Muffy Culhane volunteers for several organizations and Sacred Heart Catholic Church.
Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Culhane graduated from Highland Park High School and earned a degree in pharmacy from the University of Minnesota. She worked several places before going to work in Portland, Oregon, where she met her husband, Kevin, who was in medical school. They moved to North Carolina, where Kevin did his residency and Muffy went back to grad school to get her doctorate in pharmacy.
They moved to New Mexico to work for Indian Health Services before moving to Shawano 25 years ago. Muffy is a pharmacist at Shawano Medical Center, and Kevin is a doctor at the Menominee Tribal Clinic. They have been married 31 years and have two sons, Dan and Chris, and a daughter, Katie, who is deceased.
Culhane likes to bike, garden, read and jog.
Q Where do you volunteer?
A “I volunteer at Sacred Heart Church, the Red River Riders, SAM25 and the Friends of Haiti.”
Q How do you help each of them?
A Sacred Heart: “At the moment I’m a Eucharistic minister. I take Communion to the nursing homes. I did direct the preschool Sunday School program when the kids were little. I’ve been an officer of the Sacred Heart Booster Club and headed the high school music group for seven years.”
Red River Riders: “I’m co-secretary on the board. Katie was involved in Red River Riders and I wanted to continue helping with something she loved to do while she was alive.”
Friends of Haiti: “Kevin and I have been going to Haiti since the earthquake in 2010. I have gone every year, sometimes twice. A parish in Green Bay, St. Phillips, twinned with a parish in Haiti. It’s morphed into a nonprofit organization that travels to Haiti twice a year doing medical and surgical missions, education, water and agriculture projects. We go in to the mountains and set up a clinic and see patients. We bring supplies and stay for two weeks.”
SAM25: “It came out of the trips to Haiti. You don’t have to go very far to see people struggling. We started with 10 people watching a video of poverty in America. The group started meeting once a month and I am the president. We’re moving forward and hoping to make sure people have a meal and a safe place, especially in the winter, by getting a shelter. We hope to open a community clinic as well. The group is available to come and talk about SAM25 goals. We hope to talk to all the churches, businesses and civic groups to ask for their support.”
Q Why do you volunteer?
A “I love being with people. I think that’s how we should all live — helping each other. I get more out of these activities than I put into them. It’s a joy.”
To help and learn more, go online to sam25.org or call the University of Wisconsin-Extension at 715-526-6136. For Friends of Haiti, go online at friendsofhaiti-gb.com.
