Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
Photo by Curt Knoke Muffy Culhane, president of Shawano Area Matthew 25, is winner of this year’s Shawano Community Service Award from the Shawano Area Community Foundation.
Editor’s note: This is the final article in a series of five 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.
Muffy Culhane, president of Shawano Area Matthew 25, will be honored with the Shawano Community Service Award at the Shawano Area Community Foundation’s Celebration of Giving gala.
Unfortunately, she won’t be there in person to pick it up. She and her husband will be in Haiti, on their 10th trip volunteering as part of a medical mission.
“I’m sorry I won’t be there for it, but this something near and dear to my heart,” Culhane said.
Culhane will receive the award for her volunteer work with Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Red River Riders Therapeutic Horseback Riding and in particular SAM 25, which opened a new homeless shelter in Shawano in November.
The award is being sponsored by a fund holder within the Shawano Area Community Foundation.
“I’m very thankful,” Culhane said, “but I share it with so many other people; the whole SAM group, the volunteers. There are so many people who do a wonderful job.”
Those who put Culhane’s name up for the award — all of them fellow volunteers who have worked on projects with Culhane — praised her for her hard work and leadership in making the shelter a reality.
“Muffy has spent countless hours implementing the creation of a homeless shelter in Shawano,” Donna Shapiro wrote in her nomination form. “She has dedicated herself unselfishly to involve others to assist in bringing this idea to a reality. She has acknowledged others in the community that have worked hard to fulfill this dream but it was primarily through Muffy’s dream that it was initiated and brought to fruition.”
Shapiro also wrote that Culhane continued working toward getting the shelter in place in spite of several obstacles encountered.
SAM 25 had been working to open the shelter since 2013.
“Muffy is involved in many other activities that are conducted quietly by her,” Shapiro added. “She is a wonderful member of our community. We are very fortunate to have her here.”
Mary Lisa Carenza wrote that no one worked as diligently as Culhane to open Sam’s House.
“The project started as an idea and now hosts guests who are in desperate need of temporary housing from the elements in the harsh Wisconsin winter,” Carenza wrote. “She will be the first to tell you she did not do this by herself. Unlike many community volunteers who tend to take on the load and carry it until they break, Muffy has successfully engaged a remarkable team to launch this dream.
Carenza noted that numerous volunteers from various organizations, business and churches were involved in the project, but she credited Culhane for her leadership in bringing them together to effectively manage the details.
“She has touched all of our lives and allowed us the ability to touch many more in need — and she’s done it with her loving compassion and kept her smile,” Carenza wrote.
Mark Fuller said it was not just Culhane’s leadership but also her perseverance that made the shelter a reality.
“Untold hours of planning and networking went into this effort and Muffy was the voice and conscience of the project, especially when hurdles and roadblocks presented themselves,” he wrote. “With quiet faith and hope, she continued to lead this mission for a shelter on behalf of the poor and marginalized in our community. I am confident that without Muffy, there would not be a homeless shelter in Shawano. This has been a coordinated community effort that has been successfully achieved through her vision and leadership.”
As of Sunday, the shelter has served 51 people, providing them with 504 nights of shelter and serving them 988 meals since opening in November. The shelter is open from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. from Nov. 1 to April 30.
Culhane said she would split the $1,000 Community Service Award between the shelter and Red River Riders.
She joined the board at Red River Riders in 2003, after her 10-year-old daughter, Katie, passed away of leukemia.
Her daughter was an avid rider and Culhane said she wanted to continue working with the group to honor her memory.
“That’s another great group of volunteers,” Culhane said.