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[00:00:00] Fuzz Martin: Oh, hey, what’s happening, everybody? How are you today? I’m cold. I’m sick of winter. Wondering why I continue to live in this climate, but I’m fine. I’ll get over it. It’ll be warm soon. And then I’ll forget all the bad times. It’s like golf when you are really bad and then you hit a good shot and completely forget Are no good at golf.
[00:00:28] Fuzz Martin: Anyway, thank you for listening to Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz. My name is Fuzz Martin This is a show meant to highlight the positive things happening in and around washington county, wisconsin. Why so positive? As George Washington once famously said to Alexander Hamilton, Trolling is easy, young man. Kindness is harder.
[00:00:50] Fuzz Martin: This week, Lisa Kitzke, the Director of Roots and Branches in West Bend, joins me to talk about their mission of beautifying West Bend and spreading environmental stewardship. And with that, here are 15 minutes on Roots and Branches with Lisa Kitzke on Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz.
[00:01:15] Fuzz Martin: All right, Lisa, can you start by giving us an overview of Roots and Branches and its mission here in West Bend?
[00:01:23] Lisa Kitzke: You bet. So Roots and Branches is a local organization based here in West Bend. We are regional, so we kind of, include some of the area, Like Barton areas, um, as well as the town of West Bend.
[00:01:37] Lisa Kitzke: We’ve also recently expanded some of our events to include even Allentown. So we had a home featured last year as part of our garden tour, out in Allentown as well. So, we’ve been around since 1990. Local visionary Maradel Sager, really Felt that there was a need to, um, help promote beauty and, care for our environment.
[00:01:59] Fuzz Martin: Sure.
[00:02:00] Lisa Kitzke: So back in 1990, she and some neighbors, about two dozen or so of her friends, family, neighbors, and that kind of thing, got together and started off with the West Bend Beautification Committee.
[00:02:11] Fuzz Martin: Excellent. So, you have a strong focus, obviously, then, on beautification and environmental stewardship.
[00:02:17] Fuzz Martin: Why are those kinds of, needs important for the community?
[00:02:23] Lisa Kitzke: Right. Well, I think that when you have green spaces and natural places for people to, not necessarily find refuge in, but if you think about what it would be like to live in a community that didn’t have that, case in point, my son and daughter in law lived in Omaha for the last several years and Omaha has some green spaces, But in general, it does not have what Wisconsin has, it certainly doesn’t have what West Bend has, and they moved back and they realized how they missed that.
[00:02:57] Lisa Kitzke: There’s a certain amount of, kind of payback I think we get as citizens, when we invest in places that bring us joy, and beauty. And the vibrancy and that certainly one of the things I’ve noticed in my own life, having been gardening since I could like walk, that that payback that you get from caring for your property, caring for your community and having it grow and you’re nourishing it and invested in it, taking ownership and pride in what you’ve created.
[00:03:33] Lisa Kitzke: That’s, that’s huge and I think it’s important for us to be engaged in the community and with children and youth so that they can carry on that tradition and also, see that, that payback and, and experience it’s good to give back to your community in a very positive way.
[00:03:50] Fuzz Martin: Sure. And I think we’ll go back to that in a little bit because I want to learn more about how, how, you know, you had mentioned to me off air that, you’ve been in education and how to get, kids interested in gardening and those things.
[00:04:02] Fuzz Martin: So we’ll talk about that in a bit, but you had mentioned that this started back in 1990. So it’s 35 years. 35th
[00:04:09] Lisa Kitzke: anniversary this year. Yeah.
[00:04:10] Fuzz Martin: Excellent. So how has Roots and Branches evolved in those 35 years?
[00:04:15] Lisa Kitzke: Well, amazingly enough, the first couple of years of the organization, are key events and, and kind of activities that we kind of have as the, have as the base of the organization still exists today.
[00:04:31] Lisa Kitzke: Okay. So when Meridel started, one of the primary functions was to recognize. Property owners and businesses through the beautification projects that they had going on on their properties. So currently we have the Mayor’s Beautification Award and we have the Business Beautification Award. It acknowledges homeowners and businesses in the area.
[00:04:54] Lisa Kitzke: And that’s been around really since the very early years of Roots and Branches or the West Bend Beautification. Sure. And, in addition to that, they were working on the adopt a plot program, and it’s huge for us. It’s one of the fundamental, projects and programs to Roots Branches. We currently have 20 adopt a plots, and back in the early 90s, they, Started that by, which is astonishing.
