Welcome everybody to midday magazine for this Tuesday November 26th, 2024.
Have your host James J. Mailoff here.
We're spending the next half an hour with our friend Elizabeth.
She is the dual abuse service coordinator over our Wisconsin Rapids Family Center.
Elizabeth, it's been a while. Good to have you with us.
Thanks for having me.
Appreciate the time as always and always like to mention to people out there.
The services that are available with our Wisconsin Rapids Family Center.
We will be sure to wrap up with those and give you the information there.
And as always out of journalistic integrity, let everybody know out there where I stand on this.
I am a board member of the Wisconsin Rapids Family Center, a proud board member.
And I believe on the right side of history with this subject.
I know that our audience, how they feel about this one.
So I feel confident saying things like that.
And with that being said, Elizabeth, one thing we were talking about a bit in our pre-game
is how to create more empathy in our community.
How to get people to realize how much this affects every facet of our community,
domestic violence, and how it's going to take all of us coming together
to not only bring down these numbers, but to turn this into something that is the way of the dinosaur
and that and just a forgotten part of our society.
To get to that, we've got to do some work.
And that part of that work is, I think, not only creating empathy,
but for people to understand a little bit of what a day in the life is like.
For a family center, not advocate or a member or any of the above.
So Elizabeth's going to help us do that a little bit today.
And I really do appreciate you kind of walking us through this a little bit of Elizabeth.
Because I think that there's even things that I may not know.
That I can learn along with many of our individuals out there.
So where would you like to start with that?
Yeah. So I guess I just want to say, you know, survivors can come to us in any way, shape or form.
And it's really hard to take that step to come to us.
So we want to always praise them for being so strong to do that.
We have our 24 hour crisis line.
So you can call, get information that way, just speak to an advocate that way, make an appointment.
But you also can just show up at our front door and say, I just want to talk to someone or I need shelter.
And, you know, we are going to take you in and we are going to sit down with you and talk to you about what your needs are in that moment.
We listen, like I think that's so important because sometimes people just talk, talk, talk.
But we really listen with no judgment and really try to focus on what that survivor wants and what their needs are.
Not what we think their needs are, but what they feel their needs are.
So yeah, we just were there to listen, provide them options and choices that maybe they didn't know were a thing that they could do.
And really just to empower them, give them all the information in order for them to make informed decisions about their situation and their journey.
I always like to say, nobody knows their story better than themselves.
So we can't act like we know it's best for them.
So yeah, I just, I think all those pieces are so important when someone comes to us looking for help.
And certainly, with a topic like this, we have to be sensitive to too many details.
Some of that, I think the audience can insert those and read between the lines with some of those things.
And the one thing that we can't really hit on because I don't know if there are really words in the English language for it.
But the emotional joy and toll this can take for you and your team.
This is something you guys are doing because this is a passion.
You care about this subject, you care about the individuals, you care about your community.
It also takes a toll doing this kind of work.
We talk about this with a lot of our service workers out there.
And I think those are important notes as well about this.
But also the idea of nothing about this and nothing that you describe there, it sounds like science fiction.
Like sounds like something like, whoa, I didn't know.
You know, I think it all not only makes sense, but it's all very relatable.
It's very understandable.
There are similar things to other jobs out there that people are doing that are very similar to what you guys do.
And then there are things that are nowhere near similar.
And I think all of that is important to take in.
So hopefully everybody's done that and you've taken these things in.
And you have a little more understanding of what this is like, what this day in the life.
I think there's some relatability there.
We'll also some understanding of wow, that is a very different gig.
That is a very different job doing something like this.
There's a couple of things that I didn't want to note real quick with here.
Because something that we've talked about with the Family Center and it actually broke the story when it first happened about the cuts in funding to our our Wisconsin Rapids Family Center.
But to others listening out there to domestic violence shelters around the country were hit by this.
And I've talked to a lot of listeners about this.
And I've reached out to some people that I know that can be on the fence on this subject at times.
And I've talked to a couple of individuals for years about this topic.
