Hello world, welcome to WFHR's Rapids Report.
Probably brought to you by Crockett Septic for this July 15th, 2025.
Have your host James here.
We're joined by one of our favorite people, Terry Johnson, with us CEO of your United
Way of South Wind and Ames counties.
Terry, how you doing?
I'm doing great.
How about you?
Doing good.
Doing good.
We have our work hats on.
We do.
We're talking a lot about what the United Way has done and what they are going to be doing
coming up.
For right now, let's rewind a little bit, talk about the diaper drive.
You got some numbers to go along with that now.
Yeah, so since the last time I've been here, we've released the official announcement of
how the results came in as a reminder to the community for the second year.
From Mother's Day till Father's Day, we held a diaper drive, a community baby shower
of sorts, where we were collecting diapers, wipes, and creams and pace for, you know, for
our littleists, our littleist community members who might have a need.
The drive in total collected 22,061 items.
What?
That is amazing.
That's amazing.
And it was a 48% increase over our first year.
So, you know, that's, and that's, you know, normal.
We expect that, especially, you know, once would kind of, you know, hit the second year,
third year, you know, it continues to grow.
But you know, sometimes it calls into question, well, why, you know, why are we doing this?
What about this is really truly important.
I mean, the obvious is that there, you know, are many members of our community who have
a financial need or who have experienced a financial hardship.
But we, we like to tie it back to our Alice data.
And Alice stands for Income Constraint Employed.
Okay.
So, these are members of our community who are, you know, working, but struggling.
Yeah.
So, we, we focus on this.
We think about these individuals.
There's 27% of Wood County and 36% of, of Adams County, also in our service area that
that are experiencing these, these struggles.
So we're in a, you know, pretty unique position to, to help with these needs.
We reached out to a few different places and in different ways this year.
So in addition to community members donating items, we expanded to Adams County as well.
Last, in our first year, we only served Southwood.
We also wrote a grant to the Aspires for Review Foundation and received a grant, not just
for this year, but for the next two years as well.
So that we can, yeah, so we can provide diapers.
And instead of using all of that money right now during the drive, we made the decision
to use it incrementally throughout the year.
Because then we can keep those, you know, those diaper banks, so to speak.
We can keep them stocked and not just where they have a huge stock pile, you know, at one
time, but that they'll stay stocked throughout, you know, hopefully the remainder of 2025.
So the other, you know, important thing is the partners, right?
So we distributed diapers from this drive to the Adams County WIC program.
And so that's where all of the diapers for Adams County went.
As again, that drive continues to grow, we will expand the distribution to more places.
Here in the Southwood County area, we distributed to first choice pregnancy resource center,
the focus of Southwood County, so the food pantry also has a diaper bank.
And then the Wisconsin Rapids Family Center.
So those will be distributed as needs present.
One thing that, you know, maybe is, it's certainly not a secret, but I don't also know
that it's well known is that focus does have a small diaper bank.
And it is actually kept stocked by the Wisconsin Rapids Elks Club.
So the Elks Club uses, you know, some of their income that they have for community outreach.
But we're able to supplement their efforts through this.
So our plan is probably sometime, you know, mid to late September.
We will do another purchase of diapers to get out.
And then again, probably November, December, again, so we can just keep them with a regular
flow of these products.
So if you contributed in any way, you dropped off diapers, wipes at a location, perhaps
you made a monetary donation.
You know, our heartfelt thanks to you because this is making a huge impact.
And it lightens the load, right?
You know, people don't always think about, okay, so what does getting 20 diapers mean?
Well, honestly, it means a lot.
If it alleviates $25 to fill the gas tank up or to get some more groceries or whatever
the case would be.
So it really does make a huge difference.
And we were just overwhelmed with boxes of diapers.
So that was absolutely fabulous.
And the really cool thing was, is that we saw it coming from all over.
We saw it coming from individuals.
We saw it coming from civic groups, from churches, from clubs.
You know, where they're like, oh, we gathered up diapers and we're, you know, we're going
to bring those to you.
So, so that was, that was really awesome.
And we are so appreciative.
And again, you know, mark your calendars for next year, Mother's Day to Father's Day.
It's a great opportunity.
The community baby shower term is great.
I love that.
And I think that, and it brings a lot of people to it, the idea of that.
Just the, the essence of that and what it means and being able to help each other out.
This community steps up in those situations so often, and we really appreciate everybody
doing that.
Being a lookout for next year.
