Sam Senti is spearheading a holiday pet supply drive to benefit the Humane Society of Jefferson County and the Watertown Humane Society.
The drive continues through Friday, and on Christmas Eve, Senti will deliver the donations to the two animal shelters.
Now, if Senti’s name doesn’t sound familiar, Facebook users might know him better as “Weatherman Sam,” an amateur weather spotter from Lake Mills.
He has been spreading the word about this pet supply drive through his Facebook page, @southernwisconsinweather. If he can get 300 people to “like” his post, Senti has pledged to spend another $100 to $200 on pet supplies.
Both animals and Mother Nature are two of Senti’s loves.
“I have been interested in weather since I was a boy,” Senti said. “When I was little, I would draw weather maps and pretend I was a weatherman. I would get so excited about severe thunderstorms and big blizzards.”
At age 30, he still does.
When he and his wife, Danyelle, were dating, she appreciated, but did not share, his intense interest in weather, and she teasingly started calling him “Weatherman Sam.” Knowing that some folks would share his interest, she suggested he start a Facebook page and call it “Weatherman Sam.”
Senti kicked off his new identity on Jan. 4, 2014, and within the first month of starting this Facebook page, he had accumulated 100 followers.
“I was ecstatic,” he said. “I never thought I would get 100 people to like my page.”
Now, almost three years later, more than 4,200 people follow his passion, and five area businesses have stepped forward to sponsor him.
“With the money from the sponsors, grill-outs at the Lake Mills Market and selling merchandise, I have been able to upgrade my weather equipment and to give back to the community,” Senti said.
Within the first year of creating his page, this support allowed him to purchase a camera for weather photography, and recently, he added a top-of-the-line professional “at-home” weather station.
“Now, my followers can actually view what the weather is in my backyard from the Internet,” Senti said.
In addition, he has held giveaways of weather alert radios, weather stations, T-shirts, calendars and more.
“All money received by Weatherman Sam either goes toward upgrading my weather equipment or goes back to the community one way or another,” he said.
“Weatherman Sam” generally focuses his forecasts on Jefferson County, but he expands his coverage to all of Southern Wisconsin when a storm hits.
He gives daily, weekly and weekend forecasts and does short-, medium- and long-range forecasting of weather patterns, storms and extreme temperature swings.
In order to do this, he analyzes multiple different weather sources providing information on atmospheric conditions and trends, then puts them together to create his own forecasts.
“He’s become a local phenomenon,” said Danyelle Senti, “And he does this after putting in a 60-hour work week.”
“The great thing about Wisconsin weather is you can witness all four seasons’ worth of weather within just a few hours,” he said.
While he does not have a degree in meteorology, Senti hopes someday return to school to obtain one. He said he finds his “day job” at Advanced Disposal in Fort Atkinson very rewarding, and will mark his two-year anniversary there in April.
Meanwhile, Senti also enjoys his avocation as “Weatherman Sam,” and the community it has grown in the local area.
This past year, he created his own calendar featuring local photos submitted by his followers. All money earned from that project went into the pet supply drive. The drive, which he has titled “Paws for Love,” came about through his desire to give back to the community.
He originally considered doing a food or toy drive, but he and his wife decided they might better fulfill the community’s needs if they could collect donations to support homeless and unwanted pets throughout the area.
“We also realize that there are a lot of drives and fundraisers out there this time of the year and I wanted to be unique,” Senti said.
The Sentis contacted the Jefferson County Humane Society and Watertown Humane Society to coordinate efforts and to make sure that the shelters get the items they need.
Donations may be dropped at several locations throughout Lake Mills, and through special arrangement with “Weatherman Sam.” Public drop-off bins are located at Watson Ace Hardware and Rental, Snap Fitness, Laughing Dogs Day Care LLC and the Lake Mills Market, all in Lake Mills. M.E. and My Pets in Fort Atkinson also has provided support.
The Sentis also have a drop-off bin on their own front porch and have driven to people’s houses to pick up donations.
Items especially in demand include: dog and cat toys, any kind of dog and cat food (Purina One is preferred), cat littler, hotdogs (for training and administering medications), rawhides (made in the USA only, please), paper towels, trash bags, laundry soap, dish soap, window cleaning fluid, disinfectant wipes, office supplies, gift cards to local animal supply stores and gas cards.
“Within our supply drive, we haven’t received much in the way of cleaning supplies so far,” he said. “We could use lots of paper towels, bleach, anything you would use for cleaning. We could also use more cat litter.”
For more details, people can also go to the websites of each humane society to view its wish list.
“The humane societies will accept anything and everything,” Senti said. “Our donations will be delivered on Christmas Eve to assure that the shelter pets get a fantastic Christmas,” Senti said.
The Sentis said they set no specific goal for Paws for Love, but they simply wish to collect as much as possible to assist local animals.
“The response from the community has been phenomenal, to say the least,” Senti said. “We have several drop-off sites around Lake Mills, and we’ve had to empty out a few bins to make more room.”
Snap Fitness held a special deal in conjunction with the drive, giving out a month’s free membership with the donation of 10 items.
“That was a huge hit, and I would like to thank Snap Fitness for that,” he said. Weatherman Sam also has purchased about $75 worth of supplies and will be shopping for about $200 more worth of supplies this week.
Senti promised to donate another $15 for every inch of snow that fell over the past weekend, which in Lake Mills came out to about 6.5 inches.
Meanwhile, Senti invites all supporters to “like” his Facebook page.
“All you have to do is search for Weatherman Sam,” he said. “I also have a website and the name of that is http://ift.tt/2hSMhMm. You can also view the live data from my weather station in Lake Mills at http://www.weatherlinhttp://ift.tt/2hXIMla.”
