The Sam Watson Benefit Fund

Sam Watson

Last week I told you about our reporter Sam Watson, who broke many bones following a serious car crash while driving to work the morning of July 19. 

Over the past week, and in partnership with Nicolet Bank, we’ve opened the Sam Watson Benefit Fund. Walk-in donations will be received at any of Nicolet’s branches. Checks can also be mailed to the Sister Bay branch – which is where branch manager Deb Anderson opened the fund. Make the check out to the Sam Watson Benefit Fund, and mail it to P.O. Box 166, Sister Bay, WI 54234. 

Sam and her partner, Matthew Smith, who were just starting out on their young careers (Matthew as an employee at Nicolet Bank’s Sister Bay branch), will be able to access the fund’s donations for needed expenses as Sam goes through what she’s been told could be up to 10 months of rehab.

She’s already started that process in Green Bay, where she will remain for the foreseeable future before heading back to Door County. She texted yesterday that she had “successfully stood up several times now! Small but exciting steps.”

For one who broke both her legs and an ankle (and an arm and a collarbone) not even three weeks ago, it was both astonishing and beyond encouraging to hear. She also expressed gratitude that she had landed in a community like ours.

“We really can’t get over how fortunate we are,” she texted.

Door County residents care about their neighbors. I witness this generosity on a regular basis. Even so, not everyone suffers a tragedy like Sam’s, so it’s a unique experience to receive – as she has, and as we have on her behalf – such an outpouring of regards, sympathy, prayers and inquiries about how to help.

Thank you all, from the bottoms of our hearts. 

— Debra Fitzgerald