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Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, it's Bill Courtney with an army of normal folks.

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Speaker 1: And we continue now with part two of our conversation

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Speaker 1: with Joe and Kelly Carson, right after these brief messages

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Speaker 1: from our general sponsors. So, you guys, soldier business and

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Speaker 1: you're picking up bread from Panera and you're not making

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Speaker 1: peanut butter and jelly because your son told you when.

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Speaker 2: He was except for us, that's about.

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Speaker 1: You're doing waters. You're cooking breakfast. You're actually trying to

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Speaker 1: build relationships. You're being consistent your motives. By the way,

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Speaker 1: the Turkey Person's story, if people serve in soup kitchens

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Speaker 1: or give turkeys on Thanksgiving, please don't stop doing that.

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Speaker 1: You don't misunderstand the intent of the story and the

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Speaker 1: lesson of the story. The lesson of the story is

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Speaker 1: what is your motive and how consistent are you willing

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Speaker 1: to be? And your motive has to be simply for

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Speaker 1: the edification of someone who is not as quote blessed issue.

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Speaker 1: So now you're there, but you don't have a thing

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Speaker 1: yet and just handing out free bread and eating breakfast

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Speaker 1: once a day. But good good on you doing more

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Speaker 1: than most. But I think you must something clicks in

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Speaker 1: your heads that says, well, this actually could develop into something,

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Speaker 1: and we need to make it bigger than just a

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Speaker 1: Thursday breakfast. Right? Is that the story?

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Speaker 3: Even I would say even more than that, It was

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Speaker 3: the sense of how do we how do we view

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Speaker 3: the challenges of our city from an accurate perspective? I

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Speaker 3: knew how to view them from a suburban perspective, and

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Speaker 3: there is an urban perspective that is just as tainted.

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Speaker 2: In many ways. And so I think when I say an.

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Speaker 3: Accurate perspective, very few people take the time to ask.

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Speaker 3: We want to solve a problem, but we see a

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Speaker 3: visible problem. We see kids with those shoes, Well, we

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Speaker 3: need to go get shoes for the kids, And so

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Speaker 3: we think we're solving a problem, but you don't recognize

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Speaker 3: that there is something behind the reason that that child

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Speaker 3: has no shoes.

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Speaker 1: One of my guests about six months ago said, I

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Speaker 1: think he quoted Bishop to too, but it was somebody

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Speaker 1: really smart, but someone like that. He said, we can

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Speaker 1: continue to pull kids out of the river and save

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Speaker 1: their lives, which is a beautiful thing, but eventually we

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Speaker 1: need to go upstream and figure out why they're in

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Speaker 1: the water in the.

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Speaker 4: First place, Yes, exactly.

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Speaker 3: And so what we did is we literally really shifted.

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Speaker 3: So as we were meeting a tangible need, we were

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Speaker 3: really learning. So every week was a was a was

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Speaker 3: a matter of what's going on? How did it happen?

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Speaker 3: What are you doing about it? Where do you go?

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Speaker 3: And when they would say I don't know, then I

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Speaker 3: would start researching and so uh, and I will tell

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Speaker 3: you that so many who are lost in a in

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Speaker 3: a very precarious position don't recognize that we do have

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Speaker 3: many life preservers floating around in the water. They just

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Speaker 3: don't know where to go to get them.

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Speaker 4: And they're not aware.

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Speaker 3: They're not aware. And so in the seven years that

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Speaker 3: we did ministry on the streets, you know.

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Speaker 1: You're saying the people you seek to serve, there's life

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Speaker 1: preservers everywhere, they just don't even know where to ground.

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Speaker 2: I don't even know where to ground.

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Speaker 3: And so like we were able to get twenty six

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Speaker 3: men and housed permanently off the street. None of them

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Speaker 3: had been on the street for fewer than five years.

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Speaker 3: We were able to get them permanently housed.

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Speaker 1: The city of how long into this work several years?

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Speaker 3: But all it was and we didn't provide them any

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Speaker 3: housing or any money. All we did it as we

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Speaker 3: we kept asking questions and we would introduce them to

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Speaker 3: the life preserver that was already there. And you just

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Speaker 3: continue to make those connections and many of them, Well

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Speaker 3: I was going to go to the soci security office,

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Speaker 3: but it didn't go, you know, and well, I'm a veteran.

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Speaker 3: I'm a veteran, and they told me I can't just

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Speaker 3: do this. Well, did you realize that veterans get in

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Speaker 3: a preference if you do if you take it this way?

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Speaker 3: And so just just walking them through all the hoops

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Speaker 3: that are there, but they need an advocate. Most people

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Speaker 3: that are are locked behind what they see as an

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Speaker 3: impenetrable wall simply need an advocate to show them that

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Speaker 3: there are doors already there.

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Speaker 1: All right, So again I'm trying to keep it chronological

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Speaker 1: because before that, at some point you founded the Memphis

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Speaker 1: Stream Center based off a Los Angeles illustration. I think,

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Speaker 1: So take me to that to then get to where

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Speaker 1: we're going.

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Speaker 4: So in twenty ten, and I want to say it.

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Speaker 1: Was a bar chronologically, that's two years after selling the business.

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Speaker 2: It was a twenty ten CENTUS.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, but there was a study. I think it was

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Speaker 4: a barnut, but I don't want to I'm not positive

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Speaker 4: now I'm trying to remember. But anyway, Memphis was named

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Speaker 4: to the Hungry City in the Nation really and yes,

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Speaker 4: in twenty ten, meaning that we had food and security

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Speaker 4: rates higher than some world countries in certain zip codes

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Speaker 4: of our city. And there are several zip codes that

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Speaker 4: are complete food deserts still to this day, meaning they

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Speaker 4: have the residents have no access within that zip code

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Speaker 4: to healthy food. There are no groceries, you know, no

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Speaker 4: fresh produce.

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Speaker 1: So so if you don't have a car and you

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Speaker 1: don't have a way to get there, or if you

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Speaker 1: don't have gas.

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Speaker 4: You know, I mean, if I don't have money to

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Speaker 4: put gas in my car. So what we realized was

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Speaker 4: that families and children were literally walking to the corner

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Speaker 4: little market or gas station and that was their sustenance.

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Speaker 4: And then we began later absolutely hot Cheetos. But anyway,

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Speaker 4: so we had a school principle actually went to church

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Speaker 4: with that taught in a Title one school here in Memphis.

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Speaker 4: So we started asking her questions, that's really and she said,

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Speaker 4: you know, I have children that from the time they

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Speaker 4: leave school on Friday until they come back on Monday.

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Speaker 4: They do not have a meal. They may have a

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Speaker 4: bag of cookies or a bag of chips, but they

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Speaker 4: don't have a meal. And so we knew that some

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Speaker 4: people were doing the weekend backpack program that type of thing,

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Speaker 4: but they were only doing it for which it was good.

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Speaker 4: I'm not that in a criticism, but for say fifty

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Speaker 4: children in the school, the fifty children that needed the

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Speaker 4: most according to the counsel or whatever. Well, so we

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Speaker 4: started thinking what if and Pastor Matthew Barnett, who leads

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Speaker 4: the Los Angeles Stream Center founded it, said to our pastor,

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Speaker 4: what if you guys buy some old bread trucks or

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Speaker 4: some construction just start feeding kids, giving kids food. Your

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Speaker 4: kids need it, you know. And so we ended up

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Speaker 4: purchasing a fleet of old trucks and we started.

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Speaker 2: Truck stick shiel I was like the only one who

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Speaker 2: could drive. Nobody knew how to drive a stick ship.

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Speaker 4: So basically we started with this one school where this

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Speaker 4: prince was. She said, all of my children need push

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Speaker 4: on the weekend. It was at the time. It's now

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Speaker 4: a charter school, but it was Shannon Elementary in North Memphis.

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Speaker 1: That's so yes.

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Speaker 4: So anyway, so we started there two hundred and forty

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Speaker 4: two children, and we thought, what if we provided them

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Speaker 4: a food bag for the weekend that would cover seven

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Speaker 4: meals and five or six snacks I think. And that's

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Speaker 4: how we started. And so we started looking at what

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Speaker 4: could we put in there and that a child could

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Speaker 4: do themselves if a parent's working, because many of our

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Speaker 4: parents that are working, especially if their single moms are

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Speaker 4: working hourly jobs and they're working on the weekend. So

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Speaker 4: we did pop top tuna with crackers and you know,

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Speaker 4: things that would get them through a weekend oatmeal, that

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Speaker 4: could put water with and so we started doing that. Well,

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Speaker 4: it quickly turned into as schools began to hear about it,

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Speaker 4: Hey callin us, can you do my kids need this?

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Speaker 4: My kids need this?

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Speaker 1: What did the money come from?

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Speaker 4: Well, so we started with our church just donating food

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Speaker 4: on the weekends. We wouldn't have a bag fill a bag.

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Speaker 2: Year and I had no budget.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, we didn't have a lot of budget. We and donors.

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Speaker 4: I mean, people are generous when you especially when you

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Speaker 4: start talking about children, you know. And so that's how

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Speaker 4: we started doing what we do. We founded the Dream

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Speaker 4: Center that year because we thought, and that was another

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Speaker 4: thing funding, we need to be able to sustain this

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Speaker 4: because more and more and so by the end of

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Speaker 4: that first year, I think we were doing about a

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Speaker 4: thousand children a week.

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Speaker 1: Are you kidding? No, a thousand children a week.

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Speaker 4: Friday we would show up to the schools with a

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Speaker 4: group of volunteers. We would hand up the bags. Of

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Speaker 4: schools were amazing the principles. They would left the children

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Speaker 4: up fifteen minutes early on Fridays so they could come

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Speaker 4: through the cafeteria and get their food bag for the weekend.

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Speaker 1: Were the kids appreciative?

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Speaker 4: They were? Now I will tell you a couple.

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Speaker 1: Of us went home and was stolen by older kids.

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Speaker 4: Well, we don't know, and that therein we don't know,

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Speaker 4: and so so so the kids. What we figured out

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Speaker 4: too was the children would take out the things they wanted,

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Speaker 4: and we started noticing things being thrown on the other road,

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Speaker 4: like can goods or different which a family could use.

