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Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz

A podcast about positive things happening in and around Washington County, Wisconsin
Season 1•Episode 0012•October 11, 2021

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Washington County w/Jay Fisher

A chef wearing a black uniform and a green cap is serving a large dish of food at the Boys and Girls Club’s “Taste of Washington County” event. He is scooping a creamy dish from a large bowl. Behind him, other staff members are also serving food to attendees. The booth is decorated with holiday ornaments, and a sign reading “Timmer’s” is visible in the background. The image is framed with a dark blue border and has the text “15 minutes with FUZZ” in large blue and yellow letters overlaying the bottom portion of the photo.

Jay Fisher has been working with the Boys and Girls Club for more than 30 years, and he’s been here in Washington County since 1998. He joins me in the studio to talk about some of the great things the Boys and Girls Clubs of Washington County do and some of the fun events they put on throughout the year.

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  • Transcript
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    [00:00:00] Fuzz Martin: So I have a confession. The 15 in 15 minutes with fuzz is really just a guideline. When I decided to do a show, I said, you know, if I’m going to do this, it’s got to be something I can repeat each week. So I said 15 minutes, that’s it. That’s the cap. However, if I go over or under, I’m not going to beat myself up.

    This show is about positivity, after all, and so When I have a conversation with someone that’s really interesting or compelling and things run long, I’m not going to cut that short. And if I have a conversation that Says all it needs to say in ten minutes, I’m not gonna try and pack with filler. You don’t need that.

    Neither do I. So today’s episode is with Jay Fisher of the Boys and Girls Club of Washington County. I’ve known Jay since I was a young pup in my early twenties working at the radio station. The Boys and Girls Club of Washington County is a tremendous organization that helps kids and families all over Washington County.

    So my conversation with Jay went a little longer than fifteen minutes, but I’m gonna give myself grace. Just like you should, and I’m sure you won’t even notice because Jay is fun and has a compelling story. And with that, here’s Fifteen Minutes on the Boys and Girls Club of Washington County.

    So Jay, the Boys and Girls Club of Washington County is obviously a huge asset to kids and families in our county and our area. How many kids does the Boys and Girls Club support?

    [00:01:39] Jay Fisher: Well, throughout Washington County each year we serve about 2, 500 kids. And we have six different locations throughout Washington County.

    But, I mean, the Boys Girls Club has been open since 1998, so we have served 60, 000 members. We have a lot of different programs, and we try to put kids in a, you know, in a situation that they can succeed. So we have arts and crafts programs, we have technology programs, we have sports programs, cooking classes, and different things.

    So there’s a lot of different programs, a lot of different things that kids can do at the Boys Girls Club. We’ve served a lot of kids over the years. We probably serve about 500 kids a day after school, and uh, in the summer about 600.

    [00:02:18] Fuzz Martin: And you’re at, the Boys and Girls Club is at a number of different schools, plus you have some stand alone locations, right?

    Yeah, exactly,

    [00:02:24] Jay Fisher: exactly. In West Bend, we have a stand alone location. We’ve done some renovations on that building. It’s a 30, 000 square foot facility. We have 1, 400 members in in West Bend. In Jackson, we’re partnered with the Park and Rec Department. We built that facility about ten years ago and the Boys and Girls Club raised a million dollars for that and the village and town threw in three million, so we have a beautiful facility in Jackson.

    [00:02:47] Fuzz Martin: Great.

    [00:02:47] Jay Fisher: In Kewaskum, we have been in Kewaskum since 2008. It’s a partnership between the Boys and Girls Club. We’re in the Kewaskum Middle School, Kewaskum Elementary School. They have about 400 members. And then Hartford came along about three, four years ago. We started in a church, outgrew that church right away.

    And now we have Boys and Girls Subs at Rossman and Lincoln.

    [00:03:08] Fuzz Martin: Okay.

    [00:03:09] Jay Fisher: And they have about 400 members as well. And so each day after school, the Boys and Girls Subs is always open when there’s no school. So on a, uh, after school or school day, we’re open from three to 8 PM. And then in the summer or non school days, we’re open from seven to five.

