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Transcript

South Wood County YMCA

Rapids Report · Tue Oct 1, 2024

Welcome, everybody to Midday Magazine for this Tuesday, October 1st, 2024.

Have your host, James here with you, and right now we are joined by some good friends

of ours.

We have Baxter, Art, Camp, and Sports Director over at the South of County YMCA.

Baxter, good to have you with us again.

Good to be here, James.

And Audrey Day is with us, Membership Director over at the South of County YMCA, Audrey,

good to have you with us.

Thank you.

Thank you both.

Appreciate the time from both of you.

We want to say a big thank you, not only to our friends at the South of County YMCA,

but of course our friends at Tri-City Services sponsoring this segment, giving us an opportunity

to do a deep dive on our why and get to know all the great things going on in the mid-S

month of October and everything.

I want to actually kick off with one of the more signature events at the Y that will live

strong alumni reunion that is going to be taking place.

Yeah, so the last day to sign up is today actually.

It's for anybody that was a cancer survivor currently dealing with cancer.

It's a great program that, you know, is always happening, but the reunion is bringing

everybody together that's been a part of the program over all the years.

It's been around since 2013, actually.

But this reunion is going to be hosted at our camp Alexander.

There's going to be lunch, raffles, the fellowship and a free t-shirt as well as a guest speaker,

Stacy Ryan, who is an author and a podcaster, surviving cancer themselves.

And this is going to be on Thursday, October 17th from 12 to 3, and it is completely free.

But make sure if you want to sign up, you have to sign up today.

So call or come into the Y and we can help you with that.

Stacy is an amazing writer and human being and a wonderful speaker.

Her energy is just palpable.

Just having her a part of this event is a great idea.

This is also a topic that while I, like just about anybody out there, we've all either

had somebody or we have dealt with cancer ourselves when it comes to having cancer or something

only those going through it or have gone through, it can really relate.

So having that fellowship part of this is the lunch, the raffles, the free t-shirt,

Stacy being there is wonderful.

That opportunity for fellowship is just beautiful.

And to have it a camp Alexander is a perfect place to have it as well.

Yeah, I know.

Might as well showcase our camp that we have.

Yeah, yeah.

Again, this is happening real soon, Thursday, October 17th, 12 to 3.

So as Audrey mentioned, today is the final day to register.

If they want to do that, Audrey, how can they?

Yeah, so to register, just call the YMCA 715-818-9622 or come into the Y and we can help

you get registered.

We just ask a couple questions and that's it.

Yeah, get you signed up and we'll get you to be a part of this event.

Again, this is a really strong and great event.

Want to thank Aspirus for your foundation for sponsoring it as well.

Appreciate them doing that and supporting our community and supporting our strong members

of our community.

That's going to be a good event.

I imagine it's going to be very meaningful for them.

Yeah, and anybody that wants to join that group to Brittany Bourd that actually hosts

that and runs it, she's amazing.

I've only heard great things, even though I've only been here a month, but yeah, I think

Brittany is great.

Yeah, everybody should call or come in and learn more about it.

I should also journalistically mention that I am obsessed and crazy about Halloween.

I love Halloween.

So, I've been waiting to dive into this with you, Audrey, because you guys do Halloween

right over there at the Y.

You guys really go all out.

Yeah, I can't remember how many people showed up last year, how many people do you think

it was?

They said two to three hundred.

Two to three.

I think it was, I think it was even close to a thousand.

There were so many people, they're just starting to leave now.

They're just now starting to leave for last year, they've got lots and lots and lots.

It was a blast.

It was a good time.

It was a blast.

It was a good time.

You guys not only have a host of Halloween event there, but you have a October spooky bingo,

a bunch of different things going on.

Where would you like to start?

Yeah, so we can touch on the Halloween at the Y.

So yeah, this is a huge event, it's completely free, just with the donation of a non-perishable

food item.

So last year, we actually donated 700 pounds of food, so this is huge, and just because

we get so many people for this, but yeah, there's games, prizes, costume contests, face

painting, haunted house, and our boys and girls club, which I will be able to decorate.

Oh, cool.

Oh, that's cool.

Um, arts and crafts, photo booth.

It's just a lot of fun, a lot of kids and adults, um, I've seen it briefly last year

when I was around.

I'm sure back, so if you want to talk to more about it.

Well, I was just going to mention that, um, in addition to all this, it can't be possible

without our volunteers.

And one of the things that, um, we talk about on a daily basis is how much they impact

the Y.

Um, so if you're interested in volunteering for either setup or for the haunted house

or Halloween at the Y in any fashion, um, you can contact any one of us at the Y.

We will get you in touch with the right person, um, but we always need help and we're happy

and thankful for our volunteers.

Mm-hmm.

Well, before we wrap up, we'll get that out there again about the all calls on volunteers.

