Welcome everybody to Midday Magazine for this Wednesday, September 25th, 2024.
Have your host, James J. Mayloff here.
Welcoming in the studio right now, our great friends from the ODC.
We have Lisa Rouse with us, Public Relations and Fund Development Manager over at the ODC.
Lisa, good to see you.
Thanks for being here.
That's all.
Thank you.
We got a lot to talk about today because there's a lot of great things going on over at
our ODC.
I do want to thank you for not only being in with us today, but thank you and all the
good people over there and all the good work that they do in this community.
We got a fun one to kick things off a free community exchange that is happening at the
ODC.
What can we tell people about this?
Right.
We were going to call it a garage sale, but it's not a sale because we're giving everything
away.
There was one of our interns came to us and said that she just saw a need with some of
the people that she worked with and she said if there's a need there, there's probably
a bigger need everywhere.
So let's open it up to the public to donate items that they want to get rid of or need
to get rid of and then offer those items that have been donated and give them away for
free.
It's a beautiful idea.
It's a beautiful event and then to actually pull it off like that is a challenge.
Yes.
I can only imagine logistics and the amount of different things behind the scenes that
got to happen in order to get to this point.
So first I want to thank you and your team and all the community members that donated
items and everything because that doesn't happen without all of those factors.
And then here we are where we're at this moment, we get to have this event and I don't
need to sign up for a rewards program, I don't need to hit a QR code, I don't need to
jump through hoops.
You don't?
Not of that.
I mean nowadays that's just a gift right there, little load.
Absolutely.
This is something that the ODC does time in and time out where they see a community need,
they hear from the community, they see something and honestly at just my opinion go above and
beyond and step up in an area that I don't know that anybody was expecting you guys to
that saw, well, what's the ODC doing on this topic?
Right.
You know, that's not necessarily what you know, but you do nonetheless you go above and
beyond nonetheless the ODC does and this makes us love and appreciate our ODC all the
more and the good work that's being done over there.
Now this event itself, the items have already been donated, so we're not looking for new
items with that right now.
Not looking for anything.
I got to tell you that the response from the community was overwhelming.
The entire back of our warehouse is full.
Just all we did was put out a call on Facebook, that Facebook post got shared 286 times and
the community showed up and brought us so many great things.
It's overwhelming when you see that people see a need and want to meet it.
So we had only two days of drop-offs and one evening from four until six and our entire
back of our warehouse is full.
That's shut up to this community.
Great outpouring of your right, people want to help and you're right.
We were expecting to do this, we decided to do it, we put out a call, the people responded
and here we are, we'll be starting to do a giveaway, Tom Harrow.
That's so cool.
We'll get into the details of where you can go to find this in everything in a moment.
When it comes to the type of items people that can expect there, we are talking about
items that are brought over, donated, keeping that in mind, certainly.
But also keep in mind everybody and granted, I understand if you guys don't know this
out there, some of our older members or people in my age range or anything like that,
I only know it because I work with young people all the time.
This is one of the cooler things you can do nowadays, it is not only repurposing things
but repurposed clothes, thrift stores, these kind of things, that's where kids are going
now for back to school shopping and all that, like that's the hip thing now, and by using
the word hip I've showed how old I am and that I am not cool, but you can be cool by getting
these items and actually doing this, like this is a big part of the push going forward
here.
The younger generations get this, we've got enough stuff.
We don't need to be making more stuff, we need to repurposing the things that we have
and this event does all of that while also getting needed items to people that need them.
Like talk about a win-win kind of situation, and all of this and we get to highlight the
ODC, we get to talk about the cool things that are going on over there, the great people
that are over there, so just a win-win-win for this community.
And you mentioned Ali said that this event is kicking off tomorrow.
Yeah, tomorrow we start at 9 AM, it goes from 9 AM until 6 PM.
If you ask our PR director, she will say if there are people there, we will not close
down.
So open for the community to come and look, we have a lot of clothing, we have a lot of
household goods, so your kitchen items and dishware and small kitchen appliances, stuff
like that.
A lot of outerwear for winter, which it does not feel like it right now, but we'll be
upon a soon.
Oh yeah.