[00:05:22] Lisa Kitzke: They had 576 perennials, 48 dozen perennials to plant around West Bend to improve the beauty.
[00:05:29] Fuzz Martin: Sure. What is the adopt a plot? Can you go more into what that program is?
[00:05:33] Lisa Kitzke: So currently we have 20 gardens in the West Bend area. We have, several on Oak Street. Beautiful neighborhood gardens. And then we have our Main Street sidewalk level gardens.
[00:05:45] Lisa Kitzke: I know with the reconstruction that they went through in the last year or so, there’s been a lot of changes that have taken place with an effort to improve that beauty and what we’re responsible for are the ones that you will see in the sidewalk, basically kind of ground level rather than the planters and things.
[00:06:02] Lisa Kitzke: Yeah,
[00:06:03] Fuzz Martin: sure.
[00:06:03] Lisa Kitzke: So the pots and that’s that type of thing are maintained by a separate organization and group of people, but we have a garden up in Burton on the Eisenbahn, which is fabulous. Thanks. And, I think a lot of people know Justice, Hair by Justice, okay? So, he and one of our board members, Susan Steinhoffel, are the volunteers that care for the Barton Garden.
[00:06:24] Lisa Kitzke: And then we have fabulous community members caring for the gardens in downtown and on Oak Street. We couldn’t do it without them.
[00:06:31] Fuzz Martin: Great. Excellent. Yeah. That sounds, awesome. And it’s, it’s great to have as a downtown business. It’s great to have, you know, those in downtown, those, those, ground level gardens as well as the city.
[00:06:43] Lisa Kitzke: A lot of people just rave about the color and if you’re down there at the farmer’s market or just shopping around with all the events, the downtown association puts on. Events at the bend, all of that, to be able to enjoy that, that color and that lushness, if you will, is, is something we, we really treasure.
[00:07:01] Fuzz Martin: In addition to some of those, what are some of the other, large projects or milestones that Roots and Branches has achieved or contributed to since 1990?
[00:07:13] Lisa Kitzke: Well, obviously the adopt a plots are a very, very crucial element for us, and a very important project for us to continue, and it’s that fundamental, along with the, beautification awards, core to our identity.
[00:07:27] Lisa Kitzke: But we have, something coming up, hopefully, in the future. We had been, selected. The project that I submitted to the West Bend Chamber Leadership, was selected by that group this past year to research and find, a possible site for a musical gardens for us. And so, we’re hoping that that will allow us to expand, but still stay, obviously, within West Bend, if we find a suitable location to develop a small botanical gardens.
[00:08:02] Lisa Kitzke: That will also feature giant musical instruments. Awesome. And so the leadership, committee, I’ve got four lovely local gentlemen that are, actively working to procure a property site, something in the area. And we can. Add that to our fabulous list of offerings for the community.
[00:08:20] Fuzz Martin: Yeah, and that, it’s great for the community.
[00:08:22] Fuzz Martin: That also then becomes a tourist attraction. A hundred percent. I, my wife and daughters go to storybook gardens all the time. And that’s, you know, it, they’re, they travel 45 minutes to Sheboygan.
[00:08:35] Lisa Kitzke: That’s the whole intention is not only are we going to give back for the community here, But that is a fabulous outreach opportunity for us to provide another venue, really, for people who are visiting, whether it’s businesses or it’s just residents having family and friends come for a visit.
[00:08:52] Lisa Kitzke: It’s a great place, hopefully, for people to enjoy.
[00:08:56] Fuzz Martin: Sure. Does Ridge and Branches take care of the Labyrinth Gardens as well?
[00:09:00] Lisa Kitzke: No. However, Barb, does a fabulous job, caring for that, she is, one of our frequent attendees to our seminars and our classes that we offer, but, that’s, that’s its own separate non profit.
[00:09:14] Fuzz Martin: Great. Great. So you, you have a variety of programs with Roots and Branches, including some educational seminars. I know you have one coming up here in March, and you also do some community cleanups and things like that, right?
[00:09:26] Lisa Kitzke: Yeah. We actually collaborate with Milwaukee River Keepers, and we have an event coming up fairly soon.
[00:09:31] Lisa Kitzke: Where you can register online and select a specific, specific park that you would like to work in. And, that is, on April 26th from 9am till noon. And we have, online registration opening soon.
[00:09:48] Fuzz Martin: Okay.
