Welcome, everyone, to Midday Magazine for this Wednesday, August 28th, 2024.
Have your host, James J. Mailov here.
And I am joined right now by some of our favorite people.
We have the ODC with us right now, Opportunity Development Center, right here in Wisconsin
Rapids.
We have with us, Lisa Rouse, PR, and Development Fund Manager.
Lisa, good to see you as always.
Thanks, you too.
Thanks for being here.
And we have Sammy Zinsky with us as well.
She is the community life developer over at the ODC.
Sammy, thanks for being here.
Thank you.
Always appreciate the time from our ODC.
A big shout out to some of the most vital work being done in our community by you guys and
your team over there.
Appreciate you.
Sammy, if you don't mind, I want to rewind, I'm sorry, at least I want to rewind for a second
here because I wanted to talk about run, walk, and roll and how that went.
Yeah, so our fifth annual, but first community wide event went out this last weekend, this
last Saturday on August 24th, beautiful weather and a really great event.
We so appreciate everybody that came out to support us that day.
It was just, it was a wonderful, wonderful day to see everybody in the community come together
for ODC.
Yeah, and a good turnout in with some of the new additions to this year.
How did those go over?
Yeah, so completely different run, walk, rock, and roll this year, where we came to
together.
Instead of doing mocks and separate communities, we all came together at rooted in red.
The walk took place from three until four around the cranberry marshes and kudos to those
who went out and walked because it was hot.
There's no shade on a cranberry marsh.
So yeah, a little bit different as far as how the rock was done, how the walk was done,
those that rolled got to go on some graded paths and they had wagon rise all through the
cranberry marshes as well.
Yeah, I asked, I was telling Lisa that I talked to some community members about it because
I wanted to live like curiously through them, I was not able to be there this year and
I heard such good responses from people, especially a couple that I meant that have tried to
attend every year and they really enjoyed the event.
They really appreciate what the ODC does and want to support it while they were really
impressed with this year.
That was the word that both of them used.
We were impressed this year and they really felt like, you guys really hit it on.
I really did a great job with this event this year.
Oh my goodness.
It's so good to hear that because we really wanted to make it a community event where everybody
could come out with their families and enjoy a day with music at the cranberry marshes.
We had everything from liquor pulls to basket raffles to a 50-50 raffle.
So we were able to raise some money there at the event with those things and I really
have to give a shout out to a few people.
So our big major sponsors, felker brothers at a marsh field, nasonville dairy at a marsh
field.
We had paper city savings bank and then I care and clue saw and then of course we could
not have done this event without rooted in red.
What an amazing place, amazing venue and incredible people and then our food trucks that came
and then of course our music, the Antonets and Southbound.
Amazing bands, amazing people out there, by local support, local support those that support
this community, everybody.
A big shout out to all those groups, especially Root and Red, they're really good people
over there.
Awesome, awesome people.
And Lisa, you know better than most of us how important these events are for the ODC
and not just PR but development fund manager.
We know how every penny counts and every penny helps the ODC do that great work that
they're doing in this community.
It does.
We could not do what we do without the community and these fundraising events.
I imagine as you're already wrapped up the event and everything, I don't need to put
more on your plate.
But are you guys working on next year already?
I know, I know that happens pretty quick.
Yeah, we're going to plan again for next year.
We're looking at a save the date of August 23rd out at Root and Red and hopefully now
that people kind of get it because we totally switch gears on this event.
Now that they understand what it is, we're hoping to just grow it from there.
So good to hear.
And we encourage people if you would like to be a part of that event next year, be a sponsor
for that event.
It's never too early to reach out, never, you know, and we'll give you Lisa's information
before we wrap up today.
But you know, to want to encourage you to check out the website, bookmark the website,
odcinc.com and be sure to follow them on social media.
Lisa, thank you for that.
Was there anything else you wanted to touch on?
Oh, that was it.
Yeah, cool.
It's Sammy.
We have Sammy with us here.
And she is the community life developer over at the odc and we kind of switch gears ourselves
now a little bit because one of the things that we wanted to talk about today to really
be able to highlight was how there is, well, there's isolation and loneliness in America
and it has become an epidemic, Sammy.
