Welcome, everybody to Midday magazine for this Tuesday, April 15, 2025.
Have your host, James here and we're joined by CEO of your United Way of South
Winningham's Counties, Terry Johns.
Good afternoon.
Good to have you here, Terry.
Thanks a lot for joining us.
We put on our serious hats for you, man.
How did I get here on tax day?
Yeah, that's a weird thing.
I mean, it was a little strange.
Well, it does, and at the same time, it's kind of fitting considering the United Way
has my free taxes and some of this.
So well done, Pam and you, by scheduling this, do you plan it this?
I mean, we've been in this slot for like 20 years, but we'll take it.
It was just coincidence of the calendar.
Well, by the time most people are hearing this, I really hope you got your taxes done,
everybody.
Just as a last note, you know, but if you don't have them done, we will keep the link
up on our website, of course, you know, through the entire day today.
I think you have, you know, technically till midnight to file or to, you know, to file
your extension.
So if you have been, though, dragging your feet, this is the time to get going on
this and United Way, you know, I am, I'm pretty proud to say that we, we partner with
a service called My Free Taxes and that makes filing free for anyone who has a household
income of $84,000 or less for 2024.
And you simply visit our website, you, uswac.org, click on My Free Taxes and then there's
just one more click and you are in the portal to be able to file.
It is extremely user friendly.
You can use it on your smartphone.
You can do it.
It's probably a little easier if you're on a laptop or a, or a PC, but, but it can be done.
It is, it is set up for mobile.
So all you have to do is gather up your documents and then you can, you know, go ahead and
hop on there and it'll walk you through line by line, box by box of your, of your W2s and
any other important documents that you might have so that you can complete that filing
on time.
It'll be up on our website, you know, through, for the duration, I think it, I don't
even know if it maybe goes down tomorrow morning.
I'm not sure, but it'll be up for sure through midnight tonight and you and, and you can
access that.
And like I said, this is a service that we bring to the community for, you know, those
maybe more simple filings.
There are some schedules that you can't do on this, on this system, but it is meant
to keep those dollars in your pocket.
So I mean, if you can save $125, $150 from having your taxes prepared by someone and,
you know, those tax preparers are good friends of the United Way as well.
So we're, you know, the goal isn't to undercut, but the goal is to make sure that more
dollars stay in the hands of, of people in our community who need the most.
When it comes to the ease of this too and the peace of mind of it, I can't tell, I
mean, I can speak to it myself for one, I was in such a rush this past weekend.
I've got to get it done.
I waited this long and everything.
And I was done within about 45 minutes, not even, I wouldn't even think it took that
long.
It probably took that long because I was taking my time with it.
Sure.
And with the double check and yeah.
Yeah.
But that was just, it was done.
And the relief I felt when I got that email about it being, you know, they accepted
and all that.
Just feels good.
And on top of that, something that I, I've been doing this for about five or five
or six years that I hadn't really thought of before, but I'm sure I felt every year.
I felt like I had a little bit of pride at it.
Like it felt kind of good to be able to do it yourself and everything.
And I never thought about that before.
So there's a lot of advantages doing it if you can.
This is a really, while it is for simpler filing, if that's something that you're for,
they do such a great job of breaking this down number by number.
So that you really, they, they double check this stuff for you and everything.
And the, the return won't be accepted if you got anything wrong or anything like
that.
It gives you a chance to kind of recheck that as well.
And kind of the nice thing is once you get established with the program.
So like you said, you've been using it for multiple years.
So when you logged in this time, I mean, it, it knew which W2s you had the past.
So it's like, wait a minute, are you forgetting one?
You know, maybe someone changed jobs so you don't have a W2 from there anymore.
So it, I mean, it, it really is a great, it's, it's a good system.
It works well.
We've not had, you know, we've had very minimal issues that we've ever heard of in
the whole time that we've been, we've been offering this.
It's been quite, quite, quite a few years, 10 maybe.
And so, you know, I, I just think it's a good service that we can offer.
Of course, it's not required for anyone to participate in it.
But, but it is, it's a nice service that we can offer to keep that, you know,
maybe what is perceived as disposable income in, in your pocket.
