Welcome, everybody, to Midday Magazine for this Friday, January 24th, 2025.
Have your host, James Damail, off here.
At Part 2 in 430 today, we're going to talk with Roxanne Filts, Director of Curriculum
and Instruction over at Wisconsin Rapids Public Schools, looking forward to talking
with Roxanne as we are looking forward to talking to our good friend Peggy Kirt, Volunteer
Coordinator with the Aging and Disability Resource Center of Central Wisconsin.
Peggy, how you doing?
I'm doing good. I'm looking forward to above zero temperature.
It's funny how the term warm means something different this time of year that it does in the
summer, doesn't it? You know, we'll take 20 degrees. That's a warm to us.
It is. Peggy, appreciate the notes in the topic this week. This is a really good one,
you know, something that I don't feel like we get the chance to talk about nearly enough.
Let's dive right into volunteer. What would your main topic for today?
So my main topic that I thought of focused on is talking about the connection between gratitude
and volunteering and how gratitude can actually have a ripple effect that, you know, kind of spreads
out from when you say, when you notice something in your grateful for something and you tell someone,
especially if you're grateful for something they did, it not only impacts you because you feel
good about identifying that and sharing, but you're also, you know, creating this connection with
this other person, they, their self-esteem gets a boost and it just kind of makes you want,
makes you look at things a little differently and want to identify more of that.
You know, certainly I think one of the first, when I saw this come across, the very first thing
to pop to my head was how much we talk about mental health these days and how important it is.
And it's a great focus and I'm really I'm proud that we're doing that as a society.
And as I mentioned many times when I talk about this, now the real work comes in.
You know, we kind of did some of the heavy lifting with just getting this topic in common
conversation and we're not talking about it in a hushed voice anymore. Now some of the heavy work
goes in and I think of things that you can almost guarantee, hey, this is going to help my mental
health, hey, this is going to make me feel good. And when it comes to volunteering, there aren't many
things that are going to make you feel better in this world than volunteering, especially with
the ADRC and doing the work that you're doing over there was something like that. It popped in my
head right away. There's so many advantages to this, but that was one of the first ones I thought of.
It, yeah, exactly. You've, you've explained it really well. I gave you nothing to talk about.
I gave you nothing. I took it off. It really is. I imagine you can speak to this pretty well,
though, because you could hopefully experience this quite a bit. Oh, definitely. And actually,
right now we are looking at talking about ways that we, I mean, we express our gratitude to
the volunteers that do countless hours for us here at the ADRC. We do, I mean, we think them all
the time, but every year we like to do some kind of recognition or appreciation. So we're looking at
what we're going to do this year because April is volunteer appreciation month. And I was looking
through notes that get shared when people who receive meals on wheels. When they, sometimes when
they send a contribution in, they will also jot some notes down. And sometimes it can be like,
you know, less brushless sprouts and more fake or something like that. But most of the time they,
they are expressing their gratitude for the service, but also more importantly for the people who
are bringing them the meals and the connection they make with them. And I was just reading through
like about a year's worth of one trying to, you know, pull some stories here and there. And
my self-esteem was what the time I was done really. Thank you. And sincere wishes from people. And
sometimes it was from a family member, like a son or daughter who parent had passed on and they
were sending a note about how impactful getting the meals were. But besides the nutrition, it was
that that volunteer who also came and said hello and talked to them. And maybe that was the only time
they talked with someone that day. So it is really, yeah, it can have a big impact on your overall
well-being by volunteering. It can raise, you know, if you're kind of in a funk or feeling a little
more isolated, it definitely helps you create a connection with other people who are there
for the same reasons you are. And it just, yeah, I can't say enough. It just can improve how you
feel about yourself and how you feel about other people. And maybe if there's some not so nice
things going on, you know, that you're dealing with at that point in your life, it can help
maybe get you out of focusing on that for a little bit or maybe it gives you a way to have a new
perspective. Yeah. And oh, you hit it. There was the word I was going to mention. To me, I think the
older you get, the more you realize one of the best friends you can have is perspective. And
so many of us, the loudest voice and the one that bothers us the most is that voice in our head.
And you had a line in here that I thought was really important. And we shift our focus from what
is lacking to what is present. And yeah, I know doing a lot of volunteering in my life since I was
young to now. That is one of the things that I always look forward to. I like to do things for
others. I like to do things for, you know, just because it feels good and all that. But I won't
lie to the audience either. One of it as a classic overthinker, which I am, when I'm volunteering,
I'm not overthinking. When I'm volunteering, my focus is just on what I'm doing. And not only
and do I feel good from it, but I'm taking a break from my, you know, issues, my struggles or what
have you. I'm out of my own head a little bit. I joke about being an overthinker, but I don't think
there's many people out there who aren't overthinkers. I think most of us have this issue.
