President's Update - August 2026

Dawn Smith, President

Happy August, League Friends. I hope you’re all surviving the wacky summer weather we’re having this year. This morning Chad and I had to have someone come and take down one of our huge trees in the back yard that was damaged in a storm last month. The tree guy estimates that tree was 120 years old. Full disclosure – I did cry a little bit as they cut it down. We’ve lived in our house for 26 years, and that tree has been a part of the landscape.  My back yard looks naked with it gone.

July has been a light month on meetings for me, but it’s been jam-packed full. We cancelled Voter Services, since our meeting was to be so close to the Fourth of July, but we’ve been working quite a bit on our Unite & Rise Day of Action event, which will be held on August 6 in the City Hall Council Chambers.  There the Mayor and County Executive will read a proclamation about the anniversary of the Voting Rights Act and the positive impact it had on making our elections accessible to all citizens. A HUGE thank you to Lynn Meshke for all her work in making that happen. If you’re available at 1:00, please join us.

And when we finish up at City Hall, we’ll have a couple hours, and then it will be time for our Annual Picnic. If you attended last year, you might remember how freaking hot and humid it was at Bay Beach. So, we decided to host a picnic indoors and support our friends at the ADRC – and have the event catered. The picnic will be from 5:00-7:00; if you haven’t RSVP’d but would still like to attend, please text me at 920-246-3605 so we can make sure we have enough food. And feel free to bring a friend. My first exposure to the League was when Karen Schley, who was the Chief Inspector I worked the polls with, invited me to attend a League annual picnic. And look at how that turned out!

But, whether you can make the picnic or not, I want everyone to make the most of the rest of the summer and to gear up for a busy general election season this fall.

Thank you all for the work you do, and I hope to see you at the picnic to get caught up.