Hello world, welcome to WFHR's Rapid Support, proudly brought to you by Crockett Septick for
this September 8th, 2025.
Have your host James here.
We're joined right now by our friends from Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Central Wisconsin.
We have Beth Konert with us, Director of Operations, Beth.
Good to have you with us.
Good to see you.
We're talking in our pre-game.
It's been too long.
It's great to have you back.
The door is always open for you guys.
Love hearing from you and being able to inform our audience about the great work
you guys are doing over there.
Journalistically, I will mention I was a part of Big Brothers, Big Sisters in California.
And it was an incredible experience for me when I never forget.
And I am completely biased about this organization.
Love the work that you guys are doing.
And it really do love promoting and talking about this.
One of the many reasons I love coming into visit with you.
One of the things that we want to make sure to cover with this.
And while for you and I, Beth, this is a very familiar topic.
We're very familiar with this organization.
I want to make sure that everybody out there is on the same page
and knows exactly what you are doing over there.
So we talk about the mission a little bit of Big Brothers, Big Sisters.
Absolutely.
So Big Brothers, Big Sisters is the oldest and largest one-to-one youth mentoring organization in our country.
Last year we celebrated Nationwide our 120th anniversary, which is awesome.
And our overall mission is just to create and support one-to-one mentoring relationships
that ignite the power and promise of youth.
We're going to be celebrating our 85th anniversary in November.
We thought we were old.
We're kids compared to you guys.
Yes, you really are.
I mean, you're looking a little brighter.
It's so cool to think of when you think of this program,
and this group, or this organization existing as long as it has.
I'm a sucker for history.
In a while back, I looked at, well, how long has adoption been around?
How long has, you know, things like that been around?
And it's been around as long as there have been human beings.
Right.
As long as there have been people, there have been people adopting a child or taking a child in or looking after.
The term of it takes a village really as bad as old as there's been people.
Right.
Because truly as human beings, we need connections.
We need to feel supported and have somebody believing in us and just being by our side.
It also speaks to the importance of an organization like this,
and the importance of that contact, that humanity to it.
And also a nice reminder with it being September to have you all in,
because September in particular.
Yes.
September is big brothers, big sisters month.
So we are very fortunate as an organization overall,
that we get to celebrate a full month of what matters most to us,
and that's that everyday mentoring.
It's connecting those children that just need a positive role model
with someone that can be in their corner and be that defender of potential.
And just hang out and it's as simple as really being connected for just one hour a week.
Defender of potential is a phrase that I want to be out there all the time.
I want people to know it like just do it or something like that.
Yes.
It's something great word, a great phrase.
It's one in particular, I think that almost everybody can adopt and use.
Absolutely.
Whether you are a wannabe or you are a big brother, big sister or you're a parent
or you are literally a big brother or big sister or little brother or big sister,
it's something that we can all embrace.
Absolutely.
Because truly at the end of the day, every child has the potential to be successful.
And it goes back to your point of taking a village.
You know, we know parents are trying their very best.
We know that teachers are doing everything they can to instill great things in our kids.
But there's all those other aspects of just giving a child that one-to-one,
undivided attention in simple ways like playing a board game,
doing a card game, doing an arts and crafts, sitting down and having a conversation
or even just tossing that football around.
And being like, hey, did you see that Packer game yesterday?
Or like, man, what happened there?
You know, those back and forth conversations of just checking in.
And it's truly that simple.
It's important to keep in mind as well with that and everything and just piggybacking
what you're saying there, Beth, is that, you know, children, we hear the phrase all the time.
Their brains are sponges.
They truly are taking in all of this.
Everything.
So, you know, how you handle yourself in front of them,
or the things that you do when you're with them or anything like that,
or particularly more important sometimes than you may realize.
Absolutely.
And that is just another reason why when we talk about an organization like this,
and especially in the month of September,
where we're really celebrating Big Brothers big sisters and what that means,
literally everybody out there hearing this can be involved.
Everybody, because everybody has some life experience that they can bring to the table.
And truly, we match completely based on interest and personality.
So, like, if you're one of those people that loves to build things
and put things together and figure it out, we have kids that love to do that too.
If you are super active and love to be on the go, we have that.
If we have kids that are like super chill and just be like,
hey, I just want to hate out and have a conversation.
We can match that as well.
So, there is every aspect that you can imagine,
obviously with putting child safety in the forefront as our first and foremost priority.
