Mayor's Office

Posted on Friday, Apr. 17, 2020 at 8:28 pm

I was speaking to a group of employees who are hit hard by this pandemic this week, and although I could not talk about a specific end to this challenge, I did share that if there was a silver lining, it was that we have all formed so many partnerships. Think of it, we have neighbors helping neighbors, private businesses and the government, be it City, County or State, and everyone wanting to help and support the people on the front lines, medical personnel, child care workers and other essential employees, such as grocery store clerks.

I asked earlier for people to share some good news stories with me, whether they be in the private or public sector and I wanted to share a few of those today. Please keep them coming, we all need more good news. Here are a few examples of what has been shared, in no particular order.

Roman Candle Pizzeria had a large donation to deliver pizzas to day care centers that are taking care of children of first responders. The company matched the donation and has been delivering pizzas to the day care centers.

Alex Kushner, a 4th year mechanical engineering student, is home from college. With the help of his 3D printer, he has designed and is producing protective face shields for hospital workers. He put a call out for more materials on FB so that he can continue to produce them.

Sheets of a specific kind of plastic were key to the production. Plastic Ingenuity in Cross Plains had exactly what he was looking for and donated product to him. Alex has produced and delivered several and has orders for 100 more. Wonderful community spirit and youthful ingenuity to do the right thing.

Finding positive distraction is important right now and who (young or old) doesn’t love coloring! Destination Madison has a custom-made coloring page on their social channels for all to use. Feel free to share your completed artwork. You can find the page here.

bartaco –a great taco restaurant on Mineral Point Road is contributing 100% of gift card sales to their the bartaco employee fund |

Here is another idea sent in:

I’m part of a board game group in Madison “Madison Board Games and Beer” (https://www.facebook.com/groups/BGandB/?epa=SEARCH_BOX). We typically meet every Tuesday and alternating Wednesdays at local bars. Physical distancing efforts have halted our in-person gathering; however, we’ve switched to online playing and talking through the Discord app. While we all miss the face-to-face interactions, and tactile nature of the games. This has allowed us to keep to our regular routines as much as possible and to stay in touch with each other while being safe.

Here are some of the sites we frequent.

• Boiteajoux http://www.boiteajeux.net/

• Yucata https://www.yucata.de/en

• Boardgame arena https://boardgamearena.com/welcome

  I am sure there are many more stories like this- email me at mayor@cityofmadison.com or reach out on social media.

I wanted to share this thank you for our City Streets workers.

And, this rendition -see below- from Taylor W Rushing from our Public Library staff exemplifies the appreciation for our library staff. You can find more at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram​.

And finally, a short note from a friend in Toa Baja. We have partnered with that Puerto Rican city after a hurricane that decimated the island. Our staff have worked closely with our friends there to help install solar panels.

I hope this short note finds you well. I'm Deserie from Toa Baja’s Mayor Office... just wanted to say we are very grateful for your attention and support with the solar project.

But most importantly to let you know we are keeping you all in our prayers during this pandemic. Desirie Pearlman

We know this pandemic and our isolation won’t last forever but we need to continue to maintain our social distance and wash our hands. Stay well!