Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk-Line: Ashley Richter of United Way

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Talk-Line: Ashley Richter of United Way · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

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  Speaker 1: We are quarter passed the hour. This is Friday, It's
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  Speaker 1: May thirty, the year is twenty twenty five, and it's
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  Speaker 1: time for another informational edition of talkline here at AM
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  Speaker 1: fourteen sixty and FM ninety five to one wixcent.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning. I'm Steve Marco.
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  Speaker 1: I promised this lovely lady that we'd have her back
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  Speaker 1: on in back to back talk lines for April into May,
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  Speaker 1: because there's so much happening in the world of the
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  Speaker 1: United Way of both Lee and Ogle Counties to talk
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  Speaker 1: about that. I promised our executive director of the United
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  Speaker 1: Way of Leanogle County that she'd be back with us
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  Speaker 1: for another report before we really sprung into the summer
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  Speaker 1: of twenty twenty five. So we've invited her to join
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  Speaker 1: us on the Friday Morning talk Line for the update
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  Speaker 1: today from the United Way of both Lean Ogle County.
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  Speaker 1: Our good friend Ashley Richter joins us live on the
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  Speaker 1: telephone here at WYX and Ashley, good.
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  Speaker 2: Morning, Hi, good morning, Nice to have you with us, man,
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  Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us.
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  Speaker 1: We've got some very important activities and that's why I
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  Speaker 1: wanted Ashley back onto the air with us. We had
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  Speaker 1: some great stuff going on last month, Ashley. As we
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  Speaker 1: moved from April into May, we had some really eat
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  Speaker 1: stuff going on, some very special programs going on through
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  Speaker 1: the United Way of Lee and Ogle County. But we
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  Speaker 1: want to carry that forward into the summertime. And one
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  Speaker 1: of those special events that we talk about every year
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  Speaker 1: with Ashley is about ready to spring forward into the
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  Speaker 1: summer of twenty twenty five. Ashley, the summer each program
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  Speaker 1: for twenty twenty five is about ready to unfold. Give
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  Speaker 1: us the details of all of this, tell us you know,
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  Speaker 1: from start to finish, you know what we're going to
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  Speaker 1: be having here in our Sock Valley area now.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, So we're very excited to be running the Summer
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  Speaker 3: Recent Meal program this summer. We've been running this program
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  Speaker 3: since twenty seventeen, so every year I feel like it's
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  Speaker 3: just been growing and expanding and we're just always taking
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  Speaker 3: a kind of a pulse in the community of like, Okay,
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  Speaker 3: where you know, is there a spot that we need
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  Speaker 3: to expand into or another location we need to add.
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  Speaker 3: But this year, we are kicking off our program on Wednesday,
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  Speaker 3: June fourths, so we will run our program for ten weeks,
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  Speaker 3: so we will serve our free grab and go meals
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  Speaker 3: for ten weeks at thirteen locations, so you can find
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  Speaker 3: all of our locations online and on where we will be.
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  Speaker 3: If we're serving at the schools or the parks, those
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  Speaker 3: grab and go meals will be ready on Wednesdays from
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  Speaker 3: twelve to twelve thirty. We will have volunteers out there
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  Speaker 3: passing out the meals. And we also have developed great
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  Speaker 3: relationships with our local libraries all across Lee County, so
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  Speaker 3: if the meals are at a library, you don't have
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  Speaker 3: to go just between that twelve and twelve thirty time period.
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  Speaker 3: You can go anytime on Wednesday that the library is open.
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  Speaker 3: So that is a nice relationship with them. So we
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  Speaker 3: also help you know, we have those kind of lunch
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  Speaker 3: times that will be serving. But then you know, if
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  Speaker 3: you're like, oh, I can't make that half hour window,
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  Speaker 3: you can know that all of our libraries in Lee County,
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  Speaker 3: you know, will have meals available for you all day
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  Speaker 3: on Wednesday, you know, as long as they have meals available,
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  Speaker 3: and then you know, if they give out a bunch
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  Speaker 3: of meals one week, they can just let us know
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  Speaker 3: and we'll send more the next week. So we always
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  Speaker 3: adjust based on needs. So you know, our hope is
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  Speaker 3: that no one goes hungry in our community and everyone
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  Speaker 3: that comes through a meal is able to receive a meal.
