two. Welcome everyone to Midday magazine for this Wednesday, May 27th, 2024. Have your
host James J. mail off here and we're welcoming into the studio some of our favorite people
in this whole area, our friends from the Opportunity Development Center, ODC. First up, we have
Anne Lee Peck with us, Director of Public Relations and Fund Development and always
good to see you.
Always good to see you.
Thanks for being here, Anne.
We're having us.
We want to welcome in as well, Ashley Neckle, Communication Specialist, Ashley. It's
always good to see you.
Thanks, you too.
Thank you for being here. Nice shirt, by the way. Like that. Nice shirt. Very well done.
And we of course have to introduce the star of this show, this segment. David, David,
good to have you with us.
Thank you, James. It's always a pleasure to be on the air with you.
Well, and it's dangerous for me, David. Every time I bring you on the air, it is more
and more tempting for our listeners and our own, and our ownership to take you, you have my
job. So by, we, that's how good you are. That's how much we want to have you here and how
much we appreciate our ODC and we have a lot to cover today. I will stop rambling and let's
dive right in to May being Mental Health Awareness Month. And certainly we've brought,
loved to bring attention to that. We've been able to on a lot of our shows this week.
I want to get into a little bit more of the month with you though. And this fun event
you have coming up, the Force Hope Golf event coming up on May 31st over at Beautiful
San Valley.
Yeah. So we're real excited to wrap up May Mental Health Awareness Month at San Valley.
Our four hope golf benefit will be happening on May 31st. So we're super excited.
We are also at capacity. And so we've filled out all of our sponsorship opportunities and
then also filled out all of the golf opportunities available. So we'll have 88 golfers joining
us. And we're just super excited for all of the support throughout the entire month.
But this is really the culmination of Mental Health Awareness Month and raising funds for
ODC's opportunity for hope mental health clinic as well.
So we appreciate just all of this community support.
The clinic, we don't get a chance to touch on this too often. How's the clinic going?
Things seem to be running very well over there.
Yeah, the clinic is going very, very well. We are actually currently looking for a couple
more therapists because the need is so great. But it's going very, very well. All of our
therapists are certainly busy. We are also supporting some local school districts with
mental health services. And so just a real wide array of the things that we're doing in
the clinic.
When it comes to an event like this, maybe people aren't able and businesses aren't able
to attend this one. But this will be back next year. And we want to remind everybody about
that. And there are other events and other opportunities for the community and for businesses
to work with the ODC. It is one of the greater organizations you can attach yourself to.
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. There's always something happening. And they'll let one of the
latest things that we've done is we do have our essentials pantry in our for hope clinic.
And so we have it, you know, we were looking for donations for non-perishable food items,
hygiene products, things like that. So there's always an opportunity for anybody to help in
any way possible to support our clinic.
Can you tell us a little bit more about that? About that? I don't think we've touched on that yet.
Sure. So, you know, really what has happened is when people have come in there, typically
in crisis. And we find that, you know, really they're not only in mental health crisis and
need support, but they need other just essential items that they don't have or don't have
money for. And so we actually started an essentials pantry. And then we started it actually
over the winter when people didn't have warm coats or boots or hats. And so we have an
area in our vestibule that is always open during normal clinic business hours. So right now
there's still winter hats and coats. And then we got a swap that out. We've got some other clothing
available. But there's also a little bit of a food pantry. So people need things they can
grab what they need. We have essentials kits that contain just typical health and hygiene
products. So if people have a need for those, those are all available as well. We also
in our vestibule do have an arcane and also fentanyl test strips available. So really trying
to be an overall resource for the individuals in the community that may need it.
If other individuals would like to donate to that or participate with that and add to it,
how can they do that? Yeah. So, well, they could either give us a call or if they have things
that they would like to drop off. We do have a collection box actually in the main office
at ODC. So not in the for hope or the opportunity for hope clinic, but in ODC's entry way, we
do have a collection box for anyone that might want to bring in some items. And who asked
you guys to do this? Nobody. Yeah. Nobody. It was just something that we saw that was a need
in the community. And we decided that we needed to do something about it. And so we're just
fortunate enough to have such great supporters that have donated some up front starter money
and donated some products to us so that we were able to continue to keep this, keep this rolling.
