Hey, good morning.
How are we doing today?
Hey, not a problem.
That sounds good to me.
I know I kind of mentioned a little bit about our golf team, and that's what they did, but I got some new updates I want to share out.
It's a good shout out here.
You bet.
So Coach Nicky Hakinan was named Coach of the Year in Division III, so that's pretty exciting.
And then we had some, the golf
Coaches, Association of Wisconsin, they made some academic all-state honoree mentions.
We had Maddie Hakinan, Elia Harding, Evan Lord, Jackson Isaacson, and Hagan Isaacson all received that prestigious award.
And in fact, there was like 167 different schools and 498 athletes and all those that were all combined, this was pretty neat.
Their average GPA for these students was 3.79 out of 167 students.
student athletes that's just phenomenal so we're very excited about all those kids uh... especially ours and what the great stuff that they have done and uh... yeah we're looking forward to more good stuff coming up from them
when the headlines are points and victories and competitions with other schools it's easy to forget that these are student athletes and oh my goodness what a cool thing to see that they're doing that well I mean obviously putting a lot of effort and focus into the school work and I wouldn't be surprised at all if if they would say yeah that helps with golf too you just got to know how to discipline yourself and do what you need to do
oh you're 100 right and you said that correctly student first
And then, athlete, we always want to emphasize that and be able to teach kids that they can balance these things in their life is really important, too.
And you mentioned that the Midway mark in July, and we just sent out a message that updated through our student information system that regards the newly board adopted cell phone policy.
I don't know how familiar you are with that stuff, but
uh... you may be aware that wisconsin recently became the thirty-six state to enact law-limiting cell phone use in schools uh... this is wisconsin act forty-two i believe they call it states that all public schools are required to prohibit student cell phone use during instructional time and dictates the old school board should implement something by july first well our board had done that i know personally myself over the years in education i have seen that you know cell phones kind of
do create a major distraction from learning.
Even if you just have that in your pocket and you get a notification or a message and it's vibrating, that kind of triggers your mind into some task switching.
Some people say, oh, I'm multitasking.
You're actually task switching, which kind of drains your working memory.
I know it increase errors if I'm trying to do that.
It doesn't help me focus on the task at hand, so I'm very happy that our school board went with this policy.
It's going to be bell to bell.
You may know that school boards locally have that historical educational governance.
The state allowed the autonomy for our school boards to, you know, choose a band for Belle de Belle or simply mandate that phones be put away during class from the section time.
But we're going to let in parents and students know that just recently.
Some more updates will be coming out on that.
In fact, I did have a local teacher, Jeremy Brayton.
He introduced me to a book that I included in my newsletter out there, a link to.
It's called The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haight.
I found this very interesting.
The book looks at the mental health clef of our youth, as well as severe reduction of play-based childhood coinciding with the rise of a phone-based childhood.
And after reading the book, it just makes me appreciate the fact that I didn't have to grow up with this neurological nightmare that he refers to as the great rewiring.
So I'm fortunate that I didn't have to battle that.
His book, not only was informative, it had studies and data.
and some actionable steps.
Some of the things that he mentioned was like no smartphones for students before they get age high school and then phone free schools which we're kind of stepping in and doing our part and then more independent play time which we can also kind of add to that as well.
For me this just was reaffirming conclusion that our school has the ability to do what's best for our students.
That's what we always focus on even though I know it'll be tough for some.
I do know other surrounding schools in the area have gone with the same route so
Very interesting and I hope it does what it's intended to do and just focus back on education and our kids.
And I know that this has been in the popular topic list for quite a while now.
The cell phone bands in schools has been overshadowed by some obvious news topics that demand more attention.
But that said, when that was the hot button thing, I remember hearing from teachers where these bands were tried and many of them were reporting increased attention after a slight adjustment period.
Of course, concerned parents may point to things like emergency contact ability and of course that discussion.
is exactly what kind of things you have to consider as you're doing that.
So if people want to talk to you guys about that, I know you guys are always open for a conversation, and it's incredibly easy to get in touch with the Prentice School District.
I'd also like to reinforce that a bit because I'm currently on the website, Prentice.k12.wi.us, and I'm seeing something here, Keith, that makes it super easy for people who maybe don't do the Facebook thing.
I know a lot of people, a lot of schools.
and businesses and organizations.
Well, you can't really replace Facebook and social media for being able to connect with an audience, but I know every once in a while, and I'm sure you guys do too, we get a phone call from people.
How do I keep track of you if I'm not on Facebook?
Well, your website has your social media feeds right on the front page.
So I'm looking, without being on Facebook, I'm looking at your posts about the golf team and their accomplishments.
Summer school reminders from earlier last month and family notices and host families needed that you posted earlier this month.
short, Keith, if people want to follow your social media without having a Facebook, it's super possible.
And it's just one of the awesome things that you'll find, apprentice.k12.wi.us.
Absolutely.
Yep.
We do, uh, we do have Clarissa Craigbank, cause she does a great job with her social media feeds and keeps things rolling along all year long.
So that's really impressive too.
I'm always looking for bus drivers.
You know, we get events that come up throughout the year, whether it's sports or field trips and stuff like that.
And it gets crunch time trying to juggle my route drivers with doing those events sometimes when they go earlier or later than the school day.
So that's always important to kind of get a backup person in hand.
Subsuit teachers is always something that I'm looking for.
In fact, my new principal and I were just kind of going over our list and she's going to be reaching out to those individuals and introducing herself.
And we could always use a few more hands because sometimes there's a strain during a certain time of year, whether it's an influenza breakout or whatever, there's meetings happening and we're trying to juggle everybody.
So that's important if you have that desire.
It's not too difficult.
get that licensure through a CISA or a DPI site and get yourself qualified and registered for that.
So we're looking for that.
