Photo caption: Jayne Harmsen (right), REACH Waupun executive director, accepts a $5,000 donation from Nicole Gill (left), vice president, clinical administrator, and DeAnn Thurmer, president, SSM Health Waupun Memorial Hospital/SSM Health Ripon Community Hospital, for its Get Active! program.
SSM Health is giving $5,000 to REACH Waupun to support its Get Active! program, which is designed to help improve the health and well-being of youth in the Waupun community. “We’re pleased to help support this very important local initiative through our community benefit program,” according to DeAnn Thurmer, SSM Health Ripon Community Hospital/SSM Health Waupun Memorial Hospital president. “Studies show that sports play a critical role in a young person’s lifelong journey toward an active and healthy lifestyle. Youth who engage in sports grow up more physically active, and also gain mental and social health benefits that follow them into adulthood.”
The funding will help the Get Active! Program to provide financial assistance to students within the Waupun Area School District or Central Wisconsin Christian School to pay for fees related to sports, clubs, or extracurricular activities. Students would qualify for a wide variety of sports, including bowling, dance, figure skating, gymnastics, hockey, swim team or swimming lessons, and wrestling. Students can receive up to $250 a year in assistance. “Our hope with Get Active! is to be able to assist all those that apply to the program to enhance public health through physical activity and social experiences with the youth in our community,” says Jayne Harmsen, REACH Waupun executive director.
REACH Waupun has been an active nonprofit since 2015. REACH provides a variety of programing for area youth and families including one-on-one youth mentorship, school supply distribution, and community relief. The REACH Relief program provides assistance with youth related costs such as driver’s education, glasses, winter coats and other needs. “The work that REACH Waupun does in our community closely mirrors the work that we do each and every day throughout SSM Health,” according to Nicole Gill, vice president, clinical administrator with SSM Health Ripon Community Hospital/SSM Health Waupun Memorial Hospital. “By partnering on our outreach efforts, we are able to ensure that we are providing important access to community resources available for our youth, which is so critically important to so many ways.” To learn more, call REACH Waupun at 920-325-2011 or email to info@reachwaupun.org. In 2023, SSM Health Greater Fond du Lac’s community benefit ministry totaled more than $630,000 across the communities it serves. This investment helps ensure access to health care for patients who are uninsured or underinsured, train the next generation of health professionals to care for those in need, and fund programs to address the most pressing health needs of our communities.