    So. One thing that

    [00:03:25] Fuzz Martin: blew my mind when I, Learned about this and, and having, you know, kids and such is how low the fees are and that Sure. And it’s, it’s very accessible for anyone. Right?

    [00:03:38] Jay Fisher: Yeah. No question. Boys and girls clubs, it’s $50 a year to belong. Mm-Hmm. . And we have a lot of kids who are scholarshiped in and since we’re part of Boys and Girls of America, a national program, and so our fees can only be about 3% of our budget.

    [00:03:51] Fuzz Martin: Okay.

    [00:03:51] Jay Fisher: And that’s what’s required. Boys and Girls of America requires all the clubs around the country. There’s 26 clubs, organizations in the state of Wisconsin. There are clubs all over this country. And so, 3 percent of the budget, and I think actually we’re about 2 percent of the budget. So it’s 50 a year.

    There’s a little extra cost for field trips, a little extra cost for sports leagues. But when we see kids, we know the kids and families pretty well and they They can give us, you know, some of their, uh, payroll and, and we can take a look at that. And so there are a lot of kids, about 28 percent of our kids, 2, 500 a year are scholarshiped in.

    Sure.

    [00:04:25] Fuzz Martin: And, but there’s no income requirement to get in. Your income doesn’t matter if you want, if your kids want to be in scholarship. It does not

    [00:04:31] Jay Fisher: matter. What’s so cool about here is I worked in Milwaukee. I worked in Chicago. Here, it has turned out over the, since I’ve been here since 1998, It has been all kids.

    We just run programs. We’ll verify income if we need to, but everyone is invited and that’s what it’s turned out to be here. I’ve seen boys and girls who’s been in them for over 30 years. It’s amazing to me how many kids we’ve been able to serve and it’s been all kids. And so that tells me that our programming is pretty good.

    That, that’s great. Kids aren’t just being dropped off and babysat for it. Yeah, no,

    [00:04:59] Fuzz Martin: exactly. And you’ve got a lot of stories of kids who come back, who have become successful, and like to share their stories of the Boys and Girls Club.

    [00:05:07] Jay Fisher: Yeah, yeah, I mean we, I love to hire kids who started at the Boys and Girls Club when they’re six years old, now 17, 18, adults, whatever the case, I love to hire them.

    So they understand the Boys and Girls Club. They understand the Boys and Girls Club concept. They’re great role models for kids. Some have made it and, and some don’t. Mm-Hmm. . I mean, I can tell you a story of a, a young boy who I knew, seven years old, Zach Bond. Zach spent every day at the Boys and Girls Club.

    He ate at the Boys and Girls Club. He did his homework at the Boys and Girls Club. His mom was a great lady. And Zach grew up and became a football star. Oh yeah. And he played for the Badgers. He’s a linebacker for the Badgers and now plays for the New Orleans Saints. Wow. So that’s a kid who, you know, needed the Boys and Girls Club and grew up and now is a professional football player.

    And I can remember when You know, Zach didn’t have 50 cents for a candy bar. Surely, he can afford a candy bar now. And um, but then there’s other kids, uh, who didn’t make it. We deal with a lot of kids and a lot of kids from different backgrounds. We just try to put them in successful situations and hopefully help them grow into, you know, productive citizens for Washington County.

    [00:06:17] Fuzz Martin: Yeah, for sure, and you do certainly see a good portion of the kids who grew up in this area and move on wherever their life takes them. Yeah. Sports leagues, big thing. Of course, it’s basketball season now, right? Sure. So, is sign up already done? Yeah. We,

    [00:06:32] Jay Fisher: we. We have basketball leagues, 1st through 8th grade, they’ve been going on over 20 years.

    They’re all school based, so just like the private schools, Catholic schools have their own leagues, the public schools are played through the Boys and Girls Club. So when I say school based team, you know, the, the 4th graders at Green Tree might be playing the 4th graders at Fair Park. All of our Washington County, Hartford, West Bend, Jackson, Kewaskum.

