YPR's 'Big Fat Wedding Party' has it all...

The happy couple: Juliana Garcia and Jay Christie

UPDATE: The numbers are in ... the wedding party brought in $5,985 in contributions and gifts to benefit HALO, Safe Haven, the Women's Resource Center and Bethany Apartments, according to Chris Terry of YPR. Once the bills for the party are paid, YPR also expects to kick in an additional $500 for the party being under budget.

"The turnout was wonderful and everyone had a good time," said Terry (see below for proof).

ORIGINAL POST: It wasn't your everyday wedding party.

Oh, there was the lovely bride, and "Tex," the wealthy groom. Dinner, dancing, the garter toss and a wedding cake.

And also the pregnant bridesmaid, the quickly-sloshed best man, the mother of the bride telling everyone within earshot she wished her daughter had married someone else, "someone more like her brother." Ah, yes, the bride's brother: collecting the gifts and dates for later...

Mother of the Bride helps Best Man get ready

It was all in good fun -- and for a good cause. The Young Professionals of Racine staged the wedding party -- "My Big Fat YPR Wedding" -- as a benefit for HALO, the Bethany House Apartments, Safe Haven of Racine and the Women’s Resource Center. All 200 guests brought wedding gifts, many gaily wrapped, and bid on silent auction items donated by three dozen community sponsors.

Bride greets "family members;" what does groom see?

All the wedding gifts -- the crock pots, toasters, glass sets, appliances, blankets, cash and so on -- and all the proceeds from the silent auction will be distributed to the four recipient agencies on Friday. The event was YPR's sixth anniversary party, but the aim was to assist individuals who will soon be out on their own beginning a new life, often without many items typically associated with wedding gifts.

For the record, the bride was portrayed by Juliana Garcia, of Express Professionals; the groom was Jay Christie of the Racine Zoological Society. (He got the better of the deal; "Mom" was right.)

Best man was Chris Terry, of Carpetland USA, next year's YPR president; Maid of Honor was Tabitha Flores, of Express Professionals.

Bridesmaids were Angela Schott and Mandy Boroski, both of Leman USA. Groomsmen were Charlie Petrarch of The Party Company and Philippe Bisson of Bombardier Recreational Products.

Mother of the Bride was Loretta Olson of Express Professionals.

Dana Grueter, wedding planner extraordinaire

Guest J.J. McAuliffe forgot to wear pants

Best Man Chris Terry looked spiffy at first...

...but quickly fell victim to musical chairs and...?

What's a wedding without pictures?

Bride's "brother" taking care of business...

City may give senior center to zoo; Aldermen skeptical of zoo's request for additional $50,000

The city may give the former Lakeview Community Center to the Racine Zoo, according to a plan presented to the City Council’s Finance Committee on Monday.

Racine Zoo CEO Jay Christie appeared before the committee requesting more money from the city to help the zoo break even in the coming years. The zoo is seeking a $50,000 increase in the city’s annual $550,000 payment, plus an additional 3.5 percent increase each year.

The zoo is also asking the city to give it the Belle City Senior Center, which is the former Lakeview Community Center. The center would allow the zoo to generate an additional $15,000 per year, plus get more parking near the zoo’s main entrance.

David Easley, chairman of the zoo's Board of Directors, said many more people would use the former community center if the zoo had control of it. Christie estimated thousands of people would use the center if it was run by the zoo, compared to "hundreds" who use it now as a senior center.

The committee spent most of its time discussing the zoo's request for the $50,000 increase. Alderman Tom Friedel, chairman of the Finance Committee, was skeptical of the proposal. He said he would support an annual increase that matches inflation, but not the one-time increase.

“Frankly, I have a hard time making a recommendation like,” he said. “If I had to vote on this today, I’d have a hard time … if that means a policeman is out of the budget, I’m not interested.”

Friedel also raised questions about why the zoo is projected to lose money in the coming years, despite making an additional $180,000 last year by charging a fee.

Christie said a combination of a cut in the amount of money Racine County paid the zoo and rising costs hurt the zoo’s bottom line. After the meeting, Christie also noted that the zoo’s Board of Directors voted in 2000 to use donations over $5,000 to build up its endowment, rather than paying day-to-day expenses. If the zoo doesn’t get additional public support, Christie said, the zoo would have to tap its endowment and cut back on its building projects to meet its budget needs.

