Fisher House Wisconsin reaches $3 million fundraising mark

MILWAUKEE (WITI) –During its Medal of Honor Day ceremony on Tuesday, March 25th, Fisher House Wisconsin announced that the organization has reached the $3 million donation level due to a major donation from the Fotsch Family Foundation.

In attendance to support the announcement were members of the Fotsch family and special guest Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Gary G. Wetzel.

Fisher House Wisconsin plans to raise the entire $6 million needed to build the facility on the Milwaukee VA grounds.

"Out of 62 facilities around the world, we are the first Fisher House local organization to have reached this milestone prior to ground breaking," said Dan Buttery, president of the board of directors for Fisher House Wisconsin. "We thank the Fotsch Family Foundation for their generous donation and leadership in supporting our military, veterans and their families. It is another shining example of the tremendous support we've received from the entire Wisconsin community."

In attendance at the ceremony were members of the Fotsch Family Foundation, including Jim Fotsch who stated, "Our family is made up of veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces, and we currently have a family member attending the United States Air Force Academy. We recently learned of the great work Fisher House does to support our military and veteran community, and decided to support this great mission through our family foundation." Fotsch continued, "We understand the sacrifice our nation's military personnel make on a daily basis, and strongly believe in supporting service members and their families. Fisher House not only provides critical support to both the active military and veteran community, but they do it in an extremely effective way."

All of the funds Fisher House Wisconsin raises are applied in Wisconsin, with 96 percent of all the funds raised going directly to services provided to veterans and their families.

"Meeting this milestone means we can now pay it forward and ease the burden on the national organization, Fisher House Foundation, as the organization builds future Fisher Houses on active duty military bases and other VA hospital grounds," stated Buttery.

Fisher House Wisconsin will provide military and veteran families from across the Midwest with lodging while their loved one receives treatment at the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center in Milwaukee.

Groundbreaking for the Milwaukee-based Fisher House is planned for 1:00pm on Tuesday, June 3, 2014.

The house will be over 13,000 square feet with 16 bedroom suites capable of accommodating up to eight people per suite.

To date, the houses have saved military families more than $230 million in lodging and transportation costs.

Currently there are 62 Fisher House facilities throughout the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Learn more about Fisher House Wisconsin at www.FisherHouseWI.org.