Posted 6:45 p.m. Friday, Nov. 4, 2016
UWL students, alumni a major force behind Rotary Lights.
[caption id="attachment_5916" align="alignnone" width="685"]
UWL Alumnus Sarah Dahlke, ’96 works with a Rotary Lights volunteer at Riverside Park. Dahlke coordinates around 3,000 volunteers for the annual display that opens this year on Nov. 25. About 40 percent of this year’s volunteers come from UWL groups.[/caption]
UWL alumnus Sarah Dahlke, volunteer coordinator for Rotary Lights, is one of the many volunteers with UWL roots who helps make Rotary Lights possible.[/caption]
That’s part of the reason Dahlke is a devoted Rotary Lights volunteer today, spending nearly 20 years on the event’s steering committee and three years as the volunteer coordinator. She manages the day-to-day organization of more than 3,000 volunteers who do everything from wrapping lights to creating animated displays and even baking cookies for other volunteers.
About 40 percent of this year’s volunteers come from UWL groups, notes Dahlke.
“Pretty much everything that needs to be done at Rotary Lights — there is a UWL group that had a hand in it in some capacity,” she explains.
Some of those UWL volunteers have already started preparing for the annual display that opens Nov. 25.
Sweet motivation: Preparing 300 dozen cookies
Two UWL sororities — Alpha Phi and Alpha Xi Delta — spent the weekend before Halloween collectively preparing the dough for 300 dozen cookies, which will eventually be distributed to Rotary Lights volunteers in December.
Megan Peyton, UW sophomore in Alpha Xi Delta, remembers the several hour-long cookie dough making session last year. “Everyone got in their groove with the music playing,” says the organization’s philanthropy chair. “It was cool to know what we were doing was helping the people who put this on.”
Rotary Lights is just one of the ways the sorority collectively contributes 500 hours of volunteer work each semester. All that service is important, she says, as it teaches you “to be humble, gracious and give back when you can.”
“Rotary Lights is one way the group is able to make a direct impact on the community because so many people go down to view the display,” she says. “I think it draws the community together.”
One UWL group’s long history of giving back
In addition to helping prepare the park, stringing lights, and decorating a tree, UWL’s fraternity Delta Sigma Phi provides overnight security at the park from setup to takedown — a volunteer undertaking of nearly 60 nights. They’ve been providing security since Rotary Lights started in 1995.
Rotary Lights, the fraternity’s largest service project of the year, is considered an “all-hands on deck” event, explains Alex Olp, president of Delta Sigma Phi. All 45 active members contribute at least two overnight security watches at the park. Many opt to contribute more, he adds.
Spending a lot of time at the park also means spending time with each other to form friendships, notes Olp. He says some of his fondest college memories come from nights with friends at Rotary Lights. And it gives students an excuse to work with UWL alumni of their fraternity who continue to volunteer with Rotary Lights even after graduation. They share stories of their time at UWL and compare experiences, he says.
“Over the years, you’re able to build a relationship with these alumni and they frequently come back to various chapter functions throughout the year,” notes Olp.
A mission worth sharing
While many volunteers remark on the beauty and community surrounding the annual light show, they are also supporting Rotary Lights No. 1 mission to feed the hungry. The annual event collects about 250,000 in food items a year for area food pantries.
Rotary Lights hours:
The park is open Nov. 25-Dec. 31. It opens at 5 p.m. daily and gates will close after the last car in line at 10 p.m. with the following exceptions:
Christmas Eve — 5-9 p.m.
Christmas Day — 5-9 p.m.
New Year's Eve — 5 p.m.-1 a.m.
Learn more on the Rotary Lights website www.rotarylights.org.
Take your pic by the Eagle L
Going to Rotary Lights? Take your photo by the Eagle L at Rotary Lights and share it on UWL’s Facebook page.
View the Discover Wisconsin video
If you can’t make it back to La Crosse for Rotary Lights, here is the next best thing. Discover Wisconsin features Rotary Lights in a program last year.
