AZCO INC. has a strong commitment to being a responsible corporate citizen. With in-kind donations, service, time and/or money, AZCO makes a difference in the lives of those in our community.
By sponsoring an event, participating in planned activities and caring about others, the following is a partial listing of organizations AZCO has given to:
American Cancer Society
The American Cancer Society is the nationwide
community-based voluntary health organization
dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major
health problem by preventing cancer, saving
lives and diminishing suffering from cancer
through research, education, advocacy and
service.
The Sole Burner is an annual event for the American Cancer Society and has become the largest run/walk of its kind in the Fox Cities.
The Sole Burner first began in 1983 with 40 participants raising $4,000.
AZCO has sponsored a team annually since 1999 and placed second in the team fundraising in  2006 and first in 2007.
With AZCO’s
participation and
contributions in the 2009 Sole Burner 5K Run/Walk, our company has raised
more than $100,000 for the American Cancer Society.
Throughout the years, the event has grown to be the Society's largest event of its kind in Wisconsin with over 6,000 participants and raises over $300,000 for the American Cancer Society each year.
The Sole Burner is both a serious and social event. The event is designed to rally community support for the American Cancer Society, recognize cancer survivors, and promote the health benefits of a 5K run or walk.
Fox Cities Performing Arts Center (PAC)
The Performing Arts Center serves as a gathering place for the community to engage in educational and entertainment opportunities and enhance understanding and enjoyment of life through the creation and presentation of the arts. Since the founding of the Center, AZCO annually supports touring productions presented at the Fox Cities PAC such as the American Players Theater (APT).
American Players Theater is a professional outdoor theatre devoted to classical works, located in Spring Green, Wisconsin. Founded in 1979, it has grown rapidly in recent years and currently enjoys the largest audience in the United States for outdoor classical theatre, with more than 100,000 patrons from across the nation attending performances each year.
Each season, APT produces 116 performances of five plays running in rotating repertory from June to October. AZCO
helped sponsor “The Merchant of Venice” production touring through
Appleton in the fall of 2007 and performed at the Fox Cities Performing Arts
Center.
Fox Cities – The Building For Kids – Children’s Interactive Museum
Building children’s imagination, creativity and confidence is the mission of The Building For Kids – it’s more than a museum, more than a play area for kids and more than story hour at the library.
In addition to offering field trips for classes, temporary and permanent exhibits such as meeting a local symphony, learning about the different instruments and trying them, The Building for Kids offers programs involving parents and children in crafts, learning and having fun.
AZCO INC. helped sponsor one of the most intriguing, family-friendly exhibits of 2007-2008; The Art of the Brick,
featuring the work of Nathan Sawaya, a professional LEGO® artist. The
four-month exhibit showcased 3-dimensional sculptures and oversized mosaic
portraits including a gigantic Monopoly box, a hanging mosaic portrait of
John Lennon and a life-size skeleton of a dinosaur exhibit all made out of
the little Lego plastic bricks.
In addition to our financial commitment, AZCO millwrights were involved in the very precise placement and installation of the dinosaur hanging from the ceiling before the show could open.
Menasha School District
Over the years, AZCO has become very involved with our local school district on a number of levels. Because our corporate employees have children involved in sports, AZCO has sponsored field banners, teams, and helped make improvements to the sports’ facilities.
At the high school level, AZCO is more directly involved in the future of the students through the Education for Employment program. Education for Employment is a system of education-related opportunities that center on actively preparing all students to enter the global workforce of the future.
AZCO started helping with the welding classes in 2001. The first year included one class per semester with only 10 students. Since then, the welding class has progressively grown to two classes per semester with close to 20 students enrolled in each class. We schedule field trips through our fabrication shops once a year with our foremen assisting as tour guides to keep the groups small so everyone can see and hear the explanations of the equipment and processes.
For safety reasons, the students are not allowed to participate in any “hands on” welding, however, we do provide welding lenses for everyone so they can witness welds being made. Our quality assurance department participates as well, giving explanations on x-ray and other types of weld testing.
Additionally, AZCO has coordinated tours through the training facility at Local 400 and when possible, given the students a tour through a field site.
Job shadowing is a school-sponsored career exploration activity where students observe an employee in the career of his/her choice to learn about the business, industry, or profession of the employee. Menasha students have job shadowed different professions in the corporate office and the shops allowing the students a glimpse into the construction field from behind a desk and in the fabrication shops.
Service learning is a method of teaching and learning that combines academic work with volunteer service to the community. Typically, the students are involved in the planning of the project, the project meets real community needs, the activity is connected with classroom learning and curriculum and there is an opportunity for the student to reflect on the experience.
AZCO partnered with the Menasha High School Students in 2008 to build its second Habitat for Humanity Home. 
Habitat for Humanity
Habitat invites people of all backgrounds, races and religions to build houses together in partnership with families in need. Through volunteer labor and donations of money and materials, Habitat builds and rehabilitates simple, decent houses with the help of the homeowner (partner) families. Habitat houses are sold to partner families at no profit and financed with affordable loans. The homeowners’ monthly mortgage payments are used to build still more Habitat houses.
One of AZCO’s employees, Christy Birling,
created an astounding miniature house for a Habitat for Humanity Silent
Auction fundraiser event. Complete with carpeted rooms, a stocked refrigerator and an attic full of collector items, the miniature was quite a sensation!
