Paul Szmal: Good morning, it's 8.38, it's FLX Morning Thursday. One of the first guests on this program with me hosting, Frank Capozzi, was district executive with the Boy Scout back in about 2006 when we began this shindig, and now he's our next-to-last guest ever, barring last second edition, in his current job with Catholic Charities and the Finger Lakes. Good morning.
Frank Capozzi: Good morning, Ted. It's great to see you again.
Paul Szmal: So we know that you're one of the lead agencies for helping out OVID, so how did that come to be? Did somebody ask you? Did you reach out and say, hey, we have resources to pull this off?
Frank Capozzi: So I think a lot of us saw what was going on, and in the midst of the chaos, the leadership from Seneca County United Way, who we are partners with, Rhonda and her team at UWCS, they reached out and said, hey, we're building a coalition, we're building a team, we need you to be a part of that, and we jumped right in. And it is in this type of response, it's in the nature of the mission of Catholic Charities. We do a lot of disaster relief work throughout the region and throughout the whole country through CCUSA. So we were in, and we said whatever you need, and that naturally led to partnering with United Way for our agency to be at the helm of the receipt of financial contributions to help out those who are affected.
And that money has been pouring in, it does not stop. And it's everywhere, Ted. We're getting gifts in the tens of thousands range from individuals, but then we're getting $5 gifts. And that's a huge reflection of give what you can to help those in need. And we're just so thrilled to be able to do that, and then take that money, turn that around, that financial support, and put it into the hands of people who have been affected in a lot of different ways.
Paul Szmal: I've always said over the years, I've done, we do Red Cross every month, and they always said, I learned a long time ago from the Red Cross, that if you donate cash, it can be used quickly for what's needed, and it can be used in the area. So whatever you can buy from people around OVID, you can buy. Whereas, as well as intentions, it might be clothing drives and things, you have to collect the items, you have to warehouse them, you have to transport them, you have to distribute them. There's a lot of logistics involved in that.
Frank Capozzi: There is. And to the point of the logistics regarding, you know, those physical contributions, right? The clothing and the household goods and all this great stuff that's been donated, greatly appreciated, gotten into hands, still getting into hands. There's been a couple of events this week where, down in OVID, they've done a distribution event where folks have been able to come in, actually, and purchase some of the overflow. And then the funding from that's gone back to the victims, which is great.
That's shifting, actually, kind of breaking news. That is shifting out to the Outlet Mall in Waterloo. They've donated a store to the United Way to use for a short period. So stuff's going to be moving up there. It's going to be distributed from that site as well in kind of that sale format, again, to generate revenue to go back into the hands of those that are affected.
And to your point about local, right? Catholic Charities, within the first several days, we're at the fast track in OVID. We're at the Dollar General, and we're buying piles of gift cards. And we're at the library, and we're distributing those to the folks that are in need, right? Even though folks have lost their jobs and they've lost their homes, they need things immediately, right? We think of that. But then there's also other folks in town who need support, too, in a lot of ways. So if we can do anything that we can, local, we will, and we will keep putting it back into the community.
Paul Szmal: So, of course, the big headline early on was the Big M Supermarket because it was such an important resource for the people living there. But we have, is it something like, I don't know the numbers better than I do, how many people lost their homes and the apartments and how many lost jobs in that block of businesses?
Frank Capozzi: Right. So you've got a lot of different things that have been affected by this, right? You have the dozens and dozens and dozens, I think it's over 60 people who lost jobs, right? You also, by the way, not only lost employees, lost their jobs, but employers lost their businesses, which is a huge impact, too, right? So you've got all that lost income. You also have folks who lost their homes through those apartments that were lost, dozens of people affected by that, families without a place to stay.
Now, everyone is housed currently. They're under a roof. Lots of folks have just opened their homes and other means to get them into places. But then outside of those immediately affected, which we have got at the forefront of our mind, to your point, the loss of the grocery store, the loss of the restaurants, too, the loss of the grocery store creates a huge food insecurity issue for the entirety of the southern end of Seneca County.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, there's nothing between Geneva and Ithaca.
Frank Capozzi: Yeah, there's very little option. So with that, for us at Catholic Charities, you know, we've been doing this work in the community for 40 plus years, right? So right now we're focused on two things. One, immediately, how do we help folks affected by the fire directly? And then how do we help folks indirectly? How do we help get more food access? How do we bring other programs in? So there is a wide net of things that have to be accomplished and we can't do it alone.
The community support for financial contributions is huge. But our partners at the United Way and then other community based organizations that are rallying around it, both located directly in Ovid and in Seneca County and in the Finger Lakes region, we are coming together to make a huge impact long term.
Paul Szmal: We've talked many times about the Geneva Community Lunch Program. Is there a chance to put something like that together in Ovid?
Frank Capozzi: I would love to be in part of conversation. There's a lot of, to your point earlier, logistics related with that. But I would love to talk to folks about that. You know, we started that from the ground up, Catholic Charities here in Geneva. We'd love to talk with somebody about is there a possibility and how do we make that happen?
Paul Szmal: Who put together the list of the people in need? And is there a way if somebody thinks they ought to be on that list and they're not to get on it?