[00:09:48] Lisa Kitzke: And Milwaukee River keepers will meet us at Regner Park that morning at 9 a. m. and everyone can get their t shirts, their gloves, we’ll provide bags.
[00:09:58] Lisa Kitzke: And it’s really making our parks clean and beautiful and making sure that that trash doesn’t end up in the river.
[00:10:04] Fuzz Martin: Great.
[00:10:05] Lisa Kitzke: We also have ongoing seminars. We are looking to expand our seminars from just offering at City Hall to including ones at the Hub in the future. Oh, excellent. Great. And yeah, absolutely.
[00:10:17] Lisa Kitzke: And so that gives us a chance to be more visible and right out in the community. , where people are kind of coming and going, so it’s going to give us an opportunity, to provide a service for people and also maybe entice a few people who don’t know who we are, to check us out as well. And then we also work with the area school district.
[00:10:36] Lisa Kitzke: We have an Arbor Day event coming up. We’ve been doing this for years. , we work with the DNR and we get, tree seedlings. And we work with, teachers that are part of the SEED program, leading this group of youth to put on, an event for area fourth graders.
[00:10:52] Fuzz Martin: Oh, awesome. I have a fourth grader.
[00:10:54] Fuzz Martin: There you go.
[00:10:55] Lisa Kitzke: You’re going to get a tree.
[00:10:57] Fuzz Martin: Actually, we, we just had to take down a tree, unfortunately. So maybe, uh,
[00:11:00] Lisa Kitzke: Well, you know, there’s other places that could use trees and, whether it’s River Edge or so forth, we can always encourage our families and our youth to, If they can’t plant it in their yard, find a suitable site.
[00:11:12] Fuzz Martin: Excellent, excellent. So, this is a good segue back to this. So, let’s talk about kids and gardening. So, what do you feel is the best way to develop a passion for gardening within young people? Well,
[00:11:28] Lisa Kitzke: you know, I laugh because, like I said, I’ve been gardening and doing this stuff since I could walk, right?
[00:11:35] Lisa Kitzke: Years ago, I’d say mid nineties, my husband and I went to see Melinda Myers and a lot of people are familiar with her being kind of the Wisconsin gardener and she put out a book on Wisconsin gardening. So my husband and I said, you know, it’d be a great book to add to our library of gardening books and she autographed it.
[00:11:56] Lisa Kitzke: And she autographed it to our son, who is now 26 years old, to, Joshua, the future green thumber of the Kitzke family. And so I think it starts with parents and it starts with organizations like ours. Really teaching and inspiring young people and their families to learn. Not everybody has a green thumb.
[00:12:17] Lisa Kitzke: A lot of people have no idea how to keep a plant from dying. But if we have a even a small group of knowledgeable gardeners, you know, we have like 100 very active volunteers right now and of that group taking a small core of knowledgeable people. To work and mentor youth and family, and that will not only develop future volunteers for the organization and kind of continue the legacy that Meridel started, but it will give them an opportunity to take pride in what they’re doing and maybe someday as homeowners, business owners, it’ll carry through outside of roots and branches and giving back to their community, even in a small way, in a fun way, something I think that we can absolutely do by making those kind of connections.
[00:13:10] Fuzz Martin: Sure. So you gotta develop that love early and get them going.
[00:13:13] Lisa Kitzke: Yeah.
[00:13:14] Fuzz Martin: Speaking of that, did I see the Roots and Branches has a scholarship as well?
[00:13:19] Lisa Kitzke: Yes, we have a scholarship and we are listed, with the high school at the scholarship committee. And, what we do is we seek out any , graduating senior from West Bend High School schools, and if they are pursuing, say, something environmental sciences or, like community stewardship and how they can get involved in their, you know, community locally, but pursuing that in higher education.
[00:13:45] Lisa Kitzke: They can apply for that scholarship.
[00:13:46] Fuzz Martin: Excellent. So, yeah. Excellent. So, that’s through, for the West Bend School District through columns, right? Or Yep. Through
[00:13:51] Lisa Kitzke: the high school, scholarship listing. Yep.
[00:13:53] Fuzz Martin: Excellent. Volunteering is obviously a, a big part of
[00:13:59] Lisa Kitzke: Oh, yeah. any
[00:14:00] Fuzz Martin: non profit organization. Of course. What are some ways that people can get involved with Roots and Branches?
