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very excited to have you here with us today on a wonderful Monday first show out the gate with without the lovely Jane McNair, but she is here with in spirit.
She is probably listening right now and we just give all of our love and support to Jane.
We miss her very much already on her first day gone, but we have a great, great second hour for you today.
We are going to be speaking to another owner of a toy store here of toy store in Wisconsin, collect and gather actually in a thrift store.
My apologies.
Art and thrift store, collect and gather.
They are based at a plover and they're going to be, they're going to be joining us later on the hour.
If you want to talk more about us with toys, cause we got a great holiday season coming up and it's about keeping the dollars in the community is really, really important.
But before we get any further, if you want to get in touch with us, you can call or text 855-752-484-2855-757.
Leave a comment on the live stream.
Or you can get us a touch of this on Facebook, YouTube, the place we used to call Twitter.
We still call it here in this house.
We're going to move on to our next guest.
Our next guest is the Marketing and Media Liaison for the Volunteer Power Donor Power Organization, MKE Grocery Buddy.
Katie Goodwin is here today.
Katie, thank you so much for being here.
We really appreciate your time.
And yeah, how are you doing this morning?
Good.
How are you also Greg?
We call it Twitter in my house as well.
I understand
that very
well.
Yeah.
I'm doing great.
Just getting, getting ready for the holiday season.
I'm, I'm telling myself to get ready.
I'm saying to myself today is a day where you start shopping and I'm like, that's right.
And then later on tonight, I'll be like, ah, that's right.
I should have started shopping today, but okay.
But yeah, that's for, that's for another conversation.
We're here though to talk about MKE grocery buddy, which when I heard about this is, I mean, it's absolutely amazing.
Born out of
a necessity to serve the community.
Can you tell us more about what MKE grocery buddy does for folks in Milwaukee?
Sure.
So you mentioned a little bit of backstory.
I'll just touch on that very briefly
because
I feel like it's very important.
So Meg Sargent, our founder, works in urban agriculture in community gardens.
So she's always been focused on food insecurity and food systems within Wisconsin.
The SNAP funding was frozen.
She just sent out a general social media post that said, hey, I'm going to drop two links.
One is if you are experiencing a lapse in food security because of this funding freeze, please fill this out.
And the other one was, hey, if you're feeling passionate about helping people who might be affected by this and want to support financially or otherwise, fill out this link.
So it initially started as a small grassroots pairing of people in need with
buddies who are willing to support them.
And within 24 hours her simple Instagram message got over 200 requests.
Oh my goodness.
And it's kind of evolved into where we are today.
So it's very, we like to say it's very much building the plane with flying it.
You know, it started that day.
I messaged sure on social media.
We went to high school together and I was like, Oh, if you need any help.
And then all of a sudden we're like, you know, we're, we're building spreadsheets.
We're organizing.
We're coordinating.
Um, and, uh, it's, it's been really amazing to see, uh, but we also have full time jobs and stuff too.
So it's definitely been an interesting learning curve, but it's been incredibly fulfilling and sustaining to see how this happens in our communities.
Now tell us what.
MKE grocery buddy does someone wants to go and want they want to sign up.
What are they going to do when they get to the website?
What why are they going to that website?
Sounds good.
Thank you, Greg.
I did realize afterwards.
I didn't fully answer your first question.
This is
baby's first.
This is baby's first radio.
There
you go.
So I asked for some, uh, some grace from the audience,
but yeah, it's my first, it's my first show as the host.
So, you know, hey, we're, we're going in this together.
We're holding hands virtually.
That's all that matters.
So yeah, overall MK grocery buddy, we're traditionally not a 501C or nothing that we're simply a grassroots organization that pairs neighbors in need with community members who want to support them.
So on our website, you can find there's two main hubs that there's our request hub where anyone in need of additional support can go in and fill out a little information, you know.
the amount they could use every month or week, any limitations around their access to food.
So whether it's, you know, they're homebound and disabled
or they're
elderly, or they simply are, you know, their kosher or halal.
And there are things that are just not covered under a basic SNAP benefit of any kind.