The young boy that I was knocked.
I was lined with Carlos.
He and I, I was very nervous because I'm like, what if we don't have anything to talk about?
Or what if he doesn't like the things I like and stuff?
And I didn't realize some of that.
I had to explain to me. I just had forgotten it because I was so nervous.
And Carlos was wanted to be, and I got to hope he went on to do this,
but he wanted to be a dancing magician.
That's awesome.
It's so cool. I'd never heard of it before.
We talked, like, I would say at least the first half an hour was about that.
And then we got talking about me and what I did as an actor and all those things.
That's why I was out in California.
It was such a cool experience for both of us.
And I'm going to bring this up whenever I can when we're talking about this subject.
We are looking out for these kids.
We want to help these kids and give them mentorship, give them life experience,
give them a good life moments in everything.
But don't miss this part of it, everybody.
That it is just as impactful and can mean just as much to the big brother or big sister.
Oh, hands down.
I guarantee you this. Like it really is.
In all honesty, I am living proof of that because I started as a high school big sister.
And now many, many years, I won't put a number because that makes me feel very old.
But many years ago, I started in that capacity.
And I loved it so much that it helped me determine what I went to college for.
And then I went from being an intern in another big brother who's big sister is affiliate.
And now getting to sit as director of operations and have pretty much done every role in between that.
And you know, so that's why whenever I try and go into recruitment or talk to somebody about what it means to become a big.
You know, I always say I'm not saying this as director wraps because yes, I get paid to do that.
But I'm saying this as someone who has had two amazing little sisters who I know went on to conquer the world and do amazing and big things.
And I got to be just a small piece of that. And that's awesome.
Perfect testimony, Beth.
I will only add on to that that, you know, we appreciate somebody like yourself staying in the industry that long and wanting to be in the industry that long.
You could do a lot of things and there's a lot of different let's be honest.
There's probably industries where you can make a lot of money or whatever and all that.
You know, individuals like yourself and so many that we get to talk to on here choosing to be a part of a nonprofit,
choosing to be a promoting the organization like this deserves just as much credit.
You know, I will always think back to my first day of college when I was in intro to human services.
And the professor said, if you are here to make money, get out.
And I was like, wait, what? But then I was, you know, it was like, well, no, that's not what I'm here to do.
I'm here because I love making a difference. And truly every day I get to go and see kids grow.
And I get to see bigs grow and adapt to their little.
And they learn so much from one another and we get to see family strengthened and pure relationships strengthened.
And it's all those pieces that come together in that building black that make my job really awesome.
And I love doing what I do.
You, you remind me when I first got hired in radio, the very first thing that my boss told me at the time was nobody gets into radio from money.
Nobody, you know, and what they didn't tell you or me about this was what we get paid in outside of that.
And the things that you can't put a price on.
Exactly.
Like some of that, what you mentioned, certainly the billions of memories that popped in my head as soon as I was saying that.
And certainly not to discourage anybody. You can make a good living in that profit and everything.
I do think it's noteworthy as well to see individuals, especially as we're encouraging more and more people to be involved with nonprofits.
Yes, volunteering. Yes, being a big brother or a big sister.
But there's always being doing things like Beth has done or volunteering your time or donations that can be a part of this.
Absolutely.
When we say that literally everybody can be involved.
It doesn't necessarily mean that everybody, although it does mean everybody out there could possibly be a brother or a big sister.
It does also mean that even if you don't have the time or the ability to do something like that.
You can still be involved by promoting the great things that you guys are doing over there donating volunteer time or dollars and cents or being a part of events.
Like, I don't know, maybe you got an event coming up Beth that I can set you up for.
So we have done our signature bowl for kids' sake event for many, many years in Portage County.
But we are very excited to bring this to Wisconsin Rapids.
And what better way than to do it in a 50s flashback theme?
Yes.
Like, who doesn't well to add a poodle squirt or a leather jacket or slick their hair back? I mean, come on.
My father does it already. So he's already raised already. He's already there. Perfect.
We hope to see him there. But so we love for everybody to save the date that we will be having our bowl for kids' sake, 50s flashback at Bullmore Leans on Saturday, March 28th.
We'll have two different shifts, one at 11 AM and then one at 130.
This is not about score because I'll be honest, the only way that I get above 100 is in wee bowling.
So there's no judgment if you are the world's greatest bowler, if you are awful like me and depend on those bumpers.
