Welcome everybody to Midday Magazine for this June 25th, 2024.
Have your host, James, with you.
And right now, we are joined by some of my favorite people.
We have the Wisconsin Rapids Family Center.
We're going to be featuring in this conversation.
We've got some other friends with us as well.
First up, one introduced from the Family Center, Amy Shide.
Amy, always good to see you.
Good morning, James.
Thanks for having us.
I appreciate you being here.
We want to send a big thank you to Kelly Liska
for being here as well.
From Sparhawk, Trucking.
Good to see you, Kelly.
Thanks for being here.
Thank you.
Appreciate the time.
And God, I immediately started to feel
like I was supposed to filling out data and trees and everything.
I don't know what.
Oh, Mozel is here.
We have Mozel.
Mozel, of course, we send a shout out to our friends
at Stober Healthcare.
Mozel is here to talk a little bit about Toucha Truck.
Mo, it's always good to see you.
Thanks for being here.
Good to see you to James.
Nice to be here.
I want to get into this with you right away, Amy.
First up, of course, appreciate all three of you individually
and as a team in what you do for our community,
supporting one of the most important causes
we have in the world today.
Appreciate that work.
We make change and we make differences.
Zip code to zip code.
That's how it's, that's how we make true change.
It takes time and patience and we've been doing that
and it's getting and getting better and better to that point.
But there is a lot of work to be done
and that's part of why we have events
like this coming up, Amy.
I want to dive right into this.
Let's go ahead and get into the fourth annual Toucha Truck
coming up July 27th.
We are indeed having a summer of fun, James.
We have Toucha truck, excuse me.
The first time I've used my mouth today.
Toucha truck coming up on July 27th.
We are going to have our first annual golf outing this year
as well.
So we are enjoying our event planning
at the family center this year.
Yeah, these events, they're fun.
They're, they're family oriented.
They bring a ton of the community together.
A lot of, a lot of opportunities for networking,
a lot of opportunities for running the people.
Maybe you haven't seen before.
You haven't met before or anything like that.
But certainly first and foremost,
this is an opportunity to bring attention and awareness
and funds to the family center.
I would agree.
I think it's really important that we have a presence
in the community, that people know the services
that we provide, and that they have an opportunity
to support that work as well.
Just this past weekend, along with Spirehawk,
we were in the parade.
And what a fantastic opportunity for us
to simply be driving down the road,
waving to our fellow community members,
and having them shout out how thankful they are
that we're in this community and that we have a facility
like the Wisconsin Rapids Family Center available.
Should they, should they meet us?
I, I used to tell Sue and Deb,
the first thing I'd say to them when they'd come in,
I can't, I hope, I look forward to a day
where you don't have a job.
Amen.
I would love that to happen.
And now I get to say that to you, Amy,
here's hoping that one day,
you maybe come work with us or something,
because I love that.
But for now, we appreciate you being in the position you are
and the work that is being done here.
And to that point, what you're saying about the parade,
I was not able to attend or be down there,
but I talked to community members,
wanted to hear how it went and everything.
And one of the things they did mention
was how happy they were and one person saying,
how proud they were to see the family center in the parade.
That we are in a day and age
where we don't have to talk in a hushed voice anymore.
That we are on the, we are at a point now
where this topic, this conversation
could be talked about like this.
And it's not something that people even blink at anymore.
That the note is made that this is an important subject,
but they don't shy away from it.
And that's how we make,
that's another way of making change.
It is by facing these things more as a community together.
And it was great to see that.
It was great to hear that from people in the community.
And I know I'm gonna be hearing stuff about the fourth annual
touch of truck I do every year.
People love this event.
Let's get into this one and it taking place
at the Grand Rapids Lions Club.
Absolutely.
What are some of the vehicles that will be down there this year?
So much fun.
It has been so much fun doing my job as a recent
because people are getting to the point
where they're letting us know what they're gonna be bringing,
what we're gonna be able to see.
Kelly, I'll just start with you.
You're bringing a really small truck, right?
Yes, a semi-small.
Whoa.
I was behind them in the parade
and it's never, while we were lining up,
I was next to them.
And you know, you see them coming down the road
and you don't realize how big they are
until you're a little tiny mini-vanus park next to one.
And then it's like, wow, cool.
So the kids always love that.
The opportunity to see up close a big semi like that.
We are having the water and light trucks again.
Much to my dismay because the kids love
to go up there pick ACorms off the tree
and then chuck them at Miss Amy.
