Welcome back.
It's the WXCO Morning Report on 98.9 WXCO.
I am Chad Holmes and it is the first week of the month.
It's a holiday week, so it's a wonderful week.
And it's always great the first week of the month as I told you last month.
First week of the month, when you come in, I pay my rent and I see you.
It's a great thing.
I love that so much, Chad.
Christine
Daniels,
executive director of the Good News Project.
Good morning.
Good morning.
And I tell you, and we were talking off the air, and there's so many reasons to sometimes feel the hair going gray and want to pull it out, but at the same time, there are so many people that are.
doing the good, as you like to talk about at The Good News Project, be the good.
And we're gonna talk a little bit about that today because it's not easy to go around asking for money, is
it?
Well, actually, it's become a little easier in my time at Good News Project.
You know, when I first started 25 years ago,
I had a little hang up asking for money.
You got rid
of that?
Oh, yes.
Yeah, realized very soon that that's part of the role, that's part of the job.
And then being okay with a no.
And I think once you get to the point to where you ask and you're okay with whatever the answer is, it's way easier to fundraise because you realize that there are different groups that you might ask that they might just have a different vision or mission and that's okay.
You know, I mean, they're still giving to causes.
that they like to support and that they appreciate, and that's okay.
So yeah, I've become a much more bold fundraiser in the last five years.
And we've talked about this capital campaign that you've been on at The Good News Project.
It's been a long time.
coming, hasn't it?
It had been a lot of work involved in this.
Yes.
Yeah.
Um, it's been a five year process for us.
And, you know, that comes from someone who's never done a capital campaign before.
So there's a lot of learning involved in it.
Um, but, you know, I've had an amazing board of directors the whole way through.
And, you know, we started it at the end of 2019 and we decided, um, very, very soon we needed to put it in phases, um, to
And especially because COVID hit like right after we started it.
Wonderful.
And so yeah, as we raised money, we.
got the work done, and then we just kept raising money.
So we're at this point, oh my gosh, in July, I'm pretty sure we are going to just kick this out of the ballpark.
Break the plane of the goal
line,
right?
Yes, yes, it's so exciting.
So we started with a $950,000 capital campaign, and I was just telling you off the air that in the last couple of weeks, we had to increase that by another $25,000 because our loading dock
drainage was not actually connected to the city of Wausau storm sewer.
And so there's some additional excavation and new sewage pipe laying, all of that stuff that has to be done.
But the really, really, really cool thing is I got that number.
I had been talking to a local foundation for the previous month and they said, let us know what that number is.
And two days later, they said, we're going to put $20,000 toward it.
Let me ask you this.
It's beautiful.
Because I want to ask you that.
I was saying to you last weekend, I was just annoyed.
And I think you saw my social media, I was not using the part of my brain that said, maybe I shouldn't hit enter.
But at the same time, then you have these moments.
And I want to ask you, when you have those moments, when somebody steps up like that, what is the feeling?
Oh my gosh, it's so exciting.
So I don't know if I've mentioned before, but maybe about a year and a half ago, we installed a bell.
know, kind of like a dinner bell in our office.
And so when we have something to celebrate, we ring that bell.
And so this, or well, in June, we ring it twice.
I got my very first Walmart spark grant, which I thought was exciting.
And it was, you know, it was $1,000 to some that might not seem a lot.
But when it's the first time someone has given, it's a celebration, right?
Every donation is a celebration.
And then, of course, this $20,000 gift is pretty awesome, too.
But we also celebrate when we have volunteers who are in drug court, and they've been working really hard to get their lives back.
reentering the world in a more positive way and say they have a job interview and they get the job.
Then we ring that bell.
This is a way we can all celebrate together and then announce the good news.
Again, as we talk about, boy, you have to really put your arms around the good stuff too, right?
Because it's
so easy to get yourself into the rabbit holes of the stuff that you think we could be better, but boy, there still is a lot of the good.
There
sure is.
to
celebrate that.
It is.
And also, again, for folks who may not have heard previous discussions, what have you been able to do up to this point?
What are you still going to be doing because of the continuous donations that are continuing to come in?
Yeah, sure.
So what we have accomplished so far is a new lobby and clean equipment storage space and a new kitchen.
And that was in 23, 24, a mobile help truck.
We launched that for rural access to durable medical equipment.
We just launched that in February.
Real quick, how is that going?
Great.
It's going great.
You've
been talking about, you talk about your drivers, you talk about the people you visit.
I mean, it sounds like it really is something
that's working.
Yeah, yeah.
