‘Crazy numbers’ for Mel’s Charities

Mel’s Charities once again had a record-setting year in 2025, raising and giving away more than $500,000 to area nonprofit groups, Executive Director Tom “Mel” Stanton said.

“These are crazy numbers,” he said. 

Mel’s Charities raised a little more than $520,000 this year, a 12.5% increase over 2024’s $463,000, he said.

“Since 1999, we’ve increased that number every year,” Stanton said, noting Mel’s has given away more than $3 million since its inception. “It’s all God’s grace. All we try to do is have fun and give away money.”

The success of Mel’s, he said, is simple.

“This is all about the doers, the donors, door-openers and dreamers,” Stanton said. “It’s people from every walk of life who are part of this. 

“Two to three times a week people come in wanting to support Mel’s and our mission.  Its every generation — we have kindergarten kids coming in to give us money from their lemonade stands to Mrs. Henry, 99, becoming a member of our 300 Fun(d),” he added, referring to a group of people who pledge to donate $900.

“It happens throughout the year. It’s not just at this feel-good time of year. It’s caught the spirit of the people of Ozaukee County — this is one of the most generous places I’ve seen.”

For Stanton, who started the nonprofit group and raised $350 in its first year, the journey has been, in a word, “incredible.”

“This thing has gotten so much bigger than me,” he said. “Bigger than everybody. It’s just incredible. This thing has changed my life, my wife Nancy’s life.”

While the impact of Mel’s Charities can be measured in dollars, for Stanton the impact is seen in individuals whose lives have been touched by the nonprofit.

He recalled one woman he met at a dinner dance for individuals with special needs about three years ago.

“She said ‘I have never seen my daughter so happy,’” Stanton recalled. 

He talked about Steve Michalica and Mary Champeny, who retired from  Wayne’s Drive-In in the Town of Cedarburg about two years ago and started Mel’s on the Move, a food truck they use to support Mel’s Charities.

While some nonprofit organizations have trouble recruiting volunteers, Stanton said that hasn’t been the case for Mel’s.

“It’s never been an issue,” he said. 

That, he said, is because Mel’s allows people to use their talents to do what they do best.

Mel’s donates its funds to three basic groups — individuals with disabilities, community impact projects and purposes and memorials and scholarships.

It supports organizations such as Happy Place Kitchen Space and Portal Inc., which support people with disabilities, and helps sustain such events as Bags 4 Buczek. It supports playgrounds for people of all abilities and for the fifth year brought in  Chris Herren, an All-American basketball star who broke scoring records and realized his dream of playing in the NBA before losing his career and almost his family to addiction, to speak to students and their families about substance abuse.

“It’s one of the most powerful things we’ve ever done,” Stanton said, noting Herren’s story has proven to impact people here.

Mel’s distributes Bags of Joy, which are filled with gift cards from county businesses, to people in need of a boost. 

Those who drop the bags off tell the recipients, “‘We heard you could use a little joy,’ and walk away,” Stanton said. “The people who drop them off are as impacted as the people who receive them.”

The Mel’s Charities mission is having a greater impact as time goes on, and it will increase exponentially as Mel’s Village in Ansay Development’s Northern Gateway Community Collective in Saukville is completed.

“That only strengthens my belief we’re just getting started,” Stanton said. The north end of the development “is  humming,” he said, adding Mel’s Village is expected to be complete in 2028.

One thing guides him, Stanton said.

“If you can have a positive impact on a person’s life every day, it’s a great day,” he said. “That doesn’t have to mean giving away a half-million dollars. It’s a hug, a smile. It’s making a difference, no matter how small.”