Welcome everybody to Midday Magazine for this Wednesday, March 26th, 2025.
Have your host James here, we're now going to spend a little bit of time with our good
friends from the ODC.
I'm going to let everybody introduce themselves so the audience can put a name to the voice.
And I'll start with our good friend Anne Lee Peck, Director of Public Relations and
Fund Development over at the ODC, and always good to see you.
Always good to see you, thanks for having us.
Thanks for being here, and thanks for bringing some friends along with you.
Absolutely.
They're going to let you introduce yourself.
Okay.
As you know, I'm David Buckman, and I've been at ODC for 29 years, just like I was telling
all my friends here.
So 29 years I've been always good to have you here, David.
Thanks for being here.
Appreciate the time.
I'm delighted to see you again, too, James.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And Ashley, let's introduce yourself.
I'm Ashley Nichol, and the Communications Specialist for the PR Fund Development Team.
Good to see you again, Ashley.
Thanks a lot for being here.
Appreciate the time.
And I want to dive right in if you guys don't mind.
Talking to David a little bit about ODC's 60th anniversary.
David, you mentioned that you've been there 29 years, you've been almost half of the time
at ODC.
That's amazing.
That's right, James.
I have.
Can you recall some of the crowded ODC was before our new building and some of them?
I'll try.
I remember my first year ever started working at ODC.
It was just too crowded in there.
So then ODC decided to make an enlargement.
So ever since I've been at ODC, we really had made a large improvement.
Yeah.
The expansions given you guys more room over there and more ability to do more things.
We've talked a lot about milkweed markets, some of the other things that are going on
over there and that we're able to do.
But there's also the ability of not just in the building, but the ability to get you guys
out in the public and be able to do more out in the world and everything, if you will.
That's right.
Yeah.
Have you been in the time that you've been there, David, you've really had a chance to
really see this growth?
What is it meant to you to be able to see this as somebody who cares about the ODC?
Oh gosh.
Yeah.
How do you put that in the words, right?
That's a tough question.
That was not a fair question on my part.
When I first started working at ODC, I didn't really care about going to ODC because I
had a lot of distress, and I had an anxiety attack, but ever since Ann Leapag and I, I
mean Pam Ross and I were on television together, that made me become to ODC more and more, and
I've been coming to work there ever since we were on TV, you know, and now we did our
last show of ODC, and I mean on Locca's on stage, and I've been coming to work ever since.
And for you in the time that you've been there and seeing the growth of the individuals
over there, the growth of ODC in general.
Again, it's not fair if I asked David, I got to ask you, but what does it mean for you
to see this?
And what can you touch on with this?
Yeah, so I think, you know, as David alluded to, we really had a lot of people that worked
within the walls of ODC and over time, and we've had to expand, and over time really,
we've just grown and evolved to support people to connect to their community, and so things
have really changed.
There's very few people within ODC, and it's really about helping folks to be more independent
and more included in the community.
And so David actually has also had an opportunity to be a part of that, but you know, different
things that you've been able to do.
I know you wrote a couple things down, and so what are the things that you do now?
You don't just come to work at ODC, you really connect to the community and do some other
things.
Do you want to share some things you wrote down?
I certainly will do that.
Anyway, here, I did somewhat to call research last night at my house, and here are the
things that I wrote down on my piece of paper.
Number one, I like helping out at the Milkbury market.
Number two, I enjoy going on an island for my friends, and on Saturday night I went
to the Looney Tunes movie, and last but not least, I remember, I remember I did
a local time stage, I sang this song by Erring Berlin, called, I'll be loving you always,
and those are the basic things that I like about ODC, I can't think of any others.
Oh, I can't imagine how long that list would be if you did remember all of them, as much
time as you've spent there.
Those were some great highlights though, David, those were pretty cool.
Thank you.
Yeah.
I have this one to be prepared.
You did a good job.
Thank you for that.
Whenever I'm going to be going on the radio the next day, I always like to be prepared
for that.
It shows.
It shows, and we really appreciate that, and the audience appreciates that.
