Welcome everyone to Midday Magazine for this February 2nd, 2024, 3.30 on the clock,
and you have your host, James J. Mailoff here.
We're here talking today with Mary Schultz.
She is from Focus and we're talking about the Empty Bulls event.
Mary, thank you so much for being here in studio. It's good to see you.
Thank you very much. Glad to be here.
Feels like it's been too long.
It's been a while.
About six months. I was here in June.
It's great to have you with us.
Great to talk about one of our favorite events, Empty Bulls,
little on the 10th Empty Bulls.
That's pretty cool.
It's our anniversary, yes.
I want to talk about the details of it.
But before we do, Mary, I know that while it's a very popular event
and it's been around for a long time,
we know that there might be people out there
that haven't heard of Empty Bulls before.
So I'd like to explain what the event is,
how it got its start, and what it's for.
Okay, awesome.
So Empty Bulls actually started in the state of Michigan.
We can't take the ownership for that one.
In 1990, actually, with a art teacher
who decided that he wanted his kids to help out
with a local food drive.
And so what he had his kids do was make bowls.
And he thought with them making bowls
that would be a symbol of what people could put food in,
that some people that's all they get in it day
is maybe a bowl of food.
And so that was the start of Empty Bulls.
And from there, it took off.
It became a national event.
I know in our area, like Portage County
has had their events since 2001.
And this is our 10th year.
So it actually started with Chris Grimes
and her team, Linda Olson and some other people
that were very dedicated to get it going in our area
for part of the Hunger Coalition.
And just felt like it was a way that we could help out.
And so they ran it up until 2020.
And I had volunteered as a helper with the event.
I wasn't on the team to plan the event at that point in time,
but had volunteered for a couple of years.
Well, in 2020, they decided that it was time
for someone else to maybe take this over.
And at that point in time, I had been
unvolved in the focus board.
And we had merged the year before that.
And so we decided we would take the event over.
Well, then COVID hit.
2020, the wonderful 2020.
So in 2021, we did not host an event.
It was not something that could be done at all.
So in 2022, we thought we can't lose this.
We have to keep this going.
So we did something very different that year.
We had students and our potters in town still make bowls.
We made approximately 250 bowls
that we then took around to various churches, schools,
and a couple of organizations,
a couple of the banks in town that were very supportive.
And we sold the bowl, so-called sold the bowl,
with a coupon to one of our participating restaurants
that they could go and get their bowl of soup
at that restaurant.
It was wonderful.
I mean, considering we couldn't have an event that year,
we still made a good amount of money
that we could bring in to help the food pantries.
So then 2022, we said we're going back in.
And so we have been back in the first year.
We were able to do it at our new facility last year.
And so now this year, we've made some changes
to make it even better, because now we know
how the flow of the event will go.
And we're hoping last year we served exactly 350 people.
So we were thrilled.
With a new facility, a new chairing committee,
the whole works, we were very, very pleased.
So this year, we're hoping to make it even bigger and better.
And we've got a lot of support in the community.
So we're looking forward to this year's event.
And I'm excited to talk about the details
of this year's event.
Before we do, Mary, how has, and this might come up too,
with some of the details, how much has the event grown
over the years that you've been able to see?
Well, I think they had a pretty good base
when they were running it out of the church.
And the team worked together for a number of years.
So as far as the number of people served,
I think we're pretty consistent.
Now, we have also done raffle baskets
that we have been very excited about,
where people have donated items that we can then
have people purchase tickets to try to win.
And that has grown.
And last year, we had 83 baskets to give away.
So the event itself, whether there's more people coming through,
I don't have all the statistics from all 10 years.
But I'd say it's a good solid event.
And we were super pleased last year
with 350 people coming through.
So we'll see.
I hope this year it grows a little bit more.
But overall, I think it's for what we have
with the sponsorship of the soups
and the space that we have available,
I think we did a great job trying to meet everybody's needs.
