Welcome everybody to Midday magazine for this Friday, May 10th, 2024.
Have your host James J. Mailoff here at 330.
We're going to welcome in our friends from the Britney sailor bluegrass at the Lake Memorial
Music Festival. Caroline, Katie will join us.
May even have somebody else joining us. We will see.
Right now we have with us in studio Melissa Miller.
Good morning, Melissa.
Our good afternoon, Melissa.
Good, good afternoon.
Yes, and we have Mary Mertis with us.
Hello, good afternoon.
Good afternoon, Mary.
Did I say your last name right?
Yes, correct.
Oh, good. All right.
But that's I don't get those right very often.
Mary is a retired mead school teacher and Melissa joins us from Wisconsin
Service Public Schools.
Before we get into the benefit, I do want to thank you both for your service in the past,
for your continued service, for working with our kids, helping our community so much.
We greatly appreciate our teachers and all teachers, whether you're retired or not.
We appreciate the work that you guys do for our kids.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
I want to get into the together for Heather benefit that is coming up.
This is a wonderful benefit.
Let's get into some of the details of the who, what, when, where,
or I of the benefit itself.
And then we'll kind of talk if you guys don't mind a little bit about Heather
and where they started from.
Sure, absolutely.
Well, the together for Heather benefit will happen Saturday, May 18th.
It's from 11 to 8, but we will have a sensory friendly hour for kids
from 10 to 11, and it will be at the fall back.
So that's been formerly known as the Wild Horse and other
other venues, but it's at the fall back on Saturday, May 18th.
This is going to be a really nice event.
It's going to be a fun event, family event.
Yes, absolutely.
We're going to have some music down there.
I see one of my favorite people.
Pam Ross is going to be down there.
So I see that she is one of the very talented human beings.
So you got some great musicians that are going to be coming down to perform.
Yes, indeed.
We're going to have the Lincoln brass trio and the Lincoln drum line.
Pete Gilson will be there, the Hmong dance team,
and the Rappis School of Performing Arts dancers.
Sarah Crowe and Desiah Melbiduo and the Lincoln Marriottu band.
And they always are a lot of fun.
So those musicians will be continuing throughout the entire day.
So providing music along with all of the other activities that we have.
And I hear some buzz are getting really excited for it.
Yeah, great performers, all great performers.
I mentioned before, Pam, I just love her work and her voice.
And she's such a great singer.
Got some other great ones.
I just got the chance to see some of the Lincoln band.
That drum live, I played Kornet and Trun in that Lincoln.
I would have played drums if I had seen that drive.
They were doing that.
That's a great band.
They are pretty phenomenal.
Yes, yes, yes.
And Mary, we're so right about the Marriottu band.
There's so much fun.
It's a great band.
Yes, absolutely.
That's really fun.
Live music, that's great right there.
But we got a lot of other kinds of things going on with this event as well.
I see that there's going to be kids games, food and drinks,
bloody Mary bar.
And because you guys know your area, raffles.
Man, if you want your event to do well,
have a raffle attached to it because we love raffles around here.
Absolutely.
Do I see a cork raffle?
What is a cork raffle?
So it's where you pick a cork and then it gets tied to.
You get, you get an alcohol bottle with it.
So you know, we need to make it fun for the grownups too.
Yeah, so there's that.
And then I want to really put a plug out there for Ryan Shides,
Bloody Mary Mix.
So this Bloody Mary bar is going to have homemade mix
from Ryan Shide of Great Expectations.
And it is delicious.
So I don't think people will be disappointed about it.
So it's not, it doesn't come in a jar.
And really, we've had so much talk about the Bloody Marys
that they are going to be astounding.
So we hope that people who really enjoy their Bloody Marys
are going to make sure to come and visit us that day and try them out.
And we have some, we have a wide variety of raffle baskets
and silent auction items.
And just really want to commend the community
for their generosity and their support.
When we have reached out to community members
and those that we know, they have been so incredibly generous.
And we just, we can't thank them enough
for their help in making this event a successful one.
This area is so incredible when it comes to events like this
and the way people just show up.
And whether they're attending the event
or adding to it, their business is sponsoring something
or they're adding something to a raffle or something along those lines.
I mean, doing this job for a while,
I get really spoiled being in this seat
and talking to a lot of people and a lot of benefits over the years
and every single one of them they show up for.
It's incredible.
And I also want to acknowledge the Rapid School of Performing Arts
because they have their dance recital this weekend.
