Paul Szmal: FLX Morning continues at 8.15 and we're joined by Catherine Dennis and Julissa Stone-Spacher from our United Way of Cayuga County. Catherine, good morning. How are you this morning?
Catherine Denison, Jelissa Stone: Good morning, Paul. Great. How are you? And Julissa, are you with us too?
Jelissa Stone: I am. Good morning. Hopefully you can hear me now.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, we can hear both of you just fine. Thank you very much.
You know, I don't remember if we had a chance to talk about the mini golf tournament. I may have been out sick when the last time you were on the program, but I have to tell you that for the first time coming to the event, I was so impressed with how smoothly everything went and how difficult some of the holes actually were. It's amazing, isn't it?
Catherine Denison, Jelissa Stone: Yeah. What these businesses create. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, good.
Paul Szmal: I think one of my favorites was, and I don't remember which business it was that did it, but the Super Mario Brothers Hole.
Catherine Denison, Jelissa Stone: Yes. That's our friends at Booker T. Washington Community Center. The students actually, they're STEM students in the after school program. They actually built the hole.
Paul Szmal: Wow. They did a phenomenal job on that.
The electrical hole was fun too. That was done by, I think, the Electrical Contractors Union.
Catherine Denison, Jelissa Stone: Oh, the MCOM. Yeah. That was brand new this year. This is the first time they've been part of the tournament.
Paul Szmal: Yeah.
I'm looking forward to doing it again next year because I'm a bit of a mini golf aficionado.
Catherine Denison, Jelissa Stone: Oh, good. That's great.
Paul Szmal: I did get a hole in one, but that was on the pinball hole where I got to spin for it, so that doesn't necessarily count.
Catherine Denison, Jelissa Stone: Oh, the Baxter Hole? Yes. Yeah. That one's amazing.
Paul Szmal: Yeah. That was another fun one.
Well, let's move on and talk about what we have coming up, specifically the Day of Caring Project, and that is coming up on August the 7th, Catherine.
Catherine Denison, Jelissa Stone: Yep. August the 7th. I can't believe it. It's already almost here. It's the fifth annual Day of Caring. This is our fifth year, believe it or not.
What this day is, it's a community outreach day. During the Day of Caring, workplaces, community members, residents, folks who work in the county can be matched with a project at a nonprofit or a community space to help with a project that needs doing. Maybe it's painting park benches. Maybe it's weeding and mulching at a location. This is a really fun day to get out with your colleagues, get out with friends, neighbors, and go check out the county and maybe visit a place that you've never been for the first time.
Registration is open for projects and volunteers. Volunteer registration is open until July 18th, but to guarantee a T-shirt, the deadline's July 3rd, because we do need to order those and have those ready to go. Then for projects, the deadline is the 18th of July, so plenty of time to check this information out on our website. And important to note that it's not just volunteers you're looking for, but projects that the volunteers can work on.
Paul Szmal: Definitely.
Catherine Denison, Jelissa Stone: Yep. Last year we had about 16 projects throughout the county, so we were out at Healing Hearts with Equestrian painting some horse sheds. One of our teams was out at Southern Cayuga Instant Aid helping with just some reorganization inside. So these projects can be clerical, they can be organization internally, they can be projects with program participants. We had some folks at Cayuga Centers creating some curriculum for some of the folks that use Cayuga Center services, and it can be a whole number of things.
And what we do is we ask our volunteers to list their preferences, what they like to do, what they definitely don't want to do, and then we match them with the projects that come in. That's a pretty neat way to do it.
Paul Szmal: Yep. It works well.
Catherine Denison, Jelissa Stone: And the weather's going to be beautiful this year. No rain.
Paul Szmal: Well, we're hoping. We're hoping.
Catherine Denison, Jelissa Stone: But we do ask, you know, if agencies do submit a project, if they have kind of a contingency plan, it's not mandatory, but it definitely is preferred or really beneficial to us for our volunteer teams.
Paul Szmal: Well, judging, I'm hoping that by the time we get to August, we'll have settled the weather pattern a little bit. But just based on what's going on, I'd say contingency plans should almost be a requirement at this point. I think the theme of the year, contingency plan, for sure.
Catherine Denison, Jelissa Stone: Absolutely. Absolutely.
Julissa, would you like to tell us a little bit about the County Wide Personal Care Drive?
