Coffee with Mel - Overflow Thrift - January 26, 2024

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Episode Transcript

(00:04):
Let's get your weekends started early.So sit down, get comfortable, and
for yourself a fresh cup of coffeewith Mel. That's right, Mel Crippment
is back every Friday morning on Coffeewith Mel. Mel will get you caught
up with all the local buzz andhappenings around Lovely Aimes. Partially because his
wife couldn't stand him in the houseall the time. With us retirement,

(00:26):
Mel is back talking with the localmovers and shakers in story counting about what's
going on in our local communities.So here he is Melcrippant and coffee with
Mel, and good morning, Welcome, good to have you here. A
little foggy out there again today andsome missed as it has been for the

(00:50):
past few days, but I'm enjoyingthe dare I say spring like weather or
not? Really? But it's stillwinter in La Lovely Ames and the streets
are slushy, the snow is dirty. It's time for a fresh load,
don't you think, Scott It's possible. Yeah, yeah, not for a
while though. Did you see thetemperatures for next week? You know I

(01:11):
haven't. What do they look like? Forties? And yeah? Oh all
right, yeah, time to getthe swimsuits out. You know. Actually,
when we came through the other sideof what was just an incredible cold

(01:32):
stretch there with you know, Idon't know how how long we were with
wind chills under zero, at leasta week, week and a half,
it certainly it certainly felt that way. And when we came out of that,
I looked at a thermometer it wasover thirty two degrees and I thought,
thank god, I'm going for awalk. Well, you go for

(01:55):
a walk every morning when you cando I do. Yeah, Yeah,
but it's certainly got to be morepleasant now, Yes, absolutely, and
I'm sure everybody else out there feelsthe same. It's a world of difference
coming through what was for me.I think with that windshill one of the
harshest winters I can remember. Well, I've had seventy six winters, so

(02:15):
I don't know it was the harshest, but it sure ranks up with a
few of them out there. Yeah, that stretch, goys, But I
tell you, I've gone through somedry spells too for winters and warmer temperatures.
So I appreciate winter for the factthat it came, and the snow
is much needed. We need themoisture. I don't know. I was

(02:39):
contemplating the other day how much itmight affect the drought, and I don't
know. Currently. I wouldn't thinkit would affect it much. And my
thought was, with that spate ofvery cold weather we had, that the
ground is frozen. So this thawthat we have now is running off off

(03:00):
rather than soaking in. Yeah,and you know what, you know,
I work in the old well,you and I both at the radio station.
When we come in, it's inthe main street area, and I
live in that old Town area justnorth of it, and have on the
walk up gosh whopping three blocks.You know all about that? Yeah,
Back, the sidewalk, just likethe rest of Old Town is set back

(03:24):
from the street. It's not around on the curb. It's set back
aways and it's a lot of oldundulating path And let me tell you,
you run into big old puddles.There's no way to get around other than
to track up somebody's yard and thencome back to the sidewalk there. Yeah,
And you don't want to track upin somebody's yard at that time of

(03:44):
morning. No, Well, youknow, so what I do to avoid
that actually is I just walk inthe street, stay off to the side
and not not traffic at that time. It's true. Yeah, I remember
driving in when I was a workingand watching your visage across the street there,

(04:09):
so I thought, who's that guy? My god look at the time.
But yeah, when your every dayof the week. Of course your
show started at six am. Yeah, and we had to be there early.
And of course all the years,the thirty three plus years that you
did that, yeah, four inthe morning or whatever it was to get

(04:30):
here by. Yes, I havea lot of respect for the mel Well,
I'll tell you what. That's that'sthe only part of my job that
I miss. All the rest ofit I miss severely, and that's why
I'm glad on Friday morning I havean opportunity to step back up to the

(04:50):
mic and threaten people again. Butinstead of fifteen hours a week, you
do it for two. And Ithink, uh, I think Eames is
grateful for the mercy. Oh thereyou go. Yeah, yeah, it
was my My retiring was an activekindness. Yes, that's that's what I'm

(05:10):
going to say. But uh,general city for the masses, Oh,
I'll tell you what. But Ihad a last year and a half.
I had a great partner you anduh I made it much more enjoyable.
Well, I appreciated it. Itwas an accidental partnership, but it worked
out very well. I'm glad.I'm glad to hear that my friend.

(05:32):
Well, I was glad it happened. And I'm glad for Frankly that at
least get two hours to talk withsomebody who's been a pillar of the community
all more or less, you know, really all your life Melon, uh,
and thank you and so and so. To see you still in action
and be able to run the boardbefore you here back at the station,

(05:53):
it's a privilege. I'm glad.I'm glad you're still around, and it's
deeply appreciating. And there's nobody moreglad to be still around at seventy six
than me. Right, I was. I was going to say, I
am at a place I have beencurious about ever since it opened, but

(06:14):
being the inimitable stylist that I am, never got in, never came in.
Wasn't they were forbidding me, likemany businesses here in town. Yeah,
yeah, I mean, but thedoors were open, and by the
way, they're not open now.I want to let you know, ten
o'clock this morning is when they willopen up. But have you ever been

(06:36):
here? I'm at the overflow,I'll say that right, thrift store on
South Tuff two to South Duff.And it is a fascinating place, I
have to tell you that. Andit is so diverse in its offerings,
and it's a nonprofit and the purchasesand the money's made here go off to

(07:02):
several minute, more than several ministrieshere. We'll talk to Sandy here in
a little bit and find out whatthe heck's up. But anyway, I
stumbled over your questionnaire. But hadyou ever been in here? You know
my wife has I know that yourwife. She's been really happy with the
specials she's gotten there. I knowit's added to her wardrobe in a way

(07:27):
that you know, really from myperspective, she looks really sharp, my
beautiful wife, Yeah, accented beautifully. So it's a good thing you said
that she might be listening. Yeah, okay, I was gonna say this
much in this day and age,and I can use an example of my
own home. Hopefully my wife isn'tlistening. She likes to buy clothes.

(07:53):
She's a clothes horse. Fashionista,and sometimes those go in the closet and
aren't seen for years. But here'san opportunity to clean that closet, to
do it in a great way,help a lot of people. And it
just seems to me like the wayto go. And for those of you

(08:16):
who are out there looking for somevery nice clothes, they've got them here.
And beyond that, there's books here, there's clothes, there's shoes,
there's coats, there's appliances, there'sjust a little bit of everything. And
these are what I would call slightlyused and in great condition. They go

(08:39):
through all the inventory here. Andthe other thing I would mention is they
would welcome those donations. They arefrequent and all you'd have to do stop
buy and take a look at whatthe offerings are, save yourself some money,
and help some other folks out there. All right, we're going to
be here till nine o'clock. LikeI say, the doors don't open till

(09:01):
ten. If you come up though, on wave a thousand dollars bill,
we might open them for you.How's that. But other than that,
we're gonna be here. We gotsome special guests coming in. We're gonna
learn an awful lot about overflowed thriftstore. Here. We're gonna entice you,
We're gonna bait you, We're gonnaget you to come on down here
and take a look at what theyhave to offer. That's all coming up

(09:24):
here with me. Coffee with Melon fourteen thirty Kasi thirties, mid thirties.
That sounds real, real good.You're listening to Coffee with Mel,
with the one and only Mel inthe morning. You know, it's hard
to change a moniker like that.After thirty four plus years, I will

(09:48):
I will tell you this much asa moniker, I enjoyed. I said,
it was never the most clever titlefor a program. What you're on
in the morning, your name isMel, m Mel in the Morning.
And then when I came back,we used to do the breakfast club on
Friday mornings. I did for somany years, absolutely enjoyed. It was

(10:09):
my favorite part of the week,to be honest. But then with the
changeover we had when I retired,not a changeover, I was completely in
stride with. I'm still a local, local guy. I'm local local radio.