And so they can go in there, put in a request, and at the same time, over in our volunteer portal, people can sign up to be paired with a buddy.
So they fill out some of the things, you know, would you like to A?
make a direct financial contribution to the individual to support their grocery needs, or if their needs are higher, would you like to coordinate the purchase and delivery?
of groceries directly to this individual.
So
whether
you are just looking for more of a way to help your community through direct finances, we have that opportunity, or maybe you found yourself to have more time and you want to do more this holiday season, you can actually purchase and deliver groceries to some of your
community.
And that's basically the gist of it all is like people who need groceries get groceries.
And that's what we're doing for our community members, because as you said, this was born out of the freeze on SNAP benefits.
when it comes to situations like this, this is where the community steps up and says, we need to help these folks.
And, and from the initial announcement from Meg to where you are now, where, where, where is it taken since you've done it?
Cause it's been how many months now?
Oh my gosh.
I, I, it's like everything has been a bit of a whirlwind, but, uh, literally from, I think it was November, was it, I believe it was November 1st that we, uh, we're, we're starting with.
the snap laps, I will double check.
But it's really just been a whirlwind.
Like it's primarily right now, it's Meg, myself, our friend Jenny and Michelle, and we all work in different industries and different walks of life, things like that.
And all of us had just expressed interest and passion for this type of work.
And it's been insane.
Like the spreadsheets, the algorithms,
the simply the sheer amount of outreach that has happened in this time in one of our recent meetings Meg started and she said I think we just need to take a moment to realize that at the time it was I think about two weeks after the snap flaps occurred Meg said we have tried to replicate
a long-standing government program within our community in a matter of two weeks, while having full-time jobs, while, you know, balancing everything else that's going on in our lives.
like a pat on the back to us, but it's more of the view of that, you know, when our community needs us, we have to step up.
And so just mobilizing around all of that has been really amazing to see the depth of the formality of the organization.
Um, and just the beautiful stories that has come out of this as well.
If you're just joining us right now, I'm Matt Nair on air.
We are talking to Katie Goodwin, who is the marketing liaison of MKE grocery buddy.
A, I want to say it exactly because I love the way a volunteer powered donor powered organization that seeks to bring groceries to those who are in need, especially because of, of, of this, the laps and snap benefits.
And I, the question I have too is with the,
with the lapse, with the freeze on those benefits.
What kind of conversations are opening up now because of that as well as what you are doing to make people understand the importance of SNAP?
Because there's a lot of myth and almost shame on those who take SNAP.
And what we're seeing is that SNAP is not just for this group that we have vilified.
It's for
A lot of people who have full-time jobs, who are farmers, what conversations have you seen open up because of the work you're doing with MKE Grocery Buddy?
I mean, Greg too, I'm happy to even speak about my own experiences with this.
It was eye-opening.
So I grew up in the Milwaukee area.
I lived admittedly an incredibly privileged life.
Food insecurity was not something that I had to consider in my own life.
It was simply, you know, volunteering at food drives, things like that.
And when I was in college, my dad became super ill and disabled.
you know, I have lived this life where everything is great privilege and then suddenly, you know, the only job he could maintain was at a grocery store.
So very quickly, I realized that every single one of us is so much closer
to
being in this situation where we need help from our community than we are ever to being a billionaire.
And in my own, it's true though,
but it's one of those
things where, you know, yeah, even me living such a privileged life that I did, my family was in a very
tricky situation and the only way we got by was because of the love support and you know sustaining of others and when I heard about this type of project that was coming together with Meg at the helm I knew from my own personal experiences that I had one a lot of learning to do two could resonate so when you're talking about snap we always like to say community food systems
It's there's a little gaps in between so like food banks are incredible resources in communities church meals Snap itself however, there are still a lot of gaps within this system that we are working as MK grocery buddy to fill so I personally didn't know because as I said I lived a very privileged life of you know There are a lot of limitations on staff.
You can't buy hot food.