She was just pretty much anything you imagine.
The only thing we did not take in is anything like electronics, computers and whatnot, and
it furniture.
Okay, good to know, good to know with those.
And where is the event taking place?
So it's right at ODC, our warehouse, the garage store will be open, we will have carts
outside because of course we have great weather right now, so there will be places for you
to look outside on our carts with all of our clothing.
So it's at 1191, Huntington Avenue, and again it's in our warehouse area.
And along with all of these things, while we're encouraging you to show up to this event
and take some items home, you are encouraged to bring some if you can for the resource
shelf.
Yeah, so we have Ashley, who's in our PR department, a project that is very near and
dear to her heart, we have resources available in our mental health clinic.
And it's for people that just need, we have a pantry for food, we have diapers for the
littles for the kids, things that people that are just expensive right now, that they can
just walk in, no pressure, don't have to even talk to anyone, open up that resource pantry
and take what they need.
We have kits for men, we have kits for women, just those things that you bathroom needs
and whatnot, all of that is just there.
And it's a project that's very near and dear to our hearts and we'll be looking for those
items as well.
Again, you get me speechless and I got to talk for a living here, it's not good, it's
not good radio, but I can't help it because I hear those kind of things and I'm already,
the audience is known by now, I've interviewed the ODC enough, I'm biased, I love the
ODC and I make no bones about that, but then I hear things like this and it's not just
that you're reminded of how much you appreciate the ODC.
You're reminded of the things in the gray areas in our community that don't get touched
on often, that so often it's our nonprofits that step up and cover those areas, like what
you guys are doing with a program like that.
I want to make sure that not just myself but our radio stations champion that.
After offer, I want to get a couple of notes from you on that so we can remind people
about that that exists and how they can add to that if they'd like to.
So we'll talk at least a little bit more about that, but what a great program, shout out
to everybody over there and I'm sorry, who's a programist.
So Ashley in our peer department, she really keeps a close eye on that, puts the call
up when there is a need out on Facebook and again, I always amazed at the response
that people that people give when they see that need.
Shout out to her and the whole team over there, everybody working on this and the community
for stepping up like they do.
Absolutely.
Again, the free community exchange is happening at the ODC in Wisconsin Rapids at 11.91
Huntington Avenue.
This is open to the public, all are welcome, come and shop for clothes and home decor items
for free.
For free.
And this is going on, as you said, Lisa, tomorrow from 96 and also on Friday, it looks
like.
Yeah, from 9 a.m. until noon, but again, if there are people there, we will keep it open.
So come and get stuff if you have a need.
We're speaking with Lisa Rouse, Public Relations and Fund Development Manager with our ODC.
And Lisa, another thing that I should mention, I love the ODC, I'm a little biased when
it comes to that.
And I am a huge Halloween guy, and I'm sure that's shocking to you.
No, maybe, maybe a little bit, but no, I love Halloween, love talking about Halloween
and we get the chance to do that right now because you guys are going to be doing something
kind of cool in that warehouse when it comes to Halloween.
Yeah, so we're going to clean out our warehouse after this event and we're going to switch
gears and get ready for Halloween.
Yeah.
Yeah, last year, I had just started with ODC when they held this free haunted house.
So I was maybe like a week in and I got to help decorate and set up and I went, oh my goodness,
like this is part of my job, how cool.
They didn't know what to expect, first year out, a free event, open to families.
And we had over 2,500 people attended the nights.
So yeah, like part of the pun, but it was a little scary.
Yeah, you know, you put, you welcomed the public in and then we just, we just didn't know.
Like literally every person in this community showed up pretty much.
The next day, Seth and I were doing the morning show together.
He comes in and the first thing out of the mouth, he always says, good morning or something,
not even close.
It's like, man, that haunted house was amazing.
They just went on and on about it.
You guys really did a great job with this.
Yeah, it was really fun.
We had two days to set up, not sure how we pulled that off and set that.
So many people at ODC are just willing when they see that again, there's a need.
We need to do this event and we're just going to do what it takes to make it happen.
Listen to a lot of feedback last year.
It was very interesting.