(10:30):
And that's why they offered me thisopportunity to come back and bring some
more local to the station. Bygolly, I said, I'm going to
do that. I want to dothat. So again, Scott, you
and I are hooked up together,not face to face, which I'm sure
you're thankful for. It's all right, you know, at least I'm not
there, since I too have aface for radio. So well, you

(10:52):
know what, I never thought aboutit before, but we were blessed with
faces for radio. You know.It works with the profession, you know,
yeah, it does. And youknow what it does. It gives
an opportunity for a lot of peoplewho meet us in person to use that
line like we have never heard itbefore, right right, yep, yeah,
that's our old standby. It isit is. Hey, I'm here

(11:15):
at the Overflow Thrift Store. I'llsay good morning to Andrea there she is,
good morning, and we are goingto talk about the Overflow Thrift store
right now with the Sandy I didn'tget your time, but manager, would
we say that? Sandy Swanson whois the manager the know all in for
mel He's dumber than a post,but he loves hearing about it. And

(11:39):
we've been talking about it here sinceI got here. What a mession this
is? And I don't think maybepeople quite realize what you folks do here
and what happens. We'll say goodmorning to don com good morning, and
Sandy, this is a very howare you interesting place? Yeah, thank

(12:01):
you Mel, thanks first of alljust for being here this morning. We're
super excited to have you. Yeah. Overflow has been around for almost ten
years. We'll celebrate our tenth anniversarythis year. And we really started.
Our founders originally came together and said, hey, there's a lot of abundance
in our community, and we wantto say, how can we transform that
abundance that God brings to us intosupport for the community. So we take

(12:24):
your gently used items, just likeyou were talking about earlier, We accept
donations and then we process those things, get them out onto our floor,
folks buy them, and then wetake Our goal is to even ever increasing
percentage of our profits back into thecommunity. So last year, in twenty
twenty three, we gave one hundredand seventy two thousand dollars to twenty one

(12:46):
organizations both locally and abroad. Andso we're support We're excited to be able
to support organizations like The Bridge Homeand YSS and Wings of Refuge and Martha's
House of Hope and Matthew twenty fiveHouse, and then we're also supporting organizations
like the Ames Community School District.Oftentimes as social workers, they will call

(13:09):
us up and say, hey,we have a kiddo who doesn't have a
jacket. Can they come in andshop? And so last year we gave
thirty eight thousand dollars in merchandise toorganizations so that people can come in and
shop with dignity and get the thingsthat their family needs to survive and thrive.
So we're super excited just to beable to give more and more back
into the community. The other heartbeatof overflow is recycling. Last year we

(13:33):
recycled or sold about six hundred thousandpounds of material that keeps that out of
the landfill. So we love torecycle and to just be good stewards of
again, the abundance that's in ourcommunity. So I can tell you I
came in the other day just tokind of check out where we were going
to set up and let them knowwhat I needed to get this on the

(13:58):
air, and we're setting ready herethis morning. But I was just absolutely
fascinating. But somebody will say,what were you fascinated by was the clothing,
Was it the offerings that they have, etc. No, what fascinated
in me is the wonderful people whowork here. I walked in the door,
I was greeted immediately, how canI help you? And there's just

(14:22):
an attitude that permeates this building,knowing the good that they're able to contribute
to all these different organizations out thereby working in a place like this.
I just I can't say enough aboutyour staff. Our staff is fantastic,
and you are right, they reallybelieve. Our team believes that they're the

(14:43):
hands and feet of Jesus in ourcommunity, and they want to do more
and more take good care of customersso that we're able to give back.
And you are right. The heartbeatof Overflow is our team and how much
they care about the community and peoplethat come into and people that we're able
to help. That's certainly true,and we're super excited to announce that we

(15:05):
will later this spring of twenty twentyfour have a new location. So we're
opening up a new store at nineto one nine East Lincoln Way. It's
just a little bit east of thebuilding that we're at right now. The
store that we're at two two SouthDoff, so we're super excited about that
opportunity. Hicklin Power Sports is inthe building right now. They're moving out

(15:26):
and we're moving in, and we'resuper excited about growing our retail operation as
well as making it much easier forpeople to drop off their donations, easier
for us to process those donations,and just be able to give back more
into the community. So super excitedabout that. On the horizon for twenty
twenty four, I'm excited too.I will tell you right now the properness

(15:50):
of the title overflow. They doas much as they can with the space
they have, and it's not easybecause I know they've got more that they
want to put out and they're they'rein the back and they keep freshening the
stock all the time. So younever know from day to day what what
you're going to find in here,So we want you to stop a lot

(16:11):
of times. It changes, theinventory changes each day. But it's nice
to know you're going to get thatbuilding down there. I think it might
might be big enough to handle whatyou have, but certainly a wonderful location.
Plenty of parking down there, Iknow parking is a consideration here too.
By the way, let me tellyou, because I wasn't a weab

(16:32):
it. But enter on the northside of the building. There's obviously some
parking on the south side, butenter on the north side. There's parking
along here and the doors right there. But come on in and make sure
you've got a lot of time becauseyou're going to need to do some walking
and looking around here. Uh.And I'm a little nervous right now.

(16:53):
Don com is walking around and youknow, yeah, keep those hands in
your pocket, my friend. Butanyway, it's it's a wonderful place,
wonderful people. What more could youwant, and a good way to get
back to the community in a specialway. Not only help the community,
but help yourself. You're gonna havea few more dollars in your pocket when

(17:15):
you come down here and buy theseslightly used items. We're gonna take one
more break. Well, we're gonnatake a lot more breaks, so we're
gonna take one more break right now. We're at the Overflow Thrift Store two
o two South Duff and soon tobe on East Lincoln Way. We'll let
you know when that change happens too. That's all coming up with coffee with

(17:36):
Mel on fourteen thirty Kasi. I'mreally excited about coffee with Mel this Friday
morning at an absolutely brand new locationfor me. It's the Overflow Thrift Store
at two O two South Duff.We'll be there from seven to nine am.
And hope to see you there andfind out more about how you can
save money at the Overflow th Store. It's coffee with Mel this Friday morning

(18:03):
from seven to nine. On fourteenthirty Kash at the Overflow Thrift Store.
Now, doesn't that guy sound smoothfor dulcet tones of a man advertising a
great place? Oh wait a minute, he's there, now? What I
am in there? I'm here.I'm at the Overflow Thrift Store two two

(18:25):
Sound Duff and looking around and lookingaround, I see and I was gonna
say old friend, but he doesmight be called old but a great friend.
I will put it this way,a great friend. And it's dot
Com from Electric Services here and Eamesand good morning Don, Well, good
morning mil How are you doing.I'm doing great. It was good to
see your smithing face come in thedoor. And I looked at my watch,

(18:48):
I said, oh wait, wow, this early. I'm on time.
I have my electric clock working,so it told me exactly what time
to be here. Yeah, youdon't have to wind that up, do
you. No, I keep itplugged in because the hour is almost always
on. I like to see almostalways, almost always. Uh, And
I would say, yeah, Iwill go along with that. Except for

(19:11):
a free it always seems to besomething freaky that happens. A squirrel crawled
in a limb and iced limb fallsdown, or an ice storm, or
a dratio stops by and shuts thecity down. Oh my gosh. D
Rachel's a four letter word in mybook. But I don't want to go
through another one of those. Thatwas a tough time for our customers and

(19:33):
for the utility. We had somecustomers that were out for probably five or
six days. Yes I was.But you know, it was interesting because
we heard a lot of stories aboutpeople meeting their neighbors. You know,
a lot of people then without theair conditioning, sat out on their porches,
and it was, in a difficultsort of way, an opportunity for
people to meet their neighbors, getto know them in unusual circumstances. And

(20:00):
ice that we were sharing. Wehad ice trucks that were going around and
dropping things off like that. Well, and I'll tell you it made me
angry at my neighbor. So Idon't know if it was good in that
respect. He had electricity and wouldn'tlet me drop a trouble cord across the
street across Grand Avenue to my house. So, yeah, you said across
Grand Avenue, I can I cansee why he probably didn't want to have

(20:22):
that power cord running across there.You know, we mentioned ice in during
the Durraicho. It was interesting duringthis extreme cold weather, we had unnecessary
ice one of the things that hitthe power plant and it was able to
stay up and running. But whenwe burned refuse story fuel, which we
do for the city to keep stuffout of the landfill, we then take

(20:44):
the ash, the ash that comesout of it after burning. It's kind
of like a fireplace. We thenadd water to it and sluice it down
to the ash pond, and thatfroze. So we had about a I
don't know, a thousand foot sectionice cube running in that pipe and ice
cube. It was a very dirtyice cube. But we just got that
cleaned out yesterday, so we're backto burning garbage. It took that long

(21:07):
to thaw that tube out to beable to continue that process. So we
had not been burning refuse or Ifuel for ten days. When was it
cold? It seems so long ago. Yeah, it seems so long ago
now that it was cold. Sobut when joining spring weather. Now,
I'm going to ask you are youare we no longer using coal at all?