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Speaker 4: The parents would love it, but the kids don't want to.

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Speaker 4: They want the because and we also realized we had

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Speaker 4: to put some snacks in there or they wouldn't get it.

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Speaker 4: They wouldn't want the bag. So we would put a

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Speaker 4: bag of cheetes, or is something fun for the kids too?

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Speaker 4: And so that we did that, and then that evolved

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Speaker 4: into some other things. So we'd call our feeding programs

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Speaker 4: feed Memphis, and we have several things that run under

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Speaker 4: that banner. But that's what we did for a couple

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Speaker 4: of years. Then we started realizing what was happening, and

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Speaker 4: so we.

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Speaker 1: It makes me angry when I hear what you just

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Speaker 1: told me, and I haven't no dog in the hunt.

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Speaker 1: Did it come on? You can't be that understanding that

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Speaker 1: when you drove down the street and you think about

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Speaker 1: all the work and all the volunteers and money that

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Speaker 1: other people could have been spending on their own children

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Speaker 1: laying in the gutter on the side of the road. Uneaten,

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Speaker 1: Please tell me that had to have bothered you.

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Speaker 4: It bothered me. I don't think I was ever angry.

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Speaker 4: I think it bothered me because I knew that the

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Speaker 4: families and the parents needed it, and and the principals

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Speaker 4: were great. We went to the principals and said, hey,

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Speaker 4: this is what we're noticing. They called the kids in

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Speaker 4: and it stopped, which was crazy because they said this

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Speaker 4: one school in particular, he said, if you do that,

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Speaker 4: we will stop this. You will never get a bag again.

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Speaker 3: And because they were throwing them out the bus.

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Speaker 4: Almost overnight it changed. Really we had a few like

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Speaker 4: on buses and used the chances, weapons, all the crazy

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Speaker 4: things with kids that could happen. So then we started

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Speaker 4: so that has evolved into a couple of other things.

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Speaker 4: So we do a monthly well and COVID like everything.

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Speaker 4: COVID changed everything because we could the schools weren't in session.

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Speaker 2: COVID hit. We were doing about sixty five hundred.

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Speaker 4: Kids a week and we're like, how are we going

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Speaker 4: to be volunteers? Well, on Thursday evenings when we packed

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Speaker 4: the bags, we probably had about one hundred and twenty

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Speaker 4: volunteers coming out everywhere, and we had a food where

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Speaker 4: we have a food distribution warehouse and they would come

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Speaker 4: to the warehouse and.

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Speaker 1: You always packed the sixty five hundred bags we were

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Speaker 1: and arranged to get them to that had to.

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Speaker 4: Have been on every truck and then we would have

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Speaker 4: teams of ten volunteers go to every school school. Yeah,

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Speaker 4: to go to the schools and pass them out on

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Speaker 4: Friday afternoons and then COVID hit and we can't be

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Speaker 4: at school. So we started doing the drive through so

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Speaker 4: where parents could come drive through and we did it

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Speaker 4: at the schools and because the schools were providing hot meals,

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Speaker 4: the day they were giving out the hot meals, we

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Speaker 4: would go with the red bags and the parents could

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Speaker 4: take the bags home. Then during COVID, we secured a

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Speaker 4: partnership with DoorDash and they began delivering the red bags

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Speaker 4: to the homes for free and they pay and Amazon

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Speaker 4: did food boxes for us, and so what we did

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Speaker 4: family food buys. So what we realized and then DoorDash

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Speaker 4: said we are hiring. And so what was really amazing

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Speaker 4: is some of the moms who were receiving the red

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Speaker 4: bags began to drive for door Dash and it gave

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Speaker 4: them a job and they would come and pick up

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Speaker 4: their kids' bags and pick up twenty others and go

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Speaker 4: deliver them, which was really a cool.

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Speaker 3: It was really a great We got to see a

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Speaker 3: lot of things come together. But again that was ten

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Speaker 3: years of sweat equity, and.

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Speaker 4: So that has but that has all of all. What

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Speaker 4: we realized at that point was if we can get

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Speaker 4: them to the doorstep of the family, no food is.

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Speaker 1: Wasted, We'll be right back.

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Speaker 4: So now we do several things. So we partner with

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Speaker 4: another organization that serves refuge Empowerment r EP and they

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Speaker 4: serve about two hundred children every afternoon and families in

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Speaker 4: the Binghampton area who are immigrants or refugees, and so

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Speaker 4: we provide food for them every month and they do

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Speaker 4: a weekly basically, it's like the weekly food bags. We

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Speaker 4: take the pallets of food to them and then they

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Speaker 4: distribute it. We have a pop up grocery once a

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Speaker 4: month and we literally transform the gymnasium at one of

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Speaker 4: our dream centers into a grocery store for families. They

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Speaker 4: where families get to choose what they want rather than

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Speaker 4: us just giving them something. We're like, we want, I

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Speaker 4: want to go choose what I mean. There are some

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Speaker 4: my kids may not want green peas, my family doesn't

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Speaker 4: neat that. I don't want to take that. And so

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Speaker 4: we've we've evolved as we've learned. We've evolved realizing it

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Speaker 4: if we can provide dignity and if we can provide

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Speaker 4: an experience, like we ask ourselves off and what would

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Speaker 4: I want? What would I want somebody to do for

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Speaker 4: me today? And so now families come in, we have

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Speaker 4: fresh produce fresh meat. Amazon provides us about twenty five

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Speaker 4: pallets of new returned items every month because they get

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Speaker 4: a lot of returns, and we pick up about twenty

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Speaker 4: five pallets a month from one of our local Amazon warehouses,

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Speaker 4: so families get laundry, detergent, hygiene products.

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Speaker 1: This is a pop up grocery store.

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Speaker 4: We call it pop up our pop up grocery, and

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Speaker 4: we set it up on Thursday and Friday. Families come

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Speaker 4: in on Saturday. They have shopping times, so they're signed

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Speaker 4: to time. They sign up for a time to come in.

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Speaker 4: They have about twenty minutes to go through and get

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Speaker 4: what they need. Yes, well, yes they do. On their

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Speaker 4: family sites our volunteers that they are no they have

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Speaker 4: a and we've tried to make it again where they're

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Speaker 4: not a number, and so they have a really tiny

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Speaker 4: little blue or yellow sticker and they just stick it

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Speaker 4: on and that way nobody has to ask them how

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Speaker 4: may you know? They just know as they come through.

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Speaker 4: Our volunteers know, oh they're a family of four under

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Speaker 4: their family a fiber above and they get their food

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Speaker 4: according to how many they're in their household, and.

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Speaker 2: They get to choose it. And I think that's great.

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Speaker 3: And then we have a shopper that goes with them

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Speaker 3: and somebody to carry their groceries as they.

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Speaker 4: So we load them in the car. So it's a

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Speaker 4: we try to create that five star experience, that's what

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Speaker 4: we like to call it, where they feel like they

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Speaker 4: are valued. We have people in the waiting area visiting

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Speaker 4: with them. We have snacks and drinks, coffee, water, so

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Speaker 4: that you know, and so they we want them to

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Speaker 4: come in and feel like you're the stars of the

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Speaker 4: show today. You know you're and so we do that.

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Speaker 4: Then we have food boxes and we do provide a

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Speaker 4: monthly food box and we pivoted to that and those

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Speaker 4: are all delivered directly to the parents or the caregivers.

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Speaker 4: So we do a couple of different things. So we

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Speaker 4: have the second Sunday of every month. We call it

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Speaker 4: doorstep Delivery, and on Sunday afternoon, volunteers sign up and

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Speaker 4: we have a box labeled with a family's name and

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Speaker 4: address and phone number, and the volunteer picks it up

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Speaker 4: and takes it delivers it to their doorstep. The goal

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Speaker 4: of that is that they're going to the same doorsteps

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Speaker 4: every month and they're beginning to develop a relationship with

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Speaker 4: that family, and then we deliver food boxes to several

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Speaker 4: schools and the parents come to the gymnasium once a

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Speaker 4: week and pick them up. One of the schools, we

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Speaker 4: actually take our trucks and park in front of the

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Speaker 4: school at the end of the day and the parents

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Speaker 4: pick them up come up there.

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Speaker 1: What is the Family Advocacy Center.

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Speaker 4: So our Family Advocacy Center we really that is our

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Speaker 4: Highland Dream Center. We have two locations and that is

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Speaker 4: an basically you walk in. We have a cafe, We

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Speaker 4: have an indoor playground, a trauma informed playground for children.

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Speaker 4: We have a laundry trailer where families can do their laundry.

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Speaker 4: We have a baby boutique. We provide school uniforms. We

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Speaker 4: have a small food pantry there and it's basically we

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Speaker 4: work a lot. We partner with DCS, so that's all.

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Speaker 4: Most of the families that come there are referrals from

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Speaker 4: Knowledge Quest, Agape, several nonprofits, and but a large percentage

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Speaker 4: are from Bethany Children's Services or DCS. And what we

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Speaker 4: realized when we open this, we started meeting with DCS

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Speaker 4: and we actually had in mind that we were going

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Speaker 4: to do something to support foster families because there's such

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Speaker 4: a crisis in Shelby County of children in the system.

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Speaker 1: It's not just Shelby Country, yeah, not just Shelly Country.

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Speaker 4: And so what we realized as we began to meet

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Speaker 4: and talk with dcs, she began to talk about all

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Speaker 4: the kids in the system and we're going every day

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Speaker 4: and having to remove children from their homes and this

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Speaker 4: and that, and I just we're just sitting there and

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Speaker 4: I looked at her and I said, so, who's walking

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Speaker 4: with the families who are losing their children? Is anyone

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Speaker 4: walking them to a place of health and homeness so

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Speaker 4: they don't lose their kids into the system, Because we

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Speaker 4: all know once a child's in the system, I don't

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Speaker 4: care how good the foster home is. The statistics are horrendous,

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Speaker 4: you know, of being becoming an in at prison, homelessness,

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Speaker 4: never graduating high school. All the stats prostitutes, yes, that

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Speaker 4: go along with that. And she said, you know, that's

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Speaker 4: a good question. And I said, so what if we

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Speaker 4: you know that's a gap. We are always looking where's

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Speaker 4: the gap? Why don't we step into that world? And

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Speaker 4: so we now with our Family Advocacy Center, we focus

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Speaker 4: on the preventative side. So how can we walk a

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Speaker 4: family to health and homeness so that they won't lose

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Speaker 4: their child, or how can we support a kinship family

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Speaker 4: so the child can stay within the family and not

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Speaker 4: go across the town school. That way they can stay

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Speaker 4: at the same school, they get to see their family.

