Breath of Life Foundation

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Greenleaf, WI
Breath of Life Foundation

Breath of Life Foundation is committed to supporting and increasing the quality of life for people of all ages who live with Cystic Fibrosis.

Breath of Life Foundation was founded with the intent to assist families in Wisconsin fight their battle with Cystic Fibrosis. My wife, Lauren Arkens was born in 1984 with CF. Since birth she has relentlessly fought her disease. Never bending under the pressure. As a family we have experienced everything CF has to offer. Over the past ten years, we’ve battled with Insurance, Medical diagnoses, men

tal fatigue and stress, as well as financial struggles. We know what it takes to successfully navigate this disease. We also know that we’re very fortunate to have the success we’ve had. In December of 2015 my wife was granted a “second chance” to live without Cystic Fibrosis. Using that experience as a catalyst and an opportunity to “pay it forward” we formed a non-profit organization to support people who’re fighting the good fight. Our race with the lung damaging effects of CF is over but that didn’t mean we don’t want to help fight for the people who need our help the most. Our non-profit is committed to working with the Cystic Fibrosis centers in Green Bay and Milwaukee to filter funds directly to families who need it. We are working to promote a higher quality of life for those who are battling every day to breathe. We want to assist with financial assistance for medications, additional treatments, nutritional supplements, travel, lodging and other ancillary costs that make life even harder to live. We are working to develop partnerships with the CF centers to provide programs educating families on healthy lifestyles, compliance (doing treatments, taking medications, etc.), insurance and financial stability all while living a productive life and managing Cystic Fibrosis. We have a board of members who are dedicated and volunteering their time to help our foundation grow, promote events, develop events and give back to the community. We are very fortunate with our team of volunteers, that 100% of the money raised goes into helping families in Wisconsin. Breath of Life Foundation Board Members
Tyler Arkens, President; Lauren Arkens, Vice President; SherryEisch,Treasurer; Connie Greenawald, Secretary; Jay Ardnt, Director of Development and Strategy

06/20/2026

✨✨ Friday Introductions (BOL) Edition ✨✨

Connie Greenawald, Director

The only person, other than Tyler, who’s been with our organization since the very beginning. Connie was instrumental as the first Secretary for the Breath of Life Foundation. It was her deep knowledge and experience in the non-profit space that helped shape how our organization did business early on. Connie is now retired after a career in special events, communications, and non-profit management but is kind enough to share her time and talents with us.

Geralyn and Connie both held roles as Board Members for the local Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Chapter as well as the 65 Roses Club. Connie’s experience with Cystic Fibrosis was first through, “a dear friend’s niece, Renee Scheriff.” Connie watched Renee undergo a double lung transplant that, “for a while” allowed her to “live the kind of life she had dreamed of” before passing from complications of her second double lung transplant. Our Foundation, Connie and Renee’s family remember her “beautiful soul” at our events every year.

Connie continues to bring her energy and excitement to everything she does for us. She continues serving because it gives her, “The ability to positively affect individuals who have to deal with CF every day in the hopes of making their lives a little easier and maybe even a little better.”

It’s been a pleasure having Connie around for the last 10 years… Watching her work and to continue to “provide value” for patients and families as well as continuing “to honor Lauren’s legacy through our efforts.”

Connie - Thank YOU for the last 10. And here is to more years helping people in the CF Community.

06/12/2026

✨✨Friday Introductions (BOL) Edition ✨✨

Stephanie Willems, Secretary

If you’ve been following us or you’ve attended an event or made a donation… You have, at some point, interacted with Steph. She keeps our organization, organized.

Internally she schedules our Board Meetings, sends Invites, arranges the Agenda (tackles the MONUMENTAL TASK of keeping us on task…) and keeps the Minutes. Externally she sends our ‘Thank You’ letters, pre-event reminders, receipts, Donation Forms and any and all “administrative type correspondence” with event participants and donors.

And she does all of that for us with a family and a full time job as a Senior Project Manager at Schreiber Foods in Green Bay, WI.

When we asked her, ‘why?’ Her response was no surprise… “Lauren! Lauren and I met while we were both in college and we made a fast personal connection and became good friends. Lauren helped me learn about the disease and her challenges to overcome CF every single day. She taught me what perseverance looks like. I witnessed the many ups and downs that Lauren, Tyler and Lily faced living with CF and the impact it had on their lives and the support they needed to be able to thrive and get through life.”

Steph has always taken a tremendous amount of pride in her position with the Breath of Life Foundation. Leaning in to our Mission and continuing to expand her perspective, “on what it’s like to live with a disease like CF.” She finds fulfillment as Secretary through, “Helping to create awareness in our communities about CF and what our foundation provides.”

Ultimately when asked what she'd like to accomplish as a Board Member she replied, “Continuing to live the mission and help patients that live with CF to afford every day life. I want our foundation to improve our fundraising efforts so that we can increase the financial support we are able to provide recipients considering the financial burden patients with CF face.”

06/10/2026

Always wonderful to have our friends from The Heel Shoe Fitters supporting us!