[00:14:05] Lisa Kitzke: Well, thank you for asking. We really can’t do it without the volunteers. Whether it’s our plant sale in May that we have on Vine Street in Main or it’s our garden tour, two days where we’re, inviting hundreds of people to tour these properties, or our garden party that we have at the Prairie Center, we have to have volunteers, committed to helping support the organization of the adopt a plot requires community members to volunteer time to plant to water to maintain our gardens and in fact this year we’re looking to collaborate with Youth and Family Project Casa Guadalupe Multicultural Center to, have teams from those organizations then be mentored by our volunteers.
[00:14:53] Lisa Kitzke: And, eventually the musical gardens gets, you know, gets off the ground. We will be looking at collaborating with students in the schools, potentially boys and girls club to help create things to incorporate in the gardens. And that might very well, not only volunteering their time to create for the garden, but maybe eventually become volunteers to maintain it too, so.
[00:15:15] Fuzz Martin: Excellent.
[00:15:16] Lisa Kitzke: Yeah.
[00:15:17] Fuzz Martin: You’ve obviously had a number of volunteers over the years, over the 35 years. Are there any Stories of any volunteers that really stand out. Yeah,
[00:15:26] Lisa Kitzke: I mean, I’ve only been director since last May. But I have spent time talking with quite a few of them and, it just blows my mind how giving some of them are.
[00:15:38] Lisa Kitzke: Judy Zunker, just a huge shout out for her. We couldn’t do the plant sale without her. We don’t have the funds to go out and purchase plants to then sell to the community. , so what we do is we grow them in Judy’s yard by the thousands, like 1, 500 plants. This woman maintains in her property, her tiny little city lot, , are filled with our plants.
[00:16:09] Lisa Kitzke: And then the team of volunteers digs them out, plants them in pots so that we can sell them to anyone that attends the plant sale. It’s just a fabulous human being. I remember really meeting her for the first time stopping at her house and it turned into a two hour visit, you know, not just walking around the yard to see what we all have getting ready to overwinter, but learning what she’s been doing for years for this organization.
[00:16:37] Lisa Kitzke: It’s just astounding.
[00:16:38] Fuzz Martin: And it’s got to be pretty fulfilling to her to know that these, the, these plants that she’s created are, are then being used to beautify other homes and places.
[00:16:46] Lisa Kitzke: Yeah.
[00:16:48] Fuzz Martin: What are some of the biggest challenges that you face as a non profit and as a volunteer organization?
[00:16:54] Lisa Kitzke: Well, I think that there’s certainly a couple that come to mind.
[00:16:57] Lisa Kitzke: One is the funding issue. I think a lot of non profits are feeling that squeeze right now. People are, are holding on to their own funds and, that in turn limits what we might be on the receiving end with. So we don’t qualify for, typical grants and things that a lot of other organizations, perhaps like our area of nonprofits, like Family Promise, or we don’t receive funding from United Way.
[00:17:28] Lisa Kitzke: We also don’t receive funding from tax dollars because we’re not really affiliated with the city.
[00:17:32] Fuzz Martin: Sure.
[00:17:32] Lisa Kitzke: Besides having an office, thankfully, in City Hall. Thank you very much to them. So funding is always an issue and, and we have to rely on the generosity of people, that are donating back.
[00:17:43] Lisa Kitzke: Whether it’s our annual campaign or attending things like the garden party and, coming to tour through the garden tours of West Bend. And, then the other thing is again, volunteers, you know, there’s always a need. And my feeling is, is it doesn’t require 40 hours a year. We have volunteers giving 80 hours a year.
[00:18:07] Lisa Kitzke: Sure. Um, but some people are giving five hours.
[00:18:10] Fuzz Martin: Mm hmm.
[00:18:11] Lisa Kitzke: So it gives you an opportunity to get outside and, and take care of something that’s really beautiful. And so we always encourage people, no matter what you’re able to do, there’s a place.
[00:18:25] Fuzz Martin: You’ve said you’ve been in this position now for a year.
[00:18:27] Fuzz Martin: Going on, yeah. Going on a year. What inspired you to personally get involved with Roots Branches?
[00:18:34] Lisa Kitzke: Well, previously, I had been working at the Senior Center here in West Bend, the Senior Activity Center, and, Mike Faulkner, awesome gentleman, he is Vice President of the Board for Roots and Branches, and he stopped in at the Senior Center to hang a flyer one day, and, the receptionist that was working there wasn’t quite sure what organization Roots and Branches was.