And I believe just today I've got a paraposition, a paraprofessional position that will be opened up and we'll start posting that.
I still have a custodial position in need as well as a kitchen helper.
I think that's, oh wait, and an English teacher, I'm still, we're actually doing some interviews today.
If there's anyone out there with a English degree or desire to teach middle school and high school students, contact me.
I'll be more than happy to set you up with an interview.
And the contact info is super easy to find on your website or just by Googling the Prentice School District.
That website is printice.k12.wi.us.
We haven't touched on it, Keith, but we must.
We simply must.
How fast is a month and a half going to go?
You guys are basically back in school tomorrow, it feels
like.
That's the perfect way to phrase it.
I mean, we're just running and running and running, and I know it's going to be a blink, and then I'm like, oh, kids are walking through the door.
So we're trying our best to get everything ready and situated.
But
is a lot of caseload work to do and get through all the stuff that's required.
So we're just going to do our best and keep running forward.
Absolutely, and I'm glad we could help spread the word about things going on, like job openings, so if, yeah, custodial, bus drivers, substitute teachers.
I picture a substitute teaching phone call, Keith, an early morning phone call, oh boy, time to rush real fast, and then you get to go and have one of the most rewarding experiences ever, contributing even just for a little while to the education of the area's youth.
I'm also laughing, Keith, you guys have some great pictures here.
I believe there was a school musical performance from last year of some kind, and there is some absolutely...
absolutely golden pictures of the kids mid-song performance.
I'm beginning to remember how silly I looked back in third grade, but hey, check it out for yourself, prentice.k12.wi.us.
Keith, anything you'd like to touch on before we wrap up today?
Hey, I think we covered a lot today, so we're good.
Awesome.
Thank you.
Take care.
Keep by now.
That's Keith Crispell, District Administrator of the Prentice School District.
And seriously, I'm watching these pictures scroll by.
Huge shout out to the team running the social media down there in Prentice.
It's got everything you need.
A short laugh, all the information I could want, and great contact details.
Prentice.k12.wi.us.
Reality Radio will continue on the other side of 9 o'clock.
I've got three guests booked and I expect we'll be chatting with all three of them.
Glenn Wagner will be stopping in to give us a sneak peek about pioneer days as we approach ever closer to the event.
Embrace once a month we chat with, and this month we'll be chatting with Brittany down there.
And finally, Jesse, with a concert you want to know about.
Let me tell ya, I could draw all kinds of comparisons, I could give you sneak peeks and teasers, but why don't you just be here in a little under an hour.
945, we'll be chatting with Jesse, and you wanna be here too, on 98Q Country.
All right more of reality radio Joel ducking in here because I got the old fantasy baseball guy at this where Glenn are you doing Glenn?
Glenn Wagner joining us who is one of the signature sign
Graphics and butternut, owner of that, but one of the many volunteers and driving forces behind town celebration like Pioneer Days.
Glenn, thanks for all you do for this celebration.
There's a lot of people that make this
happen, right?
That's what I want to focus on today.
Just a quick thing.
One note on that.
We did have a little change.
The Butternut Bulldogs versus Glidden Orioles Friday is 5 p.m.
It says 6 p.m.
on the poster and most of the other advertising.
So that is a schedule change.
So 5 p.m.
So get there a little bit earlier Friday.
Catch the start of that game.
You have an excuse to have a beverage in your hand an hour earlier on Friday.
You can get there at 9 if you want.
There will be somebody down there at 9 you're saying?
I
will be there.
We're all day
pretty much.
Okay, all right, very good, very good.
All right, so let's thank, Pioneer Days, by the way, a week from this weekend, schedule available on our website and many other places, too, the poster, but we have a lot of individuals, businesses that step forward, Glenn, to really, to pay for it all.
We got bands,
we
got free music, all kinds of stuff going on.
There's
so much, so much there, and there's so many people we gotta thank.
I wanna kinda use this time to give some shout-outs.
Obviously, if you don't know already, it is a collaboration of eight non-profit entities that put this together.
So it's the Butternut Area Park Association, the Butternut Lions Club, American Legion Post 272.
Butternut Area Business Alliance, the Trail Midget ATV Club, Butternut Fire Department, Knights of Columbus, and the Butternut Fair Board.
So that's the eight groups that make up our committee that make all the decisions and delegate some responsibility.
And there's probably
more than one person that are on multiple of those.
Yeah, a lot of people wearing many hats for sure.
Yeah, definitely Randy Smart has been our chairman since the start of this committee.
So he is the head honcho.
Either man you will see him out in the grounds all weekend long Christian is another big one He is running all over the place setting a lot of stuff up.
Yeah, he's our money guy So he is there from from the start to the finish
great.
You ever been the money guy?
I would I've never do I look like the kind of guy who'd ever
be called
that good
to be the money guy John So he seems like a good money guy.
Yeah, I like that.
Yeah mother mother big shout outs I got to give kudos to Jim Lynch and his family They have every year they're up there at the grounds way ahead of everybody else Cleaning up picking up garbage doing this cutting trees down helping out with this and that so
that's he's been phenomenal for us up there.
The Butternut Bulldog baseball team, it's nice having them with a full season because all the field work.
On the baseball softball field.
They've been taking care of that dragging the field keeping it nice So that's a big help for us instead of the a week or two before having to You know redo the entire thing, you know, it's pretty much a lot of work.
They've
been keeping it up Nice
nice shout out to Mike Palachek For years now he has been our guy to Get up there and open up the pits for the mud run And that's a big deal
You know, volunteering his time to come up there and do that and his help on this restroom project up there, which will be completed for Pioneer Day.
So we will have that up and running.
I was
right next to the beverage place.
Right next to the beer garden.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Full, full outdoor facility, men's and women's.
Very nice.