    They all have school based teams, all the games are played at the West Bend Club, but thousands and thousands of kids over the years have gone through our basketball leagues, first through eighth grade. We have volleyball leagues, Set Start, and same, same thing, they’re all school based. We have baseball leagues in the summer, and so, sports leagues is part of what we do.

    But again, you know, not everyone wants to be the next LeBron James. And so, that’s why we have art programs. That’s why we have all kinds of different programs, trying to put kids in situations where they can succeed, and I think kids enjoy that and like that. Pigeonhole them. They have a chance to come into the Boys and Girls.

    So pick a program, pick an area, pick where you want to go. We don’t want you just coming there, hanging out, causing trouble. Right. But pick an area. All the areas are supervised by staff. And I think that’s what made us successful. Our kids enjoy coming there. They meet friends there. They have fun there.

    And we have issues, like anyone has issues. Sure. You know. Kids are gonna be kids. Yeah. Yeah. And it, it’s. Let’s just put them in a situation they can be successful, and I think we do that, and that’s why we have the membership that we do.

    [00:07:58] Fuzz Martin: Sure. Now, what does it take to run the Boys and Girls Club? I mean, you’ve been doing this now for 30 years, you said, right?

    [00:08:08] Jay Fisher: Yeah, I started in, um, 1990. I worked at the Milwaukee Boys and Girls Club for five years and then worked in Rockford in Chicago for three years as their director. When I started in Milwaukee, I was in operations. I really enjoyed that. You know, the Milwaukee Boys and Girls Club, when they talk about life and death and situations, I mean, the kids that we served in Milwaukee knew where their school was, knew where their house was, and knew where the Boys and Girls Club was.

    And in Milwaukee, you know, that’s all within a two block radius. Right. And that’s what those kids knew. But they were so appreciative of the. What we did at the Boys and Girls Club, they didn’t have much and so they were really appreciative of what we did and it was the same way in the Chicago area. I didn’t get a chance as much to be with kids in the Chicago Rockford area because I was their executive director there.

    But then coming here, I mean, when we first started in 1998, we didn’t have anything. It didn’t look like the Boys and Girls Club today. It was an old teen factory. Right. And it’s grown to what we have today. And so I got to know a lot of the kids. I knew a lot more of them. I still know them today, but there’s so many of them.

    [00:09:10] Fuzz Martin: Right.

    [00:09:11] Jay Fisher: And I try to get to know their first names. But you have to be patient. Sometimes you’d like to meet their families. There’s so many kids that I don’t get to meet all the families. But I would say patience is the biggest thing. And just an understanding of where they’re coming from. And, and, and, you know, some of the backgrounds are coming from.

    I don’t think, in all the years I’ve been running Boys and Girls Clubs, I’ve never met a bad kid. Right. I really haven’t. But, uh, It’s the environment that a lot of kids come from that causes the trouble. Sure. The nurture

    [00:09:39] Fuzz Martin: portion of it. Yeah. Um, yeah. Let’s see. I met you back when I was on the radio and it was for the 5k for kids, I believe we did our first interview that we ever did.

    And then I MC’d the event and I had a, Weather guy from CBS 58, Chris McGinnis, went there, and I remember it was a big deal because he was a college runner, he, so he ran the 5K in like 17 minutes or something stupid, but somebody accused him of cutting the course because he was so fast, and then there was like almost a runner’s brawl, um, and I, I just remember it was, it was pretty funny because they’re, Two little guys that were, uh, upset because they both ran really fast and, uh, got competitive.

    But the, uh, The 5K for Kids is one of your big, big runs. You guys do that in September, right? That’s usually in June. Oh, June. Okay. That’s in

    [00:10:28] Jay Fisher: June. Okay. Honestly, from years ago, that was a run that was done in West Bend. Okay. And it was on a Sunday morning. And basically, West Bend Mutual came to us, Kelly Tai and Kevin Steiner over there and said, Hey, This is a really cool community run, and we did it in conjunction with Seafood Fest.