We had, uh, McMillan Library in earlier, and we were talking with Catherine a little

bit about this and, uh, it's come up with some other organizations too.

This seems to be more and more the way we're going as a society and how we celebrate

Halloween.

We do it more so in a, it events.

It's not kids are still popping around and going door to door, but these are becoming

more and more of the events families are comfortable with.

And in part, because families get to do it together and, and having that and that happen.

And that is awesome.

That's wonderful.

I love, especially when you see the family, uh, Halloween themes where everybody's dressed

up as a member of the sentence or something like that, uh, it's, that's always fun to

see.

I want to be Homer Simpson.

I know you make a good Homer.

Make a good Homer.

Make a good one.

I love the photo booth idea.

I, I, I'm almost, um, I, I wish I was a kid again.

And they had that kind of stuff and we were kids and everything.

The photo booth.

It's a great idea.

But, um, one thing I do want to touch on and I, I think that the why the Boys and Girls

Club do this may be better than anybody in our community.

When it comes to teaching kids and giving kids good examples and, hey, here's a free event.

All we got to bring is a non-perishable food item because there's families out there

that could use this.

So while they're also going in to have a good time, they're seeing mom, dad, their guardian,

whoever it might be dropping off this non-perishable food item, well, what's that for?

And then they find out about that.

So they're going in and they're associating that with a good time and they're combining

these.

Oftentimes we have these events and they're needed and important, but they can be pretty

serious.

They can be pretty heavy and everything and that can be a lot on a little mind.

Here is an event where they're going into it to have fun.

They're in their costume.

They're all set and ready and they're learning something at the same time.

They're learning some empathy at the same time.

Yeah.

And a fun event.

Yeah.

I mean, you know, the YMCA is a non-profit.

We are literally all about strengthening our community.

What's our motto?

Mm-hmm.

You.

Development.

Mm-hmm.

Stay feeling all that stuff.

You're a development for healthy living and a social responsibility.

There you go.

Look at you.

Did I get that right?

Yeah.

I've been doing this interview for a while here and everything, so I do.

It's also noteworthy because you guys are an example of this every time you're in with

us, every time we talk about the Y.

I don't have to memorize it.

It happens almost all every day in this community with what the Y does and the outreach

that the reach that it has.

This is just another example of it.

This is going to be a fun one.

And what are the dates and times for this Audrey?

Yeah.

So this is Friday, October 25th, from 5.30 to 8.

Also if anybody has any kind of candy that they want to donate for them because we

have so many kids that show up, you can come and drop that by.

It would be greatly appreciated.

Mm-hmm.

Volunteer and candy.

Any of the above, if you have any other questions, it looks like you can contact Stephanie

for this.

Yep.

Contact Stephanie.

You can reach her at 715-818-6012-818-6012 or S. Lund at SWCYMCA.org.

S. Lund at SWCYMCA.org.

This October spooky bingo, this looks interesting.

What is that?

What is it going on with this one?

Yeah.

So our healthy living director, Jacob, he had put this together to try to get people motivated

to try new things and like explore the why more.

So there's a bingo sheet that you can pick up at the front starting today.

And there's raffles that are going to be, there's like gift baskets that are going to

be given away, which will be announced on Friday, October 25th, actually, the day of our Halloween

at the way.

But this spooky bingo, you know, anywhere from like, try a new group fitness class to swim

in a lap in a pool to follow us on Instagram.

You can get up to five raffle tickets to put in one of our two raffle boxes for one

of the prizes.

And so just another fun event to get people talking, there's also some like socialization

on there, you know, I'm talking to new people that you haven't met before and all that.

So it's just fun.

You can get up to five tickets to win it and you got a good chance depending on how many

people do it.

That's really, really, really cool.

I'm a little focused on a couple of them here, the 10 minutes in a hot tub or sauna.

That one seems very interesting.

And Baxter, if he's just giving this little knucks, all right.

And I gave someone a fist bump so I can check that one off right there.

I can check back to her.

Well, you can check that off to somewhere for I'd like to see you check off the one that

says, sign in before 7 a.m.

Two.

Nice.

You're on the afternoon show, but that means you got your mornings free, right?

Right.

It is, it is a fun idea to bed.

This is a great idea.

You can check this out right at the front desk, pick up one and people love rap, Bingo.

People love Bingo.

This is going to be a really popular one I can imagine.

Pick up your Bingo card at the front desk and enjoy the holiday, everybody.

And one more thing, every time you do get a Bingo stop at the front desk, you'll get

a couple of pieces of candy I believe.

Yes, yes, yes, some candy involved, some chocolate, I'm not sure if I can make it.

Just encourage me.

If you're already knocking those ones off the list, you'll get your free space.

You get four more and you win some candy.

Speaking of great notes, man.

