Waukesha County Community Foundation WCCF - Women of Distinction Awards

The 26th annual Women of Distinction Awards luncheon was held May 11 with a near-sellout crowd. Chair Traci Huntemann-Piatt and vice chair Meg Yost, welcomed nearly 500 guests to the celebration.

GE Healthcare was again the lead sponsor, as it has been for the previous 2 years. Key Platinum and Gold Sponsors include: ProHealth Care, Robert W. Baird & Company, Waukesha State Bank and Graystone Consulting. Corporate Sponsors are: Century Fence, Harris Bank, Johnson Controls, Inc., M&I Bank, The PrivateBank, Quarles & Brady LLP, R&R Insurance Services, CG Schmidt, Thomson Reuters, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, Town Bank, Waukesha Surgical Specialists and We Energies.

Also, Women of Distinction Awards is pleased to acknowledge in-kind sponsors that have provided invaluable services to the event's success. They are: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Marketing Images and Delzer Lithograph.

The Judging Committee was chaired by Lynn M. Revoy, retired vice president of learning and student services, Waukesha County Technical College, and a Women of Distinction honoree in 1996; and Emily Lorenz, community volunteer, who was named by the Volunteer Center as Volunteer of the Year in 2007.

Serving on the committee were Dave Helling, M.D., retired; Mary Lodes, retired vice president and chief nurse executive, Waukesha Memorial Hospital, and a 2009 Women of Distinction Award recipient; Kathy Gale, executive director, Interfaith Senior Programs of Waukesha County; Terry Jannsen, President, Jannsen & Co., S.C.; and Suzanne Kelley, President, Waukesha County Chamber of Commerce.

Karen Dalessandro, Morning Show host for Clear Channel's WMIL "Moo Crew", has raised over a quarter of a million dollars annually for the Child Abuse Prevention Fund / Children's Hospital of Wisconsin through the FM106.1 RadioThon. In addition to her many charitable contributions, she has found homes for hundreds of animals through her work with the Wisconsin Humane Society. Karen has devoted herself to women's wellness through her annual Mammogram Party, taking a group of ladies for their screening in a limo, complete with brunch, Q & A with a breast care specialist and a live broadcast of the morning show. After losing her own mother to breast cancer last summer, Dalessandro teamed with Wisconsin Well Women and Susan G. Komen to develop "106 Check Up for Chicks". The campaign allows her to create awareness year round while offering 106 underinsured and uninsured women the opportunity to receive a mammogram. Her Bosom Buddy social networking program invites women to join in the fight against breast cancer by promising to spread the word about the importance of self exams and mammogram screenings. Her voice represents hundreds of women becoming advocates for their own health every day.

Linda Kons, office assistant at Carmel Builders, Inc., has a long history of community involvement in Menomonee Falls, especially with local youth development programs. She helped start a Little League program that has grown to support more than 1,100 boys and girls, and she started a committee that led to the opening of a Teen Center in the community and served on its board for many years. Kons served on the School Board in Menomonee Falls for 12 years, including a term as the 2nd female President of the Board. She is currently the Program Chair for Leadership Menomonee Falls and is scheduled to be the 2010/2011 Chair of the Board of Governors of Leadership Menomonee Falls. She co-founded a high school job fair and has been active with the Optimist Club, Falls Community Outreach Steering Committee, the Skateboard and Bike Park Committee, the Chamber Tourism and Marketing Committees and her church Parish Council.

Brenda Ness Marineau, Bilingual / ELL Program Coordinator and Educator for the School District of Waukesha at the secondary level, is a tireless advocate for English Language Learning students and their immigrant families, who is dedicated to making the dream and vision of America work for all. She takes a personal interest in the success of her students, facilitating after school tutoring and "College Fridays" to support their work on college and scholarship applications to connect them with post-secondary success, while working at the same time to connect their families with needed access to a range of other community resources. Ness is a charter member of the Waukesha County Dental Coalition and served as President of the Waukesha Area Sister City Association since 1998, coordinating medical supply shipments, three youth exchange projects, fundraising efforts to support life-saving operations for numerous children, and three State Department supported domestic violence exchange projects between Waukesha and its sister city of Kokshetau, Kazakhstan.