Jelissa Stone: Yes. So we started launching this in conjunction with the Day of Caring. So we work with businesses throughout the county in social groups, clubs, to host community drop off sites or internal drives to collect personal care items. So like shampoos, toothbrushes, shaving cream, shampoos, dish soap, diapers and wipes, things like that, that are not covered by assistance programs. And they're often seen as luxury items.
And so this is a program, I think this is the eighth year that we've done this. And it's in collaboration with CAP. What we do is we collect all the items with the help of the community. We pick everything up in October. We count, sort, and prepare for distribution. And then our friends at CAP make sure that these boxes go out to all of Cuyahoga County food pantries. So like food pantries in Fairhaven and Moravia, King Ferry, like every, all parts of Cuyahoga County, the food pantries and soup kitchens, get these items. And we try to divide the boxes as evenly as possible, our volunteers.
It's a very fun but busy week in October when we count, pack, and get everything out. But it is launching officially on August 7th with the day of caring, just kind of to go into that idea of, you know, giving back to the community. But the personal care drive does last about two months. It goes into Columbus Day or Indigenous People Day. So that's the last day that you can donate at one of those community drop-off sites. And then our volunteers start doing all the prep work after that.
And we kind of did that as a kind of a way to celebrate our birthday as an organization because we were founded in October of 1922. So it's a fun way to tie in our history and making sure that we're giving back to the community in, you know, in the different ways that they need. Because this drive really came to be because, as I mentioned, these items aren't covered by those assistance programs. And our food pantries were asking for more donations like this. So that's why we started doing this. And it's become a critical part of the calendar year, especially at those food pantries.
Like we'll get, starting in the summer, we'll start getting questions about when they can expect their boxes just because the need is so great. And knowing what's, you know, happening with tariffs and anticipated increase in cost here at the United Way office, we're going to actually officially open one box early. It's ready to be decorated. It's just hanging out in our office. But if people have items that they do want to donate early, we can accept them at the United Way office. But those community boxes will be up on August 7th.
Paul Szmal: Okay. So next time you go out shopping and you're getting shaving cream or toothpaste, simple thing to do, just buy two of them.
And Jelissa, I know you're always on the hunt for volunteers, but there are some specific volunteer needs that need to be filled right now.
Jelissa Stone: Yes. So at the United Way, we're, you know, we're making a big effort to making sure that we are in all parts of Cuyahoga County. So our events, if you joined us for anything like, you know, our February events or those small other events that happen in the fall, you'll, you'll, you would have noticed that we've been, you know, out in Cato and Weedsport and Moravia and Aurora. So we need more volunteers, especially in those regions to help with our smaller one-time events.
All you have to do is give me a call or send me an email, I'll put you on a list. And so whenever we have volunteer opportunities, you'll get that, you know, email, it'll go out to my volunteer list. And so it's like a one-time opportunity. You can say, yeah, I want to do this. We do look for about two hour shifts. So that's just like one-time event volunteers, very painless, but it gives you an opportunity to learn a little bit more about the United Way, interact with the community, learn more from either United Way staff or longtime volunteers who are helping support the event.
And, you know, it's one time, so it's not like a multi-month commitment or anything. But if you're interested in those multi-month commitments, we are looking for a couple extra hands on our public relations committee, which is the group that actually plans those mini pop-up events, particularly between March and September. Then of course our campaign cabinet handles the fall, but we are looking for a couple event planners. So if that is a talent that you have and that you enjoy, and you'd like to give back to the community, please give us a call.
The United Way office is 315-253-9741. And so we're just, we're working on expanding that group. And then, as I kind of mentioned with cabinet, same thing, we are looking for this group. It's a big push. So it's a little bit more commitment than some of our other committees, but it's very short term. So it's from roughly July, August until the campaign ends in either in early March. And it's really just helping us connect with the community, putting together those events and little pop-up fundraisers.
So there is a lot of opportunities to get involved. The cabinet, that's like a six-month commitment. Public relations is for as long as you want. Some of our committee members have been on there longer than I've been with United Way, and I've been here since 2017. And then events are one time. So a lot of opportunities to join in, get a feel for the organization, and learn a little bit more about Cuyahoga County and what we do.
Paul Szmal: Excellent. And if anybody wants to find out more information, what's the United Way of Cuyahoga County website?
Jelissa Stone: It is unitedwayofcuyahogacounty.org.
Paul Szmal: Fantastic. Ladies, thank you so much. Good to talk to you again.
Catherine Denison, Jelissa Stone: Thanks, Paul.
Jelissa Stone: You too.
Paul Szmal: It is 827 on FLX Morning.
