lake Mendota began with a prank in 1979 by the Pail and Shovel Party, which was led by UW–Madison alumni Leon Varjian and Jim Mallon ’79. Varjian and Mallon made a campaign promise that, if elected to the Wisconsin Student Association, they would bring the Statue of Liberty to Madison. The Pail and Shovel Party stayed true to their Lady Liberty promise by erecting a Styrofoam Lady Liberty head, arm and torch on Lake Mendota on Feb. 22, 1979.

While attending some Winter Carnival events, patrons can enjoy the Wisconsin Union’s many on-site dining options at its building Memorial Union, including at iconic pub fare destination, der Rathskeller. Purchases at Memorial Union and Union South as well as donations to the Union help support low-cost and free events, such as the Carnival, and Wisconsin Union student leadership opportunities.

The event lineup is subject to change, including due to weather conditions. The Wisconsin Union team encourages guests to visit union.wisc.edu/wintercarnival for the most up-to-date lineup and event updates.

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About the Wisconsin Union

The Wisconsin Union enhances the lives of members and visitors through recreational, cultural, educational and social opportunities. Formed in 1907, the Wisconsin Union is a membership organization that blends study and leisure to create unique out-of-classroom opportunities. Learn more about the Union and its tradition of providing experiences for a lifetime: union.wisc.edu.