If you’ve lived through even one central Wisconsin summer, you know how fast a quiet afternoon can turn into something you’ll be talking about for years. On July 27, that happened a few counties away. An EF-3 tornado, winds up to 155 miles an hour, cut a 12-mile path through Menasha and parts of Appleton, Fox Crossing, Grand Chute and Neenah, damaging and destroying homes and businesses and flattening whole rows of trees. It was the strongest tornado to hit that area in more than forty years. Remarkably and thankfully, no one lost their life.
As the Post-Crescent reported on July 28, 2026, meteorologists said the storm’s instability was fed in part by the extreme heat sitting over Wautoma that same afternoon, a heat index of 113 degrees. It’s a good reminder that we are never as far from each other, or from the next emergency, as we like to think.
Back in 2013, our Board of Directors created the Central Wisconsin Together Fund. The fund is there to provide support for people or property in Portage or Waushara counties when tragedy strikes, whether through tornadoes, floods, fires, or other unexpected disasters that none of us can predict, but all of us can prepare for.
What I love about this fund is what it says about the people who built it. This impactful preventative thinking was filled with intentionality for our community. Rooted in love, working ahead of time to be prepared, the Together Fund is a resource for our community.
September is National Preparedness Month, and it feels like the right moment to share the story of the Central Wisconsin Together Fund. Every gift, whatever size, becomes part of the readiness we’re building together for Portage and Waushara counties. You don’t have to know which emergency it will meet. You just have to trust that when the time comes, this community will already be standing ready to help itself. Community philanthropy is meant to take care of each other, on purpose, in advance.
If you have questions about the Central Wisconsin Together Fund, or you’d like to talk about including it in your own giving, I’d love to hear from you. Email me at foundation@cfcwi.org with the subject line “Question for Jenny.”
Jenny Riggenbach
Chief Executive Officer, Community Foundation of Central Wisconsin
A Trusted Philanthropic Partner