And they have more and more started to donate to the Family Center and some other things.
But there's still some uncertainty.
So just a couple of quick examples or just metaphors, however you want to put it.
If you need a mechanic in your town does not have a mechanic.
And you have to drive to another city for that.
That affects your economy, that affects the taxes in your community.
And it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense.
You know, Elizabeth, like most communities, no matter how small they are, you got a mechanic.
You got somebody there for that.
You have somebody that is there for that need, that specific need.
That is what our domestic violence shelter is.
You need something like that.
Otherwise not only do you have people traveling out of town for these services because they will seek them out.
But that's hurting your community.
Obviously the individuals and the soul of your community.
But the taxes and the economy of your community as well.
And there is something to be said for the systems we have in place in society.
People do not think twice about a child joining school.
And for the next 12 years, they are going to be doing that.
They're going to be involved in school work and everything.
And as taxpayers, we see that as a very positive.
Well, that's investing in the future.
That's what I'm doing right now.
I'm making sure that these kids have a good education so that they can take over one day and I can retire.
And I can just sit back and watch TV or something like that.
That is again, the same thing that our family center is.
Our family center is an investment in our future just as much as our present.
The individuals and the clientele at the family center are your neighbors.
Are your friends, your family, your kids go to school with these kids.
They are human beings.
And when you invest in them, those kids go on and do good things in our community.
Those adults go on and become taxpayers if they not already are taxpayers.
This all adds up. We are all connected.
And whether we're talking about investing in our schools or investing in our family center, these are all investments.
Donations, yes, but they are investments first and foremost in the future.
And there's nothing greater that we can, I should double check this.
Yep, kids are the future. It turns out Elizabeth.
So you can't find a better investment than something like this.
When we're talking about these things and we're talking about the importance of raising awareness about domestic violence
or adding to our family center or just keeping our family center upright in the lights on,
these are the kind of things we're talking about.
This is the importance of this.
It literally affects all facets of our life and the soul of our community.
Yeah, I agree.
When it comes to needs and ways we can help out with the family center or Elizabeth,
I know that there, and again, something that I've talked to our community a lot about over the years,
you've got a lot of individuals that want to, especially this time of year donate money,
and we greatly appreciate that as we just touched on, certainly can use it.
It goes a long way in everything.
We also know in our community that there are individuals out there that may not have a lot to give or able to give,
but want to still contribute to the family center, want to still be a part of things.
And when it comes to that, there is certainly volunteering.
Volunteering is always something that is encouraged and helpful,
whether it's with our family center or really any of our nonprofits in this community.
You just got done talking with our members at the Chamber and the Y about that.
So greatly encourage you to reach out to the family center and find out different ways that you can help out with that,
and keep in mind that doesn't necessarily involve maybe working with a client.
That might be shoveling or mowing the lawn or helping with some light fixtures or something like that.
There's a lot of those kind of things that when you do that stuff,
you're taking things off of the plate of Elizabeth and the team over there so that they can focus on other work.
So that's a great way to help out as well.
And there's certainly volunteering at different events.
We've got some really fun events coming up with the family center that could always use hands with.
And then there's the items.
The everyday items that we may not think much of, but boy, could really be useful at the Wisconsin Ravis Family Center.
Can we touch on some of those big need items?
Yeah, we always have a needs list on our website.
So if anyone's ever wondering what do they need year round, go on our website and you can see that needs list.
But something that's really cool is if you follow our Facebook page,
we post every week on Wednesdays or what we need Wednesdays.
And that is like every week our urgent needs that we need in like the shelter.
So I encourage everyone to check that out.
But you know, frequent needs that we need are like toilet paper, paper towels.
A lot of times like small gift cards for gas because gas is expensive.
And you know, a lot of our clientele don't always have a lot of money.
So just even having a small gift card for gas is really awesome and appreciated.
We have our food pantry, so donations of shelf stable products are always appreciated.
Always needing size five and six diapers for our littles.
So that's always appreciated.
Yeah, like garbage bags, shampoo, conditioner, cleaning supplies.