So that's fun.
We have McDonald family is bringing their antique tractors
again for tractor rides, which the kids love.
We have everything from a 1920s Model T
through a 2023 Tesla.
Some ATVs, lots of just super fun vehicles.
The city is bringing some really fun things.
I find this interesting and I tell this
to Brian Slingman of next home often.
I'm not exactly sure why the kids love a box truck so much,
but I think their voice echoes in it.
And they just love to jump on the back of the box truck
and jump around and...
What is a box truck?
It's like a moving truck.
Yeah, yeah.
You know, it's pretty much sad, eh?
It's a box.
Big empty box just like it's so big.
No, it's a good question.
It's a good question.
You've fed a lot of kids in it.
Yeah, and kids aren't the only ones that enjoy that.
Did I hear?
I don't know, but I've heard that it's a lot of fun.
There's, of course, not only that,
but police cars, ambulances down there as well.
And I mentioned that in part because another great part
of this event is, yes, all of this going on,
family, friends, kids going and take these things in.
You know, say a kid is playing on the spa truck truck
or checking things out and looking at a police car.
You just never know what could be sparked in that kid
that could take them the rest of their lives
into a career or something they might want to do.
That's a cool part of this too,
but it's also the bridging of worlds
and more and more of that.
I talk with Sheriff Becker about this all the time
and how they're always looking for opportunities
to build that gap between the community and them.
And here's another opportunity with that,
not only just that, but with these other organizations
as well of building those bridges.
And that's always nice to be able to see.
Anytime we can get that in the community,
we appreciate that and appreciate an event like this.
That's all fun, all really good things to do.
Well, so we're gonna have some food down there,
some prizes.
We are.
This is a great opportunity for me to talk
about the raffle.
Kelly has been the shining star
and raffle prize creation for the last few years.
I feel like I could probably retire
and turn that over to her, but she's just got a few things
to do running Sparhawk.
But you wanna talk a little bit, Kelly,
about the past year's prizes.
Yes, the first year we did the Power Wheels truck
and we put the Sparhawk logos on it.
And then we did bikes with helmets in this year.
Do I say or do I let it be a surprise?
Lots up to you.
A surprise for Amy or a surprise for the community?
Yeah.
We're doing kids' pools and things I go along with that.
So I also love it.
Oh, that's a great idea.
Oh, they're gonna be excited by that.
That's a really cool idea.
Nice.
And that's tremendous support of the Family Center as well.
Those raffles really bring in a lot of money
that's able for that we're able to use for our staff
and to be able to fund the great work
that's being done there.
We appreciate that so much every year.
Sparhawk is also one of our key sponsors.
So that enables us to even have this event
having those sponsors that supporters at the front end
to be able to get flyers out to all these different companies
to bring their materials.
We can liaise with the lions to get that site
and get the vision screening that they provide
and with those funds.
So we appreciate that so much.
Can I say how we first got into this?
Yeah, I love it.
My daughter was an intern with the Family Center.
So then she brought this up and I said,
ah, well, so when it was mentioned to Mark Sparhawk,
he said, definitely it's for the kids and the families,
it's local, so I want to keep doing this
as long as we can.
And we drag her back in every year too.
Once an intern, you're always in my net.
Right, right.
That's good to note.
I love the way you said that, by the way.
I do want to embarrass, I mean,
note that for a second Kelly.
It's Sparhawk and I was looking forward
to this opportunity actually with that company
because I've seen Sparhawk all across different events
and different things.
I've seen the commercials, but what I've really seen
is Sparhawk attached to this event or that event.
I've seen a business putting back in this community
and we love to support that.
We want to support that.
We want to support more and more of that.
Encourage you to do so.
Find out different ways that you can support
not only Sparhawk, but help them support
that what things that they are doing over there.
Support those that support this community, everybody.
That's how we not only keep great businesses
in this community, but keep them flourishing
and doing well, which is what we're all trying to do here.
And that does Segway me into, man, I can't,
you can't talk for that.
I can pay you to talk and I can't do it.
Does Segway me into Mozel and Stover Healthcare,
who have always done other things like this
in this community?
I've always supported the community
and done different, looked for different ways
to be able to do that.
And Mozel, whether it is being on the Family Center board
or it is something like that for you,
your sister, the team at Stover,
why is that so important to you
to be able to support the Family Center?
Well, we have always wanted to support the community locally.
And for me, it's just a passion of mine
to support the Family Center effort in particular.
