Welcome everyone to Midday magazine for this December 7th, 2023.
Have your host, James J. Mailoff here at 3.30.
We're going to welcome in Kayla Roombalski Community Development Educator with Extension Wood County looking forward to that.
Right now our good friend Ben Eberlean is in with us Community Engagement Director with the United Way of Southwood and the Amps Counties.
Ben, good to see you.
It's great to be here. Thanks for being here.
Thank you, Ben.
Fantastic.
I love this time of year.
Yeah, you a Christmas guy?
Just a lot of it.
I was just everybody seems to be in a great mood.
It's great to see you too.
I see you've got a big smile on your face today.
Yeah, it's a great time of year.
We love this holiday season.
And you're in good place.
Terry, I know, is huge about Christmas in this time of year.
So you're in good place.
Good place for that.
Ben, I want to get into the stock boxes.
I want to talk some of that with you.
But if you don't mind, we're winding for a second.
I do want to remind everybody that the silent wreath auction has wrapped up.
Great, big thank you to everybody in the community, the bid on these.
They got themselves a wreath.
And certainly the people that donated them.
Yes. And speaking of festivity.
I mean, there's some fantastic wreaths this year.
You guys had to be in the real Christmas spirit around there.
You had all these wreaths just hanging out there for a while.
You should see the office.
Yeah.
There's a few left to be picked up.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, they're just...
Oh, be sad to see them go.
Yeah, I bet.
And get a big thank you to the community for this.
Start thinking of ideas and start getting ready for next year's wreath auction.
And we look forward to seeing what you guys come up with.
Ben, I want to talk stock boxes with you.
Let's let people know what this is first before we dive too deeply into this.
Thanks.
Yeah, this is such a fantastic program.
This...
I mean, it's a free federal program that basically the United Way's hunger coalition is facilitating locally
so that we can just get more food onto tables.
Because, you know, we know there's a ton of people in our community that they could definitely be benefiting this.
It could be life changing for a lot of individuals and households.
So, the stock box program is specifically for seniors, especially, you know, seniors that meet the income limit.
So, which, most of our seniors we know in Wood County based on our Alice data, we've talked about this before.
More than half, 54% of our senior households in Wood County, they're struggling financially.
So, we know there's a lot of people out there who could probably benefit from some extra food.
The Meals on Wheels program tells us this.
You know, the Alice report is great data.
We...
I appreciated every year that we get that report.
And then we had that great work and the United Way collects that for us.
And we get that from you guys.
It's greatly appreciated.
It gives us a chance to put some numbers behind some of the things that we are talking about.
And it's really important when it comes to not only raising awareness, but the vital work that you guys that we're trying to do here at the radio station, so much of that.
That Alice report really is key to a lot of that.
And it's very vital to it.
But I believe that a program like Meals on Wheels existing even tells you right away, hey, that part of our population is in need.
Part of our population needs help.
And we need to be looking out for them.
We need to be doing whatever we can to help out.
And to extend that, we have something like this stock boxes.
To the clientele that are available for this, again, it's age 60 plus.
Let's get into the details of that household income.
A lot of that.
So people that aren't aware of this, then might find that they fall into this category.
Yeah, absolutely.
So basically, this is just a free box of food once a month.
That anybody that meets those requirements at 60 or older that has income below $1,500 a month for a single person household.
Now that number will go up.
If it's a larger household, the senior can still qualify.
So yeah, if anybody that is 60 plus that thinks they might meet that income limit, they can get a free box of food once a month.
And these things are pretty significant.
And if you're not sure if you qualify, just ask.
There's no harm in asking.
Exactly.
That's one of my favorite things about this program is it's pretty not very invasive.
It's pretty low barrier in terms of nobody's going to be checking your tax returns or something.
It's self-reported.
So we want to make sure that comes from the federal program.
This isn't anything that we're doing locally.
Obviously, we facilitate that program.
But I'm just really glad that we have these programs that we aren't asking people to jump through too many hoops to be able to get a resource that their life relies on.
What are some of the items that are available in these stock boxes?
Yeah, the great question.
They're pretty significant boxes.
They're about 25 to 30 pounds of food.
Nice.
It does come with a block of cheese, American cheese.
Got to have that, yeah.
But other than that, the box is filled with 25 to 30 pounds of shelf stable food.
It's meant to be a month's worth of pantry staples.
Basically, it's a supplement to a senior kin go to grocery store and buy something that's perishable, produce fresh items.