And as a side note, Terry, thank you so much for including that about the Elk Slodge.
I don't think a lot of us knew that they did that.
They deserve a shout out about that.
A big thank you to them for doing that great work like they do all the time, great people
over there.
Terry, one of the other things we wanted to focus on certainly is the stuff to desk registration
and of course, getting items for kids for stuff to bust.
Absolutely.
So, as far as registration goes, if your child qualifies for free or reduced lunch and
they are in Southwood County, so this is a program of Wisconsin Rapids Public Schools
and Acusa Public Schools, Port Edwards Public Schools, and Assumption and Catholic Schools.
So if your child qualifies for free and reduced lunch, they qualify for free school supplies,
they must be pre-registered.
This is something that it's like painstaking sometimes because, you know, we'll have
people come to us the day after or two days after or a week after and say, oh, well,
I didn't know.
So, if you're listening and you don't have any kids that qualifies, help just help spread
the word because the registration is literally open for three months.
It opens on May 1st, it closes on August 1st, and we have to just call it because, you
know, otherwise we just don't have the supplies and we can't prep if we keep pushing it closer
to the distribution.
So, whomever is registered, as of the end of the day, August 1st, we'll receive free
school supplies.
And the way that you register is to visit our website at uwac.org.
You click on register for stuff to desk, you can call 211, preferably between eight and
five Monday through Friday, you could also call in during the after-hours times, but you'll
get a local operator if you call during, you know, regular business hours.
They can walk you through the form if you, you know, if calling 211 is impossible, you
could also reach out to us at the United Way office.
We can walk through the form for you.
We do need information on your kiddos.
We need their name, we need to know what school they're going to, what grade they're going
into.
So, you know, there is some information that you do need to provide to us, your information,
who you are as the parent or guardian, and then you also select your pickup time.
We do have one slot that has closed because we have a capacity, you know, for how many
we can manage per hour, it is a drive-through distribution that will happen on August 15th
and 16th.
So the 15th is a Friday, we distribute, I believe, from three to six.
And then on Saturday morning, on the 16th, we will distribute from eight to ten.
So you pick, you know, a half an hour time slot of when you will pick up.
So three PM on Friday is full, but we still have all the other time slots are available
again, first come, first serve.
So it is really important, you know, you're looking at where we are here, like two weeks,
two and a half weeks.
Just about two weeks.
So, but again, of 12 weeks.
So I encourage you to jump on this, but there is still time and you can still get registered.
This distribution again is a drive-through style.
You will receive in the mail a card that's color-coded for the half an hour that you're
supposed to present.
And it also tells you which children you registered, because sometimes we get that question,
like, oh shoot, whatever, whatever the scenario might be.
So we can help you with that as well.
And certainly when this all comes to lunch by the river and where we're going to be
able to have these items sorted out and all that, are we still looking for volunteers
and people for that?
So I'm not certain that we really need volunteers on the seventh.
We're not going to turn anybody away, but we are the sponsor of Lunch by the River on
August 7th.
And this is where we're collecting all of the school supplies.
So you know, this is a two-faceted kind of event, right?
We've got the register and get your supplies, but then how do we do that?
Well, we need the supplies.
So again, a call on the community.
And you know, maybe if you participated in diaper drive, now this is something that you
could participate in as well.
But we are looking for organizations to have drives for businesses, individuals.
Some people say, you know, it was super cool last week.
We actually had a lady drop off a check for $300.
And she said, you know what, I could go spend this, but you know what you need.
You know, she's like, I want to support this in this way.
But so we absolutely accept monetary donations.
We often find ourselves purchasing with the donations backpacks because they are a higher
dollar item.
And every student who registers gets a backpack.
Yeah.
That's intentional.
It's a good delivery mechanism, right?
Yeah.
It's a good vessel to get them all of their stuff.
But it is just something that, you know, they wear out, they kids are hard on backpacks.
That's reality.
Doesn't matter who's kid you are, you're you're dragging that thing up the bus steps and
across the sidewalk and you know, whatever.
I'm hard on them now.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
So we often get the question, what is most needed?
So here are the items, you know, if you're going shopping and maybe you're like, gosh,
I've got $5 I could spend on stuff the bus or I've got $50 or $300, you know, whatever
the case would be, there is no donation too small.
And I think that that's important for people to understand as well.
But we are collecting, these are the most needed items and they align.
All of the schools got together this year for a common supply list.
So that that's very helpful as well.