A lot of people donating their time and money towards that project to make that a reality this year.
Cool.
All right.
So that will, you'll definitely see that when you're up there.
So the grounds are, yeah, we have not had a great
weather for grass growing.
So it was all tore up.
So the grounds, um, just be, just be aware up there.
We're trying to smooth them out as much as, as much as we can, uh, to make it good.
It's going to be filled up, obviously with carnival and all the other attractions, but just be mindful that if we do get some rain, it could be a little muddy here and there.
Uh, we just couldn't get that grass to grow quite quick enough, but yeah, just be mindful of that.
All right.
Um, a few other shout outs.
I want to hit right away.
Um, the village of butter nut.
All the town prep making the town beautiful before the weekend obviously with the big parade downtown on Sunday Everything's nice and trimmed up and clean So shout out to them town of Chippewa town of agenda Again donations and their help for the restroom project hauling in Phil And then for the mud runs in horse poles.
They're there pulling people out
Yeah, so they volunteer that every year want to give them a shout out.
Troy Shouinsky fellow this alert He is in charge of the the softball tournament.
We kind of let him just run with that
So he's always the one gathering teams, getting umpires, getting equipment, getting the field lined and keeping everything rolling on that.
So that is a big responsibility for Troy all weekend.
And he helps with the women's softball game on Thursday night, kind of organizing that and getting that.
And I saw some
statistics last year.
This may or may not be accurate, but the softball teams consumed 37.3% of the beer at about Pioneer Day.
Is that pretty close?
Yeah.
Okay, just checking that.
Josh has two teams in there, and they probably counted for 75%.
75%?
Oh, the
37%.
OK.
All right,
we're really breaking this down.
I
like that.
I like that.
Yeah.
And then shout out to Cindy Pritzle for the volleyball tournament on Saturday.
Her and her kids put that on.
Two
courts now.
Two courts.
I added last year.
Two courts last year.
It went very well, very good turnout.
very energetic games.
So hopefully it won't be so hot.
We got to put in a little call to Carl.
I think it's
supposed to be 70s mid next week.
Whether that sticks around.
Yeah, hopefully.
Hopefully.
Odds are with you.
That will be cooler.
Odds
are with
you.
That's a big undertaking to keep all that organized with all the teams that we have in that.
So and all the volunteer bartenders between the beer garden and the main bar and cleanup crews.
There's
just so many people that lend their time and talents to helping us out.
And also with the women's softball, Kelly Rallinger and Sierra Cracky, the two contact points for that, trying to get the girls organized.
And that will be, from my understanding, that will be a slow pitch game this year.
They might sprinkle in a little bit of fast pitch here and they're dependent on who's pitching and who's batting.
You never know.
But get a little more offense in it this year.
They were leaning that way.
So it should be a lot of fun to watch.
And of course, the biggest shout out I have to give is Jenny and Linda Smart without them going around and collecting donations.
And the list is phenomenal.
And they do an incredible job.
And they start months in advance.
you know, asking businesses, stopping places, repeated times, you know, to get the right person.
And that is a huge, huge undertaking.
And that kind of brings me to our list.
And it is huge.
We, you know, to date, currently she just gave me the current list, 108 sponsors at various levels.
That is a lot of people to keep track of.
And they do it every year.
And it's phenomenal, the repeat people on this list, new people.
It's incredible, the old pouring that we have to put this on.
So
and for those who aren't familiar, maybe you're new to the area.
There's, there's music there that's free.
You can just pull up the music is free through the weekend and K and M amusements
for
rides for the kids.
There's wristbands or you can just, you know, plop down.
I think it's 25 bucks or whatever.
And they just let them go,
let
them go for
the three,
four hours.
I love the wristbands, but K and M has really become a staple of our small town celebrations up here because they're low.
It's a locally based company that's been doing us for a long time.
It
changed a lot during the pandemic.
They made it through it and now they're providing really some quality stuff for the kids and families.
Right.
Yeah.
That whole at the 2020 year, you know, that we got shut down on that.
And then the following years where we did not have a carnival, you know, we really had to try a few different things.
It actually worked.
It was kind of nice.
It was quiet.
I remember
that.
But, but definitely that is a huge draw for families to come up and spend the whole day, the whole weekend up there.
Yeah, exactly.
Take advantage of that.
But yeah, and everything else that we have there,
The mud runs and the horse pulls Those are both the only things that you have to pay to get in and we keep that so low Yeah, so the the family's gonna enjoy it
good food good fair food always cold beverages and and you got the concession stand to inside of the main
Yes, that is
town
right home
town cooking and bars and baked
goods in
there Yeah,
and that's put on by a national honor society for for butternut.
Yeah, so you'll see a lot of them kids there
polka music
Music on Sunday again?
Yep.
After two year hiatus back to polka and it's a it's a young band energetic.
So something a little bit different.
Yeah.
I'm very I'm looking forward to seeing what what they sound like.
It'll be fun.
That'll be fun.
All right.
Very good.
Yeah.
I do want to hit.
I do have to do some sponsor shout outs here for sure.
I'm not going to go through the whole hundred and eight.
Read them really be like that FedEx guy used to do the commercials.
You just read them really fast.
Yeah.
speed it up real quick.
Make me sound like a chipmunk here.
All right, some of the big ones.
Yeah, but definitely a forward bank, but an area business alliance, Northwood's Community Credit Union, River Valley Mutual Insurance Company, Winterwood's, Jen's but on a cafe, I said signature sign, Big River Repair, Bert Street funeral home, Bobbers, care of you of Manaqua, Dave's trucking, Marshfield Clinic Health System.
Randy and Cindy Zesh, Rankin Services, the Class of 1981, Slayer Logging, Smart Plumbing and Heating, St.
Croix.
