Welcome, everybody, to Midday Magazine for this Wednesday, February 26, 2025.
Have your host, James here, and I am joined right now by some of our favorite people.
We got the ODC with us right now.
We're going to be talking to Anne and Sammy and Mark, and I will let you all introduce
yourself so the audience can put a name to the voice and some of that.
And we'll start with you, Sammy, who is on the phone with us.
Hi, I'm Sammy Sonski.
I do the better together program for ODC, which is our friendship matching program.
Thank you so much for being here, Sammy.
I promise I didn't have you introduce yourself just so I know how to say your last name.
That is not at all.
What I was doing there, my last name is mail-off.
I mean, it's just as difficult, don't worry.
But thank you for being here, Sammy, to appreciate it, and we'll be talking with you
more in a moment.
Anne, if you would mind.
Yeah, Anne Lee Pack, Director of Public Relations and Fund Development for ODC.
Anne has a booth here.
She hears here so much.
We love that.
We love talking with you, Anne.
Thank you so much for being here.
Thanks for having us.
Always appreciate it when you're able to bring a guest in, and we got a special one
with us today.
Mark is joining us from the ODC, Mark.
Good to have you here with us.
Thank you.
Appreciate you being here, Mark.
And if I understand right now, we had some plans here of how we're going to start to show
the market at other plants.
We're going to go ahead and follow Mark's lead here and everything.
I'm going to clear the lane and let Mark and you guys talk a little bit about the 60th
anniversary coming up, Anne.
Yeah, yeah.
So, as we shared, I think last month, we're real excited that we're sharing celebrating
our 60th anniversary.
And Mark is very passionate about that, and I think I shared last month that I had been
with the organization for 33 years.
And as we were talking, Mark, you've actually been with ODC participating in a part of ODC
since when, for how long?
She's pretty eight years ago.
Wow.
38 years, yeah.
That's it.
That's pretty cool, Mark.
That's pretty cool.
That's impressive.
Yeah.
So, we were just talking on the way over just some of the things that, you know, I asked Mark
some of his favorite things or, you know, how things have changed.
So what have been some of your favorite things or how has life changed for you over those
38 years since you've been with ODC?
I would say about the same.
About the same.
Yeah.
Well, you don't live at home anymore, right?
Yeah, right.
Okay.
You have your own apartment?
Right.
Okay.
And then you're doing some work at ODC?
Right.
Yeah.
And Mark is really one of those guys that really enjoys the marketing, public relations,
fund development aspects.
And so he likes to really get involved in, you know, just the events that we do, supporting
those, volunteering, and then he always has really great ideas of other things that
we can do in fundraisers for the community.
So he's, you know, approached us with, you know, can we do something so that we can donate
to the firefighters memorial and we did a food drive, I think, for the Humane Society.
And so Mark really has a passion for giving back to others.
So he's just really excited to have been part of ODC and seen the transformation and all
of the things that have changed for him in his life as well.
And I appreciate this so much, Ann.
And great job with the questions there.
Don't get too good at this.
I need this job.
Don't take it for me.
But no, seriously, those are great questions.
And it leads me to want to ask Mark, you know, just kind of piggybacking on what you're
saying there.
How you imagine your life, Mark, without the ODC, you know, if we didn't have an ODC in
our community, that's a, it's a heartbreaking kind of thought to have to just your story
alone is so impactful and so great, such a great growth and evolution for you.
Going from where you started, I imagine, to now having your own place and the independence
that you experience, I imagine that, that's kind of feel great.
That means a lot to you.
Right.
Yeah.
That's really cool.
And I appreciate you being here and sharing this with us in the audience, man.
These stories are so important to the fabric of our community, the tapestry of our community,
all that.
We, I love bringing it with to bring these kind of things too, along with obviously a perfect
example of what the ODC is about and the impact it makes, not just on individuals, which
is certainly noteworthy, but the economic impact it makes.
And the impact it makes in almost every layer of our society, it's incredible work you
guys are doing over there.
And Mark is a great example of that.
Yeah, thank you.
Yeah.
And we're pleased to have Mark, part of our team and always helping us to put on some
good events and some public relations and always willing to help.
He actually reached out to me last night, Halloween event, he came to and supported that
as well.
So, yeah, I'm always, always willing to help.
But Mark, why was it important to you that we made sure today we were going to talk
about this 60th anniversary?
Okay.
Yeah, yeah.
What did it say about that you're so excited about the anniversary about this?
That was brilliant.
