Willow Valley Today / Who We Are:
Willow Valley remains the only church in the Ithaca, WI community and is a focal point and landmark in the town. The church building is adjacent to the Ithaca School, which houses elementary, middle, and high schools, educating about 407 students from the surrounding region. Our church building is the emergency muster location for the school; the school also uses our building occasionally for testing. Willow Valley’s flagship ministry program is “Growing in God”, more commonly called “GIG”, which is a weekly after-school program open to all area youth. GIG volunteers from the church educate the children, who range in age from 3-15, about God’s love for them while also providing dinner for the kids on GIG nights. We aim to provide a safe, nurturing place for the kids who attend GIG and act as a home base for many Ithaca youth. In 2023, we had approximately 27 kids joining us weekly for GIG nights. In addition to our school year ministry, we also offer a week of Vacation Bible School during the summer, hosting 60 kids last summer!
Beyond our ministry with children and youth, we use the church facility to engage with the community in other ways. Community members may request to use our fellowship hall for family gatherings, reunions, and celebrations. Our United Methodist Men and United Women in Faith groups host multiple free-will meals for the community every year. The local 4H group holds their monthly meetings in our facility. The Town of Ithaca often requests the use of our church as its backup polling location for statewide elections. Members of the church further support our community neighbors in Ithaca and Richland Center through donations to shelters and thrift shops, winter clothing drives, and Christmas projects.
The church runs a lunch counter at the weekly sales of the Richland Cattle Center in Ithaca. This long-running church project supports the community while also providing non-plate income that we like to use for paying apportionments. [More information on the Cattle Center project can be found in a video on our Facebook page posted December 27, 2023.] The spiritual heart of our church lies in our Sunday morning worship and fellowship. Of our 80 professing members, some 30-40 people regularly attend Sunday services.
Who’s Who at Willow Valley UMC
Everyone is important, but here are some names to know!
Annette Louis – Ad Council chair; offers “Young Disciples” in worship every week; unlocks and locks the church every Sunday morning; coordinates the Cattle Center food/drinks.
Marty Richards – SPRC chair; Tourism Coordinator for Greater Richland County Tourism; board member of the Ithaca Public Schools.
Teri Richards – Lay leader; certified lay speaker.
Barb Clary – Finance Committee chair; prepares communion elements every month.
Suzanne Anderson – Finance Committee secretary; tracks member giving and makes all bank deposits.
Donald “Andy” Anderson – Ad Council member.
Bonnie Jones – Treasurer.
Lori Pizer – Performs the annual financial audit.
Kyle Dickey – Trustees chair; coordinates most repairs and maintenance work at the church.
Heather Dickey – Christian Education chair; runs GIG and VBS.
Millie King – President of the UWIF chapter.
Cody Willis – President of the UMM chapter; member of trustees.
Logan Willis – Church administrative assistant; recording secretary for committee meetings; counts the weekly collections and Cattle Center proceeds; pianist for worship, as needed/available.
Donnabel Willis – Church pianist, when healthy and available.
Marj Willis – Nurture committee chair and handles all prayer ministry cards.
Marge Brock – Runs the PowerPoint presentation in worship every week.
Shirley Gochenaur – Prepares floral arrangements (live or artificial) for worship
Willow Valley United Methodist Church 