Doodie calls

Father Dom’s Duck’s Doo Compost creates funding for a variety of charities. Image courtesy of Father Dom’s Duck’s Doo Compost

Call it “holy crap” if you like, but Father Dominic Roscioli prefers to think of his Father Dom’s Duck’s Doo Compost as a moneymaker fueling good works near and far.

It drove the reclamation of a Kenosha neighborhood near and dear to his heart, and it also happens to be an all-natural fertilizer, the bagging of which employs people with disabilities who belong to the Kenosha Achievement Center.

Father Dom’s Duck’s Doo got its start in 1987 under a different name. Roscioli had returned to his Columbus Park area neighborhood in Kenosha after years serving as a Roman Catholic parish priest in Milwaukee and Greendale. He was recuperating from chemotherapy he received while fighting non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Coming home wasn’t quite a picture-perfect experience. The neighborhood had deteriorated, and crime had set in.

“I decided I must have been sent into remission for a reason,” Roscioli said.

So he started up Kenosha in Neighborhoods Works Inc., a grassroots community improvement group that through the years worked with police to shut down drug houses and a center of prostitution. It also helped obtain playground equipment, flowers, trees and other items to beautify the Columbus Park neighborhood.

Funding it all is Father Dom’s Duck’s Doo Compost, a soil conditioner made of duck droppings, cranberries, rice hulls, wood shavings, pickles and vanilla beans. The formula got a helping hand from the University of Wisconsin-Extension, Roscioli said.

The compost is cooked at the Pheasant Run Landfill and Recycling facility in Paris for four months. Once it’s ready, it heads to the Kenosha Achievement Center for bagging.

The product got help gaining fame and success from Paul Newman, whom Roscioli met while volunteering at The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. Newman offered marketing advice and a check for $25,000 to get the ball rolling.

These days, Duck’s Doo profits, after expenses, benefit God’s Good Earth Foundation, created by Roscioli to distribute funds to charities throughout the country that meet basic human needs. The product can be purchased commercially and also is available for organizations to sell as a fund-raiser.

- Jennifer Pfaff

What’s in a name?

Image courtesy of Eppstein Uhen Architects

Dwelling on the past isn’t part of the plan for one of Milwaukee’s oldest architectural firms.

Eppstein Uhen Architects kicked off its centennial celebration by rebranding itself as eu:a, an identity meant to convey forward thinking and a modern flair.

“It’s our 100th anniversary,” said Gail Burnside, the firm’s director of marketing. “We thought it was a really good opportunity to look forward rather than backward.”

Eppstein Uhen isn’t formally changing its name, but it’s letting people know it’s OK to refer to the company by its initials. The name, Burnside said, lends itself to a more 21st century logo and conveys a broader mission for the company.

And the new handle might just offer more longevity than Eppstein Uhen Architects, a name that changes as partners come and go. The name changed about three times in the last 15 years, Burnside said.

Rebranding a company with such a long history can be risky, she said. But she also pointed out that it could bring more consistency to the company’s identity.

- Jennifer Pfaff