Franklin Today

A friendly reminder about the Neitman fundraiser

After the jump is what I posted on January 14th relating to the much needed fundraiser to help Logan Neitman, a 1st grader at Ben Franklin Elementary School, receive the proper medical care. If you'd like to support Logan's family through this tough time, please attend his fundraiser at Root River Lanes on Valentine's Day, February 14th, from 1pm onward. If you plan on bowling please confirm with Robert Fredrickson, Logan's grandfather, by calling 414-732-1691.

If you can't make it but still want to help by making a donation, any contributions can be made at any Wells Fargo bank. The nearest Wells Fargo location is near Mitchell Airport, at 131 W Layton Avenue in Milwaukee. You can contact Robert Fredrickson with any questions, again, by calling 414-732-1691.

Thank you for your consideration, and let's band together as a community to help Logan in this difficult time.

After the jump is what I posted on January 14th relating to the much needed fundraiser to help Logan Neitman, a 1st grader at Ben Franklin Elementary School, receive the proper medical care. If you'd like to support Logan's family through this tough time, please attend his fundraiser at Root River Lanes on Valentine's Day, February 14th, from 1pm onward. If you plan on bowling please confirm with Robert Fredrickson, Logan's grandfather, by calling 414-732-1691.

If you can't make it but still want to help by making a donation, any contributions can be made at any Wells Fargo bank. The nearest Wells Fargo location is near Mitchell Airport, at 131 W Layton Avenue in Milwaukee. You can contact Robert Fredrickson with any questions, again, by calling 414-732-1691.

Thank you for your consideration, and let's band together as a community to help Logan in this difficult time.

I hope you like the new look!

After many months of sticking with the same template and design, I decided it was about time to enhance the site. The new template allows me to change the banner to whatever picture I'd like to put up. If you have any ideas or suggestions for the site, let me know either in the comments or send me an e-mail at franklinblog@gmail.com.

Thanks again for your continued support!

-Greg

Support Relief Efforts in Haiti today

I just received the following message from a friend of mine:

Put those I Phones to work! AT&T customers can now send $10 donations to the Red Cross International Relief Fund by texting the word HAITI to 90999. 100% of all money donated will be passed on to the Red Cross. AT&T customers can also text YELE to 501501 to give $5 to Wyclef's YeleHaiti.

It's a fast, easy way to help those suffering immensely in Haiti after the devastating earthquake.

Let's help Logan Neitman

The Franklin community in the past has been always willing to stand together with a family facing extremely difficult times. A couple of names come to my mind right away, with the Papenfuss family and the Molitor family both very grateful of what their neighbors gave to them in support their children going through difficult medical situations.

Well, today the Neitman family could certainly use your help.

A friend of mine passed along information early last night to all the bloggers and several aldermen. Kudos to Franklin Public School Board Member Janet Evans for already posting this information on her FranklinNOW.com blog. If you are a Facebook fan of Franklin Today or on my personal e-mail list, you already are aware of this as well.

The Neitmans have a son in the 1st grade at Ben Franklin Elementary School who is having a rather rough time medically. The family was just informed that Logan will need brain surgery and a bone fusion due to three different types of brain abnormalities. With only one parent working, they'll be having a difficult time with the medical expenses, and could use some assistance from us to overcome this. You can read more on Logan's story by clicking this link.

Thanks to Logan's caring grandfather, Robert Fredrickson, and other family members, a benefit has been set-up in order to raise money to help cover his medical needs. It will be held at the Root River Center, 7220 W Rawson Ave, on Valentine's Day starting at 1pm. 

Donation tickets for this event are $25.00 each or Buffet/Bowling and $15.00 each for Buffet Only. All who plan to bowl must confirm by February 7th, 2010 to ensure you have a lane. Please confirm to Robert Fredrickson at 414-732-1691 as we will need to confirm food as well as a bowling list.

Furthermore, a silent auction and a raffle table will be featured at this benefit. Please help support this Franklin family by joining them at this event. If you, your company, or anyone you may know has any items that they are able to donate to us, any gift certificates/cards, or a gift basket of your company product. All donations big and small are greatly excepted, as we would be honored for you to help us out.

Please contact Robert at 414-732-1691 with any questions. Any monetary gifts can be donated at any Wells Fargo bank.

The many ways to follow Franklin Today

For those of you just joining the crowd of Franklin readers on this website, you can follow Franklin Today via a number of different avenues:

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FACEBOOK: You can become a "fan" by clicking this link. We currently boast 132 fans.

TWITTER: Our Twitter account can be followed by clicking this link.

Make sure to do the school survey!

FranklinNOW is reporting that Franklin Public Schools will begin a series of surveys to the residents of the school district starting next week. They report the first survey will be regarding programs in the district, and later ones will focus on facilities, budgeting, and future initiatives.

