As a foster parent, Danielle Calhoun knows first-hand the difficulty of making ends meet. That’s why she founded the non-profit Caring Closet in Tomah in 2020.“One of the biggest needs I saw was that the kids usually have nothing with them so it started out as just things that you would need to get to make a placement to be comfortable, like clothing, toys, diapers, wipes anything that you’d need,” Calhoun said of the facility at 903 Superior Av., in the former downtown Tomah Post Office building. “I think it’s extremely important because these children are our future and they’re in our community, they’re in our schools, they’re our neighbors and although we don’t always know what’s going inside their homes, we need to be a support system for them outside of them.”
To help Calhoun’s efforts, the Tomah Health Community Foundation donated $1,000 to the organization July 12. “Our giving is almost always intended for healthcare related services,” foundation president Brian Eirschele said of the donation. “We really do stick to our Monroe County area and give money in the direction of healthcare. We think that the foster care program is a great place for us to support.”
Eirschele said the foundation is able to support causes thanks to residents and businesses that take part in their annual Foundation Golf Outing scheduled Aug. 9. “We give about $15,000 out yearly to health-related services in our local community and our funding is all from the local community. All wonderful people who live here locally and are looking to make Tomah a better place.”
Calhoun said the Foundation’s donation will help with much needed supplies. “Donations come in that are able to meet our needs but also we need to pick up things to help,” said Calhoun. “We pay rent for the property; we do Thanksgiving meals and a big Christmas drive and it’s almost the start of school, so they’ll be school supplies and book bags available for kids.”
In addition to a small basement area of items, the Caring Closet also provides three interaction rooms to accommodate and host parent / child visits, foster parent support groups and training.
“I know that there’s a lot of changes within social services and how they try to keep families and children in the home, so being a support system to make sure that the kids are safe in the homes and then being able to provide them the resources to keep them there is one of our big objectives.”
While Calhoun knows that her efforts are making a difference, there is a need to grow. “Our goal is to have our own building so that the parents can make meals with their children and show what they’re capable of doing in those kinds of environments. Unfortunately, I don’t believe that we’ll ever see a decrease in the society that we live in, but I’m confident that we’ll do our best to meet those needs.”
She said groups, businesses and residents interested in supporting the facility can contact her at (608)343-1652 or via their Facebook page.