And we can reevaluate the schedule every six months to be like, oh, you know, we're getting a lot of activity in Tomahawk and Rhinelander, but we're not getting so much in Ringo.
So, you know, maybe shifting.
communities based on that need.
But again, what else?
Yeah, it's okay.
So we went to three phase electric upgrade and of course the three solar arrays that we had installed on our roof.
We accomplished that in 22-23.
Just in the last year, we've helped over
Well, actually, this year, we're on track to help over 2,500 families through our help program, so providing durable medical equipment to people.
In the past year, over 261,000 pounds of electronics, which is awesome.
And throughout the entirety of our program, we have recycled over 4 million pounds.
I know.
And it's so funny, our current e-cycle manager, Eric, since he began with us in 2020,
he has been counting how many pounds have gone through under his watch.
And so either next Friday or the Friday after, he will personally have hit one million pounds.
So we're going to celebrate some
pounds.
Better
ring the bell for that.
We'll ring the bell for Eric for sure.
And we will hear more from Christine Daniels coming up in our next segment on our WXCO morning report coming up at about 7.52.
But we'll send it back to Pat Critello for more of Mornings with Pat Critello coming up here on 98.9 WXC-O.
and welcome back.
It is mornings with Pat Critello on 98.9 WXCO.
I am Chad Holmes as we continue our Wausau report, our Wausau morning report that we have at 22 and 52 after the hours during the seven and eight o'clock hours.
And we're continuing our discussion with Christine Daniels, who is the executive director of the Good News Project here in Wausau.
We're talking about...
Number one, the continuing capital campaign that they're coming very close to reaching the gold line on and also about what it means in terms of what they're able to do at the Good News
Project.
And you know, we received donations of durable medical equipment at the value of $98,000 last year.
Imagine that.
That's a lot of medical equipment passing through our facility.
That's life-saving stuff.
Yeah.
I mean, when you look at it.
Yeah.
And it's pocket savings, too.
You know, it's
saving
lives, but it's also just saving the dollars.
And making lives a little bit easier and more...
doable for folks.
They can
spend their money on food
instead of vulnerable medical equipment.
I know, I'm sorry, I
won't
start.
But no, it's, again, it takes everyone.
I mean, that's what it comes down to, right?
It takes the folks that you work with at Good News.
It takes the folks that are able to give the donations.
It takes the folks that use the donation.
Again, I mean, and I think as well that, you know, when people struggle and they do get a hand up, it makes them more connected to their community.
I mean, there's so many circles that go round and round that
put us in the right direction.
Yeah, for sure.
You know, we, at the beginning of every board meeting, we started with a mission moment.
We talk about, you know, just a story that's kind of come through, through the walls of our place in the last month.
And I had spoken about a story.
I think it was in Stratford and there was a woman who has been actually using our medical equipment for quite a few years because she has MS, but she's been having to come into WASA and She was in tears when she was at the truck and talking to Al our driver and just saying you know that you can come here and get this much closer to me is huge and I'm so grateful for what you guys have given so far and This is just the best thing that ever happened.
So it's actually funny in a
I had a meeting this week involving one of my bosses and we were, you know, we were talking and he was talking about how different organizations have, you know, there are different kinds of organizations.
Some are where everybody's just in it for the money.
It's a money-based, you know, you have a job, you make pretty good money, you don't have that connection with your work.
And there are different areas and others involve more where, you know,
It's a combination where you're able to do things that are important to you.
You're able to still make a living, but it's not about the money.
And I just feel like, and I was saying, yeah, I mean, I've said, you know, in this business, you don't make great money, but I love what I do.
I said, you know, no matter what happens, because I'm going off to.
play in a poker game.
I read about that.
And I said, if you win, you're not going to come back.
I said, if I win, I'm still coming back because I like what I do.
And I imagine that with you, it's like, it's not about the money that you make.
And I know that we talked to the struggles.
But boy, I don't know if you can put a price tag on.
when you see somebody that comes and says, you're changing my life.
And it's
wonderful, isn't it?
It is.
It's a wonderful thing.
You know, I always said, if I ever win the lottery, not that I ever buy a ticket, so I won't.
But if I ever did, I would finish off the Capitol
campaign.
You'll ring the bell yourself.
I would.
I would.
I just
want it over, you know?
Because then we
can move on to the next awesome thing.
And it's time.
It's time to be doing that.
Um, well,
again, you're, you're getting to the finish line, but that, but that doesn't mean that folks can't.
And the thing is, I'm no, I know those folks that give, they feel good about it too, because they're changing lives.
You bet.
Say if there's somebody out there right now who's, you know, says that's something I would like to be involved in.