I apologize for the way I did that, but I just couldn't, you guys don't brag about yourself.
No. I want to do it. I want to brag about you. You saw an opening in our community. You saw a
need and you did something about it. Yeah. Like that's just awesome. We have normalized those kind
of things way too much, especially with our nonprofits. A big kudos to everybody at the ODC
for doing those kind of things. Isn't that the first time we've done this with the
mental health clinic and other things? Right. Just really find it remarkable. And I'm always
inspired by the work you guys do there. Thank you. And we realize that there's other organizations
out there that have those things available to our community. But when a person's in crisis and
they have an immediate need, so we're not trying to fill that need, you know, take that away from
other organizations. It's meant to really just be a short stop gap until we can get people connected
to the other resources that are out there for more of a longer term solution for people.
When I say the vital great work the ODC is doing these are the kind of things we're touching on
what we're talking about. And we're talking about also events like the sensory friendly roller skating
event that happened at Skate City on Friday. That is happening Friday June 28th from 1030 to 130.
It's open to the public. And it'll be an 80s theme from what I hear Ashley. That's going to be fun.
Yeah, yeah, we're so excited. That's the first year doing it. And it'll be sensory friendly.
So it'll have soft music, dim lighting. Most of the games will be turned off. And we just,
there's a need for this area. And we're really excited to bring it to the community,
just a community event. It'll be open to the public. 699 for person. And all you can eat
pizza and soda. And yeah, there's definitely a need for this in the area. So if it goes well,
we want to do more events like this in the future and other communities in the area.
Yeah. So, yes, please stay tuned for more. It's going to be great.
Looking forward to looking forward to more and more events like this. This is certainly something
that I think that we're going to see more events like this in the future as we go forward here.
My godson is on the spectrum. And it's something that we, as he was getting older, he's 12, 13 now,
I think. But when he was real little, he couldn't go to birthday parties really as much and
things and do a lot of the things that little kids like to do. And having more, not only events
like this, but awareness of this kind of subject and why this is so important and why we have things
like this. It's a credit to, again, the ODC, but I do want to send a credit to Escape City as well.
There, you know, I think most of us listening have been to Escape City at some point or another
and understand that that's a pretty loud place. It gets pretty loud and there's a lot going on.
There's a lot that hits your senses and everything. It can be overwhelming for me.
And I can't imagine for others that are a deal with these other issues. So really important reason
to have this in a big, big complement to an organ, a company like that in Escape City that sees
this and is working with everybody. Was it fun to work with them on this?
Yeah. And, you know, there are so many experiences and events that like people with autism or
sensory sensitivities, they have to either choose to either just miss out on the event or just go
to it and then suffer and then have a hard time. So it's just great to be able to create an event
like this where it's inclusive and everyone can just have a really fun time.
Yeah. We've got a need for this and it's great to see that that is happening that we're doing
more of this. It also brings attention and awareness to this subject as well and hopefully gets more
and more people understanding of the need for something like this. It's a fun event and as we
get closer to June 28th, we're going to be hyping it up, talking about it. We're going to make
sure that we get a really nice fun crowd there for this event. And again, Ashley, we're hoping
they have more of these events and it'll be fun. Yeah, definitely. Is there anything else you want
to make sure that we touch on and we cover on this? So I think you've got it. You nailed that.
That was really good. Nicely job, Ashley. That's great work. Nicely done. I did want to talk a
little bit about, especially it doesn't seem to matter. There's a couple of subjects that really
go into almost every guess we have on and one of them is certainly raffles. This area loves
raffles and they love raffles and we've got a good one coming up with the ODC cash raffle.
Yep, we do. We do just want to share kind of your last chance to get cash calendar raffle tickets
from ODC. We'll be drawing 20 days in the month of June. We have over $3,300 in cash prizes.
And this wouldn't be possible again without the support of our community because all of the cash
has been donated by our local business community so that we could use this as a fundraiser.
So we are selling the tickets one for 10, three for 20. If anybody's interested in purchasing
tickets, they can reach out to us or your call or stop into our main office.
