Speaker 1: So Ango. I was reading this story the other day
Speaker 1: and it was about how different companies are finding ways
Speaker 1: to give to charity, and one that really struck me
Speaker 1: was about Toyota and they made the decision a while
Speaker 1: back to donate their efficiency expertise to New York charities
Speaker 1: instead of money. Now, how do you feel about that
Speaker 1: instead of money? I mean that that kind of sounds
Speaker 1: like a scam to me. Well, I had the same
Speaker 1: thought at first, and I mean it kind of seemed
Speaker 1: like a sneaky way of getting out of donating. I mean,
Speaker 1: I know, we both heard about how the Toyota philosophy
Speaker 1: involves this constant improvement to efficiency, but this sounded a
Speaker 1: little suspect to me. But then I looked into it
Speaker 1: and it's actually kind of incredible. So they changed the
Speaker 1: setup at the Harlem Soup kitchen and change the weight
Speaker 1: time from ninety minutes to eighteen minutes. At a Houston
Speaker 1: food bank, they changed the layout and it used to
Speaker 1: take eight volunteers an hour to sort five hundred pounds
Speaker 1: of frozen foods, which really doesn't sound that bad, but
Speaker 1: now they pack forty two hundred pound ounds an hour.
Speaker 1: And this is with three fewer volunteers. It's actually all
Speaker 1: pretty incredible, but with such an unusual approach to charity,
Speaker 1: it got me wondering, you know, what are some of
Speaker 1: the more unique nonprofits out there and what are some
Speaker 1: of the more bizarre ways to help. And that's what
Speaker 1: we're covering in today's bonus episode. Welcome to Part Time Genius.
Speaker 1: I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my
Speaker 1: good friend man guesh hot Ticketer and sitting behind the
Speaker 1: soundproof glass and apparently admiring his stamp collection. That's our
Speaker 1: friend and producer Tristan McNeil. And of course we've got
Speaker 1: our PTG all star Gabe Bluesier on the line as well.
Speaker 1: Hey they're Gabe. Hey guys, how's it going. Always good
Speaker 1: to have you on. All right, so I'm going to
Speaker 1: kick this one off. You know, one of the charities
Speaker 1: that's been in the news of in recent years is
Speaker 1: called Community Voicemail, and it may sound kind of unnecessary,
Speaker 1: but actually provides this incredible service. You know, I I
Speaker 1: haven't heard about that. Could you tell me a little more?
Speaker 1: All right? Well, it provides this voice messaging service for
Speaker 1: the poor and homeless in the US and It's especially
Speaker 1: helpful for people looking for jobs, you know, because applicants
Speaker 1: don't want to have to give the number to a
Speaker 1: homeless shelter as their primary phone number, so it reduces
Speaker 1: the stigma. And it's actually been pretty effective. CBM serves
Speaker 1: more than forty thousand people a year, and it's received
Speaker 1: funding from places like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Speaker 1: But you know, I know, we've all found a bunch
Speaker 1: of nonprofits that we thought were quirky or fun or
Speaker 1: just playing unusual. So, Omega, why don't you give us
Speaker 1: one you liked? Yeah, so I can do that. Well,
Speaker 1: this is kind of a similar one that's feel good
Speaker 1: and also involves the phone. It's called Forget Me Not,
Speaker 1: and it's really just a program devote to making friendly
Speaker 1: phone calls to seniors who are lonely or depressed or
Speaker 1: want to chat. The organized station was founded by a
Speaker 1: seventeen year old named Annika Kamar from San Jose, and
Speaker 1: she realized while volunteering how meaningful of friendly voice and
Speaker 1: a conversation could be to residents and assisted living facilities.
Speaker 1: It's manned entirely by volunteer high school students. But I
Speaker 1: really love the simplicity of it, and what a reminder
Speaker 1: it is of how little effort it takes to do good.
Speaker 1: I like that, all right, gab Gabe, what do you have?
Speaker 1: So my first pick is the Secret Stock Society. And
Speaker 1: I like this one partially because having the word secret
Speaker 1: in the title just makes you know, everything seemed cooler.