What do they
do?
Well, they can, um, give us a call and come get a tour.
You know, I
love
tours because you can see the background of everything that happens.
Um, you know, we've had, um, I'm just thinking of a couple.
that's have been very significant donors to us for the last 10 plus years.
And this year they needed to use medical equipment.
And they got to see firsthand the process of being the patient in need for medical equipment.
And it was just cool to see that come full circle.
And for us to be able to give back to them, right?
They gave to
us and we can give back to them too.
So, you know, one of the questions you asked is what's left are loading.
dock is scheduled actually for the end of August early September to get finished.
So you'll see that when you drive by on Fifth Street.
Exciting stuff.
Anything else we should mention before we wrap up?
Because there's always so much to talk about.
But
I think this is big.
It's big.
It's big.
I guess the other thing I have to say is we could not do this without our volunteers.
This is a volunteer driven type of organization.
Yes, we have some paid staff, but nothing would.
get done to the capacity that it is getting done without volunteers.
Be in the good.
Be the good.
Talk about emotional fulfillment.
And I think people need to realize that that's so vital to living the well-rounded lives that we try to do.
You bet.
Christine, it's always great to see you.
I'll get my.
rent check written out and we'll see you next month.
So it's good.
Come by
for a tour this month,
Chad.
There you go.
You keep telling me that.
Maybe after
your
vacation.
There you go.
I think that's probably a good idea.
Man, oh man, now I feel, oh, I have to get there now.
Yeah, you do, you do.
Christine, thanks again.
All right, bye.
Christine Daniels, executive director of The Good News Project.
You can hear the entirety of our interview uncut by going to youtube.com and the
98.9 WXCO channel again, and we have our interviews and sometimes we cut them into segments here for the morning report But you can hear it all in one sitting and see and hear it again by going to YouTube comm and the WXCO channel Coming up we will have the top of the hour news and then we'll start off all were number two of mornings with pack right low and his guest coming up at 8.06 will be me
Chad Holmes.
So I'll be joining Pat Critewell coming up in just a few minutes after the information update here on 98.9 WXCO.
And welcome back.
It's the WXCO morning report during mornings with Pat Crite-Lo on 98.9 WXCO.
I am Chad Holmes along with Ian Walsh and very happy to welcome back into studio on this lovely early July morning.
The executive director of the Performing Arts Foundation of Wausau and the Grand Theater, Sean Wright.
Sean, good to see you again.
I'm glad to be here.
I tell you, it must be early July, holiday week.
You're probably doing nothing, right?
Not much going on.
No, no.
We're not busy at all selling subscriptions.
tickets and getting ready to put single tickets to every show at the Grand On Sale on Tuesday morning.
You've had incredible support, obviously.
But you'd probably never take it for granted, do you?
Oh, no.
No, absolutely not.
Any time you announce a new season, you hold your breath and hope that the people are interested and the people will continue to support.
And it's been great.
We have over 900 subscribers already and on pace for a really great start to the year.
And it'll be fun to see Tuesday how people
respond for their opportunity to grab tickets to any show they want.
Obviously, that is the bottom line, the people that come in by the tickets.
But you've obviously heard from a lot of folks since you made the announcement for the upcoming season.
What has been the feedback?
Is there anything that surprised you about the feedback?
You know, it's interesting because one of the things you...
that we try and balance is the opportunity for bringing new shows into the market as well as returning some favorites from people.
And I think that's always the thing that's a delicate balance of new versus familiarity.
And what's been nice is to see people who are saying,
You know, boy, I really, I loved the last time I saw Mark Martell.
So I want to come see his show again, but also...
that fulsome prison show looks really fascinating.
And so I'm going to have to check that out or Chicago.
Wow.
We can't so glad Chicago's back.
But also Richard Thomas and Mark Twain tonight.
I can't believe that he's going to play that role and that we're the only Wisconsin stop.
I got to go see that.
So that's one of the things that we love to see is that that blend of people excited for things that are making their returns, but also excited to see things that are coming for the first time.
And that's another reason why I think this subscription pack.
it's such a wonderful idea and a wonderful thing for folks to be involved with because in that case as you've said you're not asking for an arm and a leg you're basically saying if you have four shows you want to see over the course of the year jump right in and this way you'll be able to secure the seats that you want.
Literally I mean from you know I mean you could you could this year
Literally just if you if holiday shows if you are a holiday show person and that is what you want You could take Cirque Musica holiday big
bad
voodoo daddy Oak Ridge boys and the Altenberg Christmas extravaganza there if you're done You're a subscriber same thing if you're just a Broadway person Adams family Tina kinky boots Chicago Throwin, you know, Mrs. Dalfire and Mark Twain tonight.