Speaking of other, you know, kind of sensitive things, right?
So we have a tax day today.
And then on Thursday, we have community shred day.
So this isn't, I'm sorry, that was good.
That was a great transition, but working on that all morning.
So, so this is a, an event that is hosted by Pervail Bank here in Wisconsin,
Rapids. And this is an opportunity to get sensitive documents out of your home.
Of course, if they are things that you should be keeping.
So I know I was just talking about taxes.
So I don't want to confuse people.
Don't shred your 2024 tax stuff.
I think, you know, seven years is the recommendation to hang on to that.
But if you have other sensitive documents that you need to have shredded,
you can bring those to the bank on Thursday, April 17th from starting at 9 a.m.
It is advertised as nine to noon, but I can tell you we will hit capacity before that
or at least I can tell you we have for every year that we've been doing it.
So, so it's pretty likely.
And unfortunately, once the truck is full, this is a mobile shredding service.
So like once it's full, it's full.
There's nothing that we can do.
And, you know, it's hard, but like showing up at 1205 angry,
there's, there's again, still nothing I can do, even if you're mad.
So, you know, I really recommend myself or the bank, but I do recommend that,
you know, you come early, you don't need to be there earlier than nine,
because the shredder won't be there.
We're not, we will not start early.
But once we start at nine o'clock, the jury from shredsaple will just start,
start shredding everything as it comes to boxes, like paper size boxes.
So that's a box that you can manage yourself when it's full of paper.
Oh, yeah.
Just giving, you know, like this isn't a refrigerator box, full of paper.
So, which we can't lift anyway, and we do not have a forklift.
So it is two boxes for free and then a $5 donation to unite away thereafter.
So, you know, not only are you getting things out of your house that,
you know, maybe that just, I don't know, hang around like pets, I, you know,
like it's time to, you know, just go through some of that paperwork and get that out of there.
And, and so not only are you getting those sensitive documents out of your house,
but you also have an opportunity to make a donation to United Way in addition to that.
And it's, you know, a free service from the bank.
Now, hosted by Perville Bank, also sponsored by bank accounts.
So what's really cool about these two businesses is they're each donating $1 per pound
of shredded paper up to 2000 pounds.
So we are getting $1,000 donation from Perville Bank, $1,000 donation from bank account,
and then the donations for the boxes brought in.
So, win, win, win, right?
Get the stuff out of your house.
It's, it's a great community effort on part of these two businesses.
And then also a win for, for United Way because these are dollars that go right into our campaign.
So it's, it's a good start to the 2025 efforts that we have.
It's, um, there's, there's something with, with their, what we were talking about with the tax,
getting your taxes done, the peace of mind that comes with that knowing, okay, that's done.
Um, and they're not going to cappone me.
I got, I got my taxes done and everything.
The peace of mind you have from knowing your documents are taking care of their shredded,
you know, in a safe way.
That is something that nowadays, uh, I don't know that you can put a price on really.
Uh, how much that means to people, especially in any age a little loan in today's day and age, um,
being able to do something like that.
I think there is also an extra step to that of not, not, not that you're physically like watching
every paper gets shredded, but physically taking it, you're, there's no middleman here.
You're taking the box, you're bringing it there, you're seeing it go in the shredder.
There's just a little bit of a more peace of mind that comes with that, I think, for some people.
And all of that being said and knowing your driving home or what have you and you're thinking,
I got that taken care of that feels great.
And there's also that extra just rush of good feeling and knowing that you put into your community,
that 100% of the proceeds of what you just did go right back into the community.
So when we talk about win, win, win situations, this is one of my favorite examples of this,
of this community shred day, which I, I don't know that you would say is one of the most popular days on the,
United Way calendar, but it always stands out to me in part because of the wonderful balance of this,
of helping the community, taking care of a, a gray area that doesn't always get looked at in society
and in our communities, but also knowing that you're helping your community and feeling good
from doing something like that.
Yeah, it's pretty awesome.
And, you know, we do have it set up or the, the bank sets it up, you know, kind of like a drive through.
So you really, you know, we will handle the boxes for you.
So you don't have to, you know, you don't have to even get out of your car.
