Shawano Community Service Award

Editor’s note: This is the fourth in a series of articles profiling winners of the Celebration of Giving awards presented annually by Shawano Area Community Foundation Inc. for outstanding volunteerism. The winners will be honored at a gala Tuesday.

Sue Dionne joined her first volunteer organization right out of high school in 1978.

“I joined it to meet people,” she said. “I didn’t know a lot of people in Shawano.”

Dionne, who graduated from Bonduel High School, thought the Jaycee Women organization would be a way of getting to know people in the area.

She would later realize what an impact volunteering would have on her life.

“It was a real eye-opener,” she said. “I saw what these organizations do and the impact they can have.”

Dionne is the winner of this year’s Shawano Community Service Award, presented annually by Shawano Area Community Foundation Inc. as part of its Celebration of Giving awards.

“I was honored and surprised,” Dionne said about receiving the award. “I didn’t expect it. There are a lot of people in the community who do a lot of projects and programs.”

Dionne was very active in the Jaycee Women and held positions from local president to state chaplain. But in 1985, the organization was dissolved.

However, Dionne and some of the others in the national group were not ready to let go.

During the Jaycee Women’s last convention in Indianapolis, she and others talked about forming a new organization even though many said starting a new organization could not be done.

Dionne and 11 others from Wisconsin joined the newly formed Minnesota Women of Today, then voted to form a Wisconsin chapter.

The Shawano/Wisconsin Women of Today has since become a nationally recognized organization.

Since founding the program, Dionne has been very active, serving as local and state president many times, local vice president and chairman of the board. She has also been very active at the national level, serving as programming vice president, parliamentarian and program manager.

In 2009-2010, she reached the pinnacle of her association with the group, serving as the 25th national president of U.S. Women of Today.

“It was a 25-year dream,” she said.

Dionne traveled to all 12 states affiliated with the national organization to meet with members and promote her theme, “Together we can make a difference.”

That has been the theme of Dionne’s volunteer career; the idea that if people work together, they can make a huge difference in the lives of those in need and can work to build a better world.

“I’ve carried that theme with me all the time,” she said.

With that theme in mind, Shawano Women of Today has supported numerous national and local charities, including March of Dimes, Breast Cancer Awareness, Autism and Domestic Violence Awareness.

Locally, the group has supported organizations such as Safe Haven — where Dionne works as shelter supervisor, Shawano Area Food Pantry and Resource Center, Backpack Project, and scholarships for high school students and families in need.

The organization also makes and sends valentines to four VA hospitals so each veteran can receive a card on Valentines Day, and supplies support group suppers for Safe Haven bimonthly. The group also supplies Buckets of Sunshine, which are buckets full of cleaning supplies, for the clients who move into their new homes.

Dionne began serving on the Salvation Army board in 2008 and has served as secretary of the board since 2012.

In 2011, it came to the board’s attention there was no Red Kettle Campaign coordinator, and the campaign was in danger of not taking place in Shawano County.

Dionne took the project to Shawano Women of Today, which took it on.

The group organized volunteers, scheduled locations, picked up and sorted the funds, and maintained the buckets throughout the five-week campaign.

Dionne took on the daunting task of scheduling the volunteers, which involved 300 shifts at four locations.

The first year the group took on the project, donations more than doubled from the previous year. The campaign collected $11,351 in 2010 and $23,091 in 2011.

Since Women of Today took over, the donations have increased every year.

The campaign took in $26,507 in 2012, $32,134 in 2013 and $34,833 in 2014.

Dionne put in more than 100 hours each November and December. The group also put in an additional average of 80 hours each campaign to ring bells, promote the event, distribute and pick up kettles, and manage associated events.

In 2014, 168 individuals and 12 groups/organizations made up the volunteer bell ringers.

“It takes a whole community to make that project a success,” Dionne said.

She also recognized the importance of the Red Kettle Campaign because of her 13 years working at Safe Haven.

“Our clients use that money,” she said. “I know how important it is for there to be money in that pot.”

Dionne will split her Celebration of Giving $1,000 cash award between Safe Haven and the Salvation Army.

The award is being sponsored by a fund holder within SACF who was not named.