(21:29):
I know we went to a naturalgas, right, but what's coal?
Coal? Bituminous? That's right.We haven't used coal since about twenty
fifteen. We converted our power plantwhich was burning coal, and RDF converted
it to natural gas in twenty fifteen, and that's the way we've been operating
since. So we do have theold coal pile, it's not even a
pile of the old coal lay downarea that's still there. We're actually cleaning

(21:55):
that area up and that could becomelike a transfer station we call it transfer
station, or it could be abigger place to recycle. I think you've
heard that now that the city ismuch more into recycling cardboard and plastics and
paper and things like that, andthat might be an excellent area that we
can expand that and do even morein the areas of recycling. I have

(22:18):
to tell you I was in asearch, strangely for a piece of coal
a few weeks ago. I wastrying to explain to my daughter how we
used to heat years ago, andnow I would go with my grandfather to
the basement, stoke the stove,carry the ashes out, etc. Coal.
Yeah, and I found one,But I hadn't thought about it for

(22:41):
a long time. I think backto when I was growing up and seeing
all the dirty smokestacks that sat around. Everybody was burning coal at that time,
and how much well I had alot. We didn't have to buy
it. My stocking was full ofcoal every Christmas. But anyway, it's
been interesting, and one of thepoints of pride I always say is you

(23:06):
guys have constantly been updating to cleanerand better and more efficient ways of making
electricity. And you and I weretalking a little bit before we went on
the air the solar farm, whichwas a big boon to this, and
I said, hey, don we'regoing to expand that thing. Yeah,
I want to expand that. Imean, we may have to look for

(23:26):
other areas. In fact, you'veheard much about the climate Action plan that
the city Council has taken up andthey've basically approved. So right now,
from an electric services standpoint, we'reout looking for additional wind, additional solar,
and it will be so much biggerthan the site that we have down

(23:47):
there at the airport. We're lookingat probably five to ten times the size
of that solar farm. And ittakes a while to locate the right site,
get the right permits and the permissionand things like that, but probably
within the next three to four yearswe're going to have more wind, more
solar in our generation portfolio. Nowthat being said, I know you were

(24:12):
selling interests in the solar farm.Are those still available or is there such
a thing as being sold out?Well, it's interesting because we set the
program up so like if somebody moves, and we've had, interestingly enough,
several people that have moved left thecity and they didn't tell us what to

(24:32):
do with what they're called power packs, that's what we called them, and
so we actually have some power packsin that project left. No, it's
not that the energy is going towaste. The utility is making the payments
on that and we're rolling that energyinto our own portfolio. But if somebody
is interested in owning solar from thatproject. We call it sun Smart Aims.

(24:56):
We can sell you a power packand they're actually, i'll say they're
discounted because they're three years old,so you're only going to get seventeen years
of energy out of them instead oftwenty. But they're still available. We
ran nice little ads at Christmas timeso you could buy power packs as a
Christmas gift for anybody that you want. Along those lines. And as long

(25:18):
as we're talking solar, you andI were also discussing this because I having
a survey done on my home tosee if it is solar worthy. I
guess is what it is. Anddone in all honesty, Don said to
me, he said, because youasked me. He said, why are
you considering that? And I thought, well, you know, more efficient,

(25:40):
going to save some money, goingto do this or that. And
after you spoke to me for me, and I said, you know,
I'm convinced the rates here aren't thatbad and how much money am I going
to save? And you're not necessarilygoing to save a lot of money with
that. It's quite an investment.Yeah, putting solar on your roof is
an investment. You know, you'retalking maybe ten to twenty five dollars,
so that means that there's a paybackperiod. So if if you're thinking I'm

(26:04):
going to start saving money right away, that may not be the case.
I'm not saying you shouldn't put solaron your roof. It's a personal choice.
We actually support it. We offerrebates on it and things like that,
and people do it because it's goodfor the environment. It may be
something that they believe in and wantto do if they think that they're going

(26:26):
to suddenly save a ton of money. I'm happy to say that our rates
are fairly low, so it takesa long time to see a payback,
and so you can do it throughsun Smart Aims. You can definitely put
them in your roof. We haveover two hundred customers that have installed solar
on their home and we support that. It's just make sure that you're looking

(26:47):
at the numbers, make sure thatyou understand what the report says. You
get a lot of solar in themiddle of the day, not so much
solar at night, and so itdepends too. If you have too much
solar during the day, where isthat going. Well, it's being pushed
out onto the system, and thenwhen you need energy at night, you're
going to continue to still buy itfrom the city. So there's a lot

(27:10):
of moving parts. I would encourageyou to call Joel at two three nine
five, one seven seven. Joelcan walk you through what the report looks
like and give you a impartial reviewof what they give you, so that
you know exactly what you're buying.Yeah, and I know some of the
other reasons people do it is well, if the electricity goes out, I've

(27:30):
got mine, it's right here.But as we mentioned earlier, it's so
rare. Again that knocks the paybacksituation on the back seat again. So
yeah, investigate, Like we say, we're not discouraging you, but do
a full investigation to see what youare looking to get out of it.

(27:53):
And it's a sizable investment. AndI say, not slapping me saying tell
them the rates are low or whateverout there, but when you look at
it overall, compared to some othercommunities, et cetera, our rates are
very reasonable. Yeah. And oneof the things that we're looking at is
if you really want to have yourenergy be green or be green energy,

(28:18):
that's one of the new rates thatwe're going to be introducing to city Council
this spring where you can literally buygreen energy off of either our solar project
or we also own wind and aswe add different projects, so if the
idea is to make it green,you can definitely put it on your own
roof or the utility is going tobe able to offer that product if you

(28:38):
will specifically for the customer. Anddon I know. The other thing,
and we talk about this in warmweather, is the program you have which
shuts off the air so to speak, and some of that every summer.
I never remember the name of it, but I will tell you it works
and you will honestly not notice anydifferent in your style of living. Yeah,

(29:00):
the program you're thinking of it iscalled Primetime Power. And what we
try to do. Let me stepback and explain why we even have a
program like this. So a lotof the costs that we experience as a
utility are to meet that absolute peakdemand and that occurs in the summer when
all the air conditioners on and it'sone hundred and two degrees out and when

(29:23):
we hit that peak demand, wehave to have enough generation resources to meet
that, not only the energy capability, but the physical capability to meet that,
and as we hit new peaks,which we did this last year we
hit an all time new peak,we then have to start looking at building
new generation to meet future peaks.That's where the costs come in. So

(29:45):
we have a program called Primetime Poweras well as other ones, where we
control your air conditioner for seven anda half minutes out of every thirty So
we just we take a portion ofthe city and we shut that off.
I'm talking with my hands. It'sgreat for radio, okay, And so
we control a portion of the airconditioners every seven and a half minutes,

(30:06):
and that actually reduces our peak bytypically three four percent on very hot days,
and that is slowing down our needto add new generation. This last
summer, when we were hitting anew peak, we had the school district
that they actually turned their air conditionersoff early, about three o'clock as opposed
to five normally. We had someof our largest industrial customers back off production

(30:30):
and shift that into the evening.That helped a lot. We were supposed
to hit a peak of one hundredand forty three and due to all the
efforts of our customers and all ofthe programs we initiated. We kept that
at one thirty eight, so fivemegawatt reduction probably saved us two or three
years from having to build that nextgenerator. Okay, I don't know what

(30:52):
else you want to add, butI have one more thing I want to
ask about, and people need tobe aware of this. The rebate programs
you offered. We have a lotof good rebates out there. Some of
the new things that we're looking at, and this is kind of fun.
They're actually I didn't know this electricremote lawnmowers kind of like your rumba or
whatever that runs. You can putone of those things out in your yard

(31:12):
and it'll cut your grass while you'resipping your iced tea sitting on the deck.
That's electric. We offer rebates onelectric moars. Another thing that's really
coming out there are induction stoves,and this is where it uses magnets to
heat and cool so the surface ofthe stove never gets hot, so it's
not making heat, but extremely efficient. We've added that to our rebate program.