It seemed real.
Oh.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's good.
That's good.
That's good.
Yeah.
I never really know, you know, it was kind of Mark's ideas like we really need to do something
for our 60th anniversary and I, you know, I guess I didn't realize that.
Hmm.
Nice.
Nice.
Okay.
Okay.
That'll be, you'll be the big six hole.
Hmm.
Yep.
Okay.
Interesting.
Well, then we better do a big celebration then.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
I'm seeing a lot of celebrating happening over there at the ODC.
That's fantastic.
And we are very excited about this, this, to celebrate it with the community as well.
Yeah, absolutely.
And being able to let everybody celebrate on this one.
Yep.
Absolutely.
We will, let's dive into some events now and talk a little bit about some of the things
that are going on over at the ODC.
And we've got Sammy with us to do that.
Sammy is the ODC community light development, uh, worker over there and she's, uh, working
on better together program and some other things.
Sammy, what can you tell us about this, uh, better together program and how it's helping
the community?
Simply to put better together as a friendship program.
We all need friends and connection and when we have been out in community recently,
we've been asking people to come and talk to us and just tell us what friendship means
to them and what they cherish about their friendship and it's the little things, right?
They say like, it's just talking to my friend.
It's giggling with my friend.
It's sharing a meal.
It's sharing my struggles.
It's going for walks.
It's all of those everyday moments, which makes friendship special.
So when we talk about the better together friendship, it's matching and end up with
a disability to someone in the community to form a friendship for all of those little
life moments.
So we don't know, we don't say that like it has to be big and grand.
The everyday miss that makes the program so special to have a friendship that's just
for you.
It's a wonderful idea and very well worded.
And I think one of the more relatable things as adults, one of the things I love when we
have the ODC on is showing those parallels, those connections, the things that we have
in common, not just with the ODC in general and the staff and the people there or anything,
but just the empathy that it creates.
And I think that one of the, and I've talked about this on our morning show a number of
times, the older you get, the difficulty in making friends and just how, you know, think
about it much, but it's actually kind of difficult and it's not always easy and the older
we get, when we go more stuck in our ways or what we think and want and everything or
have less opportunities to be in parts and events that where you can make friends, something
like this is really showing, giving an opportunity for that, for people to make new relationships,
make new friends, and along with celebrating the ODC and some of the great things you guys
are doing over there, like recently, Sam, you guys worked with the cookie jar, one of
those businesses I have to get over there, I have to, I'm a big cookie guy, I am a cookie
kind of sore.
I want to brag, aren't you Mark?
All right, we might have to compare notes sometime, man, because I love talking cookies.
And they look like they have a great business over there and already a business that is putting
into the community and working with our nonprofits, a tip of the hat to them for that.
What did you guys say, what were you guys doing with the cookie jar, Sammy?
As part of a grant that we got as ODC, we're expanding the better together program from
just Steven's point area, out into the Wisconsin Rapids area and the Marshfield area, and so
every quarter now we're doing an event with a community member to share about better together
to raise awareness about the program, and of course, it helps that people will find
up to be a friend.
But the reason we partnered with the cookie jars, because we appreciate that small business,
we appreciate being woven into the part of the community, and the family there is just
really lovely.
So we asked them to partner with us.
So we got to share about better together with all of the people that came in.
We also got to raise awareness about the cookie jars, and more people will know about their
wonderful cookies, which yes, you and Mark have to go to.
And they have dirty sodas, if you don't know about dirty sodas, that's the place to check
it out.
So it's a reciprocal relationship, like yes, they're letting us come and talk people
about better together, but we're also supporting a small local business at the same time.
And that's who ODC is, and that's what better together, that's never about one relationship.
It's about building communities.
It's one of the strongest things that our area does in this idea of businesses and nonprofits
working together.
And one of the things that I like to stress, any chance I have when it comes to these things,
if you are a marketer, if you are in sales, if you are running a business, it is marketing
101.
One of the best ways to get a bang for your buck and more profit back or whatever is working
with a nonprofit, there is no price you can put on good PR.
And you get great PR working with our local nonprofits, especially in ODC or somebody like
that.
The good feeling, the good nature that you have from working with them, those feelings,
you can't put a price on any of that.
I hope that that's understandable right away, but just to touch to your, if I can't reach
your heart, or reach your wallet, this is just a smart business move.
It's the right kind of way, because there's nobody who's ever worked with a nonprofit
and be like, well, that was a waste of money.
That doesn't happen.
