Paul Szmal: The United Way Day of Caring presented by Wegmans is Thursday, August the 6th. And you're probably thinking, well, why would we mention this now? That's because as we head into the month of May, a lot of the things associated with this start to roll. There's a lot of preparation that has gone into the Day of Caring presented by Wegmans this year. And here to talk about it first, I want to introduce Julia Stone-Spacher from the United Way of Cayuga County. Morning, Julia.
Guest: Morning, Paul. How are you?
Paul Szmal: And also on board with us, I have Kelly Wade, who is the President and CEO of Cayuga Lake National Bank. Kelly, good morning.
Guest: Good morning, Paul. How are you?
Paul Szmal: I am doing well. And from the Healing Arts Equestrian Center, Krista Malone, who is the CEO and Program Director. She's on board as well. Hi, Krista.
Guest: Good morning. It's nice to be here.
Paul Szmal: Great to have all three of you on this morning. So let's start by talking about some of the preludes to the Day of Caring, one of which has already began, Julia. We've gotten the entries for the Youth Drawing Contest. And now the voting booths are going to go up starting May the 1st.
Guest: Yes. So we had some beautiful submissions come in. We actually launched one of the polling booths early. So we have an online polling booth that just went out in our newsletter last night. But we'll have in-person sites across Cayuga County, May 1st through May 10th. We're going to finalize those locations and update it on our website. So if you go to unitedwayofcayugacounty.org, click on the Events tab and go to the Day of Caring dropdown menu. After some registration information, there is a spot where we'll start listing all those in-person polling sites. And by the way, there's also going to be polling available on Facebook and on Instagram. So if you can't make it to one of the in-person booths, you can check out the online component.
Paul Szmal: Do we know, Julia, is that going to go up at the same time as the voting booths open?
Guest: Yes. So Facebook, Instagram, and in-person polling all starts May 10th. Sorry, May 1st and ends May 10th. So that's a 10-day window for you to go check these out. A lot of talented youth around the region have done some outstanding artwork. And yeah, you get a voice in who is going to wind up winning the contest. The next thing that is going to happen is project and volunteer registration as we look ahead. That's going to open on May 11th. And, Julissa, we'll get to the particulars of that in a moment. But the reason we have Kelly and Krista here is because the Cayuga Lake National Bank was paired with the Healing Arts Equestrian Center for the past two years for the Day of Caring.
Paul Szmal: Kelly, was this something that you were approached with, or did you actually pick the organization you wanted to partner with?
Guest: So actually, the bank has been a participant of the United Way for over 30 years. And we had the opportunity to participate in the Day of Caring and get some of our employees together to go out and help an organization. And Julissa and Krista got together to realize that Krista had a need, and we were able to provide the labor for that job. And we were very excited to do it.
Paul Szmal: And Krista, tell me about how the collaboration came about from your side.
Guest: I think I saw a post on Facebook that they were looking for projects through the United Way for the Day of Caring. And as a nonprofit, I always have a vision of things that need to get done, and there's not ever enough time or hands to do it. So I thought, well, let's try this out. And we were accepted, and it's been a really enjoyable experience.
Paul Szmal: And I'm sure a successful one too.
Guest: Absolutely.
Paul Szmal: Kelly, how many people participated from the bank?
Guest: We have just about 10 people or so that went on the last couple of years, and it's been an opportunity that employees, we've been able to rotate some of them so that everyone gets the chance. Obviously, it's a great chance to get outside of the bank and serve the community. So it worked out well.
Paul Szmal: And I'm sure that meant that they got to be around horses, which is not a bad thing either.
Guest: It's always a great day. Krista has a beautiful spot out there with a great mission that she has, and it was our pleasure to get outside. We were inside all day to be able to work out there at her farm.
Paul Szmal: And Krista, while we have the moment here, why don't you go ahead and tell us a little bit about what the organization does for people that may not be familiar with it.
Guest: Yeah, so our organization provides experiences with horses for anyone who feels the need that they could be healed or helped by horses. I'm a licensed occupational therapist, so I see a lot of patients or clients with physical or neurodiverse needs, but it's kind of expanded to include everybody. So we are an all-inclusive facility, and we welcome anybody who thinks they need us.
