Paul Szmal: And we are joined on the phone by Rhonda Jasper from Seneca County United Way. Sorry about the little technical glitch there, Rhonda. Good morning, how are you?
Ronda Jasper: I'm good, how are you?
Paul Szmal: Enjoying a beautiful day today.
Ronda Jasper: It's absolutely gorgeous.
Paul Szmal: So let's open things up by talking about our May value of the month. Of course, self-esteem. It's something everyone can work on, but a person feels a sense of self-worth and self-respect. Does this apply differently for youth than it does for adults?
Ronda Jasper: I think so. For youth, it involves a lot of reminding. You know, just being able to focus on the positive, praise more, criticize less, you know, support them. You know, everyone's unique and things are good. You know, they're going through a lot figuring out who they are and trying to be confident enough to be themselves. But there are plenty of adults out there still struggling with that as well. So I think we can certainly support ourselves and each other much better.
Paul Szmal: And I have to think that social media plays a big role in how people feel about themselves nowadays.
Ronda Jasper: Oh, absolutely. The comparisons are insane. I mean, not only, you know, body image and what's accomplished in household. It's so easy to get caught up in those perfect snippets you see of other people and feel like because you're not that perfect all the time, even though they aren't either. You know, the comparison is definitely doing a number on all of us.
Paul Szmal: All right. I want to switch over and talk about the biggie that is coming up here pretty soon, as in this Thursday soon. And that would be the taste of spring.
Ronda Jasper: Yes, yes. We're very excited. It's going to be the biggest birthday party ever. We're going to be celebrating everybody there. We're up to 32 vendors. We've got some new ones, lots of food and drink. We've got non-alcoholic options this year, which we know people have been looking for. You know, there's still some tickets left. If you get them pre-sale, you can get them for $40. They're $45 at the door. But you'll definitely not walk away hungry or thirsty.
Paul Szmal: Most definitely. And if you buy five tickets, you get the sixth free.
Ronda Jasper: Absolutely.
Paul Szmal: And how many tickets are available? I mean, we must be getting down to the nitty gritty here.
Ronda Jasper: Yeah, I don't know because I know that some more sales came in over the weekend, so I don't have a number. But it is a limited space, so we do have to be careful as far as not getting it too full. We are at that buffet space at Del Lago again, which works out perfectly but gets filled pretty quick.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, that is a nice space to have this event. And it runs from 530 until 830 on Thursday. How do people get tickets for that, Rhonda?
Ronda Jasper: You can check out our website at uwsenica.org. There's a link right there. You can also just call our office at 539-1135. At this point, it's too late to mail them out, but we can certainly hold them for you at the door if you prefer to do it that way.
Paul Szmal: Right. And I imagine since it's the biggest birthday party ever, there has to be birthday cake.
Ronda Jasper: Of course. Of course. There's cake and presents and streamers and noisemakers and all those fun birthday things.
Paul Szmal: And you have another big event, one of the big summer events in the Finger Lakes coming up on Sunday, June 1st. Tell me a little bit about the Walking with Hope event.
Ronda Jasper: Sure. So we have the Walking with Hope in the Heart of the Finger Lakes. It's a suicide awareness walk. It's our second annual. We started it last year. For years and years, we participated in the Out of the Darkness walks for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, AFSP, which is a fantastic organization. And we use them a lot for resources and materials. However, we know that the money that was raised for AFSP didn't necessarily stay here. And at Seneca County, that's the most important thing to us, is being able to keep resources local. So we now do this walk so we can keep our resources right here with the Seneca County Suicide Prevention Coalition to do local things in Seneca County. But we're out at the Vista at Sampson State Park again, we're hoping it'll be an absolutely beautiful, dry day. We will start and have some speakers. We always do. There's food trucks and tables and freebies and things to buy and, you know, bracelets to see who else is in a similar boat as you. It's a really neat, although it can be very emotional, but to be together in a group, it's a very, very neat event.
Paul Szmal: I would imagine that you have not only families who unfortunately have been affected by suicide, but suicide survivors that are going to want to participate and maybe even be speakers as part of that event.
Ronda Jasper: Absolutely. It's a good mix of people. It's people who want to support. It's people who have been there, people who have lost loved ones, people who have lost parents and children. And it's a day where you realize you're definitely not alone.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, and mental health is so, so important and I think so vastly underrated.
Ronda Jasper: Absolutely. I think people don't give anyone enough credit when you think of mental health, you know. Around here, everyone's great. And if you have a heart attack, you'll have six casseroles on your door by the next day. But until when you're having a really rough day and you're depressed and stuck in your house, those casseroles show up, our work's not done.
Paul Szmal: Now, is this a team event or an individual event, Rhonda?
Ronda Jasper: It can be either. Anyone's welcome. You don't have to pay. You can just come and walk. There are some teams. Again, if you go to our website, uwsenica.org, there's a link there right on the front page. You can either join a team, create a team. Like I said, you can just show up that day. You know, it's pretty laid back. It's welcoming to everybody, kids, pets, all that. We love them all.
Paul Szmal: All right. Rhonda, thanks so much. Much appreciated, as always. We'll chat with you next month.
Ronda Jasper: Thank you so much.