Frank Capozzi: So the easiest way to do what I recommend everybody is contact United Way of Seneca County to get on a list, to get access. Now, Catholic Charities, we're at the library in Ovid on Fridays and Mondays from starting at 10 o'clock for scheduled appointments with folks to do plans and then also for drop ins. But to make sure that you have a full understanding of what's available and to get on any list for needs, call the United Way. And if you can't call, have somebody that you know call, reach out. They're the point person for that. And they're managing all of that piece.
Paul Szmal: If you go to our website, Finger Lakes Daily News dot com, we have the purple bar across the top that has, we hope, a pretty complete list of resources for people.
So what can the public do right now to help?
Frank Capozzi: Right now, in my opinion, the biggest thing is the financial support, right? Anything that you might be able to do. And I want to be clear, there are several organizations that are collecting financial contributions. We're working, again, with United Way doing that collection. That's through our website, CatholicCharitiesFL.org. There's other organizations collecting ways to do that, and I would recommend support this any way that you can, that you're comfortable with, with who you're comfortable with, and in a way that you feel is meaningful.
Paul Szmal: Right on the front page, CatholicCharitiesFL.org, there is a button right there to donate to the Ovid Relief Fund.
So, I mean, this is, when you talk about any amount, that's one of the things that Rhonda always talks about with United Way, is if you can do five dollars, do five dollars. Don't feel five dollars won't do any good, because a lot of people helping a little adds up to a lot.
Frank Capozzi: Right. I mean, this has snowballed, I mean, hundreds and hundreds of donors from Seneca County, from the Finger Lakes region, from other states outside of New York. I mean, we've gotten envelopes in the mail from Kentucky and North Carolina. I mean, the money is coming from everywhere. People really want to help. So anything that they can do to help.
And, you know, to be clear, we're doing gift cards for folks. Right. But we're also working with them to pay utility bills. Rent's still got to be paid. They've still got to get their cell phone bills paid. Right. So there's a lot of financial opportunity for this fund to help folks in big, meaningful ways, long term. We're going to be there for the long haul.
Paul Szmal: And that you just said the word long term because we had the mayor on yesterday. That's one of the things he said, because we see these things, you know, nationwide. The hurricanes hit in the Carolinas and it's big news. It's in the headlines for a week and then it's on to something else. Now, that's not always the case in something like this, because we're a smaller area. But again, there are going to be people six months from now who still have needs. You're not going to just snap your finger and apartments appear and a grocery store appears and businesses pop back up.
Frank Capozzi: Exactly. And that's one of the things for organizations like Catholic Charities, specifically the fact that not only do we have these funds available to us from the immediate support, right, but we have other financial opportunities and supports year round that will help us to be present in the community long term to continue to deliver support.
Paul Szmal: One of the things I want to do in my retirement is volunteer at the Geneva Community Lunch Program because the hours didn't really fit with my schedule being in the morning. And I know you still have a great need, especially on Thursday. So just give us a reminder, just a quick overview of the program and then how people can help volunteer there.
Frank Capozzi: So the Community Lunch Program, going strong. We are based at the Methodist Church here in Geneva on Main Street. You can come on down. We're there Monday through Friday. We start with volunteers a little after nine. We go to around 1231 o'clock. Lunch is served to our guests between 1130 and 1215. We do a hot, freshly prepared, nutritious lunch every day through the efforts of the volunteers, coordinated by Robert Vona, who is our awesome coordinator for the program. You can reach out to our office and schedule a time to come in and volunteer, or you can just stop down. We'll put you to work.
Paul Szmal: And you talked about the logistic needs, and that's where a lot of community donations have come in, because over the years you've had to replace, you know, walk-in coolers and things. You've got to have a commercial type dishwashing operation, a commercial type kitchen, and all those things cost money.
Frank Capozzi: Definitely. It all costs money. And, you know, I'll break a little news for us. I was hoping to come on, but now that you're wrapping up this week, you know, we have a great opportunity we're going to announce right now. So the Wyckoff Family Foundation made a huge investment in the lunch program last year. We've upgraded all of our equipment through their generosity, and we're going to have an open house coming up in a few weeks once we get everything in and installed.
And, you know, to have that equipment and have that support from the Wyckoffs to replace equipment that's been on its last legs for years that we've considered to fix, that solves a huge problem for us, because one, we can more efficiently serve and prepare food, and we can divert funds that we would have used to replace that equipment into purchasing more food for those who come in and, you know, more fresh foods, more fresh proteins. We can do even more in the food space because we don't have to worry about that equipment.
Paul Szmal: Wow, that's fantastic. Go to the website CatholicCharitiesFL.org. There's a donate to the Ovid Relief Fund button right there. Help out the lunch program as well. I will be doing that. I'll be joining some of my fellow Rotarians on some Thursdays coming up. Always wanted to do that.
Frank, one of my very first guests ever on this program, and one of the last. And I appreciate your time and your friendship over the years. Thanks so much, Ted. Appreciate you. And on behalf of the whole community, we're going to miss you, and we appreciate all that you've done for organizations to give us a little bit of time to share our mission.
Frank Capozzi: Well, thank you so much. And I intend to do even more now that I have more time. It's 8.50. It's FLX morning.
