Keep Wisconsin Warm/Cool Fund putting Corn Maze funds to help families keep the heat on this winter

Karen Wrzesinski and Mike Doria walk through a corn maze operated by the Keep Wisconsin Warm and Cool Foundation. The fundraiser helps families keep their heat on during Wisconsin winters (Kait Vosswinkel/Madison Commons).

Keep Wisconsin Warm/Cool Fund (KWW/CF) hosted its 4th consecutive A-Maizing Charity Corn Maze this fall to help keep the heat and power on in households all over the state. 

As a nonprofit statewide organization, KWW/CF has worked since 1996 to help struggling households meet basic needs like energy costs.  The charity corn maze has turned into an annual event that helps raise community awareness, and to tame the energy crisis affecting many Wisconsin households.

The idea to create an urban corn maze was proposed by Deb Archer, president and CEO of the Greater Madison Visitors and Convention Bureau.  Archer saw an opportunity and, with the help of Scott Skelly, the designer and cutter of the maze, and a partnership with the Gialamas Company, the owners of the field, the charity corn maze has continued to grow and promote KWW/CF’s mission.

Located at 1262 John Q. Hammons Drive, the 2013 corn maze attracted a variety of people and groups from Sept. 19-Nov. 3.  A group of 13-year-old girls completed the three-mile-long maze in a record 19 minutes, according to a KWW/CF staff member.

The maze also attracted the philanthropic eyes of some UW-Madison students.  Alpha Kappa Psi, a coed, professional business fraternity at UW-Madison, volunteered at the corn maze on Thursday, Oct. 17 by picking up trash and debris.The corn maze is the Keep Wisconsin Warm/Cool Fund's biggest fundraiser of the year (Kait Vosswinkel/Madison Commons).

Although the 2013 corn maze was centered in Madison, KWW/CF has established an extensive network of voluntary agencies to ensure that funds assist as many Wisconsin households in need as possible.  KWW/CF has contacts in all 72 of Wisconsin’s counties and tribes, according to KWW/CF’s Marketing and Events Coordinator Angela Flickinger.

“We target our charitable dollars towards households that include an elderly person, working families with small children, Veterans, and those struggling with disabilities,” said Flickinger in an email.

At KWW/CF, ninety-five cents of every dollar raised goes directly to charity.  This translates into $2.5 million and 8,000 households that KWW/CF helps each year.

“We are still calculating the proceeds from this year's corn maze,” said Flickinger.  However, on October 19Alpha Kappa Psi, a business fraternity at UW Madison, volunteered at the Corn Maze in October (Jessica Levine/Madison Commons). KWW/CF raised $3,200 in one day at the maze.  This will help 12 households according to Flickinger.

KWW/CF also hosts a charity golf outing every year in addition to participating in various community events.

For more information visit KWW/CF’s website.