(31:37):
We still have rebates on air conditioners, heat pumps, refrigerators, washing
machines, basically any of the standardequipment you need in your home and it's
amazing how advanced that stuff is.So if you have a refrigerator that's ten
years old, the ones today areso much more efficient. Using less energy

(31:57):
is also good for us for theenvironment, and we're trying to encourage people
when they need that. Look atthat that little more expensive model that uses
a lot less energy, and we'lltry to make up the difference with our
rebate program. All right, isthere anything else you want to add?
Because it's great to see you.Oh, it's always a pleasure to see
you, my friend. And theone thing I would want to add if

(32:22):
you need more information, don howcan we get it? Oh? Man,
you can go to our website citioamesdot org slash electric called Joel Zook.
He's our energy I don't call himthe energy guy. He's kind of
the energy kid guru. All right, that works at two three nine five
one seven seven, or you couldjust call our general number. We're willing
to help it. Two three ninefive one seven zero. All right,

(32:45):
don my pleasure, my friend,always welcome. Yeah, next time,
bring donuts. Uh Mel in themorning, you're having coffee with Mel and
we're glad to have some coffee withyou this morning. On fourteen thirty Kasi.
Here we are and we've got MelMel in the morning doing coffee with

(33:07):
Mel. He is at overflow rightnow, Mel, what exactly is overflow?
It's a thrift store. It isa it's not consignment. Well,
it's consigned to different agencies. It'sa nonprofit and no, it's not consignment.

(33:29):
Don't be bringing stuff in here hopingyou're going to profit or something.
You will profit in good feelings andthat is the best profit of all.
And somebody who has good feelings andevery right to do so is my good
friend Andrew Growna from the Bridge Home. And I've missed you. It's been
a while. I know it's beenearly, it's been cold, but now

(33:50):
I'm out about our spring thaw here. Yes, we cannot think Overflow enough
at the Bridge Home for supporting usand our clients throughout the whole time.
They are walking alongside of us inour mission, and they are truly giving
a hope and home to us andour clients. We are very lucky to

(34:10):
receive funds that we can use forhelping clients get the things they need,
or even just paying those electric billsthat we pay to the city as well.
Yeah, and I think about itas I look around here, and
I know many of your clients comein needing clothing, needing a coat,

(34:30):
maybe some shoes or something. Yeah, they may not have the clothes that
they need for their job interview.And it's perfect to come to overflow and
get those things and just think yourdonations here help so many agencies in the
community, including the Bridge Home andthose trying to get back on their feed
after being unsheltered and unhoused. It'sa great place to get that tablecloth or

(34:55):
well, a lot of people don'tuse tablelaths, but curtains. People use
curtains. Great place to get thosecurtains. Yeah, and I'll tell you
what I don't like it because theycome back in better dress than I am.
Such a great quad. I'm lookingat some nice looking sport coats.
There. My good friend Chuck Reidlooking at a bow tie, I mean,

(35:15):
but a legitimate bow tie. Oneyou have to tie, not clip
on, which would be unusual forhim, but the doctor told him he
has an allergy to clip on.So he's looking around to improve his life
and his look. But it'll takemore than a tie. But anyway,
Andrea so let's ask you and Ialways know the answer. But how's business

(35:37):
right now? If we dare callit a business? Oh yes, So
during the cold snap, we didnot turn anyone away. We are so
thankful for the donors that stuffed upand helped us out during that keep our
budgets going. We opened up thepall rooms because if the shelter is full

(36:00):
all the time, but we openedup motel rooms in the communities that we
serve to keep folks from freezing onthe street. So that I just can't
say enough thank you to everyone whosupports us, because when it comes to
being homeless during the cold it isa life or death choice for individuals and
families and we don't like to haveto turn anyone away. And so thank

(36:22):
you to everyone who help us.And it's unfortunate we always hear these horrible
stories about them discovering someone who hasdied because they couldn't find shelter, especially
in some of the bigger cities.Mel you should be live now. How's
that there? That's working all right? Yeah? The computer just wonderful,

(36:46):
except on the computer dies. Yeah, that was exciting. Yeah, I'm
going to bury this one. Yeah, And we're back. We're with Mel.
He's you know he heard the coffeewith Mel. Open there. Yeah,
we are here, we are liveand Mel take back, take it
over again? Here, I takeit back, Scott, everything I said

(37:07):
about me? But anyway, didyou like grasping its straws? There?
Oh? I tell you, there'snothing more helpless when the computer goes down.
And luckily, my good friend andsalesperson extraordinaire Chuck Reid was here and

(37:28):
had his computer, so we firedit up and here we are, and
thanks to Chuck, thanks to Andreafor being so patient here as we're talking
about the Bridge Home and the coldweather that was here. And Andrea,
that's the thing that we've emphasized youand I've emphasized over the wonderful times I
had broadcasting from the Bridge Home andmuch more successful than this right now,

(37:53):
is the fact that cold weather bringsthoughts of many of us to that arm
weather. Those folks are just asneedy. Absolutely. I mean, anytime
you don't have a place to layyour head and you're unsheltered, it's hard.
It brings a lot of issues up. You can't easily get a job,

(38:14):
you struggle. I will tell youwhether complicates things. But anytime of
the year, we want to seefolks that don't have a home figure out
what they need to get into homeand stay in it permanently. Yeah,
and right now, we're proud tosay, and you mentioned overflows helping a

(38:35):
lot of things. I always wantto mention Harold Pike, who has been
more than magnanimous with his donations tohelp the Bridge Home, et cetera,
and right now is working on buildingsome new facilities for you. Yes,
we are so excited you lots ofpeople talking because the building just right over
here that you can see right outthat window is up and sealed in.

(38:59):
But now we wait because this iswhen the work that you don't get to
see inside that building is happening.So the shell is up and now the
interior work is happening. The electricallines are being run, all the water
lines are being run. Eventually they'llbe putting in walls and you know,
finishing the floors and all of that. So we're looking at December of twenty

(39:22):
twenty four when we'll have eighteen familiesliving in the apartment building right over here
on South Sherman. So I lookedat that, I was curious. My
wife and I were curious. Welooked across the street and there's another construction
going on there that Harold has.I wasn't quite sure if that was part
of what was going on with youor whether there's a separate So we do

(39:45):
own that property that you're referring to, and that is actually where their work
because it's kind of a tight littleunit where we built around there, So
there it is part of it.But yeah, it's not being built on.
It's just kind of where they're workingout of to build on the other
side of the street. But itbrings up the cold weather and the fact
that had we not opened up motelrooms in all of our communities, especially

(40:10):
in Emes, there would have beena lot of people we would have had
to turn away and they wouldn't beable to get helped to get housed.
Brings up that we need a biggerspace, and so as time goes on
and when everything falls into place,that will be where our new shelter for
those struggling with homelessness will be.So it's good you've noticed it, but

(40:32):
this is a glaring time where wejust don't have enough space to take care
of the folks that are struggling withhomelessness in our community here in Ames.
I guess I'm bringing you the questionthis, even with the building of those
new units, et cetera, willyou still have enough space or is this
going to be a continuing growing problem. So the eighteen units are apartment,

(41:00):
not shelter, so that but Iwill one hundred percent say that those eighteen
units are not going to solve thehousing crisis in Ames or Shory County.
It's just a drop in the bucketof adding affordable housing to our community.
And I know that the Baker Subdivisionand there's many other things that the city

(41:22):
is doing to try to help withthe affordable housing situation. And we do
appreciate that because that will help manyfolks that struggle with homelessness find affordable places
to live here in Ames. AndI have to tell you, in my
experiences there, the demographic of homelessis endless. I mean it covers both

(41:42):
ends. I've seen people up therethat were probably in their sixties down to
people who are in their early twenties. Absolutely absolutely, and it's across the
board, men, women, families. I mean, there's just it can
happen to anyone. And you knowit's said the old adage just said,

(42:04):
we're all one health crisis away fromstruggling financially. And you know, there's
never just one story that leads someoneto become homeless, and usually one thing
happens and then that makes it harderfor them to do the next thing and
the next thing, and you know, before you know it, they're struggling.
And some folks don't have a familyto support them, and the Bridge