You certainly can and are welcome to, but for the most part, you know,
some people will just come through and pop their trunk or open the back door and be like,
okay, it's these two bags, you know, people that things seem to come in grocery bags a lot
because they're manageable and easy to carry.
And so, you know, we can, we have enough, there's bank employees and volunteers.
We have enough people there that we can just handle the, the papers for you.
They go into a very large, I want to say they're like 55 gallon, you know, like a,
like a little dumpster right on wheels.
And then that's how he gets those up into the truck to be, to be shredded.
So it is a, it's a great process.
It's gone well.
I think the only challenge, honestly, that we've ever had is that we get full.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and that's a good thing.
That's a positive, especially knowing that those, those extra dollars that are going to be donated
from those businesses to the United Way.
A big shout out to them for that real quick, that $5 donation Terry that is recommended
for the additional boxes should people have cash on them?
Or can you guys accept other forms?
Yeah, so we can take cash or check.
If somebody wants to pay with a card, we just have to process that, you know,
and that's not a problem.
But for the most part, people come with cash or check.
Good to know, good to know.
We're speaking with CEO of the United Way of South One of Them's counties.
Terry Johns and Terry got your calendar raffle.
I wanted to also touch on that as well.
Well, yeah, we are just knee deep in those drawings.
So that's been super fun.
We did sell calendar raffle tickets in February and March.
And now for April, we are given away money.
And the really cool thing is each, um, each business day of April, um, we are,
we are drawing and every single day was sponsored by a local business.
So the efforts that we and we was our United Way staff and our United Way board,
that's who was charged with selling these tickets.
And so all of the efforts in selling tickets, those dollars again, straight to the campaign.
So it's really cool that, you know, all these businesses came forth, um, you know,
we're doing our best to promote them.
They were, of course, their logos were on the, um, on the ticket.
But then where we have the posting of the winners on our websites, um, we do say, you know,
who sponsored each prize.
And then we also have been doing a individual social media post every day to say, you know,
Hey, here's the winner.
And here's the awesome company who, who I'm sponsored that prize.
So, you know, this is just fun.
If you bought tickets, you may want to follow along on our, on our social media or on our
website to see if you've been drawn as a winner.
I mean, then all of those checks go out.
I'm in the beginning of May.
So that's really exciting.
Very excited for the winners, uh, for, for everybody involved.
And I got to just use this as another opportunity to remind any business out there.
Uh, this is marketing 101.
This is sales 101.
If you want to really increase your, uh, your revenue, you want to increase what you're,
you're more bang for your buck or anything.
There is not matter better things you can do to promote your business than working with
a nonprofit, um, uh, you know, taking the United Way as an example.
The United Way has a number of different events throughout the whole calendar year that
have them out in front of the public.
And when you sponsor something with the United Way, as Terry was saying, that logo gets
shown up there.
So you just know by the law of averages and by the, the, the data that we have that's,
people are going to see that logo that wouldn't otherwise, uh, and they're going to
associate you not only with the United Way, but with a business that puts into its community,
a business that, uh, backs its community, which everybody nowadays want to support and
be a part of.
It's just marketing 101.
It's a great opportunity.
Along with all that, yeah, it also feels really good.
Yeah.
Also really enjoy.
There's a pride that you can take in that that, um, I, I, I think that you really can't
put words to the return on investment is great.
So, you know, that is certainly encouraged.
And we have been doing this annually, um, and it's, you know, it's well received.
So if you are a business listening, um, you know, and you'd like to get on our list
for next year, you should let us know because it is, uh, it's a great opportunity.
And, uh, wrapping up this part of the conversation, Terry, if people do want to get
raffle tickets or anything, how can they get that?
So we can't sell them anymore.
Right.
That's what I thought it was.
So it would, it would have to, you know, they just have to hang on until we circle around
again.
Yeah.
And, uh, encourage you to, we'll tell you how you can reach out to the United
Way for next year, uh, before we wrap up as well.
Uh, another, uh, great one coming up as well that we wanted to touch into dive into
Terry.
Yeah.
So we are currently, um, taking registrations for United.
We can.
So this is our food sculpture contest.
