KAMO – April, 2026 Newsletter – 3 pages
For comments related to this document, contact Mike

President?s message –
Hello to all KAMO members and friends of KAMO,

This is Kids And Mentors Outdoors president Mark Walters with my final introduction into the monthly Newsletter. As of midnight tonight, May 1st, I will no longer be KAMO’s president. I think we all know that after 19 years and also founding this organization, it is time for someone else to take the helm and freshen up our organization that has achieved so much for Wisconsin’s and the UP’s youth as far as creating outdoor experiences for them.

When we started this process back in 2007 it was easy as long as I went to all the meetings Ladysmith, Florence and Wisconsin Dells held for the first year and at the time the world was loaded with a lot more volunteers percentage wise than it is today.

My column “An Outdoorsman’s Journal” was in the local newspapers and that is how this all started. Our new president “as of today, I do not know of anyone willing to take the position” will have to do his or her best to get to know as many of our members as possible, not be pushy
but comfortably delegate and have the ability to raise funds for KAMO.

I have made some incredible friends in every chapter and am very thankful for that and would also like to thank at least a dozen of my friends from forever ago that joined KAMO and helped us accomplish so much.

Though it may seem like volunteer organizations are under challenging times, please do not give up and try to read this Newsletter as you will see that on a monthly basis KAMO does a lot when you multiply our experiences by 6 chapters.

I am a part of the Baraboo River Chapter and have been for the last 2 years.I will wait awhile and if we do not have a president will step up my energy to find someone to fill the spot.

On a side note, please read our new Treasurer’s “Randy Hines” note that each chapter needs to fill out financial statements for the IRS, Mike Brown has a message clarifying this below.

I want to thank everyone that has been so kind and worked so hard for
KAMO!

Happy Trails to all of you!

MGW

Treasurer – Need 2025 financials ASAP from all chapters that haven?t already sent them to Randy. We have to file an IRS report BEFORE May 15th, and a review of your financials has to be done first.

Baraboo – The Baraboo River Chapter held our monthly meeting on Monday April 13th at Rivers Edge in WI Dells, which due to them getting busy will be our last meeting there until October. Our small group reported 136 hours spent in the past month getting Kids Outdoors. This was mainly end of the season skiing, fishing and turkey hunting (it was good to hear a couple success stories). Dwaine brought in several older photos from previous Joe Hunts and it was fun to reminisce about events from the past. Our Chapter paid our State Dues, but are still waiting on an updated hard copy of our IRS Exempt Status. We accepted donations from WCCU Credit Union and a check from Jeff Meyers in Memory of Don Weiler. Our Chapter is in the process of getting the KAMO trailer over to the Dodge County Conservation Chapter, but it did make an appearance at the WI Dells Pheasant Forever Banquet on March 19th.
We are wanting to promote KAMO and are looking for some posters to hang up at the Children?s Museum. We have been asking around but can?t seem to find any. Mike B. is hopefully working on getting some printed. Would other Chapters be interested to get some posters as well?

The majority of the meeting was spent planning our Annual Campout at Castle Rock County Park June 26th?28th. With Rick M?s retirement, we divided up several of the duties he usually performed. Rick was the anchor of this campout and several Mentors have stepped up. It is looking like we will have around 15 kids between the Dodge County and Baraboo River Chapters. We are still looking for a boat and driver to pull a tube for the kids on Saturday June 27th if anybody knows a willing boat owner.

Our next meeting will be at 7pm Monday May 11th at the Upham Woods Outdoor Learning Center.

Thanks,

Greg

Coulee – A group of 7 mentors/ volunteers joined a homeschool group of 9 kids and 4 parents for a few hours on the Best Dam Fishing Float. Fishing was slow, except for Lake Sturgeon. A couple kids lost their battle with a sturgeon with their Zebco 202 combos. The homeschoolers said that they really enjoyed the overall experience and are ready to do more with us.
Randy took a young man to the Sparta area for the turkey opener and they got a Tom in a hurry.
Mike and IWL member Emy, went both days of the weekend and Emy?s youth shot a jake.
Mike attended the Earth Fair at Myrick Park to rub shoulders with a few people and spread the word about our upcoming events, especially hoping to pick up more participants for archery, which is only 6 days out. Mike delivered Coulee?s summer activities schedule to the La Crosse, Onalaska, and Holmen School District offices in hopes of gaining solid participant attendance at our publicly open outings and as well as spreading awareness about our group.

Dodge – We had a pretty busy month. We had a table at the Sportsman’s rummage sale sponsored by the Conservation Congress. Traffic was steady even though it was raining but we did get rid of some of our adult clothes that we had in inventory. A bunch of our mentors participated in the Youth turkey hunting weekend and some were successful – others not so lucky. We also had another Hunter’s safety class with 19 kids passing with flying colors. There are a lot of people to thank for everything they do for our Chapter and the volunteers that teach Hunters safety and the Beaver Dam conservation club are a big help for us. We have a bunch of stuff in the works and you can always find out what we have going on by going to our Facebook page. .

Get a kid outside and see what happens.

Jim Braker

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Meadow Valley ? Have a June meeting coming up.

Northwoods – Hello From the Northwoods,
We had a meeting last week to present Judy Waite with a plaque and a blanket for a lifetime of service to the kids in our community. She’s stepping back from the secretary position but will still be at events. Our summer event is July 11 and we will have 2 meetings prior to shore up enough boats. There has been talk of another prop buster event this summer also.

Good things ahead,

Johnny Johnson from Florence, WI.