PRESS RELEASES

 *FOR  IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                
*Contact:  Terry Testolin – Executive Director, NHS of Richland County – terry@nhsrcwi.org
(608-647-4949)

 Neighborhood Housing Services of Richland County, WRCO-AM-FM Radio and community partners proudly present: “AMERICAN STORIES” to be performed by the Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua on April 28^th in Richland Center, Wisconsin!

 The 4th Annual Big Top Chautauqua - NHS of Richland County community building fundraiser will be held in Richland Center, on Saturday April 28^th, 2012 at 7PM at the Richland Center High School Auditorium, following 3 years of community success with packed audiences and many standing ovations!   This year’s performance, a new show for Richland Center is  “AMERICAN STORIES” performed by the Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua “Blue Canvas Orchestra”.  AMERICAN STORIES performed by the nationally renowned Big Top Chautauqua performers featured weekly on  “Tent Show Radio”on the Wisconsin Public Radio Ideas Network is a retrospective work focused on “the people”.   These are the stories, the songs and faces of those who came before – the pioneers, the lumber barons, the lighthouse keepers, the Voyageurs and the Native Tribes.  Performed with their renowned skill and stage craft and musical mastery, combined with Team Big Top Chautauqua’s special powerful historical photographs with a power point and  giant screen, make AMERICAN STORIES a beautiful experience, a “walk back in time through some of the most poignant stories and momentous episodes of our country’s founding.”  Songs about Abraham Lincoln, the civil war, native Americans, the Civilian Conservation Corps, Apostle Island light houses, the great lakes, agriculture, instrumentals and many more are featured in this fabulous multimedia show for all!

Just prior to the Big Top Chautauqua AMERICAN STORIES performance at 7PM (interior theatre doors open at 6:30pm) NHS of Richland County, GRACE and Richland County Performing Arts Council are presenting for the second year in a row a community building, storytelling and socializing event called   “DISCOVERYING WISCONSIN’s PAST” from 5pm – 6:30pm, FREE entrance in the glass atrium area next to the Auditorium.  Featured events include:

*Story Telling -  including Dan Bomkamp of Muscoda, author of several books and a popular local speaker.  Nick Lichter from LaCrosse and Vice President of Organic Valley Logistics will talk about his book on canoeing the entire length of the Mississippi!

* Music and local high school club food stands;
*Wisconsin Made Products by Local Artisans for sale including “H.O.B. Hands-On Beekeeping”
*Civil War enactors from the “History Corps” (outside with tents, weather permitting)
*Green Built and Wisconsin ENERGY STAR Home Information
*Ho Chunk Housing and Community Development Agency Information
*Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua’s traveling gift shop featuring CD’s and more!

 Tickets are available now and continue to be at the low price of $12 per person in advance and $15 at the door.  Richland Center and area ticket outlets are:  *Ed’s Family Food, *Auditorium Antiques, *Burnstad’s Market-Richland Center, *Viroqua Food Coop.  Tickets can also be purchased through the Big Top Chautauqua – Toll Free: 888-244-8368 or On Line: www.bigtop.org (MasterCard and Visa accepted)  Board Members from the following partner organizations will also be selling tickets in the area:   NHS of Richland County, Richland County Performing Arts Council (RCPAC), Greater Richland

Area Cancer Elimination (GRACE)  Also with the purchase of each ticket is a coupon on the back from CULVER’s good for a “FREE single scoop of Fresh Frozen Custard” at the Richland Center  CULVER’s through July 31, 2012!  Last year’s show sold out, get your tickets early!

Partner, recipient community organizations receiving net funding from the partnership Big Top Chautauqua fundraiser in 2012 include:  NHS of Richland County, GRACE, Richland County Performing Arts Council and the Richland High School District Foundation.  Strong community support of the 4^th Annual Big Top Chautauqua Community Fundraiser helps bring affordable, high quality family entertainment to Richland County and our regional audience.  In the last three years over $27,000 in net proceeds were raised through near capacity audiences and thanks to dozens of sponsors and contributors.  Net proceeds in 2012 will be utilized as follows by partner groups:  *NHS – Community Building and Organizing (CBO) in NHS’s target neighborhood in Richland Center, *GRACE – Assist Cancer patients, *RCPAC- Maintenance and restoration of the Historic Municipal City Auditorium in Richland Center, *Richland School District Foundation – Scholarships