It is important that the survey is taken so the school district and School Board are made aware of your intentions as a taxpayer on what direction you'd like to see Franklin Public Schools take.

During my time relaying to you community issues, an issue that never went away is the topic of Franklin High School and what its future should be. While residents rejected what many considered to be a blank check referendum in 2007, they didn't indicate it was a terrible idea to think about what will happen at the high school in the near and long term future. Furthermore, other projects in the area have shown that taxpayers don't have to pick up the full tab for such projects. A recent example can be seen in Hartland, where $4 million is being raised by private donors for an expanded football stadium at Arrowhead High School.

When the surveys arrive in the mailboxes, taxes are the first thing on everyone's mind, and people will vote based on those thoughts. What likely won't be shown is that while taxpayers at this time can't afford additional taxes on their properties, an indication of support for revamped/new facilities or programs doesn't have to mean higher taxes. If the surveys come back and indicate support for one or several items/initiatives by residents, the school district and School Board can use that to their advantage to generate interest in the private sector for contributions and donations towards them. Those that donate or contribute towards these want to know that the people will utilize them once it is built or added to the curriculum or class.

The surveys that will be done in the coming weeks are going to be the barometer of the community for many months and years to come. When you take the survey, remember to keep both your pocketbook and personal thoughts on our schools in mind. What should be improved at our schools? Are they spending too much in a particular area? Should there be facilities constructed to make FHS comparable to the other high schools in the metro area? All of these and more will likely be resting on your shoulders.

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone in Franklin is having a wonderful Christmas this year!

Remember to help the fire department!

As a reminder, the Franklin Fire Department is looking for residents to participate in a quiz on fire safety. When the resident gives their credit to the FFD, it helps add-on to the total to win a $10,000 grant from Liberty Mutual Insurance.

Click here to take the quiz, and credit our fire department!

Some easy ways to help the community!

Lately, a lot of things have been coming up where Franklin residents can make a big impact from a little effort here and there. An example of such is the current contest going on with Red Gold tomatoes, which is currently looking to give a high school's athletics department $5000. All we need to do is provide the company with the most "Spirit Points".

Now we are aware of two other programs that will benefit everyone if we all can take a few minutes out of our day.

Help Franklin High School's Saber Pride!

From a reader...

Might be nice to help Franklin HS, check out

Red Gold Tomatoes Wants To Feed Your School Spirit!
Company offers chance to win $5,000 for a Milwaukee-area, high school prep sports program

ORESTES, IN –High school sports are an important part of many families and communities. Red Gold, producer of premium quality canned tomatoes and tomato-based products today announces its "Feed Your School Spirit" contest for Milwaukee-area high schools.

“Red Gold is proud to be a third generation company built on family values with a focus on community, including our own hometown football programs,” says Greg Metzger, director of marketing for Red Gold. “It’s a natural fit for Red Gold to get involved in activities enjoyed by the families and communities where our quality tomato products are sold.”

The contest is simple: the Milwaukee-area high school that gathers the most Red Gold School Spirit points from September 14 through November 30, 2009, has a chance to win $5,000 for their sports program.

There are three ways to earn the school spirit points in the program:

1. Sign up for the Tomato Country e-newsletter at www.redgold.com/Milwaukee. 
By signing up for recipes and special offers, you can designate one point towards the local high school of your choice.
2. Mail in Red Gold tomato product labels. For every label mailed back (see address below), we will designate one point towards your designated high school (must include UPC barcode).
3. Mail a vote to Red Gold. Hand print your full name, complete home address, city, state, zip code and the eligible school, city and state it is located in on a 3 x 5 note card and mail to the address below:

Feed Your School Spirit Contest
c/o Impact Proven Solutions
Attn: Dan Goodenough
4600 Lyndale Avenue North
Minneapolis, MN 55412-1408

The Milwaukee-area high school with the highest number of points at the end of the contest will be eligible to win the $5,000. Contest ends on November 30, 2009, and all mailed entries must be postmarked by November 30, 2009, to qualify. The winning high school will be notified by January 31, 2010. The official contest rules can be found at HERE.

Red Gold is a premier full-line tomato processing company with its corporate headquarters located in Orestes, Indiana. Red Gold produces premium quality canned tomatoes and tomato-based products for the retail, foodservice, private label, and club channels of distribution. The Red Gold family of consumer brands includes Red Gold, Redpack, Tuttorosso, and Sacramento. Exceptional quality and operational excellence are the shared values that contributed to the employee-created mission statement: “To produce the freshest, best tasting tomato products in the world.” Visit www.redgoldtomatoes.com to learn more about Tomato Country and for delicious tomato recipes.