You
can't buy cleaning supplies
As a woman you can't buy tampons like things that you think in your life as essential when you go to the grocery store Aren't included and so our view here is to really step in in those in those corners and say Okay, where can we provide direct funds to supplement all of this whether it's religious beliefs or you know, maybe maybe they deserve I fly personally they deserve hot food every once in a
while like
those type of beliefs really drive us forward because
One organization is not going to solve hunger in Wisconsin It's going to be the work of all of us doing little things all over to kind of build that safety net That every human being deserves when it comes around access
Well, I think the other thing that is very important to discuss is that this can't be this can't be a
a placeholder for the work that I believe needs to happen from the government, from local state and federal government.
This is a bigger issue than party lines.
This is a bigger issue than who you voted for.
This is all about who needs help and what are our leaders willing to do to step up?
Because while what you are doing is fantastic, I personally don't want to see leaders say something effective.
Well, we got MKE grocery buddies.
They're great.
So they can, they can do all the work and we don't have to do anything.
And that's not how we get things done in a civilized society.
We have to work together and create systems where there is buy-in from community leaders such as yourself, our local lawmakers, our state and federal lawmakers.
So I mean, what you do is doing is great, but I put the word out to people who are, I mean, whether you are on snap or not on snap, it's about calling these
our leaders and saying we need to make sure that you know in a perfect world MKE grocery buddy doesn't exist because people don't have to have a lack of access to food but unfortunately that's the world we live in but that's where we step up and not only help our our community members but we also say to our leaders
You need to do something about this because Katie Goodwin has a full-time job and she loves to help, but also you need to do your work.
So, I mean, that's where I push it to say, talk to your local leaders.
And we're going to keep the conversation going with Katie about this because it's a very important, very wonderful group.
I want to talk more about the folks who get the food, the folks who actually like, who are receiving the food from their grocery buddies when we come back.
But if you want to talk to us about your
dealings with snap or were you affected by this?
Have you taken part in a, in a organization such as this?
Please call us, text us 855-752-4842-855-75 civic on, uh, you can text us.
You can get us in touch with us on the live stream.
We'd love to hear from you.
We're talking to Katie Goodwin, who is from NKE grocery buddies, a grocery buddy.
And I'm Greg Bach, your host on Matt and air on air.
Stay close, stay tuned.
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Good morning.
Welcome back to Matt and Aaron here.
My name is Greg Bach and you are here with us in our second hour.
We're so happy to have you here.
Listening and joining be part of the conversation by calling 855-752-4842 or leave a comment on the live stream.
You can do that by going to Facebook.
YouTube or the place we in our house still call Twitter.
We are talking to Katie Goodwin, who is the marketing liaison of MKE grocery buddy.
And we're discussing the wonderful work they're doing, which was born out of the snap laps and payments and basically talking about community stepping up to help each other in a time of need, especially when it comes to food insecurity, because that is something we face more and more.
And it is a problem.
It is not an urban problem.
It is not a suburban problem.
It's not, it's an olive problem.
It faces a lot of individuals.
And Katie, one of the things I wanted to ask is, is there, is there any sort of sense you get from people who take part who might not, I don't want to say embarrassed, but they're, they're afraid to ask for help essentially, but they do because they need to.
Absolutely.
Greg, I can speak directly on that.
In my own experiences.
So one thing that we always make sure all four of us are assigned a grocery buddy So that not only are we doing the logistical side, but that we are being a part of the impact
this is making in our communities and so I was paired with an individual who's obviously named I won't share because of some of the stigma around it and I said that I could contribute to this individual $40 a week towards grocery needs
And that individual responded to me and said, no, no, no, I don't need that.
I just need $40 per month.
And I was like, are you sure I'm happy to squirt you river?
They were like, nope, this is what I need.
And I didn't get emotional thinking about it now.
The next day they sent me a receipt of their order from their grocery list, like itemized.
It
almost felt like a way to like prove that like, hey, this is what I'm doing with it.
I'm being a good steward of your money.
And while that's nice, I emailed them back and I said, you don't owe me anything.
You are a member of my community.
You are a person who is doing their best, who is working hard, who has a family, and who has fallen in unfortunate circumstances in a hard time.
And while I appreciate that you're trying to show me this, I don't think less of you or perceive you as any negative way beyond just a person trying to do what's best for their family.
