By Rich Palzewic
Staff Writer

DE PERE – The West De Pere school district recently received a $2,500 donation from Country Financial representative Jerry Hietpas to be used for the district’s COVID-19 rapid testing site.

The money, which came from Country Financial’s Operation Helping Heroes program, was presented to Superintendent Dennis Krueger Dec. 15 in a ceremony at Westwood Elementary School.

In early November, Krueger said the district was setting up a COVID-19 rapid testing site.

“When I saw the article in the Nov. 6 issue of The Press Times saying West De Pere was starting its own testing, I immediately thought this would be perfect for a donation,” said Hietpas. “My daughter is a senior at West De Pere, and I was born and raised here – it all made sense. In high school, I was the quarterback, and (Principal) Russ Gerke was my backup. There are lots of ties there.”

By the time 2020 is completed, Country Financial will have donated about $3 million to organizations and programs that support frontline workers, military organizations, health care workers and teachers.

The program, which began in 2015, was created to support non-profit events and programs that benefit active service members, veterans and their families.

In 2019, it was expanded to include educational purposes.

“Last year, Country Financial donated $700,000 to approximately 500 first responders, military organizations and teachers,” Hietpas said.

He said the previous year, Country Financial donated to the Town of Lawrence fire department.

Since the testing’s inception Dec. 8, several staff members have taken advantage of the testing, Krueger said.

“Our testing hours are between 9 and 11 in the morning,” he said. “There’s a protocol people need to go through to get a test. If either a staff member or someone from their family is showing symptoms, then we’d test them.”

Krueger said the speeds at which the test results are known are a big advantage for the district.

“We’ve gotten results back as early as 7 a.m. the next morning,” he said. “After the test is administered onsite, a driver brings it to a lab in Milwaukee. The quick results have enabled us to get teachers back into the classroom much quicker than before, of course, if they test negative. Before, we had to wait three or four days to get results back and pay a substitute teacher a good portion of the money. There’s a cost with the test, but we’re making that up in getting teachers back into the classroom.”

Krueger said staff members from Pulaski and Wrightstown have also used the site.

“I’m extremely grateful to receive the donation from Country Financial,” he said. “It’ll help us offset our costs some. The onsite testing is valuable for our staff, students and community. Our goal is to keep students in school, and this helps.”