Paul Szmal: Good morning, it's 816. It's FHELX Morning Wednesday. It's our monthly visit with Catherine Dennis and Jalissa Stone. United Way of Cuyuki County at United Way of Cuyuki County dot org. Ladies, welcome back. It's always fun to talk United Way, especially when a big project wraps up. The Countywide Personal Care Drive, the 7th edition, just concluded a few days ago. How'd you do?
Catherine Dennis, Jolissa Stone: So the Countywide Personal Care Drive, we wrapped up. We collected 2,340 items. One of our boxes called after I talked to Ed, and I know he wrote up an article already, but we did get 40 extra items. And so all of those things, they're being redistributed out to 17 different food pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters.
Paul Szmal: All right, fantastic. We're in campaign season. Like I always say, there's two times a year. There's 364 days that are campaign season and one day where you go whoo and then start the next one. So tell us how we're doing with the campaign.
Catherine Dennis, Jolissa Stone: So we we're doing great. We've had five workplaces wrap up already. Four of them have been completely processed and we've started getting in all of our gifts from our community members because each year for those who don't give through workplaces, if you have a past giving history with us and we have your address, we'll send you a letter as a reminder. And so we've been getting a lot of gifts and from the community as well. And right now we are at 494 gifts. Our goal this year is 5,000. No, it's not. It's 2000. And so we're about a quarter of the way toward our goal. So we're really excited. And then we're really focusing on the gifts, but we are at almost 148,000 as well, which is pretty on par for about this time of year for us, at least in the last few years. And so, so far, everything's going really well. And we're just really focusing on the community and making sure that we're highlighting all regions of Cayuga County.
Paul Szmal: So last year, we started that regional campaign approach with some really great stories. This year, I made all the member agencies do some extra work to give me very zip code specific information so that I can share direct impact on how many neighbors in WeedSport used this agency, how many neighbors in Moravia used this one. And it's really impactful.
So as soon as this discussion is complete, you're both going to make a wild dash over to the Hilton Garden Inn for the annual membership meeting that begins at 9 a.m. Tell us a little bit about what happens at the meeting.
Catherine Dennis, Jolissa Stone: Sure, yep. Ted, I love that our, we, you know, this is like an annual thing for us. We do the radio and then dash to wherever our annual meeting will be. So, you know, we love to put a year in review presentation together. It's always really interesting and surprising to go back because even us in the office forget about all the things that we've done with our volunteers community in the last year. So we invite board members, committee members, community members, it's open to the public to talk about what we've been working on in the last year. So we will be looking at the 2023-24 fiscal year. And then some of the numbers on the website, unitedwayofcucacounty.org, over 560 people volunteered, whether it be on the board or on committees or helping with running events or on the campaign. And number of county residents served by funded member agencies, and this was the latest number from a few years ago, 46,600. I don't know what the total population of Cuca County is, but it's not that big. And so that it just shows that impact.
Paul Szmal: Yep, it does. It's about half of the population. And, you know, as that volunteer, the volunteer number keeps increasing every year. So we truly couldn't do what we do without, you know, the ECC's working on the campaign with Julissa or the board and committee members, the fund distribution panel, the day of caring volunteers. So it's all just a huge, huge team for what we do all year long.
Now there are a bunch of campaign events coming up, and if you go again to the website unitedwayofcucacounty.org and look for the campaign calendar, you'll see all of them. Every Sunday in November, you have Sunday smiles at Cook's Village Diner. Tell us about the deal people get and what you get.
Catherine Dennis, Jolissa Stone: Yeah, so one of our County North campaign co-chairs, Joanna Bolinski, she reached out to the owners at Cook's Village Diner and asked if they'd be interested in doing a fundraiser with us. And they were really excited. They said yes. And they said that about 20% of the profits that they make every Sunday, breakfast and lunch, in the month of November, will come back to support the United Way of Cuca County 2425 campaign. And so if you're hungry, if you're looking for breakfast, if you're looking for lunch, maybe you're looking for both, make sure you head over to Cook's Village Diner on Sundays in November.
