X101’s Mike Eves will Kiss a Calf, if the Price is Right

John Harrison: [00:00:00] Good morning everyone. Welcome to another edition of Meet Cortland County here on X 1 0 1. Joining me in the studio have. Two very special guests. First up on the Mike, is well, Mike Eves, my boss. I get to interview him today. Yeah. Move things around. And, also joining us is Anna Wells, the Assistant Director at Seven Valley’s Health Coalition.

Anna, thanks so much for joining us.

Anna Wells: Thank you. Yeah,

John Harrison: thanks. Good to be here. Yeah, it’s, it’s great to have you in the studio. And we’re talking about, a really great, just fundraiser and thing to spread awareness for. And also just, a fun one for us here in the office. ’cause we get to see, our boss kiss a calf.

Mike Eves: Yeah. They think it’s funny. It’s funny. I’ll, I’ll tell you that we’ve got this little rubber calf sitting right in front of me that the guys have been thrown around at the office all week. So they, I’ve been doing some practice. I guess the, the actual one is

Anna Wells: gonna be stinkier and dirtier.

Mike Eves: Yes. I can’t wait.

Well, I hopefully, can I. I’ll kiss the calf, give it a little hug and I’ll get some pictures and yeah, good photo

John Harrison: opportunity.

Mike Eves: Yeah, be a great photo opportunity. But more importantly, it’s such a great fundraiser, for the Seven Valleys Health Coalition, you guys really help.

So [00:01:00] many people with the food insecurity. Issue that, and we were just talking off here, just the cost of food. It just keeps on rising. It’s, and you guys, more than ever, we gotta be, raising funds for those who can’t, that can’t afford to eat quite simply.

Right?

Anna Wells: Yeah. And as we were just discussing that, that number is growing and growing as things become more and more expensive and cost of living increases and wages and salaries are not keeping up.

John Harrison: Yeah. So this is, kinda the perfect. Moment, Anna, if you wanna talk about, the seven Valley Health Coalition mm-hmm.

What it is, kind of how it came about and, and what your goals are and what you’re, you’re looking to do.

Anna Wells: Yeah. So a common misconception of Seven Valley’s Health Coalition is that we are a healthcare provider. We are not, we are a nonprofit agency. We’ve been in Cortland. It’s 25 years now. Wow. Wow. And we work in the social determinants of health.

Mm-hmm. So basically everything that determines one person’s health that isn’t healthcare right. Is where we operate, and that’s our programming. So we have, maternal health support. Mm-hmm. We have our food rescue, our food system support, which is what we’re gonna talk about probably in more [00:02:00] detail with Kiss the Calf campaign.

We have community health education and then we have, our social support, so some transportation services for Medicaid folks. We have the Cortland Counts community forum, which we need, which is in the couple of months. Yeah. And so that seven Valleys. Health Coalition and, this campaign mm-hmm.

The Kiss the Calf campaign is gonna support specifically our food rescue program, as we. The needs for food and healthy food continues to increase, that increases our expenses because we need to be giving more food to the pantries. So,

John Harrison: yeah. And yeah, that’s something we, we were talking about a lot, before we, we turned the mics on, which should have had ’em, should have had ’em rolling.

But yeah, it’s, it’s such a crazy kind of time we’re living in, you go to the grocery store and, I remember growing up and, we, we’d have a full. Car to groceries, and that would, be maybe, a hundred dollars, $150, but it would be overflowing. Now I go to the grocery store.

I live alone. It’s just me. I fill up a little basket and it’s 60, 70, $80 and it’s, it’s [00:03:00] crazy. What people are having to go through just to. Stay fed

Mike Eves: fruit and it’s well, what do you have to cut? Fruits and veggies. Yeah. They’re good for you, but they’re super expensive. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. So it’s well, what do I actually, then you gotta think about, oh man, I’ve gotta cut some of this stuff. I shouldn’t be cutting this, do I not get the full gallon? It kind of, so you start thinking about all this stuff and it kind of cascades right. Yeah.

Anna Wells: Yeah. And that’s really where our food rescue program tries to step in.

‘Cause you just mentioned, fruits, vegetables, proteins, dairies, those are the most expensive items at grocery stores. And oftentimes when you go to food pantries, you get this shelf stable items. So your pastas, your rice, your canned goods, which are all great and all part of a balanced diet. But what food rescue try, what our program tries to do is, distribute.

Those more expensive items, those nutrient rich, nutrient dense foods to the pantries. Mm-hmm. So that everyone has access to local meats, to local cheese, to local vegetables.

John Harrison: Yeah.

Anna Wells: ‘Cause that is such a critical piece of a healthy diet and healthy lifestyle.

John Harrison: Yeah. And part of being able to get those resources [00:04:00] there is of course raising the funds.

So. Mm-hmm. Let’s talk about this, this, this kiss the calf, fundraiser. I know it’s, it’s coming up. We’re shooting for the 13th, correct?

Anna Wells: Yep.

John Harrison: Yeah. So that’s coming up

13th

Anna Wells: of February.

John Harrison: Yeah, that’s, in. Six days, I believe that’s, that’s coming up, this Friday. What can people expect? Where can they send money to?

How can they get involved? What? Tell us everything.

Anna Wells: Yeah. So our goal is to raise $5,000. We have selected five prominent community leaders. Mike Eves being one of them. Thank you, Mike. Yeah, of course. And folks can donate directly through our website, seven valleys health coalition.org.

