Join ATI And CARE for a Day of Food, Fun, and Fishing at Yaman Park, June 29th

John Harrison: [00:00:00] Good morning everyone. It’s John Harrison for another edition of Meet Cortland County. In the studio with me, I have two guests, Alex Mikowski of Access to Independence, the fiscal sponsor for the local recovery group care, and Cody, the peer advocate, and a fishing enthusiast. Uh, I wanna thank you both so much for joining me.
Alex Mikowski: Yes. Thank you so much for the opportunity. 
John Harrison: Yeah, of course. Well, when we heard about this, uh, awesome event, you guys are planning, um, and, and helping out with, we knew we had to have you in the studio and, and talk about it. I know I had you both in here, uh, a little while ago to record some ads. Um, that was a a, a great time.
So we need. You know, had to get you back in here. Had to get some more information out of you. So you wanna talk about the, talk about the event? 
Alex Mikowski: Yeah, we’d be happy to. Um, so yeah, so there’s a, um, a recovery picnic happening on the last Sunday of the month, which is the 29th. Um, so there’s, uh, fun food and games as we say.
It’s also, um, free fishing weekend. So we knew we needed to bring in, um, Cody, uh, who has a lot of fishing knowledge and wants to run a fishing, uh, tournament for some [00:01:00] kids. 
John Harrison: Yeah, Cody, you wanna, uh, tell us a little bit about, um, the, the fishing tournament. It’s awesome that it lines up with free fishing weekend.
Um, so if you want to start talking about the tournament and then also, you know, maybe even just provide some more details on what people can expect. 
Cody: So, uh, fishing tournament for kids 15 and under is from 2 to 6:00 PM We have lots of gear to give away to anybody that could use it. A bunch of prizes, and we’ll have peers there to teach fishing skills.
So if you’re new to it, you just wanna learn some stuff. We can, we can offer that. And if, if you’ve done it forever and you just wanna come down and bring your children or just come down and have a good time, we’ll be there for the day. 
John Harrison: Yeah. That’s awesome. And yeah, fishing, you know, such a, such a fun activity and such a nice, um, thing to do.
And again, that’s gonna be Sunday, June 29th. Uh, it’s gonna be a lot of fun. And, you know, for someone like me who, you know, we were talking a little bit before the interview, I haven’t been fishing in years, so it could be great for, for me to, you know, knock a little bit of the rust off. 
Alex Mikowski: Mm-hmm. 
John Harrison: Uh, yeah. So, uh, some other detail, you know, there’s gonna be food, fun, games.
Um, just [00:02:00] anything, anything else about the, the, the whole day you wanna talk about? 
Alex Mikowski: Yeah, so, so we’re, we’re, we’re really excited to be partnering with a lot of local businesses. Um, and so, um, our, our lunch is, um, coming from, Gorgers, which is super exciting. 
John Harrison: Yeah, that’s awesome. 
Alex Mikowski: Yeah, they’re actually donating some of the, um, lunch.
So major shout out and thank you to goers. Um, and then, um, uh, Cody, do you wanna talk about the, uh, dinner? 
Cody: So we will be having some pulled pork. We have some vegetarian options. There will also be some pizza for anybody that is interested in that. Um, and basically, um, food starts at noon until, until, you know, whenever.
Yeah. Um, and we will be there throughout the day. The majority of the event is 10 until dusk, so there’ll be something happening throughout the whole day. There’ll be yard games. Um, I have people coming from like the, the whole east coast, you know, uh, re recovery community, people from the whole East coast.
So it’s gonna be a good time. 
John Harrison: Yeah, so all day at Yaman Park, uh, you know, just come on down and, [00:03:00] and enjoy some of the awesome food, games, fishing. Um, it’s really gonna be a great time. Uh, now do you wanna talk a little bit about, uh, you know, uh, care, the, uh, Cortland area, uh, recovery empowerment? Um, 
Alex Mikowski: Yeah, 
John Harrison: Just a little bit about, you know, what they’re about and, and what this, uh, this, this, this recovery picnic really means.
Alex Mikowski: Yeah. So, um, the, uh, uh, there was, so there was a, a local group of people, um, that wanted to create a place where, uh, people could live their recovery. Um, uh, we often think of recovery as far as going to treatment or going to AA, but there’s not a lot of recovery friendly spaces. Um, and so as a group of people that, that have lived experience that just wanted to make an, an alternate place where, where people could belong.
Um, so, so fishing is a good example of something that. For, for some people fishing often includes a lot of drinking or, or other substances. So it’s great to kind of reclaim that and say, no, you can have, have a lot of fun and be sober at the same time or, or just not [00:04:00] be using that day and, and be trying harm reduction.
Um, so yeah, so, so they were lucky enough to get a, um, uh, grant from the county, um, for the, um, uh, opiate settlement money. Um, and so we’re just trying to do a fun social event every month, um, to get people out there. Um, our, our next one we’re talking about mini golf. Um, so tho those plans are shaping up, but yeah.
But just, um, people that are coming together, um, they meet every other Wednesday, um, night at, um, at Access to Independence as, as we’re the, the fiscal sponsor for the group and just wanna help people to be in their community and, and live their recovery life. 
John Harrison: Yeah. Uh, that’s, uh, really amazing. Um, well, I.
Alex, Cody, starting to run a little bit out of time, uh, Cody, any last minute? Uh, anything you want to add? Any, uh, you know, maybe just some, some fishing advice for, for anyone who’s gonna be there or, uh, just fun little tidbits about, uh, the event and, and this awesome recovery picnic. 
Cody: So, for me, the outdoors is like, it’s, it’s been a good friend and, and it’s an old friend.
I can go [00:05:00] there on my good days, my bad days, there’s no judgment. And you know, I can go there to decompress, I can go out there if I’m having a rough time and I just need to yell. You know? It’s always there. 
Alex Mikowski: Yeah. 
Cody: And every time I go out there I see and learn something new. 
John Harrison: Yeah. 
Cody: So I want to introduce people to that, that might not have ever had the opportunity.
It’s right here in our backyard. It’s in every backyard. 
Alex Mikowski: Mm-hmm. 
Cody: There’s water all over the place. 
Alex Mikowski: Mm-hmm. 
John Harrison: Yeah. Beautifully put, beautifully put. Well, um, Alex and Cody, thank you so much for joining me in the studio for another great edition of Meet Cortland County. Folks, remember Sunday, June 29th, uh, be at Yaman Park pretty much all day for food fun and fish and galore.
This has been John Harrison, on X101.