A Reason to Rejoice

Thanks to a generous community and an outstanding committee, the annual Holiday Charity Ball, a project of the chamber foundation, raised about $20,000 for the Twin Counties Free Clinic.

That was our goal: To bring our total gift back up to 2007 and 2008 levels after a challenging 2009.

Thanks to you, we were successful.

We have much to be thankful for in the runup to 2011. The past few years have created challenge for our local, regional, national and global economies. But in challenges lie small triumphs and we have seen our share.

Our community remains compassionate. We saw that recently as community members rallied around the family of a troubled young man who took his own life. It is easy to take pride in how community members provided support in the wake of a tragedy.

We are proud, too, of Marinette Marine and its employees who recently launched another littoral combat ship for Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Navy. We are thankful to the lawmakers who have shepharded a bill for more LCS vessels through Congress and hope their Senate colleagues will join them in a desire to create more jobs for our region, and especially the Marinette Menominee area.

Find a reason to rejoice this season, as we have many.

And thanks for helping us help the Twin Counties Free Clinic.