You're at six shows subscriber and that's the thing that's great or you know mix and match and yeah, truly the the idea is we
want people to,
you know,
to join us for, you know, a show that they know, that they know they're going to love, but then show that they're like, well, you know, I think I might want to see a Japanese taiko drumming or
I know us play, you know, Tina the musical.
Wow.
I love Tina Turner's music.
You know, I've, you know, I've, I've saw Chicago.
It wasn't for me, but I would really love to see Mrs. Doubtfire.
That's, that's the great beauty of the subscription models that allows you to, you know, choose your own, choose your own schedules.
We've got subscribers who take shows in August, September and October and then.
don't take anything until April because
they're snow birds.
And
so it's always interesting.
You see folks, you see them and you'll see them in October and they'll go, I'll see you in late March
for
Women of Americana because
enjoy the snow.
And also, if you become a subscriber, as you said, the single show tickets are on sale next Tuesday, correct?
Yes.
Well, if you decide to become a subscriber, you don't have to wait till next Tuesday.
You don't.
And you can get ahead of the
line.
You can get ahead of the line.
You can actually, as of this week,
you can pick your seats.
Some people want, you know, specifically to do that subscription.
You can pick your seats, go online, you know, call the box office, you can take care of that.
Right now you go to the front of the line and one of the things, one of the benefits that I really think of, you know, of subscription is when we add shows, a lot of, you know, big shows, we just announced a Teresa Caputo show a few weeks back that's basically sold out.
When we announced those additional shows, you get access to pre-sale.
And I can tell you, for some of those shows, that makes all the difference of getting good tickets versus not.
And so that's, I know a few of the things that are coming and that will be announced in the weeks to come.
And so it's a real benefit for people to get access to those exclusive subscriber-only presales.
And
for some shows, you may think the Grand Theater is large.
It becomes very small very quickly, doesn't it?
It does.
It does.
It's interesting.
I was looking.
you know, when we put Trace Caputo on sale and, you know, out of the country and so I'm sort of looking just on the website like everybody else and looking and going, oh, well.
That was quick and there's, there's still a handful of tickets left, but it does.
1,208 seats can go very fast with a popular show.
And I guess finally, you know, talking about the subscriptions and then re-established the single-ticket sales.
Sometimes I make the assumption that people know everything about this.
Yeah.
For people who may not, they're saying subscriptions.
Sure.
What do you do?
What?
Say if you're somebody, you know, I'm somebody that loves going to the shows.
Sure.
Um.
I certainly go to four shows over, you know, 10 months, 11 months.
What do they ultimately need to think about and do?
Yeah, you know, it's, it's super easy to become a subscriber.
If you go to our website, there's literally a.
big button right at the top of the page that says click here to start your subscription order.
And then you just go in, you pick the shows that you want and the tickets that you want.
And you don't have to calculate the discount or anything like that.
The system does everything for you.
You can get to four shows, five shows.
If you want more shows, the more shows you take, the higher the discount percentage.
Check out and have your tickets delivered digitally or via mail.
And there you go.
And if you.
are like, I don't want to go online.
I'd rather talk to somebody.
You can call, you can come in, and, you know, and that's the nice thing.
We're in this, you know, now that we've done the seating of our, you know, of our grand subscribers and such, it is, it is as simple as ordering a ticket to one show.
It's just you're ordering tickets to multiple shows and you're getting that access.
Again, as we're talking about, you're getting that access ahead of single ticket buyers.
You're getting the discount percentage and you're getting the other benefits that come with subscription as well.
Sean Wright, Executive Director of the Grand Theater.
That's only part of the conversation I had with Sean yesterday.
If you want to hear the entirety of the conversation, there is even more really good information.
Go to youtube.com and the 98.9 WXCO channel to hear the entire interview with Sean Wright as the grand sell single event ticket starting next Tuesday and become a subscriber as well.
We'll take a quick time out and then back to Pat Krightlow.
It's mornings with Pat Krightlow on 98.9 WXCO.
Good morning to the pack right low on 98.9 WXCO online at WXCO dot FM mobile devices and Alexa by searching WXCO and on the civic media app currently a beautiful start here in North Central Wisconsin temperature of 71 degrees under sunny skies
Heading towards the long holiday weekend and for yours truly heading towards vacation I gotta say I am ready to get away.