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Speaker 4: Because honestly, if a grandmother that's already living in poverty

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Speaker 4: gets a call and say, hey, we're gonna put you,

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Speaker 4: We're removing the kids, can you take them? You have

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Speaker 4: to have a bed for every child. There are four children.

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Speaker 4: You have to have a bed for every child. You

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Speaker 4: have to have some type of a chest or something

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Speaker 4: for them to put their clothing in, or we can't

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Speaker 4: bring them to you. So we provide now twin beds

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Speaker 4: and chess. We support a lot of kinship family so

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Speaker 4: the child can stay within the family unit, even if

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Speaker 4: they need to be removed from maybe mom or dad

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Speaker 4: it's not healthy. If an aunt can take them, if

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Speaker 4: a grandmother can take them, you know, something like that,

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Speaker 4: where they can be in a healthy home, they still

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Speaker 4: are within the family unit. And then we have what

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Speaker 4: we call parent cafes, and those are small groups basically

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Speaker 4: for it's pure support groups for parents or caregivers. Read

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Speaker 4: to Lead yep, oh no, that's the state.

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Speaker 3: That's what That's the start out of everything we do.

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Speaker 3: I think it not only is the thing that we

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Speaker 3: do best, but it is the most important thing that

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Speaker 3: we do to change a generation.

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Speaker 1: Tell us, So Read delete is.

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Speaker 3: An afterschool program, but it's all about literacy and leadership.

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Speaker 3: But honestly, we don't really focus a lot on literacy,

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Speaker 3: which is amazing because the statistics, let me get that

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Speaker 3: out right, The statistics tell us that if a child

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Speaker 3: can't read about third grade, you know the story I do.

385
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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 1: There's actually another really great organization that's nationwide now that

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Speaker 1: was started in Memphis called Coaching for Literacy that does

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Speaker 1: and has done an enormous amount of research and the

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00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:51,760
Speaker 1: demographics that they throw out there, but they say, exactly,

390
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Speaker 1: if you boil all the research they've done down day,

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Speaker 1: if you're not reading on grade level by third grade,

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Speaker 1: you are like seventy percent. Yeah, more to be in poverty,

393
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Speaker 1: in jail or whatever. So about third grade. All the

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Speaker 1: work we do after third grade is great, but the

395
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Speaker 1: work up to third grade is really what's the most

396
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Speaker 1: important and formative. According to the metrics operis.

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Speaker 3: Up to third grade, you read, you learned to read.

398
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Speaker 3: Up after third grade, you read to learn. And if

399
00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:25,479
Speaker 3: you can't read, you can't learn. And so it is.

400
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Speaker 3: It is a true and so so this is.

401
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Speaker 4: Our ten start in twenty fifteen with twenty students, we

402
00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:37,120
Speaker 4: did a pilot a year. So, yeah, twenty second grader.

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Speaker 2: Twenty second grade.

404
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Speaker 3: I thought we start with second grade because that third

405
00:22:40,119 --> 00:22:42,600
Speaker 3: grade is the issue, right, So we started with second grade.

406
00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:46,320
Speaker 3: At the end of the year, eighty five percent of

407
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Speaker 3: those students could read that grade level.

408
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Speaker 1: What was the starting percentage? Ten? Ten?

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Speaker 4: And basically none of them.

410
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Speaker 1: But just let's just hang on. Ye just fact that

411
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Speaker 1: in the United States of America that only ten percent

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Speaker 1: of second graders in a city school system can read

413
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Speaker 1: on grade level, That in and of itself should scare

414
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Speaker 1: us to death.

415
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Speaker 3: Well, I mean we're what we're ranked almost thirtieth I

416
00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:20,560
Speaker 3: think in the world now education system in America. So

417
00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:23,920
Speaker 3: our school systems are failing. I mean, there's no doubt

418
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Speaker 3: we've got to change something or we're going to continue

419
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Speaker 3: to fall behind.

420
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Speaker 4: And it's a whole it's not it's not the school system.

421
00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:34,120
Speaker 4: It really does take a village. It's all of us

422
00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:40,760
Speaker 4: working together, including the parents, the teachers, the nonprofits, the churches, whatever,

423
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Speaker 4: that reading stories at night. You know.

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Speaker 1: No, it's interesting. Now, this is one of those up

425
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Speaker 1: a tree squirrel things. But I have an office in Shanghai,

426
00:23:51,240 --> 00:23:53,680
Speaker 1: have an office in Coachman. I do business in forty

427
00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:57,600
Speaker 1: two different countries. So I see the world as a

428
00:23:57,640 --> 00:24:04,480
Speaker 1: function of my business. There is poverty in Vietnam, unlike

429
00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:11,200
Speaker 1: y'all have ever seen in Memphis. It's even worse, but

430
00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:18,200
Speaker 1: in Vietnam, like ninety eight percent literacy rate. So it's

431
00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:23,199
Speaker 1: not just poverty. Yeah, it's also not just having funding

432
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Speaker 1: for schools, because the schools in Vietnam oftentimes don't have walls.

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Speaker 1: They look like a thatch hut. But their kids have

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Speaker 1: ninety eight percent literacy. So what's missing the family?

435
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Speaker 4: That's exactly exactly. And and so for us even so

436
00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:44,680
Speaker 4: the kids. And then what we did was the first

437
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Speaker 4: two years we focused heavily on literacy and we added

438
00:24:48,359 --> 00:24:50,639
Speaker 4: We thought, we'll start in second grade, we'll add a

439
00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:54,600
Speaker 4: grade every year. And of course then we had other

440
00:24:54,960 --> 00:24:57,520
Speaker 4: schools calling, like we did with the feeding Hey can

441
00:24:57,560 --> 00:24:58,919
Speaker 4: my kids come? We want and so.

442
00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:02,720
Speaker 1: You know, you're feeding the kids and teaching the kids.

443
00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:04,560
Speaker 1: When do they just say, why don't you just run

444
00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:08,000
Speaker 1: the school ahead?

445
00:25:08,119 --> 00:25:09,920
Speaker 2: Actually, sorry, they've tried.

446
00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:15,840
Speaker 4: So this year we have two hundred three children in

447
00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:18,919
Speaker 4: after school program and we have two sites on yes

448
00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:22,760
Speaker 4: read to leave, one in Fraser, one in Raleigh. And

449
00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:25,440
Speaker 4: what we realized a couple of years in, we thought,

450
00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:28,720
Speaker 4: you know, let's have let's let's all sit at the table,

451
00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:32,920
Speaker 4: let's have parents, let's everybody, let's have school administrators, let's

452
00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:35,600
Speaker 4: have teachers, and let's have our team, and let's talk

453
00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:38,040
Speaker 4: about what the kids need. So I we as we

454
00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:41,879
Speaker 4: began to talk, I'll never forget that evening. They we

455
00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:44,919
Speaker 4: just started making doing whiteboard, start whiteboarding it. And we

456
00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:47,280
Speaker 4: have this whole list of things the kids, you know,

457
00:25:47,359 --> 00:25:49,080
Speaker 4: at list as long as my arm of things they

458
00:25:49,320 --> 00:25:52,200
Speaker 4: wanted from an after school program. I said, okay, we're

459
00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:54,600
Speaker 4: one program. We have the kids a couple hours in

460
00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:58,040
Speaker 4: the afternoon. Obviously we can't do everything. Tell me your

461
00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:03,119
Speaker 4: top three and they had different things, but everybody around

462
00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:07,000
Speaker 4: the table set exposure because they said the children never

463
00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:10,120
Speaker 4: many of them, never step outside their neighborhoods. We took

464
00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:14,720
Speaker 4: the kids one day down to the Pyramid bowling and

465
00:26:14,840 --> 00:26:17,119
Speaker 4: we pulled up on the bus and they were like,

466
00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:19,600
Speaker 4: miss Kelly, is that the ocean? Is that the ocean?

467
00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:21,840
Speaker 4: They had never seen the Mississippi River and they lived

468
00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:24,160
Speaker 4: ten minutes from it, you know, And so we realized,

469
00:26:24,160 --> 00:26:28,159
Speaker 4: So we developed an enrichment program along with the literacy

470
00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:31,439
Speaker 4: and the leadership piece, and so now our kids.

471
00:26:32,720 --> 00:26:34,960
Speaker 1: It is phenomenal to me. I'm sorry to interrupt you,

472
00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:40,760
Speaker 1: but it is phenomenal me that a child growing up

473
00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:43,880
Speaker 1: in Memphis, Tennessee, I had never seen the Mississippi River.

474
00:26:44,840 --> 00:26:50,600
Speaker 1: It's only the biggest river, like, and it's only and this.

475
00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:53,120
Speaker 2: Isn't Memphil of Miles, this isn't just Memphis.

476
00:26:53,119 --> 00:26:55,440
Speaker 3: So one of my best friends grew up in Chicago

477
00:26:55,600 --> 00:26:58,760
Speaker 3: on the south side in Inglewood, got our son. He

478
00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:01,800
Speaker 3: lives here in Memphis now. He said, until he went

479
00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:04,200
Speaker 3: to the Army, he had never left a ten block

480
00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:07,399
Speaker 3: radius and had never seen a white man in person.

481
00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:08,840
Speaker 2: Only on TV.

