Paul Szmal: Rhonda Jasper is here from the Seneca County United Way. Rhonda, good morning. How are you?
Guest: I'm good. How are you?
Paul Szmal: Good, good. And before we get into the taste of spring and some of the other stuff that is coming up, let's talk about our June value of the month, which is observance of laws or restraint.
Guest: Yeah. So looking through this one, because of course there's the little information about it, really looking and focusing on youth being smart about decisions, avoiding risky behaviors. This one aligns so well with all of our coalition work, learning about risks of using drug and alcohol, avoid situations that include risky behaviors. And of course, for adults, you got to model that responsible behavior, maintain open communication with your child. I think that's a huge one.
Paul Szmal: Yeah. And it's also good if you're a parent to know who your child's friends are and maybe get to know their parents as well.
Guest: Absolutely. There's a lot of, you know, there's, there's a lot of opportunity for your kids to be influenced by people. And the more you know about the people around them, the better.
Paul Szmal: Absolutely. So how was taste of spring?
Guest: Taste of spring was wonderfully successful. It was, it was a smaller group than usual, but a wonderful group. We had over a hundred donation businesses that did donations or vendors to make it all come together. And we were able to bring in about $14,000.
Paul Szmal: That's great. Yeah. Any particular highlights of the event or.
Guest: I mean, there's always all of the good food and drink, but we did have a couple of big sponsors. We had Bill Graham Chevrolet and Summit Federal Credit Union. And of course we couldn't do it without Del Lago or Tommy D doing the music or Finger Lakes One helping out with the advertising. But yeah, it was, it was, I don't think we've ever had this many businesses participate. So that was exciting.
Paul Szmal: Yeah. And that's a good sign too, that you know, businesses in the area are tuned into community involvement through an organization like the United Way that has so many different partner agencies throughout the community.
Guest: Oh, absolutely. I mean, our, we know our community in Seneca County is always wonderful and supportive, but the small businesses, and I mean, we know things are tough across the board now, but you know, there's so many ways that you can support the work we do here and the work we do in Seneca County without having to write a check. So being able to, to give, you know, small businesses and individuals an opportunity to do that, I think is a great, a great thing.
Paul Szmal: And the Taste of Spring, that's traditionally one of the bigger fundraisers of the year, right?
Guest: It is the biggest. So now we rest. But not for long, because you have an event coming up on, well, let's see, you had the, you had this event yesterday, so you didn't get a much of a break. And that was the Walking with Hope Suicide Prevention event.
Paul Szmal: Yes, fortunately, we have a very strong committee around that. So a lot of the work is done by the Suicide Coalition Committee. But yeah, again, weather held out, it was a beautiful day. We have amazing speakers. It's always, you know, it can be a very emotional day, but it's just such a day of people coming together and that feeling of not being alone.
Guest: We're talking with Rhonda Jasper from the Seneca County United Way here on FLX Morning.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, the weather yesterday was just about perfect to go out for a walk, wasn't it?
Guest: It was, you know, we've done the walk in the fall, we've done it in the spring. And so far, we've had snow, we've had rain, we've had wind. So I think we earned yesterday.
Paul Szmal: Most definitely. Now you mentioned a little bit of rest. It's a little bit like maybe take your time to catch your breath, because you're going to start now going out and being a part of some of the events around the Seneca County community.
Guest: Yeah, now that it's nice out, we get to do all the festivals and get togethers. You know, we do a lot through the schools during the colder months. You know, we do a lot of opportunities to go speak to people. But now we get to be, you know, we're going to be at Strawberry Fest coming up in Ovid next weekend. We get to be out there really interacting with the community. We've got some kids events coming up. You know, we're going to be doing kids activities at the Lodi Bicentennial. And we, of course, are starting to plan for National Night Out, which is our big August event.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, that's coming up at the Robin Lunt and Son Farm on August the 4th. If people aren't familiar with that, Rhonda, what is the National Night Out all about?