I know it's not, it's not till June, but do you know, June is only a two months away.
Yeah.
That's insane.
I didn't even think about that.
That's not where I thought I'll be honest with you.
And you know, I didn't think you were going that route because that shocked, but
you're right.
This is the time to talk about it.
It is kind of crazy.
So our, um, annual food sculpture contest takes place at a rafter game.
So we, we do the building of the food sculptures at Wooder Field during the day, and then
they are on display for public viewing.
I'm during the rafter game.
And the event this year is on Tuesday, June 17th.
So literally two months away from, from this Thursday, um, we are looking for teams that
are willing to build a food sculpture.
And then with that food sculpture, the food that you use is all then donated to local
food programs.
So there is a little bit of investment from companies or organizations because you provide
your own food that you build the sculpture with.
Now, of course, there's a lot of warm fuzzy that goes without right it and certainly an
identified need for access to food.
Uh, and that's why I, you know, I think that really the reason that we started this event
was making our community aware that there are hunger issues and there are hunger challenges.
And when we think about, um, kids who normally, you know, some kids get their breakfast and
lunch, um, at school, and then what happens after that, right?
Like what is happening over the weekend?
Maybe there's enough.
They're getting enough at school and there is enough food in the home, you know, for
the evenings during the week, but when you look at the weekend, that's a, you know,
that can be a long stretch and it's also, you know, been proven and shown that there's
a lot of kids who, um, you know, come to school Monday morning, pretty hungry.
And so we helped to support two weekend food programs.
Uh, so there's a lot going on with food, but there was also we felt a general, um, you
know, maybe lack of awareness in the community around, around hunger.
So by putting the food sculpture contest into place, you know, we just said, hey,
these are companies again, who care about, care about the community, care about hunger,
care about United Way and care about their, their friends and neighbors who might have
a need. So we are looking for teams and this can be a business, a nonprofit, a civic
group, a family, it could, it could be anybody, um, to build something.
There is no, um, you don't have to, we don't have it like a theme, like it's not like
superheroes or something like you can build anything that you want out of food.
Um, we have two categories.
We have major league and minor league and we do that on purpose because sometimes,
um, you know, some smaller organizations or businesses feel like they can't compete
with, um, you know, an organization that will build with 2,500 cans of food.
So, um, the, the two categories, we have minor league.
So less than 500 items and then major league more than 500 items.
And, um, we are looking for typically our goal is to have about a dozen teams.
Uh, we currently have seven.
And so we're, you know, we're in good shape, but there is still definitely an
opportunity to register.
So we encourage you to, you know, join us in fighting hunger and, and building a
sculpture.
Um, there's a few, you know, rules that go with it about, you know, the size and
that kind of thing, but, but those are all easy and definitely manageable.
And like I said, we've been doing this, um, the very first year we did it at the
Rapids Mall.
Um, back, remember the mall, remember when there was a mall, took me back, yeah,
took me back.
So we did it at the Rapids Mall and then we moved it, um, to the, you know, two
wood or field.
There is a incentive for teams that sign up, um, by May 1st.
So that is what three weeks, two weeks, two weeks away.
If you sign up by May 1st, you can win, um, craft river tickets for your team.
So, so, you know, all teams do get bleacher seats for that night.
But this would be a, you know, certainly an upgrade, including food and drink.
So that's just a fun thing that the rafters throw in for us to, you know, help
try to get more teams and we'll do that drawing right away on May 1st.
Um, and, uh, with this event, um, not only are you going to have some fun,
take it some baseball and be able to check out these cool legs if it's, or if
you are a part of it, make one of these, uh, cool, you know, things, uh, they're, uh,
again, this is another one of those ones where it's going to feel really good.
Uh, you're going to be driving home, you're going to be thinking about it later on.
Months later, I know I've talked to people about this.
I, uh, I want to say one of the first years I was doing this.
I went to a rafter game, like a month later, it was one of the last games of the
season.
So one of the get over there and overheard people talking about the United
Weekend event.
Uh, and there was a lady who was telling her kid about it, uh, and just
describing some of the things and where they were and everything.
Um, this is one of those events that stays with you.
And it really means a lot.