482
00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:13,080
Speaker 1: I interviewed. I interviewed a guy early in this who

483
00:27:13,080 --> 00:27:16,119
Speaker 1: grew up southside Chicago and his dream, now this is

484
00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:22,160
Speaker 1: his life dream, was to see the Sears Dour. Yeah,

485
00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:27,240
Speaker 1: he grew up in Chicago. He couldn't even go outside

486
00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:31,320
Speaker 1: his three block radius. It was too unsafe to cross

487
00:27:31,359 --> 00:27:34,000
Speaker 1: his three block radius just to get to downtown Chicago

488
00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:37,520
Speaker 1: to see a building that was his. If your dream,

489
00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:41,320
Speaker 1: if your quest for life is to get across town,

490
00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:45,680
Speaker 1: how in the world are you going to have dreams

491
00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:47,760
Speaker 1: of being an accountant or a doctor.

492
00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:49,080
Speaker 2: And the answer is you won't.

493
00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:52,199
Speaker 3: You won't if you've never seen it in person, not

494
00:27:52,320 --> 00:27:55,479
Speaker 3: on TV. If you've never seen it in person, you

495
00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:57,120
Speaker 3: can't dream of yourself.

496
00:27:57,280 --> 00:28:02,800
Speaker 1: So it's interesting that even the parents said access or exposure, exposure,

497
00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:03,760
Speaker 1: access some things.

498
00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:06,360
Speaker 4: Yeah, So now the kids plant and grow their own garden.

499
00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:11,520
Speaker 4: They have music production classes, they have tap and ballet,

500
00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:14,480
Speaker 4: they have culinary arts classes.

501
00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:16,200
Speaker 2: So they learned to get food on their own.

502
00:28:16,359 --> 00:28:19,879
Speaker 4: Yeah, and we're teaching them. Yes, all of this is

503
00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:21,800
Speaker 4: part So we do five days a week and now

504
00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:25,679
Speaker 4: we've expanded to three hours in the afternoon to fit everything.

505
00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:27,520
Speaker 4: And they get a hot meal before they go home,

506
00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:30,880
Speaker 4: and then the parents we do family dinner nights once

507
00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:33,280
Speaker 4: a month, so we're all sitting around the table eating

508
00:28:33,359 --> 00:28:37,320
Speaker 4: dinner together, visiting, talking. We have other things throughout the year,

509
00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:41,320
Speaker 4: field trips, different things like that, and then two years ago.

510
00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:43,840
Speaker 4: Have you ever heard of Ron Clark, the Ron Clark

511
00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:48,120
Speaker 4: Academy in Atlanta. Ron Clark, you should watch his story

512
00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:52,479
Speaker 4: on Amazon Prime. But he was a young teacher that

513
00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:56,120
Speaker 4: grew up in I think North Carolina, I don't know, somewhere,

514
00:28:56,720 --> 00:28:59,560
Speaker 4: ended up in Harlem, like his second year of teaching

515
00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:04,200
Speaker 4: and one of the worst classes this school. They kept

516
00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:07,800
Speaker 4: having teachers quit, and he began to realize, if I

517
00:29:07,840 --> 00:29:11,240
Speaker 4: can just number one bill relationships with their families and

518
00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:15,680
Speaker 4: number two teach them to their bent. These kids have

519
00:29:15,800 --> 00:29:18,920
Speaker 4: high trauma, high aces like I don't. They can't be

520
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:21,440
Speaker 4: expected to sit in a desk for eight hours a

521
00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:25,560
Speaker 4: day and learn. So he developed all these alternative methods

522
00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:29,480
Speaker 4: of teaching, and now he has an academy in Atlanta.

523
00:29:29,560 --> 00:29:30,640
Speaker 4: That's incredible.

524
00:29:30,800 --> 00:29:34,840
Speaker 2: I think this is stand together, yea.

525
00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:43,160
Speaker 4: So we sent our team down there for training and

526
00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:46,440
Speaker 4: now we do something called we've done the last two years.

527
00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:48,680
Speaker 4: It's called the Amazing Shake, and it's something with the

528
00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:51,360
Speaker 4: Wrong Clark Academy and schools from all over the nation

529
00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:57,040
Speaker 4: participation and internationally actually, and so basically, the Amazing Shape

530
00:29:57,160 --> 00:30:00,440
Speaker 4: teaches kids life skills and soft skills. So so if

531
00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:04,000
Speaker 4: you walked into our Dream Center read to lead program today,

532
00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:06,400
Speaker 4: some of the children would probably come up, shake your

533
00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:08,400
Speaker 4: hand and say, Hi, my name is so and so

534
00:30:08,520 --> 00:30:10,920
Speaker 4: what's your name? Have you ever visited the Dream Center before?

535
00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:13,080
Speaker 4: Would you like to have a tour of the Dream Center?

536
00:30:13,120 --> 00:30:16,320
Speaker 4: You know? And these are third grader, fourth graders, fifth graders,

537
00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:18,040
Speaker 4: and so we began to teach that. Well, then the

538
00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:21,120
Speaker 4: Amazing Shake is a competition, and so the kids prepare

539
00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:23,560
Speaker 4: all year and in the spring we have Last year

540
00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:28,680
Speaker 4: we had forty entrepreneurs, executives, businesses come out and we

541
00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:31,480
Speaker 4: set up our gym and they have forty They had

542
00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:36,280
Speaker 4: forty stations. At one station, one of the Toyota locations

543
00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:37,680
Speaker 4: came out and had a car and the kids have

544
00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:39,880
Speaker 4: to sell a car. And so they go to there

545
00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:42,280
Speaker 4: and they have to learn to sell a car sales experience.

546
00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:44,800
Speaker 4: One was like the Tonight Show in their interviewed how

547
00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:47,800
Speaker 4: do they do an interview? And then the winner gets

548
00:30:47,840 --> 00:30:50,840
Speaker 4: to go to the national competition in Atlanta. Well, last

549
00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:54,719
Speaker 4: year our judges could not decide on one winter, so

550
00:30:54,800 --> 00:30:57,280
Speaker 4: they said, we want to pay for five kids to

551
00:30:57,360 --> 00:30:59,760
Speaker 4: go to nationals. One of our girls made it in

552
00:30:59,760 --> 00:31:02,880
Speaker 4: the thirty of the nation. We were so proud of her.

553
00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:05,520
Speaker 4: And it's all these competitions. They have to get up

554
00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:08,320
Speaker 4: and answer questions in front of the crowd, they have

555
00:31:08,400 --> 00:31:12,720
Speaker 4: to go to different stations. It's incredible. And our young guy,

556
00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:16,960
Speaker 4: I think he's thirty six now, that leads it, young

557
00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:20,640
Speaker 4: black man and Leno has such a heart for the kids.

558
00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:25,400
Speaker 4: But he's incredible. And so what we are seeing when

559
00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:29,120
Speaker 4: Jo said, we're not so focused on literacy literacy anymore,

560
00:31:29,440 --> 00:31:32,360
Speaker 4: what we're seeing is as we give the kids things

561
00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:33,880
Speaker 4: and we put things in front of it, and they

562
00:31:33,960 --> 00:31:37,360
Speaker 4: drive all of our enrichment classes. Whatever they want, we

563
00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:38,880
Speaker 4: do our best to get it in front of.

564
00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:41,680
Speaker 2: The robotics we've done, I mean it's hosting.

565
00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:46,680
Speaker 4: All the things. But anyway, we let them whatever they want,

566
00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:48,760
Speaker 4: we do our best to get it there because then

567
00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:52,280
Speaker 4: they can start dreaming about their future. What we've seen

568
00:31:52,480 --> 00:31:55,600
Speaker 4: is now literacy rates grades are going up. So at

569
00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:58,520
Speaker 4: the end of last year, one of the schools, Coleman Elementary,

570
00:31:58,560 --> 00:32:01,520
Speaker 4: where our kids come from, some of our kids called

571
00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:03,280
Speaker 4: us and said, we want you to know that we

572
00:32:03,440 --> 00:32:06,640
Speaker 4: just got our test results back and every second grader

573
00:32:06,720 --> 00:32:09,800
Speaker 4: in your program is reading at her above grade level,

574
00:32:10,120 --> 00:32:13,320
Speaker 4: and they said, in every student in your program scored

575
00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:16,080
Speaker 4: higher than any of the kids in the school on

576
00:32:16,120 --> 00:32:19,560
Speaker 4: their math and literacy test. And it's not that we're

577
00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:24,560
Speaker 4: sitting every day teaching that. It's that we are exposing them.

578
00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:28,920
Speaker 4: We are getting them excited about learning, excited about their futures,

579
00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:31,440
Speaker 4: and they're dreaming about what could be.

580
00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:36,920
Speaker 1: Do you know who Gary Karpov is. He was the

581
00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:41,000
Speaker 1: world championship chess guy in the eighties. It was Kasparov

582
00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:47,840
Speaker 1: and Karpov, two Russian guys, And Karpov was a scientist

583
00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:51,200
Speaker 1: and he did a study and it was a twenty

584
00:32:51,600 --> 00:32:55,280
Speaker 1: year study. And his control group or kids that did

585
00:32:55,320 --> 00:32:58,560
Speaker 1: not play for us, who went through all kinds of

586
00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:03,560
Speaker 1: testing prior to the study, and his other group was

587
00:33:03,600 --> 00:33:06,280
Speaker 1: a group who tested just like the control group did

588
00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:10,040
Speaker 1: prior to chess, but then taught them chess and taught

589
00:33:10,080 --> 00:33:14,360
Speaker 1: them a lot of chess. And basically it came out

590
00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:18,800
Speaker 1: after three groups of like fifty kids each over the

591
00:33:18,800 --> 00:33:22,040
Speaker 1: course of five year studies, maybe it's four groups. At

592
00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:28,040
Speaker 1: any rate, it wasn't that smart kids played chess. It

593
00:33:28,080 --> 00:33:31,840
Speaker 1: was that chess made smart kids.

594
00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:34,680
Speaker 4: And that's exactly what we're seeing.