Super One Foods, Tom Miller Electric, Excel Energy, Terry and Patty Palachek, D&D Tire and Auto, Park Falls Hardwoods, AC Carpet Plus, and Mastercare Lawn Services.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg for the number of sponsors that we have.
And you'll see the whole list of these sponsors up on the grounds.
We got signs all over up there.
Some are sponsoring specific events.
some just won't give a general donation they're listed all throughout the grounds up there and we try to give shoutouts wherever we can you know get the band so mention the the main sponsors there's banners up there so we're trying to get you a shout out as much as we can social media
Advertising the whole works.
Yeah, very good class of 81 45 years.
Yeah, they're old Older than me.
I could just say that
earlier.
Good.
Yeah
all right So though we have the banner on our website.
Is there a butternut?
What's the what's
at wi.com?
Okay,
if you want and also on Facebook if you just look up butternut priorities you will find it as well and then
That's where more of the updates are going to be.
Right.
A week from this weekend, so a week from Friday, Saturday,
Sunday.
Well, actually starting Thursday.
Starting Thursday.
Thursday is the women's softball night.
And Jen from Bernard Cafe has her rib fest that she puts on for locals that want to get up there.
And before the big crowds get there and enjoy some good cooking and nice cold beverage and watch some women's softball.
Yep.
Good hometown celebration.
If you haven't been there or you're new to the area, it is, you, you, you feel.
You feel everything about what a small town is when
you go to
Pioneer
Days.
You're really doing it.
It's just an awesome setting on top of the hill up there, too.
Yeah, lots of shade.
We took some trees down that needed to be taken down, but it's still a lot of trees, a lot of shaded area.
Two big tents up there to get out from underneath the sun.
Plenty of opportunity to cool down.
Cheese curds, corn dogs, all that stuff.
All right, well, you'll be back in next Wednesday, right?
Yes.
All right, we'll
final wrap up on any changes and modifications to that.
the
It's a good name for a morning show.
Cheese curd and corn
dog in the morning.
I like it.
I like it.
Oh, I should have kept the old cold pizza for BSPN.
I should have kept that to myself.
I forgot about that.
All right, Glenn.
Good to see you.
We'll see you next Wednesday
again.
Thanks,
guys.
Pioneer Day is about another week from this weekend.
We got that flyer at 98Q.
if you want to take a look at it.
I am ready.
It is.
So I am the new program coordinator for Embrace's Price County office, and for those of...
you who are not familiar with Embrace.
Embrace is a nonprofit organization and we provide free and confidential services to individuals and families who are impacted by intimate partner violence.
And a couple weeks ago, Brittany, last time I spoke with you guys at Embrace, the question, the topic, rather, was how to help a friend.
You know, these...
You guys are there for the moments people hope don't happen.
For those moments that don't happen to me, they happen to other people.
It just becomes so much more real.
when a friend comes to you and says something like, hey, I've I've experienced violence from my partner or in the household.
And so I very much appreciated yesterday when you guys gave me a heads up about what you wanted to talk about this week, because I think it's a super important question.
And I believe it occurs to a lot of people.
I think a lot of us go through the moment when, you know, if you're even if you're just thinking about it, Brittany, it doesn't have to actually happen to you.
But the question that might occur to a person
who's friend goes through this is why don't they just leave and I don't want to point fingers I don't want to cajole anybody for asking that question but that question kind of misses the point though it does have an important answer so let's dive in today let's let's start with that question why don't they just leave a lot of people ask that wouldn't you say
They do.
It's probably one of the most common questions, and that's why I wanted to talk about the stigma and misconception around that phrase.
and why it's not just as simple as leaving.
Of course, of course, and I could begin to guess what you might touch on, but the one thing I know is that I've asked myself that question, and I think if we're honest with ourselves, a lot of us have, because it seems possible, and I think the first thing that I need to recognize is that that question's occurring to me because the actual events aren't occurring to me.
I've got the benefit of being disconnected, looking at the outside, and not actually dealing with the effects
of whatever it is that's happening.
So, Brittany, let's dive in.
What have you got for us today?
So, when someone is experiencing an abusive relationship, when someone learns a friend, family member, a co-worker is in an abusive relationship, like I said, they might ask, why don't they just leave?
And although that question is often asked out of concern, I don't think people realize how hurtful that phrase can be for the survivor.
Because if it was as simple as most people think, I mean, that survivor would probably walk away and never look back.
And I think sometimes others do not realize that it can also make survivors feel blamed for the abuse that they're experiencing instead when the responsibility belongs solely to the person choosing to harm them.
Right, the question basically implies that leaving is the obvious choice, that it's possible, and that it's even easy, when in fact, none of those are usually true.
If that, if a person's in that kind of situation, you know, I, I, and I have to imagine, I'm blessed that I haven't been through intimate partner violence before, but I can only imagine the level of, of disorientation.
It must flip your whole world on its head.
So the idea of, of simply pulling yourself out of that, sure, that's what most people do when danger comes around.
But this isn't the same as you know, this isn't the same as an animal jumping out in front of your car There's not just a quick decision-making process that you can do basically everything gets incredibly complicated when you find yourself in this situation So what should I do maybe instead of asking why don't they just leave?
Well, the real truth is leaving an abusive relationship.
It's not simple and I think people don't understand that
Survivors can fear for their safety or the safety of their children.
They may be financially dependent on their partner, have nowhere safe to go, or worry about losing their home.
Many have been isolated from their family and friends and making them feel like they have no support from others.
And others have been manipulated into believing the abuse is their fault.
And we all know and have felt that love is a powerful emotion.
and victims may hold on to the hope that their partner will change or that the relationship can improve.
They may remember the good times and believe that the abuse is a temporary phase.
And I think what many people don't realize is that the risk of serious violence and the risk of homicide increases when a survivor tries to leave.