Yeah.
And speaking of needs, the community needs
for not only empty bulls, but for focus in general,
we've seen a growth in that in this area.
Oh, yeah, so that's a huge need.
And we have seen approximately 1700 additional people
coming through the pantry last year alone.
So we have seen because of a lot of the COVID extras
kind of got cut last year.
And so that was hitting people's pocketbooks.
Obviously, the price of food went up.
So we have seen a lot of increase of need at the focus pantry.
Our meal program is staying pretty consistent.
Although last night, we had a new high.
So we were super excited about that.
And our backpack program has actually
grown from last year.
We were serving approximately 99 families a week.
We are now up to 169 families a week.
Whoa, that's a big jump.
So that's a huge jump, yes.
So this helps with all of that to make our ends meet.
Exactly.
I bring all this up to tie right into empty bulls
and this event and the importance of it.
We love this event.
It's a fun event.
We get to combine the art world with food and helping people.
Anytime we can make those worlds work together,
it's awesome.
We get kids involved in this.
Create some opportunities for empathy for them
to understand why they're making these bulls.
And maybe for some of them, it's their first time hearing
about something like this or having to do with something like that.
So we know we don't know what that could spark in a young heart.
Oh, exactly.
And where they could take that and they could be the next Mary.
They could be the one of the next people, you know,
sitting in a position like yours or something.
All of these things are great.
But the overall number one reason we're doing this is noteworthy.
And it's noteworthy that it's increased the need for this
over recent years.
So it's so important to not only be a part of this event if you can,
but the spread of word about this event.
We've been doing a pretty good job advertising
that I think around here.
But we all know that word of mouth goes so far.
So please spread the word about this event to your friends and family.
Throw it on your Facebook pages, your social media.
Spread the word about this event.
So we can get as many people as we can for this.
Exactly.
And let's talk about the details if you don't mind about the event Mary.
Sure.
Yes, so it's in two weeks from tomorrow.
February 17th.
And we actually serve from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
And we have 11 restaurants that are participating in this year's event.
So we, I don't know if you want me to name all of them,
but I'm sure they would love it.
Aaron's wine and steins, anchor bay, chatterbox, Danny K's,
Grace's family restaurant, great expectations, Jennings,
junkyard barn grill, Misty's menu, Olympic II, and sportsmen.
And they are providing a wide variety of soups this year.
We're really excited about, we have everything from cheesy potato to chili,
to chicken dumpling, to a tomato basal bisque.
I mean, we have a lot of variety this year.
So it's going to be awesome.
We're asking people to make their choices when they come up.
And it might be tough.
They may have a hard time making a choice.
It is not going to be easy.
Yeah.
Boy, just hearing all of those, I don't know how to decide.
That's great.
And we also have, we have Cathy Coon.
One of our great cooks is making rolls that morning.
So when you come in, you're going to smell fresh rolls.
So she makes 500 rolls that morning.
And we also have Ron Wink, who is our attainment.
Sorry, Don Taiman, who is another one of our cooks.
And she is making 500 desserts.
And her desserts are fabulous.
So when the people come in, they will buy their ticket.
It is a $10 donation to the event.
And they'll get their bowl.
And then they are able to select one soup, sorry, just one.
And their roll and their dessert, and they'll get a beverage.
And we do tell people that, unfortunately,
this event is not all you can eat.
Because I think people think, oh, this is great.
I can't have as many soup as I want.
And unfortunately, for this event, it is a one bowl of soup,
one roll, one cookie.
And the reason is that we want people
to understand that, for some people,
that might be all they get in a day.
And to really see what is that that they might have,
the logo for empty bowl says, because someone's bowl is always empty.
And so we want people.
I even had a discussion with a man yesterday saying,
well, if I want more than one bowl, can I go back?
And I'm like, sorry, this is just the way it is.
It's a 1-1-1.
But they'll have great choices.
And then we do also have the raffle room,
where they can look at numerous baskets of things in town.
