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How the Weekend Went with the Goodman Community Center · Ask The Experts

• 0:11
  Thirteen, I be a Madison in the morning. Oh, that's exciting music
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  for a celebration. Great weekend at Goodman's Center, big distribution for their Thanksgiving
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  basket drive, and of course Amy with Goodman Community Center has been joining us,
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  keeping us up to date leading up to the big weekend. Here with
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  a recap. Now, Amy, how you doing this morning? Doing well?
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  We actually have one more day of distribution, so we got some cars
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  lining up right now to pick up their baskets today. As we speak,
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  exciting stuff. How did it come together? What we're do we have?
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  I know, obviously we're still probably sounds. We still haven't distributed everything.
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  We probably don't have final numbers. But do you hit a lot of the
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  benchmarks as far as donations and other things. Yeah, you know what our
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  community turned out Son, It was amazing, as they always do. I
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  the price, but every year we're thankful. We asked for people to bring
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  in their donations by Friday last week, and we didn't close out the whole
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  canned food countdown, but man, our gym was full of food on Friday,
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  and then it kept coming on Saturday and Sunday. You know, we
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  were putting out some calls for cranberries and gravy and stuffing. Those were the
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  three categories that we really needed the most help with, and man, people
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  came out. It was fantastic. Let's talk about some of the numbers that
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  are that we do know about, and I think this kind of reinforces the
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  need here is four thousand families plus registered this year and you guys actually had
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  to close early because just the numbers got so overwhelming. I mean, there
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  is great need here in Dane County, isn't there? Absolutely? Yeah,
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  We're seeing it in our pantry every week, and the pantries throughout Dane County
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  are seeing it. You know, we talked with them weekly and they're reporting
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  the same high numbers that we are. And so we weren't totally surprised to
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  have such a you know, an outpouring of registration and need when we open
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  registration for our Thanksgiving baskets. Yeah, folks are Folks are struggling, and
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  I think the beautiful thing about this program is for the people who are hosting
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  Thanksgiving or who need that holiday food that they wouldn't normally be able to include
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  in their budget, like the community helps them have that opportunity you know,
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  folks on Thursday are going to be gathering with their family and friends thanks to
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  this generous community that we have. It's really great. He mentioned the you
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  know, getting together with family and kind of and living that. You know,
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  that's that's what we all think of when we think of Thanksgiving as the
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  smells and the tastes, and I know you've talked about about that in the
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  past and really giving folks that opportunity to really have that. It's such a
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  great thing to see the outpouring. Its's great work by the Goodman Center.
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  It also highlights the need year round and there are so many different assets and
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  facets to the Goodman Center. One is of course helping people. And it's
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  always a good time to be thinking about obviously if you want to think ahead
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  to you know, making plans for next year's Thanksgiving basket. But it's also
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  a great time to think about donations. And I know we're heading into the
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  Christmas season and holiday season in general, folks are thinking, Okay, what
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  can I do something special, maybe kind of closing out their their personal fiscal
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  year. Yeah, it's always it's always a good time to think donations and
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  think about the Goodman Community Center, isn't it. Absolutely, and not just
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  us. There are a number of wonderful nonprofit organizations in this in Dane County,
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  throughout our county, and you know, as you're thinking about those rounding
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  out the year for taxes and whatnot, there are a number of ways to
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  give and to support the community that you're a part of. We actually came
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  up with this little giving guide that's on our website as you go to our
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  ways to Give section. And it's not just for goodman, it's just like
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  thinking about you know, some of your listeners probably have some investments. Then
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  if you're over seventy and a half years old, you know, you have
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  this qualified charitable distribution that you can make from your IRA because you have to
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  take a certain amount of money out of your IRA, and if you don't
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  need that money right now, you could donate it to charity and then you
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  don't necessarily have to pay the taxes on it, which is kind of nice
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  if you have to take the money and you don't need the money. So
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  there's so many ways for folks to support the community and then also to help
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  themselves out a little bit in the process. Absolutely, and that information up
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  at Goodman Center dot Org. Just click on the Get Involved in Ways to
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  Give tabs and you can learn more about the QCD opportunities. Also, I
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  know a lot of a lot of businesses and folks in positions at businesses.
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  I know there's a lot of opportunities for corporate giving also legacy gifts as well.
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  And that's the other cool thing that you guys do is make a number
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  of ways, depending on people's availability to help out a lot of different options
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  as far as just general know week to week stuff. Obviously, the Goodman's
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  Center, both buildings and and throughout the things that we oftentimes don't even see,
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  there's a lot of really cool stuff going on there. And a couple
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  of years ago I had a chance, my son and I actually came out.
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  We got the big the big tour of of of of both buildings,
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  and it's impressive what all goes on there day to day. And uh,
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  let's talk a little bit about for example, like the Team Center, and
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  there's like there's like areas for just like the teens to hang out in a
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  place where they're where they're safe, where they can have fun, where they
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  can learn and and literally just be teens. Do teams stuff, you know,
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  whether it's lounging on a bean chap bean big chair, playing video games.
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  I mean, you guys have all of that stuff at the Goodman Center,
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  absolutely. And the other thing we have, especially for high school teams
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  is you know college prep help. You know, we've got kids to our
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  first generation college like they're planning to go to college. They'll be the first
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  in their family to ever go, so their families don't know how to navigate
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  that whole world. And so we've got staff who are willing to help them
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  with a CP prep, you know, with you know, doing your the
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  financial applications that I forget what it's called SAFTA or something, but anyway,
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  we got staff who know what it's called, and they they help teams out.