That's exactly what I wanted to touch on, and I knew you'd work your way there, Brittany, but it's something that even I've had a loved one.
My fiance was involved with very similar efforts to what you're doing now, and it became clear to me rather quickly that it's that moment right there.
It's the process of exiting that might create the most dangerous situation when you guys have somebody who comes in to embrace.
How extensive is the planning process?
If somebody needs to make...
you guys have, you'll help them make what's called a safety plan.
How extensive and thorough are those safety plans when it comes to helping somebody leave that kind of environment?
When we safety plan, we want to identify the cues or warning signs of the abusers' violence.
And I mean, we talk about the financial.
part of it and safety for their family, especially if they have children involved and their emotional safety, getting legal documents and papers in order, if they have medications, you know, making sure that, you know, before they leave that they have everything in place so that when they leave that they do not have to come back.
Like you mentioned, it might be financial dependence.
It might be there's also the the aspect of it that there's there's often kind of a continuing cyclical effect.
You know, I think a lot of people picture abusive relationships and, you know, you might picture the physical violence.
But what I think is often lost is the constant and continuing, you know, if somebody is abusive, they might say things to
It's so difficult for me to even put it into words, Brittany, because it's just such a foreign thought to me to do this to somebody that you care for.
Oftentimes, there's there's kind of the dissolution of confidence, you know, an abuser might do things to make a person feel like they couldn't even get themselves help if they wanted to, you know, saying saying things and degrading them and just continued psychological effect.
And it's it's not so like when I asked that question, why don't you just leave?
I might even be able to imagine how you might do that.
But oftentimes people in that circumstance don't see the path.
Am I correct there?
You are yes,
No, and for many staying isn't about wanting the abuse to continue It's about trying to survive until they can safely leave right and I mean so what I want Would like people to think about today
is instead of asking, why don't you just leave?
Try asking like, how can I support you and believe that survivor and listen without judgment and let them know that they deserve to be safe and support them in making the decisions that are right and safe for them.
There is not a one size fits all when it comes to what is right for that survivor.
And that exact fact right there, Brittany, is why I'm so glad that organizations like Embrace exist because like I said, these are the things that people
don't want to ever deal with you know there's nobody out there thinking hey i want to go go deal with this kind of situation today uh but it's not the kind of situation that you choose it's the situation that you or a loved one might simply find themselves in so embrace is
Perhaps the the best organization I've seen especially in a county with a relatively low population It can be tough for people like you guys to keep a foothold here So I appreciate greatly that you know I have embraced to suggest to loved ones in that kind of setting that said It's it's for those who truly haven't seen it.
I I envy you to a degree I've had loved ones and friends in this kind of situation and one thing that stood out to me was it seems like survival
is just as difficult leaving as it is staying.
That's part of the thought process I've seen.
That's just anecdotally, that's my own opinion, but it seems like people in that scenario, it's leaving seems just as difficult as staying.
It seems like there's basically no good options at that point.
Would you say that lines up with what you've seen?
I would, yes.
like you said, it's not an easy thing to leave at all.
And like you said, with that increase in violence, that that was something, like I said, my fiance did similar work.
And she was, I remember the look on her face when she told me that, yeah, leaving, leaving is when it gets the most dangerous.
And if, if a person is capable of harming you in a violent way past that point,
It's it's unpredictable.
You can't really rely on, well, they wouldn't take it that far.
Well, they've already taken it as far as they have and most reasonable people wouldn't.
So there you are.
Like you said, believe that survivor, listen without judgment.
Let them know that they deserve safety because that kind of fact, it gets lost in the noise of the abuse.
And like you said, what I want to carry forward with this, there's not a one size fits all when it comes to what is right for a survivor.
So if someone you know, or if you are
are experiencing abuse.
You guys have a 24 hour toll free line people can call.
Can you hit me with that number, Brittany?
Yes, it's 1-800-924-0556.
Yes, what works and what would work for somebody else might not work for the next person that you work with.
we try to brainstorm and you know, what
Let's go for it.
I've been super excited to talk to you I've been chatting with you and with Jean our our mutual friend over there at Stamp Paper Scissors about the Northwoods benefit concert also known as an evening of dreams and Jesse I'm guessing some people around the Park Falls area and the listening area for 98 Q might have heard some whispers on the wind of this but we're coming up on the event July 25th Can you tell us about the event itself before we dive in?
We'll dive into who Jesse is in just a minute, but tell us about the concert, please.
Absolutely.
So the concert is being hosted by Dazzle Demons, which is a brand new 501c3 nonprofit based out of Rhinelander.
And it is supporting adults with cancer and terminal illness all across the Northwoods through three beneficiaries.
We have the James Beck Cancer Center in Rhinelander, which serves up to, I believe, eight counties.
in the Northwoods.
And then we have the Seasons of Life Hospice House in Woodruff, which serves, I think, up to six counties.
And then Dream Foundation, which is kind of the backbone of this whole mission that we're calling the Northwoods Dream Initiative.
And they're a national organization based on Santa Barbara, California.
And they're the only national organization that grants end of life dreams to terminally ill adults.
When I was 18, they granted my mom's final dream.
This was back in 2008 and ever since then.
I've wanted to pay it back to them while paying it forward to other Northwood's adults because they provided me some of my favorite memories of my mom.
They sent my family and I to Southern California.
And even though she was diagnosed terminally ill, it just gave me my favorite memories of her.
And it was just, she was so happy and ecstatic that that whole trip that we were there.
And so we decided to host an evening of dreams in Rhineland or Hodeck Park, Rhineland Community Foundation.
I'll put a lot of
money invested into Hotec Park and it's just beautiful now and it's a great place to host a concert like this.
They have concerts in the park basically every Tuesday in the summertime but we wanted to step it up a notch and we're hosting two Nashville country musicians.