(42:28):
Home really is a lot of folksfamily and we're there to help them,
cheer them on when they get thatfirst job back on their feet, they
get that first apartment. You know, we've got our welcome home kits that
a generous owner is providing for usso that when they move in, they've
got a little kit to start themoff. We've got overflow helping them.
We've just got a whole community surroundingfolks and that makes them successful and you

(42:52):
know they then give to the community. In that line, do or does
better word? Funding slow down atcertain times a year. I know the
holidays, we all get in thatgiving mode, whether it be personally or

(43:15):
to help other people. Does thefunding slow down when we get to warmer
weather or less holiday type celebrations.Well, and it does. And that's
just a seasonal thing because everyone plans, either through their generosity of the holidays
or for their tax purposes to geteverything in because they've seen how their year

(43:36):
went, So it all depends inthat way. We appreciate the donors that
support us that they are with usconsistently. Luckily, the bridge Home has
gone out, and we have lotsof federal and state grants that support many
of our housing programs and a littlebit of our shelter. We definitely use
more of our private funding for ourshelters services because that's where the state and

(44:01):
federal governments don't offer as much support. But definitely there is some seasonal work
to our private funding, but thefederal and state funds that we go continually
after to find help stabilize the shelterand those we help. It was heartwarming

(44:22):
for me being there during the holidayseason was to watch some folks that we
had the opportunity to meet that werebringing in donations, collections that they'd made,
et cetera to help those in need, and as I talk to them,
the brightness, the happiness they hadby giving of themselves of being a

(44:52):
part in helping I think is thegreatest gift of all, absolutelyte And you
know, some of my favorite I'vesaid this before, some of my favorite
donations are when folks have struggled withhomelessness, stayed at the shelter, you
know, just a few years ago. We even have folks that still come

(45:13):
back and give after twenty years ofstaying at the shelter and you know,
they got on their feet and somany things have changed in life and they
want to give back to us forhelping them at that bottom point and low
point in their life. But someof those are my favorite conversations because you
get to really see the impact ofhaving the Bridge Home formerly Emergency Residence project

(45:36):
in people's lives in our community.Yeah, it truly is a bridge.
Is a bridge that spans for somefolks the lowest part of their life,
but it is a bridge that risesand helps them get back on their feet.
And we've said it a million times. It is helping up. It's

(45:58):
not a give out pro it's ahelping hand to get people back on their
feet, to bring him back therespect they deserve. That respect shouldn't be
lost when people fall on hard times, and please don't think that this may
be a choice for them they choseto be homeless. No, no,

(46:19):
I would say over ninety percent ofthese people did not choose to be homeless.
They need your help. The BridgeHome is there to help with the
help, so to speak, andit is truly a hand up, not
a handout, and you can bea part of that. Still. I've
talked about the donations and they doslow down, sometimes they pick up,

(46:44):
but the need is always there,absolutely, and you know, I don't
want to forget that. When youare cleaning out your house, please bring
things to Overflow because it directly impactsus as well. Sometimes our clients don't
need particular stuff, but if itcomes over here and it sells and then
the dollars come back to the BridgeHome, we really do appreciate that as

(47:07):
well. So when you are cleaningout, think local here at Overflow and
the impact it has in your owncommunity by bringing your things here. Yeah.
Again, Overflow is nonprofit and ithas a mission, and its mission
is overwhelming with the amount of moneythey've been able to give back to so
many different causes here in the community, Bridge Home being one of their main

(47:30):
concerns there and giving back in acouple of different ways, both financially and
both through material goods here to helpthose folks. So again, Andrew has
always been open about stop by tovisit the Bridge Home. The Bridgehome dot
org is our website. You cangive us a call. Give if you

(47:50):
want to tour our current shelter,the house on two twenty five South Kellogg.
It's one hundred years old. Justgive me a call. I can
sit down and walk you through someof our amazing how housing programs. You
know what it takes to come outof shelter. We have a six month
housing program called rapid Rehousing that hasa financial support and then we end up

(48:10):
having them be able to take careof their own and then we have a
support of housing that they can stayin as long as they like, but
they have to pay thirty percent oftheir income. But they have people walking
alongside of them, the caseworkers.So I'm happy to walk through all of
that of how we help in thecommunity. Andrea, always a pleasure to
see you, of course, thankyou and thank you. I talked to

(48:32):
Sandy and you are a frequent visitordown here at Overflow. There you go
all right, Andrea grown now withthe bridge home. We are at the
overflow thrift store to south of gettingready to move to a new location,
and I want to talk about anotherlocation they have coming up here in just

(48:57):
a little bit. As you enjoy, as I am enjoying coffee with Mel,
coffee with you on fourteen thirty Kasiand from ames Ford, we transition
to Mel in the Morning doing hiscoffee with Mel routine. How is that?
How is that going though? Routine? Yeah? Well, I mean

(49:19):
I've got this routine going over thirtythree years, you know, mellow morning,
and now you just seem to havedropped the morning part. That's yeah,
what's with that? I haven't droppedit? You know. I know
justin who does our open there saysMel Crippen, And that's okay. I
mean that's who I am. Butmel in the Morning. I identify,

(49:40):
to be honest with you, morewith Mel in the Morning as being my
moniker than Mel Crippen after so manyyears of being Mel in the Morning.
So I'm okay with that. Andas you, as you have identify self
identified, you are Mourning Morning.Go back, go back, yeah,

(50:00):
all right, back to you,Mammy do you want to come over here
and talk to me? Okay,we have Tammy coming in and she is
Tammy. Are you always so brightand cheery in the morning? You just
and plus you look lovely, bythe way, thank you. I am

(50:21):
a morning person. It's always goodto find one of those. Those are
so rare. As you'll see Chuckover there, he's dozen off as I'm
telling yeah, there he goes again. But anyway, the Overflow thrift store
has a real special place in yourheart. And you were instrumental in getting

(50:42):
this rolling. That's right. I'mone of the co founders that helped get
it started back in twenty fourteen.Me and my husband actually do a lot
of real estate and we started justrealizing how much tenants leave behind when they
leave, and so we decided todo something good with it. And so

(51:02):
we actually started a little store inne Beta before we started left Overflow and
did that for about two years,and then met Kathy Twido and Mike Schultz
who also had a similar idea tostart a thrift store and aims and I
joined arms with them and walked downthis path of starting Overflow. And it's

(51:29):
interesting when you talk about what peopleleave behind, etc. And so many
times when you talk a thrift store, they are not nonprofit. A lot
of them are out there to makemoney. It's a regular business. Now,
this is a regular business. Butthe money's made here go to such
great causes. Yes, we havetwenty one different organizations that we give money

(51:52):
to and help support their causes aroundthe community and around the world. Yeah,
how does that make you feel?I love it. It's fun to
get it's fun to give things away. At the time when as I'm talking
to her, as I'm saying,gosh, I wish it was television because
if you could see the smile shehas on her face and the good feelings

(52:14):
I can tell her running through yourbody right now, even as you look
around this store, it's indescribable.It's what I would say, and the
kind of personal satisfaction you get.Now you're a board member too, right,
Yes, I am on the board. I'm the president of the board

(52:35):
and have been since the beginning.Ye are excited about the new location coming
up down here? Yes, verymuch so. It was kind of a
surprise we weren't, you know.When we first looked at it, we
didn't think it was going to work, but it's a very it's a great
building, it's a great space forus, and it'll be a better location
for what is currently the South store. We'll move, move a lot of

(53:00):
those things over there and reorganize alittle bit, and that'll happen sometime in
May. And I know you're planningon maintaining this location will be here.
This will be an additional location onEast Lincoln Way. But along those lines,
I want to mention the one onKitty Hawk which is out there now.
Will that location stay open or isthat going to move down? Yep,

(53:22):
the one Kitti Hawk is where ourSouth store is now, that one
will be closing after we move,move everything and open the store on East
Lincoln Way, and that is that'sgoing to allow a lot better parking.
It's a great site, easy tofind, it's a huge building and you

(53:43):
need that. As I look aroundhere, we need a little more room
here, but I'll give an opportunityto display more of the goods and items
that you have. And as wesay here, parking is a little limited
here, but you know, Ithink that parking lot should be full two
with the car. Absolutely, it'sa much better parking lot it's also easier

(54:04):
to find or easier to get to. You don't have to drive down South
stuff, which is sometimes chaotic andhectic, and so it'll be a better
and it'll be a better store layoutfor us. The South store is a
little unique if you remember what thatbuilding looks like, but it will be
a better store on East Lincoln Way. Yeah, And it's fun to know

