Paul Szmal: Welcome back to FLX Morning on Finger Lakes News Radio. It is 820 and joining us right now is Rhonda Jasper from the Seneca County United Way. Rhonda, good morning. How are you this morning?
Ron DeJasper: I'm okay, other than tech trouble. How are you?
Paul Szmal: I'm doing well. Well, it's Monday. These things do tend to happen, unfortunately, but glad to have you on board. Let's go ahead and start by reflecting a little bit on the April value of the month.
Ron DeJasper: Sure. For April, it's tolerance and integrity. A person acts on conviction and stands for his or her beliefs. An interesting one now is we can help our children respect each other's differences and treat each other fairly. And again, I know I say it every month, but kids are watching how adults around them react to everything and we're all set in the example, whether we mean to or not.
Paul Szmal: Absolutely. And you've got a ton of activities that are coming up here over the course of the next couple of weeks. I want to start with the week of, I believe these are called intergenerational activities that are happening.
Ron DeJasper: Yes, we're so excited to partner with the Senior Center. We've done this before, but we've never done like a week for vacation, so it's exciting. So we've got anyone who goes to the Senior Center, which I think is 60 and up, up at the Seneca County, up on the Bonadette Drive there by the Seneca County, everyone's welcome. And then we'll have some of our kids there, so we'll do things from chair yoga and just chatting time to a bunny hop dance party and bingo on Friday with prizes, which everyone loves.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, this is a full week of activities. It actually starts this morning with some chair yoga at 1015. Whose idea was it to pair these together in a week-long kind of Spring Break celebration?
Ron DeJasper: So I'm not entirely sure where it started, but I'm pretty sure it was Karen Burcroft, who is just, she's one of our amazing, amazing employees who's super good at finding partnerships and working together.
Paul Szmal: And coming up the week after Easter, Easter of course coming this week, being a little late this year, April 26th, the Seneca County United Way is taking part in a drug take-back event.
Ron DeJasper: Yes, yes, we do this. We always partner with our law enforcement. Speaking of partnerships, we have a wonderful partnership with all our local law enforcement. And so for drug take-back day, there's two a year that are like national ones. So this is the first one. So we will be there and we'll have law enforcement partners at Kinney's in Seneca Falls, Walgreens in Waterloo, and Kinney's in Ovid from 10 to 2 on the 26th. We'll have gun locks available, a whole lot of other information about the things we do, and Narcan.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, and this is part of the national drug take-back program and a national drug take-back day that is happening on April the 26th. You mentioned Ovid, and I'm aware that you now have a Narcan vending machine in Ovid.
Ron DeJasper: We do. We're very, very excited. We had gotten some state-supported funding and were able to purchase a brand new vending machine for down there. We do have, you know, the one at the Seneca County House of Concern, but that was retrofitted and we made it work. But this one is actually meant to do it, and it's fantastic. We're able to put Narcan and there's xylosine and fentanyl testing strips in there. There's some prevention health in there from one of our local health partners. So there's all sorts of information, and all you've got to do, I believe, is put in your area code and hit dispense, and it'll give it to you, and it's right outside Parkwest.
Paul Szmal: Ah, okay, so we know exactly where the location is there. And I know you're gearing up for a couple of big events. One is looming bigger and bigger on the horizon, and that would be the annual Taste of Spring event.
Ron DeJasper: Yes, we're very excited. It is the biggest birthday party ever. We're going to celebrate everyone and anyone who's there. We're going to be out at Del Lago again May 15th at 5.30. Again, it's 21 and over. But we'll have all sorts of local food and drinks. We've got new vendors this year I'm super excited about. So if you watch Facebook, you'll see them come out, but we've got breweries and wineries and food and so much sweets and a distillery and coffee. We even have some non-alcoholic drinks this year because we're partnering with Cornell Cooperative Extension. So we've got something for everyone for sure.
Paul Szmal: This has really become a landmark event in the spring here in the Finger Lakes.
Ron DeJasper: We like to think it is. It was one of the original tasting events and we've been doing it for 35 years. So we like to think that we're kind of a staple, but I think it is. It's definitely a sign of spring when we start working on this, even when it's gray and rainy outside, we know what's coming. We know there's going to be sunshine soon. So we're always happy to be able to bring this one back out.
Paul Szmal: And I'm hoping for some sunshine for you on June the 1st because that is the second annual Walking with Hope in the Heart.
Ron DeJasper: Yes. So for Seneca County's Suicide Prevention Coalition, we do walks. This is our second annual one out at the Vista, which is Samson. And we will kick it off at noon. There's all of us set up. I want to say vendors, but it's not purchasing stuff, but there is things to purchase. We'll have food trucks. We'll have music. It's just a really neat day. It can be super somber. We have speakers who will share their stories, which is always just so emotional for everyone there. But there's something so powerful about being in a group, sharing that common experience, that common goal, that common mission. And it's such a heartwarming and positive day when it's all said and done.
Paul Szmal: I forgot to ask about Taste of Spring. Are tickets still available for that?
Ron DeJasper: They are. They are. You can go to our website, uwsenica.org. Or you can stop in Community Bank in Ovid. They are selling them right there. Or give us a call at the office, which is 315-539-1135.
Paul Szmal: Awesome. Rhonda, thank you so much. Greatly appreciate it.
Ron DeJasper: Thank you so much.