And then they can have the stock box that's filled with things like juice or cereal rice, pasta.
They can get canned fruits and veggies in this box too.
So they're not only getting your pantry typical items like the pasta and the rice.
But you're also going to find canned meats and shelf stable milk, things like that that you probably wouldn't normally think of.
A lot of your basics, a lot of the needs that you have.
Well, also some really stuff you can be really creative with as well.
Absolutely.
That's a nice addition to that.
I like that.
I want to get into the dates where they can pick these items up, where they can pick this box up.
And those kings, is this something that you need to register for?
Exactly.
So like I mentioned, this program that comes from the federal government, we actually, you get this.
The box is through the hunger task force, which is not located in this area.
They're located in Milwaukee.
So it's a lot of coordination logistics.
So if somebody wants to receive a stock box, they have to register for that.
Very easy to do by calling 211.
We need, you know, we need at least a week ahead of that distribution date, though, to make sure we have enough boxes for everybody who's registered.
So every month, if a senior wants a stock box, they just call ahead and register.
You know, once they're registered with the program, yeah, it's pretty easy to, we can auto-enroll them basically for the next month if they would like to be.
Oh, that's a really cool thing.
Yeah, they come through and pick it up and we just say, hey, do you want to stay on for next month?
And then they don't have, you know, it's a very easy, easy process from there for them.
That's a really smart way to do that.
I would love to see all those app companies do something similar to that where they just, you know, they just roaming, like they charge you, you don't even remember that you had that charge.
Like, that's something that's actually positive in that regard.
That's a really cool thing.
It's a really smart way to do that, too.
And it's one less thing that they have to worry about.
Like, oh, did I register this month?
You know, that kind of thing.
We all get busy.
It's understandable that something like that would get lost in the shuffle.
That's a really smart way to do that.
That's where you're trying to get food into people's hands, you know.
Yeah, yeah. That's what this is about.
That has to be the headline here.
And it's important to note, too, that again, as Ben has mentioned, this isn't coming local.
This isn't directly from our United Way of South Wales County.
So this is a national program.
That means a lot of families throughout the whole United States needing these boxes.
So we really do need those numbers.
We really need you to register if you need one of these boxes.
So we know how many to get.
And then we don't take boxes that could be used for another family or another person or something like that.
Yeah, it's a really wonderful program because we're able to coordinate.
They're able to, you know, use their systems to, you know, basically get the amount of food that we need
and make a trip throughout the state so they can drop those boxes off in neighboring counties.
So, you know, we're not the only program.
There's other local ones, too.
So if anybody, you know, don't necessarily know how wide your broadcast goes.
But yeah, there's other people that may not, maybe they're not in Southwood County.
You might be able to, you know, jump on, find, call 211.
Get the information about the program in your neighborhood, too, because they are all over.
If you're not listening to us in the Central Wisconsin area, there is a United Way near.
There is a United Way by you.
And I guarantee that they'll be helpful.
There is 211, of course, available throughout the whole state.
So that is right there for you as well.
Encourage you to reach out and find out more about this program.
Ben, I'm curious, did you guys find out about this and reach out about it?
Or did they reach out to you about this program?
How did this come about?
Yeah, excellent question.
The Hunger Coalition, this is what we do, you know, we get together.
It's all about bringing all of our relevant partners and stakeholders in the community
to get together the same table and talk.
And so you have the extension.
They do a lot with nutrition and education.
They were able to bring that to the Coalition.
You know, hey, there's this program.
They're expanding their reach.
Because you know, this program was not always available in our area.
And so as soon as it was that, you know, that was a topic of discussion.
Obviously, we all said, yes, that's a fantastic idea.
And then we worked together as a Coalition to make it happen.
I ask one out of curiosity.
That's really cool to hear.
That's interesting.
But it's also it ties back to something that Terry and I have been talking about
since day one when we talk about the United Way.
You guys do so much.
And there's so much great work that is done by the United Way.
But there's always more that can be done.
And I know that Terry and you guys and that team over there are always looking for more ways.
How can we?
Okay, we have United Weekend.
We have a great event like that.
The racist food for our community.
You and I are integral part of our intimate with that.
That fun event that we get to do every year and we enjoy.
So you're running into each other at the ballpark and all that.
And the community loves that event so much.
There's already events like that in place helping out the Hunger Coalition.
But that's not enough.
You guys see that that's not enough.
You guys want to do more.
And so you're constantly looking for new ways to bring new things to our community.
