Sunday's Waukesha Christmas parade to help Blood Center

Nov. 19, 2011
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By Laurel Walker of the Journal Sentinel

Nov. 19, 2011 0

Mason Pagenkopf, who was born 15 weeks early and weighed less than two pounds, now serves as an ambassador for the BloodCenter of Wisconsin, title sponsor for Sunday's Christmas parade in Waukesha.

With the help of Mason and his parents, routine blood donors Cindy and Kevin Pagenkopf, the BloodCenter of Wisconsin hopes to remind people that blood donations, which often decrease during the holiday season, are a special gift that can help save lives.

The 49th annual Waukesha Christmas parade of more than 100 units will begin at 4 p.m. at the intersection of White Rock Ave. and E. Main St., travel primarily along E. and W. Main St. and end at Wisconsin and Maple avenues.

Gifts of another sort - toys for needy children - also will be the focus on parade day.

A major toy drive for the Christmas Clearing Council of Waukesha County will begin during the pre-day festivities downtown. Toys will be collected Sunday (and until Dec. 14) at these downtown sites: Cuddles Hallmark & Martha Merrell's Books & Café, 231 Main St.; Sprizzo Gallery Caffé, 363 W. Main St.; and the Waukesha County Historical Museum, 101 W. Main St.

Students from Waukesha West and North high schools will represent the Clearing Council in the parade and hand out information on how the public can help. Besides the toy collection, donor families can be matched with other families in need, giving toys or clothing in the amount of $60 per child and delivering the gifts personally by Dec. 14.

Prospective sponsors can call (262) 549-NOEL (6635) from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday or from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday evenings.

About Laurel Walker
Laurel Walker covered local, school and county government for 20 years -- the last half of that at the Milwaukee Journal and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel -- before she was named Waukesha County columnist in 1997. Today she writes about the people, places and events around metropolitan Milwaukee with a broad suburban focus. She was the youngest of nine children raised on a central Wisconsin farm before leaving the nest for journalism studies at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a masters degree at the University of Oregon. She has spent the last half of her life in Waukesha County, where she and her husband raised two sons. Though she has a fondness for life in Waukesha, she eagerly partakes in the culture of the big city to the east and the recreation of the forests to the west. With sons in the arts, she has a special fondness for symphonic music concerts and art museums. She finds peace in a good book at a Northwoods getaway weekend, adventure in family visits to the east and west coasts, and satisfaction in a column well-written that reaches readers.
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