And what's really unique is we always do it on Facebook live and David has had a chance to
help us do last year helped us do the ticket drawings. And so it's really great. It's
that is correct. It's it's really a fun way to get everybody involved and you know it's
it's an affordable way for people to help support ODC and get to know a little bit more about us.
Yeah, you guys got a lot to give away too. Money wise. We do.
So get in on this everybody. Yeah, I think the lowest dollar amount is $100 or $125 on a day. So
you know, it's not you know, it's it's a nice yeah, it's a nice amount. And our biggie is $500
on the very last day. And this again, this is going on through coming up in June and it'll go
through May 31st. Keep that in mind, everybody be on the lookout. One of the great ways to keep an
eye on this is to be following the ODC on Facebook. If you're already following them, good on you.
If not, go ahead and type in your search bar on Facebook ODC or Opportunity Development Center. ODC
it should pop up. I know that's how it does for me. And be sure to like the page and keep up the
date and the great things that they're doing over there. If people want to purchase tickets and
are they available yet? They still are available. Yep, all the way up until May 31st. You can get
tickets. So give us a call and we'll set you up with getting you some tickets. And you can find
out more at odciinc.com, odciinc.com. We are speaking with Ann Lee Peck, Ashley Nichol. And of course,
our good friend David and David. I wanted to talk to you. I should say future program director
around here, David. David, I wanted to talk to you a little bit about Taco John's one of my
favorite places. Taco John's in Wisconsin Rapids is going to be hosting a benefit night for the ODC.
Or did host a benefit night for the ODC. I apologize. How did that go?
Well, actually, it went really good. And we had maybe about four or five people that came in.
And of course, before I, before I helped out, I kind of, I kind of hungry anyway.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I just decided to get something to eat. You're only human. I mean,
that Taco John's, I mean, yeah, you can't help yourself. So that's great. And did you have fun
interacting with people? Oh, yeah. I chatted with some people as they came in. And Mark and
Lisa and I were just, we're just having a high on time. Yeah. Yeah. Really good. Really good.
Yeah. We were, we were giggling and laughing. Yeah. There's a whole thing. Yeah.
It's really good. Yeah. We just really wanted to give a shout out to Taco John's for doing that.
I, Ashley and I were at another event. There were so many things going on in May. But I understand
that it was so busy. Like the line was forming out the door and things like that. So kudos to Taco
John's and everybody that came to support us. And we're going to be doing more events like that.
Not only here in Rapids, but in all of the communities that that we serve. So just to
keep a lookout for, for those other things happening. Looking forward to more, more of these kind
of events. And not only because of the, the attention it brings and the awareness it brings to the
ODC and the work that you all are doing. But the opportunity for more and more people to get to
meet people like David and get to talk with people like David and such and have more and more
of these conversations in our, just organically in our, in our day-to-day lives. It's fantastic.
Exactly. Well, of course, David knows everybody and everybody knows David. So, you know, he's,
he's a good ODC spokesperson by far. I appreciate you got too, man.
I do also want to mention that Taco John's don't need a 20% of their sales from the evening to
the ODC. Just a big compliment, big tip of the hat to them. And by local support, local everybody.
And I'm not biased at all. It's not just because I love Taco John so much. I'm not talking about that.
One of the get into another topic with you. And you guys are excited that you're announcing
the several graduations from your project search programs in mid-states adaptive career awareness
class series. Can we touch on that a little bit? Yeah, absolutely. So, project search is a
high school transition program for students with disabilities. We actually have four sites.
There's one here at Aspirus Riverview Hospital. And then we also have one at UWSP in Steven's point,
up at the Marshfield Hospital, and then also WASA, Spirus WASA Hospital. And so May is a huge month,
for everybody just around graduations. And so, really the focus of project search is to support
individuals with disabilities in becoming ready for adulthood and graduating school
and getting out in the workforce. And so, our individuals are participating in their graduation,
completion ceremonies. It's been really exciting. We've had two so far. We've got two more coming
up this week. But it's amazing how far the students really develop their skills in that last
year of high school. And there are so many of the students that we've attended that have already
gotten jobs. And so, it'll be a really nice, smooth transition for folks once they
finish with high school to go right into having a job and feeling valued and move right into
adulthood like all of us. Yeah, it's quite a smooth transition. It's something that we've
talked about with Midstate for a long time with our high schools and kids going from high school to
Midstate for Midstate right to the workforce. Yeah. It's great to see with something like this.
