Stamp Out Hunger & Celebrate Music

Transcript

Stamp Out Hunger & Celebrate Music

Maino and the Mayor · Thu May 1, 2025

Kathryn Lake

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Coming to Northeast Wisconsin live from the Civic Media Studios, this is Mino and the Mayor.

And here are your hosts, John Minow

John Maino

and Jim Schmidt.

Hey, thank you very much.

Welcome back.

Trucker Thursday, there's a trucker morning out there, 46 in Green Bay, 49 in Ampton, 48 in Oshkosh, which is about as warm as it could be.

The high is only 50, Todd.

It's 48 now.

The high today is only 50.

OK.

All right.

It's a Thursday.

We're with Selena Daryl and Jeremy Beck, rooted, incorporated United States Postal Service, Stamp Out

Hunger.

And these are two people that really do it.

John Maino

And

let's start with Jeremy.

Jeremy, this is a program you've been doing for years, close one.

And I think that's, I love when we have these public-private partnerships and you guys have stepped up for how many years you've been working on this postal stamp-out hunger.

Yeah, so stamp-out hunger has been a NALC and...

partnership with USPS along with our rural carriers and other corporate sponsors going on our 30 Going on our 32nd year now.

That's awesome.

I've been the coordinator for local title town branch 619.

This is my second year doing this

Kathryn Lake

now

I've been with postal service for 10 years.

So as a carrier, I was also involved as well

Just for people who don't know but I think most people do this may 10th.

Tell us about how the program works.

Yeah, so

We have a sponsorship postcards to remind people are going out to all the community members and residential households this week.

Next week we'll have bags that will be mailing out as well and delivering to people.

Our bags this year were sponsored by the United Way of Brown County.

And so May 10th, we asked that everybody have their donations out in the bags that we provide out by their mailboxes by 9930.

And then we'll do the rest either your carrier will come and get it or we also have volunteers that are going out

John Maino

to jump in I Jim is the expert on this thing I just have to ask you one question after we talk about because I was just reading you know I try to get in 10,000 steps a day and I did that once How do you feel after that great athletic how many steps does a typical

Mail carrier what was the proper term?

I'm not sure I used to say mail man mail carrier mail carrier How many steps do so a walking mail carrier?

I I set my daily goal at 13,000 and I and I double that almost every day.

Oh my god 25,000 steps,

but look at the guy John

John Maino

No,

that's why I wanted to be a postal worker.

I wanted to get a job after I got done with my previous job that

included exercise that I didn't have to go to the gym.

So

John Maino

did I, and

Kathryn Lake

I'm here.

That is like a perfect, yeah.

This, we sit here, we just drive this desk for three hours.

You're the pinnacle of health.

Thank you.

We do get up and go get coffee, though.

We do, so

John Maino

that would do it.

Every step, cause every step, Todd will not bring it to us.

There are times he will not bring it.

I just had to ask that, where it said, if you do 7,000 steps a day, it could add like five years to your life.

And I thought, who walks the most?

And it's like a pulse of work.

You do 26,000?

But there's other jobs that I was... Who wants to live that long?

But

you'll be in a baggage handler at the airport.

Those are just jobs that you're exercising while you're working.

I applied for a couple of those things, but here I am.

So this, I know, right?

You're here.

Products that we want in those bags just to remind people that it's non perishable right right Roni

and

not

non perishable Preferably anything that's not expired or half opened or half used already.

Yes,

John Maino

we're gonna get a lot of

that

John Maino

Okay, I'm just gonna I'm sorry, but I just that's one of my pet peeves Where versus okay, somebody thinks they're doing something nice and we're used to send things to the troops in Afghanistan Iraq all the time and people would bring stuff that was like expired that they had in the back of their

Do you know what I'm saying?

Just a little.

If their heart's in the right spot, it's OK.

John Maino

And that's what I mean.

You didn't want to.

But if they're really trying

to dump it, it's OK.

You guys get that, too?

We have.

We have.

Just because you're homeless doesn't mean you

eat expired food.

Right.

Exactly.

And preferably anything that's also in plastic or metal containers versus glass because of transport

Kathryn Lake

and stuff.

We don't

want

John Maino

anything to break

and like spaghetti sauce to get over everything else.

Right.

John Maino

Okay.

So it's to live

on.

Anything that will like last and make meals that will last, you know, a couple of days

or something

like that.

Anything that is.

I

just find that and I don't have the numbers, but I think that's quite a successful program just driving around or walking around the neighborhood.

It seems like a lot of people participate.

Yeah, we do.

We're always looking for more volunteers.

We have quite a few to help out the day of to help at sort at the post offices.

We always kind of tend to run a little short with volunteers going out to the routes.

So we do have carrier family members and friends coming in.

We also have the pantries that we work with that are supplying volunteers as well.

And we just kind of spread the word to

other family and friends that if they want to come and help

out, stay on that.

If you need

volunteer hours

for something, you can do that too.

And some people look to volunteer, and that's just a one, some people don't want to volunteer because they don't want to make the commitment for week after week.

