Monroe County HCE Board of Directors
- President: Jean Boak, 608-372-4354
- Vice-President: Louise Buchholz, 608-435-6435
- Secretary: Suzanne Baker-Young, 608-633-6457
The Monroe County Association for Home & Community Education is celebrating its 96th anniversary this year. We originally started as a group for rural and urban women to provide social opportunities and learning experiences. These early learning lessons were shared with many people. They taught us to improve on everyday life, learn about our communities and share in the good fellowship and friendliness of the organization. These strong family values and leadership skills remain with us today. Monroe County HCE currently has 21 members county-wide. There are two clubs and four individual members.
We are life-long learners. We dare to make our communities a better place for everyone by welcoming and supporting members of our community.
We sponsor educational programs several times a year. The public is always invited to attend. Some of our recent topics have included health (diabetes, low vision, exercising, Reiki), gardening, cooking, local candidate forums, recycling, organ donations, art projects, computers, using smart phones and speakers on foreign countries.
We have been involved with the Wisconsin Bookworms project since its inception in 1998. We have raised more than $50,000 to purchase books for these young readers. Currently we are reading to 122 children at three Head Start sites. Our volunteer readers read to each of the six classrooms eight times a month. The children get to build a library for themselves.
- Monroe County HCE sponsors scholarships.
- We serve food twice a month in May each year to the volunteer medical workers at the St. Clare Mission in Sparta, Wisconsin.
- Our HCE group participates in the state HCE week by gifting baby baskets filled with wonderful items to the first baby boy and the first baby girl born that week at Tomah Health.
- We participate in international projects by donating to the Wisconsin Nicaragua project, donating our pennies for friendship and learning about other countries.
Currently we are working on a pollinator project. First, we researched. Then we got native seeds and learned the best ways where and how to plant them. We are encouraging people to step up and plant native plants and trees for the pollinators.
We send out a monthly newsletter to keep everyone updated on events.
We welcome anyone to join us in celebrating our heritage and programming.
Please call any of the numbers listed above to attend a meeting, or get more information on our organization.
If you are interested in becoming a member of HCE please contact
Joan Boak, HCE Monroe County President at 608-372-4354
April Anderson, Health & Well Being/Food Wise Educator
Extension Monroe County
206 S. K Street
Sparta, WI 54656
Phone: 608-269-8722
Updated March 19, 2023 by Donna Zarovy, Webmaster
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