New group looks to help the most vulnerable in Marathon County – WAOW

WAUSAU, Wis. (WAOW) -- The gazebo at Big Bull Falls Park is a place some without a house call home. It's built on pillars that mean more than you may know.

"Amian was one of the best dudes I think we have ever known," Roberta told me as she pointed to his name, written on a pillar of the gazebo.

"Then there's Richie," she said. "He's the one that went brain dead in my lap."

Roberta has found a family in those who gather at the gazebo, "they were my brothers, my family, my dad." It made their deaths that much more difficult for her.

As we head into the winter, falling temperatures mean she may have to grieve for yet another family member.

Sandi Kelch works to keep that from happening.

"I have very generous friends," she puts it modestly.

In 2019, Sandi began by assessing needs in the community: coats, boots, hand-warmers. Then, she asked her Facebook friends to donate what they could.

With a click, her posts became a platform, snowballing into the Marathon County Community Outreach Task Force. It's a crowd-sourcing Facebook Group with an administrative board at the wheel.

The group now has over 800 members with a common mission; to support and assist the most vulnerable members of our community.

"I have family members that if it wasn't for us and our family being around, they would be on the street," said Administrative Board Member Curt Deininger.

"Nobody wants to stay outside longer than ten minutes, now imagine if you had to stay outside your entire life," explained Member Kaytee Hietpas. "What do you need to survive these elements?"

That's the question they ask vulnerable people like Roberta, when they go out in the community every Friday.

Standing in 30 degree weather, Roberta told me, "this ain't nothing, wait till February, January when it is negative 30 with 40 mph winds. What keeps us warm is what that group gives us."

The ongoing pandemic has closed a lot of places people like Roberta use to stay warm during the day.

Luckily, the task force may soon have a new alternative.

Someone recently donated a coach bus to the group. They hope to have it running and warm somewhere in Wausau this winter. Though donations are still needed to make that happen.

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New group looks to help the most vulnerable in Marathon County - WAOW