“I hope nobody thinks we’re going back to the well too often, or asking for too much here,” Christie said.

Alderman Jim Spangenberg voted to refer the item to the City Council’s Committee of the Whole – a committee of all council members – for further discussion. Alderman David Maack suggested Christie bring animals to the meeting and give the council an update on the zoo’s success in operating the popular attraction for the city since 1989.

The Racine Zoo is run by a nonprofit organization that covers more than 60 percent of the cost of running the zoo.

The county had given $100,000 per year to help the zoo covers its operating expenses, but cut that number to zero in its last budget. The county may restore $15,000 in funding for the zoo in future budgets, Christie said.

Friedel said that Racine County Executive Bill McReynolds does not understand that money negotiated for the zoo in the sewer agreement between the city, Caledonia and Mount Pleasant does not count as county money.

The sewer money is technically excess reserves for the Racine sewer plant that came from Racine, Caledonia and Mount Pleasant. It’s not county money, Friedel said.

“He has a hard time understanding that. I don’t know why,” he said, adding: “It’s the same mistake he makes with the library.”

During the committee’s discussion, the aldermen noted that even if they supported the zoo’s request, they didn’t have control over the budget. Mayor Gary Becker writes the budget and the City Council approves it. Though the council can make changes to the mayor’s budget, it’s difficult to free up $50,000 for any one item.

“It’s still the mayor’s decision,” Spangenberg said. “He’s got to balance his budget for every factor.”

McKeown named Young Professional of the Year

At 16 years old, Jeff McKeown was a high school dropout in the small central Illinois town of Monmouth, located about an hour south of the Quad Cities. McKeown was the middle son of two alcoholic parents, spending most of his childhood on welfare. With no real parental guidance, he simply stopped going to high school for about a year.

That was then and this is now. Today, McKeown is the owner of Racine’s Express Personnel Services, a temporary employment agency with 10 full-time employees that puts more than 275 employees to work at 80 companies in Racine every day. For the past two years, his company has been among the top six fastest growing franchises amongst the more than 600 agencies nationwide.

On April 8, at RAMAC’s Annual Awards Dinner, McKeown’s transformation from high-school dropout to successful business owner takes another step forward as he will be named Racine’s Young Professional of the Year. The award is given out by Young Professionals of Racine.

“I have been active in the community and work to make Racine a better place to live and work,” he said. “I have been fortunate to be in positions that are visible and that get public attention.”

McKeown is a past president of YPR. He is also a graduate of Leadership Racine and Rapport Leadership International. McKeown is also a board member of the Racine Founders Rotary Club and Racine County Economic Development Corporation. He and his wife, Meredith, have two daughters, Reagan, 6, and Georgia, 2.

As a teenager, he returned to school after a one-year hiatus, largely because of one influential teacher named Brian Cirks. “He taught me many lessons, but the most important was that it does not matter where you come from or your circumstances. Everyone has the potential to be successful,” McKeown said. “I always strive to invest in others the way that he invested in me.”

McKeown recently hired a general manager for Express to handle the day-to-day business. He’s in the process of opening a second office in Kenosha and hopes to open additional locations.

YPR Program Director Dana Grueter said McKeown befriends everyone he meets and truly fits YPR’s motto of Connect, Grow, Succeed, Have Fun. McKeown credits much of his success to his wife, a teacher in the New Berlin school district.

“Many times it feels like work and volunteering take a more prominent role than they should,” he said. “I am very lucky because Meredith and I have similar goals and beliefs about what we are doing. She picks up slack and that allows me to focus time and energy on helping others.”

McKeown was selected as the winner from three finalists, including Melinda Wilke, managing director of Northwestern Mutual in Racine, and Chris Terry, a contract salesman with Carpetland USA Flooring Center.

McKeown joins Doug Nicholson (Ivanhoe Pub & Eatery), Anne Stillman (CNH), Jay Christie (Racine Zoological Society) and John Busey (Robert W. Baird) as previous winners of the Young Professional of the Year Award.