And talking to more and more of our buddies,
That's really the situation many of them are in.
They're, you know, homebound, they're elderly, they're just able, or I mean, I'm sure Greg, you've heard much about the job market right
now.
It's tough.
And so it's people who are applying for jobs, they're trying their best, you know, they were laid off and they're hustling and it's still not enough.
So it's really been eye-opening to see, like I mentioned, you know, before our commercial break that any of us are closer to this than we could ever realize in our own lives.
Yeah, that's something that I take.
I do not take for granted every day of my life knowing that I, you know, we are, and that's it sound like a bummer, but where you are a slip and fall from financial disaster.
You are a government shutdown from losing access to your food.
You could, I mean, it can affect you.
And that's where I make the appeal to those who are listening, who may be in a similar situation.
It's okay to ask for help.
There's nothing wrong for it.
There's nothing wrong with it.
People are here to listen and here to give you what you need.
And that is where the first step and, and it's not about shame.
It's about community.
It's about embracing.
And because you'll probably help someone down the road as well.
And that's the important thing to remember with these types of, with these types of organizations that it's just us helping each other.
Cause that's who we have.
And what is the future of the organization?
You said there's four of you.
Is there, is there expansion is what it, what is
What is MKE grocery buddy looking at in 2026?
Yes,
well, as a quick recap of 2025, we've matched over 72 individuals, which again, as is pretty significant, our our request forms are always growing.
Because as I mentioned, SAP doesn't cover everything.
You know, there's there's logistical issues getting to meal programs and things like that, like people still really need our help.
But our biggest push you know with through the holiday season into next year is actually an appeal For people to sign up to be grocery buddies because despite the fact that we have met over I think and growing like 10 to 12 thousand dollars of requests Yeah, we still have a forty thousand dollar backlog of people who need our help And like you said earlier, you know, I'm practicing not being too political around the holidays
But since you brought it up, my mom can't get mad at me.
And yeah.
Yeah, Mrs. Goodwin.
No, normally it's Kathleen.
Why are you trying to make your relatives mad?
And I was like, well,
it's
anyway.
Yeah.
Shoulder struck.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Until these government systems and these leaders step up to help, it is the responsibility of our communities.
And so our big push in this next year.
is to try to meet as many requests as possible and so therefore we need more people in our communities to step up and our belief is too if we can find somebody who needs support and someone in that same community who can give it we are willing to match them so that also is a growth in the geography itself even outside of the you know urban Milwaukee area.
And I want to make, I want to clarify something too that you said, and this isn't just about getting people the money they need to buy the groceries that they would have and snap.
It's the stuff that is not covered.
You know, there are, as you said, hot
meals
are not covered.
A feminine hygiene products are not covered.
There's a whole host of things that people need to have, well, need to have.
And if they can't afford it, it's just about, as you said, giving them a little extra.
a week so they can get those groceries taken care so they can get that what they need in their lives.
And that's a very, very, very important thing.
And if you want to find out more about how to get involved with MKE Grocery Buddy, you can go to mkegrocerybuddy.com and you can either find a grocery buddy or become a grocery buddy.
And I want to thank you, Katie, for being on the show today.
Really appreciate your time.
Thank you so much, Greg.
Thank you for sharing our story and, you know, getting the word out.
We really, really appreciate it and have a happy holidays.
You as well.
And don't make too many of your relatives angry.
Just, you know, raise a glass of wine and be like, Hey guys, I love you.
Can't make any promises.
Katie, good.
When is the marketing liaison of MK grocery buddy?
And it's been our guest this morning.
Appreciate you.
Have a wonderful holiday season.
Take care.
And when we come, when we come back, we're going to be talking more about.
local dollars and local communities, and we're going to be talking about the arts.
Don't go anywhere.
You're listening to Madden Air on Air on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Good morning.
Welcome back to Matt and they're on there.
My name is Greg Bach and I am here.
I'm your host and we are excited to have you with us.
If you want to get in touch, call or text 8557524842 85575 civic.
You can always leave a comment on the live stream.
We are currently on Facebook, YouTube and the place we in this house still call Twitter.