(54:25):
that you're able to expand. Andone of the reasons you're able to is
because people are frequenting and coming hereand shopping here, which they should be
doing and I highly suggest. Andthe selection of items is vast. Oh,
we get so many things, andit's been amazing to me. That's

(54:46):
been one of the funnest funnest partsof being involved in overflow is just the
unique things you find when people donatethings. I mean it's everything from you
know, shoes and clothing and kindof stuff. But we get a lot
of very unique items in as well, especially if someone's cleaning out a house
of a parent or that passed awayor something like that. We get antiques,

(55:10):
we get specialty items, we've gottenautographs before. We get all sorts
of other things too, so andwe also have an online online sales,
and so we don't. We wehave an eBay store, which you can
find the link to that on ourwebsite, and we do online sales and

(55:30):
so some of our specialty items dosell better online than they do in the
store, and so you can findthose online. Do you have a wish
list? Do I have a wishlist for the store? I use it
for our For myself, I takeit well. I always have a wish

(55:52):
list for myself. I have ahard time shopping other places, so I
just put it on my list andI'm like, I'm going to see if
overflow it comes into overflow. Andso for for overflow, we have a
wish list of lots of things weneed for the new store. We are
going to be buying a Baylor andbuying a forklift and also a ramp to

(56:19):
get up into a truck to continuedoing our recycling, and so there's fixtures
that we're going to need to buy. Really what we need as people to
come alongside and join us and justmultiplying the good work that we're that overflow
is doing. I say, nobodyknows this, but I used to have
a federal license top rate a forkliftmany years ago when I was with the

(56:45):
Post office. But and the thingis is, I have talked with some
students over Diowa State who are sothankful for the Overflow store as they go
out for their job interviews, etcetera. Well, they didn't quite bring
the white right wardrobe down maybe togo on a job interview, but they

(57:06):
were able to find it here andafford it. More importantly, Yeah,
absolutely, it's not just people inneed that benefit from Overflow. It's people
in the community, including students.They find whether it's clothing for interviews,
they find furniture for their new apartments, and they also find a place they
can volunteer. So a lot ofthe classes that they take give extra credit

(57:28):
for volunteering and in the community,and so we get a lot of Iowa
State students that want to help outit overflow as well. All Right,
is anything else you'd like to add? I'm sure there is that I'm not
thinking of it. We can alwaysplug people in if they want to volunteer,
and that's always a good way justto see what we have in the

(57:51):
store. You can also shop whileyou volunteer, so that's kind of fun
and get first grab. Yeah,you get first grab if you're volunteering and
just see what's out there. Thankyou so much for joining us. The
Overflow Thrift Store is where we're havingcoffee with Mel this morning on fourteen thirty

(58:12):
Kasi. Hey, and if youget a podcast, you can also get
a podcast right here if you goto fourteen thirty KSI dot com. Uh.
In just a couple hours, I'llhave hosted this as a podcast.
These two hours with Mel. Coffeewith Mel will be up there and you
can listen to the whole thing overagain for yeah, two hours minus ten

(58:35):
minutes of silence. What's happened?Two hours minus ten minutes of silence?
Yes, well we we will takethat out of there. That's yeah,
that's gonna that'll be cleared up.Hey, you'll be able to meaning now
what's emma? Well, when youtalk about podcasts, yeah, it's a
whole different meaning now because I knowwhen I was young and we'd say I've
got to go to potty. Uh, I mean podcast he went there?

(59:00):
Yeah, well I went there.Yeah, that's what you do. But
anyway, anyway, I have notand Scott would tell you this, Podcasts
are a wonderful vehicle for some people. For other people maybe not so much.
But I never did get into podcastingmuch. In fact, when I

(59:22):
retired, I had a lot ofpeople pushing me to continue through podcasts and
just not up to it. Notyou know what I mean. Some some
are worthwhile, some not so much. Well, and I think it makes
it really easy to have a podcastif you can just pourt it over from
radio show. Oh yeah, yeah, I mean, so you do have

(59:45):
a podcast. I do, exceptyou're doing it. But you're the talent.
Well thank you for that. I'venot been called that for a long
time. But anyway, back tome. We're here at the Overflow thrift
store. You know, I'm lookingaround. There's some nice stuff in the

(01:00:06):
here. I am just about anythingthat you can think of. You'll find
here in fashion, out of fashion. You're going to bring it back to
fashion. You can do that,you know. It's like me, you
know, I'm a guy that youknow, hey, Melbour that I think
I'll get that, or I'll strayaway from that, that's for sure.

(01:00:28):
But in saying that, something that'salways in fashion, always in style,
is good entertainment. And I've gota heck of a place right nearby you
can always find it, and you'llfind it all year long. You'll find
the diversity any kind of entertainment youcan think about is going to show up

(01:00:49):
over at the Iowa State Center,in particular Hilton Coliseum and joining me now
first time this year, my goodfriend Tammy Coolbeck is here and first of
all, New Year, Tammy.Happy New Year, Mel. It's great
to be here. I've had Iwas out of town the first couple Fridays,
but happy that I'm here, especiallysince we start our Broadway season and

(01:01:14):
back from the holiday break with JesusChrist Superstar on Tuesday, January thirtieth,
and I'm really excited to have itback. You know, this is I
was asking you in Jesus Christ Superstar. I had not heard that term for
a long time, and it's nostalgiain some ways because I was I have

(01:01:39):
the album, of course, Ilove the music from it is absolutely fantastic,
and great performances coming up. Andthis is a show that is well
seasoned, isn't it it is?It's actually I mean, everybody sat down.
It's the fiftieth anniversary of Jesus ChristSuperstar, which just seems hardly possible,

(01:02:02):
but it's a new show. It'sa new it's a remake that they
opened in the West End of Londona few years ago, and that this
is a tour they've taken on theroad. So it's if you've seen the
commercial or heard the commercial, it'sthat music is very recognizable, and it's

(01:02:22):
just it's just going to be agreat night. And maybe because it's a
January night, this is great there. It's a ninety minute show with no
intermission, so you are in thereat seventh you know, show starts at
seven point thirty and will be shortlyafter nine o'clock you'll be able to head
home. So it'll be a greatnight and and a really nice way to

(01:02:44):
support Stevens by coming and buying tickets. It's a great story, and I
know we're a little ways away frombut I think it's kind of neat that
it's this close to Easter are too. It seems appropriate and it's the kind
of show that I've got songs runningthrough my head right now. Uplifting has

(01:03:07):
a great story to tell. Ijust need the timing is perfect. It
is, and it's still a greattime. Talking about perfect timing, all
of our Broadway shows are in thesecond half the season, So you can
still buy a Broadway Series package attwenty percent off for Jesus Christ Superstar on

(01:03:28):
January thirtieth, Mean Girls on Aprileleventh, which will be our show closest
to Easter that now that you bringthat up, and then Chicago The Musical
on May fourteenth, So it's stilla great time to buy tickets to all
three. I get great seats ata great price. But if you just
want to come see Jesus Christ Superstar, we've got tickets available. In fact,

(01:03:50):
they ought to name the street infront of see why Broadway, I
think because this is these and thesethese are top of the line shows.
These are top name shows. Manypeople traveled across the country to go to
Times Square and New York to seeshows similar to this, and here they're

(01:04:11):
coming right to your backyard and inone of the most facilities anywhere in the
country. What an honor it isto have these shows here, and what
a great job folks like Tammy,it said, are due to bring them
here. And it must be fun. Oh it is fun. And even
more fun on Tuesday night is weare opening our eight new restrooms. Oh

(01:04:38):
yes, look at that smile frommel You can't see it, but if
we were in the broadcast. Yeah. So we started on a million million
point five dollars project in the summerand the cold snap almost put a big

(01:04:59):
snaffho, but we worked through thatand we're very excited. These restrooms are
being created out of space that stagethat our tech crew gave up, and
they are on our west side ofthe house, where are accessible seating is
and so we will for the firsttime in the fifty four year history of

(01:05:20):
almost fifty five your history of Stevenshave restrooms at the level without steps.
Well, I was going to killmy exercise program, but that's it's nice
to know, and that is oneof the things. As beautiful as that
building is, you've constantly worked tomake it more accommodating for more people.