It's actually 10 days from today so David Nail and Thompson Square and they're being supported by two other openers from Wisconsin.
We're very excited for it.
I personally, Jesse, can't believe that Rhinelander is ready for another event on this scale with Grammy-nominated artists coming through.
I actually just drove through Rhinelander yesterday, and I saw the recovery efforts from Hodag still taking place, so definitely a big shout-out due there.
But, Jesse, so you mentioned that your mom was helped with her final dream through this.
What is Dazzle's Demons?
What's the link there?
So Dazzle and Themen started as a snowshoe baseball team.
You're not familiar with snowshoe baseball.
It's a pretty popular, very unique sport in Lake Tomahawk.
It's been played actually 65 years now there.
The sport was actually invented in Rhinelander back maybe 70 years ago in the 1950s.
And my grandpa was one of the original players.
I'm one of the very, very few third generation snowshoe baseball players.
And we are basically the longest
standing opponents or rival, if you will, of the home team, the Lake Tomahawk Snowhawks.
They play every Monday night practically in the summertime against a different opponent who tries to beat them.
And we've been playing for 21 or so years now.
And in order to make this event go the way that it needed to be for the benefit concert, I turned our social baseball team into a nonprofit earlier this year.
And not only did you have a good idea, you had some existing resources that I just love the cleverness behind, hey, here's what we got.
Here's a goal that it could be used for.
And why not just duct tape them together?
And it looks like you guys are off and running.
So Jesse, about the concert, is this completely open to the public or what's the story there?
So we did get a special youth permit.
So that makes it a private event that requires a ticket, even though it is on public property.
We're not taking up the whole entire park, although, you know, we would prefer to people buy tickets because we're trying to maximize proceeds for the charities.
But yeah, tickets are available through Dazzles Demon's Sushi Baseball's Facebook page.
We are hosting our platform through Zeppy, which is similar to, like, GoFundMe.
They accept Zeppy charges no fees, no credit card fees, no transaction fees.
We have discounted tickets for children.
We want this.
not to be your typical country concert.
We want it to be something more intimate, something special, very community-driven and family-oriented.
There's going to be bounce houses, some pretty special ones that we're actually transporting in from kind of far away.
So we wanted this to be a special night, and there's a lot of other more features of the event, so they're going to make it more intimate too.
And that word, Jesse, if people haven't been to that kind of thing before, it really is an incredible experience when, and I don't want to give people any inaccurate expectations, but in similar events in the past, when you've got a smaller crowd, at least relative to the huge festival that it could be, and the artist is there for the cause, you end up with these really cool
personal moments where I mean it's not the same as just going and seeing the Grateful Dead rock out a show and then then move on not to not to knock the dead heads out there I know that the Grateful Dead are pretty awesome for that but when there's a cause like that when there's a unifying thought you can feel that you can absolutely sense that in the air and it creates this I don't know it's difficult to describe that precious atmosphere do I sound totally crazy or do you know what I'm talking about
I exactly know what you're talking about.
And another one of the features is we're having sponsors, we're having some of the beneficiaries and just community leaders give very short, we don't want it to be long-winded, but short speeches prior to the entertainers introducing them.
And yeah, we're just trying to have it very much community driven and sorry, lost my train of thought there.
Not to worry.
Oh
98Q Country is ready for a lost train of thought.
So I've got a question I'll hit you with.
And if you remember where you were going, just let me know, circle back around.
What has been the biggest surprise in the planning process?
What was difficult that you didn't expect?
What was easier than you expect?
What's caught you off guard as you've done this this year?
Oh man, I have a million answers for both of those questions.
The prices that these entertainers charge is very so much.
And the entertainers that we ended up with, and I'm very, very pleased by them, by the way.
They're both Grammy nominated.
They're both multi-platinum stars.
I think Thompson Squares, are you going to kiss me or not?
And one point was the number one country song throughout the country.
But there were so many different, because you got to go off of their availability.
And the fees range so much.
So just who we ended up with the lineup.
It was kind of like our fifth different option that we had gone with.
It doesn't mean it wasn't the preference.
And when I realized that we could get both of them on the same day, I was extremely excited.
So it almost felt too good to be true.
Well, and that makes sense if you think about it, you know, so many different artists, and they're all people at the end of the day, and I'm sure some of them have, have agencies that do most of the talking for them, whereas some of them, it's just a guy who wants to be a normal guy, and I bet that shows a little bit.
The closest parallel I might be able to draw is, uh, my brother and sister-in-law have a bar where they host live music, and he's, he's expressed similar things to me, both directions too, like, man, I couldn't believe I could get this group here, and man, I couldn't believe
that these people weren't available.
Basically, when it comes to music artists, make no assumptions.
Is that a fair short sentence to land on there?
Absolutely.
I remember my trying to thought familiar, by the way.
me.
I'm just going to say that cancer touches so many people's lives and terminal illness as well.
This isn't obviously just for people with cancer, but that is the most common type of terminal illness.
But that's why we're kind of excited to get everybody together.
just support the community.
And this isn't just the events happening in Rhinelander, but we're only supporting Rhinelander.
That's why we're calling it the Northwoods benefit concert and not the Rhinelander benefit concert.
And just early on in the planning process, when we coined it that name, everybody started asking us what next year was going to look like.
And I kind of laughed and told them that let's get through this year first.
But there's definitely potential that this event could happen again.
It could be a recurring event.
We're not sure if we want to keep it the same theme.
We're not sure if we want to keep it in Rhinelander.
We want it to be very Northwood community driven and not just Rhinelander.
And on that note, I wanted to say that Dream Foundation, although they're a national organization, they've existed for 35 years.
And in those 35 years, they've granted over 35,000 dreams.
Over 400 of them have been in Wisconsin.