Yeah, and I think the other story that David and I like to share once in a while is that
he always lived at home with his parents, and one of the things that happened, you know,
you want to tell the story about how you felt about that, or what was going to maybe
happen.
I certainly will do that.
At the very beginning, at my parents' site, I didn't have any idea where I was going
to live, and then ODC took over, and then an opportunity took over.
I remember a time when I used to be taken care of by a lady by the name of a medicine
Kellahan, and she and I were really good friends with one another, so I hope she's listening
to what I don't like.
Listen, if you're listening, I'm talking about you, so anyway, those are the basic things
that I like about living in my family home, so.
So when they passed away, David didn't know where he was going to live.
Your family doesn't live in town, the rest of your family does not live in town, and so
he really wanted to stay in his home community, stay in his home in the home that he grew
up in.
So, you know, as ODC has grown and evolved, we've been able to provide those services
so that individuals have the opportunity to kind of continue to live and work and play
in their home community, so.
Yeah, I did not, you know, we've talked a handful of times, David, but I didn't know that
story, and I have to admit, it really got me.
It really, I needed a minute to let that one sit in, because that's not only, I think,
but it brings out the empathy in us, and we, the feeling for you in your situation, but
also the beauty of having an answer, you know, for much of a society, for much of history,
we didn't always have an answer for something like this, the situation you were in, having
an ODC, having something like this, it brings it around, and it shows how we have worked
as a society to correct some of these things and make them better.
But we need evidence of that, need data, and you just gave it to us there, and I really
do appreciate that.
I appreciate you sharing that, and always appreciate you being in.
You want James, I'm really, I'm really happy to be on the air again, so.
Good, good.
Thank you very much.
I also wanted to talk with you, Ashley, a little bit, if you don't mind, Ashley is
the communication specialist over at the ODC, and for those that don't know, coming up
April, that's Autism Awareness Month, and you guys have some sensory, friendly events
that you do over there, that I really appreciate that you do, and I appreciate you coming
in, Ashley, and talking about these, I talk about this subject quite a bit, I have a
Godson who is under the spectrum, and I learned from him so much about this world that I didn't
know much about, and I think it's really important we talk about this more and more as a
society, so we get more and more information out there, more people know about these things,
but we want somebody that actually knows what they're talking about, not me, you actually
know what you're talking about here, can you tell us a little bit about the friendly sensory
events that you have?
Yeah, we're planning a few sensory friendly events to be inclusive and bring awareness
to Autism, and so in July, we're going to do a sensory friendly skating event at Skate
City, and in August, we're going to do a sensory friendly skating event at Melody Gardens,
and in October, we're partnering with the Playhouse Theatre Group to do, makes their
Susical Junior Theatre Performance Sensory Friendly.
Those are all really cool, Ashley, and a wide variety of kind of things too, to give
people, you know, some people will like some stuff, some will like others, so giving
people a number of different things to be able to do about this, and Ashley, with these
events and people attending them, is there anything people should know before attending
them, you think, or I would say as far as, you know, for people attending, if there's
families out there with younger kids, is there an age range for this or anything, or come
one, come all?
Yeah, yeah, it's definitely for everybody, and we're really thoughtful about all the
different senses, like the, you know, no like flashing lights, loud noises, and we'll
have like fidgets, and we're really trying to, you know, think through all the senses
and what works for everybody.
And, you know, Ashley, and this is something that we need all hands on deck, anybody can
volunteer and help with these topics, but whether we're talking about this right here,
or what we were talking about with David, it's so valuable and so necessary to have real
people who really know these subjects, and can really give us insight on these things.
You know, somebody like myself can have all the care and good intentions in the world,
but I don't know what you guys know, and so for you guys to take that step and be so
brave about this, and taking on these tasks that you are and doing these things, you're
not just helping out our community, you're not just helping out yourselves, you're helping
future generations, you're helping really your trailblazers in what you're doing right
now, and on this particular topic, we're so close to it, we're so in the moment of
it and everything.