Yeah, all over America and especially in Wisconsin, as well.
And this is something that our state is putting a dollars into.
We're addressing this.
Yeah.
When you were introducing this segment and talking about all the things that odc does,
we just keep growing and we just keep doing more things and at a staff meeting yesterday
our president Julie Stren just says, I am blessed to do this work and to support all of the
things we do in the community and she talks about how it snatches her.
It's the people that are doing the work every day and we continue to grow these amazing
programs and our state has given us the money to continue to grow even more to address
isolation and loneliness and it's truly amazing that we get paid to do this work, right?
Yeah.
It's a job that we get to do and we get to do it every day and we have a bunch of initiatives
that we're putting together through this grant.
Let's dive into that and get into how the odc is addressing isolation and loneliness
over through this grant.
Yeah.
The big part is creating a coalition, right?
You can't do this work alone.
The odc does so many wonderful things but through this grant we get to build another coalition
of community partners and you're going to hear the word community a lot as we talk about
all of the things we're doing but we that's what we do is all about community.
So our coalition has other organizations that support people with disabilities across
central Wisconsin and we need monthly to talk about all of the initiatives that we are
going to put through this grant and we are doing it in partnership with these other organizations
and they are supporting us whether it's just talking about things, sharing about things
or diving in and doing the work with us and we have four big areas that we're focusing
on.
Okay.
We can get into those areas in a moment but I think the coalition idea is one of the
great first steps when it comes to any project like this or any giant big task when it comes
to things.
The smartest people I've ever known always seem to understand that they don't know everything
and many minds bring different ideas, different angles on things.
So while a coalition is a phrase and a term that we know and maybe some people just kind
of hear and it goes in and one ear out the other, this is a really vital thing and a really
great thing for our community.
Yeah.
And you know we're starting it now and we're building it piece by piece inviting people
and we're still looking if anybody else cares about this topic of isolation and loneliness.
They're welcome to join us in the work that we do as well.
So Sammy you mentioned those initiatives, the four main initiatives.
What were those?
The first one is awareness building, right?
I think most people know what it feels like to see a lonely but there's different types
of lonely, right?
It's like that feeling of loneliness and then there's like being alone and those are
different things but they can cross sectors and to talk about how loneliness is an epidemic
in our country.
It's not just something that one person feels, it's something that everybody feels and we
need to intentionally build community to bring people together.
So we're building awareness not only of the ideas of isolation and loneliness and how
to address those but we're also using our campaign to show all of the things that we
continue to do at ODC that directly impact isolation and loneliness.
I think that's a really good point to bring up especially you know whether it's loneliness
or I think of this sometimes with depression when I talk to people that aren't used to
being dealing with being sad and they don't even know the motion they have they're feeling
right now or they're experiencing and oftentimes we think of depression and well depression
means this or depression looks like this and then when we experience it we realize oh no
it's something actually very different than it is in movies or what we think it is.
It's never a bad idea to be able to note these things.
I do want to let you know Sammy I am potting you down in and out just so that we can make
sure that the audio is clear for people out there but I do appreciate you being able
to join us.
Thank you.
You're another thing that you are working on there is sort of what we've touched on
already a little bit building an awareness campaign.
Yeah it's going to highlight facts through research and study that show what percentage
of people feel isolation and loneliness and we look at different areas of people we look
at ages we look at abilities we look at generation and area there's so many ways to look at
the data on this but it all points back to how do we get people to feel less lonely
and we have some ideas that the ODC and how to do that.
I'm looking forward to getting into that with you.
The whether it is the community connections or that is another way of working with the
community and reaching out to the community when it comes to this subject.
Gosh yeah what a cool program.
We do so many amazing things at the ODC to support people in their work and their life
goals that community connection is just growing this one step further and they can even
more individualize so we support any adult with a disability to do whatever it is that
they want.
So they meet with a community connector and they get to know one another and then they
go out into that community.
It's a supported role where people can go to your eye clubs right there's like knitting
clubs or card clubs or you can go to a church and get reconnected with your faith.
You can learn to volunteer at different places.
