Donors Make A Difference

Meet Dick and Jane Mares

It was the inspiration of “generous human beings” that helped Dick and Jane Mares become donors to the Racine Community Foundation. During his tenure at Western Publishing, a Racine-based publishing company and home of Golden Books, Dick came to admire his colleagues – Bill Wadewitz, Howard Anderson and Bill Naleid – and the charitable work that was a natural part of their lives.

“They didn’t expect to be heroes,” explained Mares.

And neither does he. During the years following his retirement, Mares and his wife, Jane, made regular charitable gifts.

“I said to myself, ‘We have given year after year to the same causes. It’s time we do things for not only them but for Racine and its civic organizations.’ We’ve been pretty lucky ourselves. It was time to give back more.”

That’s when the couple met Marge Kozina. “Marge should get a lot of credit for her work as Foundation executive director,” said Dick Mares. Kozina acts as both a sounding board and an advisor on matters of local philanthropy. “We call her as much or more than she calls us.”

The Health Care Network is just one of the programs the couple supports with their donor advised fund within the Racine Community Foundation. “We wanted to help the people who fall between the cracks,” Jane Mares said. “Then Dr. Scheller, a family friend, suggested we consider the Health Care Network.”

The Foundation was able to match their interests with the needs of the Health Care Network in a grant the Foundation made, which blended money from them with others who shared the same interests.

“When you become involved with this kind of giving you feel like you want to do more. You get the fever! It’s your community, so it’s people helping people,” said Dick.