However,
I don't even know if there's been 10 that have happened in the Northwoods.
So that was one of the main things we wanted to do is build awareness for Dream Foundation and what a great organization they are.
And of that list of 10, one of them is actually from Price County back in 2012.
So I just wanted to bring that up.
Yeah, no, I see here It looks like there was a gentleman down in Phillips who's whose family and they were they were part of a cover story on the Northwood Star Journal This is absolutely already been right in our own backyard But like you mentioned the Northwood's the number of people identified who fit the bill Well, I think I think we can say that there's probably more people up here Who could be served by this group than have been you said like you said only about 10 or so have been identified and I doubt it's because of a lack of
people who qualify just a lack of attention to the cause.
So, I'm super glad we could get you on here this morning on 98Q.
Spread the word a little bit on a group of people helping adults who are facing terminal illness.
Where can people go, Jesse, if they think they might know somebody who fits the bill here?
You're saying if they want to learn more about Dream Foundation?
Oh, no worries.
So, they're dreamfoundation.org or, you know, they can reach out to Dazzle Demon.
Snow Shoe Baseball Facebook page, and we'd be happy to answer any questions or share resources, but definitely go to Dream Foundation's website, which is at www.dreamfoundation.org.
And of course, you mentioned that the Dazzles Demons, technically Dazzles Demons, Snow Shoe Baseball has a Facebook page that's become the launching point for some of this.
But Jesse, while I've got you on air, are you guys looking for any volunteers, assistants?
Do you have the opportunity for people to lend a hand with the event, perhaps, if that's a thing?
We do, yes.
So we actually created a to try to eliminate some of the confusion between the Northwoods Benefit Concert and Dazzledemon Inc.
or Dazzledemon Snowshoe Baseball.
We created a Northwoods Dream Initiative homepage and the Northwoods Benefit Concert is one of the five pillars of the Northwoods Dream Initiative and it's all hosted on Linktree.
And there's many links on there that has one link to the Northwoods Dream Fund.
which is basically our donation campaign where the proceeds go directly to their split directly between the three causes.
And they also can be directed to a specific cause if a donor is more interested in helping either hospice patients, cancer patients, or terminally ill people.
And then there's also a volunteer signup form, which is for the Northwest Benefit Concerts.
And we're actually in the process of switching that over from a Google form to a signup genius as we
get closer to the event here.
We definitely can still use a few more volunteers.
There's a variety of roles for the concert as well and we're trying to find ways to reward our volunteers rather than supporting the cause of free tickets and more.
Well, I will be posting that link to the link tree page so that people can kind of use it as the jumping off point.
I'll basically post a single link that folks, if you click on it, you'll see all kinds of different info and opportunities for you to learn more and dive in a little bit over on our Facebook page.
We also archive these conversations so anybody can listen back anytime on 98Qcountry.com.
But you don't want to wait because we're talking about next weekend already, Saturday, July 25th at the Hodeig Park Amphitheater.
theater in Rhinelander.
Gates open it to music from three until nine featuring Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum country stars David Nail, Thompson Square, and some local groups too in support of the Northwoods Dream Initiative.
Jesse, I consider it a massive privilege to talk to you here in what might be the busiest couple weeks of your life.
Why don't we link up and maybe after the event we'll circle back and talk about how it goes sometime soon here on 98Q.
I would love that.
Thank you so much for the opportunity, Greg.
You
That is Jesse Robinson, the president of Dazzles Demons.
That's the new nonprofit who has a lot to do with the Northwoods benefit concert.
I know I'm throwing a lot of new names at you, but we'll break it down for you.
Super easy on 98Qcountry.com where you can listen back to the conversation and on our Facebook page where we'll be posting the link that Jesse mentioned.
It's basically one link you can click that'll link you to eight or 10 different sources.
of information all on one quick and easy website.
If you've ever dealt with Linktree before, you know what I'm talking about.
It's basically you click once to find all the info you might possibly need.
But hey, I've got a special surprise guest coming up here on Reality Radio as we finish off the morning show.
So stay tuned to 98Q.
All right, time for surprise guest one of one.
Mrs. Kirch, welcome back.
Thanks, Gray.
Thanks for having me.
That is this Saturday, Gray, from 10 to 5 at the Shawamigan High School.
display models.
We were going to do the cafeteria, but now we've decided we're going to do the gym because of the heat, because there's a chiller, so the gym will be way more comfortable for us.
And there should be 25 plus models up to 35 different mattresses.
mattress fundraiser.
My first internal dialogue.
I've got that, that groan reaction is, is, is all what brand are these going to be?
These are no known name brands you've seen and heard advertisements for them brands like purple and Helix.
I saw were on there.
What else do you guys have?
Yep.
Um, they have written down here purple, beauty rust, Helix and therapeutic.
So, and, and you, you very kindly pulled the curtain back a little bit and Joel and I were laughing about this earlier, but you mentioned that.
Yeah, the fundraiser lady brought the idea up and kind of warmed you up to it.
And as you were explaining that, it was working on me.
I was like, you know, wait a minute.
I think we could probably use a refresh around here.
Well, I think the thing about it that's nice is it's not just selling another trinket or another thing.
It's something people may may really need.
So we're not just selling to our band kids families, but it could be anyone from the community that needs a mattress.
There's financing available, they deliver, they'll remove old mattresses.
So it's really pretty cool.
Well, I think a lot of people out there will need to challenge their first gut reaction to this info, which is, oh, we're good.
But are you though?
I mean, and I know you're sleeping okay, but have you woken up wondering why you're tired?
Have you woken up wondering why you were only able to sleep one to two hours?
Do you deal with a partner who gets up way earlier than you and you're hoping to stop being disturbed in your sleep?