There's so many ways to get connected that is so specific to the individual.
This is the one of the ones that I really wanted to highlight and just take a moment
with if you don't mind Sammy because while many of the audience know it is familiar with
the ODC understands the ODC and certainly even understands some of the things we're
talking about here.
I think that I immediately started thinking of a Pam Ross when she would come to help
my family when I was a kid and how Pam was so she was so specific about my aunt Patty
who she was helping her situation was unique and she was a unique person so her approach
had to be hands on had to be unique.
The people over the ODC you guys over there you understand better than most how there
is no umbrella approach to any of these things that you need to really get to know the person
you need to know your clients to be able to find out what best techniques or best ways
to work with them.
So when it comes to a topic as big as isolation or loneliness and how that affects each one
of us differently you guys are uniquely I think position to be able to help people with
these things and not only identifying them but reaching out and bringing people that
may not always speak up when they're feeling these things maybe reach out to them a little
bit more and give them a bridge to hopefully take care of those things.
Yeah it's the connection piece and part of that process is asset based community developing
that's ABCD that's backed research and tried and drew and what that does is we look at
the gifts of people right sometimes people just go to the negative right away well what
do you need what don't you have and this is like what do you have what lovely gifts you
have and how can we bring that forth for you and into the community and really appreciate
that about the approach.
We are speaking with Sammy and Lisa from the ODC and Sammy another thing that you guys
are focusing on something that I've been very adamant about in this area for a long
time and how we are a better together we are stronger together when our communities we
all have people and friends that live in a different town but work here or something
like that there are no I mean while there are county lines and some of these things they
really bleed into each other and I think that the smartest nonprofits that I'm seeing in
this area realize we're stronger together when we work with other communities and that's
something you guys are doing with this as well yeah we're expanding the better together
program which started in the Stevens Point area in the 80s and 90s known as community
partners and it has grown and has been successful and even more integrated in the community
here that now is the time with this grant and with the focus on isolation and loneliness
that we expand our program to Rathas and Marshfield.
Now how is with that kind of similar to the kind of think tank if you will or having
a coalition you're bringing in different personalities different minds and people that
not only see things differently but are experiencing things differently so again when you're talking
about these big topics that have very many different layers to them you're you're bringing
in that along with you know I was just in Marshfield for the Central Wisconsin State Fair
a little while ago I hadn't been to Marshfield in a while things they're dealing with over
there are going to be different than things we're dealing with here so while we have so
many similarities in our communities bleed into each other it's nice to be able to sometimes
have that perspective and be able to well I'm dealing with this but they are dealing
with this over there it could be worse or we can learn from this and make our area better
all those different factors.
Yeah and what is so universal across our community is in Central Wisconsin across our nation
and globally is the idea of friendship your life is better when you have a friend and
even if it's just one friend who you know you can call you can talk to you say how was
your day something so simple is so life changing and it doesn't take a big effort to be
a friend and that's what better together is it's a friendship program similarly based
on the model of big brothers big sisters where we match adults with disabilities to people
in the community to be friends and all of the people that I've matched it's not just
life changing for the adult with a disability it's life changing for the person who steps
into this program and is like yeah I can be a friend one of our volunteers have said to
me at the end of the year last year in in our end of the year survey and report she said
this has been the best thing for my life she said I've actually been struggling personally
and knowing now that I have this one friend who wants nothing for me than my friendship
is incredible she said you know I never realized I can make a difference just by being myself
and I don't know what's more beautiful than that like yeah we're not asking anything
of you in this program other than to show up uniquely as yourself and be a friend and
that looks different for everybody but I think we understand what friendship is and how
that feels well that one hit me thank you for sharing that Sammy that that's a good one
that that's very good to hear and speaking of those community friends where the odc is
looking to help you make more friends and have more community events monthly events be
on lookout for those in ways that you can get out out of the house a little bit more
and maybe do some more things especially if we're getting closer and closer to the winter
months where we all live in checks we we do we go outside so little we yeah yeah the
adapt oh go ahead same sorry I was just going to say we are expanding this idea of community
friends to rapids in Marshield as well it's a once a month get together for the people