595
00:33:35,040 --> 00:33:42,080
Speaker 1: It's it's the it's the spatial recognition, it's the planning ahead,

596
00:33:42,360 --> 00:33:50,720
Speaker 1: it's the the ability to think about what your opponent's

597
00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:54,440
Speaker 1: next move is going to be. So it's anticipation. It's

598
00:33:54,880 --> 00:33:59,920
Speaker 1: in all of that exercises the synopsis in your brain,

599
00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:04,080
Speaker 1: and your brain is a muscle, and it actually increases

600
00:34:04,440 --> 00:34:10,160
Speaker 1: that muscle's ability to function. Yep, to me, that's exactly

601
00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:12,480
Speaker 1: what you're saying. That's exactly the same thing.

602
00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:15,879
Speaker 4: And we do a you'll need to come out this fall.

603
00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:18,040
Speaker 4: I have to make sure you get an invite, but

604
00:34:18,120 --> 00:34:19,799
Speaker 4: we do at the end of the year what's called

605
00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:22,640
Speaker 4: read to leads got Talent, So it's America's got talent

606
00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:26,040
Speaker 4: to read the leads got talent, and the kids get

607
00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:30,000
Speaker 4: to showcase everything like all of their enrichment for the year.

608
00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:32,440
Speaker 4: And so what was really exciting for us is two

609
00:34:32,520 --> 00:34:36,719
Speaker 4: years ago, a little girl sang a solo and a

610
00:34:36,760 --> 00:34:39,040
Speaker 4: little boy played the guitar he'd learned he had taken

611
00:34:39,080 --> 00:34:42,120
Speaker 4: the guitar class and played, and she sang. We had

612
00:34:42,120 --> 00:34:44,480
Speaker 4: a voice coach come out because she was really interested

613
00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:47,480
Speaker 4: in seeing So a FedEx executive cout came out once

614
00:34:47,480 --> 00:34:50,600
Speaker 4: a week and coached her and gave her voice lessons

615
00:34:50,719 --> 00:34:54,960
Speaker 4: and she sang and her mom was just was crying,

616
00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:56,640
Speaker 4: and we were like, oh, you so excited. She goes.

617
00:34:56,680 --> 00:35:00,160
Speaker 4: You don't understand, she said. When we brought her here

618
00:35:00,760 --> 00:35:02,680
Speaker 4: at the beginning of this year, she wouldn't even look

619
00:35:02,719 --> 00:35:05,520
Speaker 4: anyone in the eye. She was so shy. And now

620
00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:08,520
Speaker 4: she's up singing. And this last year she wrote her

621
00:35:08,560 --> 00:35:11,760
Speaker 4: own song and sang it because we did a songwriting class.

622
00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:15,880
Speaker 4: So the evolution is, it's amazing.

623
00:35:16,080 --> 00:35:20,799
Speaker 1: That's a long way from taking one day open their

624
00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:22,600
Speaker 1: rolls and the outed apart.

625
00:35:22,600 --> 00:35:25,960
Speaker 3: It is, but we've allowed the people that we served

626
00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:29,319
Speaker 3: to could kind of tell us what the next thing was.

627
00:35:30,040 --> 00:35:34,960
Speaker 3: So really other than the guys on the street. Once

628
00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:39,560
Speaker 3: that study came out and told us told us how

629
00:35:39,640 --> 00:35:41,560
Speaker 3: much hunger you know that we were the number one

630
00:35:41,640 --> 00:35:46,160
Speaker 3: hungry city, we began like, Okay, what does that look like?

631
00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:46,720
Speaker 2: Where?

632
00:35:46,760 --> 00:35:49,719
Speaker 3: Where are where are the food deserts? Where are the

633
00:35:49,800 --> 00:35:53,359
Speaker 3: kids really going cause? And so at the time North

634
00:35:53,360 --> 00:36:01,879
Speaker 3: Memphis three went away, Start I went away, seventy six

635
00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:06,240
Speaker 3: percent of seniors and children literally were what they called

636
00:36:06,640 --> 00:36:10,480
Speaker 3: considered hungry, food insecure, food food insecure. And so we

637
00:36:10,480 --> 00:36:13,279
Speaker 3: were like Oh that's crazy. I mean that aren't those

638
00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:16,680
Speaker 3: the people were called as believers to take care of

639
00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:19,400
Speaker 3: the orphans and the widow right, the seniors.

640
00:36:19,040 --> 00:36:19,920
Speaker 2: And the children.

641
00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:23,160
Speaker 3: And so we just decided that we would we would

642
00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:27,040
Speaker 3: step in. Well, we called the school system when we

643
00:36:27,080 --> 00:36:29,640
Speaker 3: started with the red bags to say hey, we're just

644
00:36:29,719 --> 00:36:31,719
Speaker 3: letting you know. We started with the school with the

645
00:36:31,760 --> 00:36:34,480
Speaker 3: park next door. Hey, we wanted you to know, we're

646
00:36:34,480 --> 00:36:36,040
Speaker 3: going to go to the park next door on Friday

647
00:36:36,040 --> 00:36:37,320
Speaker 3: and we're going to hand these kids. So if the

648
00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:39,120
Speaker 3: kids run over here before they get on the bus,

649
00:36:40,040 --> 00:36:42,719
Speaker 3: just know what's going on. And they said, well, why

650
00:36:42,719 --> 00:36:44,360
Speaker 3: don't you come onto the school campus.

651
00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:46,600
Speaker 4: And then it was like, why don't you come inside

652
00:36:47,680 --> 00:36:49,880
Speaker 4: check them out early. We'll let the kids out.

653
00:36:49,719 --> 00:36:50,719
Speaker 2: Early on Fridays.

654
00:36:50,719 --> 00:36:54,600
Speaker 3: And so the school system invited us in and then

655
00:36:54,600 --> 00:36:56,920
Speaker 3: one of the principals said, can you help us with

656
00:36:56,960 --> 00:37:00,160
Speaker 3: our literacy? So we started reading to them. Then he said,

657
00:37:00,160 --> 00:37:01,640
Speaker 3: what about an after school program?

658
00:37:01,680 --> 00:37:02,280
Speaker 2: So we started.

659
00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:06,000
Speaker 1: So you're saying the principal and the teachers they actually cared,

660
00:37:06,719 --> 00:37:11,040
Speaker 1: they do care, But there's this out there that the

661
00:37:11,160 --> 00:37:13,839
Speaker 1: teachers in the schools don't there they do care, they're

662
00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:17,360
Speaker 1: just so under resourced, and they're dealing with the generational poverty.

663
00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:21,080
Speaker 3: They're having to do everything except teach. I mean, they

664
00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:21,640
Speaker 3: really are.

665
00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:24,800
Speaker 2: It's they're in such a challenging situation.

666
00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:47,080
Speaker 1: So five plus million meals provided to children since twenty eleven,

667
00:37:47,880 --> 00:37:50,719
Speaker 1: six hundred and twenty one children have enrolled in red

668
00:37:50,719 --> 00:37:55,040
Speaker 1: Delete program. Since twenty fifteen, eighty three point three percent

669
00:37:55,040 --> 00:37:57,400
Speaker 1: of children in your program. I've seen an increase in

670
00:37:57,440 --> 00:38:02,799
Speaker 1: reading scores and a decrease in school suspension. Yes, more

671
00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:05,480
Speaker 1: than three hundred adults have graduated and received their high

672
00:38:05,480 --> 00:38:09,120
Speaker 1: school diplomas through your Family Enrichment Program, and over four

673
00:38:09,200 --> 00:38:12,960
Speaker 1: hundred families resourced, three hundred and fifty five school uniforms,

674
00:38:12,960 --> 00:38:16,279
Speaker 1: seventy seven twin beds, two in seventy eight baby store visit,

675
00:38:16,280 --> 00:38:18,960
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifteen food boxes and counting.

676
00:38:19,760 --> 00:38:23,399
Speaker 3: Yes, those are old those are old stags.

677
00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:28,400
Speaker 1: Those are stats from ours I could get. But the

678
00:38:28,440 --> 00:38:37,480
Speaker 1: bottom line is this is a dentist and a mom.

679
00:38:36,200 --> 00:38:38,279
Speaker 2: Who had no idea what we're doing. We still don't,

680
00:38:39,280 --> 00:38:40,279
Speaker 2: to be honest.

681
00:38:40,600 --> 00:38:45,080
Speaker 1: But the point is our belief set that the thing

682
00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:47,440
Speaker 1: that's really going to change our culture, our siety is

683
00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:49,840
Speaker 1: an army of normal people seeing need and filling it.

684
00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:54,279
Speaker 1: It's exactly right, you are it. What does it make

685
00:38:54,360 --> 00:38:54,880
Speaker 1: you feel like?

686
00:38:55,960 --> 00:38:59,640
Speaker 4: I think for me, it's extremely humbling. I think it's

687
00:38:59,680 --> 00:39:03,520
Speaker 4: humble that the families that we get to walk alongside

688
00:39:03,560 --> 00:39:06,560
Speaker 4: allow us into their world and allow us into their

689
00:39:06,560 --> 00:39:10,120
Speaker 4: lives and call us friends. I think for me, you know,

690
00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:12,720
Speaker 4: I have a group of moms that I get together

691
00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:15,319
Speaker 4: with about every six weeks and we go to we

692
00:39:15,360 --> 00:39:17,080
Speaker 4: have a girl's night out, we go to dinner, and

693
00:39:17,120 --> 00:39:20,200
Speaker 4: they're all single moms and whose kids are have been

694
00:39:20,320 --> 00:39:24,000
Speaker 4: or are in our program. And a few months ago

695
00:39:24,080 --> 00:39:25,760
Speaker 4: we were out and one of them said, miss Kelly,

696
00:39:25,800 --> 00:39:28,960
Speaker 4: thank you so much for doing this, thank you for

697
00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:31,160
Speaker 4: being our friend, thank you for being with us. We

698
00:39:31,239 --> 00:39:35,080
Speaker 4: need you. And I looked at her and I just said,

699
00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:38,640
Speaker 4: you know, Teresa, thank you for saying that. But I

700
00:39:38,680 --> 00:39:40,520
Speaker 4: want you guys to hear me, and I want you

701
00:39:40,600 --> 00:39:43,239
Speaker 4: to really hear me. I need you so much more

702
00:39:43,280 --> 00:39:46,560
Speaker 4: than you need me. And that's it for us. It's

703
00:39:49,400 --> 00:39:53,600
Speaker 4: our world has expanded, and I've learned so much from

704
00:39:53,600 --> 00:39:57,160
Speaker 4: the people I get to walk with every day. I've

705
00:39:57,239 --> 00:39:59,319
Speaker 4: learned that people living in poverty are some of the

706
00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:03,560
Speaker 4: most generous people you'll ever meet. I know that when

707
00:40:03,600 --> 00:40:06,240
Speaker 4: they bring me a gift, it is a true sacrifice

708
00:40:06,920 --> 00:40:14,440
Speaker 4: that they're giving up something to give to me. And

709
00:40:14,480 --> 00:40:19,320
Speaker 4: they are compassionate, They love their neighbors, they love us.