But it's just about having fun raising awareness of our program and supporting the youth here in Wisconsin Rapids.
I will say as somebody who's been there many times, you cannot have a bad time at Bullmore. Bullmore Leans is amazing.
It is amazing, great people over there have been doing this a long time. Perfect place to have this.
And it's a really bowling in general. It's just a fun event. You're so right about this. Whether you're good or not, that doesn't matter.
Especially when it comes to bowling and especially when an event like this. That's going to be a really fun time.
It's going to be great. We hope to see the community come out and join us.
And it looks like that is Saturday, March 28th. That is going to be coming up.
Yes.
All right. So we will be talking about it as we get closer to everything and remind.
And you know what? I don't know. I think the best way.
You can't trust just leave this in my hands, Beth. You're going to have to come back.
Oh, absolutely.
Before the event so we can talk about it, really promote it well. We would love to do that.
I want to just remind people again about how they can be involved.
Before we do one other quick note, I wanted to make sure to mention because I know I do this with these interviews.
I tend to talk about and focus a lot about individuals volunteering to be a big brother of big sister.
But we want to remind everybody out there too that we are always looking for individuals' kids that might need a big brother of big sister.
That's part of this too.
Yeah. So right now we do have quite the long waiting list.
So sadly right now we need volunteers more than ever because at this point we have a waiting list.
But then we also have a wait to wait on the waiting list because of how long it is.
So we definitely can be on the radar for having more little especially if your child does attend how elementary.
They definitely could get enrolled a little bit quicker than in our community based program.
But as soon as we start having new matches being made with some great volunteers, we will definitely be in rolling more kids.
So whether that be in community based and a volunteer takes them out and about into the community or whether that be in type base at how elementary, we have different options for mentoring.
I know one thing that I noticed over the years too is that at least I've seen a bit of a rise in this of kids that are about to go to college or looking at applying to colleges and looking for things to put on that resume.
This is an incredible thing to have on your resume and colleges almost any college will note.
It absolutely is and we are so fortunate to have really great partnerships with local colleges and things that we get to do a lot of recruitment.
And I always say that when I go and talk of this sets you apart because people know the level of commitment.
We do ask for your commitment.
And the whole reason for that is because so many of our littles have had people in and out of their lives that it can take a little bit for them to open up and trust and realize that you're going to be somebody that shows up every week for them.
So we want to give it a full year so they have that time to really make the most of that friendship.
But you know so as you put this on resumes for whether that be a scholarship or going to college or getting a first job, you know this makes you stand up because with 120 years experience people tend to know who we are and what we do.
Nicely said and we have a especially in this particular area, you know but this could apply anywhere that you're listening to us out there.
We have a high senior population in this area have a lot of retired individuals encourage you to be a part of this program encourage anybody like that to be.
Absolutely and you know we do understand that maybe taking a child out and about in the community based program and being more active, you know as a senior is harder and we respect that.
And that's why we love our site based mentoring we love that we can go right into a school and work with a child, you know meet with them at a time that works best both for their schedule.
So maybe that's lunch and recess maybe that's at the end of their day maybe that's like first thing to jumpstart their morning.
We're so fortunate that how really works and wonderfully with us the principal is so supportive and amazing there.
And so are all the teachers that we really have such a great partnership and we get to serve those students right there where their needs are.
And it's really awesome to know that just sitting down and playing candy land or game of shoots and ladders can make that much of a difference in that child's week.
The modern version of it taking a village you Beth just described to us right there of all these different groups, all these individuals from different walks of life or different industries coming together to make sure that we get these kids.
You know the great mentorship that they could use and these great moments and experiences that they can use.
Beth before we let you go if people want to become a big role little or are just impact this great organization.
How can they get involved? How can they find out more?
Absolutely. They can either go to our website at bigimpact.org or they can give our office call at 715-341-0661.
Remember the bull for kids say coming up at bullmore lanes a Saturday March 28th.
We'll be talking about that more and more before then and of course we'll make Beth come on in here and put up with me a little bit more talks and more.
But we do appreciate you Beth. Thanks for the time.
Absolutely. Thank you so much.
And be sure to follow all the progress, all the things going on over there on their social media.
You can find them on Facebook and Instagram follow along with what they're doing.
And the website bigimpact.org, bigimpact.org.
And thank you all for joining us. Big thank you to Crocatsceptic for sponsoring another edition of the Rapids Report.