You're volunteering. You're locked into what is going on right now and focusing on that. And it
can really give you that breather, that break from things that you can use. Yes. And I think, you know,
there's so much going on on a daily basis throughout the world. And it can be like what we see can
be all of the, you know, terrible things that are happening or negative things. So,
being able to pull yourself out of having maybe that on or reading about that all the time is
doing something for someone else or, you know, coming in, volunteering. And because, I mean,
honestly, our, I mean, we have volunteers in a lot in different areas that help us, but
our nutrition program wouldn't exist without them. We wouldn't, we wouldn't be able to do it.
I know for me, whenever I feel overwhelmed or I think there's so much negativity out there,
there's a phrase that I try to remember and I try to live by and be the good. If you don't think
there's enough good in the world, put some in it, you know, and you can do that through volunteering.
Not everybody can cure polio. Not everybody can do something that impacts the whole entire world.
But if you do something in your neighborhood, your community, you will see that that stuff,
people can build on that and the community next to that one and that, that one. And before you know
what you've done, you've had a huge effect on this, whatever it is that you're working on and
volunteering with. We're speaking with Peggy Curth, volunteer coordinator with their ADRC of CW.
And Peggy, there are a close connection to with volunteering and gratitude that I thought was
very interesting that you, we're talking about in the notes here a little bit.
Yes. So one, and I'm sure people have heard about gratitude and the benefits that it has when
you focus on the things that are, that you're grateful for. Even taking a little bit of time
each day and maybe coming up with three things that happened during that day or three things that
you're grateful for over time of doing that, it can change your, it can change how you view things
and you end up starting to find a whole lot more things that you're grateful for, like the good
things. Which I, because I've had that happen when I've really focused on doing that for a period of
time and kind of amazed because sometimes that can be a glass half empty person. So it definitely
has, is an important tool that we can use. And when it kind of helps along with that,
what we were talking about with volunteering, you kind of take your focus off maybe
and something that's bothering you to what you're doing in that moment. And that's what
also focusing on gratitude does. So when, if you're struggling trying to find
things that you think that you would be grateful for, if you do consider volunteering, I think,
again, like when you, when you go out there and whatever it is you choose to do as a volunteer,
you meet people who are also there, you know, they're not getting paid to be there, they're there
because they want to be there and they want to help. And that, that's kind of that ripple effect
where you are around other people who are doing, you know, really good things for the community and
that makes you feel good and makes them feel good and it, it just kind of ripples out from there.
So other people then will see you volunteering or being grateful and that encourages them to do
that too. So then you've got this whole like community-wide effect that happens. I think if you
think about this a little bit like laughter and how contagious laughter can be, you're in a movie
theater or you're watching a play and, you know, a bunch of strangers start laughing at something
and you catch yourself laughing at it. It's an energy and in this volunteering, it is an energy
in itself and it really does, you know, lead into other things and go into other stuff. I think
an extension of what you're talking about just piggybacking off of it, Peggy is one of the things
that stands out to me is when you volunteer, it doesn't, that good feeling doesn't stop when you leave
the building or leave the place that you volunteer at. That carry, you carry that with you,
not just the rest of the day but the weeks ahead and going forward. It's something that you can lean
on especially in, you know, tougher times and reminding yourself of these things and going back
to that good feeling. It's there for you and it doesn't have an expiration date, it stays.
No, it doesn't, which I'm happy about. Yeah, it's very cool. There's nothing to
have an expiration date. Yeah, yeah, there's not a ton of things like that life. That's,
it's nice to have that one. I feel like we have done, and you have done a really nice job of
giving people reasons and encouragement to volunteer. Let's give them some opportunities to volunteer,
if you don't mind, Peggy. Let's talk about some of the good opportunities you guys have over at
the ADRC. Well, one, and I know I kind of put that at the top, but it's also a volunteer opportunity.
We do have an advisory committee that, because we cover four counties,
Wood, Marathon, Lincoln, and Langlade, we are, we have people on this advisory committee from all
of those counties and their community members who are interested in kind of being the
eyes and ears for our agency on what's going on in their community, for regarding older adults
and adults with disabilities. So they come to the table, we'll bring feedback. If we're looking
for information, maybe on a new strategy or something, they will often go out in their community
and gather the information and come back. So we are so grateful for the people who volunteer to
be on our advisory committee. And Erin Wells, our director of aging and wellness, I don't know
if I just got her title right or not. She's my boss, I should have it right. But she's the one
who coordinates the advisory committee and the meetings. So it's not a big time commitment.