Paul Szmal: We're talking with some folks from the United Way of Cougar County, as well as Cougar Lake National Bank and the Healing Arts Equestrian Center here on FLX Morning. Angelisa, I want to come back to you. The Project and Volunteer Registration opens May 11th. If you're going to register for a project or volunteering, there is a new volunteer Cougar platform that people will go through.
Guest: Yeah, so this platform, we launched it in October of 2025, so it's brand new. A lot of our surrounding United Ways, like Central New York out in Syracuse, the Greater Finger Lakes region out in Rochester, and even Buffalo Erie and obviously Buffalo, they all use this platform for their Day of Carings as well. But the platform itself, it's a great place to connect with a variety of nonprofits beyond the Day of Caring. But because we're trying to grow and encourage people to use this site, we are transitioning all of the projects and volunteer registration to go through the volunteer Cougar platform. I've been working closely with our programs coordinator, Sarah Sales, to get the platform ready. Because it is a learning curve, we are encouraging everyone who plans to participate this year to sign up for one of Sarah's webinars. It's only a half hour of your day. She's actually doing one this Friday, and it would love to have more people join her for it. It's at noon, so it's 12 to 1230. The platform, the learning curve is creating the account. But once you create the account, it's there forever. So you can check out other nonprofits and other initiatives as they come up. And for businesses, so the projects, they'll also need to create an account. But that's kind of like Facebook, where you have to have a personal account to create a business account. So we did reach out to all of our past participants to make sure that they created their accounts for this year. But if you are interested in being a part of the Day of Caring, please give us a call at the United Way or reach out to Sarah to make sure you're on the volunteer Cougar platform. And because it is a learning curve, we do have special training sessions for the Day of Caring itself. So because the project, it's going to be set up a little differently than a normal volunteer need. Sarah is doing two webinars on that, one on May 22nd and one on June 9th. But that's all you can register for that using the same link that we do have on our website to register. And then for people who want to register to volunteer, if you're not really big on the computer and you'd rather come and do something in person, we are doing an information volunteer registration session. We're partnering with the Seymour Library on Monday, June 15th to do two in-person sessions. We'll do one from 12 to 1 and then a second one, 530 to 630. We'll be in the IDEA Lab. It is registration required because we have to make sure we can accommodate everyone who wants to come. And if it fills up, we'll make another session. But each session can fit 12 people. So if someone wants to come in and talk with me one-on-one to help set up their account, we will be at the Seymour Library that day. And by the way, projects close Friday, July 10th. Volunteer registration closes Wednesday, July 22nd. The projects do have to be located physically within Cuyahoga County. Kids 10 to 18 welcome to volunteer, but they need to have a parent or guardian volunteering with them. Now, if you can't volunteer, there are other ways that you can participate in the Day of Caring Julissa, including donating blood.
Paul Szmal: Yes, so this has become a staple of the Day of Caring. We are partnering with the American Red Cross and Cuyahoga Community College again this year. So we will have a blood drive from 11 to 4 on the Day of Caring, so August 6th. And that registration is open live. We're actually adding that link to our website today. So if you can go to the Red Cross website or by about noon today, you can head over to our website and you can register to donate blood. And there's also the personal care drive that will be a part of things. That is donating hygiene items that will be dispersed across the county. And you can also make a financial contribution to support the Day of Caring, as well as the mini grant program. And I want to mention before we wrap up, Julissa, that there are plenty of sponsorship opportunities open. If your business doesn't necessarily or nonprofit organization doesn't necessarily have a project, they can actually sponsor some of the things that are a part of the Day of Caring.
Guest: Yes, absolutely. And one of the fun benefits of being a sponsor for the Day of Caring is that we have a T-shirt that we distribute out to all of our volunteers. And every business or organization who sponsors the Day of Caring is listed on the back of the T-shirt. So sponsorships are due June 26th. And those volunteers who want to make sure they get that T-shirt because the front is the contest winner from the Day of Caring drawing contest. It's their artwork on the front and then all of our sponsors on the back. But to guarantee your shirt size, you will want to make sure you register for Day of Caring by July 2nd, just so that we have enough time to get our print order over to Farm Boy. And again, you can find out information about everything that we've talked about with the Day of Caring presented by Wegmans at UnitedWayOfKiyukiCounty.org.