So we need backpacks, we need notebooks and folders plain color only, no designs.
We need markers, monetary donations, glue sticks, scissors and colored pencils.
So these are the items that we most need.
Now, if you've already bought regular pencils, you don't have to take them back, you will
still take them.
But you know, sometimes we just get a lot and we're very fortunate that Wisconsin
Trumpets Public Schools allows us to store a palette from one year to the next.
So you know, like last year we had an abundance of pens and pencils.
So we just stored those items and we have a great start already for this year.
So that's why we don't, you know, we don't list those here.
So this list can be found all over our social media.
It can be found on our website.
If you click on events, you'll see stuff the bus because it is an event coming up on August
7th and this, these items are listed.
So if you're, you know, thinking about picking up stuff and you haven't already bought
it, these are what we need.
If you've already bought, we will definitely take what you've purchased, but there just
are some things that we have an over abundance of like loose leaf paper, pens, pencils.
We have lots of from other years.
So again, I'm just going to zip through this one more time quick backpacks, notebooks and
folders, plain color only, markers, glue sticks, scissors and colored pencils.
Those are the, those are the hot items.
So if you can help us out, you know, you've got, like I said, you got $5, you can probably
buy us two or three packs of markers, fabulous.
We will take them and they are very much needed and very much appreciated.
So then what happens with this stuff?
People show up with it at lunch by the river, businesses who were collection points, bring
it to lunch by the river.
We need everything that day because that very same day, everything is sorted and inventoryed,
literally counted.
We count every single folder by color.
And then that afternoon or evening, we place the order for what we're missing.
So if we have 800 kids registered and we only have 650 yellow folders, we will get the
other 150 folders.
So it's really important if you've been gracious enough to host a drive that you get us that
stuff during lunch by the river.
If it's raining and lunch by the river gets canceled or sometimes they don't cancel when
it's like sprinkling.
If there's any precipitation, the collection will be moved to East Jr. High because of
course, we don't want wet notebook covers, right?
So that's kind of the plan, but the idea of having that bus down at lunch by the river
I think is really important.
It's a great visual.
We know how important marketing is and for people to make that connection.
So August 7th, we will be sorting, inventorying, moving it over to East Jr. High unless it's
raining, we'll already be there placing our order where we could use US about volunteers,
where we could use some volunteers is on our pre-packing day.
So all of the backpacks will get packed on August 14th.
It's a Thursday starting at noon.
We can't have you just present spontaneously.
We need to know you're coming.
It's not a big deal.
We'll take as many volunteers as we have because we just do an assembly line, right?
Like more hands make light work, but we do need to know that you're coming.
And then we can also use some help with distribution on the 15th and 16th.
So if you have time and you are available to help, keep in mind this does include lifting
some things and going through an assembly line and handling merchandise, you would contact
us at United Way at 715-421-0390.
Jessica and our team will be able to help you and get your name, phone number, that kind
of things so that we have it.
We do really encourage you to pick up some school supplies, help us out.
And if you're wondering where those school supplies can go, I also just want to just give
a quick shout out to some organizations that have said, hey, we invite the public to drop
off supplies with us because I think that that's really important too.
They're doing a service to the community.
So for you adult day service, any time fitness in Wisconsin Rapids, associated bank, D&L
recreation, first English Lutheran Church, Heart of Wisconsin Chamber, Paper City Savings
Bank, Roosh Companies LLC, Southwick County YMCA, St. John's Episcopal Church, St. Paul's
of it, Evangelical Lutheran Church and School, Town of Rome, WFHRWRI, Civic Media, Wood
County Clerk's Office, and then of course the United Way Office.
But if any of those are on your normal path, you don't even have to go out of your way,
right?
If that's your norm.
So big shout out to them and a reminder to them to make sure that we get all of your stuff
on the 7th.
And a good reminder too.
And when it comes to where these businesses are located to your point, Terry, you really
have all over town.
So really are being able to hit if you want to drop these off, stopping by any of one of
these places.
More likely they'll be on your route route.
Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely.
Terry, we're speaking with Terry John, CEO of the United Way of Southwood and the Amps
counties.
And Terry, before we let you go, I wanted to wrap up a little bit talking about 211.
We don't get a chance to really put the spotlight on 211 nearly as much as we'd like
to sometimes.
So let's talk a little bit about that.
Yeah.
So 211 is a 24 hour resource center for a line in the state of Wisconsin.
It happens to be statewide, which is really great.