This is just a 110 deal.

And the

United Way of Green Bay is also working on getting us volunteers

as well.

Okay, so who do we contact if we want to, you need two things.

You want the distribution, right, to sort the stuff when it all comes to a center, is that what you said?

Yeah, once it comes back to the post office, we have volunteers

that are

taking all the donations.

And they need volunteers to pick the stuff up.

Correct.

And they just need a vehicle then, and you give them a route.

John Maino

I would do that.

I hate to say this.

Teams of

two, one to drive, one

John Maino

to

get out of the car and pick up.

John Maino

You can get some

extra steps in that day.

Let's do that.

John Maino

I hate to look at the worst possible thing, but would somebody out there be thinking, hey, I'm going to pretend I'm one of those people and pick up free stuff?

We do have sheets of signs that

John Maino

we put on

the volunteer

John Maino

cards that also say volunteers.

It's

our stamp out hunger food.

John Maino

I mean, I hate to think that way, but with all the things that are stolen these days off of porches.

You know, yeah.

All right.

But they have that protection in

John Maino

there.

Yeah.

All right.

So we're going to get the bags.

You guys are going to drop them off this week.

And then we have to either go buy something or look what we have.

That's that's good food.

That's non perishable.

That's not going to expire in the near future.

Yeah,

John Maino

would be like a perfect thing for somebody to donate

any types of pastas or rice or oatmeal, peanut butter,

canned tuna, canned chicken.

Very

good.

You know, anything that.

Anything

John Maino

that you think I'm giving up my tuna.

I spent a buck 25 for that tuna.

Yeah, that is good.

Yeah, anything that people could use to make a meal,

right?

Okay, let's now I can do just a second, but you're gonna collect.

I don't know.

I have no idea.

But where

does it go?

It goes to all the local food food pantries that we work with that that I work with to coordinate all this so rooted in with Selena is one of them and then we have about

10 other pantries, local pantries that they're all going to be going to within Green Bay to peer and any other surrounding areas.

That's

right.

It's Selena.

You stay as local.

You've been on this show a couple of times here and we just love what you're doing with rooted in incorporated and you pick up or your job is to take excess food and get it to the right place.

That's

right.

We don't do enough of that.

We have excess food in our community.

We just

I don't want to go to landfill.

So you've worked on a couple things and I want to talk about both of them.

I definitely want to pick up on the post office, but let's go back to the NFL draft because I saw you yesterday, you were at our place.

What'd you, how'd that go?

What did you pick up?

Was there food leftover?

It was absolutely amazing.

So we had a posse of volunteers that would meet with the catering staff from the NFL offsite.

We would weigh all of the food that was donated and then we distributed.

it to 13 different agencies across

the

community.

How much food did you weigh in?

Well, we're actually still picking up and distributing food.

So as of this morning, we're at about 7,145 pounds of both food and beverages.

So the staff from the NFL is still in Green Bay and they still need to eat.

So if there's extras, we're still working with them.

So it's been over a week now.

of us going and picking up the food.

John Maino

When you say 7,000 pounds, I know that's your gauge or whatever, but in layman terms, like, how much food is that?

It's a lot of food.

I mean, we were blessed to have so much healthy food, so lean proteins, pasta, vegetables, salads, sandwiches.

You know, we weren't receiving

the junk, like the hot dogs and the brats, it was all neutral.

Why is

John Maino

that junk?

Okay,

John Maino

thank you

for being

John Maino

here, Shalina, for the last time ever.

Shalina, we just went from 13 places to 14, because we'll take the hot dogs in front.

Absolutely.

Born in London, or Washington Street.

Civic media.

Absolutely.

So it's part of my keto diet.

And you were at, I just,

You were at the New Community Shelter on TV yesterday, but thank you for dropping off a bunch of food for

us.

Yes, we had a lot of produce.

One of our food trucks wandering table had some extra food.

From the draft event we did at the Amplify parking lot.

So they donated some lettuce and green onions and some bread.

So we dropped that off over at the New Community Shelter yesterday.

I sort of

say it was used that night.

John Maino

That's what I want to get at though.

If somebody wants to donate stuff like that, you know, bring it to the community shelter type things where they'll use it right away versus somewhere else where it will...

Well, you

John Maino

won't

use

John Maino

it after three or four days.

Right.

But, like, anyone can... Any food that's going to waste in this community, reach out to Rooted In, we will find a way to come and pick it up, and we will get it distributed throughout this community to feed people.

I

was... Look, we have 118 people living there, and then we feed...

200 people in an evening.

And it was really fun when you guys started, you know, some of the trucks just came directly.

They didn't go through you because

Kathryn Lake

they just

like, look what they called us.

And, you know, we have a menu set up for the month, but it was, well, take that off of there.

Why take this frozen chicken out and do that?

We're going to have leftovers.

We'll call it something different, but we just, you know, a variety of things because there was so much.

That's good food.

I mean, most of it is good food, but there was, we enjoyed

John Maino

it.

Is there

anything worse than wasted food?

John Maino

You know what I mean?

So many people would give anything for some of those things.

