Community Volunteer Wins Distinguished Service Award

Cathy Hazzard has been to over 30 of the world's most alluring islands and countries, scouting destinations as a travel agent, but she’s never found anywhere she would rather live than Menomonee Falls.

“I have the curious mind to see what’s out there in the world,” Hazzard said. “But I love coming home to this community.”

In recognition of her dedication to the community and especially the school district, the Board of Education awarded Hazzard with their highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award.

The award will not be lonely on her office walls at Travel Leaders, joining a 1990 Friends of Education Award from the school district, and a 2003 Citizen of the Year award from the Menomonee Falls Chamber of Commerce.

A Falls resident since she was 10, Hazzard’s list of accomplishments is so long it’s hard not to glaze over a few. But those who work with Hazzard attest that she approaches each task with fresh energy and accomplishes it to its fullest potential.

“She’s always one to volunteer and step up to do things when it’s not easy to get volunteers, and she makes sure they’re done the way they are supposed to be done,” Optimist Club President Larry Hebbring said. “It’s not about her; it’s about getting things done.”

In addition to sitting on the Optimist Club Board, Hazzard is the chair of the Community Development Authority, and a board member of the Village Center BID Board. She's also a former president of the Menomonee Falls Chamber of Commerce.

Hazzard's specialty is scholarships. She is a board member of the Menomonee Falls Scholarship and Education Foundation, a member of the scholarship committee of Bradley Corporation, and chair of the scholarship committee of the Optimist Club.

“I have a difficult time saying no when it comes to kids,” Hazzard said.

Hazzard said she is careful not to sign onto a project she doesn’t have time for, but her idea of “having time” is different than most.

“It’s a lot of early morning meetings. I work in the evenings, on weekends,” she said. “Sometimes I joke that I would like to see what it’s like to be bored.”

Ken Rutsch, Hazzard’s former teacher at Menomonee Falls East High School (before it combined with North High School), said she has always been deeply engaged in her surroundings.

“She has the same strengths now as she did in high school,” Rutsch, who is also a member of the Optimist Club, said. “She’s one of those students that you don’t forget—the personality and life she would bring to a classroom. She always has a positive attitude.”

Hazzard has been working since she was 16, when she applied at the local Walgreens. She also babysat and joined many school organizations.

After high school, Hazzard went to Waukesha County Technical College where she earned an associate degree in business accounting. During a job doing accounting for a travel agency, she realized she really wanted to be a travel agent, crafting dream vacations.

In 1986, she started her own business, Classic Travel and Cruise.

In an effort to spend more time with family, she later sold the business to a friend, who changed the name to Travel Leaders. But she continued working there.

“When you have 36 years of clientele, you just keep going,” she said.

Even when things are busy at work, Hazzard always makes room for community involvement. Three years after starting her business, in 1989 Hazzard helped found the Menomonee Falls Scholarship and Education Foundation.

In 2011, the foundation gave out $41,000 in scholarships for seniors.

In choosing recipients for scholarships with various organizations, Hazzard said she enjoys awarding students for qualities and actions that aren’t traditionally recognized in a school setting.

The Optimist Club, for example, has a "Do the Right Thing" award for students who commit an unsolicited act of kindness.

“There is something good in everyone. One child came from a family where both the parents had just lost their jobs, and when he was asked about birthday presents, he said, ‘I don’t want anything. Could we give the money to buy food for kids who need it?’ And he put together a whole food drive. Yeah, it’s one of those tear-jerkers,” she said with wet eyes. “Well, there we go!”

Hazzard hesitates to make her volunteer work sound charitable, framing it as engagement.

“In a way it’s giving back to my community, thanking it,” she said. “It’s also part of my continuing education, learning what makes our community tick. You’ll have people move here that say they heard Menomonee Falls is unlike any other community, but until you’re here and part of it you don’t realize really why."

For Hazzard, "optimist" is not just the name of a club; it's an attitude with which she approaches every day.

"I think it’s easier to wake up with a smile on your face and to expect great things out of the day," she said. "It doesn’t mean I’m not tired, but I’d rather not waste my energy on worry and sad. Shouldn’t we be happy and optimistic about where we live?"