710
00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:24,640
Speaker 4: I've never felt so loved, so for me, it's it's

711
00:40:25,840 --> 00:40:28,759
Speaker 4: and I think I heard somebody say this recently, and

712
00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:31,759
Speaker 4: I'm going to steal it because I think it's I

713
00:40:31,760 --> 00:40:34,719
Speaker 4: would much rather focus not on what we have done,

714
00:40:34,719 --> 00:40:38,560
Speaker 4: but how much still needs to be done, because there

715
00:40:38,719 --> 00:40:42,279
Speaker 4: is great need and there are people every day that

716
00:40:42,560 --> 00:40:44,959
Speaker 4: just really need someone to look them in the eye,

717
00:40:45,160 --> 00:40:47,960
Speaker 4: to give them a hug and again say I believe

718
00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:50,520
Speaker 4: in you, I care about you. You know you ask

719
00:40:50,600 --> 00:40:52,239
Speaker 4: me how I feel. I think it's humbling, but I

720
00:40:52,280 --> 00:40:55,520
Speaker 4: don't feel like we're done. You know, there's so much

721
00:40:55,560 --> 00:40:57,920
Speaker 4: more to be done.

722
00:40:58,480 --> 00:41:03,759
Speaker 1: We six to eight weeks ago to the segment on

723
00:41:04,160 --> 00:41:09,839
Speaker 1: care Portal and understand with aren't you guys working? How's

724
00:41:09,880 --> 00:41:10,600
Speaker 1: that work for you all?

725
00:41:10,719 --> 00:41:14,320
Speaker 4: It's great. So we get referrals from Portal, probably daily.

726
00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:16,879
Speaker 4: I get an email or two, and if we can

727
00:41:16,920 --> 00:41:20,960
Speaker 4: fulfill the need, depending on what the family needs, whatever

728
00:41:21,160 --> 00:41:23,520
Speaker 4: is on the list, whatever they need. We've provided a

729
00:41:23,600 --> 00:41:25,520
Speaker 4: lot of beds through care Portal.

730
00:41:26,400 --> 00:41:28,080
Speaker 1: Are you aware of sleeping Heavenly Peace?

731
00:41:28,320 --> 00:41:31,960
Speaker 4: Yes, we are. We've actually Alex and I have discussed

732
00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:32,480
Speaker 4: sleep well.

733
00:41:32,520 --> 00:41:34,759
Speaker 1: What I was reading the twin beds and the bed

734
00:41:34,800 --> 00:41:39,279
Speaker 1: thing at all. Yeah, man, that almost seems to fly

735
00:41:39,520 --> 00:41:39,960
Speaker 1: right in.

736
00:41:40,880 --> 00:41:43,239
Speaker 4: There are a lots of connections, like actually reached out

737
00:41:43,280 --> 00:41:43,640
Speaker 4: to them.

738
00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:47,680
Speaker 3: Yeah, And this is one of my passions, is connecting

739
00:41:47,840 --> 00:41:51,160
Speaker 3: because there are answers in the city.

740
00:41:51,239 --> 00:41:53,160
Speaker 1: It's just like you're talking about the life preservers that

741
00:41:53,200 --> 00:41:54,960
Speaker 1: nobody knows they're floating out there the can save.

742
00:41:55,239 --> 00:41:58,000
Speaker 3: And the challenge is is the people that have them

743
00:41:58,520 --> 00:42:00,719
Speaker 3: don't want to talk to the person who is another.

744
00:42:00,440 --> 00:42:05,400
Speaker 1: One, and oftentimes there is the silent thing going.

745
00:42:05,280 --> 00:42:07,320
Speaker 2: Only just work together.

746
00:42:07,680 --> 00:42:10,719
Speaker 3: The solutions are available and we are beginning to see that.

747
00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:15,399
Speaker 3: In the disaster world, we built an entire communication platform

748
00:42:15,480 --> 00:42:18,160
Speaker 3: just to deal with that, and we are now with

749
00:42:18,239 --> 00:42:21,440
Speaker 3: these last two hurricanes that have come in. Organizations are

750
00:42:21,440 --> 00:42:24,520
Speaker 3: working together now like they've never worked before, and you

751
00:42:24,680 --> 00:42:25,920
Speaker 3: just have to get people talking.

752
00:42:26,200 --> 00:42:28,399
Speaker 4: But we're seeing that in the city. I think we're

753
00:42:28,440 --> 00:42:31,799
Speaker 4: beginning to see I mean, we have some amazing partners,

754
00:42:31,800 --> 00:42:35,920
Speaker 4: hope works a gop a knowledge quest. As I said before,

755
00:42:36,840 --> 00:42:40,000
Speaker 4: I need to stop naming because I'll miss somebody. But

756
00:42:40,360 --> 00:42:44,239
Speaker 4: beginning to work together, and hey, and we have a

757
00:42:44,320 --> 00:42:48,840
Speaker 4: whole for sure. We've made now that if I can't

758
00:42:49,120 --> 00:42:51,920
Speaker 4: meet that need or if I can't help you, hear

759
00:42:52,200 --> 00:42:55,359
Speaker 4: someone who can the connectivity Yes, yes.

760
00:42:55,360 --> 00:42:58,200
Speaker 1: So, which is honestly what care portals about.

761
00:42:58,440 --> 00:43:02,880
Speaker 4: Exactly portals.

762
00:43:03,640 --> 00:43:09,080
Speaker 1: Not everyone is called to sell their business and jump

763
00:43:09,160 --> 00:43:09,799
Speaker 1: headfirst in.

764
00:43:10,600 --> 00:43:12,000
Speaker 2: No, you'd be crazy to do that.

765
00:43:14,160 --> 00:43:20,680
Speaker 1: We've established that. But and I worry sometimes when we

766
00:43:20,760 --> 00:43:23,120
Speaker 1: tell these stories that people hear that, and while they're

767
00:43:23,120 --> 00:43:29,040
Speaker 1: inspired and feel amazed by the work you've done, I

768
00:43:29,080 --> 00:43:31,879
Speaker 1: don't want them to also feel like, oh, well, if

769
00:43:31,920 --> 00:43:34,360
Speaker 1: I can't do that, I might as well not even try.

770
00:43:36,440 --> 00:43:39,440
Speaker 1: I have a friend thought about becoming a missionary. He

771
00:43:39,520 --> 00:43:42,839
Speaker 1: grew up in the grew up in the foster care thing.

772
00:43:43,480 --> 00:43:47,359
Speaker 1: And a friend who is a pastor said, you don't

773
00:43:47,360 --> 00:43:49,480
Speaker 1: need to do that. You'd screw that up because you're

774
00:43:49,480 --> 00:43:52,960
Speaker 1: an entrepreneur and you're great at it. So this guy's

775
00:43:53,000 --> 00:43:58,840
Speaker 1: now a billionaire and he gives away every dollar. A

776
00:43:58,880 --> 00:44:01,520
Speaker 1: few years ago they he and his wife decided, okay,

777
00:44:01,520 --> 00:44:04,000
Speaker 1: we've got our investments. And not that he does not

778
00:44:04,120 --> 00:44:07,680
Speaker 1: make money, but at some point and then not too

779
00:44:07,680 --> 00:44:10,880
Speaker 1: long ago, they decided with their church and their organization

780
00:44:11,120 --> 00:44:13,480
Speaker 1: to give way every dollar profit they had from that

781
00:44:13,520 --> 00:44:15,840
Speaker 1: point forward, and he has. Now, if he'd have been

782
00:44:15,880 --> 00:44:18,920
Speaker 1: a missionary, he might could have helped have very many people.

783
00:44:19,520 --> 00:44:21,680
Speaker 1: But look what he was able to do by staying

784
00:44:21,719 --> 00:44:26,680
Speaker 1: in what his tools were. So, when you think about

785
00:44:27,880 --> 00:44:37,960
Speaker 1: your relationship with money, ability, and time, you guys, to

786
00:44:38,080 --> 00:44:43,360
Speaker 1: me are a really interesting example of someone who looked

787
00:44:43,520 --> 00:44:46,960
Speaker 1: at their relationship with their business and said, well, that's

788
00:44:47,120 --> 00:44:51,680
Speaker 1: encumbering me and I need to jump. But not everybody

789
00:44:53,440 --> 00:44:57,360
Speaker 1: can make that jump, and that jumps not for everybody.

790
00:44:58,080 --> 00:45:00,880
Speaker 1: But you still have a relationship with you, your money,

791
00:45:00,880 --> 00:45:05,279
Speaker 1: your talents, in your time. And I think a great

792
00:45:05,280 --> 00:45:07,359
Speaker 1: example of that is not the two of you, but

793
00:45:07,480 --> 00:45:11,080
Speaker 1: all the people who've surrounded you. You've got people all

794
00:45:11,120 --> 00:45:14,919
Speaker 1: around you who haven't sold their businesses. Yes, but without them,

795
00:45:15,239 --> 00:45:15,960
Speaker 1: y'all do nothing.

796
00:45:16,040 --> 00:45:16,960
Speaker 2: We could not do it.

797
00:45:17,080 --> 00:45:22,080
Speaker 1: Yes, talk about that relationship with time, talent, and money,

798
00:45:22,320 --> 00:45:25,640
Speaker 1: not with y'all, but with your organization as a whole.