UWL Alumnus Sarah Dahlke, ’96 works with a Rotary Lights volunteer at Riverside Park. Dahlke coordinates around 3,000 volunteers for the annual display that opens this year on Nov. 25. About 40 percent of this year’s volunteers come from UWL groups.[/caption]
UWL students, alumni a major force behind Rotary Lights
When UWL alumnus Sarah Dahlke was a young girl, she would beg her parents to drive by three homes on La Crosse Street – exquisitely decorated for the holiday season with blinking lights and music. Today Dahlke, ’96, is the volunteer coordinator for La Crosse’s Rotary Lights — the annual display of 3 million lights in Riverside Park. Such a sight — “would have blown my mind as a child," she explains. “Now I have four children, and to see it through their eyes is a neat experience,” she adds. [caption id="attachment_5971" align="alignright" width="267"] UWL alumnus Sarah Dahlke, volunteer coordinator for Rotary Lights, is one of the many volunteers with UWL roots who helps make Rotary Lights possible.[/caption]
That’s part of the reason Dahlke is a devoted Rotary Lights volunteer today, spending nearly 20 years on the event’s steering committee and three years as the volunteer coordinator. She manages the day-to-day organization of more than 3,000 volunteers who do everything from wrapping lights to creating animated displays and even baking cookies for other volunteers.
About 40 percent of this year’s volunteers come from UWL groups, notes Dahlke.
“Pretty much everything that needs to be done at Rotary Lights — there is a UWL group that had a hand in it in some capacity,” she explains.
Some of those UWL volunteers have already started preparing for the annual display that opens Nov. 25.
Sweet motivation: Preparing 300 dozen cookies
Two UWL sororities — Alpha Phi and Alpha Xi Delta — spent the weekend before Halloween collectively preparing the dough for 300 dozen cookies, which will eventually be distributed to Rotary Lights volunteers in December.
Megan Peyton, UW sophomore in Alpha Xi Delta, remembers the several hour-long cookie dough making session last year. “Everyone got in their groove with the music playing,” says the organization’s philanthropy chair. “It was cool to know what we were doing was helping the people who put this on.”
Rotary Lights is just one of the ways the sorority collectively contributes 500 hours of volunteer work each semester. All that service is important, she says, as it teaches you “to be humble, gracious and give back when you can.”
“Rotary Lights is one way the group is able to make a direct impact on the community because so many people go down to view the display,” she says. “I think it draws the community together.”
One UWL group’s long history of giving back
In addition to helping prepare the park, stringing lights, and decorating a tree, UWL’s fraternity Delta Sigma Phi provides overnight security at the park from setup to takedown — a volunteer undertaking of nearly 60 nights. They’ve been providing security since Rotary Lights started in 1995.
Rotary Lights, the fraternity’s largest service project of the year, is considered an “all-hands on deck” event, explains Alex Olp, president of Delta Sigma Phi. All 45 active members contribute at least two overnight security watches at the park. Many opt to contribute more, he adds.
Spending a lot of time at the park also means spending time with each other to form friendships, notes Olp. He says some of his fondest college memories come from nights with friends at Rotary Lights. And it gives students an excuse to work with UWL alumni of their fraternity who continue to volunteer with Rotary Lights even after graduation. They share stories of their time at UWL and compare experiences, he says.
“Over the years, you’re able to build a relationship with these alumni and they frequently come back to various chapter functions throughout the year,” notes Olp.
A mission worth sharing
While many volunteers remark on the beauty and community surrounding the annual light show, they are also supporting Rotary Lights No. 1 mission to feed the hungry. The annual event collects about 250,000 in food items a year for area food pantries.
Rotary Lights hours:
The park is open Nov. 25-Dec. 31. It opens at 5 p.m. daily and gates will close after the last car in line at 10 p.m. with the following exceptions:
Christmas Eve — 5-9 p.m.
Christmas Day — 5-9 p.m.
New Year's Eve — 5 p.m.-1 a.m.
Learn more on the Rotary Lights website www.rotarylights.org.
Take your pic by the Eagle L
Going to Rotary Lights? Take your photo by the Eagle L at Rotary Lights and share it on UWL’s Facebook page.
View the Discover Wisconsin video
If you can’t make it back to La Crosse for Rotary Lights, here is the next best thing. Discover Wisconsin features Rotary Lights in a program last year.