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

President?s Corner – Our president position is recently vacant. Do you have ideas about how we might attract someone? Let?s talk about them.

KAMO Posters – A new general poster was made up, printed, and sent to 4 chapters. They are well illustrated to be eye catching. intended as an advertising tool. Meadow Valley members, you are entitled to some of these. Let me (Mike) know about the outcome of your June meeting and whether you are interested in these posters. .Two 36 ? x 24? and four 11? x 17?.

Treasurer – Each year, a form has to be sent to the IRS on or before May 15th. That has been taken care of for 2026. In the future, we are going to need each chapter?s financial records for the year well before this deadline. The IRS is interested in knowing whether a nonprofit is still active and has taken in $50,000 in the past year or not. We have not reached this level, but if we do, we have to report that on some other forms. Failure to abide by these simple rules can result in a group?s 501 c 3 status being revoked.

Baraboo – Our next meeting will be Monday June 8th at Kevin Seymour?s Campfire starting at 7pm. The next event is the annual campout at Juneau County Park on Castle Rock Lake June 26?28th. It looks like the Baraboo River Chapter will have 5 kids and the Dodge County Chapter will have 8 kids.

Greg

Coulee – On Saturday, May 2nd, Coulee ran a Kids Archery Day at Archery Country in Onalaska. Stations were set up ranging from very light recurves and close targets to two crossbows at more distance. These stations were run non stop for two hours for the 13 kids and 7 parents that came in. There were seven mentors/ volunteers there, so 27 people were present from our group and the archery shop sent an enthusiastic young employee to help too.
Our group met at Tom Sawyers on Wednesday, May 13 and discussed a number of things, including summer scheduling. We meet outside on the deck with the Black River in the background this time of year.
Randy and Mike met with the La Crosse County Parks Manager on Friday, May 8th at Goose Island. The main topic was planning for a first time ever event later in the month – the Kids Shoreline Fishing Classic at the park. We visited a shelter that will be the site of a bat education/ annual count on June 6th. Near the end of our visit, the manager expressed his concern that the deer herd was unchecked and had damaged almost all of some newly planted trees. That led to an offer to have KAMO come into the park for a fall Learn To Hunt.
Mike went to the Kids Fishing Day at the Genoa Fish Hatchery on Saturday, May 16th. This event draws in hundreds with new families every year. This event and the Youth Outdoor Fest in July are excellent opportunities to hand out KAMO activity schedules.
Between helping kids fish, cleaning several family?s trout, and talking with a number of folks, both old friends and strangers, some meaningful connections were made. Members of the Friends of the Mississippi group that were present expressed interest in our groups combining forces.
Our chapter partnered with La Crosse County to hold a Kids Fishing Day at Goose Island on Saturday, May 30th. We brought in a few dozen prizes and the bulk of the fishing equipment, set it up, distributed it, and some mentors went out to help fisherpeople. We also ran both a fish cleaning station and a casting game.
The event went from 8 to 2 and drew 105 kids. They all had to have a parent or Guardian along. Add in the volunteers and a few exhibitors, and there was a nice crowd.
A food truck came in and the food they served was priced affordably. Every kid left with a prize. A number of kids caught their first fish. Others caught their personal biggest.
KAMO had some banners out as well as boards with posters and activity schedules with our activity page QR code. Our group is still unknown to a fair amount of people after 15 years, but the percentage of people that have heard that there is a KAMO in the area or have attended our chapter’s outings in the past has increased substantially.

Dodge – Hello all. Pretty slow month for our chapter. 5 of us helped out at MOHEE ( MIDWEST OUTDOOR HERITAGE EDUCATION EXPO) at Poynette. 4600+ kids attended the 2 day event and had lot’s of fun.
We had a Creek clean up day and Park Creek got a face lift. Thanks to all the Kids and Mentors members that showed up to pitch in and make their community a little brighter. A Big Thank you to Greg Pahl for taking the lead and organizing a great project.
I spent some time fishing with my little buddy Leyton and We also gave our new KAMO trailer a good cleaning and to get it ready for our camping trip coming up at the end of June with the Baraboo chapter. . Lots going on this month. Check out our Facebook page for all the details. Our monthly meetings are held the last Tuesday of the month at Tower Lanes in Beaver Dam. 6 o’clock. Stop by and see what we are all about.
Get a kid outside and see what happens.Thanks.

Jim B

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Lake Wisconsin – A couple of our mentors helped out on a suicide prevention awareness ride put on by family members of a guy that thought our program was really great. Because of this they decided to take some of the proceeds and give them to Kamo Lake Wisconsin Chapter. We were given a nice donation in the honor of Kevin. We here at Kamo Lake Wisconsin sure do appreciate it .

Meadow Valley ? The group will meet on Wednesday, June 10th.

Northwoods – Hello From the Northwoods,
We held a meeting last week to get a good grip on boats for our July event. Things are progressing well. Our fall pheasant hunt may not take place due to health concerns from the hunt farm owner. He has reached out to see if anyone is willing to take it over. A replacement plan is already available with the Sagola Sportsman’s Club Kids day event on October 1. We’ve been approached to help volunteer at several stations. Still waiting on a date for the Prop Busters event, good things ahead, Johnny Johnson from Florence, Wi..