Waunakee Neighborhood Connection provides programs and resources that engage neighbors in supporting and empowering one another
We are hiring! Waunakee Neighborhood Connection is looking for a bilingual (Spanish/English) Client and Office Coordinator to work up to 28 hours per week. This role will enjoy building many relationships and include a variety of tasks and projects. Visit our job posting on Indeed.com for details and to apply. Please share with anyone who might be interested!
Your unsold items can make a positive difference for families in need by being donated and distributed through our Community Store. We will be open and accepting donations:
Friday, May 12th from 9:00 AM-4:00 PM
Saturday, May 13th from 10:00 AM-2:00 PM
Monday, May 15th from 9:00 AM-4:00 PM
We accept clothing and many types of household items in excellent to good condition.
If you’re shopping the garage sales and want to pick up a few things to benefit others in the community, here is a list of current needs for our clients:
· Cookware
· Shoes in good condition
· Men’s t-shirts and baseball caps
· Microwave
· Blender
Unfortunately we are unable to accept furniture donations at this time, due to a lack of storage space. For more information about what we can and cannot accept, please refer to our donation guidelines.
Have you heard the news?! We’re moving! We will be sharing the old library building with the Waunakee Food Pantry come this fall, which will allow us to collaborate and better serve our clients. We are kicking off Our Next Chapter campaign to support the exciting plotline we’re writing this year, complete with new staff, client growth, many volunteer opportunities, new partnerships, and programs. We invite you to help us write this next chapter!
Do you have gently used sports and fitness gear you’re no longer using? During the month of May, Play It Again Sports on Odana Road in Madison will donate your payout to Waunakee Neighborhood Connection, and give you a great deal on new or used full price gear! www.playitagainsportsmadison.com
We are excited to welcome two new staff members to our team: Kristina Maher, executive director, and Nicki Van Abel, manager of client services.
Kristina joined Neighborhood Connection as executive director on March 20th. She received her degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Human Resources Management and minors in Public Relations and Psychology from UW-Platteville. Her career spans 15 years of working in human resources, with splashes of accounting, marketing, account management, event planning, and more! She is very excited to build relationships and expand awareness about Waunakee Neighborhood Connection in her new role.
Kristina and her husband moved to Waunakee in 2013 and adopted a fur-child named Coco (a greyhound/husky mix). In her free-time, Kristina enjoys reading, working out, visiting her niece and nephew in Green Bay, and tackling house projects. She’s also coached Girls on the Run for two seasons and has been coaching the Waunakee Middle School Dance Team since its inception in 2019.
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Nicki joined the team at Neighborhood Connection as manager of client services in February. She is a lifelong resident of Wisconsin, having moved to the Dane County area five years ago from Green Lake County. She received her Human Service Degree from Madison College and has worked in a variety of community service programs over the past 25 years including housing assistance programs, parent/peer specialist, services for folks with disabilities, and public assistance programs. Most recently she served the Community Action Coalition for South Central Wisconsin as the program director of client services.
In her free-time, Nicki can be found camping with her fiancé; cheering on the Packers, Badgers, and Brewers; spending time with her large family; and, most recently, enjoying time with her new grandson.
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Helyn Luisi-Mills, former manager of client services, has cut back to part-time and remains on staff as our client services specialist.
Former executive director, Lisa Humenik, who had led Neighborhood Connection since August, 2018, left the organization in November, 2022, to take a position with United Way of Wisconsin.
Paper products, cleaning supplies, and toiletries are in short supply.
We’re often asked what our greatest need is at any given time. Right now, we’re having a hard time keeping up with needs for household essentials. These include the following:
Cleaning supplies – dish soap, all-purpose disinfecting cleaner, glass cleaner, sponges, and laundry soap
Toiletries – shampoo, conditioner, body soap, toothpaste
Paper products – toilet paper, paper towels, facial tissue
If you’d like to donate any of these items, they can be dropped off any time during our open hours at 208 S Century Avenue in Waunakee.
If you are part of an organization, church, or business that would like to host a collection drive, let us know! You can send an email to wncteam@waunakeenc.org or call us at (608)849-5740. We can provide collection bins, flyers, and support to make your drive a success.
Amazing neighbors make our community stronger by always looking out for others and bringing people together. Whether it is by organizing a meal train to make sure that a neighbor going through a hard time has dinner every night, planning the neighborhood block party, removing snow and raking leaves for a homebound neighbor, or other acts of kindness, such individuals are the glue that hold our community together and make everyone feel welcome.
Waunakee Neighborhood Connection is seeking nominations for our annual Neighbor of the Year Award which honors someone who exemplifies our “neighbors helping neighbors” mission in the community. The winner will be honored at the Waunakee Area Chamber of Commerce Community Awards celebration on Sunday, April 23rd.
Nominations are due by 9:00 PM on Monday, March 6, and the winner will be selected by the Waunakee Neighborhood Connection board of directors. All nominees will receive a certificate and letter recognizing them for being nominated. The winner will be notified by March 17th.
Please complete the nomination online or pick up a nomination form at Waunakee Neighborhood Connection, 208 S Century Avenue. We look forward to hearing about all of the wonderful neighbors in the community!
Save the date for the next Building Connections program, a collaboration of the Waunakee Public Library, Create Waunakee, Waunakee IDEA, and Waunakee Neighborhood Connection. On the evening of February 7th, we’ll be hosting a discussion of the book Kindred by Octavia Butler.
Watch for more information coming soon!
Waunakee Neighborhood Connection will be closed for the winter holidays and for inventory preparation from Friday, December 23 through January 8. Staff will be checking voicemail and email during this time, so please contact us at (608)849-5740 or wncteam@waunakeenc.org if there is anything you need.
Thursday, December 8th | 6:00-8:15 PM
Join Waunakee Public Library, Waunakee Neighborhood Connection, Create Waunakee, and Waunakee IDEA for a viewing and facilitated discussion of the documentary Through the Night by Loira Limbal and Jameka Autry. Through the Night is a verité documentary that explores the personal cost of our modern economy through the stories of two working mothers and a child care provider, whose lives intersect at a 24-hour daycare center in New Rochelle, New York. Official Selection, Tribeca Film Festival. A co-production of POV and ITVS in association with Latino Public Broadcasting and Black Public Media.
Food will be provided (Mac and Cheese Bar provided by Buck & Honeys Waunakee) or you may bring your own. No registration required.
The Building Connections program series is designed to do just that by introducing neighbors in Waunakee to each other and to lived experiences that may be different than their own. The purpose of the series is to promote community engagement, build relationships, and foster conversations – all with a goal of continual learning and growth. This event is a collaboration with POV, the award-winning independent non-fiction film series on PBS (www.pbs.org/pov)