So they so graciously are going to perform for us next weekend as well
even after the tiring, exhausting weekend.
But they are excited to, to entertain us.
That's really cool, great to have the kids out there.
Well, and I just found there was so much compassion that people had
for Heather's situation.
And it's, it's honestly, to be honest with you,
it's not easy to go out and ask people to help.
It's, it's sort of nerve wracking.
It's a hard thing to do.
But when people are so compassionate about the situation
and so anxious to help, that makes it so much easier.
And I don't, I'm pretty sure you don't find that in a lot of places
but you really do find it here in our community.
Well, Seth, yeah, completely agree.
I grew up poor, I grew up without much.
And I remember what it can be like to have to ask for things
and ask for help as a young kid.
And it was very, very difficult.
And I never really got comfortable with it
or really got good at it.
I, I feel that when I talk about these benefits
or any of those kind of things that would just say in their Melissa
and it can be difficult, it can be hard to get out there.
Mary, sorry, I get, I got two M's here.
You can mess up my name all you want.
I'm square.
Yeah.
It is, it is, it can be so difficult.
And this community doesn't make you feel like you're hat in hand.
Doesn't make you feel, if anything, they, they come to your level.
They come to where you're feeling,
what you're in motion at stuff.
And I, I have to think that a lot of the community also understands
that there are so many parallels and so many similarities
to whether it is Heather's story or somebody else's story out there
that they find a relate, that they find a connection to.
And I'm with you and to commend it again, this area
that just stands up above, above many.
They do some really great stuff.
And you guys are going to be doing some great stuff at this event.
I see there's a rock's art station, face painting.
Kids love that stuff.
That's great.
So our, many people of our benefit planning committee,
committee are teachers.
So they're bringing in their teacher flavor
and taking the time to really make this a fun event
for everybody in the family.
So we'll talk more on the event and the details of it
before we wrap up today and how people can find out more
if they want to attend or anything.
But I would like to take a moment to talk about Heather a little bit
and what this is all about.
And Heather's story.
And would one of you want to lead that
or do you want me to read from the article here?
Because I really want to make sure to get it right.
I want to, myself, I know you guys will,
but I want to make sure I did.
Well, if I can, Heather first came to meet school
and it was two days before we were beginning class.
And I had my class already and I had the names on the lockers,
on the desks and everything.
And the principal walked in with Heather and said,
Mary, we're giving you a really full class.
And here's another teacher to work with you.
Her name is Heather.
And I'm like, two days before we have the kids here.
And as I'm panicking, Heather walked in
and she was just such a go-getter.
And like, well, we'll figure this out.
And we had to begin moving furniture
because we needed to bring in like eight more desks.
And the room was so full.
We're trying to figure out where to put everything.
And it ended up really, the two of us
getting to know each other really well that way.
And to find out that we were, I think, paired together
very well.
We just had a camaraderie between the two of us
that kept us going through the tough times.
And it didn't end after that.
We were on the same team for the whole time
I continued until I retired.
And she is the most compassionate teacher
and the most loving teacher.
It's clear that she cares for every child.
And she's very, very good about setting up structure
for the children that they want so badly.
And she is just watching her in her profession
and watching her as a mom is amazing.
It's so generous and selfless.
I told her at some point in the past.
I said, you are one of my teacher idols.
Yes, yes.
And she looked at me.
She was very humble, really.
She truly is.
And I can't think of a time she's ever been angry.
And when children are starting to maybe lose their attention,
she starts singing a song.
And they begin singing along with her.
And if you want someone like that with so much talent
and so much connection to children,
you know you've seen the best of the best.
And she really is.
I remember that year because you and Heather were buddies
with my class.
Oh, that's right.
That year.
So students buttied up with my class
and we would do reading things together and other things
together.
And that's when I really started to get to know Heather too.
Yes.
And that's when she led me down the path of buying things
for the class in terms of like stables was her favorite store.
Mary, you have to see this.
This is so great.
She really was inspiring to me as a senior teacher
because she got me into a lot of new things that I could try.
And that's just why she's such a special person
and a very wonderful mother.
Yeah.
And nicely to bring up this weekend as well
with a Mother's Day weekend and everything.
So first out to gate, I appreciate you
sharing that with us for one.
It gives us a little more insight into our teacher's lives
and the way it is in a classroom, the things that are thrown
at them or what they have to handle or buying supplies
and everything.
Again, CC, what I was saying in the beginning of this segment
appreciates you guys.
Appreciate our teachers out there and everything they do.