Guest: Sure. So it's clearly a national program, but it's really to help youth in law enforcement kind of help break down that stigma between them. So it's a great chance for the kids to meet our local law enforcement, to be able to see all the cool things. You know, we've always got, you know, the canine units usually there. We've got all of, you know, we've got the Sheriff's Department, all the local PDs. We've got troopers. You know, last year we had some people rappelling in from a helicopter. It's just a great time for the community again to get together in a positive way and really see, you know, the role models our kids have and help start those conversations.
Paul Szmal: Now, when you go to these events like the Strawberry Fest or the National Night Out, I know there are a couple of things that you bring along. One of them are Narcan kits.
Guest: Absolutely. We are happy to do a very quick training with anyone who's interested. Also, you're welcome to, if you have Narcan and it's expired, you can bring it in and exchange it. We're always happy to do that. You know, of course, we always have all sorts of information about our different programs and all sorts of prevention information, but we also have medication lock bags usually, depending on supplies, but so that you can keep your medications locked up or your edibles locked up, whatever it is you want to keep away from your kids and your pets. So, we usually try to have something and, of course, we have all the fun little, you know, toys and giveaways for the kids.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, and that's something you might not think about is having a lock bag for your medication. We're so used to just, you know, having them in the medicine cabinet and whatnot, but keeping them out of reach of kids and pets too, that's important.
Guest: Absolutely. I mean, we've definitely, I mean, you can see, check the statistics, but we've seen more and more pet poisonings too, especially since cannabis has become legal and more, you know, regularly found in households. So, it's not just the kids, it's everybody.
Paul Szmal: And you, now that you've done the Taste of Spring and that's, as you said, the major fundraiser of the year, you start looking ahead now to 2027?
Guest: Yeah, it's kind of funny. I always say we have two seasons here. We have Taste of Spring and we have Campaign. So, now that Taste of Spring has ended, now we'll really start looking ahead to the 2027 Campaign. It always launches in the fall, so it'll be here before we know it, but now we really start working on gathering all the numbers from last year and working on all of the materials and getting all those pieces together. And that determines where, you know, how the fundraising is going to go and where certain monies are earmarked, things of that nature.
Paul Szmal: Yes. So, we definitely do that. We, of course, have our in-house programs and then we'll do the community investment applications for our grants for our partner agencies in the fall again, you know, because they run the calendar year and then we'll have those applications and we'll review them and we'll be able to announce our community partners for next year. And, you know, a lot of these community partner organizations, you know, some of them relied on, you know, like grants from the state and things like that. Because the budget ran late and there may have been some changes in those grant programs, that means that there may be changes in what they can provide.
Guest: That is true and that's across the board. We've all been hit with funding changes, some unexpected. I mean, we talked about it last fall. We lost, you know, a grant that covers a third of our budget with like five days notice. You know, we're very fortunate because we were able to maintain our staff. But if you're doing direct service, if you're doing those kind of things, it can really disrupt what you have going on. You know, a lot of things, even if the funding is there, has been delayed in receiving it. So, it's a tough time for everybody.
Paul Szmal: And when you support the United Way, like the United Way of Seneca County, the great thing is your money is staying local.
Guest: Absolutely. 100% of every donation, whether even if it's your time and your talents. And, of course, every dollar stays right here in Seneca County. It either stays with our partner agencies serving Seneca County and keeping it specifically with their Seneca County programs or goes to in-house programs here. You know, the suicide prevention and the opioid pieces and the financial wellness, but it all stays right here.
Paul Szmal: And I'm glad you mentioned, you know, donating your time because if money is a difficult thing for you, but you have a spare few hours a week, there are places where you can help the United Way or their various partner agencies.
Guest: Absolutely. I mean, we have times, you know, that are busier than others as far as needing volunteers and whatnot. But if it's not a time that we need volunteers, we're always happy to hook you up with one of our partner agencies, you know, because we talk about the funded partner agencies a lot, but we partner with so many across the county. So, we have all sorts of connections that we can hook you up with if you're looking for a volunteer.
Paul Szmal: As always, Rhonda, I appreciate having you on board and I'm glad Taste of Spring and the Suicide Prevention Walk went well. And when we talk to you next month, we'll be a little bit closer to National Night Out.
Guest: We will. The rest will be over.