We're very excited to have you here today.
We hope you are joining us and, you know, enjoying your Monday.
It's a big Monday for us here at the show, Calvin.
It's the first one with just the two of us.
We can make it if we try.
How are you doing this morning, Calvin?
I'm doing well.
You know, if I, if I would have known you were going to make that joke, I could have had it.
I know, I know, but that's what we call improv baby.
It just comes off the top of my dome.
I'm going to keep you on your toes.
I'm going to have you make you have like 38,000 songs that they're ready.
So you just know every single thing I say, but we don't want to listen anymore.
I don't want to talk about improv with you.
That's not something we're not talking about comedy right now.
We're talking about again, just
the local economy, local creating, and we're going to talk right now with Jacqueline Tokesdorf, who is the founder of the Plover Babes Nonprofit Collect and Gather.
They are a part free community makerspace and part second hand art supply wonderland.
As their website states, it's where serious artists go and new artists, new makers trying things out.
Jacqueline, thank you so much for being on the show this morning.
I kind of butchered that, that wonderful take.
It's where serious artists go and new makers try trying new things out.
I think.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Welcome to the show.
We're happy to have you here today, Jacqueline.
Tell us about collecting gather.
Now plover really quick clover is just outside of Steven's point.
You're a little bit far away from us down here in Racine, but this is a wonderful, wonderful thing.
Tell us about collect and gather.
Yeah, well, the whole main mission is maker spaces.
I think there should be a maker space on every block in every
town,
no matter how big or small.
But maker spaces are just areas where you can try things out.
There's a range of them throughout Wisconsin.
We have ones that work on woodworking, more in Madison.
We have ones that have ones where there's 3D printers.
Ours focuses more on an art studio vibe.
Our goal, we have everything ready to go.
We're fundraising right now to build a professional art studio.
So it looks professional, but yet it's still completely free for everyone to use.
We'll stock it up with craft supplies and art supplies in every medium.
And this is just a way for a couple different artists to come together.
One, we've got creatives that just want to try stuff out and they don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on a new hobby.
So they come try stuff out see if they like it
Others were finding after COVID, not just people who don't want to get out of the house, but it's getting harder and harder to gather together and be around people and find your people and find other artists and creatives.
So even if you are a professional, talented artist, you might want to come to the makerspace to meet with new minds that are like yours or just get out of the house.
And also because the cost of rent is rising so much, artists don't really have a lot of money to spend on renting an art studio or a business.
So this is an incubator place for them to start.
They can hold pop-ups.
They can have their own little gallery showings.
They can do their work and invite people for portrait sittings and stuff like that and it's completely free to use.
We aim to have free workshops coming up by summer where we're teaching both traditional folk art.
There's so many things that are in the arts and the crafts space that we're losing like weaving and spinning.
We also want to have traditional Hmong art back in teaching so generations across different Hmong generations can come together and learn about different art techniques that originated from Laos or Vietnam or Thailand and will bring artisans in to teach that.
And so because it wasn't the greatest year to start an art non-profit,
As opposed to all the other booming years where nonprofits are like, we can't get enough of them.
Yeah, yeah.
So because the art space is a little hard right now, just because grant funding is quite dwindling, I needed something that would support us
just in
case, you know, tough years like this maintain itself in its ugly head for more years to come or
if you know down the line 15 years from now we have something similar like what's happening right now happen again.
So the thrift store model is where that came in.
In our area we're losing thrift stores left and right we lost Joanne's we've got Michaels and Hobby Lobby but we really don't have thrift stores that stack a lot of art supplies and
Pretty much every creative has tried a hobby that they give up on at some point.
So they've got some supplies left over and that's what stocks two thirds of our store.
So two thirds of our store is a thrift store.
We've got vintage fabric.
We've got paint supplies.
We've got, you know, decapitated baby doll heads.
Of course.
Thank you.
Speaking my language, Jacqueline.
We've got a whole section of
metal, disassembled lamp parts and just random pieces of metal for metal sculptures to use.
And it's all low cost.
There's never going to be anything over 20 bucks in the thrift shop.