And so appreciate teachers like Heather that are.
There's kids out there that 20 years from now
when somebody asks them who their favorite teacher is,
they're going to say Heather.
I'll probably say you guys too at some point or another.
You've got some people, some students out there
that'll say your names.
But Heather's one, I don't know her,
but I know this about her.
I'm positive of that.
There's going to be kids out there 10, 20 years from now
because we all know when those conversations come up
of teachers that influence, that's teachers
that we learned a lot from.
I bet your her name's going to come up.
And we're doing this event.
Certainly Heather's great.
And we could do it just because Heather's great.
But we want to help Heather.
We want the community wants to help Heather.
We want to be there for her.
And what is happening with Heather that we could use a chance
to help and be there for her?
So this is actually her second round of cancer.
She first was diagnosed.
It was 2022.
Am I correct in that?
21.
It was 21, 21.
Gosh, time flies.
So 2021, she diagnosed.
Went through a variety of treatments, overcame.
And then was doing well for a while until she wasn't
and ended up going into to seek treatment
and figure out what was going on.
And sure enough, it's back.
And it's kind of back with the vengeance.
So we are reeling together just
to help provide support for her and for her son, Jeremy.
And she was very ill right around Christmas and right after.
And was really struggling with pain
and had to go into the hospital for several week-long stays,
three of them, which was not something we wanted to see.
But she really needed to be there.
And there were complications that were causing her extreme pain.
And the cost for that hospitalization
is not something, three times three,
it's not something that people usually expect and is very expensive.
So it took a while until they could work out those problems
so that she was in a better state of comfort,
but having all of those hospital bills
and being in so much pain that she did have
to stop working at that point.
And that is really why we are doing this benefit
because these are things she can't control.
And we'll do whatever we can to help her
because being the person she is, she deserves that.
And that was really hard for her to stop.
Oh, very hard.
Can't imagine.
Very hard.
I like many people out there have lost somebody I love to breast cancer.
And I think that at this point in time,
there's nobody who hasn't been touched by cancer
in some way or another.
So hopefully that is a reminder to people
and an opportunity to help and add to this.
It's also something that I think that anybody hearing this story,
I can't imagine how you could not want to be a part of this event,
how you could not want to put into this event in any way of form.
Whether you're showing up, you're spreading the word about this event,
you're helping support Heather in this cause.
Any opportunity to be a part of it,
I would think that the community would jump at.
In part, not just because of the cancer diagnosis
and in that subject matter or her being a teacher
and everything she did, but this is one of ours.
It's one of ours, everybody.
And we look out for each other in Midwest.
We look out for each other around here.
This is an opportunity for us to do that.
This is a woman who has looked out for our kids,
has done for our kids, has done so much for this community.
This is our chance to give back.
This is our chance to show her one,
she is not alone in this fight.
And two, that we appreciate her.
Just simply appreciate her, you know?
And whether it is showing up at the event
and having a good time with you and your family
and spreading joy and happiness in our community
or if you can donate and be a part of things
or in any way, shape or form,
that goes so much farther than I can put in the words.
And it's difficult because that's my job to talk.
But I got no words.
I don't have any words for something like that.
When human beings, when strangers help strangers,
you know, when we have some of that
and that's such a big part of this event.
When we do more of that in society,
we have strangers becoming friends.
We have community becoming more unified, stronger.
Our community has an advantage with this
because we got a lot of this going for us already.
We continue to show up for events like this
and we only show the rest of the rest of the state,
the rest of the Midwest, how it's done.
And in how you can do these events
and you can do that being a part of this great event.
Let's talk again.
Oh, I should mention, I'm so sorry.
I want to apologize to Heather.
I did not mention she is an otter enthusiast.
That should have been mentioned really early on.
I didn't mention that.
That's on me.
As a report, I should have mentioned that early on.
I love otters.
I think that's really cool.
I think that's a great moment.
That's a great part of that.
She definitely is.
My kids know her fondly is Auntie Heather.
And every time we travel somewhere
and we see something otter, they always ask,
can we get that for Auntie Heather?
She, I mean, that's definitely something she's known for.
And I have purchased so many things on Amazon for her
that are otter themed.
I get notices about every otter piece of merchandise
that's available out there.
And so I surprise her with those things.
I happen to be a part time at the cultural center
as the pottery instructor.
So I happen to find a poster for her
of an otter sitting at a pottery wheel.
I'm like, oh, we have to buy this for her.
So no way, really.
Yes, yes, that's fine right now.