And it's, and I don't want to say.

John Maino

But I will say this.

Thank goodness for something like that, because you never know.

I get calls.

I used to get calls when I was on the regular radio all the time.

You know, same type of thing.

Hey, we had a big event.

We got food left over.

What do we do with that?

Right.

And

John Maino

you're like a distributor.

I mean, call you first, right?

That's right.

But when you know you got 200 people coming for dinner, I mean, we can use it.

It has to get used.

I think that's a good point.

Like this lettuce and stuff.

I know I saw that last night.

About 48 hours?

We'll take it three days.

Yeah.

But.

I mean, we've set up all these amazing partnerships and mechanisms to receive the food and then distribute it to other food pantries, use it internally, root it in to make meals.

So, you know, we have the mechanisms to rescue this food and use it to feed our community.

It's going to be moving forward.

It's going to be more important than ever that our community invests in feeding our community.

So many food pantries and agencies have relied on federal funding and a lot of those programs are going to get cut in the near future.

So as a community, we need to rise up just like they did in Milwaukee about 10 years ago to support an organization called Kinship.

The community invested in food security because they realized how important it is that people who are struggling in poverty, food is just a part of that.

but such a necessary part.

Food and shelter, they can't go on and make better decisions unless they have those two things covered.

And you're right.

We've got our letters too saying, look, you know, don't rely on this in the future.

And we're like, okay, people are still going to want to eat.

So we just got to figure out other things.

And thank God, the post office, you guys are doing this event.

I'm sure we'll be a recipient of that.

And there's a lot of other things that we've been very creative the last couple of months looking at that.

But so I want to get back to the volunteers because that US post office thing, because two people to drive that.

And you sign up for like two, three hours or what do you want for commitments on that?

As long as you want.

So if you

John Maino

go- Let's do that.

I hate to be the naysayer.

But even just safety reasons, if I was doing this, I would want two people.

Instead of like, you know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

Yeah, because, yeah.

Yeah.

One person to drive, one person to get out and get the donation.

Yeah.

And then, or you could just go to the post office.

I take it you

do on a packer line.

Uh, we do it at Packerland and Coffin's.

Oh yeah, Coffin.

Yep.

And that's just distribution where you sort the foods.

Yeah, so we

have, we have about five, five pantries that are going to be out at Packerland gathering and then another six

John Maino

at Coffin.

We'll get your contact information

right

after

John Maino

the break.

Because it's really important stuff.

Selena and Jeremy, back right after

this.

Keep the good part on the pedal So I'm never minding breaks Let it all hang out cause we got a run to pick The boys are thirsty in Atlanta And there's beer in Texarkana And we'll bring it back no matter what it takes He's found it

Kathryn Lake

down You're listening to Civic Media

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started.

John Maino

Thursday morning, talking about something that's very, very important.

Oh, yeah, this food insecurity that we have in our community.

And one of the reasons is the distribution.

We have food, and we have food.

We have great people that want to help.

So big opportunity coming up this weekend.

Well, this week, it's actually May 10th.

So Jeremy, just go through that again.

You've seen this.

It's been around for 30 years.

The US Post Office works with the food pantries, and they collect food.

So you're going to get the bags?

John Maino

But the other part we were just talking about during the break,

Everybody wants to help.

Oh that our hours

and we need volunteers We need volunteers to help pick up the food.

So two people drive Somebody's the runner and somebody is in the car So we they'll give you a little map and you say look I'm willing to do this for one two three four hours So we need people partners to do that The other thing that we need people to do is this food gets dropped off at a distribution center either on Coffran or on Packerland and we need help

with that.

That's something your family could sign up to do, or you and your friends.

Are you

John Maino

a community service?

Are

you students that need your 15 hours?

And we had 45 kids at a shelter yesterday, washing windows, great kids, but they wanted to get there, you know, some five hours in.

This is a great opportunity to do that.

And how good you're going to feel about feeding our community?

Because this stuff stays local, comes from locals, stays local.

So let me talk when we get this, if somebody's listening.

Yeah, so you can reach out to me.

for volunteer opportunities at NALC 619 SOH at gmail.com.

Just wait, NALC?

Yep, NALC 619 SOH at gmail.com.

John Maino

All right, we'll put that on our website.

Got a good text here.

I'm curious, do they work with any of the school districts?

Tina?

The school districts have not historically participated in the Stampout Hunger Food Drive.

Okay, but nuts sure can't from a volunteer standpoint.

Absolutely.

John Maino

I mean you love them

too.

Yeah, we would love

yeah, so so for me rooted in we are assigned a pickup time of 2 o'clock p.m.

And we have requested two 1,000 pound totes of food

So we will load up one tote into a trailer and then bring it back to our office.

John Maino

How do you carry a thousand pound tote?

On a trailer.

The trailer.

And then I will need volunteers after 2.30 p.m.

to help us unload.

a thousand pounds of food from the trailer into our office.

Got it.

And then we will go back to Coffrin, pick up the second tote of a thousand pounds, bring it back, and then we will need people to also unload again.