    The new Rotary used to do Seafood Fest. And on Sundays, it wasn’t as busy at Seafood Fest as it was on Fridays and Saturdays. And so on Sunday, they wanted to have the run and keep it going. And they have been the sponsor now for, since the beginning, it’s called the Silver Lining 5K for Kids.

    [00:11:06] Fuzz Martin: That’s right.

    [00:11:07] Jay Fisher: But we continue to have that run, and then give people reasons to go over to Seafood Fest on the Sunday, so it would stay busy. Now, Seafood Fest has been gone for years. Right. And we continued to do the run, but it gave us a chance to have the run at the, at the Boys and Girls Club. It gave people a chance who really wouldn’t have any reason to come into the Boys and Girls Club, a chance to take tours and see it.

    And thousands and thousands of people have been in that run. And um, it has turned out to be a great fundraiser. We probably raised forty, fifty thousand dollars each year from that run. You Now it’s a timed event Yeah. That you can qualify for. Oh, really? Marathon. Really? Yeah. So it, it’s turned into a little bit more serious.

    You can still walk and all that, but it, it’s turned into a fairly, fairly serious run. And, um, uh, people want those rocks. We’ve Oh, yeah, we’ve given out rocks for years. So everyone knows about the rocks. They ask about that. But I’ll tell you, we have a lot of sponsors of it now, and a lot of people have benefited and it, it’s really well known and it’s been around a long time.

    But it, it wouldn’t have been possible without. Silver lining actually stepping up and sponsoring and we just took that over and it’s it’s been awesome a couple years ago We had a chance to run the race at West Bend Mutual for their 150th anniversary through the prairie And so that attracted like 1, 200 runners and walkers.

    And so that was really cool but Yeah, usually we just do it through the streets of West Bend, outside the Boys and Girls Club. I know you have a golf outing, right? Yeah, yeah, we do a golf outing with the Hartford Rotary, Boys and Girls Club, and the Hartford Rotary, and we do it at Washington County. That has been really successful.

    We wanted to get together and do a special event. I think a lot of times people think of the Boys and Girls Club, and they think of West Bend. You know, they think of the Prescott Center in West Bend. But we need to make sure that people know we’re all over Washington County, and so we try to have Uh, events like this Saturday, we’re going to have the Glow Run that the Jackson Rec Department does.

    We’re helping out with that. We do the golf outing in Hartford at Washington County. We really try to have special events in each of the communities we’re in. Again, I think when people think of the Boys and Girls Club, they think of that big, nice building across from Regner Park, but you know, it’s much more than, than just that.

    And so we have special events in each of our communities.

    [00:13:20] Fuzz Martin: Yeah, certainly. And then speaking of Washington County as a whole, Taste of Washington County is coming up. Is that December?

    [00:13:26] Jay Fisher: December 1st, this year, and we’re excited to have it. Last year, because of COVID, we did everything online. So we made a little money, but it was boring, very boring online.

    [00:13:37] Fuzz Martin: You also last year donated a lot of money back to the restaurants, right?

    [00:13:41] Jay Fisher: Yeah, you know, the restaurants, this Taste of Washington County has been going on for 21 years. It’s raised well over two million dollars. There have been some great, great people, part of Taste of Washington County, great committees.

    The faces have changed, but the idea and concept of it hasn’t over the years. And last year, yeah, it was time for the Boys and Girls Club to give back to the restaurants. So what we did is we still sold sponsored tables, and we sold sponsored tables for 2, 000, and we gave 1, 000 to the restaurants. People were able to go to the restaurants, have chef tables for 10, and, um, We sold like twenty five, twenty six, something like that, chef’s table.

    So yeah, we were able to give twenty five, thirty thousand dollars back to local restaurants who’ve helped us over the years. And I think, I think that’s, uh, some people ask you, well, it’s a, how can a non profit do that? I think we owed that to those restaurants. If it is not for those restaurants over the years, there is no taste of Washington County.