This is one of those things.
I want to credit the United Way.
I want to credit the people behind this,
bringing this to our community.
Our senior population needs us.
And they have trailblaze for all of us.
Anybody under the age of 65, thank a senior,
because they're part of the reason why we're able to enjoy the things that we enjoy right now.
It's time for us to have their back.
It's time for us to give them a chance to enjoy the twilight of that and all those things.
This is one thing we can do.
It may seem so simple.
But when we have the United Way kind of event and things like that,
those are events that you can participate in.
That you can bring a non-perishable food item that you can help out our community with.
When it comes to something like this that is centered towards a certain dynamic,
or a certain part of our population,
we encourage you to spread the word about this.
Make sure everybody knows about this.
Well, we're a very popular radio station.
We have very good ratings.
We know that not everybody hears this.
So we also know that word of mouth is the greatest advertiser.
Spread the word about these stock boxes.
Make sure that every senior in our community,
I don't care if they are living in a $5 billion home.
Tell them just in case, just in case they may know somebody that might need these boxes.
Well, I think the thing that Alice Dad always helps really reinforce in my mind
is we do not know what we think we know about our neighbors and our friends and our family members.
And we've talked before about, we don't want to admit when we need help
or we don't want to broadcast that we're in a situation like that.
So you never know who might be able to benefit from this.
And as much as we can talk and share about this program,
and that anybody over 60 that you can share with them that this is available
and they can make a determination whether they think that their income might meet that program.
So as many people as we can share it with, we want them to know.
You're good at this.
You're good at this, Ben.
Very good at this.
That's an incredibly important point to bring up, I think.
We understand our people.
We know what Midwest people are like.
We love this about them, but they don't ask for help.
They could be in an iron lung in a complete cast
and still trying to get the mail.
That's who we are.
That's what we are as people.
And we love that about our people.
But it's also speaks to why it's so important to maybe ask a question.
Maybe find out you're a neighbor or your grandparent or somebody like that.
How are you really doing?
It's just us here.
Come on, tell me.
Could you use something like this?
I heard about this program, this stock boxes program.
It's very quiet.
It's low, low key.
Nobody even really knows that you're getting these boxes.
Could you use something like this?
Or do you know anybody?
Maybe an aunt or an uncle?
Something like that.
Chances are, in fact, we know this, Ben.
Statistically, from the Alice report.
Chances are, you know somebody that is in need of these boxes.
That's the thing.
And, you know, we can all come together.
You know, we've got so many the ACEs that we're always trying to do more
and see what we can do.
And it's that things like the Alice data and, you know, every couple years
when we survey the community and find out, you know, what is really
the biggest need in our community or what are the biggest things that we should be focused on.
And so it's really nice to have these, you know, data points where we can point to and say,
hey, you know, this is where we need to be looking.
And so we have things like this stock box program for our seniors.
We have single care, which helps with prescription, you know, drug costs.
I mean, we have all these things that we just need to, you know, get the word out there
so people can actually take advantage of it.
If you are somebody you know might be in need or could maybe use some of the services
that the United Way helps out with and everything.
And you're uncertain of some of what those services are or anything like that.
Another reason to call 2-1-1 reach out to the United Way, find out all the ways that they can help you possibly.
Did you know 2-1-1 has a new app?
Yes, I did.
Yes, well done, by the way.
I actually thought there was a commercial for a second.
Did I hit a commercial?
That was nice. Good, nice job.
Hey, we're, you know, just learning, cleaning skills.
Yeah, you know, I mean, it's show it, brother.
It's show it.
Yes, encourage people to download the 2-1-1 app.
It is a fantastic idea.
Have it on my phone.
It's right there.
Anytime you need it.
And it is a really resourceful app.
It is really neat.
And it's really a great, you know, the United Way has been really impressive.
You know, the United Way worldwide.
Yes.
You know, adapting and evolving with technology and modern times.
To be able to have that, I think, is just massive because there's so many people that, you know,
we're very, you know, text-centric or absent.
And there's a lot of people that don't, you know, want to pick up the phone.
So it's a great alternative.
Yeah.
Wherever you get your apps, go there, download the 2-1-1 app and support your United Way.
Then there are specific dates that this kicks off.
And it does kick off next year, correct the stock boxes?
It's, yeah, we're running right now, but I really want to get the word out for next year, absolutely.
Well, let's go over the dates and where they can pick these boxes up.
Yeah, like I said, it's a monthly program.
