KEYS FUNDRAISER - Saturday June 16th
ART IN THE BARN with MARK CROFT and his BAND.
More info to come very soon!

Everyone had a ball!

Thank you to everyone who participated in the First Annual KEYS Golf Outing at The Meadows of Six Mile Creek
in Waunakee. Some great golf, tons of prizes, a delicious
lunch and all to help raise funds to help our oganization grow.

A very special thank you to KEYS' Golf Outing Coordinator,
Keefe Bartz who did 97 percent of ALL of the work in putting
this event together. Great job, Keefe!!

Thanks to our Golf Outing sponsors as well:
Famous Footwear and Krantz Electric Inc.

A great big THANK YOU to Madison area PDQ stores

Madison area PDQ stores sold KEYS during the Holidays
and we can not thank them enough for doing so. Feel free to stop by your neighborhood PDQ and thank them in person for supporting KEYS and in turn for helping to make our roads a safer place.

Hilton Garden Inn Fundraiser - A Huge Success!

A great big THANK YOU to everyone who joined us at the Hilton Garden Inn for their one year anniversary celebration. All proceeds from lunch were donated to KEYS and the food was delicious! Our thanks to the management and staff of the Hilton Garden Inn for all of their hard work and support for the KEYS organization. So, if you ever need a place to stay in the Madison area, may we suggest...

Hilton Garden Inn Staff

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WISC Editorial by Neil Heinen - August 17 2005

At the heart of our Local/Local editorial agenda item is the notion that
we have the biggest effect on our lives in the closest proximity to where we live them.

In the case of the safe driving program KEYS - or Keep Everyone You Know
Safe, that's local sponsors partnering with local businesses, and the
kinds of caring relationships we foster in our families, our neighborhoods and our communities.

The idea is simple, you buy a special key at a participating business,
and give it to someone you care about as a personal reminder to drive responsibly. And it's a reminder that the ramifications of not driving
safely affect not just the driver, but family, friends and the entire community. It's about saving lives, but it's also about safer communities.

That's Local/Local at its best.

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Pay Pal is Up and Running

So, you would like to purchase some Keys, but you live in France? Not a problem - you can now purchase Keys through Pay Pal. Go to our Get Keys page and click on the Pay Pal button!

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KEYS Launch Press Release

For More Information, please contact:
Mae Knowles, Meriter Media Relations – (608) 267-5622

Community group has “KEYS” to save lives
Features “Pay-It-Forward” approach

MADISON (June 29, 2005) - Betting that a personal, caring message will make impaired driving a thing of the past and save lives, a Dane County community group launched K.E.Y.S. – Keeping Everyone You know Safe – a unique, positive campaign today.

The campaign’s symbol is a glow-in-the-dark key, with a subtle heart, engraved with the KEYS logo. Keys are sold in packages of two – one for you to keep and carry on your key chain and one to give to someone you love, as a reminder for them to never drive impaired. “The pay-it-forward approach makes our campaign unique and is what we believe will ultimately make the difference,” says Bonnie Stamm, K.E.Y.S co-founder and Meriter Emergency Services nurse manager. “It’s a visible reminder that someone cares and wants you back home safe.”

“We hope that it’s just the reminder people need to make the right decision at a critical point,” says Julie Foley, also co-founder and the Crime Response Program manager in the Dane County District Attorney’s Office. “Our goal is to change the culture. Just as you wouldn’t think of putting a baby in a car today without a car seat, we don’t want you to party and then get behind the wheel and drive impaired.”

The campaign is inspired by the tragic deaths of two individuals – Aimee Stamm Kubler, Bonnie’s daughter and Jim Beyer, Famous Footwear marketing director. Both were killed by impaired drivers. “Both were creative, loving, artistic people that would have personally contributed to this campaign,” says Bonnie Stamm, Kubler’s mother. “My dream is to have the key be as recognized as the peace sign is today.”

The committee made up of family, friends, health care professionals, victim advocates, school officials, law enforcement officers, community leaders and numerous others have worked for months on this effort. “People embraced our dream and shared our goal of creating positive change,” says Stamm. “Every time we hit what felt like an insurmountable hurdle, just the right person would be found or would find us and pieces of the puzzle would again fall into place.”

- One of Jim’s co-workers, Jennifer Stack, sitting at her kitchen table with her husband another Famous Footwear employee, came up with symbol and the slogan.

- Meriter Foundation provided the first grant to give the group a financial base and the ability to start key production.

- The Hiebing Group generously lent their marketing and design expertise.

- Bill Conzemius, offered the Art in the Barn, Verona, for the group’s first fundraiser. Aimee’s wedding had been held in the barn years earlier.

- When no suitable already manufactured key could be found, a Platteville metallurgy student, Erich Laabs, and a local pewter caster, Valiant Enterprises, donated their expertise and time to produce a pewter key.

- Dale Evans of EVCO Plastics waved the cost of the molds to produce a glow-in-the dark key when the pewter key and the glow in the dark paint were not compatible.

- The Regional Trauma Advisory Council, whose goal is injury prevention, has made impaired driving a top priority. The council has provided a grant to KEYS to spread their vital life saving message.

A package containing two keys is available for a $3 donation. KEYS are offered at stores, restaurants and other outlets throughout Dane County.