    If it’s not for, you know, Jeff and Sarah, Jeff Spirits, there is no taste of Washington County. You’ve got to have those vendors come in. And you’ve got to have those vendors with the wine and the beer and the restaurants. And so it was our chance to give back a little bit. And so now we’re excited to have it back December 1st.

    We’re getting sponsored tables coming in. I don’t think ticket sales will be. An issue. And so, um, trying to get some restaurants and, and, you know, we’re very, very privy and understand, you know, what restaurants have gone through. We’re being careful with that. We have some restaurants that obviously want to come back, but we also have some restaurants that have been around a long time.

    They’ve been in tastes that have to think about it. You know, staffing for everybody is a huge, huge issue, not just here in Washington County, but in the country. And, um, uh, that’s probably one of the biggest issues not around, uh, Not also around the country, I mean, but, um, at the Boys and Girls Club, you know, staffing is a issue, and so these restaurants have those issues as well, so it’s really nice if we want them to come to Taste of Washington County on a Wednesday night, but then, uh, how are they supposed to open the restaurant?

    [00:15:40] Fuzz Martin: Right, no, exactly. You gotta be careful about that. Exactly. Now, you do have some kids from the West Bend High School’s culinary program, right? Yeah, we’re

    [00:15:47] Jay Fisher: trying to, we’re trying to work with them, the West Bend Culinary Program. culinary classes and get some kids over there to help serve. Hopefully they’ll be able to do that.

    We’re trying to get some of the teenagers from the Boys and Girls Club to help serve to kind of offset if we can get one, one kid at each restaurant or two kids to help serve that evening and they can provide their food, we’re going to certainly do that. And we haven’t done that in the past but, you know, hearing some of the stories from the restaurants and the lack of staff and people not walking through the doors even, even to interview or to talk to, um,

    [00:16:18] Fuzz Martin: it’s certainly tough.

    There’s a now hiring sign in pretty much every window in Washington County and everywhere, really, right now. Everywhere. Yeah,

    [00:16:26] Jay Fisher: it’s tough. I, in all my years of hiring people at the Boys and Girls Club, this by far is the toughest time. But I, that’s everybody. That’s everybody. Yeah, exactly.

    [00:16:36] Fuzz Martin: Same over here at Epic.

    So, what can people expect for those who haven’t gone to Taste of Washington County? What do you expect when you’re there?

    [00:16:44] Jay Fisher: Well, I mean, it’s a fun event. First of all, you can know that when you’re walking into Taste of Washington County, you’re helping 2, 500 kids all around Washington County. I mean, so when you buy a ticket, when you buy a table, when you buy an auction item, you know that those dollars are staying right in your pocket.

    in Washington County for kids who, who need help the most. And so that’s probably the coolest part of it. When you walk into it, you know, you’re going to see wine vendors and you’re going to see beer vendors and, and a lot of them on the outside of the room and the inside of the room, you’re going to see 20, 24 restaurants that are going to provide samples of all their beer.

    Best things, and they’re all Washington County restaurants, so you’re going to see that. You’re going to see a live auction, you’re going to see a silent auction. The event starts at 6 and is usually wrapped up by 9 p. m. The live auction starts at 8. 15, there’s usually 8 or 10 live auction items. There could be leases on cars, there’s been Vail trips, there’s been trips to Scottsdale, there’s been sports packages with Bucks and Packers type stuff.

    Great. We’re really fortunate to sponsor tables over the years. We’ve always sold 35 or 40 sponsored tables. And, uh, if you’ve ever had a chance to watch the live auction at Taste, it’s a really neat thing because there are some really, really generous people who bid on our items. And, and that’s another thing.

    I don’t know if I’ve ever been, I’ve worked for Boys Girls Subs a long time. We have 30 board members. We have 16 board of trustees. I don’t know if I’ve ever worked in a more generous community than Washington County. I think if you do your job as a nonprofit, now you got to do your job. You can’t just Wendell dress it.