My survivor of domestic violence,
and I know how important it is for people
to have resources to be able to improve that situation.
And the Family Center is doing a great job.
They do so much for the community,
not only to protect people in their immediate need,
but also to try and have services
that will prevent domestic violence
and sexual assault in the future.
And I think solutions are just as important
as response to emergency,
and they do that beautifully.
So that's my personal motivation,
but I actually reached out to Amy,
year and a half ago,
asking if I could just volunteer my time
as a chiropractor and she's like,
well, how do you just be on the board instead?
So that's how I got involved with being a board member.
And I'm really excited to be at the event.
So I want to be able to be present
and whatever Amy needs,
but I think it's just a nice way
for the community to learn more about this resource
and the services that are provided.
And so that will be my main role there
is just to be a talking head of support.
So we look forward to it.
Well said, and appreciate that work.
Mosel, thank you for that.
James, I would also add a really important thing
that Mosel just led into the vast majority
of grants that we federal grants that we receive,
take grants that we receive,
do not fund prevention,
which has always stymied me.
But if it weren't for events like this,
the prevention work that we're doing
would be very difficult to fund.
So just another shout out to Sparhawk
and our other sponsors
for supporting this event
and helping us to make these things a reality.
It's one of the most important things
that we have going forward with the younger generations,
is bringing these numbers down,
is bringing a knowledge about this subject matter up
and making sure that more and more of the next generation
and the generation after that,
that we're raising these kids right,
that we're raising them on the right side of history.
That's how we're able to with the prevention work
that is being done in events like this,
raise the funds for.
Again, the fourth annual,
man, it's already the fourth annual.
That's crazy.
Fourth annual touch of truck coming up July 27th
at the beautiful Grand Rapids Lions Club.
Go ahead and mark your calendars for that.
We'll be talking more about this as we get closer to it
and making sure that you guys got a great crowd over there
and some volunteers will more on that later,
including my own self I need to volunteer to.
We have the Wisconsin Rapids Family Center drive
against violence, golf scramble coming up August 19th.
You mentioned before Amy,
this is your first kind of outing into the golf world.
It's a great idea.
And I should also mention that this event is fully run
with just a little bit of admin support from me,
but by our Board of Directors.
So thank you to both James and Mozel
for being on the Board of Directors.
We appreciate it.
We are very grateful about them being guiding force for us,
but also being active on the board
and creating great events like this.
This is indeed our first annual golf outing
and we have just released the event on our Facebook page.
You can go there, you can sign up to golf,
you can sign up to be a whole sponsor.
We would love to have you and please share, share, share,
both events are both available to be shared
from our Facebook page.
What I like about both of these events
is one with the touch of truck, how it evolves
and how it's growing and adding this or that
and bringing in new sponsorship opportunities
and different things for Natalie,
the Family Center for Local Businesses.
The drive against violence, the golf scramble here,
it's just in its infancy and it's gonna be so cool.
Next year to talk about this in the year after
and to see where these things grow and evolve too.
And they get that way by getting big.
And we want more and more people to be a part of this event
to make that happen.
I have done some research and it turns out this area loves golf.
Okay, loves golf and loves a good scramble.
So you've really got, you're really playing
into the community here with this one.
This is gonna be a lot of fun with this,
not only getting people out there
and again, similar to other events we've talked about here,
mingling, getting the chance to run into people
you may not always get chance to.
Maybe somebody to give a business card to
that you don't always get a chance to.
You're getting outside a little bit, having some fun.
I think one thing that doesn't always scream out
to people about events like this,
but one thing that definitely does to me
is the team building opportunities that you have.
You certainly have an opportunity to run
in the people that maybe you haven't seen before
or talk to a business and work with them,
but you and your own team have a chance to build
on your chemistry and your work.
And not for nothing, employers keeping employees nowadays
is one of the more important things.
And one of the bigger things employers are facing nowadays.
One of the ways you keep employees is team building
is making your employees happy.
Events like this are pretty fun to do.
They're pretty exciting.
So there's that part of it as well,
as far as being a part of this event
or sponsoring a whole.
You can't go wrong.
And if I can, just one other thing that I did some homework
on this one before the interview today.
And one of the things that we've seen in the last,
I wanna say it was four years,
is a lot of businesses lining up
with domestic violent shelters.
And we're seeing more of that.
And as we talked about earlier about this,
not it being a hush topic anymore.
More and more businesses are seeing,
well, it's a real bump to attach myself to this.