I don't think we're seeing this, but you take a step back and you look at it, I think
you really see the work you're doing has a long, long shelf life and going to really
pave the way for many others, and hopefully we get to a point where so much of what we're
talking about here is common knowledge, and everybody knows it.
It's important work you're doing, and it's fun work you're doing too, Ashley, I see
you having fun over there with this too, aren't you?
Yeah, absolutely.
Good, good, good.
Because these are really fun events too, and you know, for so long, one thing that I like
to touch on in something I've talked with my God son about quite a bit is we're learning
more and more, autism has been around since the dawn of time.
It's always been there.
We're just now kind of catching up, we're playing catch up with this and talking about
more and giving kids that maybe in my generation or our generation and that didn't have these
things, the future generations will, and it's because of the good work that you guys are
doing with this.
It's really cool.
Yeah, we're really super excited about it because it's really about building in a community
and creating a community that's accessible and friendly for everyone, and so at some
point, you know, really it's about making all of the events in general, inclusive and open
to people, you know, with physical limitations, with sensory, you know, issues, things like
that.
And so it's really about creating the community that, you know, it's just open and inclusive
for everyone.
And so we're really working hard to make that happen.
So we're speaking with the ODC and Ashley and David are with us and Ashley again, thank
you so much for all the notes there.
We appreciate that.
Nice work.
Nice work.
You're really good at this, by the way, Ashley.
You're very good at this.
Thank you.
And I'd love to be able to talk to you a little bit about some of the events coming up
over there.
Before I do though, I almost forgot the sensory-friendly events that are coming up if people want to find
out about those and make plans for them, you can find it at the ODC website and Facebook
page.
Yes.
That's correct.
All right.
So I encourage us send people over there to do that and we'll touch on that again before
we wrap up.
And you've got some really great programs coming up and one of them, entertainment to
empower, held in Marshfield.
Can we touch on that?
Yeah.
So we had, this was the first ever event we've held a new event that we've held in Marshfield.
We haven't been in Marshfield for quite some time with events, but we had an entertainment
to empower.
We had comedy sports come.
And we were just thrilled with the sponsorships and the people who came and then also donated.
We had a live giving opportunity.
And I just wanted to give a shout out to everybody that participated because we really,
we raised over $25,000 from that one event.
And so, you know, we couldn't do a lot of these new things that we do without the support
and generosity of the community that helps us to kind of do these new things and offer
these new services that really are, you know, for the greater good of the community.
And so we're really, we were really excited about how that event turned out and just the
support.
It's wonderful.
And because of that support, we can do more events and do even more in the community with
this.
Exactly.
Exactly.
That event actually was focusing on our children's services, which we've actually grown
that actually just started kind of taken off in the last year or so.
And so it's really going to help us to fund some new and innovative things providing support
to children with disabilities.
And so we're really excited about that.
Thank you for that.
I want to also touch on the event coming up.
We got a big one coming up.
Yep.
Huge event.
Our four hope.
Fifth annual four hope golf event is happening at San Valley on May 15th.
Sponsorships are filling up quickly.
So there's only a few left.
So if there's anybody out there that's still interested, let us know.
And then also as of next week, we'll be opening it up to teams to participate as well.
So that sells out every year.
And again, that's an event that really supports our mental health clinic and our mental health
services.
And again, real important to help with just purchasing necessary items that maybe they aren't
covered by any other source of funding.
And so it helps us to provide the tools and purchase the tools that we need to support
people.
And as we've talked about our mental health clinic, it's open to anyone in the area.
And we do offer the sliding fee scale and accept Medicare and Medicaid.
And so we really do want to support anybody who needs mental health services in the community
regardless of their ability to pay and insurance coverage.
So again, that benefit really helps to support that mission.
We know the golf events we have in this area are always very popular and well attended.
This one is the one that I hear from our midday magazine guests who have nothing to do with
the ODC coming in and talking about it and asking me if I've heard of when the registration
opens or something like that and everything.
It's a really fun and popular event and a great way to put in the good work of they're
doing it the ODC.