[00:18:55] Lisa Kitzke: My office door was open, and I heard the conversation, you know, carried through, and my ears perked up. I’ve known Roots and Branches because I’ve been a gardener, so I’ve gone to the plant sale. And so I walked out and shook his hand, took the flyer, we chatted briefly, and he said, Well, we’re seeking an executive director.
[00:19:13] Lisa Kitzke: And we’re hoping you’d be willing to hang the flyer for us somewhere. And so I said, Well, certainly. And I put the flyer up and, you know, it was a little seed, no pun intended, okay, you know, planted in my head and lo and behold, I go home, talk to my husband, stew and brew about it for several days. And he said, you know, why don’t you inquire about what’s more, what are the duties, roles and responsibilities, you know, learn a little bit more about what they’re looking for.
[00:19:41] Lisa Kitzke: So I shot off an email and then I student brewed some more and I receive an email back from Sharon Scott, the board president. So basically, are you interested or are we going to just move on here? And that was kind of the impetus. Okay, well, clearly I should do something. And, I just thought that this accommodates my ability to continue to, because I also work part time private teaching, so I can still, maintain that, but continue in the nonprofit world in an organization that I’m very interested in, familiar with, I think it has a purpose and a place in the community that’s needed.
[00:20:27] Lisa Kitzke: Why not? It was a no brainer.
[00:20:30] Fuzz Martin: Absolutely. That’s, that’s great. And it, it sounds like it matches up well with, your passions. So, uh, for someone new to West Bend or looking to make a positive impact, that maybe wants to get involved with the Roots Branches, How do they contact you? How do they get involved?
[00:20:47] Fuzz Martin: Where do they start?
[00:20:48] Lisa Kitzke: Well, there’s a few places you can go. You can certainly check out our website, www. rootsbranches. org. We’re also on Facebook, social media, Instagram, that kind of thing. And we have links right on there that you can click into to add your email to our mailing list so you’ll receive our newsletter or calendar of events.
[00:21:09] Lisa Kitzke: And you can also select, right off the website what you’re interested in, different aspects of our organization, where you think you’d want to volunteer, or at least get information. And you can always give us a call right at City Hall, so, we’d be happy to help.
[00:21:24] Fuzz Martin: Alright, so it’s rootsbranches. org, right?
[00:21:26] Fuzz Martin: Correct. Alright, very good. By the way, I know, this isn’t the theme for this year, but last year you had your, your annual event, it was called, Boots and Ranches.
[00:21:34] Lisa Kitzke: Boots and Ranches, yes. Which I thought
[00:21:35] Fuzz Martin: was one of the most clever titles. It’s a great play on the word. I’m a pun fan, and I was like, this is This is beautiful.
[00:21:43] Fuzz Martin: I just want to give you kudos to that. We appreciate it. I, I haven’t been able to tell anybody how much I enjoyed that.
[00:21:49] Lisa Kitzke: Well, this year is going to be a fabulous garden party and our focus is going to be on recognizing the 35 years that we have been, here in the community and giving back and serving.
[00:21:59] Lisa Kitzke: So, that’ll be our, our theme is to celebrate the 35 years.
[00:22:03] Fuzz Martin: And that’s in October, right? Yes, it is in October. And you have all of these events. It’s listed on your website, including the upcoming environmentally friendly landscape and talk with Gerald, uh, Glenn Harold, excuse me. So, uh, you guys do great work.
[00:22:16] Fuzz Martin: You make West Bend a better place and the surrounding communities better place. Uh, Lisa, thank you for coming in and good luck with the rest of the year.
[00:22:24] Lisa Kitzke: We appreciate it. Thank you so much.
[00:22:27] Fuzz Martin: Thank you again to Lisa Kitsky, the executive director of Roots and Branches for joining me on this week’s. Episode of 15 minutes with fuzz.
[00:22:34] Fuzz Martin: Again, you can learn more about roots and branches at roots branches. org. And that’ll do it for another week of Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz. As always, if you have a recommendation for a guest for this show, just let me know, reach out, you can email me fuzz at fuzzmartin. com that is fuzz at fuzzmartin. com or you can go suggest a guest at fuzzmartin.
[00:22:59] Fuzz Martin: com slash guest. That is fuzzmartin. com slash guests new episodes coming on Tuesdays. You can listen to them on pretty much any platform where you might find podcasts, including Apple podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, fuzzmartin. com, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you so much for listening week after week.
[00:23:18] Fuzz Martin: I appreciate you. And I will talk to you next time, right here on Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz.