And speaking of great things and candy and celebrating, we'd like to remind the audience

too that you guys can celebrate your special day, your holiday, your birthday parties over

at the Y.

Well, I've known some people to do this, they have a great time with it.

You guys do a great job hosting these.

Yeah, so we have two different kind of birthday parties that we do.

There's the pool parties and then our adventure center parties or adventure center is more

for, I think, kids three to 12, but it's a big like jungle gym area and younger kids

are welcome in there too because there's like a lot of activities for the little toddlers

and whatnot.

But that's a fun spot.

And then of course, our pool, we have some cool like water falling structure things.

And kids just love coming to swim, especially in the winter if you want to come and swim

and have a pool party.

This is a great place to do it.

Pretty affordable prices too, which if you're interested, you can contact Stephanie at

the Y or just contact anybody.

They'll be able to give you more information on that, but just a fun place to have a

birthday party.

Especially when you're looking for different ways to kind of change things up a little bit

or you have a child that has a winter birthday or something like you know that they're

a winter birthday.

Same here.

Yeah, same here.

So yeah, immediately the first thing I thought I was like, oh man, this has been great

when I was a kid.

Yeah.

The pool party, especially.

Both of them sound like a lot of fun.

And I know that your little one is going to enjoy it, reach out to our Y and find out

more about this adventure center party or the pool party that you can have over at our

local Y.

Audrey, thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

Great stuff today.

Really appreciate everything.

And I just wanted to go over to, so our fall hours starting today.

So Monday through Friday, we're going to be open from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. and then Saturday

is where we are open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays are now open again from 10 a.m.

to 3 p.m.

And then another thing to touch base on.

So we are in need of any kind of lifeguard.

So anybody that's interested in lifeguarding at the Y, please contact us.

I believe we have a job listing still posted through indeed.

We have a lifeguard course for anybody that is interested in becoming a lifeguard that

happens at our Y from November 8 through 10 for ages 15 and older.

And if you become an employee at the Y, you actually get that cost reimbursed.

If you can't afford it, there's ways that they can work with you.

Yeah.

And especially to people out there, you seniors in high school, some of you out there

juniors.

This school looked great on a college resume, something that looks really good on there.

It's another great way of impacting your community and also getting in the water a

little bit.

And I have some fun.

That's a great event.

Lifeguards volunteers will be talking on those and the need of those before wrap up.

Did want to get to you backster, backster, aren't camp and sports director with our South

Ohio County YMCA sports kicking in the gear.

Yeah.

We're just finishing up fall one of our youth sports and we're starting fall two in a couple

of weeks.

We're doing some fun new stuff, pickleball, which we've tried in the past.

We had a few participants, but it's really picking up.

It's ramping up and there's nothing more fun than being able to play against your child.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

We teach them how to play and hopefully they can beat you.

So we've got that for anywhere from our kindergartners to our six graders, age appropriate

groups, but that's on Tuesdays.

We also have a great micro sports program.

These are our most popular.

So we're going to do a multi sport one where they'll learn each time they come in.

They'll learn a different sport or at least the basics or maybe it's their first time

touching a football or shooting a basketball or playing any variety of sports.

And we've also got one that's just called games and races and it's exactly what it sounds

like.

That's 15 to 30 kids screaming running, having the time of their lives, scooter races,

relay races, tag games, kind of getting their feet underneath them, learning how to not

fall over and cry.

It's a great time.

But that's one of my favorites to lead is these micro sports, the three to five year olds,

they have the best time in the world.

There's some of the best energy to be around too.

It's contagious.

You really can't help it.

And the idea of them getting a chance to learn these things and pick them up, you don't

know where a spark can happen.

Whether they find a spark or love for sports or not, it not only gets the energy out of

them, gets them outside, but gets them to enjoy being in those things and finding out

a little bit more of this or that or any of that.

Yeah.

And one of the biggest things, I mean, sports are great, but we have noticed that the real

value that comes out of it is socialization and your kids get to meet other kids their

age.

They may have never played with them before.

They'll make a connection because they both ran into each other and fell over.

Or they're kicking a soccer ball back and forth and they'll be best friends for life.

But that's something that we really value at the Y is the socialization of our youth.

When I was a kid, my dad was so into sports and so wanting me to be into sports and was

a hockey player, boxer, all this stuff.

And I remember him being so adamant about learning that the rules of the game and the

way to play the game and the biggest thing that he wanted me to pick up on was at the

end of the game, people shaking hands and the sportsmanship of it.

And so much of what I learned growing up, we had nothing to do with wins and losses.

Most of these kids statistically are not going to go on to play professional sports.

But one of the things they will pick up on are people skills like you touched on there

and working with others, communication, cooperation and just having a good time, just having

fun.

These sports give kids that opportunity.

And good sportsmanship.