There’s a kiss the calf donation page specifically. They could stop at our office. Give a check, cash or connect with one of our five.

Mike Eves: Mm-hmm.

Anna Wells: We call it the calf kissing team, one of our kissers. Mm-hmm. And give money directly to them and then they can then give it to us. So there are the ways in which people can give, the event itself.

So really this is a partnership with Fox Farm. We wouldn’t be here without. Julia and Paul Fouts. So they [00:05:00] approached us two years ago, so this is our second year doing the campaign.

Mike Eves: Mm-hmm.

Anna Wells: And said, Julia was familiar with a similar type of fundraising campaign in the north country.

Okay.

Anna Wells: And, they said, we wanna do this.

We’re essentially getting nothing from it, but we wanna be able to support a local nonprofit. Yeah. And we said, yes. Great. They selected us, said, awesome. Thank you. And so. They’re supporting the campaign, they’re providing the calf. And on the day of the campaign, if we raise the $5,000, our five kissers will go to the farm and, each get a turn kissing a calf.

John Harrison: Yeah. That’s, that’s awesome. And i, I always love, campaigns this, right? Where it’s, we’re, we’re doing something to support an amazing cause. It’s a very simple and easy way to get involved. Just donate a little bit of money.

Anna Wells: Any amount, any amount’s, great,

John Harrison: any amount is, is great and welcomed.

And then at the end of it you get to see, prominent people you see around town. Do something kind of silly and kind of fun and cut loose. How often do you get to watch your boss kiss a calf

Anna Wells: and that’s it. It’s just, it’s silly. It’s fun. Yeah. It’s something anyone can get on [00:06:00] board with.

Mm-hmm. And it is live streamed, so, we only have us. We only have so much space, so it’s not open to the public, the event itself, but people can go to our Facebook page, and watch it live stream. So

Mike Eves: yeah, no, we’ll be promoting that a whole bunch and we’ll be sharing the links and stuff, and I’m sure you guys will be watching, right?

John Harrison: Yeah. We have a, a whole, we’ll have a, a graphic set up for the mic kiss cam and

Mike Eves: Yeah,

John Harrison: we’ll, we’ll, we’ll, we’ll really do it up. Nice.

Mike Eves: Oh yeah. Maybe you’ll put it on the radio and say, Hey, here we go. Phone running. Yeah. Here’s the

John Harrison: audio from the,

Mike Eves: that’s actually not a bad idea. No. We can talk to the powers that be here.

That’d be something. But yeah, no, this is, this is, this is great. And I think the Silicon Valley Health Coalition and you guys for, for giving me the opportunity to, to have some fun with it and reach, reach the goal. So we’ve got a little ways to go. So.

John Harrison: Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, Mike, how you, how are you feeling about it?

Any, any words you want to give to the people? Encourage them to, to send some money

Mike Eves: away. Yeah. That, that’s right. The girlfriend, she’s not, not gonna be jealous or anything that. And, my daughters were, they’re kind of excited, they, they told [00:07:00] me, give a, give the calf a big kiss and a, and a hug for them and stuff, and, yeah.

Talk, talk it up a little bit. So they’re, they’re gonna be pretty, they’re pretty excited to, to watch it as well. Yeah. Again, as you said, Harrison, how often does dad get to, your dad, watch your dad kiss a, kiss a calf Yeah. Type thing. And it’s such a fun, such a fun thing. And then, and then to see some of the other, other,

calf kissers too. That’s, it’s really awesome to see. It’s kind of a who’s who Great. Yeah. Great idea for a fundraiser and to keep things interesting. It’s not the same old, same old, Hey, let’s raise some money and get these people to kiss a calf.

John Harrison: Yeah.

Mike Eves: Especially ’cause coral, we’re such a big dairy, dairy industry, type place too.

So it’s kind of, I love how that kind of draws into. With everyone in Corland and stuff and kissing camp. Yeah. What

Anna Wells: makes Cortland what it is, right?

Mike Eves: Yeah,

John Harrison: yeah,

Mike Eves: yeah. You

John Harrison: really, a fundraiser, fundraiser this, you can’t really do too many other places. Right. It’s, it’s such a, it’s such a great thing seeing the community come together and,

I five different icons of the community kissing one of the, the lifeblood of the community, which is, that bringing the dairy business involved. Well, Anna, Mike, [00:08:00] thank you both so much for joining me for, this addition to me, Cortland County. You want to tell people just one last time where they can go to get involved, get some donations out there?

Anna Wells: Yep. So visit our seven Valleys health coalition.org. We have a donation form right there. Any amount is. Accepted and we are very grateful for it can stop in our office at 10 Kennedy Parkway. Drop off cash a check or connect with one of our, kissers and give. Yeah.

Mike Eves: Yeah, that’s right. Yeah. If you wanna stop by the station, coming up on Monday, we’re here at nine and just, yeah, let us know.

Cash check or anything you wanna do, or we can help you log in and pay on the website. But yeah, no, it’s, it’s a, it’s a good, it’s gonna be a great cause and I’m, I’m looking forward to it.

John Harrison: Yeah, we’re all looking forward to it here. And that’s coming up this Friday, the 13th. Well, Anna, Mike, thanks both so much for joining on me, Cortland County.

Thank you. And for everyone listening at home, it’s been John Harrison on X 1 0 1.