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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Tuesday, September 27, 2011
National Day of Remembrance for Homicide Victims
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?
Early in the morning of April 4th, 2011 our son Jonathan was fatally stabbed in the neck and bled to death in his Mother’s arms. Five months later we are still haunted by the devastating impact of this senseless tragedy. In the past, I had heard people say “losing a child is the worst thing that could happen to someone”. I never took the time to think about that statement and really understand what that means. I do now fully understand what that means. Losing a child that you see every morning, noon, and night for 21 years is truly the worst thing to ever happen. 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.
We knew Jonathan was a good kid. We knew he cared deeply for family and friends. We knew stories of Jonathan going out of his way to help others. In the weeks following his death, it became apparent to me that we did not fully understand the extent that Jonathan touched other people's lives. We heard story upon story of how Jonathan made a positive impact upon others. Friends, family and co-workers shared many, many stories with my wife and me about how Jonathan made a positive impact on their lives. Anytime, day or night, Jonathan was there for someone. In retrospect, I have no idea when the kid slept!
Then came the donations. Cards and envelopes filled with $5, $20, $50, $200. It was unbelievable. We are not a rich family by any means, but we did have life insurance for Jonathan which covered 1/2 of the cost of the celebration of his life (funeral). Not knowing what to do with these donations, we asked the advice of Michael Langendorf from the Draeger-Langendorf funeral home. He advised us that some families had chosen to setup a charitable fund in the name of their deceased children. This sounded like a nice option. This sounded like something Jonathan would have wanted. We contacted Johnson Bank and in a few hours, the Scholarship/Memorial account was set up.
As you’ve seen, to date we have had a number of fund raising events and blood drives in honor of Jonathan. All of the money raised will be given back to the community. University Scholarships, donations to the arts, and helping people in need who have experienced a similar loss of a son or daughter. Our Board of Directors is working on our “give back” plan. More news to come. Until then, thanks for all of your support and remember – Heads Up, Hearts Up, Hopes Up. Together we are making a difference!
Note on life insurance: Each year my employer, SC Johnson Wax, asks us to fill out paperwork to renew or pay for additional benefits. I am lucky enough to work for a company that offers life insurance for my dependents. It felt kind of strange every year to check the box and pay the nominal fee to get life insurance for my sons. Why would I ever need that? Well, in the end it helped a ton. Filling out the claims paperwork was an emotional challenge, but the people at Met Life made it a relatively painless process. Bad stuff happens. I would encourage everyone reading this to set aside a few dollars to prepare for the unforeseen.
Once word got out about the Memorial Fund the donations started pouring in. Family and friends started coming up with fund raising ideas and the hundreds of dollars quickly turned into tens of thousands.
We decided to work with legalzoom.com to turn this into an "official" non-profit organization. The legalzoom people were great. I highly recommend using them for any legal paperwork needs!
Sunday, September 4, 2011
September 2nd Best Buy Sponsored Blood Drive
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!
July 13th Blood Drive
April Reszka and the city of Mukwonago hosted another Blood Drive in Jonathan’s name. Thanks April!
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