799
00:45:26,680 --> 00:45:29,040
Speaker 1: As an example for our listeners to say, well, I

800
00:45:29,080 --> 00:45:31,399
Speaker 1: don't have to always just jump at first like these

801
00:45:31,440 --> 00:45:34,160
Speaker 1: two crazy people did. But there's all kinds of places

802
00:45:34,440 --> 00:45:36,560
Speaker 1: I can get involved with crazy people and help.

803
00:45:36,800 --> 00:45:41,400
Speaker 3: Yes, I would say, anytime there's a need, we immediately

804
00:45:41,440 --> 00:45:47,160
Speaker 3: go to what is the missing resource? And you mentioned

805
00:45:47,239 --> 00:45:51,600
Speaker 3: time and talent and treasure. We hear that all the time.

806
00:45:52,320 --> 00:45:55,319
Speaker 3: But truly, the greatest missing resource most of the time

807
00:45:55,400 --> 00:45:56,520
Speaker 3: is simply people.

808
00:46:00,120 --> 00:46:01,800
Speaker 1: Army of normal folks, the army.

809
00:46:01,640 --> 00:46:02,200
Speaker 2: Of normal folk.

810
00:46:02,239 --> 00:46:05,239
Speaker 3: It's just simply we need. So if you were to

811
00:46:05,239 --> 00:46:07,880
Speaker 3: ask me today, what's the greatest need at the Dream Center,

812
00:46:08,120 --> 00:46:10,799
Speaker 3: I mean, I've got two hundred and four kids. What

813
00:46:10,840 --> 00:46:12,640
Speaker 3: if I had a mentor for every one of them?

814
00:46:13,160 --> 00:46:16,120
Speaker 3: What if I had a professional, you know, an attorney

815
00:46:17,440 --> 00:46:20,600
Speaker 3: once a week came in and took a group of

816
00:46:21,120 --> 00:46:25,360
Speaker 3: kids and did his own little hour with some of

817
00:46:25,400 --> 00:46:28,799
Speaker 3: our older seventh and eighth grader about about how the

818
00:46:28,840 --> 00:46:29,680
Speaker 3: world really works.

819
00:46:29,800 --> 00:46:33,040
Speaker 1: What about a banker talk about financial literacy?

820
00:46:33,200 --> 00:46:36,960
Speaker 3: So you know, I mean that so so the greatest

821
00:46:37,120 --> 00:46:43,600
Speaker 3: resource we have are people. Yes, money matters, and data

822
00:46:43,680 --> 00:46:46,480
Speaker 3: drives dollars, and we all know that you can't run

823
00:46:46,520 --> 00:46:48,400
Speaker 3: a nonprofit without money.

824
00:46:49,239 --> 00:46:55,120
Speaker 2: But it's really Kelly mentioned something earlier.

825
00:46:55,200 --> 00:46:56,960
Speaker 3: I think this is probably the most important thing that

826
00:46:57,040 --> 00:46:59,640
Speaker 3: she said out of all the great things she said.

827
00:47:00,440 --> 00:47:04,480
Speaker 3: But it's not about what we've done, it's about who

828
00:47:04,480 --> 00:47:09,200
Speaker 3: have we yet to see make that transition. My goal

829
00:47:09,320 --> 00:47:11,879
Speaker 3: in life is to connect people to resources and people

830
00:47:11,920 --> 00:47:13,200
Speaker 3: to people, because.

831
00:47:12,840 --> 00:47:14,160
Speaker 2: We know, and you know.

832
00:47:15,640 --> 00:47:19,120
Speaker 3: That unless you're connected to a person, that door is

833
00:47:19,120 --> 00:47:22,399
Speaker 3: not going to open, no matter how talented you are.

834
00:47:23,280 --> 00:47:27,600
Speaker 3: And so sometimes, yes, I need a meal, but mostly

835
00:47:28,360 --> 00:47:31,120
Speaker 3: I need somebody to help me open that door. And

836
00:47:31,160 --> 00:47:33,960
Speaker 3: so I don't want to miss this opportunity when it

837
00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:38,520
Speaker 3: comes to what we have to offer. Our greatest gift

838
00:47:39,000 --> 00:47:43,000
Speaker 3: is ourself, our time, and the dignity we provide to

839
00:47:43,080 --> 00:47:46,840
Speaker 3: somebody when we make them more important than them so

840
00:47:47,160 --> 00:47:47,840
Speaker 3: than ourselves.

841
00:47:48,280 --> 00:47:50,280
Speaker 1: Do your neighbors think you're radical?

842
00:47:53,200 --> 00:47:56,080
Speaker 4: No, I don't think so. I think they even.

843
00:47:55,920 --> 00:47:58,040
Speaker 1: When there's a six eight god sitting up in your

844
00:47:58,080 --> 00:47:58,640
Speaker 1: son's bed.

845
00:47:59,400 --> 00:48:00,120
Speaker 4: Well, maybe.

846
00:48:02,160 --> 00:48:05,560
Speaker 1: I would say that radical could be your best compliment.

847
00:48:05,960 --> 00:48:14,240
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think you know for me, and I've heard

848
00:48:14,400 --> 00:48:17,560
Speaker 4: it said before that you've never truly lived unless you've

849
00:48:17,560 --> 00:48:22,120
Speaker 4: done something for someone who can never repay you. And

850
00:48:22,160 --> 00:48:24,560
Speaker 4: I'm living that. I think Joe and I are living

851
00:48:24,600 --> 00:48:30,160
Speaker 4: the dream, really and we get to I would can

852
00:48:30,239 --> 00:48:34,799
Speaker 4: I share a story? Yeah. So we had a little

853
00:48:34,800 --> 00:48:37,400
Speaker 4: girl that started with us in second grade at our

854
00:48:37,440 --> 00:48:41,160
Speaker 4: after school program. We've walked with their family the first

855
00:48:41,239 --> 00:48:44,520
Speaker 4: year they were there. It's a mom of six kids,

856
00:48:44,800 --> 00:48:50,040
Speaker 4: single mom, and probably three months and I'm standing there

857
00:48:50,080 --> 00:48:51,960
Speaker 4: talking with her. She's picking up her daughter and I

858
00:48:52,000 --> 00:48:54,239
Speaker 4: look out in their cars being repossessed out of the

859
00:48:54,280 --> 00:48:57,319
Speaker 4: parking lot and I was like, oh my goodness. And

860
00:48:57,360 --> 00:49:00,920
Speaker 4: we pile in my car. We go down to Orange

861
00:49:00,920 --> 00:49:03,080
Speaker 4: Mountain where they're living and have to stop at the

862
00:49:03,160 --> 00:49:05,879
Speaker 4: laundromat and finish doing their laundry and then get them

863
00:49:05,880 --> 00:49:09,959
Speaker 4: all home. And the second year they come back and

864
00:49:10,000 --> 00:49:13,959
Speaker 4: we're still walking together, and I love this mamma so much.

865
00:49:14,040 --> 00:49:18,400
Speaker 4: And this little second grader's now in third grade and

866
00:49:18,440 --> 00:49:20,120
Speaker 4: I'm at their school and I hear kind of a

867
00:49:20,120 --> 00:49:22,520
Speaker 4: commotion around the corner and I look and it's this

868
00:49:22,680 --> 00:49:24,920
Speaker 4: mom and I'm like, what is going on? And she's

869
00:49:25,000 --> 00:49:29,439
Speaker 4: screaming and yelling and upset. And basically, Jada had had

870
00:49:29,760 --> 00:49:34,120
Speaker 4: incredible behavior problems at school and they basically had said

871
00:49:34,160 --> 00:49:36,080
Speaker 4: she can't come back next year. She's going to have

872
00:49:36,120 --> 00:49:38,280
Speaker 4: to go to another school. What I knew was Mom,

873
00:49:39,040 --> 00:49:40,880
Speaker 4: there's no way Mom is going to be able to

874
00:49:40,880 --> 00:49:42,879
Speaker 4: get to her job in the morning on time if

875
00:49:42,880 --> 00:49:45,000
Speaker 4: she's having to go to two different schools now instead

876
00:49:45,040 --> 00:49:47,920
Speaker 4: of one, and it's just going to be a hardship.

877
00:49:48,320 --> 00:49:53,279
Speaker 4: And so I talked to her. I go with her

878
00:49:53,360 --> 00:49:55,160
Speaker 4: the next day. Again it's one of these things. She

879
00:49:55,200 --> 00:49:57,360
Speaker 4: didn't know. I'm like, you, we can go to this

880
00:49:57,800 --> 00:50:00,920
Speaker 4: to the Shelby County School Bard and appeal this, see

881
00:50:00,920 --> 00:50:03,600
Speaker 4: if we can get her back to this school. And

882
00:50:03,640 --> 00:50:05,759
Speaker 4: so we went and did that, and we left there,

883
00:50:06,280 --> 00:50:09,719
Speaker 4: we filed the appeal, and then I said, now I'm

884
00:50:09,719 --> 00:50:11,160
Speaker 4: going to take you with me and we're going to

885
00:50:11,200 --> 00:50:12,880
Speaker 4: go to the school and you're gonna apologize to the

886
00:50:12,880 --> 00:50:16,080
Speaker 4: principal because what you did. You so you're asking them

887
00:50:16,080 --> 00:50:18,279
Speaker 4: for a favor. And Teresa, that wasn't you know. And

888
00:50:18,320 --> 00:50:22,360
Speaker 4: we have a talk about how the conversation should have gone.

889
00:50:22,600 --> 00:50:24,800
Speaker 4: We don't get mad, we don't scream, we don't curse

890
00:50:24,840 --> 00:50:27,000
Speaker 4: out the people. We want to help this, you know,

891
00:50:27,120 --> 00:50:27,760
Speaker 4: and maybe.

892
00:50:27,520 --> 00:50:30,080
Speaker 1: Our children will see that behavior improve exactly.

893
00:50:30,440 --> 00:50:34,200
Speaker 4: So we go, we have a conversation, she cries, apologizes,

894
00:50:34,719 --> 00:50:37,960
Speaker 4: I talk with the principal if I walk with this

895
00:50:38,080 --> 00:50:42,320
Speaker 4: child and her mom, if they're in our after school program.