And I appreciate not only the United Way, but this community doing so well on
this one.
And I think putting a correction to something that we've, we've done in society
for too long and this stigma about, um, the type of person that's, uh, hungry,
the type of person that needs food, the type of person that needs a
hand up, uh, you know, and a hand, uh, just in general, um, that we're learning
more and more, whether it's through the ALS report or, you know, events like
this, how dire these things are in this day and age, because we're not just
talking about the, whatever image pops into your head of somebody who is
struggling with food.
We're talking about our veterans, our soldiers.
We're talking about your neighbors, your, your friends, your family, people
that may not even know their struggling because again, of the stigma of
this and where you're just, well, I'm not going to tell anybody that I'm going
through this, um, those individuals need to help as much as anybody.
If not more, and this event really does that, uh, I'm appreciative of it
myself.
For sure.
I wouldn't you talk about the ALS population, um, you know, that, that's one
thing that we found, especially on maybe the, the upper side of it.
There's a lot of families and households that are moving along just fine.
But when the car breaks down, right, the money and often there's no
savings.
So then the money has to come from somewhere.
And so one of the, you know, one of the ways that dollars can be freed up
is by accessing food programs in the community.
I'm to free up the dollars to be able to repair the car, to be able to go to
work.
You know, it's, it's this whole, um, it's this whole chain reaction that,
that is, you know, unintended consequence when something goes wrong.
So this is just a, you know, it's a fun way for us to bring awareness around
hunger.
When you attend the game, you can vote, um, for your favorite sculpture.
So we have a Community Choice Award for the large and the small and one
other, you know, cool thing that the rafters layered in a few, excuse me,
a few years ago is that if you bring a non-perishable food item,
not just the night of this game, but if you bring it to any game leading up
to this game, um,
you will receive a free bleachers seat for this game.
So if you, you know, maybe you're like, hey, I, you know,
this is something that I can do.
It's, it's maybe not a lot, but I can bring, you know, half dozen cans of food.
Um, you can drop that off at the rafters office and you can get a free bleachers seat.
So that's really fun to, I mean, it, it, it hardly could get easier.
Yeah, right.
Yeah, uh, and shut us to the rafters going above and beyond because they don't
have to do those kind of things.
It's really cool that they, I mean, if I could put in my order for the weather
for that day, I mean, that's, you know, that's something that could,
could maybe make it better.
And, you know, the other, um, just really cool thing is, is the support that
we've seen from the community as a whole.
And our, I also just want to shout out our good friends at McMillan Memorial Library,
um, because their leadership team also comes to the event and they build a sculpture
out of the donated food.
So like they have no, they just, you know, others have a big plan or maybe they
have even, I've even seen like Excel spreadsheets with the, with the sculpture mapped
out, you know, how it's, well, because of course we want to stay standing.
Um, but, but our friends at the library, you know, have just come and said, you
know, hey, we don't maybe have the means or the, the bandwidth to build a whole
sculpture, but whatever you take in up to that event, we're going to build
something and it's always, it's always amazing and it's super fun.
So, um, you know, shout out to them because they also have come on board and said,
yeah, we'll do that.
So, you know, we're looking forward to it.
We've got some new staff who are, you know, learning their way through this as
well. And so that makes it fun and exciting.
You know, it kind of just reenergizes the, the organization around it too.
If, uh, business or nonprofit wants to be a part of this Terry or learn more
about any of the things we've talked about today, how is the best, what is
best way to reach it?
Yeah, absolutely.
So you can find lots of information on our website, you, W, S, W, A, C,
dot org, you are also always welcome to stop in 351 Oak Street.
We are there, um, Monday through Friday, eight thirty to four, or give us a call
at seven one five four two one zero three nine zero.
Be sure to follow them on social media as well.
Everybody, when you get a chance to share their events on your page, uh,
it's really appreciated.
You just never know who might see them that wouldn't have otherwise.
Like and subscribe to the work that they're doing over there and keep in mind.
Two on one is always available for you for any following question, follow the
questions you have for them or for the community.
Thanks again, Terry.
We'll see you soon.
Thanks.
And we'll be back more midday magazine right here at 975 FM WF HR.