The number of our local businesses have donated things for us.
We have gas cards.
We have food coupons.
We have things from various businesses.
And because it's our 10th anniversary,
we have a special giveaway that's here.
Every 10th person that comes in is going
to get a special ticket that they will put in a box.
And that ticket will go for a basket of food,
along with a $100 Wal-Mart gift card.
Dang, nice.
Yeah.
So if you're the 10th person, every 10th person coming in,
you get a special chance to win something.
It's very cool.
I love that.
I love this event so much.
That is all really cool.
I do want to send a big shout out to those local businesses,
sponsoring this event being a part of this.
We appreciate every single one of them.
And all of those businesses are businesses
that put back into their community.
They support local.
Will it support them?
Whether they advertise with our station or not,
we support them.
We support local.
And that's what we're about here at WFHR.
But I also want to note that the caterers,
that the chefs, the people working on this,
helping make these soups and everything,
the names you mentioned there, wonderful human beings.
We appreciate them so much being a part of this.
And I want to take a moment, Mary,
to talk about the bowls themselves and who created those.
So that's really neat.
We have a couple of potters in our town
who are just fabulous and some who are from out of our town.
So we have Jim Lorbeck, who has been with us
from the beginning and he makes absolutely gorgeous bowls.
And he gives us about 75 bowls every year.
So we just so appreciate him.
And then we have a lady who's actually from Wapaka,
but got excited about the empty bowls event
and wanted to help us out.
And Kathy Bene makes about 100 bowls for us every year.
So we also have the, Mary Mertis runs
at a class through the community group over.
And she and her people that come to the classes
are also offering about 75 bowls for us this year.
So that's pretty exciting.
And then our schools are participating.
So we have Lincoln High School Art Club
made about 75 bowls for us.
Woodside Elementary made a number of really super cute bowls
for us, the kids have made.
Nikusa High School has also participated in making bowls.
And then Rams Middle School is also making bowls for us.
And then we have a couple of other people
that are just donating a few here and there.
But those are our big donors.
So it's great.
Every year they're willing to help us out, which is great.
Because we want that homemade bowl kind of idea.
Oh, yeah.
And to take that home and I have that as a remembrance
of the event is really cool.
It's a continuing reminder of not only the event
in the fun memory of the event, but the purpose of the event.
Exactly.
And every year for 10 years, you've been putting bowls
in people's homes that they can reuse
and share this wonderful memory while also being reminded
of the importance of that somebody's bowl is always empty.
It's such a win-win kind of situation
and such a great way of being able to do this
without being preachy, without being anything like that.
We're just getting the information out there,
getting people and keeping it in fresh in people's minds.
It's important.
And a subject like this is affects everybody.
Because Mary, this is a great event.
We are able to have a lot of fun at this event.
But the funds raised, that $10, that adds up.
And that really helps you guys
that focus be able to do the vital.
And I mean, incredibly vital work that you guys do
in this community.
Can we talk a little bit about where that money goes
and how it really does impact focus?
Yes.
And I want you to know too that we also support
the Nacusa Backpack Program.
So focus is not the only recipient.
Now in the past, we had other agencies
that also received funding from this program,
but they were part of the team.
And so we kind of had to set the guideline
that if an organization wanted to benefit
from the organization and the money that we brought in,
they needed to participate in some way.
So we have members of our team who are from Nacusa
and we also have Nacusa School that makes bulls for us.
So that's why they are also a recipient
of some of the funds.
So last year, we were able to make almost $7,000,
total for the event, which was huge.
And I also want to thank Thrive Ent
because Thrive Ent also helps us out
with a gift card every year to pay for some of our expenses
because we do have expenses for the event.
So that helps us out tremendously as well.
So most of the money that comes in
is going right directly to the need of food.
It is an empty bull's rule that the food
or money has to go to purchasing food.
It is not in any administrative cost.