Yeah, so actually, so project search is kind of a little separate project than Midstate. But what's
really cool is this is the second year Midstate has done an adapted career awareness series.
And so this year, gosh, what was the number they said? How many people did we have 37 graduates?
About that. About 37 graduates. That's great. So we had folks from ODC in Wisconsin Rapids,
Stevens Point. And then also CCLS joined us this year. So it's been a fantastic partnership where
it's really about teaching individuals what different career opportunities are out there.
Midstate has been amazing with setting up some really great programming ideas. And David actually
had the opportunity to participate and actually had graduation yesterday. Well, congratulations.
Finger James, there is one other thing I wanted to touch on before we end the program.
Next week on the 30th of November, I mean, the 30th of May, I'm going to be going to my first
Raptor game in a season. So we're true 105. So that's going to be a good time to choose.
Yeah. Yeah. Well, what was your favorite part of the Midstate career awareness?
Well, my favorite part of the Midstate awareness was given up, given what the
graduation speech until the whole pile of people. It went something like this.
My friends, thank you very much for coming to the graduation.
Everybody having a good time. I'm glad everybody's having a good time, you know, and
I hope we can do this again someday. So yeah. So it really teaches about different, you know,
hospitality. Yeah. What other things did you learn about? You went to the nursing simulation center,
and Riverview Hospital. That's right. You had a share of your hobby day. They had horses come
to the parking lot at Midstate. And so it really is just a nice opportunity to explore different
things that even I haven't had the chance to explore. So it was really great. So looking forward
to hearing more about this as we have more and more people attending. That's a great event.
It's a great idea. This is just the second year last year. It was just with ODC. It was a very
small group last year. And so I anticipate this continuing. It just was, we've got some really
nice photos and some nice video of some of the speeches from the students. And it really was
an amazing event. Well, and it's interesting because we have something that another teacher and I
at the acting teaching, acting and writing school I work at that we've set up where kids graduate
and then where do they go from there? So many of our students, they graduate and like,
how do I get an agent? How do I get into this? How do I get into that? We're trying to give them a
transition. We have a class that's transitioning them from that to that. We, the job readiness,
a kind of part of this is really interesting to me. And just for like anybody, let alone for this
or an organization in this time, it's a great idea. Really a good idea. Yeah, yeah, it actually,
you know, it really was a brainchild of one of the, the dean from mid-state and Siemens point and
then one of our staff members. And it just amazes me like how it's grown just from year one to year two.
So just got a couple minutes left guys. Great job by everybody. And I did want to wrap up talking
a little bit about one of your newest programs. Yeah, yeah. So just wanted to share that we are now
able to offer corporate guardianship services. So that businesses, we're calling it Guardians of Hope.
And so we are able to, you know, if people need guardianship and they maybe don't have
family or friends that are willing or able to do that, ODC now has the capability of providing
that service for the individuals that we're supporting. And so we are really excited about having
that available for people. And, you know, really just the mission is going to be inspire, empower,
and support individuals in creating a brighter future. So, you know, providing hopefulness for
people so that they can still achieve their goals with the support of a guardian that can help
them through the things that they need. It's a great program. People can find out more about this
and some of the other great things that you guys are doing over there if they want to find out
about them. Man, how can they reach you? Yeah. So, well, they can call our, always call our main
office at 715-424-2712. Or they can go on our website odcinc.com or like and follow us on Facebook,
odcinc, and you'll find all the information that you need. One of my favorite parts anytime of my
day is when you guys join us. Thank you for making my day and our listeners day. We really,
really do appreciate the time from all of you. Thank you for joining us. Thanks for having us.
Thank you, David. Appreciate you. And thank you for having me, me too. James,
and I hope I, and I hope to see you again in the future. Oh, yeah. We'll see you real soon.
Ashley, thank you again for the time, too. And always good to see you in. Thank you.
Again, find out more odcinc.com, odcinc.com. We'll be back with more midday magazine for you tomorrow
right here at 975 FM 1320 AMWF HR locally grown radio.