Honestly, like a lot of that stuff is just everyday items that we need.
So if you're in your house right now or at your business and you're looking around
and you're seeing items, those are the items.
Everyday items are such a big thing and they may not seem like,
well, how much can it help grabbing a thing of paper towels or toilet paper?
It can mean everything. It can be a big difference.
And there are, you just don't know what you don't, what these items mean until you don't have them.
And in that putting yourself in those shoes, I think a lot of people can relate and understand that,
oh, that's rough.
And it's something that I think too that can have a dual benefit.
The individuals receiving these items feel just as good as the person giving them.
That's an encouraging and I think a fun, a sweet part of this, if you will.
And I'm glad you mentioned the Facebook page.
Certainly encourage people to follow along on the Facebook page,
like what they're doing, like the posts that they have,
and share them on your page you just never know who might see them otherwise.
But there's also some great ideas over there,
two businesses, two schools out there.
If you, again, are looking for ways to help out our Wisconsin Rapids Family Center.
I want to send a couple of shout outs real quick to, first,
the school district in Nakusa hosting their Penny Ward to support the Wisconsin Rapids Family Center
and out of the Depression and Mental Health Awareness Month.
Them doing this is so cool. It's so great.
And as a side note, it also has a dual benefit to it.
Something that Deb and Sue and Trisha and I have talked about many years
is how important it is to the younger generations that we are showing them
how to treat individuals, not to treat people.
Everything we're talking about today and all the work that we're doing as adults
is all vital and important.
And it also comes in almost one A, one B when it comes to,
you know, bringing it into domestic violence and it starts so much with the youth.
But it's not on them. It's on us to the way we handle ourselves,
the way that we treat each other and we treat this subject matter.
Those sponges for brains that they have are taking all this in.
And more times than not, we have seen this in domestic violence and the history of this
that the abusers tend to be people that grow up around abusers
or people that see this as an okay way to treat people and vice versa.
The people that grow up, you know, being taught, hey, this isn't right.
We see more of them raising their kids that way and et cetera, et cetera.
We need more of that. We need more people doing that and more opportunities
for kids to see these things.
Shout out to Nikusa into that school district for seeing that and being a part of it.
A big shout out to our businesses out there.
I thank you to Aspirus Help who puts a lot in this community and they got donated
some odds and ends and some needs that we were kind of just touching on there
and a big thank you to them for that.
And Associated Bank, you were just recently over there.
Yeah, yeah.
How did that go?
They came and presented us with a check which I thought was amazing.
It's just all these partnerships in the community are really what helps.
Like you said earlier, keep the lights on, you know, and just spreading awareness
throughout the community I think is great to have all these partners and to have their support.
It's amazing.
It's appreciated.
We're not able to do the work over there without all these businesses and these nonprofits
and the schools and everything.
I bring all these to certainly give a shout out to all those individuals and those businesses
in the school district about to hopefully springboard some ideas too and some other people
out there in businesses and nonprofits of doing things to add to this.
I always like to cover all bases of Lisbeth and one of the things that I like to do with topics like this
is certainly to the people out there that are on the same page with us.
We appreciate you and thank you for listening.
But to the individuals out there that may not see this topic the way we see it or feel it the way we do
to reach you to connect with you is something I'm trying to do with this conversation.
And one of the things I believe that everybody cares about is certainly your taxes and your economy.
And if you're a business out there, you are spending a lot of money on marketing.
You were spending a lot of money on maybe marketing individuals.
I can save you a couple bucks right now.
Attach yourself to a nonprofit.
Attach yourself to our Wisconsin Rapids Family Center.
Everything in our society is pointing towards this becoming more and more of a forgotten thing, a former thing.
You want to be on the right side of history.
You want to show your community that you are doing those things.
Being a part of the things at the Family Center, like Aspirus, like Associated Bank, the things that they did,
that is marketing 101.
As far as helping your business.
You're showing you're a part of the community.
You are just like everybody else.
You are a part of these things.
And you care about subjects that the community cares about.