All right, so what's

the cut?

Selina's one of the smaller pantries, like we have some pantries that are getting like requesting 10 totes.

Wow.

10,000 pounds.

Right.

So hopefully last year, between the two offices in Green Bay, we got about 60,000 pounds.

of donations and that's on the lower side.

Right.

So

we've

had upwards of 100,000 pounds of donations on previous.

Wow.

Selena, to contact you for, let's say that part.

For boot it in for any volunteers.

And if I end up with too many volunteers, we will find a

John Maino

job for you to do.

And I just want to say something.

What you just said, throwing out those numbers.

That kind of like illuminates the need in this area that we who are, you know, middle Americans don't see and you guys do.

And for your people, your walkers, your postal people who have all the respect in the world for, you guys see it, don't you?

I should say you men and women see

it.

Yeah, in our communities, we kind of know also what's going on with our communities and we also see the need.

I think a lot of.

People see it.

I mean, it's we just John was just putting out the window.

Some people walking by here.

But what can I do?

Kathryn Lake

You want to run

out there and give the guy $5?

It's like, is that the right thing to do?

And I don't know.

I'm not sure it really is.

But to direct people to some of the services we have in our community, 13 food pantries,

John Maino

obviously.

I want to harp on one or not harp, but one other thing that I told you, I like to live right here.

I live downtown Green Bay.

OK.

And I'm a.

Go ahead.

Everybody laugh first before I say it.

Go ahead.

He's gonna say he walks.

John Maino

I'm a big walker.

He walks.

He lives upstairs.

What's 40 steps maybe?

45?

John Maino

Well, it's going upstairs.

We get it up.

We're good.

We're good.

He gets the elevator up.

John Maino

But not down.

I always walk down.

Okay, go ahead.

But what's your point?

But what I'm saying is, I've actually told Jim sometimes with some of these neighborhoods I walk through, it's like, holy crap, I walk down such and such street.

That's a...

That's a tough street.

You weren't in work title town.

Everything is phenomenal when you walk

place to live.

John Maino

Yeah, when you walk a city and you see and what I'm saying is you people in the postal department that do what you guys probably know a city as much as well as anybody.

Correct.

Yeah.

Yep.

Oh,

John Maino

yeah.

So that's where if you're I've only

I've only been in Green Bay for about three years.

I was an Appleton beforehand.

So

John Maino

But you guys know a community.

So if you're involved with this,

it's legit.

Yeah, it is.

But Jimmy, I just want to say that when we go to mayor school, they tell you one of the things to do, they give you a lot of things to do, visit the pantries and all that, but visit the schools.

But to walk.

John Maino

Order sweater

vests?

Order sweater.

He doesn't like my sweater vest.

I love him.

Anyway, to walk your community.

You just see more, you feel more.

It's just a different thing when you're walking versus.

Yeah,

and I just really want to give a huge shout out to the United Way Brown County.

We did not have bags the last two years because we did not have funding.

And it's been proven that when their bags distributed in the community, more people donate food.

So we're so excited to have this opportunity to get the bags out there.

So please fill them up because people need the food

between the postcards and the bags It's a visual reminder to the community.

I'm not sure we got the rooted ink contact info yet.

Oh, yeah me Selena Darrow Selena at rooted in ink.org Okay, and our website is www.rootedinink.org We're on Facebook Instagram and LinkedIn.

All

John Maino

right, okay, so if I

See a bag in my door knob.

Yep.

John Maino

We're gonna have blue bags blue grocery bags.

What would Selena?

What would you love to see in that bag?

I would love to see whole foods so beans canned protein peanut butter Pasta rice not seasoned rice rice that people can actually cook with those sorts of things all right

And if you don't go out buy it too, right?

I mean, yes, you know when we got us we got to support this is a big deal for but nothing perishable, right nothing perishable All right, we're on it you guys.

Thank you for doing this.

This is behind

John Maino

the

scenes, but you know, you make Green Bay a better

John Maino

place a great combination

between this is great.

John Maino

I love it.

That's

John Maino

all right.

We'll do it.

We're doing it.

Thank you so much Selena.

Whatever we can do to help your cause.

Absolutely.

Okay.

Thanks so much.

Appreciate

John Maino

it.

You got it quick break

back

From

local stories to local voices, we're shining a spotlight on what matters right here in northeast Wisconsin.

It's more than just talk.

It's about connecting with the community.

This is Mino and the Mayor.

Now here's John Mino and Jim Schmidt.

John Maino

here on a rainy Thursday morning.

Thank you so much.

Selena Daryl and Jeremy Beck rooted in with the United States Postal Service.

They're gonna put bags in your doorknobs, give them stuff.

Yeah, this week you're gonna get the bag and then you put that bag out by 9.30 on the 10th.

All right, so 9.30 on the 10th.

You put those bags out and it's stamping out hunger and they're gonna collect

Don't know 60 70 80 thousand pounds of food, which is tremendous if you think about that and it's gonna go to 13 distribution points in our community.

