By Jeanine Fassl
Contributor
The Whitewater Nifty Ladies Red Hat Society meet for breakfast at Jessica’s Family Restaurant March 13 in their pajamas.
Seventeen members decided to venture out much earlier in the day than the normal Monday meeting time and decided to have a child-like attitude by bringing their favorite bedtime story and stuffed toy.
The toys would be donated to the Whitewater Rescue Squad. According to Todd Lindert, Captain and Service Director for the unit, “We normally like to have some small stuffed toys available for children involved on any type of rescue call. Sometimes being able to hold onto a toy calms the child down which allows us to perform our work.”
Two bags full of smaller stuffed animals were collected and delivered to Capt. Lindert.
In the process of learning about the need for our children in Whitewater, it was learned that there is a new facility in Elkhorn on the grounds of the Walworth County Government Center. The Tree House Childrens’ Advocacy Center is operated out the Health and Human Services office.
Kathy Brown is the Director of the Tree House for the Walworth County Alliance for Children. In a phone conversation with her, it was learned that children between the ages of 3 and 16 years old who are in need of a temporary safe environment during a crisis often come to her without socks. So, instead of toys, she thought if the group could collect new socks for kids in that age range that would be a big help in their service to area children.
According to Whitewater Police Chief, Lisa Otterbacher, “The Tree House is the location we are quick to take our community’s children to during or after a critical situation. This is a one-stop location to handle all the needs of a child to include treatment, counseling and placement when needed.”
As a result, in addition to the stuffed toys, the Nifty Ladies collected two large bags of brand new socks that were delivered to Ms. Brown at the Tree House. All in all, the chance to be a kid again helped members of the Nifty Ladies realize how much we can all do to make things better for our children’s children.
Any woman interested in joining the Nifty Ladies can contact Jeanine Fassl or meet the group at Jessica’s Family Restaurant on Monday, April 14 at 5:30 pm. Women under 50 would be “Red Hats in Training” and would wear pink hats while women over 50 would be official Red Hatters and would wear a Red Hat. Just look in the lower dining room for the large group of ladies wearing nifty Red Hats.