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  Speaker 3: The meals are grabbing go So when you when you
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  Speaker 3: go to a site or you go to the library,
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  Speaker 3: they'll hand you a bag and inside of that bag
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  Speaker 3: there are three brown paper sack lunches essentially, so we're
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  Speaker 3: providing everyone that comes with three meals for the week.
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  Speaker 3: Inside these bags there's you know, a variety of items.
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  Speaker 3: We try to pick kid friendly foods, but we always
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  Speaker 3: have a Maine entrain each thing like a mac and
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  Speaker 3: cheese or spaghettios, and then they'll get a snack, something
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  Speaker 3: kind of salty, usually like a granola bar or breakfast
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  Speaker 3: item in there as well. So we always try to
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  Speaker 3: choose things, fruit cups, things that we think children will
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  Speaker 3: like and enjoy. And all three meals will have different
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  Speaker 3: items typically in them as well, just to add that
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  Speaker 3: variety to the meals. So we're very excited that that
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  Speaker 3: will run ten weeks June fourth through I believe Wednesday
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  Speaker 3: August sixth, so we'll have ten weeks of serving meals
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  Speaker 3: this summer.
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  Speaker 1: Excellent, all right, Now, are we going to stagger those, Ashley,
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  Speaker 1: like we did last year because of the school situation,
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  Speaker 1: or are they all going to begin at those locations
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  Speaker 1: that you talked about on June the fourth.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a great question. We have staggered in the past.
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  Speaker 3: So this year we will be serving at all sites. Okay,
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  Speaker 3: I'm starting June fourth. We won't stagger sites this.
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  Speaker 1: Year, okay, okay, So again, featured at all sites, that
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  Speaker 1: means all schools, including the high school, all the schools
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  Speaker 1: in Dixon.
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  Speaker 2: Has Astley mentioned locations in Dixon?
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  Speaker 1: I know that I believe Wooden Wonderland or near the
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  Speaker 1: facility in northeast Dixon was the location. I believe Saint
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  Speaker 1: Paul Lutheran Church was another location. Just check the list
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  Speaker 1: of the United Way locations as we'll be serving these
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  Speaker 1: summer eats, grab and go lunches to Again, yes, we
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  Speaker 1: want to focal on the youth, but Astley, we're not
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  Speaker 1: going to leave anybody out right, I mean, you focus
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  Speaker 1: on the youth, we want to make sure that those
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  Speaker 1: that age group is taken care but again, as you mentioned,
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  Speaker 1: we're looking at you know, nobody should go hungry during
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  Speaker 1: the summertime.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, exactly. So, yeah, we will no one will be
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  Speaker 3: turned away for coming to get a free meal. So
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  Speaker 3: our focus while at might Dion kids and teens. You know,
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  Speaker 3: anybody is welcome to come get a meal that is
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  Speaker 3: in need. We won't turn anyone away. There's no paperwork,
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  Speaker 3: no idea required or pre registration. It's just show up.
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  Speaker 3: You know, We'll give you the meal and a fast,
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  Speaker 3: quick thing. You don't have to eat it there or
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  Speaker 3: anything either. So we're very excited to have this and
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  Speaker 3: this year also new in Ogle County. We started serving
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  Speaker 3: at POLO last year and this summer we will be
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  Speaker 3: expanding in Organ. So organ is our news site for
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  Speaker 3: the year and we will be partnering with the Polo
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  Speaker 3: and Organ libraries, so those meals will be there on
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  Speaker 3: Wednesdays as well in those communities.