The Annual Big Top Chautauqua NHS Community Building and Fundraising event has received major Sponsorship Funding from the following:  *WRCO-AM-FM Radio, founding and champion Sponsor *Ho Chunk Housing and Community Development Agency, *American Family Insurance, *Schreiber Foods, *NeighborWorks America America.  According to NHS of Richland County Executive Director Terry Testolin, “This year we have a record 46 community business and individual sponsors who are at the center of our success,  the most ever showing how the community is strongly supporting our team fundraiser!  Richland Center Tourism, M&I, Culvers, Jones Chevrolet, the Richland Observer, Shopping News and State Farm Insurance are helping greatly again in addition to our generous Major Sponsors.  For more information on Big Top IV and a full list of Big Top Chautauqua IV Sponsors who we encourage the public to patronize please see our posters in the community and our website  www.nhsrcwi.org “

 In the words of Mark Twain according to the Big Top Chautauqua website  www.bigtop.org : “Chautauqua is a place where you can be educated as well as entertained and not know the difference!”

 Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua celebrated a fabulous 25^th Silver Anniversary in 2011 with dozens of great events and over 28,000 attendees at the “Big Tent” in Washburn in Bayfield County “way up north” near Lake Superior. Many local folks have travelled to the delightful experience of Big Top’s tent shows in Washburn and are now enjoying the shows here in Richland Center.  NHS’s annual Big Top Chautauqua partnership fundraiser and community building event also provides those who are regular fans and part of the Big Top Chautauqua family to show their support of a great Wisconsin tradition we are honored to be a part of here in Richland Center!
 

Residents Participate in Community Training in Kansas City and South Dakota

 For Immediate Release

October 21, 2011

Contact: Chelsea Wunnicke, chelsea@nhsrcwi.org, 608-647-4949 x 301

October 2011--A team of 4 residents from Haseltine Court Richland Center and 1 NHS of Richland County staff person travelled to Kansas City for an annual Community Leadership Institute sponsored by Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS) and NeighborWorks America.  The 4 days of training were an introduction to “resident lead community engagement” and the participants took classes in: getting people involved in small towns, working with local universities, making “green” a priority in your neighborhood, and youth and adults working together.  With over 900 participants from across the country attending this training, NHS of Richland County was proud to be represented by this team of NHS-built homeowners from the Haseltine Court neighborhood.  One key result of attending is the opportunity for the team to write a grant for $2000 for an action plan in their neighborhood

In September, another team utilized a grant for a “peer-to-peer” learning opportunity to travel to South Dakota.   Once there, NeighborWorks Dakota Home Resources, headquartered in Deadwood, introduced the team to their concept of neighborhood “block clubs.”  In a block club, residents of a certain city block or neighborhood have organized themselves to address issues in their community and to increase connections between neighbors.  This team, consisting of Chelsea Wunnicke, Jeanetta Kirkpatrick and Elaine Hanson-Hysell look forward to bringing these ideas back to the Haseltine Court neighborhood in Richland Center.  Elaine noted that the most impressive thing we saw was a neighborhood in Rapid City, South Dakota that was plagued with crime and neighbors who were afraid to even come out of their homes!  With the help of establishing a block club and community garden, the residents of Lemmon Ave. are taking their streets back for safety and neighborly connections. 

NHS of Richland County is a private, non-profit, community controlled organization that has been active in Richland County for over 25 years.  As part of the national NeighborWorks America network, we are “Neighbors Helping Neighbors” committed to educating residents in affordable housing services and revitalizing our area communities.  More information on NHS of Richland County can be obtained by calling NHS at 608-647-4949 or visiting www.nhsrcwi.org.

Thoughts from Participant Elaine Hanson-Hysell

The trip to South Dakota made me aware that at this time in our society, when we are facing so many problems, one of the most useful things people can do is build their own community from the bottom up.  We as a culture have to move past the intense individualism that has been idealized and return to the power of belonging to each other and this glorious planet that we call home.  All the latest research shows that human beings are hard wired to belong and be part of the larger whole.

The block club in Rapid City included so many partners from the city:  police, city council, local businesses as well as the local NeighborWorks organization, allowing people to develop skills, build relationships, find their voice, and become invested in their neighborhood and their city.  Lemmon Ave. is not a wealthy neighborhood, but it is rich in the things that can't be bought.  It was an inspiration to listen to the tale of their neighborhood and the impact the community garden is having on so many people, both owners and renters.   My hope is to see neighborhoods in Richland Center discover how they can be participants in the wider city as well as support their neighbors right next door.

-Elaine Hanson-Hysell

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