So certainly we want you to do these things and hope we reach your soul and your heart.
That's where this starts and everything.
But if I can't reach you there, it's just business 101 to do these kind of things.
If you want to promote your business, being a part of things with a nonprofit are one of the greater PR things you can have.
And you can't put a number on the way that the impact it can make.
There are a lot of ways that you can help out our Family Center.
We appreciate you helping and being a part of things.
When it comes to the holidays this time of year at the Family Center.
Imagine that it can be a little bit busier.
It can be a little bit heavier over there for individuals want people to keep that in mind as well as Bethin.
And what that day and the life can be like for the staff as well as the clientele there.
Are there things that we can touch on that the audience may not be aware of that they think that they would be insightful to them?
I think that the time spent in conversation is something that I don't think a lot of people might think of.
I think in fact a lot of people might even think about this like checking into a hotel.
Hopefully there's individuals out there that have never experienced this.
And that's a good thing.
But they don't have a better comp for this or something.
Or they didn't see it in the movie or a TV show where we tend to grab examples from in life.
So just kind of walking into that part of it and understanding that is not what this is.
It is much heavier, much different than that.
Yeah, and we have our emergency shelter, right?
But we also have our non-residential services.
So you don't have to stay in our shelter to receive services from us.
But when you do come to our shelter, it's very homey and like a home environment.
Because you want to feel comfortable where you are, right?
And so we make it as comfy and cozy as possible.
Because at the end of the day we're working in their home.
And so I think that's really important that it's their home.
They're going to treat it like their home while they're there.
And staff is there to support them in whatever way shape or form is needed.
Very well said.
Yeah, yeah.
And you know, we don't expect them to overnight like heal and figure things out.
Like it's a journey and we're there with them for every step of the way.
You know, not everyone is also ready, maybe 100% to leave.
Like they might have a little bit of hesitation of being there.
They might be thinking about wanting to go back.
And you know, a lot of people might say, like, why would you do that?
Like, no, don't go back.
Like, you know, that's not a great relationship.
But I also don't think a lot of people understand it does take a survivor.
Seven, you know, on average, seven times in order to leave that relationship.
So just because you come to our shelter and stay with us once doesn't mean you won't be welcome back again.
Even if you go back to that abusive partner or situation you're in,
like our doors will be open for you the next time if you would like to come back.
So I want to make that clear too, that our doors are always open.
And it's again, allowing them to make their own decisions about their story.
And we're just there to help support them however we can.
And we're incredibly thankful and appreciative that you and that team are there.
We appreciate the work that you guys are doing.
Elizabeth, as we're wrapping up, people want to find out more about someone we talked about today.
If they are in need of services or any of the above, how can they reach you?
How can they reach the family center?
Yeah, you can call our 24 hour hotline crisis line.
There is always someone to answer the phone.
It might ring a couple times, but someone is always going to answer it.
You can just Google our address and show up like I said earlier and again,
someone's going to help you.
Even sending you know an email or through messenger if you can't make a phone call.
Those are all different ways to connect with us.
Yeah.
And yeah.
That crisis line, if you're in need, the family center has your back.
It is 715-421-1511.
That's 421-1511.
Their business line is 715-421-1559.
421-1559.
You can also email them info at familyctr.org, familyctr.org.
That is also their website, familyctr.org, encourage you to bookmark that.
Then only keep up the date on the great things that they're doing over there,
but understanding a little bit more of what they're doing as well.
And that address is 525th Street North, here in Wisconsin Rapids.
Be sure to follow our Wisconsin Rapids Family Center and Social Media as well.
Keep up the date and all the amazing work that they are doing.
And one more time, the 24 hour crisis line, 715-421-1511.
421-1511.
Elizabeth, thank you so much for the time today and all the work that you and your team are putting into the community.
Say hi to everybody over there for us and wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving.
Yeah, thank you so much for having us and bringing awareness to this.
Appreciate the times.
We'll have more Midday Magazine for you coming up right here at 97-5 FM.
13-20am WFHR, we are locally grown radio.