who are paired in better together but also we're expanding it to the community because
we don't have a ton of friendships yet in Marshield and Rapids I just brand new there to
invite the community to do something inclusive and we're looking for businesses that want
a sponsor or host us to have some fun an adapted Rick recreation it sounds a little similar
to some of the other things we were talking about today yeah it's so amazing we just set
again at the beginning of this like odc we just keep doing more things and adaptive
wreck is one of the things we're adding to the plate we've seen in some communities how
they do it well and so that's what we're trying to learn from we're also trying to see
like where they get how else can we better support people to meet their needs and then and then
how do we do this who do we partner with where do we do the events and and what are the events
and so we started with a survey asking people on the community adults with disabilities and people
in the community that support them as well like what what do you want to see what do you want to do
and there's an overwhelming response of we just want more we want more opportunity we want
more chances to do more things and I think having that idea of like this is inclusive and calling
that out makes for people feel welcome invited and important well said Sammy we have talked about
the subject in the ways the odc is approaching this and what they're working to do to help our
community with it but what about our community what can the community do to help so many things
first of all the easiest thing is just to follow odc and facebook and instagram right you'll
be able to see all of the wonderful things we do and we're going to do some callouts they
hey get it get involved with us and that's the easiest thing to do while you're scrolling add some
inclusion in your day it's a good one that's always a good no we all there's other ways that
you can impact your community and also be a good help yourself as well yeah so if you're an
individual and you want to get involved you can reach out to odc and learn about the better
together program and how you can be a friend to someone and again this friendship isn't something
that you have to do it's not like a regular volunteer opportunity like at two o'clock
around two days I have to do this it becomes a friendship it's someone you get to do something
with and it meets around your unique schedule so you get together about twice a month is the
ask some friends do more and some friends do a little bit less travel and sickness but
getting together whether that's going for an ice cream going bowling watching the movie
having your friend over to bake cookies really it's the simple things in life so it doesn't have
to be a big grand experience it's just doing life together so volunteer to be a friend
another thing you could do if you're a business or an organization in the community you can
offer to sponsor an event for us or offer to host an event and to bring some inclusion to your
organization and you can even have some of your staff volunteer at the event if you do staff
volunteer hours that would be a great way to use them Sammy I apologize after you said cookies I
heard nothing else I heard no those are great ideas those are really good ideas and great things
and I do want to say also even if if you are not dealing with loneliness or isolation these are
great ideas great activities including if you are a business out there sponsoring and being a part
of things at the odc there are very few things as Lisa and I could tell you are that are going to
help PR wise more than being a part of the odc there there is no downside to that you only look
bit good and look like you're supporting your community and if you can sponsor a community friend
event or one or something that the odc is doing in these regards you may be helping out not only
your business but your co-workers your employees they may benefit from something like this this is
one of those subjects where you don't have to wait to be lonely or feel isolated to be a part of
this you can jump on this now you can you don't have to wait for that to be a part of these events
that the odc is doing right you know it's going to be 2025 soon and the best way to get connected
is still word of mouth it's still face to face person to person we do have social media we can do
flyers and newspapers but talking about it with one another is the the best way to to learn more
and get connected we have really enjoyed talking with you Sammy and again thank you for doing
double duty because it sounds like you're pretty busy over there too full time mama right yep
yep you you rock thank you for that Sammy if people have follow questions one of the more
but what we talked about how can they reach you they can reach me at seven one five three four seven
seven four six one or at my email which is s s z y and s k i e at odc i n c dot com appreciate you
in the time Sammy have a great day thank you so much you too and at least if people have follow
questions for you would like to know more how can they get in touch with you you can reach me at
seven one five eight one eight six four six three is my direct line and l rose l r o u s e at odc
i n c dot com Lisa thank you for the time always good talking with you you as well say hi to the
team over there first and you can find out more about that team and plenty of other great things
at the odc at odc i n c dot com that's odc i n c dot com be sure to follow them on social media
look for milkweed market and ink splash and follow their pages as well keep up the date
on the vital and great work they are doing over there we will be back with more midday magazine
right here in ninety seven five f m thirteen twenty a m w f h r locally grown radio