It's not for any staffing or supplies.
It is food only.
So the money is then given to the organizations
and the programs that need direct contact with food.
So it's to purchase food.
And now you know, I mean, we work very closely
with feeding America.
Some of our food comes free from them,
but some we have to purchase.
And we also purchase from other businesses
that do have food that we are able to purchase from.
So it is all directly food purchases, nothing else.
Right.
Way more detailed than I expected.
Thank you for that, Mary.
I didn't apply necessarily.
But I do think that to the person that might be
on the fence about joining us at the event
in next Saturday or maybe they're unsure about this
or they haven't heard much about it before.
Transparency goes so far nowadays
and I appreciate that so much.
But I didn't expect the breakdown like that.
That was great.
Thank you for that.
And I think it goes a long way just out of interest
from people as well.
That's a wonderful part of this event.
Another thing that I wanted to ask you about, Mary,
as we're not just talking about empty bowls, but focus,
how are things going for focus, the organization,
and how can we help focus?
Oh, awesome.
So focus has undergone a huge transition this year
because two of our previous employees retired.
And that made a difference.
One we knew was coming and she had
agreed to stay until we made the move to the new building.
But then we knew she was wanting to retire, which we certainly
had to honor.
And so we were able to replace her position.
And then shortly after that, Dale, who is there forever,
Dale Davis, made a decision to also retire.
His family was having some health needs
and he just needed to make that change.
And so we totally understood that.
But it was like, OK, now what do we do?
We just hired a new person to replace Pat.
And our other employee that we had,
she was a part-time person.
And Rich was also a part-time, really, at that time.
So we sat down.
We met with the people that we had and said,
can we move forward?
Are you willing to add on extra time?
And so Jen Conklin has taken over the manager position
for focus.
She jumped up from being the manager of just the meal
program to now taking over the entire program.
Rich has taken on the assistant manager position.
And then we hired Alex.
And Alex is our kind of run around
do everything kind of guy who is our heavy duty guy.
Who does a lot of the lifting, a lot of the weighing,
and a lot of those kinds of things for us.
And the kind of the jack of all trades guy.
So so far, we're managing to stay pretty well on top of things.
Now, we did make a decision in January
to just close on Wednesdays for a while
because that seemed to be our low day.
And we were also trying to really make a decision
about where hours should go, because the pantry was open
48 hours a week.
Well, for a full-time person, that's
48 hours of overtime.
So we were trying to be fiscally smart
and trying to figure out if we could find ways
to work around that issue.
So we're still working with that.
We're still looking at possibilities.
We hope to be able to open every day.
But we are open every day for donations.
We pick up food every day from places.
But our clients right now, we are not open on Wednesdays.
With the hope that maybe we can change that
and reopen again at some point once we can figure out
how to reorganize so that we can help our employees
not have to work 60 hours a week and also help our clients.
It's got to work for both.
And once again, appreciate the honesty,
the transparency, and wishing you well with all of that,
certainly.
It hasn't always been easy, but we have managed.
And our people have really dug in and our board has been
very helpful to make sure everything keeps working.
Our clients are happy.
We did a survey with our clients, and they seem very happy
without things are going.
And change is never easy.
And people hear things, and we don't want them
to understand or believe rumors, just come and ask us.
Exactly.
It is going well, and we are serving our community
with the huge increase that we've had.
Oh, this community is so fortunate with focus.
And I've lived and I've been in the other communities
that don't have something like this.
And you can tell.
And you can see it.
We are very fortunate the work that we have
that focus on you guys and your team do.
Mary, and when it comes to that, we don't want you
to feel alone in that.
We want to help.
We want to be able to do what we can to be,
so that we have focus has our back.
We want to have yours.
So what are ways that we as a community as individuals
can help out that focus?
So we really have an excellent support system in this town.
But volunteering is always something
that we are willing to always take in volunteers,
whether it's serving a meal on Thursday night,
whether it's helping with our backpack program,
or they pack the backpacks on Monday mornings usually.