You get a bang for your, but you get more, you cannot put a price on good PR.
Working like the cookie jar did, we're talking about them here.
They didn't pay us for advertising, and you're getting free advertising right here.
And I would welcome, love to work with them, and love talking about them, and we love
supporting local team, but just as an example of what we're talking about here, that's the
kind of stuff that can happen when you put your business and associate it with a nonprofit.
The ODC has lots of great events throughout the whole year.
We encourage you to reach out to them and be a part of this, and see the example.
You don't have to even believe me if you don't want.
You'll see the example when you do do that, and you hear me doing this, like I'm talking
about the cookie jar, things like that.
It's just a great opportunity, and it feels great to be able to be a part of those things.
And I want to continue that kind of conversation a little bit too, because we want to send
a shout out to our friends at Save of the Arts and the Arts Council.
We work with them a lot.
Actually, I was just emailing with Sally this morning over there working out an interview
with her, and recently, you guys all work together a little bit on the Jeff Allen comedy
show.
Yeah, yeah, we did, and we are so thankful to Sally at the Arts Council and the Jeff Allen
show, and we just really wanted to thank the Arts Council, and also the folks that came
out to that comedy show.
It was very, very well attended.
It was a great show, and we were fortunate to be beneficiaries of $3 from every ticket
that was sold, and then also some additional donated dollars that came in, where we were
the recipient of just over $2,100 from that show to benefit ODC and our opportunity for
Hope, our mental health clinic, which we've talked about quite a bit.
And so we are just so, so thankful to have all of these opportunities to partner again
with our communities and how we just work together to help support each other.
You know, that amount is amazing, but no matter what the amount was, that's a step amount
that wouldn't have had otherwise.
Correct, correct.
Just Sally being able to share a little bit about why ODC was chosen for that, and then
also we received the check, we had the check presentation at the February show, and again,
just another opportunity to connect with our community and share what ODC is doing and
what we're all about.
So that's just awesome and amazing.
Yeah, as you would know, as you know, Sally was very excited about this, and she was
just very, very happy to do this and loves doing things like this with the Arts Council.
But I got to say, I talked with, we got to interview Jeff as well, and Mr. Allen joined
us on air and off air.
I talked to him a little bit, and he really loved this, like he really appreciated it.
And one of the things he really enjoyed was learning what the ODC was and the work you
guys are doing over there and everything.
So just a tip of the hat to him too, as well for that.
Absolutely, absolutely.
And I just wanted to share and I shout out to Mark and some of the other folks as well.
Mark and some others helped with stuffing of the programs for that event.
And then they also helped with distributing the program.
So again, just that partnership of supporting the Arts Council by also having some folks
there to assist with that.
So very cool.
Thank you for that.
Yeah.
We do want to talk about as well for Hope Golf benefit that is coming up at San Valley.
Yeah.
So I just wanted to share a little bit.
That is coming up on May 15th.
Again, it's a fundraiser to support our mental health clinic.
And this is really critical.
Mental health concerns are still very critical in our community.
And so every dollar helps to support the work that we're doing.
And we just were a unique clinic in that.
We're not for profit and we're able to provide services to folks that receive Medicare,
Medicaid, our uninsured, underinsured, and so that there's an opportunity for everybody
in the community to receive mental health services and support.
So we're super excited about it.
We have started seeking sponsorship opportunities and I got to say we are doing very, very well.
We are getting lots of sponsors for the event.
It's a really awesome event.
This is our fifth year.
And so if anybody's interested in sponsoring or golfing, now would be the time to sign
up because we really don't have many, many spots left.
And I would just like to do a couple of shout outs to some of our sponsors.
We do have two lunch sponsors, Solaris and exact sciences.
So thank you so much, you guys.
And then our event gift sponsors this year, again, Gacha, Cranberry and Hochunk Gaming
and Nakusa.
So just again, so, so appreciative of the support for this event and looking forward to
some beautiful weather and a great event and making some money to support our mental health
clinic.
A little brother loves this event, he's a big golfer and looks forward to it whenever it's
coming around.
So I know that it's around the corner when I'm getting texts from him, hey, is it started?
Yeah, hey, do you got any information about that?
He always thinks I have like inside information or something like that, right?
You're good.
You know how to find out.
I do.
I do need to just reach out, just reach out.
It's such a great event that the community loves getting behind.
I'm not surprised to hear about the sponsorships filling up and everything that's, it's good,
it's good news.
It's a good problem to have.
It's great.