06/05/2026

✨✨Friday Introductions (BOL) Edition ✨✨

Ryan Hartman, Treasurer

At the beginning of 2026, we had some pretty big shoes to fill at Treasurer. But honestly, we think we nailed it!

Ryan has spent nearly his entire life around the Cystic Fibrosis community. As Lauren’s older brother he’s had a front row seat to her life with Cystic Fibrosis and he is excited to, “continue Lauren’s mission and help patients and families stay healthy.”

Professionally Ryan brings a ton of financial expertise to our organization. Like. A ton… Ryan graduated St. Norbert College with a Bachelors of Business Administration in Accounting. He started his career with Deloitte in Milwaukee and became a leader there leaving as a Senior Auditor. Since moving back to the Fox Valley in 2009 to start a family with his wife Sara he has worked as a Controller, Director of Finance and now serves as the President of Tri-City Glass & Door.

We are really fortunate Ryan decided to join our organization this year to help us chart paths toward new initiates that will allow us to continue to sustainably grow our organization.

Ryan hopes he can help us accomplish our future goals as well as, “continuing to spread Lauren’s message” and to make a “positive impact on the local Cystic Fibrosis community.”

06/02/2026

⚠️ ⚠️ ONE WEEK WARNING ⚠️ ⚠️

We are just ONE WEEK away from the 10th Ever Lungs ‘N Roses Golf Outing.

A special thanks to all of our sponsors this year!

And THE MOST thanks to our annual Title Sponsor Delta Defense, LLC the service provider of the USCCA as well as our Course Sponsor Avergent.

Can’t wait to see everyone next Monday at Wander Springs Golf Course.

05/31/2026

As always, we’re closing out Cystic Fibrosis month in style.

Our style!

This year’s May Merch drop is now PERMANENT and will be available on our website (Link In Bio).

05/29/2026

✨✨ FRIDAY INTRODUCTIONS (BOL Edition): Tyler, Co-Founder and Vice President ✨✨

Since we were founded in 2016, Tyler Arkens has served in a variety of positions and executed different jobs within our organization. Since meeting Lauren in 2003, when he was immersed in the world of Cystic Fibrosis, he has had a front row seat to every phase of Adult CF life.

“When I met Lauren, I had no clue what Cystic Fibrosis was and I certainly had no clue how the disease would touch and shape every aspect of my life.”

Tyler and Lauren used their experience as well as input from CF Centers in Milwaukee, Green Bay and Madison to develop a mission centered around helping patients and families in the State of Wisconsin financially with the ancillary costs of living a healthy and fulfilling life with Cystic Fibrosis. It was their initial “list” of “things that sucked” as well as the guidance from the clinics that shaped this Foundation’s early vision.

With a background in sales and marketing he has helped the organization continue to develop strategic partnerships to financially support its goals allowing us to distribute funds to patients and families as well as advocating for and raising awareness around life with Cystic Fibrosis.

“I want patients and families to know we’re here to fill financial gaps. To make their lives better.”

And “I want donors to know that we’re being excellent stewards of the funds they help us raise.”

05/22/2026

✨✨ Friday Introductions (BOL) Edition ✨✨

Geralyn Hartman, President

It’s fitting that Geralyn serves as our President. Because from the very beginning of this story, she was there. “It’s been my life.” When Lauren was born in 1984, she dove right in, involving her entire family, her friends and her clients in “raising funds for a cure”.

Her motto has always been, “If I don’t get involved, who will?”

So she got involved.

If you were around the Green Bay / Fox Valley CF Community from the mid-80’s through the early 2000’s you knew Geralyn. She has spent almost her entire adult life helping others… As a Board Member of the 65 Roses Club for 25 years she helped raise funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the satellite CF Clinic in Green Bay. She chaired the Appleton Great Strides Walk for over 20 years where her individual letter writing campaign generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

As a mom her goal was to see Lauren into adulthood and help her achieve her own goals. To live life fully with Cystic Fibrosis.

Ultimately, Geralyn wants the CF community to know how amazing her daughter was and that there are people here to support them through Breath of Life Foundation, “What’s nice about us is a simple form to fill out…” and “Nobody says… You don’t qualify for help. Which was my experience when Lauren was young.”

Her goal as President is to carry on Lauren’s legacy, sustainably grow our Foundation and to ensure patients and families don’t struggle with ancillary costs of Cystic Fibrosis.

05/21/2026

We'd really like to hear from you.

We have had the pleasure of featuring patient and family story's on our website for a while now. But data collection was kind of clunky... So, we decided to fix it!

Do you want to be featured on our website or our newsletter? Well, now you can. And we would LOVE to hear from you. Help us create connections by sharing your personal experience with Cystic Fibrosis, how CF has shaped your life and how the Breath of Life Foundation has made a difference.

Comment below or send us a Direct Message and we'll get you the form.

Address

4342 Wayside Road
Greenleaf, WI
54126

Website

http://www.breathoflifefndn.org/

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