Yeah.

Yeah, it goes a long way.

It's a life lesson that they can take into other fields and other things along with just

having fun and getting outside and getting some energy out of their system and maybe

being a little bit more tired when you get them mom and dad.

Maybe, maybe.

The one day volleyball clinic is also a great feature that you guys offer.

Yeah.

So we ran that last year and it was phenomenal.

Stephanie Lund ran it last year, I believe she's running it again this year.

It's a good opportunity for those going into high school, those middle school aged kids

who, well, even our elementary school kids who just want to learn how to play.

And these clinics are valuable because sometimes a 30 minute, 45 minute practice really isn't

doing it.

The clinics touch on everything from the basics of how to move the ball to how to move

on the court and they're centered around what you need to focus on, not so much the team

aspect of things.

So we like running these clinics because it's individual development instead of trying

to form a team, team development, you're always working on your weaknesses instead of

your teams, which then as you move on to a team in whatever aspect you get to, I guess,

have a leg up.

We talked before you and I about the rise of pickleball and everything over the last handful

of years.

Volleyball has had a real resurgence and has really been brought back a lot and not only

the public eye, but into a lot of people, sports entertainment, just taking in not only

women's athletics, but taking in volleyball a lot more, especially on the college level

and everything.

You know, I've actually noticed that even with my nephew, who, I mean, like a young boy

that just randomly got in volleyball because all of his friends were, and then I'm like,

okay, cool, because I used to play volleyball in club and now it's like coming back and

I'm like, yeah, I want to see more.

My mom and her sisters are very big volleyball players in school and everything and learned

a lot about it growing up and it's so cool to spend with you.

It's so cool to see where it's going and everything and the rise of it.

It's great.

So this is a great way to learn a little bit more about the sport and get your kids involved

with it.

And while I've mentioned pickleball or the rise of volleyball, one thing that estates

steady over the years is Cornhole.

That is popular as it's ever been.

It's a fun one.

You got it on ESPN 15 or whatever.

I mean, they've got Cornhole tournaments online and TV now and stuff.

It's crazy.

Unfortunately, we're not sponsored by baked beans, but if we were, this would be the biggest

tournament in Southwood County.

Definitely.

But yes, we're running at Cornhole tournament on October 13th.

That's a Sunday starting at noon.

The cost is $20 for a team of two and we have prizes for our top three teams.

We are looking for more teams to enter.

There's no age requirement or restriction.

So check out the Cornhole tournament.

If you are curious or you want to learn more about it, you can contact myself, Baxter

aren't at, well, at the Y.

You can ask for me or you can send me an email, ARNDT at SWCYMCA.org.

Yeah.

Cornhole tournament.

What's not to love?

It's going to be a lot of fun.

That's going to be a good one.

I'm looking forward to that.

Get your teams together.

Everybody and find out more by going to SWCYMCA.org.

We'll get that information out again before we wrap up.

Was there anything else you all wanted to touch on before we let you go?

Yeah.

So it's actually Spirit Week this week, as you know, I'm wearing a shirt.

I shall not name the team, but tomorrow as an organization, we're not proud of our

membership director.

I would like to put out there that the Packers had a great second half this week, and I'm

very disappointed in Audrey today for wearing a very shirt.

I support you, Audrey.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

You know, I came from a very powerful.

She's walking back to the Y after the first.

Yeah.

So tomorrow is red, white, and blue day.

So anything red, white, and blue, Thursday is decades day.

Cool.

So it's supported different decades.

And then Friday is pajamas or flannel day.

So we try to have the, we have all the staff participate, but we want all of our members

to participate as well.

So if you come into the Y, try to remember which day you're coming in on and dress up.

Yeah.

Yesterday was crazy.

Hair day and the members actually took over.

They did a great job.

Well, you'll imagine.

Those are great themes.

Great ideas, too.

And it just makes going to the Y that much more fun and more enjoyable.

Take into why they're, while we've had a lot of talk, fun talking about the last couple

of 20 minutes.

We're a lot of great things.

We haven't even scratched the surface, everybody.

There are so many great events and so many different things available for you at your local

Find out more about it.

And as Baxter mentioned earlier, we're looking for volunteers and as Audrey was talking

about looking for lifeguards, any of the above.

If you'd like to find out more information, encourage you to go to SWCYMCA.org, SWCYMCA.org.

Be sure to follow them on social media as well.

It's a great way to not only keep up the date and everything going on, but share these

things.

And you just never know who might see them that wouldn't otherwise.

So be sure to support your local Y and all the great work that they are doing.

If people need to reach out to either of you individually, Audrey, how can they do that?

Yeah.

They can either call me in directly.

I mean, I'm transferred right over, actually, from the front desk.

Or they can email me at dayDAY at SWCYMCA.org to get a hold of me for anything membership