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  Speaker 1: Excellent, all right, So yeah, as Ashley continues her tenure
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  Speaker 1: as executive director, not just United Way of Lee County,
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  Speaker 1: but United Way of Ogle County, those communities in Ogle County, Paulo,
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  Speaker 1: and Oregon will be featured at their libraries for the summer.
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  Speaker 1: Each program, which starts June the fourth. June the fourth
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  Speaker 1: through the first of August is Ashley mentioned, they'll be
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  Speaker 1: serving free meals. These are free grab and go meals
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  Speaker 1: that you can just stop by and obtain through the
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  Speaker 1: United Way of both Lee and Ogle County.
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  Speaker 2: How we how are we funding this? Actually? I mean
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  Speaker 2: where are the money is coming from for all this?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so all of this program is one hundred percent
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  Speaker 3: grant donation funded. So you know, we work really hard
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  Speaker 3: throughout the year to raise money go on the community,
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  Speaker 3: whether that's individual donors you know, mailing checks in the
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  Speaker 3: support the program, which you can still help support the
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  Speaker 3: program if you're interested.
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  Speaker 2: We could use a.
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  Speaker 3: Lot of help. And we do get a lot of
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  Speaker 3: our food from our local food bank, so that helps
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  Speaker 3: us stretch that money further. So we also you know,
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  Speaker 3: people have been doing food drives for us, so we've
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  Speaker 3: had a lot of canned pasta drive things like that.
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  Speaker 3: So whether that's you know, holding a food drive at
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  Speaker 3: your church or your business, you know, you're welcome to
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  Speaker 3: do that all summer. We will we will take it.
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  Speaker 3: Or if you're like, you know, we would just you
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  Speaker 3: know love to make a monetary donation and let you
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  Speaker 3: you know, take that money and you know, purchase what
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  Speaker 3: you need for the program. We're also always looking, you know,
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  Speaker 3: very grateful for that. We have had a lot of
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  Speaker 3: great sponsors that have stepped up to help us, particularly
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  Speaker 3: this year. Some of our sponsors that have helped we
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  Speaker 3: have Big Sky, Prairie, bron Solar, Do a Best Foundation,
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  Speaker 3: Dix Community Trust, a lot of generous local donors as
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  Speaker 3: well local churches that have stepped up to help. So
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  Speaker 3: all of this is funded by the community.
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  Speaker 1: Excellent and along with data who produces these meals, who
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  Speaker 1: puts them together?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so all of our volunteers. So we've still up
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  Speaker 3: at Saint Paul. We're in church in Dixon. They let us,
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  Speaker 3: you know, they're great hosts. They let us keep all
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  Speaker 3: of our food there and have our packing lines there.
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  Speaker 3: So we have organizations that come on Tuesday is unbox
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  Speaker 3: and prep all of our food for packing Wednesday, and
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  Speaker 3: then we have a group of volunteers on Wednesday mornings
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  Speaker 3: that come and pack all the meals. They pack close
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  Speaker 3: to the over one thousand I would say meals per week.
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  Speaker 3: And then we have volunteers that show up that then
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  Speaker 3: take those meals to the sites and then for the
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  Speaker 3: areas that they're passing out meals, those are separate volunteer
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  Speaker 3: positions as well. So we do have a volunteer sign
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  Speaker 3: up list on our Facebook page. There's a link and
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  Speaker 3: you can see all of our Wednesday dates and any
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  Speaker 3: openings that we have. I believe we still have a
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  Speaker 3: few openings. Thankfully. Our volunteers are wonderful and our volunteer
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  Speaker 3: spots so look very quickly for this program. But we
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  Speaker 3: do still have a few spots. If you're interested in
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  Speaker 3: packing meals, we'd love to have you. You can always
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  Speaker 3: call our office if you would like to volunteer as well,
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  Speaker 3: or we do have that link on our Facebook that
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  Speaker 3: you can click on. It will take you to a
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  Speaker 3: form and you can look at all the dates and
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  Speaker 3: the open volunteer positions and choose what works best for you.
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  Speaker 2: Excellent. I mention that phone number right now, Ashley.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so number is eight one five two eight four
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  Speaker 3: three three three nine.