So this is an opportunity You see people sometimes on the street or you see people you hear people are hungry This is an opportunity to help and much as you want to put in there, and I'm sure they'd be okay

John Maino

You go to your cupboard, you know, I mean it's not like you're driving it to someplace and

right and they pick it up and but with that said and you go to our

Todd will post all this, but we do need volunteers.

People, you know, two people to drive, so I don't

John Maino

know.

Couple of these students want to do that and just drive around, sign up for an hour or two or three hours, because I know you got to get your 15 hours in, or just do it because...

You want to do it.

And then we need people when it comes to the distribution sites on Coffin Road, as well as on Packerland, we need people to help there.

And so all the information is on there, but this is a great, great thing for our community.

We do it annually.

John Maino

And again, going to your cupboards, right?

You know, you don't have to do whatever.

We're just going to your cupboards and fill a little bag.

That's how you got to do.

All right.

Let's talk about something else.

Becky Sorensen from on Broadway Incorporation and everybody that comes in here on on Broadway.

What's the first thing we say to every one of them before we do anything?

What's the public market opening?

John Maino

No, the other one.

What we're not gonna do.

Oh, I'm excited to hear this.

Me too.

Dunk Tank.

Oh, yeah, they're having a, you guys are event driven over there.

And you're the director of this whole

John Maino

thing.

And we are not doing, we're done

John Maino

with Dunk Tanks.

We've done our dues.

Mary, you can plead with us.

No, and I know, and I know why, you know what?

Can I be honest with you?

I don't mean to sound... Crabby.

No, I'm not crabby.

Angry.

No, I'm

not.

Like that guy said.

John Maino

No, I'm not.

Oh,

John Maino

never say that again.

But anyway, no, what I'm saying is I think they just want to see our bodies.

I think you know what?

You know what?

I think we're being

used.

The more I think

John Maino

about it.

I think we're being used.

The more I think about it.

Because we

do.

We do.

That's.

John Maino

Yeah.

And we're not going for that, Betsy.

We're not falling for

that.

All

right.

Hi, Betsy.

Hi.

How are you?

Thanks for having me on this morning.

Good

having

you.

Again, on Broadway.

event driven and you're in charge of that.

We're gonna get to

John Maino

this.

Were you in charge of the concert Saturday night or Friday?

Because I'll tell you what, that was spectacular.

Thank you.

Yeah, I was not in charge of it, but I was there helping and running the beverage tents.

I also manage our volunteer program.

John Maino

Okay, I just want to say something and I'm certainly not blowing smoke up.

But 20 years?

No, 15, how many years ago was it?

You actually contacted us at the radio station and it was when they were like,

giving light park, a birth, a rebirth.

It was like us.

Well, I was

those flags up there.

John Maino

I mean, that's cool part.

That's going to be a cooler part, too.

From what that place used to be versus what it is now.

And I was telling this, this was, you know, possibly by mistake or whatever.

But the way the stage was set up the other night and you had that band on.

OK.

And I live right upstairs of you could.

OK.

The sound that came across the water.

from that, you built that big pavilion or whatever, and that sound coming across is incredible.

That's awesome.

John Maino

I'm glad to hear that.

That thing you did the other night with that band, and I've never heard an audience more into a band than they

were.

They were pretty stoked.

Kind of a stacked lineup with lots of different genres, something for everybody.

And those headliners really did bring the crowd and we were, yeah, we were pleased.

John Maino

But what a great setting that is for music.

Yeah.

John Maino

And I think the water helps it, like, you know, bring it throughout the entire community.

Yeah.

It was really, but the crowd was so into it.

Yeah, the crowd was great, and Lake Park really is so lovely.

We worked closely with the City of Green Bay to bring some enhancements to the park specifically for that event, but hopefully we'll stay and continue to

add some.

It's getting there.

That needs a lot of work.

I mean, you need permanent restrooms there.

I don't know if you're going to put a band shell on there permanently, but that is going to be a great place for Green Bay someday.

But you got to keep at it.

And I know that some of your proceeds go to support the park.

Correct.

So all the tips that were brought in from the beverage tents will go towards that development

project.

That was a fun project.

Okay, let's talk about how you're going to leverage it this year.

Yeah, so we are coming up in June.

We're starting our third year of the Levitt Amp Green Bay Music Series.

And we are super excited.

It's a 10-week concert series from June 1st to August 3rd.

So it'll be a free concert weekly in Lake Park.

Thanks to Mrs. Levitt.

Or what's Levitt?

So the Levitt Foundation was founded by Mimi and Mortimer Levitt.

They're based out of Los Angeles.

Nobody's called Mimi.

I didn't Auntie Mimi.

Nobody's called Mimi and Mimi anymore.

Mimi, yeah.

Well, okay, yeah.

So Mimi's one of them.

Are they still living or they?

No, Mimi

and Mortimer have passed.

It was run by their daughter, Liz, who actually also passed away last year.

So

now they're changing, they're restructuring some things.

It's now going to be called the Levitt Family Foundation.

But they award a grant to many, probably over 30 communities around the country, small to mid-sized, specifically this-

That's not a lot to get that.