Paul Szmal: I've been there. It's really good. I like their corned beef and hash, actually. So they do a very good breakfast.
Now also, right after elections, the election is Tuesday, November 5th. Wednesday, November 6th, starting at 430, Flight Night at Prison City, one of my favorite spots on State Street and Auburn.
Catherine Dennis, Jolissa Stone: Yes, so we're very excited. I forget which year this is. I feel like it's the 8th annual one.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, it started in 2016.
Catherine Dennis, Jolissa Stone: Wow. So it's a fan favorite. Everyone loves it. We're going to have flights again this year, beverages, food, hopefully some dessert. And so it's going to be November 6th, and $2 of every special menu item gets donated back to the United Way for the campaign. And it's a great opportunity to, you know, mingle with fellow United Way supporters. We may have a 50-50 raffle. Our committee is still deciding on that. But one of the great things with Prison City is, because this event's become so popular, it fills up real quick at Prison City. So if you're planning to go, one, go early. If you're thinking you're going to be a little later and worried about not being able to get a seat, they offer the flights on their to-go menu for the evening. So you can order your flights to go and actually take them up to North Street and enjoy them there or at home. But you can get some more beverages. They're not part of the Flight Night at North Street, but they're still there. But you can get your burger and your dessert flights to go and hang out with other people at North Street or at home with your family. So that is a great thing that they started in 2020. And that's one of the things that we want to make sure people really know about this year after filling up so quickly last year.
Paul Szmal: Wow, sounds like a deal. And details are still being worked out, but here's a kind of a save-the-date reminder. December 12th, that's a Thursday, will be Winterfest.
Catherine Dennis, Jolissa Stone: Yes. So our County North co-chairs are Jenny Bartholomew and Joanna Balinski. They're both Weedsport community members. And Jenny's actually on the APT at Weedsport. And they really wanted to set up a table to share what the United Way does, particularly in Weedsport. And so they'll be there. They are going to have a lotto tree raffle. So if you want to win a bunch of lotto tickets, make sure you stop by and see them. The Winterfest happens at the Junior Senior High School in Weedsport. I think it's on Bruges Road. But it'll be a lot of fun. There's a lot of other holiday vendors. So not only can you check out the United Way and support with, you know, a raffle ticket to win a lotto tree, you can also do some Christmas shopping or holiday shopping, whatever holiday you observe.
Paul Szmal: So you have the membership meeting today, and then tomorrow it's off to Skinning Atlas. The Nonprofit Summit will be all day long from 8 to 4 tomorrow, with Melanie Littlejohn doing the keynote address. Tell us about that event.
Catherine Dennis, Jolissa Stone: Yes, we're very excited. Apparently we wanted to do everything this week. So we have the Nonprofit Summit tomorrow. We are co-hosting with Catalyst Yoga and many other community partners. So we've got from 8 to 4, we've got breakout sessions focusing on, you know, thriving board models, advocacy, staff wellness, and incentive programs, and also multi-generational workplaces. Melanie Littlejohn, CEO of the CNY Community Foundation, will be our keynote speaker. But we're also featuring another talk by Mike West. He's the Vice President of Legal Services for the NICON. It's the New York Council of Nonprofits. So he's driving in from Albany to talk about partnerships and collaborations and mergers. So it's just going to be an awesome day. And so we have a great turnout, about 70 people coming out to the Lodge in Skinning Atlas for tomorrow.
Paul Szmal: Sounds good. Boy, after today and tomorrow, you both might want to go to Prison City for a flight.
Catherine Dennis, Jolissa Stone: Don't wait. I think you're onto something, Ted.
Paul Szmal: Alright, well thank you both as always, and thanks for sharing the great United Way news. We appreciate it every time.
Catherine Dennis, Jolissa Stone: Thank you, thank you.