Marian Etzel and her daughters, Diane Harley and Janet Kenny of Menomonee Falls, and granddaughter, Kathleen Farvour of Germantown, have improved the quality of life for thousands of people in Waukesha County for more than 60 years. Etzel, a lifelong resident of the Falls, has worked to organize the annual Menomonee Falls Memorial Day parade, including sewing costumes and participating as a clown. At age 80, she still dresses as the Easter Bunny for the annual Easter Egg Hunt. She is dedicated to active participation in the democratic system of government, serving as a poll worker for more than 36 years. She served meals to the homeless through Loaves and Fishes and delivered Meals on Wheels for many years. She continues to organize volunteers and collect food for the Menomonee Falls Food Pantry. She volunteers at Community Memorial Hospital and has donated 72 pints of blood. She has been active in her church and served as a Brownie and Girl Scout leader, imbuing girls with her belief that there are no limits to what girls can achieve if they put their mind to it. She also was the first woman in Menomonee Falls to own and ride a motorcycle.

Diane Harley has been a sixth grade teacher in Menomonee Falls for 36 years, where she has been co-director of the Destination Imagination Program at St. Mary School. She is Chairperson of the Youth Award Committee. When serving as President of the local chapter of the American Association of University Women, the organization sponsored workshops to expose girls to a variety of unusual occupations. She works at the Falls Food Pantry, the St. Ben's meal program and takes her 6th grade class to St. Vincent de Paul twice a year to serve meals to those in need. She is a Board member of the Falls Historical Society, serves as Block Captain for the Neighborhood Watch Association, and for more than 10 years has driven an elderly neighbor to the grocery store and church every week.

After her three children were in school, Janet Kenny finished her degree in secondary education. She has taught at Brookfield Academy since 1993, where she serves as director of the math department. She initiated the Middle School's annual Pi Day celebration and instituted the Middle School Math Meet. She coaches students who compete in the Wisconsin Math League Contest, the national Math Counts competition and various international competitions. For many years, she served on the board of directors and as treasurer for Accompany of Kids, a nonprofit youth performance troupe. She was PTA treasurer, Girl Scout Cookie Mom and has been an active member of her church, where she serves as a deaconess, a prayer person and a member of the mission team.

Diane Harley's daughter, Kathleen Farvour, is in her sixth year of teaching at Ben Franklin Elementary School in Menomonee Falls, where she is co-advisor of the Math Olympiad program and active with the Ben Franklin Academy after-school program. She previously taught for one year at St. Mary Elm Grove, where she served as co-advisor of the Student Council program and as a volunteer track coach. She was also a volunteer volleyball coach, spending two years with the CYM high school league at St. Joseph Wauwatosa and one year with eighth graders at St. Mary Menomonee Falls. She volunteers at the Menomonee Falls Food Pantry, cooks food for the St. Ben's Meal Program monthly, and is an active member of her church as a Eucharistic Minister.

Stacey Bjorgaard

Stacey Lynn Bjorgaard is a senior at Kettle Moraine High School, where she is ranked first in her class of 351 students, with a 4.989 weighted GPA. Stacey played number one singles tennis on her conference tournament championship team, was chosen by her coach as MVP and was named Outstanding Player of the Year by the Waukesha Tennis Association. She is co-associate concertmaster and member of the 1st violin section of the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra's Senior Symphony, which performed throughout China. Stacey was elected vice president of her class as a Junior and Senior, was instrumental in the success of blood drives and homecoming festivities, and was appointed as student representative on a committee to increase Summer Academy enrollment. She participated with the Best Buddies program, which pairs students with those with disabilities. She has volunteered at the Oconomowoc Hospital as well as La Casa de Esperanza, where she was a classroom assistant. This fall she will be attending Brown University, Providence, RI, studying biology and Spanish. She aspires to become a pediatric specialist.

The Women of Distinction Awards have been presented since 1984 to a host of women and young women who have helped to make Waukesha County a great community for families, schools, businesses and institutions. In 2009 a Gala of Distinction was held to celebrate the first 25 years of Women of Distinction Awards. Past honorees and other celebrants came short distances and from many distant places and to be a part of the evening.