I mean, that's competitive.

It is, yeah.

And there's a whole application.

process, I don't know if any of you guys listening remember a few years ago, we did a whole like campaign to vote to get this grant.

And we did, we got

it.

So they match funds.

They're half of it and then the community steps up.

Are you charged for these

John Maino

events?

Or how's it work?

Having both of us work to nonprofits, I don't know if people realize that sometimes, that somebody gives a nice check and say, oh man, you guys are in fat city.

Well, that's where the work just starts, right?

Right.

If it's matching

funds.

It

is.

John Maino

It's

matching

John Maino

funds.

So

it's a three-year grant.

So each year, the foundation gives us $30,000, which we then have to match.

I will say the majority of that goes to paying for the artists.

Of

course.

because it's 10 weeks, we have two artists each week.

But yeah, so we're in the third year of this grant program and hopefully gonna be renewing for another

cycle.

And the events, I was reading through this and you know, you got interesting artists.

Do they tell you who they want you to promote or do you have people coming up?

How does that work?

They don't tell us, they don't give us an artist roster or anything like that.

They have specific criteria.

So really the goal of,

the Levitt Amps series is to bring kind of diverse new types of music that people might not be used to hearing, but featuring up-and-coming artists, people that have professionally released music, and really featuring those folks that are kind of rising to the top.

And so they have criteria that we have to meet, like a certain amount of... Can

John Maino

I just jump in real quick?

We had Matt on yesterday from the... That's a tough

job.

To find them on the way up or on the way down.

John Maino

Because it's so big and crazy.

We can do

it.

Why?

These guys don't charge, so that's crazy.

This

is a free event, free to the public.

We have food trucks and a beverage tent there, but we encourage folks to bring chairs, bring a picnic.

We really want this to be an inclusive...

of space for everybody, for the whole community.

So

when does this

kick off?

June 1st is our first.

That's

John Maino

coming

up.

Yeah, it is.

It's month,

John Maino

right?

May 1st is today,

so month away.

John Maino

That's funny.

You know what?

I'm going to tell young kids about growing old.

Bleep happens so fast.

I remember being at a meeting.

It's like, well, for the NFL, it's like a year and a half away.

And now it's past us.

And you're talking about June.

It's like, OK, that's coming up.

I know.

Life doesn't slow down when you're planning things.

And you guys

have a lot going on over there too, which makes it go faster for you as

well.

Yeah, event after event, right?

So who was the committee?

Did you select the music and tell us about some of the artists that you're excited about?

Yeah, so we... Because

John Maino

we want to be on that committee.

But not Todd, because we don't know the people that he listens to.

Actually, Todd should be on the committee.

John Maino

He should, but he's too smart.

Todd, we're talking about you!

Get back in the studio!

Yeah, so we do have a planning committee.

It's made up of different community members, kind of around the city, from different backgrounds, different, you

John Maino

know, areas.

Did you get a call?

Pardon me?

Did you get a call to be on that committee?

Did you get a text or email or anything?

Because I did not.

I don't know.

Well,

you know, maybe now's the chance.

John Maino

Because you know what you need to do?

What?

Trucker Thursday.

Trucker Thursday?

John Maino

Yeah.

All trucker music.

Is that your event?

John Maino

That's the pitch?

Yeah.

Okay.

I'll bring that to

John Maino

the team.

You didn't even write it down?

I got it in my head.

Right.

Okay.

Nice to write it

down.

Well, I don't have a pen.

I'll call Brian right now.

I'll call Brian.

All right.

So we're kicking this off Sunday, June 1st.

And your headliner is Traveling Suitcase.

Correct.

Traveling Suitcase is

the headliner?

I love those guys.

Yeah.

I know.

Oh, great.

Well, sorry.

John Maino

We're really old guys.

No, you know, he's I've never seen a person more excited about anything other than him the other day.

Was that what?

And what was that?

We're going to try to get his second all time musical idol on our show.

It's true.

And who is that?

John Maino

Wayne

Newton.

Wayne Newton.

Don't you say way new like you don't know.

Be

John Maino

careful.

You'll kick you right out of the studio if you disparage way new.

And I'm going to get started with Liberace.

Go ahead.

Yeah, so Traveling Suitcases, our headliner from June 1st.

They're from Wisconsin.

We've had kind of a pared-down version of their band, a duo or trio, perform at some of our other events.

So we're really excited to have them back.

And then our opener is Maddie Batsley, who is a Madison-based artist.

And that's at four o'clock,

which is nice.

Yes, it's four o'clock in the afternoon on a Sunday.

Right, it's like a chill time.

It's perfect.

a little warm, get out there.

But I want to talk about the second one, because that's unbelievable who you got for that.

Get this, Johnny.

You're reading that?

100 million views, 350,000 followers.

Tell me about this guy.

Yeah.

David Yang, we are really excited about him.

He's been writing his own lyrics since he was 16.

And

John Maino

I'm just going to jump in on one thing with that, what you said.

Okay, in our day, it was like somebody were doing album.

And that's how you got to know them.