Additionally, AZCO teamed up with the Menasha High School in the spring of 2008 to sponsor and build its second Habitat for Humanity home.
Rawhide Boys Ranch
Since 1965, Rawhide Boys Ranch has helped hundreds of troubled teen boys change their lives. Located in the heart of Wisconsin along the scenic Wolf River, Rawhide is a faith-based, non-profit, residential care center dedicated to changing the lives of troubled teen boys.
The family living model, along with other program offerings, sets Rawhide apart from other residential care centers by providing a home-like setting with Houseparents and Resident Instructors, offering moral guidance, encouragement, therapeutic counseling, specialized education, work experience and fun activities. Rawhide also creates a unique treatment plan for each student with specific outcome goals in order to create more opportunities for success after they leave Rawhide.
The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army of Greater Milwaukee's mission is to identify and serve the spiritual, emotional and material needs of the community in an effective, responsible and accountable manner without discrimination.
In 2009, AZCO INC. donated a Larger-than-Life Red Kettle in connection
with Thrivent Financials Kettle Campaign Match Day. The kettle, also used in
other areas throughout the Fox Cities, is meant to bring awareness to those in
need during the Christmas Season. Please click on the following link to see an article published
in the Appleton Post Crescent for more information. The
Salvation Army Larger-than-Life Red Kettle
In addition to donating to the local communities, AZCO has made separate donations during national crisis, such as Hurricane Katrina, to help out those in need.
City of Menasha’s Isle of Valor
The Isle of Valor statue honors Elmer J. Burr and Ken Stumpf, Menasha natives who received the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest award for valor in action bestowed on any U.S. soldier, plus others who gave their lives in military or civilian service.
U.S. Army 1st Sgt. Elmer J. Burr, was 34 when he died Dec. 25, 1942, a day after he jumped on a grenade that had been thrown in his foxhole. His heroism saved the lives of his commander and others.
In April of 1967, SP/4 Ken Stumpf braved enemy troops in Vietnam to rescue three men in his squad. Three times Stumpf left his secure position to reach his comrade and carried the wounded soldier back to safety under heavy fire. Stumpf then led a successful assault against the enemy bunkers.
Ken Stumpf, currently a Menasha resident, is on the Board of Directors for the Medal of Honor Society and has been a key player as the Medal of Honor Society Liaison for the 2007 Congressional Medal of Honor Convention. He is also on the Board of Advisors for the Brian LaViolette Scholarship Foundation and is very active with its Scholarship of Honor Program.
American Legion – Fox Cities Post 38
Monument Restoration
A World War I statue of an American soldier – “The Spirit of the American Doughboy” stands in the median between the City of Appleton and the Town of Menasha.
The monument was dedicated Nov. 11, 1934, by local American Legion Post 38 to honor 85 men from Outagamie County who died in the war.
The statue was damaged in 1986 when a vehicle hit the base. At the time, the right hand and a 1903 Springfield rifle were replaced.
In 2005, the sculpture was among 100 from around the state in a report about weathered and neglected war memorials. By that time, the 400-pound statue was corroding and splitting.
The American Legion launched a campaign to raise money for the monument's full restoration. AZCO INC. donated to the restoration in the name of the many employees and relatives who have served or are currently serving in the military, with special notation to those relatives who served our country in World War I.
Bubolz Nature Preserve
The Gordon Bubolz Nature Preserve is a 775 acre independent, nonprofit wildlife preserve and environmental education facility, located in Outagamie County, Wisconsin.
The Preserve provides educational and recreational opportunities to encourage persons of all ages to develop and practice a sound environmental ethic, which reflects an understanding and appreciation of nature.
Financial support comes from individual and corporate donations, memberships, and program fees.
CAP Services, Inc.
CAP Services has been on the front-line of the war on poverty since 1966. As a private non-profit corporation, CAP offers programs in Marquette, Outagamie, Portage, Waupaca, Waushara and parts of Marathon and Wood counties.
Among the innovative, effective, community-based programs offered by CAP to help people attain economic and emotional self-sufficiency are:
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Skills Training
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Business Development
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Home Buyers Assistance
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Weatherization (weatherized and rehabilitated homes)
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Special Needs Housing
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Early Childhood Development
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Crisis Intervention
Community Clothes Closet
The Community Clothes Closet is a non-profit organization that provides clothing to people in need throughout Northeast Wisconsin. More than 304,000 items were given to more than 11,500 individuals in 2006!
Fox Cities Community Clinic
The Fox Cities Community Health Center, also known as the Fox Cities
Community Clinic, opened as a free clinic in 1997.
The Center provides services to all people in the Fox Valley regardless of their ability to pay. In addition to serving people with difficulty accessing high quality health care due to geographic, financial, or language barriers, the clinic also serves homeless individuals, as well as individuals at imminent risk of homelessness. Ultimately, they are able to provide a broad array of health services to over 10,000 underserved Fox Valley residents.
Harbor House Domestic Abuse Center and the Christine Ann Abuse Center
Harbor House in Appleton and the Christine Ann Abuse Center in Winnebago County lead a community-wide partnership in the awareness and prevention of domestic violence and abuse offering safety and support to diverse families and individuals in crisis, most importantly, providing protection and safety to victims and the children of victims.
With in-kind donations, service, time and/or money, AZCO is helping make our community healthier, happier and a better place to live and work.
Each of us has a chance, every day, to make a difference in someone’s life.
Pass it on.
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