(01:05:44):
I remember the removal of some seats, et cetera for the handicapped seating,
et cetera, which I thought wasa great move. And I thought,
boy, that's a good idea.And these are people who are aware of
who frequents see what Stevens auditorium andable to accommodate more people and in a
comfortable way, which is such agreat there's not a bad seat in the

(01:06:08):
house. No, there's not abad seat in the house. And it
is true. I mean, wedid the accessible seating back in twenty eighteen
and thought the restrooms would be alittle bit closer to that, and then
that darn pandemic hit and kind ofput everything on hold. And so but

(01:06:30):
because of pandemic funding is why wewere able to go forward with this project.
So it's a mixture of donor fundsand some COVID pandemic funding that allowed
us to get this done. Andwe're not done. We are raising another
million to do to renovate the currentrestrooms and adding more adding more points of

(01:06:51):
business as I call them. Andso we're still not done. There's still
ways that we can make Stevens moreaccommodating, more friendly, more inclusive,
and just easier to get around in. Yeah, and in that innovative in
some of the programming there, andI think the Goldfinch Room, to me,

(01:07:13):
was such a great idea in givingan intimate, warm feeling between the
audience and performers. Yeah, theGoldfinch Room for those not familiar with that,
it's a listening room and we createdthat space out of our celebrity cafe
and so on certain certain night amonth, we kind of we put up

(01:07:34):
art, our Goldfinch Room art andturn that into a listening room space.
It's for about eighty people and webook I was singer songwriters and we are
expanding. We have people calling usfrom Nashville and Washington and all over to

(01:07:55):
play our room. And so we'llstart back up with that in February,
and we typically book those close inbecause we can't book that space if we
have something in the Big House,and we often are busy in the Big
House. But yeah, the GolfinsRoom has been a really nice It really
helps our mission and giving opportunities toour very talented singer songwriters across the state.

(01:08:19):
The other thing that I point out, and it's not unusual to see
and a lot of people I thinkdrive by and say, well, I
wonder what's going on there, andI pretty much know what's happening, but
to see a lot of big yellowbuses outside that building. And you've got
some great programs for young people.Yeah, we do a youth Matine series
as well, which brings anywhere fromtwelve to sixteen shows to Stevens during the

(01:08:44):
day. For schools and homeschools andgrandkids and grandparents. And we have Dot
Dot the Musical coming up on Februarytwentieth, and then I guess right before
that, we do have Very HungryCaterpillar and that's a show on February twelfth
that we actually have two shows.We have a noon matinee and then we
have a six thirty public show andtickets to the six thirty public show are

(01:09:08):
only ten dollars. We've priced itvery family friendly and it's a six thirty
show and it'll be done, everybodywill be out of the building probably by
eight o'clock. And so, yeah, again, mission driven, it's very
important to us. I think wehave Charlotte's Web still coming up, but
all of that's at our website atCenter dot I State dot edu. And

(01:09:31):
our youth matinee series show up underym Master Youth Matinee Series, and that's
helped funded by a Martha and MarthaEllen Tie Foundation Endowment grant, So that
spins off some money for us everyyear that we can use to book those
shows. Yeah, innovative, beautiful, great entertainment. You get your tickets.

(01:09:56):
These Broadway shows are coming up.Get a series, a ticket,
get a ticket package, but youwon't regret. It doesn't matter if you
guys hadn't announced next season or anythinglike that, it wouldn't matter. I
would just go over and get aticket because you know it's going to be
great. And it's hard to saybetter than last season, but they are.
They get better and better each time. It is a great place to

(01:10:19):
catch a show. It's a greatplace if you're trying to impress someone about
would you go to their names?Oil? Well, we've got a beautiful
facility that nobody else has and wewant to share it with you. And
you can do that by a frequentingand patronizing See Why or any of the
many events over at the Iowa StateCenter. Yes, thank you, mel

(01:10:43):
those. It really is. Ifyou're not in a position to be a
donor, just buying tickets and bringingfriends is very helpful to keeping the arts
alive at the at Steven's Auditorium andactually throughout the community, go and see
live events. There's nothing nothing likeit. We are so blessed in this
community to have so many choices.And I do have one more show in

(01:11:05):
February that I'd love to talk about. A little bit and that is on
February eighth, We're doing Langston HughesProject, Ask Your Mama Twelve Moods of
Jazz and it's a show based onLangston Hughes poems and set to music.
And Doctor Ron mccurty's coming. He'sdone a study of this and he's put

(01:11:29):
together a whole show, a multimediapresentation, playing the music, reading the
poems. We partnered with Ames WritersCollective and they did a series of three
workshops with youth poets and they wrotepoetry and four poems by these youth poets
were chosen and they will open theshow and doctor mccurty is writing an original

(01:11:54):
composition for each poem. And sothat's been a really Again we've talked about
mission a few times. That's reallya mission driven outreach that we partner with
local nonprofits to really extend our reachand extend the opportunity for representation on stage
and to give you a taste ofwhat being on the stage might be like

(01:12:19):
and being recognized for their work.Absolutely terrific. Again, Dammy, tell
them how to get tickets. TicketsThe Stevens Ticket Office is open eleven to
four Monday through Friday, and youcan go to ticketmaster dot com and you
can also go to center dot iState dot edu that will tell you about

(01:12:41):
all the events coming up and giveyou links to tickets. Sounds great,
Tammy Coolbeck with the Iowa State Centerhere, great programs coming up. Be
a part of them. As Isay, take your friends, you're going
to impress them. If you're tryingto impress somebody, take them to a
show. They're just going to absolutelylove it and you'll have a friend for
life, for sure. We arehaving coffee with Meil. We're at the

(01:13:02):
Overflow Thrift Store at two two southof on fourteen thirty Kasi. And here
we are with Mel in the morningdoing his coffee with mail routine here over
at Overflow Thrift Store and Mel tellus a little bit about that. Well,

(01:13:24):
what a little bit about Overflow.I wasn't listening to you, No,
I'm kidding. Overflow is a charitablenonprofit business that offers lots of in
slightly used clothing, shoes, appliances, just about anything you can think of
is down here. And the moniesall go to different charities nonprofits throughout Story

(01:13:54):
County and they have given back nearlya million dollars eight hundred thousand. I
can't give you the exact total,but it's been instrumental for the last ten
years here in in our Aims area. And they're getting set to expand to
a new location down on East LincolnWay, and this location will continue to

(01:14:17):
function, and it functions because ofpeople like you who are out there looking
for some things and you want themat a good price, in good condition,
and you'll find it right here atthe Overflow store. All right,
open up at ten o'clock this morning. You can come down beat on the
doors now. But like I say, unless you got a thousand dollars bill
in your hand, probably not gonnaopen up. But ten o'clock this morning,

(01:14:40):
be a good stop and you're gonnafind something that's gonna save some money.
All right, okay. Craig Coupmanjoins me right now with City Auditorium.
Craig, you're my surprise guest todayand it's it's good to see you,
my friend. I think about youoften. I think about the great
thing has been going on at theaudit Gatorium and no one behold here you

(01:15:01):
are here. I am. It'sgood to see you back. Thank you
Are you enjoying retirement? No,I am still I am acclimating Craig.
I don't know, You're probably notretiring for a little bit, right,
I mean, as much as I'dliked you, probably not. I'll probably
got a few years left in me. But yeah, we've got a lot

(01:15:23):
of stuff going on this winter andspring. We just kicked off our Friday
night concert series last week with ourfirst show, Royce Johns was at the
Auditorium. Tonight we have Fred Loveand his band The Baker's Field Brawl at
the Auditorium. And Fred's been aroundtown forever and ever and he's a great
performer. And you know, theshows are cheap. They are five bucks

(01:15:45):
or if you have a student ID, two students can get in for five
bucks. I've got my old studentID. Will that work? I'm not
sure. Well, you could giveit a shot. It depends on who's
work in the front. If itdoesn't disintegrate when I try and pull it
out of my wallet. But yeah, and we talk about the sea why
but City Auditorium is impressive. Imean, what all the modifications et cetera

(01:16:10):
to make that what it is isjust absolutely beautiful. Yeah, it's a
really great facility. You know,it's bigger than people realize. I think
most of the time we can actuallyhold about eight hundred and eighty people.
It's very nice facility, very intimate, even though it does hold about nine
hundred people, and the acoustics arereally really great in that space. In