Now they develop an unbelievable following.

Social media, TikTok.

Yeah, but he kind of blends, you know, those hip hop, rap, R&B and some traditional Hmong music, because he is a part of the Hmong community

Kathryn Lake

as

well.

But we are actually partnering with Maeve Passion, which is a new nonprofit kind of in the area, to put, to extend that event, to make it all, we're calling it a Hmong music showcase.

John Maino

Awesome.

Hey, noise with yesterday, Jim?

at the Vietnam thing, the Hmong veterans that we had here in the studio.

And he came up to me and he goes, do you remember me?

I was in your radio show.

It's like, is that whole bunch that were there?

What wonderful gentlemen.

And that's nice that we, we

have a strong Hmong community

John Maino

here.

And they're very

active and we can learn a lot from them.

Just in terms of, don't go to their parties if you don't drink.

John Maino

Well,

that, yeah, a little

John Maino

bit of

that.

John Maino

But Jim hammered it.

Funerals.

When I showed up, it was like,

important for them.

And so they bring out like Jack Daniels and stuff.

And I'm not real good with that.

So anyway, I had to call for a ride.

Oh, well, you know,

just giving you a warning.

All right.

Well, okay.

So this is every Sunday.

Are they consecutive?

Yes, there are two exceptions.

So we are rolling our Sunday concerts into a couple of the other events we have going on this summer.

So the Ignite Market, the first one is on June 21st, and that's a Saturday.

So we will have kind of the Levitt Amp Green Bay Music Series stage at the Ignite Market.

John Maino

We're going to keep you around for the next segment.

Just quickly run through the rest of your lineup, and then we'll get more on it.

Yeah, I'll just go through the headliners.

We've got Traveling Suitcase, David Yang, Melody Angel, who's a blues rock musician.

Bridget calls me Baby, which is Alton Indy, Radio Free Honduras, which is kind of Latin Americana, Parker Barrow, Blues, Infused Southern Rock, Shamar Allen, which is hip hop and kind of New Orleans Jazz, Fox Crossing String Band, which is an all-female bluegrass band, and Indigenous, which is Indigenous in 90s.

Rock and then Lemon Bucket Orchestra to close out the series, which is a Ukrainian folk punk

band.

What a variety of music you're bringing.

That's very cool.

That's

awesome.

That's incredible.

John Maino

I

want to get a little bit more info on this, that selection committee.

It's

John Maino

a good thing we're not on

there.

That's awesome.

John Maino

I know we would have Wayne Newton, Red Soul Vine.

He's been dead for 20 years.

Let's still try to get him.

You stick around.

This is cool.

Thanks, guys.

You're

Kathryn Lake

listening to Civic Media.

Find the latest news, information and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website,

civicmedia.us.

It

was the dark of the moon on the 6th of June and a Kenworth pulling logs Cab over Pete with a reefer on

John Maino

Get this guy.

Was he dead?

I

John Maino

don't know.

I believe he is.

Yeah, most people you like are.

I like you.

I've looked at jumping.

I'm doing well.

John Maino

I don't think you're Irish.

I am a little bit Irish.

Yeah.

Yeah, a

little bit.

You are the

John Maino

director.

Is your wife Irish?

No, Swedish.

Because your daughters almost look Irish.

They have like reddish hair, don't they?

Blindish reddish?

No.

I mean, I'm thinking of somebody else.

You

are.

You've got a lot going on.

I just say there's a lot going on Broadway

John Maino

Don't

talk about your your lane, which is this love it amp

John Maino

and love it Some of our best discussions are during breaks something else you brought up momentum is so important.

Yeah, isn't it though?

Oh, yeah,

John Maino

and you guys anything yes

business sports

John Maino

and getting getting sponsors Sponsors want to jump aboard

Things that are going this way, exactly.

Like these schools that are hurting from money, schools that have money are getting more money.

John Maino

We

just love winners.

And I don't know.

You guys are doing it.

Yeah,

thanks.

Yeah, I think that's

cool.

Yeah, it's exciting.

You know, the whole part of the element of the Levitt Amp Grant program is to bring programming to maybe some underutilized spaces in small to mid-sized communities.

And so I think it's been really great to help program that park.

And it's just continuing to get.

programmed more and more.

And we've got, you know, the Draft City Music Fest was kind of the first time that we took the development project kind of public.

So, yeah, there's some cool stuff happening

John Maino

there.

And hate to say it, but just tell everybody where Lake Park is because...

The one thing in northeast Wisconsin, no matter what you give a direction, you have to have a landmark.

It's by the quick trip.

Oh, I know where you're going.

So go ahead and give a, you know.

Yeah.

So likes Memorial Park is right off of the Main Street Bridge on the, you know, west side of the river, right by the depot.

John Maino

Look for, okay.

I'm going to say something and all of a sudden every single person will know where it is.

Donald Driver,

right?

Donald Driver.

Yep.

Donald Driver Lane.

That's the one.

His statue.

Yep, his statue.

Absolutely.

So that's that's what it is.

It's, uh, you're not closing the bridge for these, are you?