It's held every other month on the fourth Wednesday from 10 until about noon. And we,
Erin has been rotating the meetings in person among all of our offices. So it's not always in one
location, but if people don't want to travel, we have a virtual option to connect to the meeting
that way. And we are looking for someone in Wood County because we had someone who just came
off the committee. And I'm glad you mentioned it about the time commitment because we like to bring
that up with volunteering and keep that in mind with really all the things we're mentioning with
the ADRC and volunteer opportunities. They work with you on schedules, they work with you on time.
And when it comes to impacting your community, all the options we're going to give you are really
great ways to impact and volunteer. This is one of the bigger ones that you can really make an
impact and really do some great work in your community and and paying it forward in many ways,
I feel, where you're doing stuff that you know, collecting information or doing things that you
may be using yourself one day. And so I think that that's kind of a cool thing and also something
important to keep in mind with it. Peggy, people are interested in this position or interested
in volunteering for this. How should they find out more? Who can they contact?
They can contact our agency or contact Erin Wells at our agency. Our toll free number is 888-486.
9545 or if you go to our our website, there is a page, an area where you can click on that
talks about the our board of directors and then our advisory committee and it has all the
information on there. It's a great website and we'll make sure to get it out there before we wrap
up today. But there is a one that flies through and you can just click on it and it gets you
brings you right to volunteer opportunities and it gives you a little details about some of the
things that we're going to talk about right now because there's a bunch of different volunteer
opportunities as we're wrapping up Peggy to touch on. Yes, so other you know the other volunteers
opportunities we have, some of them are in our nutrition program and those tend to be
focused of course on food and interacting with older adults. So in Wisconsin,
rapids at Centrelia, we have a senior dining site that we sort of lunch for those who are 60
and older and who want to come together and have a meal with other people and conversation and fun.
So we do have volunteers that come in and help get the table set up and when people arrive,
they help serve people their meal and get them coffee or milk or whatever it is that they're
drinking and then they help also like with cleaning up and getting everything ready for the next day.
So that time frame is it's Monday through Fridays from about 10 to one but again,
Jane Orkott is our dining site manager and she's wonderful so she is really easy to work with and
if somebody can't do that full time frame, she's very flexible with making it work for you.
In that same location, that's where the meals are packaged for the meals on wheels
roads. So we have volunteers, our food actually comes from Norwood, so we have a driver that
picks it up in Marshfield and drives it over to rapids. So they bring in the food and it's
already prepared but it needs to be packaged into individual trays and sealed and then
like arranged in the different routes that are going out that day. So volunteers help with that
and that's like a from about 930 to 945-ish and then we have volunteers who come in to pick up
the meals and deliver a route. So that might mean they have anywhere from 10 or 12 to 15 or 18
stops on a route and they have insulated bags with the hot food and the cold food and
clipboard with all the instructions on where they're going and they deliver the meals
and then bring the bags back to the centrelia and that usually can be an hour to about an hour
and a half. So about 1030 to noon and again like I said the important besides delivering the meal,
it's also kind of that check-in on a person. So if somebody is not answering,
they will contact our office and then we start investigating trying to find out what's going on
to make sure that person's okay. It's a vital part of it and I will just add on to that you
will also make new friends. You will make great friends. I put my name on that doing meals on
wheels a little bit that I had the chance to. I still remember the relationships I made. They're
amazing people that you'll be of working with and helping and getting the chance to get to know.
There is senior dining site work as well that can be they can always use help with
and lead fall prevention program. Get training to lead a group, educating programs and
that stuff again that might help you eventually one day. We all could maybe use to learn a little
bit more about prevention and from falling and some of that and so many other great opportunities
are waiting for you at the ADRC CW and Peggy as we're letting you go here I just want to thank you
and the crew over there so much please say hi to everybody and I wish you guys a great weekend.
I will. I will thank you you too. You can find out more by going to the website
ADRC-CW.org ADRC-CW.org otherwise give them a call 715-261-6084-715-261680-6084. Thanks again Peggy.
Have a good weekend. You too. Thank you. We'll have more midday magazine coming up for you right here
at 97-5 FM 13-20 AM WFHR we are locally grown radio.