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  Speaker 1: There you go, and you can call the United Way
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  Speaker 1: of Leodogial County if you'd like to volunteer in the
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  Speaker 1: effort to serve these summer meals the summer.
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  Speaker 2: Each program is about ready to.
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  Speaker 1: Get their way next week and we have Ashley Richter
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  Speaker 1: from the United Way of Leonogle County to tell us
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  Speaker 1: about it.
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  Speaker 2: This morning here at WANX say.
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  Speaker 1: Not just that, but actually with our latter portion of
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  Speaker 1: the talk line, you wanted to mention another activity that
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  Speaker 1: involves foods across our northern Illinois area.
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  Speaker 2: Tell us about what you're doing at the library now Keier.
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  Speaker 3: So we are also very excited United Way of Lee
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  Speaker 3: County is going to be helping to facilitate a mini
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  Speaker 3: food center right here in Dixon. So we have partner.
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  Speaker 3: We were approached by the Ogle County Health Department, who
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  Speaker 3: received a grant from the CBC to place several mini
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  Speaker 3: food centers across our four county area. So we were
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  Speaker 3: very interested in this project from the beginning, but we
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  Speaker 3: were just trying to figure out, you know, how we
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  Speaker 3: could take it on or who we could partner with
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  Speaker 3: to you know, put a center in a nice public
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  Speaker 3: location that's central to Dixon. So we were very excited
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  Speaker 3: to partner with the Dixon Public Library. They were generous
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  Speaker 3: enough to you know, work with us and let us
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  Speaker 3: host the site at the library, which we thought was
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  Speaker 3: a great central location where you know, you're getting families
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  Speaker 3: coming in and out. It is in the back of
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  Speaker 3: the building by the children's entrance, so a great location
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  Speaker 3: where you can park, get out, and the Mini Food
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  Speaker 3: Center is open twenty four to seven. You can come
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  Speaker 3: take food if you're in need in you know, meat
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  Speaker 3: of food, or you don't know where that next meal
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  Speaker 3: is coming from. This is a great opportunity. It's twenty
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  Speaker 3: four to seven. You can go take what you need
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  Speaker 3: out of the food center. The Opra County Health Department
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  Speaker 3: is helping to stock that food in there, and then
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  Speaker 3: once that runs out United Way, we'll take that on
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  Speaker 3: and we will be handling the purchasing of the food.
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  Speaker 3: We were very, very grateful to receive the sponsorship to
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  Speaker 3: help cover the cost of food for the rest of
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  Speaker 3: the year from OSF Healthcare, So we feel great knowing
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  Speaker 3: that the food is covered for the year, and then
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  Speaker 3: we'll be working on opening up volunteer opportunities if you're
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  Speaker 3: interested in you know, picking up our food order, stocking
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  Speaker 3: the fridge, and doing the weekly checks on that. We
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  Speaker 3: will be looking for volunteers weekly to help with that.
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  Speaker 3: And the other cool thing is the community is welcome
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  Speaker 3: to bring food to the Mini Food Center. So as
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  Speaker 3: much as it's open for residents to take, you know what,
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  Speaker 3: if they're in need, they're welcome to take food from that.