So it's once a month.
You can pick up the box at Focus Food Pantry.
But again, you get a register ahead of time.
And so each month we do distribution on the third Tuesday of the month,
with the one exception being January.
Yeah, yeah.
With Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, it's a federal holiday.
So we push it back to that Wednesday.
So it's the third Wednesday of January, every other month in 2024 is the third Tuesday.
Very easy to remember, Mark, on the calendar.
Do, are there reminders sent out or anything like that to families?
Do people that are getting these boxes?
You keep telling me.
Fantastic.
Excellent question.
Yes.
So two ways that we can do that.
One, when you register, you can opt in for, to get a text reminder, which is really helpful.
Yeah.
I could even use that.
Yeah.
Exactly.
And as well as, you know, when you register, like I mentioned earlier, when you come through,
you do pick up your box.
We'll automatically opt in for next month, unless we ask in, you know, do you want to be taken off the list for the next month,
and you can opt out.
Otherwise, when you get your box and we automatically opt in for the next month,
and you don't want to be opted out, we give you a little reminder slip that just has the date on it.
It's very helpful to hear something like that too.
And I love the idea, again, of the re-register that just people can register and sign up and have that taken care of.
But also the idea that, you know, maybe this, it's a rough month, and a family needs it one month,
and they don't need it the next month.
So the freedom of that.
I think that that also can be empowering for that family.
Absolutely.
You know, I, I mean, I just remember growing up, having situations like that, where ever once in a while,
we needed help from a pantry, and we'd pick up a box.
But my mother was always very, you know, next month, we won't have to.
And it was, we felt great.
And then we'd go back to the, don't, you know, drop off items at the pantry that we had gotten or something like that.
Things that empower people in these situations only enhance our community.
These are people that are, you, you are going to be putting into community or out there in the community,
adding to our taxes and all of that.
And, and they have families and making sure these families are fed.
Then you may think, well, 60, you know, I don't know about that.
That's a little older.
Most people are retired around there.
Not as much anymore.
Don't have as many people being able to retire as we used to in everything.
People in that age range are working more now than they ever have before,
which means all the more why it's important for us to make sure that they are fed that they have these boxes.
I mean, you mentioned meals on wheels before too.
There's a lot of, I'm sure, you know, very large portion of the people that might be able to benefit from this.
They may not be able to come through and pick up a box themselves.
So just, you know, another way that makes this more accessible program is proxies are allowed.
If you have somebody else that could pick up that box for you.
If, you know, if there's a group living situation, you know, it's apartment, assisted living, whatever it is,
you know, one person can come and pick up boxes for a number of other people.
And, you know, we won't turn you away.
So, you know, when you call and register, just, I don't know, hey, you know, we're going to proxies right?
This other person is, I want to let them pick up for me.
That is a really cool thing to be able to offer.
That's awesome.
That's a very, very unique thing to be able to offer.
If you notice what Ben has been talking about here too, this isn't one of those things where we've got to make sure that the right people are getting these boxes.
Like, we just want to get this food out there. We want to get these food to the right family, certainly.
But they're not going to put you through, you know, you're not going to jump through hoops to necessarily do this.
We just need to register so we know how many boxes we need.
And everything from there is kind of, you know, just, hey, what do you, how do we get this box to you?
We'll do whatever we can help you do that.
Yeah, absolutely.
So, where is the location again?
I see our good friends over at the focus food pantry is where you can pick these up.
Yeah, they've been a fantastic host.
And they're new location over on Grand Avenue. They're at 2321 West Grand Avenue.
They've got a really nice big parking lot that makes us a really easy to do a drive through.
So, somebody drives up. We just check off.
Yep, you're registered. Box goes in there, trunk in there on their way.
I want to say a big thank you to Sparhawk Trucking too.
Sharing that building, doing a lot in this community, adding to this community like they do.
That's a shout out to all of our local businesses to do those things.
And the pickup time is 10 to noon. So, that's a nice window right there as well to keep in mind.
And it's the third Tuesday of the month starting next month.
Exactly. Yep. And just a reminder that January with Martin Luther King Jr. Day on that Monday,
that month is just shifted so that January is on a Wednesday.
Every other month they're exactly right, third Tuesday.
And if people want to find out if they're eligible for this or if they would like to register,
boy, what is that number again?
Three digits.
It's 211.
Yeah, 211, everybody. And make sure to download the app if you get the chance to go to your app store and download 211.