And then the other third of the place is a junk art boutique.
From opening to now, we had rustic metal junk art going and then in January from here on out, we change our theme into the strange.
So we have a whole bunch of kind of fringe artists who they go to craft shows and a whole bunch of people pass by their booth and go, oh, yeah.
That kind of stuff because we've got enough cute gift shops out there in the world.
We need something a little strange.
So.
In January, there's going to be an eight foot beetle juice like snake in the shop.
There's going to be some weird, weird stuff that people, you know, aren't going to find at, you know, bed, bath and beyond.
Well, and that thing, that's an interesting thing you just brought up here.
I mean, that is when people say the word, when you hear the term thrift shop, a lot of people think secondhand clothing, they think going to shop for, you know, that.
That NBA championship, championship chaser from, from 1991, that somehow $700 now, they think thrift shop, they think of vintage clothes.
And I think that's an important distinction to make that thrifting doesn't mean that specifically.
It actually, what you're talking about is like supplies, craft supplies, art supplies too, at a very low cost for those to get into a thing that they want to try out because
You know, I myself, I've always wanted to get into woodworking.
It's something that's always fascinated me in one specific like part of woodworking, but it's just very expensive.
I don't have enough money to just buy all that stuff and maker spaces are really great resources where you can walk in, get to know play, get to know the equipment, get to know the people, find kind of find your people, if you will, and just start there.
And one of the things I'd love to hear from people listening right now is
And is that pandemic, that lockdown really brought out the creatives and people to really find their new senses of expression.
Was there anything out there?
Let us know.
855-752-4842-855-755.
Civic leave it on the live stream if you'd like.
Text it in.
What is something you've tried?
What is something you are doing because of the lockdown or just because you, you know, you said, I want to, I want to try vintage weaving.
I want to give it a shot.
I mean, that's, that's the important thing too is we're.
Finding our place to find our people and to voice our artistic self and I think that really helps in just a better living if you I think would you agree Jacqueline?
Yeah, yeah, it's it's something that I didn't really think of because I have a background in graphic design So I've always kind of worked at home and then when the pandemic hit I'm like, yeah, you guys are stealing what I do but
amateurs I've been doing this all
yeah.
Oh, you're in your pajamas fine.
I'll wear normal clothes then but
But it's an interesting thing that happened when, you know, starting working in the makerspace field.
So something that's kind of carried over to other makerspaces is John Hopkins University contacted us because they're seeing an epidemic of agoraphobia
where
it wasn't before.
They've been doing research and they have a lot of research members who are trying to figure out what can break people out of their shells.
Mostly people who are very creative are very susceptible to agoraphobia, especially during the pandemic when you were shut in.
If you didn't have people that weren't coming over to your house to hang out with you for long periods of time, you became very alone.
And so John Hopkins University has partnered with us and will do case studies and research throughout 2026 and 2027 because we're finding that a maker space is the perfect space to
Get out of the house.
Maybe your first time you don't want to talk to anyone You you put in headphones and you can block everyone out But you've got a whole but you've got access to a whole bunch of craft supplies and art supplies You just get in the zone.
You don't have to look at anyone.
You don't have to talk to anyone But maybe the next time you go you say oh you're working on embroidery Could you teach me how to embroider or you you're really nailing this painting technique Could you help me with my painting
technique
and all of a sudden you've made a connection with someone that you wouldn't have made
being stuck in the house and you see people come more and more to the makerspace and open up and be less afraid and they're finding the university is finding that agoraphobia is basically being cured through making things but you can't do it without the help of someone else.
in something like a makerspace.
So I was really happy when they reached out.
Usually you have to beg to like prove to the world that like makerspaces and creating art actually affects the brain in very positive ways.
Even if you're not creative, even if everyone who says like they can't make a stick figure, I'm like, get up there.
Go make a stick
figure.
Make whatever stick figure you want.
I mean, honestly, that's that.
I think Jacqueline, and if you're just joining us, we're speaking to Jacqueline Toakstorff, who is the founder of the nonprofit Collecting.
gather.
