Day center swap | The Weekly Wausonian

Wausau news for the week of Aug. 24, 2023

For roughly six months the non-profit organization Open Door ran the city’s homeless day center through the use of American Rescue Plan Act funding.

Now that will be changing as the city isn’t sure whether or not the day center has been open the past two weeks, and as the non-profit struggles to find a new director.

Open Door’s director resigned recently and the organization has struggled to find a replacement. They aren’t able to operate the day center.

But the city is in talks with Catholic Charities, which runs the night shelter year round, to run the center. It was assisting Catholic Charities in running that center already.

The city has roughly $193,000 in ARPA funding left to run the center, and the idea was always for another organization to find outside funding to continue to run it.

This week we wrote about a big battle over library books. Unlike some other news orgs, The Wausonian was on the scene in person:

Plus, some interesting news tidbits:

What else in Wausau?

District dismay: An attorney for the family of a Wausau East student who accused his band teacher of racism, homophobia and harassment released a statement that the family had received an investigative report and that it details missteps by the district in investigating the situation. Perkins resigned several months ago over the allegations. The Wausonian has requested that report and asked the attorney if she would forward it. Neither has responded. The district put out a release saying they consider student safety of the highest order and that the investigation uncovered new information.

District leave: Wausau East’s principle Deb Foster will no longer serve as the school’s principal for this coming school year. Several other administrators have left their posts as well, the district reports. That comes in the wake of the Perkins scandal and general dissatisfaction over the district’s plans to restructure its schools.

Teen house closure: A house designed to help homeless teens is closing up, WSAU reports. Hillcrest House, which opened in March 2021 after a series of delays brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, will be shuttering. A story in The Wausonian revealed they were planning on adding a second location at that time. The shelter will close Sept. 1 for lack of funding.

Around the metro

New Weston administrator: The village of Weston has a new administrator. Jami Gebert has been selected to head up the village of Weston after current administrator, Keith Donner, plans to retire this year. Gebert served in a number of government roles including assistant to the County Executive in Portage County and most recently as administrator for the town of Rome in Adams County.

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Entertainment

Friday, Aug. 25: Mike Clark and the Sugar Sounds have an interesting history. Clark, who will be playing as part of the duo for this show, worked as a surveyor for much of his adult life and only when one of his songs got picked up on Spotify did his popularity take off enough that he could pursue music full time. See our full post of Mike Clark and the Sugar Sounds here. 7 pm. Ticket info here.

Saturday, Aug. 26: A lot of the bands from my teen years in the 1990s have since disappeared. Many to drug addiction or other maladies. But some of them are still around, and one of those is Everclear. You all probably remember their most popular song, Santa Monica, the fourth song on their 1995 sophomore album, Sparkle and Fade. You might not hear about them too much anymore, but Everclear never stopped making albums, with their latest Black is the new Black in 2015. Check them out at Ho Chunk Gaming in Wittenberg. Get tickets here.

Sunday, Aug. 27: Hey, it’s not every day you get to have a free concert to attend to (well, every week during the summer with the Concerts on the Square series, but you get the point). Christian music singer Steven Curtis Chapman will be providing a free concert on Sunday afternoon. Chapman has been a contemporary Christian singer since 1987 and is a multi-Grammy winner in the contemporary Christian scene as well as winning numerous other awards. No tickets or reservations are needed, but you can get reserved seat tickets. Click here for reserved ticket information. 1 pm, includes other performers and activities. Chapman is scheduled to start at 4 pm. 

Looking for kids/family events? Check out the family-oriented listing from The Wausonian’s partner Wausau Mama, who puts together a weekly listing of children/family activities.

Sports

Football: D.C. Everest, Wausau East and Wausau West all won their first games of the season last weekend as non-conference high school football began Thursday and Friday. D.C. Everest beat Green Bay Preble 40-21 Thursday, and on Friday Wausau East beat Lakeland 23-7 and Wausau West defeated Superior 24-3. More non-conference games are slated for this week.

Other high school sports: Boys soccer, girls tennis and girls volleyball starts next week.

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