(01:16:31):
fact, most of the performers whoperform there say that it sounds so good
on stage and they enjoy it.So overall, it's just a really nice
experience for the audience. And we, like I said, we've got our
Friday night concerts going on. We'vegot actually a new series we started this
spring in March. In April,we've got three tribute bands performing, so

(01:16:51):
something completely different, and we arejust working on new things every day.
And that's one of the things I'veenjoyed about your tenure there because you have
work. So I always felt itwas an under used facility, and you've
come in with some innovative things,a chance to showcase local talent, Iowa

(01:17:15):
talent, and some beyond Iowa.Of course, some great shows have come
in there. It's it's used alot by I know, Story Theater uses
it frequently, et cetera. Andthat's because it is what Craig described.
It's just a great place for allthese different forms of entertainment. But not

(01:17:35):
only that. Maybe you got abusiness meeting coming up or something, or
a seminar or something that you wantto host and they can accommodate that too.
I mean, you're very a verydiverse facility. Yeah, we host
business meetings and things throughout the year. You know, if you have a
keynote speaker or you know, apresenter that you want to put up in

(01:17:56):
an ice facility, you know,we can accommodate all that. We have
projection and audio, and we canvideo record and live stream, so you
know, we really there's nothing,you know that we can't do for you
know, your event. And I'lltell you the other thing that they can
do is give you a good price. And that's the thing to get the
same kind of accommodations, et cetera. And in other places we'll cost you,

(01:18:21):
I think a lot more. There'svery reasonably priced. Yeah, we
tried it. You know, wetry to balance it as much as we
can with keeping our tax subsidy aslow as possible, but also trying to
be you know, affordable. Oneof our missions is to serve the nonprofit
arts community here in town. Soyou know, we do what we can

(01:18:41):
to keep our rates low to tryand that, and that's across the board,
whether it's a nonprofit or a forprofit group that comes in to use
the facility. We're probably the mostreasonable price facility around. And you get
treated just like you would in anyof the larger facilities that are in ames
in Des Moines. You get treatedbetter. It's a personal touch and the

(01:19:02):
concern and the professionalism that's involved tomake sure they can accommodate every need you
have. And the nice thing isif you're not quite sure what your need,
they're able to console you and makesuggestions as to what mate that presentation
may be better. Yeah, youknow, we've got a nice staff of

(01:19:24):
people who've been around for a longtime. That's a nice thing we you
know, we don't cycle through staffvery quickly. In this auditorium, We've
got people who've been there for overtwenty five years. I've been there now
for seven years. So if you'vegot questions, if you don't, you
know, you've got an crazy ideaabout how you want to do something,
you can always email me or callme and you know, I can walk
you through what we can do.Or if you're just not sure what you

(01:19:45):
want to do, you know,there's always you know, you can call
me and I can give you ideasof what we're capable of and go from
there. It's an easy process andthey are there to help you make that
process. Yeah, just jump inhere, get a little bit of news
and the last word from our sponsorsbefore the top of the hour. Uh,
it's it all right to do thatright now? Yeah, yeah,

(01:20:10):
all right, I'll tell you what. Welcome back. We'll close things off
with Craig right after this break.I'm fourteen thirty and back to coffee with
mel and I asked you, andit's okay. Do we are we through
our breaks? We are live?Mel? Well, I know we're live,
but are all the breaks in?All the breaks are in? All

(01:20:32):
right? Thank you? All right? We were rudely interrupted, but anyway,
we've got to get business done.But speaking of business, my good
friend Craig Kaufman here, we're talkingabout the City Auditorium and what it has
to offer. And as you said, what a great show tonight, freb
Ub. Yeah, like I said, Fred's been around Ames, you know,

(01:20:56):
longer than I've been here, soyou know quite a while. You
know, he plays shows all overtown and all over Iowa. He's from
quasi Quatan. Is that how youpronounce the town. You've stumped the panel
with this one. I always sayit wrong. But he's been in Ames
for a long time and he usedto play a lot of shows solo,

(01:21:16):
and probably about a year and ahalf ago he started playing with this band.
So it's a chance to see somethingcompletely different. It's a little bit
amped up, more in the countryrock kind of genre. They call it
cowpunk. So he describes it asif you combine Merle Haggard and Black Flag

(01:21:40):
into one band, that that's whatyou would end up with. So if
you're a fan of either of thoseor just kind of curious, I would
encourage you to come on out.It's going to be a fun show.
And the cost again, it's fivedollars to get in, and like I
said, if you have a studentsin your house or just do it.
If there's any students listening, ifyou bring your student ID, you can
get two for one tickets at thetime of purchase with your ID well worth

(01:22:02):
It got room for over eight hundred, So come on down. We'll get
you accommodated parking when you come tothese usually that backlot at the City Hall
and not over in the Shanker Plaza. No. Actually, you know,
the new parking lot that they putin because of the Shanker Plaza is actually
really helpful for auditorium patrons because it'sright across the street from the auditorium.

(01:22:26):
So you can park in the westlot that's attached to the building. You
can park in the lot that's acrossFifth Street or sixth Street, and then
if you are a bus user,you can actually get dropped off right at
the front door of the Community Center. You got a rock around the building,
but it drops you off right atour front door. Hi, Greg.
If they want more information, howcan they get it? You can
always find me on the city's website. You can email me at Craig dot

(01:22:48):
Coffman at Cityofames dot org, oryou can check out our Facebook page for
the Amecity Auditorium and Durham Banshell.Always good to see you, my friend.
You're always welcome every time there's ashow. I expect you all right,
I'll be back. I'm sure you'llsee me again, Thanks Greg,
Thanks Greg, Sandy and Gosh.I have to say thanks again. What

(01:23:12):
a wonderful, wonderful place this hasbeen to do a show and you bring
another guest. Yeah, thank you. Mel. I'd like to introduce Tara
Brown from Martha's House of Hope toyou. They are a great partner ministry
of Overflows. So if you havetime, I'll let her just say a
little bit about Martha's House of Hopeand the great work that they do.
It's a lovely example of the workof overflow in this community. Sarah,

(01:23:35):
I've got a couple of minutes,so don't I don't want you to feel
like I'm rushing you, so ifyou see me going, but anyway,
hey, welcome. It's good tohave you here. Thank you so much
for having me here today, Mel, I appreciate it. Tell us a
little bit about your mission in life. Yeah, so, I'm the I
currently service the executive director at Martha'sHouse of Hope. We are a maternity

(01:23:56):
home here in Ames that serves womenwho are expecting and currently experiencing homelessness.
We're a transitional living program, sothey live in our home up until their
baby's first birthday and while they're there, we help them with supportive services to
get them back on their feet andbe able to stapely support them and their

(01:24:17):
family and the future. That's onehek of a program, I can tell
you that, and much needed.Absolutely parenthood. If that isn't the toughest
job there is, I don't knowwhat is exactly. Yeah, there's.
Our moms come from all different typesof backgrounds with their own struggles and challenges,
but we help every single day tohelp them overcome those and then you

(01:24:42):
strive for them to build a betterfuture for them and their children. Yeah,
and you, as we said,is one of the organizations benefiting from
the thrift store here. Absolutely,we love our partnership with Overflow for many
reasons, one of them being thatour moms in the home do actually volunteer
here before they gain employment. Theycome here and they learn some valuable skills

(01:25:05):
to be able to propel them intogaining either part time or full time employment.
So that is just a wonderful partnershipthat we have. Also, our
moms come here to shop so needbaby clothes. Of course, like you
said, babies need lots of differentoutfits and stuff. And then the clothes
for the moms when they need toyou know, have a job, interview,

(01:25:29):
some nice different things to wear.And then also they help us with
their their monthly donations towards our mission, which we are so just extremely grateful
for, Thank you, Jarn.How can they get more information? Yeah,
so, if you're interested in learningmore about Martha's House of Hope,
please go to our website www dotMartha's House of Hope dot org. You

(01:25:51):
can learn more about our mission thereand how to get in contact with us.
Thank you so much, Thank you, Sandy, thank you, thank
you Mel. We really appreciate havingme here all right, but looking forward,
hopefully we can get back together againhere at the Overflow Thrift Store two
o two South f I've Mel inthe morning on fourteen thirty