<div>In 2017, Steve Steeber and Sherri Miller grabbed for the brass ring and made a dream come true…they opened The Thirsty Perch in beautiful downtown Iola, Wisconsin, on the shores of Lake Iola. Local residents and long-time supporters of the Iola-Scandinavia community and surrounding areas, they wanted to give the community a fun and friendly place to go with family and friends, and provide top-quality food and drinks at prices folks could afford. The rest, as they say, is history. The Thirsty Perch is a staple in the community, drawing customers from all over to enjoy the atmosphere and the excellent food. Their Friday Fish Fry is one of the most popular in the area.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Steve and Sherri saw an opportunity to bring even more to the community and purchased the auto garage that shared the driveway with The Thirsty Perch. The plan was to provide a venue for everyone to come and enjoy live outdoor music by converting the garage into an awesome outdoor bar with plenty of seating and even bathrooms. The end result is a beautiful outdoor space that over the years has drawn many visitors to Iola for a variety of music, events, and performers.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>The first live music performance was on Memorial Day weekend in 2021 when Spicy Tie Band took the stage and rocked the crowd to everyone’s delight. Since that first show, The Perch has hosted almost 200 bands, and the audience and popularity of the venue grow with each performance.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>The Thirsty Perch typically employs 25 full and part-time staff members, and in the summer that number increases to 35. These are local community members, many of whom are in high school or college, and the money they earn at The Thirsty Perch, both salary and their tips, helps pay their way through school. People who need a second job are able to work at The Thirsty Perch in the evenings and on the weekends to help support their families. People who are retired and are looking for a little extra income or just want to get out of the house are also able to help fill those odd shifts. No matter how you look at it, The Thirsty Perch brings significant revenue into our village, both from customers at the establishment and those who visit other local businesses as a result of coming to The Perch.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>On June 10, 2025, with no warning whatsoever, The Village Board voted to not renew the liquor license for The Thirsty Perch. Despite being a respected and popular restaurant, losing the liquor license will essentially put The Perch out of business. The foundation for this decision was an open court case Steve was working through and in no way impeded his ability to participate in or own a bar and restaurant. Since this injustice, Steve prevailed in court and the charges were either dropped or reduced, making this situation even more tragic and unfair.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Steve and Sherri vowed to fight this shocking injustice and have hired attorneys and are working through the appeal process, now at the state level. They are fighting for their dream, they are fighting for their livelihood and they are fighting to continue to be a strong supporter ofand contributor to our community. <strong>The impact of this on both their business income and personal savings is shocking and the reason for this fundraiser.</strong>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Lost business revenues: $80,000
</div>
<div>Personal funds spent on attorney fees: $37,000
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>The Thirsty Perch and Steve and Sherri need support from the community to which they have dedicated the last 7 years of their lives.</strong> Their personal savings are depleted, and this battle is not over. We are appealing to everyone who, whether a customer of The Thirsty Perch, a friend of Steve and Sherri, a former employee, or just someone who is troubled by the wrong that has been done to these people… we need your help. Any amount that you can donate will be applied directly towards the legal costs incurred by The Thirsty Perch as they fight to regain their liquor license and become the wonderfully popular, vibrant business that we have all come to know and love. Please donate any amount that you can and know that no amount is too small and every little bit helps.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>We thank you for your support!
</div>

Gail Kenny

Thomas Mazzoni

Ryan Rafferty

Diana Anderson

Desiree Busko

susan tetzlaff

Anonymous

Mary Kay Grall

Donald Cenefelt

Aaron Erdmann

Michael Steeber

Kelly Tuszke

Steve D

Patricia Steeber

Judi Rafferty

Dawn Davis

Lisa & Buckwheat Dennis

Jerry Kopecky

Stephanie Garza

Fight for The Thirsty Perch

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

currencyCode

Money Box Donation List Prompt Experiment Audience

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

Eligible for Profile Share Badge

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

NPO upsell education category

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

NPO recommendations prod

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

control

manual_entry

userEmail

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

appVersion

shouldBucketIntoExperiment

isEligibleForProfileBadge

partnerId

donationCadence

isActiveFundraiser

isPartner

isMobile

npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

categoryGroup

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.3.0 and above

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

NPO upsell animals category

NPO upsell disaster relief category

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

NPO upsell essential needs category

NPO upsell medical category

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

NPO upsell cancer category

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Fight for The Thirsty Perch

Still $4,779 to go. Help us build momentum.