I gave that to her right after she got to the hospital.
So what, I mean, how do you find that?
That's a good find.
Really good otter things.
Yeah, bring your otter enthusiasm to the
together for Heather event.
It is coming up May 18th from 11th, 8 over at the fall back
at 9031 Connie Road, W. W. Wisconsin Rapids.
As Melissa was telling us, I think a lot of us know
that is other names, but you know where you're going.
You know how to get over there.
And let's talk about the other fun things
that are going to be a part of this event.
There's going to be so many great things with this,
especially the music.
Music is going to be an integral part.
What kind of bands are we going to be performing again?
The Pam Ross will be there.
The Lincoln Breastrio and Lincoln Drumline,
Singer Pete Gilson, Sarah Crowe, and Dessiah Melby Duo,
and actually Heather and some other friends of ours.
We got to see Sarah perform a while back,
and she's fabulous, as well as the Lincoln Mariachi band.
Yeah, yeah, going to have a bunch of the kids
from Lincoln down there with some of that.
That's going to be a lot of fun too.
And the food is going to be magnificent,
because we have a real chef.
We'll have a big sale as well.
Oh, yes, a big sale.
And guess what?
You get to put your money in a money container
in the shape of an otter that I am now creating.
So I mean, really if you need, what other reasons
you need to go and buy baked goods,
you can put the money in the otter's head.
It's pretty cool.
So we look forward to seeing you put all your money in there.
Keep in mind, there will be kids games
as well, face painting and rock art stations for the kids.
So bring them with, let them have a part of this,
a fun time with this.
And keep in mind, when you bring the family,
when you bring the kids, you two better know this better
than I do.
When you have kids around, those brains are sponges.
And they're taking all this in.
And they are seeing adults looking out for another adult.
They are seeing adults helping another adult.
They're seeing community members come together.
That has an impact.
That has an impact.
And it's another opportunity for us to be teachers ourselves
and do a little of this and do a little good
and show, hey, this is what a community is all about
to the youth.
And that's a great opportunity too.
So there are so many great things about this event.
All it's missing is you.
We're just missing you for it.
It's gonna be great.
It'll be May 18th again at the fallback
in Wisconsin Rapids.
Come and enjoy a fun, fantastic event.
And a boy almost got to the end here
and didn't mention the Bloody Mary Bar again.
I shouldn't mention that.
I gotta get that out there.
That's gonna be just outstanding.
So we do hope some people really, really like
their Bloody Mary's.
And so I think that anyone who fits that category
will be very happy to come.
I agree.
I'm very excited for that.
And James, if I just want to point out
that if someone cannot attend,
please share the event, get the word out.
There will be, will share her GoFundMe
and there will be other options to donate as well.
But share and invite, that would be great.
Can we, can you guys use volunteers?
Should people reach out about that at all?
And if you need that help or anything else,
do we have businesses reach out to you at all?
And is there any other opportunities for that?
It sounds like we are covered.
Okay.
From based on our last meeting, which is fantastic.
Yes.
But if someone would still like to make a last minute
donation, they can certainly reach out.
And just to the GoFundMe page, is that where,
or is that the best way to get in touch with you all?
Or is there a better way to do that?
There is, she does have a Venmo or a GoFundMe.
But we could, could we post the GoFundMe
on the WFR, WFFR?
Sure.
Yeah.
I can't talk today, the WFR.
It's not.
It's not a requirement.
We'll post it either way.
Yeah, it sounds good.
Sounds good.
So we'll get that GoFundMe page posted out there for you.
I will let you know that I just threw into my search bar
together for Heather, Wisconsin Rapids,
it popped up right away.
First thing on the page.
So even if that's what would be easier for you to do
or anything, go ahead and type in your search bar.
Together for Heather, Wisconsin Rapids popped right up.
GoFundMe page popped up right away.
I did see that there were a couple of other things too,
but that's the main one that you want.
And again, we'll put that on our Facebook page.
Thank you.
And come take in this great event,
be a part of the community, be a part of this.
Let's come together for Heather, everybody.
Thank you both so much for the time.
Thank you, James.
Thank you for inviting us.
I appreciate you.
You might have to come back and tell us how the event went.
So you did too good of a job.
You might have to come back.
I'm so sorry, but you might have to.
So thank you both.
We could do that.
We could do that.
Great.
Sounds good.
Thank you both.
Thank you.
We'll come back.
We'll have some more fun here on Midday Magazine at 975 FM 1320 AM WFHR.
We are locally grown radio.