I've not taken any time off during the course of 2025 up to this point So you deserve it gonna be driving over to Minneapolis tonight to have about a 9 30 flight this evening heading to Fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada and the plan is tomorrow to be sitting down
at the World Series of poker main event and hopefully make a deep run and Have a lot of fun, but
I know it
goes well.
Yeah,
I think it's gonna be fun I had to fund their last number of years during this time of year.
So Next week we will not be here.
So We'll have packed right low of course during the entirety of the show, but then we'll be back on the following Monday, but
For yourself.
I mean, uh, obviously, uh, great, uh, to give that long weekend.
I
have
any, any fun activities ready to roll.
Well, my, uh, brother Travis is coming up from Madison to stay with us on Saturday.
That's always good to see.
See my brother.
We got some, uh, fireworks.
We're going to shoot off.
Well, no, a fire off.
Excuse me.
My words right there.
And then we're going to
Well also on a Saturday, I think we're going to check out the Riverfront Haranade with a tapping and Stevens Point We've gone to that the past for the July for quite a few years now And that's a lot of great music a great entertainment and lots of good
It's not healthy food, but it is good
food.
Once in a while, we can splurge, right?
Yeah.
That's the way I look at it here for my vacation.
I'm splurging for once.
I know I'm going to probably regret it.
It's OK to do it once in a while.
I put away this money for such a long time, and I'm going to blow it all on a vacation to Las Vegas.
But I want, this is one of my bucket list items.
I'm going to, once in a while, we got to live a little, right?
So
work hard.
Get away from all the politics.
Yeah.
Take a step back.
One
of the bad things, however, is that with us not doing the part of our WXCO morning report next week is that we won't have our number for the day for a week.
So
I think you're the week off to rethink your strategies.
You're
going to be shaking because you're going to be missing it so much.
But this being a short work week and we will not be here tomorrow.
Pat will have a best of show, but we won't be on with him tomorrow.
I thought we would do two numbers for the day today because
double the number I like it Yeah,
we I give you the chance to get the normal number of opportunities because as we've talked about we give you three choices with the number for the day one of which is correct So that's basically one out of three if you're just guessing 33% so anything about 33% is the passing grade anything below 33% is a failing grade and then of course if you get more right than wrong it's a winning week
four out of five is an A grade.
And then of course the perfect week, five out of five, you just celebrate big time.
And so far this week, you're a one for three.
So you're right on the cusp.
So this today is big.
You got to get one out of two to get a passing grade.
And you got to get two out of two in order to get a winning week.
So
let's jump right into one.
I think is sort of a fun little category.
What is more of a serious one?
A point I want to make.
Let's do the serious one first.
All right, go
ahead.
And the number, the first number for the day, the number of states which rejected summer lunch funding from the federal government this year, which is an outrage in my opinion.
But how many of the states rejected the federal government's program to aim to help families with the cost of foods during the summer when schools are not providing free or reduced priced meals?
Your choices are seven states.
10 states 13 states
You know, I'm gonna say I'm just saying guess here.
I don't know if this is a true or not, but I'm gonna say 13 13 states
they
final answer That's my final answer.
I'm singing with 13.
Okay the number of states that decline participation in this program because
They cited concerns about the program's administration costs, but some governors, silly labeling it as a welfare.
13!
You got the biggest number, so you got it right.
Okay.
So you're now,
you got a passing grade, two out of four.
Now let's see if I can make a successful week going into the 4th of July.
But
those states are so wrong.
Yeah, absolutely
real fast.
The states are Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.
This is not Wisconsin.
There you go.
And our second number for the day is I'm heading to Las Vegas.
Okay.
It's hot in Las Vegas.
Oh,
yeah.
Very hot.
The number is what is the average high temperature in Las Vegas on July the fourth?
Oh, gosh.
All right.
Okay.
Your choices are
101 degrees 104 degrees 107 degrees What?
101 104 107
the average temperature for the 4th of July in Vegas
Yep, this year, right?
But does the average
high just the average historically here.
Okay 101 104 107 you know, I'm gonna say average high
No, I'm gonna say 104.
All right, the
104 is my final answer.
Average high temperature in Las Vegas on July 4th is 104 degrees.
Nice, I got a successful week.
Man, you came through, run through the tape.
Oh my gosh.
Very good.
Three
out of five.
That pressure element really helped.
Well, you have a good vacation.
I will do my best.
I will see you in a couple
and two weeks.
Yep, week and a half.
And you enjoy your fourth and continued good luck.
Good luck on your rehearsals and all
the
such.
Folks, again, we'll be back a week from Monday.
Pat Crite will be back, obviously, each and every day, but enjoy it.
We look forward to seeing you again.
I'm Chad Holmes here on WXCO.