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  And then there is we also have teen employment opportunities, So kids get
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  to come here and they get to feel like they're part of something bigger than
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  themselves, and in the process they get like a lot of value out of
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  it, not just that emotional connection, but also some of that tangible practical
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  stuff. You know, we connect them with businesses in the community, We
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  give them practical experience working in our catering department. And with our child's care
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  because we have child care for preschool through elementary age students as well. So
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  there's so many great opportunities for you know, we like to say for kids
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  all the way up through our older adult population as well. It's so cool
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  you mentioned the catering and obviously more I'm going to ask you about, you
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  know, weddings and other type of events that you guys put on at the
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  Goodman Community Center. One of the cool things is that catering, and you
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  talk about a win win program and I don't know whose idea it was to
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  do it this way, but opportunities not only for great food for your event,
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  but also teaching some great skills to young folks. And we've seen a
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  number of here in Madison and Dane County. Some phenomenal world class chefs come
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  out of our community and they all have to learn somewhere. And you guys
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  actually have a full on food service preparation area for things like catering that high
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  schoolers are able to enroll in and learn some really amazing life skills and really
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  amazing culinary skills. Absolutely, we have one of the best chef networks here
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  in Madison here I mean, I eat out regularly fantastic restaurants, and so
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  many of those chefs are so keen to help you learn about this industry.
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  And so we've partnered with many chefs like Tory Miller has done really cool stuff
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  here in CHESSCA Hang, We've got some really great chefs to have come and
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  done food related things with us. And then yeah, the kids get that
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  hand on, hands on experience just on a weekly basis. They're the ones
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  doing the catering for the weddings that are hosted here, and you know,
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  it's super professional, like they learn how to properly serve the food. They're
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  helping prep the food in the kitchen, in the basement, they're clearing tables,
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  they're doing it from start to finish, with the guidance of the adults
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  on our staff, of course, But what a cool opportunity. In fact,
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  seawan it. We had this young man who, throughout COVID, did
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  you know our Teenworks program really got into the culinary side of things, just
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  like open something up in him And this fall he's at the Culinary Institute in
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  New York because I know, it was so cool. So he was so
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  excited about cooking and became so passionate about food that he was like, I
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  want to go to the culinary Institute. And our staff were like, all
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  right, we'll help you figure out how to get there, and so they
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  helped him with the applications and then you know, we ran a little go
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  fund me for him in the Springs to help offset some of that tuition expense.
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  And he's out there and he's just thriving already. It's so cool to
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  see. And I hope that he comes back and eventually opens a restaurant here
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  because I can't wait to eat at his restaurant. That is so amazing.
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  And you can be part of it, and of course make sure that stories
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  like that can continue to happen. Against donations Goodmincenter dot org. That's Goodmincenter
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  dot org. There are a lot of different opportunities for you to help out.
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  And of course, speaking of great opportunities, the buildings are are pretty
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  broad take. I mean, for folks that haven't had a chance to to
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  see Goodman Community Center and the and the and the buildings and the grounds and
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  the area. There just a beautiful, beautiful place. And obviously a lot
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  of stuff go on with you know, with childcare, and opportunities for kiddos
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  and other folks and seniors. There's also a great, great talk about some
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  beautiful spaces, fantastic place to get married, a fantastic place to hold in
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  the event. And you guys, you guys have those opportunities as well at
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  Goodman Community Center, don't you. Absolutely. I don't even know how many
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  rooms we have available for rent. I just really count them. It is
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  an unbelievable number. And yeah, we have two really large wedding spaces where
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  one side can host I believe it's up to two hundred people and the other
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  one can do one hundred and fifties. And you know, people love these
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  spaces because not only do you get these beautiful there historic industrial buildings, You've
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  got this, you know, beautiful beams and exposed bricks and light filled rooms.
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  But then you also know that your events is giving back to the community
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  because all the money that you spend on your wedding with Goodman goes right back
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  into the community, which is pretty amazing. The other side that we're really
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  proud of is we keep it affordable here, so we don't want price costs
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  to be a barrier for anyone who wants to host an event at Goodman and
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  so we are. We are some we're one of the best bargains in town
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  because you get some amazing staff who are incredibly good at what they do helping
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  you out. And then yeah, the space itself is just absolutely stunning.
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  If you haven't say is that. I think it's the Evy room over in
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  Ironworks. You get a chance and they're all beautiful. Maybe I don't know
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  that one. I just remember when I walked in there, I thought,
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  oh my gosh, this is just a just a beautiful, beautiful space.
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  So I get more information online Goodmancenter dot org. That's Goodmancenter dot org.
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  Final day of donations going out to the folks today for the for the Thanksgiving
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  baskets. Don't forget every year the folks at Goodman Community Center they do this
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  and it's a great opportunity to plan ahead, start thinking around the office and
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  other things. Make a note in your calendar to pop up every single year
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  to remind yourself to get involved with Goodman Cam Center. Today is also a
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  great day speaking of getting involved making that donation. Learn more all online at
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  Goodmincenter dot org. That's Goodmancenter dot org. All the information up there online
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  or even better, stop on and there's just so many fantastic, so many
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  fantastic things at the Goodman's Center and of course really for the whole Community Center
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  right on Wavisa Street. Amy Hogue, communications director with the Goodman Community Center,
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  it's always great chatting with you. Amy. We'll talk real soon and
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  you have a fantastic day. Thank you, Happy Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving to
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  you as well. And again the website Goodmincenter dot org news comes your way.
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  Now we'll talk a little bit more here next thirteen ten WIB