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Door County Community Quick Notes

• Locally, Door County Habitat for Humanity has been awarded $64,350, or 65 percent of the funds necessary, to build another home in 2009 through the alliance between Habitat for Humanity International and Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. This home will be built by area volunteers, of whom at least one-half will be Lutheran and one-fourth will be Thrivent Financial members. The Habitat partner family will also invest 200 hours of “sweat equity” helping to build their home. Construction will begin in the Spring and is expected to continue for three months.

“Decent, affordable housing continues to be an unattainable dream for many families right here in Door County,” said Rick Nelson, Executive Director of Door County Habitat for Humanity. “This support from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans means that we can make that dream come true for one more family. We are so proud to be a part of the Thrivent Builds alliance.”

To learn more, visit http://www.thriventbuilds.com or http://www.habitat.org.

• The Door County YMCA and Door County Memorial Hospital are teaming up to present a seven-week Half Marathon Training Course. Whether a first time runner or a race veteran, this course will help participants get ready for May’s Door County Half Marathon.

Beginning Jan. 5, this seven-week course will introduce participants to the fundamentals of training and road racing. A new helpful topic will be covered each week, including proper running equipment, injury prevention, goal setting, proper training, safe mileage build-up, running into the golden years and proper nutrition. Local long-time runners will lead the classes.

The class will be held at Door County Memorial Hospital in Sturgeon Bay in Rooms 1 and 2 on Monday nights from 6 – 7 pm between Jan. 5 and Feb. 16. Registration for the class is currently taking place at both Door County YMCA program centers and on-line at http://www.doorcountyymca.org. Cost is $24 for YMCA members and $48 for community participants.

For more information call either 920.868.3660 or 920.743.4949 or visit http://www.doorcountyymca.org

• Door Of Life Christian Church has settled into their new home at the crest of the hill on Highway 42 between Sister Bay and Ephraim. The building was formerly known as the Nordic Gallery and was originally the Nordic Restaurant.

Door Of Life, a non-denominational church established in 2002, purchased the unoccupied, 2.5 acre property on June 30, 2008. Sister Bay architect Pat Mangan immediately began working with state and local regulatory agencies to facilitate the conversion to an approved assembly hall for church activities.

Many members of the church utilized their professional skills to remodel the facility, and within weeks the building was transformed into a beautiful sanctuary. The church celebrated with a public dedication ceremony on Oct. 12.

Door Of Life Christian Church holds Sunday service at 10 am. A nursery is provided and a children’s church service follows praise and worhip. Adult Bible Study and “Treasure Seekers” (ages 5-12) and a youth group meet on Wednesday evenings.

More information about Door Of Life can be found at http://www.dooroflife.org.


• With a little less than one month left in the 2008 United Way campaign, donations stand at 42 percent of the $510,000 need for the upcoming year. The proceeds from the annual campaign are used to fund 43 human service programs serving Door County residents.

Programs that receive funding from United Way of Door County fall into one of the following areas of human services: Basic Needs (Food, Clothing, Shelter, and Transportation); Childcare and Early Education; Positive Youth Development; Affordable and Accessible Healthcare; Life Enhancement for the elderly, disabled and mentally ill; and Family and Community Wellness.

A donation to United Way of Door County is truly an investment in your community: 99 percent of all monetary gifts stay in Door County to improve the lives of our residents. And, one-third of Door County’s residents benefit from one or more of the United Way funded programs. Your help is needed to keep our communities thriving.

For more information call 920.746.9645 or visit http://www.unitedwaydc.com.

• The Volunteer Center of Door County is proud to announce that http://www.VolunteerDoorCounty.com is now offering a new source for bringing together volunteers and non-profits. The comprehensive Web site connects people with opportunities to serve and provides administrative support for Door County non-profit agency volunteer programs.

In addition to allowing volunteers and non-profits to search and list all the volunteer opportunities in the county, the new site will also provide a solution to local non-profit event planning needs.

"For some time now, the Door County Non-Profit Group has been looking for a calendaring option to help non-profits avoid simultaneous programming. This online calendar provides a platform to easily organize events which allows us to better support each other’s event programming, " said Amy Kohnle, President of the group and Executive Director of United Way of Door County.

All Door County agencies are invited to take advantage of the powerful recruiting and data management tools that the new site offers. Although many of the non-profits will find the site easy to use, the Volunteer Center offers on-site training to agencies needing assistance to get started.

For more information contact the Volunteer Center at 920.746.7704 or [email protected].

• Wal-mart of Sturgeon Bay, in conjunction with its employees, recently donated $1,000 to the Community Clinic of Door County (CCDC). CCDC is a not for profit health clinic that provides affordable, non-emergency, primary health and mental health care to people without insurance. Most of the health care providers are volunteers, and the two clinic sites in Sturgeon Bay and Sister Bay have been generously donated which helps to keep costs affordable.

“CCDC receives no federal, state or county funding or reimbursement so we rely heavily on the support of donations from private individuals, church groups and businesses like Wal-mart to support our efforts,” said Julie Duffy, Director of Development for the clinic. Duffy adds, “Community Clinic provided care for more than 650 patients in 2008 and with the current economic climate projections for need in 2009 have increased significantly.”

Wal-mart of Sturgeon Bay provides more than $50,000 in grant funding back to the local community on an annual basis. Chuck Ellsworth, Wal-mart Assistant Manager, said, “We are proud to be able to give back to our community in ways that can directly impact our friends, neighbors and customers.”