It is a part free community maker space part secondhand art supply Wonderland and they are located in Plover just outside of Stevens Point.
And I think that for me, I will say this personally, that's one of the big problems is that
that first step into the world of saying, Hey, I want to learn this thing.
Cause you can come across people like a don't bother me kid.
I've been doing this for 50 years.
I don't want to, I don't want to start teaching now, but you find a maker space and the whole design of it is to connect and to quell those fears of trying to, of, of, of doing a bad job or screwing up.
Yeah.
You're going to screw up.
And especially in these kinds of situations, you will screw up a lot before you get good.
And you have to
encourage it.
Exactly.
And you got to find those people out there and say, yes, screw up, make a bad stick figure.
The next one will be better than the last one.
And you keep going.
And I think that, apart from the agoraphobia discussion, just getting people to ask for help and ask to indulge their creativity.
I mean, how many people do you think in the world are sitting here going, I should have learned to paint?
I was better at drawing.
I could have done drawing too.
I mean like, not trying to make a billion dollars, but something where you can walk into a room and just sit down and let go of the world through your avenue of expression.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think it's pretty much maker spaces are pretty much the only place in the world where you can go into one, you find someone doing something that you want to learn how to do.
And you go, can I creepily watch you?
I think that's the only place that we can do that in.
That wood burning sculpture looks amazing.
Jacqueline, I really appreciate your time.
I really appreciate you coming by.
We're going to get your information on our, in our show notes so people can get, if you live around that area and also just as a, as a springboard.
Look for maker spaces in your community.
They are around a lot more than you think.
They're very, very cool.
Become a part of that.
Learn your art.
Find your heart.
Find your voice and do it through creativity.
And it's just wonderful to have a conversation with the Jacqueline.
Thank you so much for being here.
I hope you have a wonderful holiday.
Yeah.
Thank you so much, guys.
Jacqueline Toakstorff is the founder of the collect and gather of collecting gather, which is a maker space and art supply wonderland.
We'll get that on the show notes.
Check it out.
Check out the maker space in your community.
Have a wonderful day, Jacqueline.
Have a wonderful holiday again.
And when we come back, we're going to do a little roundup of the show.
How did we do day one?
We want to hear from you.
You're listening to Matt and air on air on the civic media radio network.
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You're listening to Civic Media.
Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.
Good morning.
Welcome.
Welcome back to Matt and Erin.
My name is Greg Bach.
I am your host.
I am your buddy.
I'm your pal.
And we're happy to have you here on the show today on the Civic Media Radio Network.
And Calvin, first show is almost done.
In the can, finito.
How do you feel today?
It went by so fast.
It's just jam packed.
I know.
It was great.
It was great.
We had great conversations with everybody.
We really appreciate everyone stopping by today.
It was, I mean, really, this first show, we wanted to make sure we did something really fun.
And I want to thank Tucker, our senior producer for putting together a great lineup of guests.
And if you want to find out more about them, we're going to have the show notes ready for you in a little while.
You can go ahead and click on those links and you can find out more, whether you want to talk about data centers, whether you want to talk about helping someone who needs some food through MKE grocery, buddy.
You want to find your, you want to find your voice artistically, find yourself a maker space, find yourself, or if you know someone who's creative that way, you know, make a call, say, Hey, can I come over and just talk to you about.
what you do.
I kind of want to get into it.
Make, I think that's the thing is honestly, if I'm looking at all of the guests we talked to today, it's about doing something, whether you're standing up for your community, whether you're helping out your community, whether you are forging your art or making sure that you have a toy store that is in the community and that is, that is selling educational toys that entertain and bring families together.
It's about standing up and doing something about, you know,
what's needed out there.
And we love hearing from people who are doing that.
That's a very, very important thing to discuss.
And I asked before, what was the way you were expressing yourself?
Maybe it was the lockdown, maybe it's the pandemic, maybe it was something else that was going on.
And PJ on the live stream said 3D printers are inexpensive and a fun hobby to get into.
You have a
Creelty Ender 3v2.
That sounds like a very cool machine.
It's under $200 and it's fun.
The filament per roll is also cheap as well.