But all that being said, I love these events as well that not only bring in different
businesses and nonprofits together, but you're having people out there, they're going to
have a good time.
They're going to be enjoying themselves and there's going to be moments when they're out
there.
Maybe when they're walking up to the tee or something like that or driving to find their
ball or whatever and they're going to be reminded of what this is all about and why they're
out there that day and how good it feels to be a part of things like that.
Whether small or a big piece, being a piece of the work that's going on at the ODC isn't
lost in this community and speaking earlier to what you were talking on about how long
you and Mark have been here and how long the ODC has been here.
The work has been built.
The foundation has been built.
It's awesome to see these things.
I also like to take these moments as we're getting to celebrate a big anniversary for the
ODC to take a pause and be like, man, this is impressive.
This is really impactful.
The work you guys are doing, the community, the way other businesses and nonprofits are
coming together, all of this to make our community that much stronger.
All this being said too, the ODC having our back, the ODC being a pipeline for businesses
in this area of, okay, you need workers.
We got people over here, so much of that stuff and the things that I don't think we get
to talk about nearly enough, Anne.
It just all comes together with an event like this.
Absolutely, absolutely.
We are just so, so thankful and I got to say, you know, mental health, you know, in some
way, shape, or form, I think touches everybody in our community and I think, you know, a
lot of the sponsors and people that participate, you know, there's definitely a personal connection
and so, you know, I think it's just a great event that supports, supports people who really
need the support.
Got a couple minutes left with our friends at the ODC, so we didn't want to touch on entertainment
to empower.
That is also coming up relatively soon.
Yeah, that's coming up real soon, actually March 13th.
That is going to be held in Marshfield at Hotel Marshfield.
We're super excited about a comedy sports event.
And again, event sponsorships and tables, tables for sure are filling up really fast.
And so really, this is the last chance if anybody is interested, they can go to our website
or give us a call because we have to finalize everything by the 5th, which is next week.
So coming up real, real quick and again, just want to shout out our gold sponsor forward
bank and our silver sponsor hotel Marshfield.
So want again, want to thank everybody who's signed up and going to be joining us for a
new fun event this year.
I was going to say this is a new one, isn't it?
It is a new one, yeah.
That's really cool, very cool idea, and such unique ideas over at the ODC.
I love that part of it, these events that we're talking about, they always have something
new or something cool or just the event itself being new and fresh, that's a great idea
by the way, too.
That's a popular thing of right now, that's going to be fun, that's going to be awesome.
Yeah, it's going to be awesome.
We will be highlighting these on our morning show and our good stories of the day.
We're going to make sure you guys get a great turnout on a reminder of those businesses
out there to reach out and be a sponsor with any of these events and associating yourself
with the ODC.
You can never go wrong there.
And we again, once again, and this is on me as an interviewer, we haven't even scratched
the surface of all the things going out of the ODC.
We didn't talk about ink splash or milkweed market, encourage you to find out about those
everybody.
Go to their social media, you can catch it out there and share their posts on your pages.
And of course, you can find all this information at odciinc.com, odciinc.com.
And thank you so much for the time, appreciate you.
Thank you.
And we appreciate you, Sammy, for joining us.
Thank you for the time.
Have a great day, thank you.
You too.
And Mark, this was a great interview, and I got to tell you, man, between us, please
do.
I bought it to a baseball game.
Okay.
This guy should be having some big hawks.
Yeah, yeah.
We'll have to do that again this year.
Very cool.
Very cool.
Oh, that's going to be fun.
That's going to be fun.
You're going to have a blast.
That's going to be a fun time.
That's good.
Thank you for that, Mark.
And thank you so much for joining us.
Appreciate you, Mark.
Okay.
Thank you.
And thank you both.
And we'll have more good stuff coming up for you right here at 97.5FMWFHR.
Where we're going to be wrapping up the week of Midday Magazine in the next couple of days.
Our Thursday episode will feature family natural foods.
And in part two, Janelle Weir from UW Extension.
On Friday, we'll catch up with the ADRC and in part two, we will talk with our Wisconsin
Rapid Superintendent in the public schools, Ron Rasmussen.
All that coming up for you right here.
And of course, we'll have some other great stuff on the radio dial for you.
Be sure to join us for playmakers.
We'll have that for five to six Wednesday and Friday this week.
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I don't want to skate past that.
Six, forty Wisconsin women's basketball hosting UCLA.
Be sure to catch that as well right here at 97.5FM1320AMWFHR.
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