Speaking of that great work, Milkweed Market has been one of those ones we've really
club talking about and highlighting what you guys do over there.
And we had an announcement one to mention about them.
Yeah.
Thanks for bringing that up.
So as I mentioned just a few minutes ago that ODC is really expanding our services and
children services has really been expanding in the Wood County area.
And as many people know, Milkweed Market isn't open all the time and really just with
the kind of the retail climate things have really changed.
We have so many things that are done online that I wanted to just read the statement that
ODC put out earlier this week.
So in response to the increasing demand for children services and the evolving retail
landscape, our Milkweed Market location located at 1191 Huntington so at our building will
be closing.
And I know that's sad for some but it really is going to allow our organization to focus
on expanding the children's services because that's where those services will then take
place for our children.
So as I mentioned, we really launched children services in 23 and at that time we served
11 children and as of last year was up to 54 and we're anticipating about 100 this year.
And so really needed to kind of relook at all of the things that we're doing and kind
of Milkweed Market and how that's been going and again a lot of more retail or I'm sorry
online and some kinds of things.
So although we're closing that location, we're going to continue to have services or items
at Milkweed Market by the river which is located at the Spiris Hospital.
And then also our partnership with the cookie jar is going to continue through that avenue
as well.
So I know a lot of people like the baked goods and then many of the popular items including
the custom signage will be available through a newly expanded website and so although the
physical retail store at Huntington will be closing to allow for some expansion, there
still will be the opportunity to get the items that people have come to know and love either
at Milkweed Market by the river or through one of our online platforms.
So just wanted to share and know what's happening happening with that.
I appreciate that and you know we've talked so much about Milkweed Market and you've heard
me ramble about it and I know how many individuals I've talked to about it on air, off air.
This is a good thing.
This is a very good thing that's happening right here.
It may seem odd to say that but the ODC is so smart about using the money that they have
and investing it in the right places and no very few nonprofits that I know of in this
job and doing this for almost 10 years are more locked into their community and understanding
of what the community needs and what they're looking for.
And if this is what you guys are doing, you guys have earned it from me.
You've earned it from this community like okay we trust you.
We believe that this is the right thing to be doing and to be fair I think Milkweed Market
served its purpose and it continues to serve its purpose and do what the purpose of it
was.
I love a cool knick knack like anybody out there and I love a lot of the things that
were made but the point was always to give the individuals there not only a work and
experience but to raise funds for the ODC.
We've done that.
There's a mission accomplished in many ways.
This is a positive.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Again, still ways to get all of that great stuff that you've come to know and love just
in a little bit different platform and so um well and I try not to bring this up too
often and brag about this but I'm a bit of a cookie kind of sewer.
I mean I know my cookies guys.
I'm very smart when it comes to cookies so having the cookie jar still involved you know
commend that.
That's great.
That's awesome.
We appreciate that and appreciate the update and all this from all of you guys and
what you're doing for our community.
You guys help our community spend.
You make our community better and bring life to it.
We greatly appreciate all the work you guys are doing over there.
We always want to make people feel good so that's one of the reasons why we're in.
We always want to make people feel that that's one of the reasons why we have all of you
see around.
But there's several people to know and know and love.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well said, David.
And if people have follow up questions they'd like to know more.
How can they reach you?
Yeah.
So either I would suggest at this point just giving us a call at 715-424-2712 and they
depending on what your question is we can direct you to the appropriate person to answer
that question.
So yes, lots going on and would welcome any questions that anybody would have.
You can find out more about going to the website odciinc.com.
Be sure to bookmark that odciinc.com.
Be sure to follow them on social media as well.
It's a great way to keep the good things they are doing and maybe sharing their posts
on your page.
You just never know who might see them that wouldn't otherwise.
Again, and Ashley, David, thank you so much for being here today.
You guys, we appreciate you.
We'll talk again real soon.
It was our pleasure.
Thank you, David.
Well, a more midday magazine coming up for you right here at 975 FM, 1320 AM, WFHR,
locally grown radio.