Yeah, I mean, that's the thing is no one's expecting you to go out and buy like a $30,000 piece of equipment.
Start small, start, you know, go to the maker space or just get yourself into something that's the first avenue to voicing your creativity.
But also it's, I think that's great to hear people getting involved in such a manner.
People have been asking me, Calvin, like, what's the show going to be like going forward?
And we're going to be trying some new stuff.
We'll be having more guests on.
We'll be having some of the same guests.
Some of our regular weekly folks will be coming back and we will be doing some Tiz baths.
We will be doing audio Sorbet.
And we just want to try some new things.
If you have suggestions, let us know.
You can always get in touch with us.
I believe you can still go to Jane says at civic media.us.
You can always get in touch with us there.
But we do want to hear from you, whether it's on the live stream, whether through the texting,
It's important to talk to you.
It's important to hear what you have to say.
And we are grateful for you being a part of this.
Calvin, any thoughts?
Do you want to be the host?
Maybe you want to be the host.
I'll be the tech producer.
I'll go to the board and you can be the guy in charge.
I never even asked you.
I never even asked you.
I'm sorry, buddy.
You know, I think we have a good thing going on so far.
So let's play it by ear, but I think we'll keep it how it is for now.
All right.
All right.
Um, I would be remiss if I didn't mention this really quick.
It's a very, it's, I don't want, I'm, I don't want to end the show on a tragic note, but, uh, the, the passing of Rob Reiner and his wife, Michelle this weekend, uh, tragically, we lost them.
Rob Reiner was a, a magnificent film director.
made some of the most iconic films of the 80s and 90s and made Spinal Tap he made when Harry Met Sally he made Stand By Me and that's just a few of the films that he made and he was a great voice for equality, for change.
for democracy and it is going, it is a huge loss that he is gone and he is, and Ian and his wife, unfortunately, were taken from us this weekend.
And I'm just sending all thoughts and good wishes to his family right now in their time of sorrow.
And if you have a favorite Rob Reiner movie, send it our way.
Let us know what you think about it.
Do you like that one, Harry Met Sally stuff?
It's a good movie.
I like that movie.
But yeah, we're going to have a lot of great stuff coming up on this show this week.
Like I said, we're going to have some, some other guests that, that you may have not heard on the show before.
We're going to be talking to tomorrow.
Actually, we're going to be talking to state Senator Joanie, a Jody Habaschenkin about data centers as well and how they affect the Wisconsin economy.
Because from the point of view of the community, it is, I can see where people might say, we need to stop data centers, but as, you know, I'm going to put into the show notes, a data center map.
there are thousands of them.
They are in America and they're not going anywhere.
And if they're going to be here, they should be something which benefits the community, not just billionaire corporations, because they are using our land, they are using our resources.
And again, if you are a person who is affected by this, you want to listen to this conversation with State Senator Jody Habish-Sinneken, because we want to find a good path to making sure business is
beneficial to us as well.
And we're going to speak, be speaking to Evan from clean Wisconsin.
It's going to be a great show.
Also Jim Santel, stopping by on Thursday and we're going to have great stuff for you next week as well.
We're going to have some best ofs going on.
There'll be some Christmas music happening, but we're really, really excited.
Um, I really, really, really appreciate and grateful for all of you for listening today.
It really does mean the world to me.
So, uh, Calvin, thank you so very much.
I'm going to send it off the same way.
that Jane always did because I think it's important to recognize those who are behind the scenes who are doing all the great work.
So I want to thank Calvin.
I want to thank Tucker.
I want to thank all of our engineers and everybody in traffic making everything work.
Because as she said, without you, nothing does work.
I want to thank our guests today.
I want to thank the listeners who got on the live stream, who got on the text line, who called and commented.
We really appreciate you.
Without you, there's not an us.
And I really just want to say thank you to Jane Matinair again for all of the wonderful work she gave us all the great time she put on this show and allowing us to take this to a new direction, furthering the mission of what we started here so many years ago.
We look forward to having you with us for this ride.
Thanks again for listening.
News is coming up next, followed by Tom Hartman.
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You are awesome,
let no one tell you differently.