Like, oh, that really, that's a nice,
that really helps my business.
I associate myself with this particular,
like for us, the family center.
And I'm not only supporting a nonprofit,
but I'm showing that I am on this side.
This is where I stand.
Without even having to say it,
you show where you stand on this,
which whether we like it or not,
more and more people are making that decision
when they're deciding, hey, where do I want to buy,
where do I want to buy this
or where do I want to go for this?
You know, oftentimes it is a neck and neck race.
Sometimes, if not all, most of the time,
these are the kind of things
that could be a deciding factor
of somebody deciding between this business
and this business, the one that supports this cause,
the one that supports this something that I believe in.
I wanna work with them.
I wanna be a part of that.
So whatever you're spending as far as buying a whole
or being a co-sponsor of an event or anything,
you're getting your money's worth.
You're showing not only the being on the right side
of history, but that you support a local nonprofit,
there is no bad PR attached to these things.
I would agree.
And I think that we've seen a myriad of different ways
in which organizations have supported us.
Mozel's organization providing raffle prizes.
You've been a sponsor.
They share you with us being on the board.
Sparhawk and the way in which they've sponsored
and supporting us.
WFHR is a sponsor, a whole sponsor for the golf holding
as well.
Thank you very much, James, for arranging that.
And we also see organizations paying their employees
to come in and volunteer, which is a different aspect
of the work that I do at the Family Center.
I appreciate that very much.
Having those volunteers and I would challenge
any organization to share their people with us
for either of these great events,
as well as having drives for our pantry.
We've seen an uptick in that this year, which is fantastic
because it is a constant struggle.
The need does not go down.
We thought after COVID, we would see less need for shelter,
less need for pantry services, less need
for outreach services, and that has not been the case.
So any of those ways in which organization support
were so grateful.
Again, the Drive Against Violence Golf Scramble coming up.
Monday, August 19th, at Beautiful Bulls Eye Golf Club,
shout out to them.
You can find out more about this event,
as well as the fourth annual touch of truck
at FamilyCTR.org, FamilyCTR.org.
Mozel touched on this, Amy, you did as well.
Will I always like to wrap up reminding people
that we could always use more hands on deck.
We could always use volunteers when it comes to these events
or even things at the FamilyCTR.
Not everybody may have an extra item to drop off
or funds to invest or donate with the FamilyCTR.
But a lot of us have an hour or two to kill.
And you know, maybe, hey, you guys need the lawn mode.
Do you have some light fixtures that need work done
or any kind of thing like that?
When it comes to those kind of things
and being able to help with whether it's that
or volunteering at one of these events,
that's one less thing on the gang's plate
over at the FamilyCTR.
So they could freeze them up to do the vital work
that they are doing.
So we want to encourage everybody
to under the sun to volunteer.
All you college kids out there,
there's not many things that look better
on a college resume than not only volunteering,
but volunteering at a domestic violence shelter.
That's gonna look really good on a college resume.
To anybody out there who is retired
and you're looking for things to do
and keep yourself busy, I got it for you.
Volunteer at the FamilyCTR.
Volunteer at one of these events.
There's no downside to volunteering very similar
to being a business and sponsoring one of these things.
There's no bad PR that comes with this.
There's no downside to volunteering
at a FamilyCenter event.
If people want to do that Amy or find out more
about what we've talked about today,
how can they reach you?
Well, I would encourage you to visit our Facebook page
or our website, both have volunteer applications.
You can always make a call.
We do have a 24 hour crisis line
as well as a business line throughout the course of the day.
I would come to touch a truck, talk to me.
Talk to Kelly, talk to Mozel.
Ask them, why do you do this?
Why they don't have to be a big organization
like Sparhawk that sponsors
and provides raffle prices and shares
where they're Kelly's with us to volunteer as well.
We would love to have you in any capacity.
And keep in mind that line that Amy mentioned
they're their crisis line, 715-421-1511.
That's 421-1511 any time, day or night,
an advocate will assist you.
Keep that in mind.
You can also reach the family center in other ways.
You can email them infoatfamilyctr.org
infoatfamilyctr.org.
Their business line, 715-421-1559-421-1559.
Familyctr.org is the website.
Be sure to bookmark that and as Amy touched on,
make sure to like their Facebook page
or their social media, subscribe to it
and share the work that they are doing over there.
All of you appreciate the time.
Thank you.
Thank you, Amy.
Thank you.
For Midday Magazine coming up for you on WFHR,
locally grown radio.