Oh, no.

Okay.

Right.

But they're still well attended.

Yes, they are.

And there's plenty of parking.

People can park over here.

It's obviously free parking on weekends.

They just walk across the bridge or there's plenty of parking.

There is plenty of

parking in the park itself.

Actually, there's a huge parking lot.

So when we keep that open,

John Maino

I thought it was kind of, I'm not a big fan of.

road closures.

But I thought it was kind of cool the other night when the bridge was closed, the Radnitsky Bridge was closed down because there were so many people walking and cutting across the road.

Exactly.

And everything.

And that's really why we do it for pedestrian traffic.

So, yeah, and it was great on Wednesday night when we did the fireworks.

People were lined up on the bridge watching the, watching the

John Maino

fireworks.

I'll be honest with it.

The night Musk was in town.

Okay, horrible night.

I mean rainy and windy and the wind coming off the bay and I was light up start I was taking pictures and I must have seen Potentially five or six near tragic because people were there was no you know anything

They were just running right across here and other people were

coming to the lights.

John Maino

I swear to, I mean, between people having to stop and squealing of brakes and everything.

So when I walked to your event the other night, it was great that it was just so safe.

Good.

I'm glad to hear that.

And even for these things, you bring people out to do our traffic, don't you?

Across

the street, I mean, there's, right?

Yes, yes, and it does depend on the size of the event too, but typically.

All right, so we got, there's 10 of these, how many did you say?

Yes, 10.

10 events and we want to think to love it.

family foundation for matching this grant, helping us utilize maybe spaces that could be utilized more in the downtown.

Absolutely.

And they have the focus on the artists that are kind of coming up.

I think that they need that.

It's competitive, right?

And it's a lot of social media and to play in front of a live audience, there's nothing like it.

And that's nice of you to reach out.

I love the variety of music you have.

I mean, that was a good community to put together.

Who else brings in this eclectic of a lineup?

Yeah.

And the cool thing is too, that it's all original music, right?

And we have so many cover bands here and we love our cover bands.

They are

near and dear to us.

But sometimes it's cool too to hear some new original music that maybe

you

wouldn't normally listen to.

And at four o'clock on a Sunday, that's a good time.

What else you got going on?

Exactly, what else you got going

on?

Yeah, we kind of tried to hit the, maybe, folks that are finishing up at church and brunch or people that are coming back from their cabins

for the weekend.

There's no football game

in the afternoon.

That's awesome.

Well, thank you for doing this.

I think this is...

John Maino

Both of our daughters live in Brooklyn.

Okay, and I don't know about you, but one of the first things I wanted to when I visited was like go through like the Soho district Yeah, I think you guys are like could be a mini Soho district.

Have you been there?

I have been to Soho.

What do you agree though as far as like kind of like eclectic?

What?

No?

I think the cheapest place is about a million and a half dollars.

John Maino

No, no, no, but I'm saying as far as the entertainment and the little shops and little restaurant type

things.

Yeah, I would say that that is that is a great aspiration.

It

is.

Love it.

Love it, and downtown's gonna be like, have you ever heard of Manhattan?

So, yes, we're

getting there.

I also do want to give a quick shout out to our presenting sponsor, Fox Communities Credit

Union.

Oh yeah, they're great.

We love them.

Absolutely, man.

They've been awesome for us.

They have been wonderful.

Well, that's great.

Do you need volunteers to help out with this?

Are you good?

We do, so we've got a couple different opportunities.

As I mentioned, I run the volunteer program as well as direct the special events.

So we have beverage tent serving opportunities at all of these.

We also need help setting up and tearing down.

We use the Park's mobile show wagon stage and it takes some labor to set it up and tear it back down.

John Maino

If somebody hasn't been there though, it's a lot bigger than you would realize just by driving past it.

Four and a half acres, right?

Wow.

Yeah, it's pretty big.

Yeah, I would say that there's a grassy lot kind of north of the park proper that technically isn't part of the park.

But since everybody's on it, we claim it as our own.

You're right.

OK, so tell me, how do we contact you if we want to volunteer?

I mean, this stuff's all going to be on Broadway's website.

And we're going to have plenty of information on this.

But tell me about if we want to help.

Yeah, so if you're interested in getting involved in any capacity, joining a committee, we've got a hype team that helps spread the word in the community.

You can reach out to me.

My email address is Betsy, B-E-T-S-Y, at onbroadway.org.

Otherwise, all this information is on our website, which is at downtowngreenbay.com.

Great.

Thanks for doing this.

This is going to be a fun summer.

Thanks to you.

This is going to

John Maino

be awesome.

Keep doing what you guys do.

And next time we want an update on a public market.

OK, I'll do what I can.

I

John Maino

got a

free

John Maino

stand coming.

A free

John Maino

stand?

From Brian.

Okay,

John Maino

got that.

Make sure I still got that, okay?

Okay, I'll touch base with that.

You didn't write anything down, right?

Everything I've told you, none of that have you written

Kathryn Lake

down.

You gotta give me a pen.

Back after this.

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