Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Jonathan Kwiatkowski Memorial Award for Exemplary Conduct & Performance
On November 5th, just one day past 7 months after you left us, this award will be presented at our team's football banquet. A good friend of mine who is a head coach for another team in the same youth football league mentioned to me that he has a prestigious award that he presents to one player for exemplary conduct and performance after each season. Our staff agreed to do the same, and we have made the "Jonathan Ray Kwiatkowski Memorial Award" our prestigious team award in your honor. Your message lives on through all of us. Thanks for making a positive impact in our lives, and continuing to find ways to still do so. Miss you.
Thank you to Ryan for honoring Jonathan and BIG CONGRATULATIONS to Jason for your performance this football season!
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Big thanks to the girls from Cost Cutters on 5630 Washington Avenue for donating their time to hold a Hair-Cut-A-Thon in honor of Jonathan. 58 members of the community came in for a $10 haircut today! All proceeds from this event were donated to the Jonathan Kwiatkowski Memorial Fund. In addition, a good sized bin of school supplies was collected for the Racine Unified schools!
This money will be given to individuals that make a difference in the local community in Jonathan's name supporting all the things that Jonathan cared deeply about. That being; the local music community, education, and the arts.
Thanks to Cost Cutters and a special thank you to Christina Rose for coordinating this event!
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
National Day of Remembrance for Homicide Victims
On Monday, September 26, 2011 friends and family of Jonathan participated in a Balloon Release in Honor of the National Day of Remembrance for Homicide Victims.
Thanks to all!
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Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Thanks SCJ!
On Tuesday, September 13th, SCJ sponsored a blood drive in Jonathan’s name and collected 51 units of blood which will help save 153 lives!
What does it take to collect 51 units of blood? Consider this:
- On average, it normally takes 15 minutes to process the paperwork and donate a unit of blood.
- On September 13th the SCJ team and the Blood Center of Wisconsin processed 58 donors and collected 51 units of usable blood.
- The blood drive was open from 8am to 1pm – 5 hours.
- There were 6 tables available at any given time for donors.
- The team was able to collect a unit of blood every 10 minutes during this event! What an incredible accomplishment!
There was NEVER an empty chair during the entire blood drive, and many employees waited over 2 hours to donate.
I want to extend a special THANK YOU to:
- Vicki Boles for coming up with the idea and making this event happen.
- Kathy Klinkhammer and her team for the coordination and execution of the blood drive.
- Jim Yee and his team from the Blood Center of Wisconsin for all their dedication and hard work.
Lastly, thank you to everyone from SC Johnson Wax. You have proven again that we truly are “A Family Company”.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Giving Back to the Community – Our First Donation
On Saturday, September 3rd, Lori and I attended a vigil for Willie Bogan. Willie was the 10 year old boy that had been missing since Saturday, August 27th when he and two other boys went swimming in Lake Michigan and were pulled towards the rocks by a strong current near Racine's North Beach. The other boys, ages 11 and 12, were rescued by life guards. Willie’s body was not found for several days.
The Jonathan Kwiatkowski Memorial Fund donated $1,000 to Willie’s family to help defray burial and memorial expenses.Links to Willie Bogan’s Story:
Why a Memorial Fund?
In the hours, days and weeks following this tragedy, the support from family, friends and the community was tremendous. People, hundreds of people, stopped by our house to offer their condolences and hugs. Lots of hugs! People brought food, in some cases literally by the truckload (thanks Best Buy!). I don’t think we had to cook a single meal those first three weeks. If I would have had an appetite, I think I would have gained 20 pounds.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
September 2nd Best Buy Sponsored Blood Drive
Best Buy in Racine and Jonathan Kwiatkowski, were responsible for saving more lives today!! Thanks to all who donated blood in memory of Jonathan! Together, we can make a difference!!!
Heads Up, Hearts Up, Hopes Up!!!
August 27th Memorial Ride
On Saturday, August 27th, friends and family hosted a Memorial Bike Ride to benefit the Jonathan Kwiatkowski memorial fund. 100+ Harley owners and many non-Harley riders attended the ride and silent auction that followed. The ride started at the Man Cave & Patio Bar with O&H Bakery in Racine providing the Kringle.
Stops included:
- Mustang Shelly's Roadhouse - New Berlin
- Honey Lake Inn - Burlington)
- Deadman Saloon (Wildlife Refuge) - Kansasville
- Tina's Somers Inn - Somers Wisconsin
The Silent Auction items included:
- A Brett Favre autographed football
- An Aaron Rodgers Jersey and Packers Autographed Novelty Football
- Milwaukee Brewers tickets & backpack
- $500 Ideal Image Hair Removal Gift Certificates
- 2 sets of Milwaukee Bucks Tickets
- $200 Homeward Bound Tattoo Gift Certificates
- $20 Douglas Diner Gift Certificate
- Paul Mitchell Hair Products
- Milwaukee County Zoo Tickets
- $20 Olive Garden Gift Certificates
- 3 Texas Roadhouse Dinner Certificates
- McManigal Photography Free photo Session
- 2 Sybaris Gift Certificates for Money off a night’s stay w/free champagne
- A tent and two chairs from Johnson Outdoors
- …among MANY other things!
All proceeds went to the non-profit memorial fund in Jonathan’s name. This fund has been setup to benefit individuals and organizations in the southeastern Wisconsin community that “make a difference”, like Jonathan did.
Jonathan’s family wants to extend a Big Thanks to Eddie Malek for coming up with this idea, getting things setup, and hosting this event. Big Thanks to Diane Schotzko for all her hard work gathering donations. Big Thanks to all the others (too many names to mention, you know who you are) for additional donations. Big thanks to all the volunteers that made this event a success, again, too many names to mention.
We hope to see everyone when we do this again next year!
…one more Thank You. We want to thank Jonathan Kwiatkowski for the wonderful weather for this event. It was perfect Jon!