Hometown Hero - Patty Bagniewski

This week’s Hometown Hero is Patty Bagniewski from Holmen.

Patty was recently named by the Holmen Lioness Club as their Citizen of the Year for her continued service to the community.

Here is just a small list of some of the many ways that Patty has helped to make the Coulee Region a better place: she has organized benefits to help those in need, operated food drives and chickencues for Evergreen Elementary, coordinated the Holmen’s Hope lunch program and chaired bazaars for St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church. She is also a teacher’s assistant at Evergreen.

Patty says that growing up in the small town of Independence helped her channel her organizing spirit towards helping other people. “I was raised in a small community,” says Patty, “and you just help people out. When people are down on their luck for whatever reason, you help them out.”

Patty’s first benefit was in 1989 for her neighbors who lost everything in a house fire. She was able to put together the event with phone calls to friends and neighbors, enlisting help from the community and learning as she went along. “I learned how to network as far as asking people for help, who to go to, what businesses to do to.” Part of the challenge of organizing a big group of people she notes is learning to work with people’s strengths and weaknesses. “Some people are very comfortable going door to door to businesses, some people aren’t. I learned how to sort that out, how to form committees.”

One of the most interesting things about Patty’s fundraisers is that her drive to help others appears to be contagious. People who have previously benefited from her work become involved in her future events. Whether they be the friends or family of one of the recipients of an event or just a someone in the area who heard about Patty’s generosity, people are constantly coming to her and asking how they can help.

Part of what has made Patty so successful at raising money for those in need is her organizational and management skills. With items being donated for silent auctions or food being collected for drives, it is very important that someone be able to keep track of it all and keep everyone on task. And in that regard, Patty excels.

Not only has Patty organized fundraisers too numerous to count (she estimates it is about 20), she has a reputation for putting on very financially successful events. One of her events brought in nearly $100,000.

Just last week, Patty helped her summer day care children do a fundraiser for a classmate with cancer. By selling baked goods, homemade crafts and things found around their houses, Patty and the kids turned her garage into a $700 + benefit. For Patty, the best part of the whole experience was watching the children learn the real value of helping others. “They’re learning at a young age that they can really make a difference. I think my biggest thing is you can start volunteering at any age.”

Patty is incredibly humble about her accomplishments and points out that everything she has done in the community she has done with the help of others.

And for Patty there is always more work to be done even if people cannot see it. “
There is just really a need. People sometimes get comfortable in their own life and they don’t realize that there is such a need.” We need more people like you, Patty.

Congratulations to you, Patty! Keep up the good work and continue to be a Hometown Hero.

Hometown Hero is a weekly feature put together by Rep. Steve Doyle (D-Onalaska). If you have any suggestions of a Hometown Hero, send a short description of why you think this person should be a Hometown Hero and contact information of both you and the nominee to rep.doyle@legis.wisconsin.gov.