And reach out to Ben and the team if you have any questions about this program.
It's a wonderful program. And again, please do spread the word about this.
We know that there are people out there that may not hear this message.
It may not hear about this. Encourage them to look into it to find out more about it.
It's free.
Yeah, it's free. It's a free program, everybody.
I mean, you can't beat free. You can't beat that.
Ben, we got like four minutes left. If you don't mind, I wanted to touch on just a couple of other cool things that are going on with the United Way.
There is a calendar raffle sponsorship available to people right now to where they can be a part of the great calendar just guys put together.
Yeah, absolutely. It's a really fun way that you can support our annual campaign.
So yeah, we're looking ahead to next year already because it's important that we continue to support the 30 partner programs that we fund in the community that are doing direct service amazing work every day.
Yeah, tickets are $10 each or three for 20 tickets can be purchased at the United Way office from 830 to 4 right over at 351 Oak Street in Wisconsin Rapids.
Drawings are held daily at 11 a.m. Winners will go back in for future drawings.
I can't believe you guys do that. The lottery doesn't even do that. That's awesome.
Winner goes back in the future drawings. That's so cool.
In a total of $2,400 and prizes are available for this.
So we encourage everybody to of course be a part of this, but if you're a business out there, you're somebody that would like to be a part of things at the United Way.
And sponsor one of the dates on this calendar cannot encourage you enough to do that.
Just speaking on a marketing angle of things, it is an incredibly great way to market yourself without a commercial, without a big poster or any of these things.
Just your logo attached to the United Way with other businesses. I cannot stress to you how much I hear from this community.
They appreciate that and they see that your businesses attach with the United Way and they want to put into that business.
More and more people in this community and communities around the whole country are taking the by local support local to heart.
They are supporting only the businesses that put back into their community.
We encourage you to be one of those businesses. We encourage you to be a part of this and work with the United Way.
For every penny you spend, I can make the argument that you're getting more than 25 cents on the dollar.
More of a return on your United and just said that the wrong way meant to reverse that.
I'm not great with money.
The return that you get on your investment is unparalleled with the United Way.
Almost more than any other company or any other nonprofit you can work with because of all the different things the United Way does.
All the stuff that they are involved in the community, that logo you see all over the place.
These calendars are going to be everywhere.
So the advertising end of this as a business, if I was running a business, you guys would have me on right there on speed dial.
I would be there for every single thing that you guys do. I think it's almost foolish not to be.
It's great advertising. It's smart.
Then there's the heart part of this and the part that goes really to the core I think of most of our listeners and most of our community been.
And that's that I want to do something in my community. I want to help. What can I do?
There's so much going on. There are so many different things that pull at our heart strings and stuff.
But this is one of those things that you can be a part of this calendar or any of the other things going on with the United Way.
And you know by doing those things, especially this time of year when it feels extra good,
that you're not only putting back in your community, but you are helping the future of this community.
You're adding to the future of this environment.
It's great. You know, it's really it is. I think you hit all the high notes there.
It's sponsoring a spot on our calendar raffle. It's fantastic.
It's going to get your name out there. Plus, you know, it's still the end of 2023.
So we've got some funds flowing. You want to use for next year?
Yes.
I'm not an accountant or anything so don't take my word for it.
But I'm pretty sure that works like that.
And yeah, it's great. We get those calendars into hundreds and hundreds of hands and eyeballs on those.
So definitely, yeah, if you didn't know about that, it's a great opportunity to get your word out there.
And Terri and I, I'm sure we'll be talking more and more about this as we get closer to it.
But I do want to remind everybody that to mark their calendars for January 10th,
the United Way is going to be having their thank you celebration.
That'll be a fantastic, wonderful event taking place at Bullseye Golf Club right here in Rabbids.
That's going to be a fun one.
I'm looking forward to that. Be sure to mark your calendars January 10th that thank you celebration going on.
We thank you, Ben. We appreciate you. Again, if people want to find out more about these stock boxes or anything Ben and I have talked about today,
how can they reach you, Ben?
Please give me a call at United Way, our phone number at the office.
There's 715-421-0390. And as always, you can feel free to call 211 with any kind of questions.
Or if you forget our office number, just call 211.
You can visit the United Way's website, www.swac.org.
Be sure to follow them on social media. It's a great follow and support your United Way.
Ben, we appreciate to say hi to everybody over there for me.
Thank you so much for having me. We'll be back with more Midday Magazine right here at WFHR, locally grown radio.
