Hello world, welcome to WFHR's Rapids Report.
Probably brought to you by Krakenceptic for this Tuesday, October 28th, 2025.
Have your host, James here.
We're joined by our great friends from the Wisconsin Rapids Family Center.
We have Terika with us executive director over there.
How you doing?
Good.
How are you?
Doing well.
It's been too long.
It's great to have you in studio to talk, to hang out, to hear a little bit and everything.
And especially this month, in particular.
There's never a bad time to talk with our family center catch up, and certainly to talk
about domestic violence.
But in this month, in particular, Terika, it's an important one.
Mm-hmm.
Yes, definitely.
October is domestic violence awareness month.
And so every October, we are recognizing lives lost from the previous year, honoring those
lives that have been lost by domestic violence, and also really trying to spread awareness,
educate our community about domestic violence.
You know, you've been doing this a long time.
And I thank you for your service and what you do, not just in our community, but in
our surrounding communities.
I know you've been at this for a long time, and this has been a mission of yours.
Yes, yes.
Yes.
I do want to pause for a second in the conversation, and I know we've talked about this
on air off air a little bit ourselves.
But I do want to credit our society, our community a little bit, in the fact that this is
a topic that we don't really have to be hushed voice about anymore, that we are able to
talk about this and shows like this, or in everyday conversations that we have, we're
seeing so many more people being on the right side of this one, in my words.
It doesn't mean that there is any time now to be taken our foot off the gas.
If anything now is more of a time for us to be very, very diligent about this.
And I find for myself, when I'm talking to people about this topic, I've probably done
this my whole life.
I don't want to say that for me, but I'm pretty sure that even since a young age, I can
remember being in gym class and calling out my guy friends because of something they
said or whatever, and how that went as a whole other story.
But it's always been a big one to me.
I don't know that I've ever noticed where when I bring this up now with people that I tend
to bring it up with people that I don't think I've ever thought much about it or whatever,
but then I do.
And I'm like, oh, they have.
This is much more in the public, in the people's minds now and everything.
And again, that doesn't mean that, okay, well, hey, jobs done.
No, not any close to that.
But it feels good.
And there's not a lot of that that happens with this topic.
And I just wanted to take a beat to be like, you know, we've made some progress on this.
That's a positive.
That's a great thing.
There's plenty of work to be done, though.
And we recently had a vigil that kind of celebrated this while also bringing attention
to this.
How did that go?
Really good.
We had, for the domestic violence awareness month vigil this year, we had more community
attendance.
So, like, just speaking to what you just said, right?
More people are talking about it.
More people are aware.
And so that's great.
And more people are seeking further education, which is really a piece of what the vigil
does.
We also, at the vigil honor, community members or businesses who have partnered with
Family Center and gone above and beyond for victims.
And then we also, every year at that vigil, do recognize the lives and honor the lives
that were lost in the previous year due to domestic violence.
I want to thank the community, one of the McMillan for hosting this, so many great individuals
to show it up.
And it's wonderful encouraging to hear the turnout and everything.
Everything I've said, though, also comes with a big grain of salt.
Because while all these factors are true, we also have seen funding for our domestic
violence shelters around the country just being just, it's not good.
I don't have the verb that I can use on the air, but it's not good.
It has been really, at the worst time, too, that this could be happening.
When we're making such good progress, we're getting some headway here with this.
And then to see funding cut left and right is very difficult.
This is all the more reason why, as a community, it's important to be at this vigil.
It's important to be a part of these events to raise attention and awareness and information
about this.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, over the last couple of years, unfortunately, we have seen funding for victim service providers,
domestic violence shelters and services across the state of Wisconsin drastically cut, unfortunately,
which is a huge impact for us.
And at the same time, while we are facing those cuts, there was an increase in domestic
violence homicides in 2024.
It was a 16% increase from 2023.
And so it's a hard balance when you have that big of an increase.
And then you're experiencing those funding cuts.
And at Wisconsin Rapids Family Center, we're just doing the best that we can.
And we are to remain constant with all the services that we have provided over the 40-plus
years.
Are there ways, whether it's just us as an individual, or we're a business out there?
And we can help.
We can be a part of things.
Hey, I know that this is a gray area, or this is something we can do.
Yeah, absolutely.
I think there's so many ways that individuals, businesses can get involved from volunteering.
We're always looking for volunteers.
We couldn't do what we do without our volunteer team.
We have volunteers that are working donations.
We have direct service volunteers who are answering our crisis line.
We have volunteers that come and help just clean shelter spaces and things like that.
So there's a lot of opportunity for volunteering.
Supporting the Family Center financially is a huge piece.
And also for different individuals or businesses, sometimes it's a unique opportunity that
we might not see, or we might not always think of.
But once we get talking, it's like, that would be a really great connection and a really
great support for our mission and the work that we do.
I know what you're talking about, and I think that's one of them that speaks to the creativity
of our community and our businesses around here.
But how, again, this is a topic that people want to get behind.
This is a topic that people believe in, and that's very encouraging.
Along with what you're saying there, I know painting the town purple was a big part of
this.
We saw in our beautiful bridge, some of the lights are purple over there.
I've seen a couple of people in my mom and dad's neighborhood that have purple light bulbs
up.
These kind of things go a long way.
They really do.
It all adds up.
Yes.
Yes.
And it's impactful.
It's important for this because you've already given us one major stat that even if we spent
the rest of our time just talking about that increase of 16% would not would be impactful.
But you have some other stats for us, too, that we wanted to get into.
Yeah, absolutely.
So with that increase in 2024, domestic violence homicide deaths, Wisconsin Rapids Family
Center has also sought an increase in need right here in our own community.
