BOULDER JUNCTION - People in Boulder Junction dusted off their cook books to battle the lingering winter. But they didn't just get together to fight the winter blues. The event benefited the Community Food Pantry.
The Lion's Club and Jim Tait Realty held first ever "Soup's On" cook-off at the community center. The turnout far exceeded organizer's expectations.
"We had 22 different types of soup. Everywhere from squash, to chicken noodle, to a gumbo, to a stroganoff. It was all wonderful," says Jim Tait, from Jim Tait Real Estate, and board member of the Boulder Junction Lion's Club.
Around a hundred people came out to find out who the "Master Souper" of the Northwoods was.
Donations for the food pantry were accepted at the door.
"By serving others and serving each other, as a lot of people were doing today, it really brings a community together. It strengthens not only the community, but the area, the county and the state," says John Ader, Boulder Junction Lion's Club President.
The event collected nearly $800 and two crates of food for the food pantry.
MOSINEE - From here on out, Mosinee's Kevin Osterbrink will plow snow with a Stormy Kromer hat on his head--and a Stormy Kromer pattern on his plow.
Osterbrink entered his wife, Kayla Cisler-Osterbrink, in a prize drawing from Stormy Kromer and BOSS Snowplow. Her entry won, and BOSS delivered the red plaid patterned snowplow on Friday in Mosinee.
"I was tapping maple trees, and my wife showed up and said I had some homework to do because she won the plow," Osterbrink said, remembering how he found out they won.
"The first thing I told her was, 'That's the last thing I need, more work to do.' She said, 'Well, I think you want to do this, because you just won the Stormy Kromer plow," Osterbrink said.
RHINELANDER - Oneida County needs more foster care homes. Right now, there are nine licensed foster homes in the area, most of which are full according to the county's social services department.
Foster Care Coordinator Rachel Nelson says that in Oneida County there are 24 children currently living in foster homes. The department participated in a statewide foster care recruitment project last fall, and discovered just how great the need is.
RHINELANDER - A snow storm caught Hanson's Garden Village in Rhinelander off guard last weekend and collapsed a greenhouse. Now that spring weather is here, Hanson's is ready to move forward by making some adjustments. "We got by for 25 years doing what we were doing," said Hanson's Garden Village Co-owner Brent Hanson. Last weekend's spring snow storm set back Hanson's. "We thought we were ahead of schedule having that greenhouse nice and filled," said Hanson's Manager Beth Hanson.
"One bad storm and there you go. Things happen," said Brent. The storm collapsed a greenhouse holding thousands of plants. "For years we've gotten by with these lighter cheaper green houses," said Brent. "We'll be down a greenhouse for a little bit here," said Beth. Now Hanson's will only use sturdier and solid greenhouses so that collapses don't become a pattern.
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