Greater Milwaukee Men

Why do we seem to flaunt many of our physical health problems and conquests, by hide our mental ones? That is a question that the Mental Health League , an apparel company that supports a mental health organization, seeks to not only answer, but turn on its head and conquer. Why do survivors of cancer wear shirts proudly declaring so, but we don't share surviving depression? Why do we have people sign our cast for a broken limb, but we can't share conquering anxiety? Why do we celebrate the steps made in physical therapy, but hide going to mental therapy? In our society, battling and recovering from a physical ailment: disease, injury, accidents, is seen as a badge of honor but dealing with a mental ailment is met with shame. We need to change that stigma.

Come see what's brewin'... Oh sorry, wrong team, still, the play on words, I had to. The Milwaukee Bucks and Colectivo Coffee are partnering on a limited-edition Bucks Blend Coffee that will be featured as Colectivo’s Coffee of the Week from Monday, Feb. 25 – Sunday, March 3 at all 13 Milwaukee-area Colectivo locations. Prior to that, the coffee will be available for sampling and purchase at Bucks games tonight and Saturday, Feb. 23, at each Bucks Pro Shop location at Fiserv Forum. In addition, one-pound bags of Bucks Blend Coffee are also available for purchase on a limited basis at shop.bucks.com. One dollar from the sale of each one-pound bag will go to the Milwaukee Bucks Foundation .

The microbrewing community always seems willing and able to step up to help others when needed. Westallion Brewing Company , a new West Allis microbrewery, is showing themselves to be just another in the line of brewers doing great things for the community and beyond. On October 20 they are holding an event to raise funds for Puerto Rico relief efforts. October 20 may seem a bit away to raise funds, don't they need it now? Of course they do, but disaster relief is a tricky thing. Money is needed up front, and its important for it to go places where it will do the most help. But often people forget that it is an ongoing effort well past the initial event. Rebuilding of homes and lives needs to take place. Puerto Rico will be needing huge, long-term efforts to rebuild as their entire infrastructure is pretty much wiped out. This will take lots of time and money, and though it is a U.S. territory, it often gets forgotten by the public and the government. To me its great that they...

Don Draper on a classic bike was the inspiration for the Distinguished Gentleman's Ride We are in the middle of Summer, and here is Wisconsin that means lots of activities - almost too many - as we cram in as much in during good weather as we can before Winter. Among the things to do, it is easy to find many that are philanthropic in nature. And no offense to other groups, but I always take pride in the fact that two of my interests are very prominent in charitable, fund- and awareness-raising activities - namely bikes (I'll include both kinds - motored and self-propelled) and beer. Often both are involved - it is Wisconsin after all so beer is involved most of the time. I could explore why I think its the case that bikers and cyclists are often generous and charitable, but it is what it is. Instead, without further adieu, here are some of the upcoming socially-responsible events. Check back for updates/additions.

The Turkey Club may be the name of a sandwich, but its also a great organization in Milwaukee that makes a true 'Thanks'-giving possible for those in need. The Club was founded in 1978 for the sole purpose of raising funds for the purchase and delivery of turkeys at the Thanksgiving holiday. All turkeys are given to food pantries and meal programs in the five county area of: Milwaukee, Washington, Jefferson, Dodge, and Waukesha. On Saturday, November 14th, you can help raise funds to pay for the turkeys.  O’Brien’s Pub at 4928 W. Vliet St, Milwaukee from 2PM to 5PM will host a Turkey Club fundriaser with terrific Raffles & Silent Auction Offerings Including; Hotel stays, Fine Dining certificates, Sporting packages & Memorabilia, Entertainment Certificates, and many other Fabulous packages and CASH ! Win your own Holiday Turkey!! Bring a friend, if you don't have one we'll find you one. All proceeds go towards the purchase of turkeys for The Turkey Club The T...

Community-operated workspaces, a sort of coop for people with various creative interests, have become popular around the county, and Milwaukee has been right there with the movement. Called hackerspaces , makerspaces (I like how this site compares them to libraries for community and checking out materials), hacklabs, or hackspaces these locations provide not only space but also equipment for a reasonable price for entrepreneurs and creatives to work on anything from computers to machining to art, even start a business. In addition to workspaces they often have meeting spaces for small meetings to large events, they may provide space for education or even spiritualual pursuits. There are many in Milwaukee, but one of the leaders in time and impact has been  Bucketworks . Bucketworks has helped the community allowing many creative and entrepreneurial people achieve their goals, I myself have experience with them helping a project, but now they need the community's help.

Back in August of 2012 in my ' Can Change Change The World ' post I wrote about the idea of saving change received from purchases and also doing a 'round-up' of purchases as ways to come up with funds to donate to a cause you support. Well, for 2013 I am going to put my money where my mouth is and try it out myself in what I am call my  exact ¢ hange  program. On a monthly basis I will post what change I have saved and what the extra from my purchases is. This may seem tedious having to try to record all your purchases and the remainder, but there is an easy way to do this - by your accounts. Credit cards, bank accounts, all have ways to download your statements into a workbook format. Use the workbook function to separate the  decimals out and add them together and I will have the total round-up change amount. Besides saving money on my own for a charity to be decided yet, I am hoping that my experiences will inspire others and will help me come up with easy ways...

Potosi Brewing Company and the Iron Horse Hotel are teaming up to help out a local hero tonight. You can't come up with much better of a Well-Met type of event. A local brewery, a non-profit to boot, the epitome of local Milwaukee coolness for a location, and serving a deserving man.

A man from Milwaukee has created a new online service that he calls a new type of Fantasy Football but I consider more of a Pool host service, either way he has added in a Well-Met twist: a portion of the fee for a paid premium membership goes to charity. You may still need to channel some FFFu to win at Craction Craction - www.craction.com - is the brain child of Milwaukeean Scott Schmidt. At Craction you can join a random public or create a private 'league' for free where on a weekly basis you pick teams from the schedule to win versus drafting a team for the season. This is why I consider it more of a Pool, Pick-em, type league than how most Fantasy leagues operate. His reasoning behind this format is that people should not have to spend so much time to still enjoy watching the games with the added interest from wanting your picks to win. Fantasy sports can take up hours a week of a man's - and yes some women's - time checking put your players, setting roster...

What else do you call compost made by a priest for fundraising? OK, he calls it Father Dom's Duck Doo, but I'll give him a pass. After all Paul Newman gave him the name. Besides, I have a soft spot for the man in question - Father Domenic Roscioli - as I have a personal connection to him. You see Father Dom (a Steve Carrel look-alike), adopted a very special dog from me and my wife. She was a very shy dog, one we spent a lot of time rehabbing, and we thought we would never find someone that could give her a safe and loving home as we gave her. Until Father Dom came to meet her. He was patient and loving and in an hour, yes he took an hour to meet her, Father Dom had finally won her over, and in so doing won me over.