We have a very strong network with 211 Wisconsin, United Way, Wisconsin, which strengthens
us locally, right?
So we have a statewide database, which is really awesome because let's say there's an influx
of calls for a need or sometimes a natural disaster, a flood, a tornado, fire, perhaps,
air, where's calls, a local contact center, has an influx of calls.
Those other calls can be picked up by, let's say, maybe, Wassup, Marathon County, or Milwaukee
or Madison.
And we're all on one database.
So simply by giving your zip code, they can access all of the same resources.
So I mean, that is really cool.
The infrastructure has really come a long way.
But what is 211 other than a resource and referral line?
211 is really the hub of the community as far as resources.
So if you have a need, I actually had somebody contact me at home yesterday in the evening
and said, you know, hey, we're having this kind of situation.
You know, my mother's passed away.
My father is at home, but we're just kind of seeing him turning in a little bit.
You know what I mean?
Like it seems kind of resigned, needing some social, maybe needing some mental health,
maybe needing.
But you know, it was just kind of that initial inquiry, like, what are some thoughts?
So I mean, of course, I shared my thoughts with that person.
But then I also said, you know, you really should call 211 because they can give you
probably even more information than what I'm able to give you.
So it can be for something like that.
It can be for, you know, maybe you're having some struggle of some sort.
Maybe you can't make your next rent payment.
Maybe, you know, there's some sort of financial challenge.
Perhaps you have a health care challenge.
Maybe you want to donate some stuff.
Maybe you, whatever, got all new living room furniture and yours is in good shape.
And they can tell you who might take that as a donation.
They can, you know, refer to counseling service.
They can refer.
It's amazing how many resources we actually have in the database that pertain to, you know,
the specific areas that our United Way serves.
So, you know, I think it's an unintended best kept secret.
I mean, we really try, you know, we get it out there, we'll pop it up on billboards.
We put it on social media, you know, we send home.
We produce a printed help guide every year that has information, you know, kind of the
basics of basic needs that are in two and one.
We have a two and one fact card, you know, so the other, I guess, side of this is if you're
listening and you're like, gosh, you know, I have people in and out of my business all
the time or out of my organization.
This might be a good tool.
You know, we've also made sure that police EMT, you know, have the fact cards so that
they can say, you know, gosh, if you're not sure what to do next, reach out.
Sometimes we don't have resources that meet the need that the caller is looking for, which
can be very frustrating to the caller as well as to the resource specialist that's trying
to help.
But, you know, the other thing that that does is it helps us establish on met needs.
And so we can, you know, we can take a look at that and we can say, okay, where, you know,
where are the misses, right?
And maybe if we've gotten a call for the same thing, you know, I don't know, let's say
20 times this year, maybe, you know, we, we need to explore how do we, how do we react
to that?
What, what is a program that's similar that could maybe expand their service really
easily?
Or maybe it's something brand new and we reach out to our partners and say, what are you guys
doing in your community about this?
So, you know, I think that there's a lot of great opportunities for community members
as it relates to 211 to, you know, to get connected to resources.
But then to also enter if they choose into a warm line referral system where, you know,
someone can check back with you, someone can be that, you know, maybe it's an accountability
point.
Maybe it's just not sure how to take the next step.
So there's just a lot of really great impact that comes out of 211 that's so much more
than just a, you know, maybe form a phone call.
It's, there's an endless amount of information and opportunity right there, 211 for you.
And we all know that, well, Terry, great job covering a lot of things.
Great examples.
Appreciate you sharing that in day-to-day life.
There's those questions that pop up or those things that pop up that none of us saw
coming.
You know, you moved to a new area and you've got your new phone line and all these different
things, but you don't know when the garbage ever cycling gets picked up or something
like that.
For every simple question or for every, you know, complex question or something, there's
some stuff like that too that is really a great resource to be able to have there.
And we appreciate all the great work that goes into 211 and all the funding and the
great people working on those phones and everything.
211 is available for you anytime.
Be sure to spread the word about this great service as well and find out about other great
services and all the wonderful things going on at our United Way, a UWSWAC.org.
Be sure to follow them on social media as well.
It's a great way to post their, you know, share their posts on your page so that other
people can see them.
You never know who might see them that wouldn't have otherwise.
Terry, appreciate the time.
You bet.
We'll talk again real soon, you and I, and we'll talk again with you out there real
soon.
Thanks so much for joining us here at 975FMW at BayChar's Rapids Report.
