KAMO – March, 2026 Newsletter – 3 pages
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President?s message – Hello to all KAMO members and friends of KAMO,

This is Kids And Mentors Outdoors President Mark Walters with my second to last report as your President. It was about 21 years ago that I came up with the idea for what would
become Kids And Mentors Outdoors. Nineteen years and two months ago I started the journey with meetings in Ladysmith, Florence and Wisconsin Dells. I did not go home until all three meetings had taken place and slept on the ice in Mellen in between the Ladysmith and Florence
meetings.
What would become KAMO had a very tough but highly energetic start, the tough part was due to the fact that we could not find insurance.The energetic part was because as I still am, I wrote for for a lot of newspapers and the industry was extremely strong back in 2006 and their
was still a very high percentage of people willing to volunteer.
All of us have seen KAMO grow and now it has basically settled into what is very little growth but a “Steady Eddy” process of getting kids outside. I very much understand the potential for burnout as well – sometimes individuals wondering why they are not giving up the ship.
The reality is and it is huge, is that I simply cannot keep up to all that takes place between our 6 chapters each month, in other words, as a whole, KAMO makes a difference in hundreds, maybe even thousands of kids lives in a year’s time when you multiply it by 6.
We need a new President, that is very obvious, my life is a blur of motion, I am the President and cofounder of Necedah Outdoor Adventure Club and that requires about 50 hours a month of my life between planning, maintaining and creating new outdoor venues “green spaces”
here in Necedah. I am a hobby farmer “independent living way of life” and I travel every
week for my job.
I lost my mate just under 4 years ago, and recently I have met someone and it can be very difficult to find time with being KAMO President plus all of the above to spend the proper amount of time to make a new relationship work.
I HAVE ZERO PLANS OF LEAVING KAMO! KAMO IS IN MY BLOOD, I CANNOT HELP
IT, I LIVE DAY AND NIGHT FOR KAMO, WE JUST NEED A REPLACEMENT AS I AM
TOO BUSY AND CAN WELL ACCEPT THE FACT THAT A FRESH FACE WILL BE GOOD FOR OUR ORGANIZATION!
Enough on that subject, we are losing a great mentor and organizer and that is Rick Miotke, at least for a while, maybe longer. Rick is a very good friend of mine, was our Security Officer, past President of the Baraboo River Chapter and one of the top dogs for The Joe. Thank
you very much Rick!
Johnny Johnson of the Northwood’s Chapter of KAMO has been one of our
brightest, new acquisitions, “maybe 5 years”. Johnny is in the logging industry, a heck of an outdoorsmen, has the art of enjoying a cold brew down pat and since becoming The Northwood’s President a few years back, replacing my good buddy Mick Milner has carried on with Mick’s incredible results ” a great chapter”.
Johnny hands down won this years President’s Award which I had the honor of giving to him this past Saturday at our state meeting in Stevens Point.
I love KAMO, keep up the good work!

Mark G Walters

State Convention – A few things from the State Convention – No raffle this year. Each chapter will submit $600 dues as usual. Discontinuing State Facebook – our Facebook person, Sidney, did a nice job putting our posts up. Collectively, our chapters were not able to generate enough posting material to move the needle on the ?increased awareness of our group from people in the state?. We will put one last message referring to the kamokids.org website as a source of information and then discontinue adding to the state Facebook page. This places an emphasis on our website and the upkeep of your chapter?s homepage. Thanks to Sidney for helping us through this process.
A couple members discussed their search for liability insurance that has fewer exclusions.

Baraboo – The Baraboo River Chapter held our monthly meeting on Monday March 9th at Rivers Edge in WI Dells. We had guests: Adam from the Horicon area and Bob & Linda Brodeur. It was our annual Mentor Appreciation Dinner plus we honored Rick Miotke with a plaque for his 17+ years of dedication and support to KAMO and getting kids outdoors. Rick has been an anchor of our Chapter and has held the positions of President and Treasurer in the past. We wish him the very best with his upcoming April 1st retirement from KAMO. No bridges were burned, and the door remains wide open if Rick chooses to return to KAMO.

Our Chapter reported 191 hours spent in the past month getting Kids Outdoors. This included Ice Fishing and Skiing. Kevin Seymour has stepped up to be the new Treasurer for our group and we got the bank account information updated with the changes. We did receive a small grant from Alliant but are still waiting on a hard copy of our updated Non-Profit Status. Sounds like this is on the agenda for the State Meeting on March 28th.

We have reservations for the Castle Rock Camping trip June 26th?28th and menu plus activities being planned out at the April meeting. Upham Woods is hosting an ATV Safety Course April 17th & 18th. You can sign up at Go Wild website.
Our next meeting will be Monday April 13th at 7pm at Rivers Edge.

Thanks,

Greg

Coulee – Mentors have gotten together without kids for fishing trips. We met on Tom Sawyer?s deck in balmy weather on Monday, March 30th. Members assured Mike that they were listening even though their gaze was on the hundreds of pelicans flying overhead. This year the pelicans are here in extraordinary numbers and are exhibiting never before seen behaviors. Everyone is talking about it.
We have a variety of both regular and new outings coming up in the next several weeks to get ready for and we set the plans in motion.

Dodge – DCC KAMO Had a Hunters safety class which was well attended and some happy kids that received their certificates. Check out our Facebook page for pictures. We also had a KAMO bowling event along with a Meet and greet to get to know KAMO as well. Hopefully we will be bringing in some new mentors along with some new ideas for recruiting more mentors and volunteers. Turkey hunting preparation and another Hunters safety class in April. Also attended the State meeting. Lots of great discussions and hopefully we can get a new President real soon.

Get a kid outside and see what happens.

Jim B.

Meadow Valley ? Meeting in summer.

Northwoods – Hello from the Northwoods!
What an excellent and heartfelt state meeting!! Great discussions and a bright future! Hearing people tapping out is always tough but we wish them the best for their next page!!! A follow up FYI on the sportsman’s banquet/ wild game feed I attended on the 21st, a church organized it and everything was Absolutely FREE!!!! All the groups showed up volunteering on their own, no entry fee, There was a donation bucket for the cook staff. It has been going on for 28 years and the first I heard of it but we will definitely represent it in the future!!!! We will be having a meeting in April on a date yet to be determined. ! Thanks for the award also!!!! It means a lot coming from the peers I get to serve with!!!!

Good things ahead, JJ