I was at the door and and watched all these littles come with their costumes and their
little buckets and we're looking for maybe more of a trick or treating experience and we
did not have that for them.
So we switched gears this year and really listened to what people were looking for decided
to expand it, which again is a little scary and we're going to have two experiences this
year.
Cool.
So we're going to run people through the same part that they did last year, but there's
a point where they're going to come do across roads and they will have a choice and they
can either take the chicken lane, which is more for people for the littles, for kids,
and maybe those parents because I've even had some reach out that say, I don't like scary
stuff.
Do I have to do the scary one?
No, you do not.
They can go through the chicken lane, which is more trick or treating style, carnival,
and then a sensory lab, the mad scientist lab that they'll get to do some sensory things
before they go out.
Such good ideas.
Yeah.
As you mentioned, an ambitious project and something that isn't necessarily in your
guys' wheelhouse, but has become a part of your wheelhouse, you've done a great job
at that, but we want to be able to help with that anyway we can as a community, like we
always do with our nonprofits and especially our ODC.
So we can actually help with this, Lisa.
You can.
So what we did because we're creating two experiences, one for the kids and what we really
need because they're going to be doing carnival games is we need bags of candy as prices.
Those are going to be our prizes for all the different games.
And so bags of Halloween candy would be super helpful for that area.
Also a really strange thing that we're looking for is pool noodles.
Yeah.
We're a little out of season for that, but if anybody has pool noodles that they could drop
those off at, ODC, that would be great.
However, we are also running the scary part through our warehouse.
And it's going to go through our production area and through the warehouse.
And in order to pull that off, there are some specific things that we need.
We have a whole list on our website if you go to odc.com and then click on events, the
Haunted Warehouse 2024 is on there and there is a list of needs.
But there's things like caution tape, black plastic sheeting, spider webs, anybody can
bring in spider webs.
There's just things that we need to create those paths through the warehouse so that nobody
goes off of them and we keep everybody safe.
Orangent purple string beef netting, plastic spiders, as you mentioned there, gently
use Bluetooth speakers.
Yeah.
I know for a fact there's some people out there that have extras or those that they're not
using anymore.
Yeah.
A lot of these, when it comes to these items, well, we want them and we want them to be
in good use.
They don't have to be perfect.
They don't have to be pristine.
No.
And actually sometimes it may add to the decor, if you will, the macabre, if you will,
about that.
I'm also, you know your house, you know what you have and you know if you have extras
of things or things that you're just not using anymore.
So reach out to the odc and see, well, hey, I have this thing.
Could you use this?
I think that's an idea too.
Absolutely.
They can reach out to me.
And I have had several people reach out to me saying, I have this as something that
you might be able to use.
It's not, when we, when you look at our list that we have, including our Amazon wish list,
there are a lot of things on there, but we're looking at doing this every year.
So we want to not just rely on the public, but we want to build our own inventory.
Yeah.
So that's part of what we're looking for.
So please reach out.
And that speaks to the spirit of the odc, the, the, the, the striving for independence,
the working towards independence.
And oftentimes what we need, not just members of the odc, but our own community members,
myself, plenty of us out there, oftentimes we want to be able to do that.
And all we need to be able to do that is just a hand up, just an extra help, a little bit
here or there.
And we'll take it from there.
And that is the clients at the odc that is so many people in our community.
It is really the spirit of what the odc does, no pun intended with that, but just it's
so this event, I'm doing this while you're, you're adding to this event with these items
and everything.
And then you get to show up there and take in the event and see your item in the warehouse
and all this stuff.
All of that not only feels good, but can remind you of the work of the odc and the work that
we really all have as a community, oftentimes.
The, the, I, I'm not surprised as I get older by people's interactions with the odc and
wanting to be involved with it in any way they can volunteering, donating items or anything.
Because I think when it comes to the clients, when it comes to the staff there, it is relatable.
There is a relatability and I don't think I would have noticed that as a kid.
How would I feel relatable to somebody going through these issues or something?
But we find more and more that, oh, no, I know, I, I may not, I know that I don't know
exactly what they're going through, but I can empathize with it or I'm going through
something similar.
So it's not surprising to see so many people in the community want to be a part of things
at the odc and help out any way we can.