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  Speaker 3: But also if the community, you know, you have extra
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  Speaker 3: canned goods and you know in your pantry, you can
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  Speaker 3: bring them to the center. You don't have to run
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  Speaker 3: it through us. You can just go straight there and
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  Speaker 3: drop it off yourself, which is great. And it's you know,
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  Speaker 3: twenty four to seven, so it's on your schedule and
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  Speaker 3: you know what works for you. And we are focusing
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  Speaker 3: on healthy foods unopened, you know, unexpired items that we
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  Speaker 3: did post that list online as well of you know,
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  Speaker 3: kind of the dues and downs and what we're looking
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  Speaker 3: for in there. But I'm always happy to answer questions,
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  Speaker 3: but very excited about this as another initiative that we
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  Speaker 3: can work to just address you know, food and security
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  Speaker 3: in our area and you know, just provide another resource
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  Speaker 3: for people and extend you know, to receive food and
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  Speaker 3: have access to food us there any.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, this is a Northern Illinois project that was started
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  Speaker 1: by the Ogl County Health Department through their grant funding
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  Speaker 1: and we've been talking about this is I think it's
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  Speaker 1: wonderful because we have locations in Whiteside County, we have
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  Speaker 1: locations in Ogle County, we have locations in Lee County,
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  Speaker 1: not only in now at the Dixon Library, but in
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  Speaker 1: Amboy as well at their market down there. So again,
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  Speaker 1: all over our northern Illinois area and the United Way
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  Speaker 1: of leang Old County is participating in this program to
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  Speaker 1: bring a mini food march once again to the Dixon
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  Speaker 1: Public Library.
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  Speaker 2: Learn more about it.
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  Speaker 1: You can call United the Way of Leanogle County at
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  Speaker 1: eight one five two eight four three three three nine
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  Speaker 1: and find out more. Go to their Facebook pages or
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  Speaker 1: their online page or website address and learn more about that. Ashley, quickly,
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  Speaker 1: before we let you go, You've got again a fundraiser
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  Speaker 1: coming up in June that you wanted.
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  Speaker 2: To tell us about.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, so weird. I feel like every won time
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  Speaker 3: I talked to you, I'm like, you know, we all
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  Speaker 3: every time, I'm like.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, ton of stuff, ton of stuff.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, busy, but yeah we we. This summer we will
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  Speaker 3: also have our sign United Night. We have our next
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  Speaker 3: din Unite a night at Salamandras and Dixon on Thursday,
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  Speaker 3: June twelfth, So that will just be an easy, you
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  Speaker 3: know day for people if they're like, you know, you
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  Speaker 3: want to support United Way. You can just stop in
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  Speaker 3: at Salamandras for lunch. Ure or dinner and they will
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  Speaker 3: be donating a percentage of all sales back to United Way.
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  Speaker 3: So a great way to get out enjoy a great meal.
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  Speaker 3: And we're always so grateful for the local businesses and
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  Speaker 3: restaurants that partner with us to hold these fundraisers to
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  Speaker 3: benefit United Way. So we're always looking for you know, businesses, restaurants,
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  Speaker 3: any anyone that might want to get involved in this way.
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  Speaker 3: Sign United our Shop. United Nights are great ways to
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  Speaker 3: hold fundraisers and just be helped also promote people going
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  Speaker 3: to their business and may help you know, support our program.
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  Speaker 3: So it's a great relationship. We're so excited for that.
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  Speaker 3: So that's one we have coming up this summer too
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  Speaker 3: that people can check out in June.
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  Speaker 1: That's right, June twelfth again, that's at Salamandra's. You can
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  Speaker 1: dine at Salamandra's in downtown Dixon and support the United
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  Speaker 1: Way of Lean Ogle County. At the same time, they'll
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  Speaker 1: be donating a portion of their proceeds back to the
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  Speaker 1: United Way for purchases made at Salamandras Ashley.
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  Speaker 2: With that, wee thank you so very much.
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  Speaker 1: A busy talk line for us today, lots of things
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  Speaker 1: to talk about, as always with the United Way of
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  Speaker 1: Leonogle County. Wish you the best of luck with your
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  Speaker 1: programs this summer, and we thank you for joining us.
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  Speaker 1: We'll be in touch down the line with more reports
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  Speaker 1: from Ashley Richter and the United Way of Leonogle Counties
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  Speaker 1: right here on w YXON.
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  Speaker 2: But Ashley, for now, thanks for joining us today.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you, thank you so much for having me.
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  Speaker 1: Ashley Richter is your executive director of the United Way
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  Speaker 1: of Leandogle County, our guest today on the talk line
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  Speaker 1: here at w yx in. Let's go to press next
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  Speaker 1: with Tim Wee