KAMO – May, 2022 Newsletter
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President?s remarks – Hello KAMO members and friends,
I have been adding to this monthly newsletter since 2007 and president of Kids And Mentors Outdoors since that same time and I am very proud of both. Back in March I was full steam ahead helping to motivate all seven chapters of KAMO as it appeared that Covid 19 was about to be over.
On April 5th my girlfriend Michelle Chiaro and I found out the difficult news that Michelle has breast cancer. That phone call and the time spent and that will be spent doing weekly and eventually daily drives to Grafton 150-miles, round trip 300 and Oshkosh 90/180 which we are praying will save her life along with a major surgery this fall are going to take every bit of what we have time and energy wise to succeed.
What I am saying is that as of July 15th, I am going to have to take a break from KAMO and it literally should start right now. For 60 days I have thought that I could keep the fire going in me for this great organization but with a job where I travel and all the rest of life, I have to take a break from being president. Our target date for this to be resolved is late next winter and I honestly believe that we will be blessed with good news.
KAMO is going to need members to step up to the plate and I am confident that will happen. If there is one thing that I would like to see resolved it is the situation with our Lake Wisconsin chapter. I focused on Yellow River for three months along with four of their core members and I think they will be fine. One way or another this could happen down in Poynette.
I will add to the July newsletter and then I have to put all of my focus on the task at hand! I am sorry that I have to do this and I am open to taking charge down the road but I have to do what I have to do.
As always, thank you for all that you do for KAMO!
Mark G Walters

Newsletter – Does your chapter ever discuss newsletter contents at meetings? If not, please consider doing so. At least one chapter uses the newsletter as a starting point for meetings.
Interchapter Outing Potential – Have you considered taking kids to Baraboo?s June camping trip on Castle Rock Lake? See the Baraboo report.
Website – Website visits are returning to levels seen before the pandemic – in the mid 300?s/month. What can you do to your chapter?s page to maintain their interest? The short amount of time people spend on our site – 46 seconds on the average, tells us that information they are looking for is not there. Please post your activities on your chapter?s page. If you don?t know how to do that, you can ask me to post it. You might get a short lecture about how each chapter should have their own web person doing that, but I will help you.
Midwest Outdoor Heritage Education Expo (MOHEE) Outcome – Was held May18th – 19th at the MacKenzie Center near Poynette. According to the MOHEE coordinator, there were thirty three activity stations. 2331 students, 524 teachers/ chaperones and 48 schools. Next year, the event will be held both on May 17th and 18th at the MacKenzie Center and for the first time in Milwaukee in late May or early June.

Electronic Forms – Two chapters are actively using this process. Please contact me if you need a boost getting started with them. Summer is the perfect time to get that done.Remember to make a copy of the forms you were sent and use your copy for sending links to new people. If you use the original version, the replies you are seeking will end up in Coulee?s spreadsheet instead of yours.
Prepared for the unexpected? – Does someone other than your treasurer keep a back – up of your chapter’s financial records?
Is there a backup of the state treasury documents?
Does more than one person know how to:
Contact our insurance company representative?
Contact the web design company that oversees our webpage?
Contact our hosting service provider? Make changes to the website?
Run the newsletter?
Does anyone know:
Where the KAMO hats,shirts, hoodies, banners are stored?
How to contact next of kin the family of a person in your chapter or at the state level in the event of their incapacitation? In 2018 we switched our website to a new host. We were supposed to have the blessings of the site administrator, a person helping our group, who had now moved along before proceeding. We never found out where she was, but sure spent time and effort trying.
These questions have cropped up because one chapter?s treasurer has become unexpectedly and suddenly unavailable leaving the other officers in the chapter to assume that role..

Chapter Reports

Baraboo – The Baraboo River chapter met on May 9 at Rivers Edge Resort. We had a couple scouts come and give presentations for financial support with projects they may be doing that are outdoor based and community beneficial. They still have to submit a request and plans for approval with the scout leadership, but we will probably sow into these young men?s efforts. We will be making final plans for our June 24-26 camping weekend at our next meeting. We found out that we will be having 1 adult and 2 kids, from the urban and rural exchange program out of Milwaukee, join us camping. This should be a great experience for all those involved. Tradition Forward

Coulee – We met early in May and planned a summer activity schedule. For June that includes a bug education outing, a fishing day at Pettibone Park, a game calling table at the West Salem Rod and Gun Club kid?s day, and a fossil hunting outing at Norskedalen.
Three activity events have been planned at the Genoa Fish Hatchery for our families to take their kids to – one each summer month. Two of these three events do not require mentor involvement, but keep our families interested in our group.

Dodge County Conservation – DCC KAMO Chapter participated in Cops & Bobbers fishing jamboree on June 1st in Fox Lake. 7 kids enjoyed an early evening of fishing with local Law enforcement. Each participant received a tackle box and rod and reel.
Also 5 members of our board will be taking Hunter Safety classes to become certified instructors. Hopefully by fall we can start having classes here in Dodge County.
Jim Braker Volunteered at the MOHEE event at the MacKenzie Center in Poynette. Over 2300 students and 450 chaperones attended the 2 day event. What a great experience for all who attended .
We are having a Brat Fry on June 25th at the local Piggly wiggly from 10-2pm. Discussion was heard about possibly having a learn to hunt program in the fall. Our Chapter received a wonderful donation from WTU. A big Thank you to them for their support of KAMO.

Meadow Valley – We had 5 members at our May meeting with 1 visitor who has 3 children
and wants to get them involved in KAMO.
We were successful on one LTH turkey this year out of 7 kids. Bob went into school and worked with the fishing club on knot tying and the types of fishing line. All went well with future dates being planned. We are still working through the insurance issues with the fishing club and school. It appears that all fishing club members will be joining KAMO to be able to provide insurance for both the mentor and mentee when conducting activitIes.
Discussion on possibly having our June meeting at the NL Sports Club to provide shooting for interested Kids. Dan to check with Dennis Gosda on trap range availability.
Further discussion on a possible canoe trip on the Lemonweir river with the fishing club ensued with no final decision made. We had 2 KAMO scholarship applications from New Lisbon High School. The committee selected Ean Quarne as the lone recipient.
Bob

Northwoods –
Hello from the Northeast chapter.
We held a meeting recently and decided on July 9th for our annual Hooked on Fishing outing at Lake Emily in Florence County. This event has been going for over 20 years now! We will be giving away tee shirts and fishing combos with donations made to our club from Leff’s bar and several people who want to remain anonymous. We will be holding another meeting on a Sunday in June to get rod n reel combos in good shape and put new combos together to give away. Our volunteer list has been stable for a couple years now which means good things ahead for our chapter! Enjoy the summer folks, that’s all from Johnny Johnson from Florence, Wi..

Yellow River – Despite competing with the fishing opener on May 7, our brat sale at the Marshfield Festival Foods was a big success, yielding a profit of $510. On May 11 we attended a preliminary planning meeting with reps from the Central Wisconsin Sportsman’s Club for their fall field day. 138 kids attended last year’s event, participating in a number of activities including fishing, muzzleloader,.22, and BB gun shooting,trapping and dog training demos. We are looking forward to partnering with the Sportsman’s Club at this year’s event, scheduled for September 10.