    You have to really do your job. And I think if you do, there are people. And there are a lot of generous people in Washington County, and they’ve been part of our Board of Directors who have supported the Boys and Girls Club for years. Since 1998, we’ve raised almost 40 million. And so that is from generous, generous people.

    Obviously, we talked about membership. How do we keep it low? 50 a year. We still have to raise the money. Our budget is About 1. 3 million to run all these clubs each year, and so there are some generous people, whether they’re board members or community leaders or board of trustees. If you do your job here in Washington County, and, and, uh, TASTE or just overall, Boys and Girls, of anything we do, if we do that first class, we do our jobs, people really do take care of nonprofits here.

    Yeah, for sure. I’ve

    [00:19:08] Fuzz Martin: seen it as well. And I, I echo everything you just said. It’s a community that if you, if you’re a non profit that puts in the work, the community will support you for sure. No

    [00:19:18] Jay Fisher: question. No question. And they have over the You know, since 1998. I feel really fortunate about that.

    [00:19:24] Fuzz Martin: Certainly.

    So, uh, Taste of Washington County, tickets are, are limited when they go on sale. You said November 1st? Yeah,

    [00:19:31] Jay Fisher: November 1st our board members will have tickets, but November 1st people can get them at Jeff Spirits in West Bend. Usually we’ll have 900 to 1, 000 people. This year I think with everything that’s going on we hope to have about 700.

    Sure.

    [00:19:43] Fuzz Martin: And it’s in the Washington County Fair Park. Yeah, it’s at Washington

    [00:19:46] Jay Fisher: County Fair Park. Starts at six o’clock. Obviously plenty of parking. Yep. It’s a really cool event. You can dress up and there has not been a whole lot of social type events the last couple of years. So I think, I think ticket sales, obviously, I’ve seen sponsored tables already selling quickly.

    And so I’m sure it’ll be a cool event, a nice event. And we have a wonderful committee that plans that and puts that together. I mean, it’s a lot of work to put that together, but, um. It sure is a fun time, even if I didn’t work for the Boys and Girls Sub, I would tell you, still go to Taste of Washington County.

    Sure. There’s been a lot of fundraisers I’ve been at, even if it is the Boys and Girls Sub, I would tell you, yeah, don’t go to that. Taste of Washington County is, uh, one that I for sure would go to.

    [00:20:26] Fuzz Martin: Well, this will be my first one that I’m going to this year is, uh, uh, our agency bought a table and, uh, uh, Gail sold us on it, so.

    You’ll have fun. Good work, Gail. You’ll

    [00:20:34] Jay Fisher: have fun, and if you don’t Then blame Gail.

    [00:20:36] Fuzz Martin: Okay, I will. I will. She’ll hear about it. Jay, thanks for all you do for our community. You’ve helped with the 9 11 Memorial on that side as well, and I want to thank you on that on behalf of the board for the 9 11 Memorial, for all of your help, and your wife Kathy’s help with that as well.

    Without you two, I don’t think we’d be where we’re at, and we appreciate that. But again, for all you do for West Bend, and the Boys and Girls Club, and all the families in this area, it’s a great honor. asset to our community. I don’t know what we’d do without it and we appreciate that.

    [00:21:09] Jay Fisher: Well, thank you Fuzz and thank you for all you do.

    I’ve, the 9 11 memorial is something that, um, You know, I really felt compelled. You need to help with that. Yeah, that’s personal stuff.

    [00:21:20] Fuzz Martin: Yeah, exactly. That’s, that’s why I got involved and I appreciate you doing that too. So, uh, thanks again and, uh, good luck with all of your events coming up. All

    [00:21:27] Jay Fisher: right. Thank you, Fuzz.

    [00:21:29] Fuzz Martin: Thanks again for listening to Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz. If you like the show, please consider subscribing and your podcast player. You can also follow me on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook at FifteenWithFuzz or visit fuzz. com. Fifteen with fuzz. com. We’ll talk to you next week. Take care, and thanks again for listening.

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