Especially when you got cool events going on like the haunted warehouse coming up.
Yeah.
Let's tell people about that and when that is going to be wrong.
So the haunted warehouse is a free family event.
It's coming up on Friday, October 18th.
It starts at six and goes until 930 and then we're going to repeat it again on Saturday,
October 19th from six until 930.
We will have a strict cut off at 930.
We do not want to keep our volunteers way later.
It's a very long day for them.
So we will have a strict line cut off at 930 for people going through.
Is this an event that you have to register for or anything?
No.
No, all you have to do is show up.
We will require that you agree to the rules before you go through, especially the haunted
areas that you stay on the paths that you follow those rules.
There's no rough housing, that kind of thing.
So we will require you to agree to the rules before we send you through.
But otherwise, it is free and open to the public.
And when you say open to the public, we really mean everybody because maybe this is fitting
with the ODC, but we don't see this often enough where you guys are all inclusive.
It's wheelchair accessible.
Yeah.
So we will have, we did this last year and we are going to do it better this year, always
trying to figure out ways to do it better, but all inclusive for wheelchair accessibility.
We will fast track those.
Anybody in a wheelchair.
We had people on crutches last year, just with some physical limitations.
We will fast track you through, so you're not standing in line for an hour or hour and
a half and get you through.
And then we make sure all of the paths are wide enough and everything is accessible for
those people.
And it's special because most haunted houses don't allow for that accessibility.
And we want to make sure that everybody can enjoy the spirit of Halloween.
It's another added cool part of this event.
This is for the whole family.
Even going to have a food truck down there for the event.
Yeah, we had a number of food trucks reach out to us.
They were excited to partner with us.
So Whisco girl will be there.
Rocky Rococo's pizza and then trippy treats.
That will be in our horseshoe.
And then we have partnered with Premiere Rental to use their parking lot again.
And they, of course, the food truck lot over there.
They have been great and they will also have some over there as well.
And Lisa, you guys are putting this on these events, the community free community exchange,
though haunted warehouse to, you know, thank the community to show the community how much
you guys appreciate it.
But I hope the audience knows that this is our chance to show you guys as well how much
we appreciate you by showing up to these events on our social media pages, sharing these
events, making sure that other people see them and making sure that they are well attended.
Right.
Again, I will throw that out there.
It's a little scary, not knowing what to expect.
Do you want to do things and serve the public right?
So it's a little scary when you just don't know what to expect.
But we really want to do a good job for everybody and have them show up and enjoy it.
And it really shows, it really shows that you guys do that.
And certainly as we're wrapping up here, got about a minute or so left, items that are
needed, whether as we touched on items that were needed for the haunted warehouse, but
certainly could always use things for other projects as well over at the ODC.
So I want to make sure is there anything noteworthy or really at the top of mind that we could
use over at the ODC that our community can help with or anything?
If you watch our Facebook page, we will always put notices out there.
So that's a really good place to interact with with ODC.
Keep in mind, there's always an ink splash of milkweed market and so many other great
things going on over at the ODC.
I'll be a milkweed market soon.
My mother is a birthday at the end of the month.
It's the only place I can get her birthday items.
I almost have to show her a receipt.
Like did you get it from Oakweed Market because she wants it from there.
So I'll be over there real soon and I'll meet you all there.
Lisa, if people have follow-up questions, want to know more about some of the things we
talked about today, how can they get a hold of you?
I would suggest giving me, it should be me an email.
It's L-R-O-U-S-E at ODC-I-N-C dot com.
The free community exchange at the ODC in Wisconsin Rapids takes place at 1191, 100 in
Avenue.
This is open to the public.
All are welcome.
Come by and shop for clothes and home decor items for free.
September 26th from 9 to 6 and September 27th from 9 to noon.
And of course, keep in mind that they haunted warehouses coming up in October.
We'll talk about that as we get closer to it and we have the ODC in again real soon.
Lisa, thank you so much for joining us.
Thank you for having me.
We'll have more Midday magazine coming up for you everybody.
It'll be right here at 97-5 FM 13-20 AM, WFHR, where we are locally grown radio.