I happen to know somebody who has a partner who gets up two hours early who sometimes struggles to get back to sleep a little bit.
And I'm thinking one of those two-sided mattresses with individual controls and separation and she also needs hers a little cool.
I like the warmer side of things so that kind of thing.
Yeah, there's products out there
with a lot of tried and tested methods for dealing with exactly what I just described.
It's easy to imagine, yeah, there's nothing you can do about that.
But there is.
You just got to do it.
Right.
And think about it.
You just don't think about your mattress that often, do you?
No.
Unless you're maybe really being bothered by it.
But it's something to think about.
Or even if you have a cabin that you're like, you know, we should really replace the mattress at our cabin.
Or just anybody that you know, we also have pillows there.
They'll have pillowcases and sheet sets and other things like that too.
mattress pads.
We are also having a brought sale and a bake sale that day.
So even if you're just kind of curious and you want to pop in and just check it out, come on over and have a brought and you know, cruise around, check it out.
That means you dads, the dads who want to browse the mattresses without looking like you're interested in the mattresses, have a brought in hand, keep the ketchup away from the merchandise and you can blend in.
You can be that guy in Costco that like, yeah, they're not going to try to sell you something.
You already got the hot dog.
You know, that's, that's how it goes.
That said, they're also, I don't believe they're not going to be one.
salespeople pitching mattresses to you.
It's going to be a little bit more of a voluntary interest-based thing, if I had to guess.
That said, if you want more info on the product, there'll be someone there to answer questions, won't there?
Yes, they have.
They're going to have a full staff there.
It's going to be, it's really pretty cool.
I shouldn't have said anything about expectations.
It's going to be the full affair.
I don't know about palm leaves and waiting on your hand and foot, but they've got you covered with the info that you need.
I think part of it is that, you know, when, when your friend has a new car or when you're
has a new watch, or when your uncle buys that thing, there's a Facebook post.
There is a, you bump into him when he's wearing that new shirt.
But when somebody has a new mattress, they probably don't tell you about it, and you're probably not gonna be in their bedroom to know it.
So I think that, you can tell I've been tossing this in my mind a little bit.
Why don't we talk about our mattresses more?
Well, because you spend your eight hours, and then you start your day.
It feels like your day is not going when you're sleeping, but as every mattress ad ever will point out,
You spend a third of your life on that thing and it has a major effect on the other two-thirds.
So I had to challenge my first Instinct, which is yeah, my day starts when I get out of bed But it doesn't end until that same point, you know You're still you're still getting rid of yesterday when you're getting up for the following day I could put it in a million confusing ways.
Think about your mattress more than you do people.
Come on.
Don't be gross
I'll admit, there's a certain instinct that's like, your mattress is grosser than you think it is.
Replace it this weekend at the Shawamagin School District.
But honestly, that might be one of the best points is the accumulation of skin cells and dust mites and dust itself.
Well, they say that your mattress weighs twice as much as it did when it was new after I think about 10 years.
Yeah, you think about that.
That's kind of a gross thought.
I wasn't going to say that until you pointed it out, but that's the idea.
I mean, and I don't want to gross people out, but would you knowing that continue to sleep on it?
I'm sorry if I just ruined your sleep for the next couple nights.
I know it's challenging in the heat, but
That's exactly the kind of question you can tackle with this mattress sale.
What time does it start on Saturday?
It
starts at 10 a.m.
and it goes to 5 p.m.
I clearly
You might have to and hey the prices are good too.
The prices are starting a twin let's see at $1.99 full at $2.49.
Queen starting from $2.99.
King starting from $3.99.
So these are not just
like they're tacking on some big huge charge to make money.
They are reasonably priced.
Again, you've spoken my thought process out loud.
There's kind of a cynicism.
There's kind of a skepticism there.
Anytime somebody's trying to sell me anything, you know, you look a little bit closer at it and then you often look away from it.
But I'd urge you to look doubly close at this one because I'm willing to bet more people out there than would admit it out loud are due for a mattress update.
I'm on the list.
I'm on the list.
Am I getting my mattress?
just this weekend, we'll see.
But I am getting a broad and I'm taking a look.
I'll tell you that much
now?
We're kind of focused on the mattresses right now.
However, we will be also having a broad sale on, I believe it's July 30th, that Friday, right before the Friday of the Flambeau Ram a weekend.
And that will be at super one.
All right.
I think that's July 31st.
Sorry, July 31st would be that Friday, I believe.
And other than that, you know, we're just looking, we'll be doing our parades, our usual parades, Pioneer Days, Flamborama, and of course our big event going to the Minnesota State Fair.
Thanks for asking.
You know what?
Our band boosters have been so good about volunteering and really the parents.
I have a lot of parents signed up to volunteer this Saturday, which is really awesome and kids.
Really not so much from the community at this point, but you know in the future think about it We're gonna be going on that big Disney trip And you know kids are gonna be out selling fruit and selling wreaths and things like that So when kids come around and ask you about stuff like that in the future just think about it that they're raising money for a trip
Yeah, eat good fruit get a nice wreath on the front of your house and sleep better than ever before as you help the Chihuahmigan school district with their fundraising efforts with the band going down to Disney with the
Operations that they take you see those nice fresh uniforms on them those don't come from nowhere So lend a hand lend a buck and get a fresh mattress at the sale this weekend starting at 10 a.m Broughts bake sale to and more brats to come from the neighborhood.
Mrs. Kirch.
Thank you so much for squeezing in today Thank you for bearing with us on the scheduling shuffle.
I get to make fun of Joel again for sure Thanks for having me my pleasure with that we end the normal timing of the morning show on 98 Q country 98.3 FM WCQM on the civic media radio network
I'll be archiving Reality Radio in a timely fashion this week.
I promise, so you can go back and find all these conversations to listen back to on 98Qcountry.com.