896
00:50:42,400 --> 00:50:45,160
Speaker 4: Now they've only you know, we're two months into the

897
00:50:45,200 --> 00:50:47,920
Speaker 4: school year, can we And they agreed to let her

898
00:50:47,960 --> 00:50:52,720
Speaker 4: stay at the school. She was failing. Her behavior was horrible,

899
00:50:52,880 --> 00:50:55,120
Speaker 4: but she would come in the afternoon. I mean, the

900
00:50:55,120 --> 00:50:58,000
Speaker 4: school would tell me about her behavior, and I was like, really,

901
00:50:58,680 --> 00:51:02,560
Speaker 4: because we have had a bit anything. You know, she

902
00:51:02,719 --> 00:51:05,319
Speaker 4: is amazing at the It was just it was so

903
00:51:05,520 --> 00:51:09,080
Speaker 4: crazy to me that But anyway, so now this girl,

904
00:51:09,280 --> 00:51:13,080
Speaker 4: fast forward, she's a junior in high school. Since her

905
00:51:13,160 --> 00:51:16,080
Speaker 4: freshman year of high school, she has been on the

906
00:51:16,080 --> 00:51:20,919
Speaker 4: principals list every quarter. She is an RTC. She now

907
00:51:20,960 --> 00:51:24,960
Speaker 4: has her first job helping pay the family bills and

908
00:51:25,080 --> 00:51:28,120
Speaker 4: is on a trajectory. Is dreaming about college. She wants

909
00:51:28,160 --> 00:51:31,000
Speaker 4: to be a doctor, she said, and she's gone. But

910
00:51:31,239 --> 00:51:35,160
Speaker 4: watch it. But again, this was seven eight, nine years.

911
00:51:35,160 --> 00:51:38,160
Speaker 4: I mean it's been since twenty fifteen, so nine years.

912
00:51:38,719 --> 00:51:41,160
Speaker 4: And so I tell people all the time, the work

913
00:51:41,200 --> 00:51:44,680
Speaker 4: we do is not a sprint. It's a marathon. And

914
00:51:45,520 --> 00:51:49,480
Speaker 4: so it's the consistency and you don't have to give

915
00:51:49,560 --> 00:51:52,279
Speaker 4: up everything. But guess what, we have an opportunity to

916
00:51:52,280 --> 00:51:55,080
Speaker 4: at our school program for we call it Mystery Reader Day.

917
00:51:55,440 --> 00:51:58,200
Speaker 4: You can come in and read a book to the kids.

918
00:51:57,960 --> 00:52:01,600
Speaker 4: It takes thirty minutes of your week or thirty minutes

919
00:52:01,640 --> 00:52:04,640
Speaker 4: out of your month. But the kids noticed that you

920
00:52:04,719 --> 00:52:06,080
Speaker 4: took the time to come in.

921
00:52:06,400 --> 00:52:09,200
Speaker 1: And let's be candidate getting kicked out of school in

922
00:52:09,280 --> 00:52:11,520
Speaker 1: second grade and go on talk turn under the school.

923
00:52:11,760 --> 00:52:14,080
Speaker 1: You can just about guarantee you're going to add that

924
00:52:14,200 --> 00:52:16,680
Speaker 1: kid to the roles of the policy and the jail.

925
00:52:16,880 --> 00:52:17,520
Speaker 4: Absolutely.

926
00:52:17,719 --> 00:52:22,360
Speaker 1: And now I'm so proud of simple intervention, had some love,

927
00:52:22,600 --> 00:52:23,840
Speaker 1: and it took me.

928
00:52:24,640 --> 00:52:27,799
Speaker 4: It took me an hour to spend that time take

929
00:52:27,840 --> 00:52:29,719
Speaker 4: her to the and I didn't have to go back

930
00:52:29,760 --> 00:52:33,160
Speaker 4: to principal. And I'm not saying but it was a

931
00:52:33,280 --> 00:52:37,319
Speaker 4: lesson for mom, you know. And so I always say

932
00:52:37,320 --> 00:52:40,840
Speaker 4: that we're we're walking alongside the children, that were really

933
00:52:40,880 --> 00:52:44,400
Speaker 4: walking alongside the family, because if you're not touching both generations,

934
00:52:44,800 --> 00:52:47,239
Speaker 4: we can touch kids' lives all day, but if we're

935
00:52:47,280 --> 00:52:51,600
Speaker 4: not building that relationship with the family. Number One, we

936
00:52:51,680 --> 00:52:54,719
Speaker 4: don't know how best to walk with this child. If

937
00:52:54,719 --> 00:52:57,120
Speaker 4: I don't know what's going on at home, I don't

938
00:52:57,160 --> 00:52:59,080
Speaker 4: know what's going on. I don't know what's going on in.

939
00:52:58,960 --> 00:53:01,800
Speaker 1: That child listening to us now, and you're not ready

940
00:53:01,840 --> 00:53:06,080
Speaker 1: to sell your business and jump there's ample opportunity.

941
00:53:07,160 --> 00:53:08,640
Speaker 4: Dot com just be part of that.

942
00:53:08,680 --> 00:53:13,120
Speaker 1: Well that was how do people get in touch with you?

943
00:53:13,120 --> 00:53:16,440
Speaker 4: You can go to Memphis Streamcenter dot com. That's our website.

944
00:53:16,480 --> 00:53:19,080
Speaker 4: There is a get involved button and it will take

945
00:53:19,120 --> 00:53:22,400
Speaker 4: you to all of our volunteer opportunities. You can also

946
00:53:22,520 --> 00:53:26,280
Speaker 4: email info at Memphis Streamcenter dot com for more information.

947
00:53:28,360 --> 00:53:35,040
Speaker 1: Guys, amazing story, amazing service. I know you're going to

948
00:53:35,120 --> 00:53:38,600
Speaker 1: be just like every other guest we have that says humbly,

949
00:53:39,239 --> 00:53:41,440
Speaker 1: we get more out of it than we put into it.

950
00:53:41,800 --> 00:53:44,680
Speaker 1: And I think a lot of people think that some

951
00:53:44,880 --> 00:53:49,440
Speaker 1: aw shucks, false humility, but it really is the truth.

952
00:53:51,760 --> 00:53:54,280
Speaker 1: And that's kind of the secret, Sauce. As we beg

953
00:53:54,440 --> 00:53:57,040
Speaker 1: people to join this army of normal folks and get

954
00:53:57,080 --> 00:54:00,799
Speaker 1: involved in use your talents and sirius need and fill it.

955
00:54:01,000 --> 00:54:04,400
Speaker 1: Understand what you get out of that will be twice

956
00:54:04,440 --> 00:54:05,440
Speaker 1: what you put into it.

957
00:54:05,480 --> 00:54:08,239
Speaker 4: And I think when you said earlier talking about you know,

958
00:54:08,400 --> 00:54:13,080
Speaker 4: everybody doesn't have to jump in and sell their business

959
00:54:13,160 --> 00:54:17,600
Speaker 4: and do this. But for me, when I you know,

960
00:54:17,800 --> 00:54:20,480
Speaker 4: recruit volunteers or whatever you want to call it. I don't.

961
00:54:21,280 --> 00:54:25,560
Speaker 4: I mean, we can do this with a few volunteers,

962
00:54:25,920 --> 00:54:29,319
Speaker 4: but I know the impact it's had on my life,

963
00:54:29,360 --> 00:54:32,000
Speaker 4: and I want that for other people. I want people

964
00:54:32,080 --> 00:54:34,279
Speaker 4: to get to be a part of this. You know

965
00:54:34,360 --> 00:54:38,839
Speaker 4: it's not We can do it whether you come or not.

966
00:54:38,960 --> 00:54:40,399
Speaker 4: But man, you're missing out.

967
00:54:41,880 --> 00:54:46,640
Speaker 1: That's beautiful, Kelly Joe. I can't tell you how much

968
00:54:46,719 --> 00:54:49,040
Speaker 1: I appreciate you join us and tell us your story.

969
00:54:49,080 --> 00:54:52,479
Speaker 1: And if people are not inspired to get involved after

970
00:54:52,520 --> 00:54:56,919
Speaker 1: hearing your unbelievable story, I don't know how to inspire them.

971
00:54:57,000 --> 00:54:59,319
Speaker 1: So thank you so much for joining us so much,

972
00:55:06,480 --> 00:55:09,560
Speaker 1: and thank you for joining us this week. If the

973
00:55:09,640 --> 00:55:13,239
Speaker 1: Carsons have inspired you in general, or better yet, to

974
00:55:13,360 --> 00:55:18,200
Speaker 1: take action by doing something radical like they did, volunteering

975
00:55:18,320 --> 00:55:22,560
Speaker 1: or donating to folks, doing something radical, getting involved with

976
00:55:22,760 --> 00:55:26,279
Speaker 1: Memphis Dream Center, starting something like it in your own community,

977
00:55:26,480 --> 00:55:30,680
Speaker 1: or something else entirely, please let me know. I'd love

978
00:55:30,719 --> 00:55:33,319
Speaker 1: to hear about it. You can write me anytime at

979
00:55:33,400 --> 00:55:37,000
Speaker 1: Bill at Normalfolks dot us, and I promise you I

980
00:55:37,080 --> 00:55:41,040
Speaker 1: will respond. And if you enjoyed this episode, share it

981
00:55:41,080 --> 00:55:44,920
Speaker 1: with friends and on social subscribe to the podcast, rate

982
00:55:44,920 --> 00:55:48,600
Speaker 1: and review it. Join the army at normalfolks dot us.

983
00:55:48,760 --> 00:55:52,840
Speaker 1: Consider becoming a premium member There any and all of

984
00:55:52,880 --> 00:55:56,160
Speaker 1: these things that will help us grow an army of

985
00:55:56,280 --> 00:56:00,359
Speaker 1: normal folks. Thanks to our producer, Iron Light Labs, I'm

986
00:56:00,400 --> 00:56:08,160
Speaker 1: Bill Courtney. I will see you next week. M