Medford Cooperative celebrates ‘Heroes Among Us’
Medford Cooperative’s Heroes Among Us program began about eight years ago and was known as Tanks of Thanks at that time. The program is a way to recognize unsung heroes in the community. Each year, the Medford Cooperative puts out a call for nominations which are then reviewed by a committee that chooses the recipients. Recipients are recognized each year during Parkfest.
The 2021 Heroes Among Us recipients are as follows, along with a summary of their nomination: Cathy Mayrer - Cathy Mayrer is a hero in our community in many ways including: as a parent of special needs children, advocating for autism awareness and acceptance, promoting and starting Taylor County Project Lifesaver and emphasizing that “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child with a Disability.”
Monica Halopka - Monica puts in great pride to make sure all children are able to enjoy the children’s museum. Her mission is, regardless of the different backgrounds families come from, they are all treated with respect and care. She is very genuine and enjoys making sure all families get to bond over the museum.
Jeff Nuernberger - Jeff has been volunteering in our community since he was in grade school. After school on Fridays during Lent, he would walk from the Middle School to the VFW clubhouse and help with the VFW and auxiliary fish fries, by waiting on tables and doing dishes. His service continued as he joined the Medford Fire Department where he volunteered for 5 years. He then became an EMT for Taylor County and has continued his studies to become a paramedic. Jeff is also a Life Member of the VFW Auxiliary #5729 in Medford and is the web services chairman for the Department of Wisconsin VFW Auxiliary. He set up the VFW Auxiliary Dept. of Wisconsin website and Facebook page and continues to manage the pages.
Michele Armbrust - Michele provided her heart and soul as a public health nurse for Taylor County. She has worked tirelessly supporting this community as a healthy place to learn, work and play. After 37 years as a public health nurse, Michele recently retired. She has provided many hours helping others outside of work. Her faith, charity to others is a shining example of a Hero Among Us.
Ron Becker - Ron is the unsung hero for every hesitant do-it-yourselfer. He has helped, encouraged guys learning a task, needing a tool to do a task or doing the job with them while instructing them. He is the embodiment of the wise statement ‘Give a man a fish feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish feed him for a lifetime.’ Ron has worked/volunteered many hours on the Ice Age trails as well as Rib Lake Nordic Ski Trails. Ron even jumped in to Rib Lake to save a woman whose car went off the road, plummeting down the embankment into the lake. Ron’s praises needed to be sung, a son of Rib Lake.