And then, of course, our pantry during open hours.
Now, our churches are our main supplier of volunteers
during the pantry open hours.
But there's always things people can do.
So if you're interested in helping just call focus
or stop in and say, hey, I'd like to help.
What can you need?
What do you need?
We're still looking for maybe another cook.
So if you like to cook, we could use another cook
to help our rotation out.
We could always use another meal coordinator.
That's something that those jobs take a little more time
than just a one hour a week kind of thing.
But we are looking for some people
that are interested in doing something like that.
But any time anybody wants to help out,
we'll find a job for you.
Yeah, yeah.
We'll just reach out to you.
We'll come in.
We'll give you the information
of how you can reach Mary and the team at focus
before we wrap up today.
And Mary, as we are wrapping up,
let's talk about the details one more time
about the empty bulls event.
Okay, again, it's two weeks from tomorrow.
So February 17th, and so far not gone,
what the weather looks great.
Yes.
So keep hoping for that.
We just, the weather looks great prior to that.
So hopefully no snowstorm on that day.
And then we serve from 11 until two.
We will have some parking attendants
that will help you know where to park.
Our volunteers will park in front of Sparhawk.
So the rest of the parking that will be open for our guests.
And we hope to see you there.
So the event does take place at the Sparhawk Building
over where focus is located.
Yeah, so that's 2321 West Grand Avenue.
So right across from Wheeler's Trucking
or Ford dealer ship.
You can't miss it.
You can't miss it.
Yeah, I can't miss it.
As long as we are shouting out things,
I do want to, I try to take this opportunity whenever we do.
A big shout out to Sparhawk and that.
Really appreciate that business, that organization,
opening their doors for focus
and working with you guys.
Appreciate that.
Oh, Mark has been wonderful to work with.
He's our landlord, obviously.
We rent from him.
And there have been some issues with plumbing
and everything with a new building like that.
That's an old building.
Yeah.
And so there have been some issues
and he has just been wonderful to work with.
So yes, thank you, Mark, and your team
because we really appreciate you being there.
Yeah, and appreciate the community
and everybody that's volunteered
and been a part of this vent over the last 10 years.
Let's make it another 10 strong years.
Let's kick off this 10th anniversary right.
Oh, we've got a lot of fun things
that are a part of this empty bull's event.
And even if you've been to ones in the past,
this is a very different one.
There's going to be some fun stuff
that is a part of this one with the raffle
and some of those other things
that you touched on today, Mary, appreciate it.
If people want to volunteer,
if they want to know more about focus
or how they can help or any of the above,
how can they reach you and your team?
Well, and also, even if you want to help with empty bulls,
we can still use some helpers there as well.
So probably the best thing to do
would be to call focus over at the Sparhawk Building
and it's 422, 2050.
If you want to give us a call
and just say that you're willing to help us out
in any way, whether it's for the empty bull's event
or just to helping out with focus
and they'll direct you to me or anybody else
that we can hook you up with
that we can put you to work for.
Excellent.
And of course, be sure to follow their Facebook page.
It's another great way to keep up on everything
that focus and empty bulls is up to.
Mary will be spreading the word about this event all week long.
We're going to make sure you got a good crowd.
Great.
We're excited about that.
I'm hoping to see you there.
I'm hoping to see you there.
I really want to be there.
I haven't been able to go to one in years.
And I really want to be of this one.
Oh, hopefully, like I said,
we have a new flow of the event this year.
So it should move very smoothly.
And so hopefully it'll be a great day.
Thanks again for the time, Mary.
You are welcome.
Thank you.
I want to thank all of our guests this week
for joining us in a big special shout out to Pam
Hilke and the amazing scheduling.
She does week in a week.
We appreciate you, Pam.
We'll be back with more Midday magazine next week right here
at 975 FM 1320 AM WF HR.
We are locally grown radio.