So for year to date, at the end of September in 2025, we have sheltered 91 individuals,
which is over 4,000 bed nights, where in 2024, for the entire year, we had sheltered 81
individuals.
So that is a significant increase in need for safe shelter.
We have also seen a significant increase in need of outreach services or other services
from emotional support, legal advocacy, whatever that may be from 2025 to now.
So we year to date for 2025, we're at over 9,000 services.
And in total of 2024, we were at 9,450.
So unfortunately, right on track to surpass those numbers in 2025.
So as we are facing all of these things and we are seeing increases, our community right
here in Southwood County is seen increases and is seen more need than what we've seen
in the past few years.
And we know that we know we know this for a bit of there are just statistically with
the amount of people we have in this community and the numbers you just gave us virtually
everybody out there listening knows somebody that has dealt with or is dealing with this.
And there's two big points I want to make on that part and one, this is an all hands
on deck thing.
This topic, this subject, I know that some things we talk about on the show here, they
seem a little bit more over this is for this group or this is this age group or these
people in this side of town or whatever.
Now, this is all hands on deck.
This affects everybody and it affects your economy.
It affects so many different layers of your day to day life.
So it really isn't a topic that encompasses all and needs all of us behind.
This actually leads me to something I wanted to mention about your Facebook page and I
encourage people to subscribe to the Family Center's Facebook page.
It's great not only for information and the topics that we talk about there, but there's
a lot of just good vibes, honestly, to just show up in your feed that I think is great
to have.
But you have one post in particular about never blaming, never victim blame.
And when it comes to what we're talking about here in this and how can I support the
Family Center?
What can I do?
We understand that not everybody has dollars and cents.
Maybe not everybody has an hour or two you can volunteer or something, but every single
one of us can do this.
Every one of us can in our day to day lives when we're talking, we're having conversations.
You don't know who's listening and statistically it's, we're telling you, there's chances
are in that conversation to those four or five people, somebody is dealing with this.
Being an ally goes so much farther than we could ever put in the words.
You don't, that person, maybe you make it off color joke, maybe you say something about
this topic or whatever.
Well that person that you don't know is struggling with this is that much more likely to not speak
up.
Whereas if you are on the other end of this, they are that much more likely to say something
and maybe get the help and the service they deserve.
There's so many layers to this that I hope people think about when they're open in their
mouth.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, and that never victim blaming and the one in four, so one in four women have experienced
domestic violence in their life.
So if you're in an office of six people, you likely have at least one person, if not
more, that have experienced domestic violence.
So being very conscious and being understanding, being somebody that is, that will listen and
reach out if you do see somebody that you think might need some help.
One other stretch of this too, and it's just a little bit more maybe than what we're talking
about.
What I'm talking about as far as volunteering or being supportive in everything and being
an ally.
I have been fortunate for the last couple of years to be a board member on the family
center.
And I have to tell everybody, it's not only one of the most rewarding things I've done
in my life, but it is also not a heavy lift.
And I don't mean that the topic matter or that what we're doing in discussing in meetings
isn't vital and isn't important.
But they don't ask a lot of you, you know, your attention, your care, your time, you know,
and it's not a whole lot of that.
But it is another opportunity and another way for you to really impact your community
to be a part of things at the family center.
Being a board member is so rewarding.
And again, it's actually, you know, it can be a really good conversation sometimes
too, where we have some fun with it and everything.
It's another way to help an impact.
Yeah, just providing that oversight and being present for, you know, monthly meetings
for typically about an hour.
And yeah, so if anybody is interested in becoming a board member, I would love to chat
and just help you learn more about what that would look like.
And yeah.
Is there any other stats or any other information you wanted to make sure to touch Andre?
I really just think that knowing that we have a 24 hour crisis line is so vital for a
lot of different reasons.
And so if you are ever in need, reach out.
We always have a trained advocate ready to answer the phone on the other line.
Or if you are looking for information or looking to educate somebody that you know and need
more information in order to do that, please reach out.
And we would be happy to connect with you.
And keep in mind, donations are greatly appreciated of all kinds, but even if it's a matter
of items.
There are always things that we could always use at the family center.
And they're the basics.
While there might be things that you need more than others and you can reach out to the
family center, find out more specifics.
I would say that if you're just doing this at your at the store, you know, grabbing extra
toilet paper, grabbing extra rolls, the things that you need in your day to day life, they
needed the family center.
Absolutely.
So it goes a long way.
And again, anything you can do, whether it's raising attention, being an ally, showing
up at events, bring attention to events, you know, like their Facebook page, share
their posts on your page, you just don't know who might see them otherwise.
There are so many ways to be an ally in this topic, in this month, in every month.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Thank you.
If people have further questions or want to know more about some what we talked about
today, what's the best way to get a hold of your dream?
Yep.
You can go ahead and reach out at 715-421-1511.
Otherwise you can always send an email to info at familyctr.org and we would be happy
to connect.
I wanted to end on a little bit of a light note, a laugh.
How badly?
If I've been saying your name right this whole time, if I've been...
It's Trisha, but I've been called a lot of things.
So you know, it's fine.
I know this.
I know you do it.
I don't know why I've been doing this.
When you see it on paper, I think that's why.
I think that's a little...
You know what?
Actually, this is your fault a little bit, too.
I don't.
I don't.
You've got to come along.
Yes.
Exactly.
Thank you so much for putting up with me.
Thank you.
Go to familyctr.org, everybody get on over their bookmark that page and keep in mind
that that is a great resource for you for all these things that we've talked about today.
And as Trisha mentioned, we have the 24-hour crisis line number 715-421-1511.
That's 421-1511 and keep that number handy if need be.
Thank you again for the time.
Thank you.
Thank you, everybody, for joining us for another edition of WFHR's Rapids Report.