Speaker 1: But this is like a simple idea too. It's it's
Speaker 1: a nonprofit out of New Hampshire and it provides warm
Speaker 1: stocks two kids so that everyone, regardless of income, and
Speaker 1: you know, participate in winter sports and activities. So of course,
Speaker 1: one of the secrets of the Secret Stock Society. And
Speaker 1: you know, maybe they don't want me telling you this,
Speaker 1: but they actually provide more than just stocks. They also
Speaker 1: provide snow boots and outerwear, all kind of winter gear
Speaker 1: that's really fun. And you know, actually, I was going
Speaker 1: to do the animal category next, since we're all animal
Speaker 1: lovers here, but since you brought up a nonprofit was
Speaker 1: such a great name, why don't we do the nonprofit
Speaker 1: with the best title we found? So, Mango, you want
Speaker 1: to take a stab first? Yeah, So, obviously there's so
Speaker 1: many good names for nonprofits, but my favorite is knitted Knockers.
Speaker 1: It's this funny title, but it's actually describes the nonprofit perfectly.
Speaker 1: They provide knitted prosthetics for women who have had mastectomies,
Speaker 1: and it's especially helpful when women are still sore from
Speaker 1: the surgeries. They've given away over eight thousand knitted knockers
Speaker 1: or crochet knockers to women across America, and the demand
Speaker 1: is actually so high that they're looking for more knitters
Speaker 1: to help out, which is awesome. Alright, So my contribution
Speaker 1: to this make me laugh but actually do good category
Speaker 1: is called the Goliad Fruit Salad Shoot, and the money
Speaker 1: raised by the nonprofit event goes to the Make a
Speaker 1: Wish Foundation, which is obviously a terrific organization, but it
Speaker 1: sounds so fun. So people gather at a ran inch
Speaker 1: and they compete to shoot fruit and I think it's
Speaker 1: mostly watermelon at a range of two hundred to six
Speaker 1: hundred yards. Can you imagine that, you know? And and
Speaker 1: while the event only started last year, it raised over
Speaker 1: eighty thousand dollars. It's pretty incredible. It's amazing that you
Speaker 1: can shoot fruit for charity. But from the pictures I
Speaker 1: saw online, it was mostly fruit that was on this
Speaker 1: still target. But I would love to see like a
Speaker 1: clay pigeon style thing with like cantal oaps and jack
Speaker 1: fruit where people are just shooting big melons out of
Speaker 1: the air. I know it's it's it's pretty awesome. Well,
Speaker 1: we'll have to check back to see how the event evolves.
Speaker 1: All right, Gabe, So what do you have for this category? Okay,
Speaker 1: this was a tough call for me because I was
Speaker 1: going to say the Association for Dressings and Sauces, because
Speaker 1: you know he doesn't love sauces. But I'm actually going
Speaker 1: to go with the Intergalactic Crew of Chewbakis Incorporated. And
Speaker 1: as you might know, most Marty Grass crews are officially nonprofit,
Speaker 1: but this one is particularly fun because the goal, from
Speaker 1: its mission statement is to quote bring the magical revelry
Speaker 1: of Marty Graw to the poor, disenfranchise, socially awkward, and
Speaker 1: generally weird masses whom they never had the opportunity to
Speaker 1: participate in a Mardy Graw parade organization. And they also
Speaker 1: have this wonderful goal of making the Chebacca's Parade the
Speaker 1: only leave no trace trade, which means they strategically give
Speaker 1: away their items so that there's no litter after the
Speaker 1: event and if you hadn't guests, the costumes and the
Speaker 1: number of lightsabers and attendant it's something to see it,
Speaker 1: I mean. And it's called the Intergalactic Crew of Chewbaccas.
Speaker 1: That is so great? All right. Well, for our final category,
Speaker 1: we're gonna go with the animal name nonprofits. So manga,
Speaker 1: what do you have? So? I almost used this as
Speaker 1: my funniest name one. This is an organization dedicated to
Speaker 1: rescue and rehabilitate donkeys and mules and need It's called
Speaker 1: the Savior Ass Long Eear Rescue. And I don't do
Speaker 1: you think of donkeys needing to be rescued? I I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, aside from your from we need the poop,
Speaker 1: but it's kind of a nice reminder that they could
Speaker 1: use some love as well. And they offer it out
Speaker 1: of dew Hampshire. That's pretty great, all right, Gabe? What
Speaker 1: do you have? So I'm gonna go with the Critter Connection,
Speaker 1: which is a guinea pig outreach and shelter that operates
Speaker 1: out of Durham, Connecticut, and since two thousand four they
Speaker 1: saved about fifteen hundred guinea pigs that have been abandoned
Speaker 1: due to the unemployment, allergies, or just kids who aren't
Speaker 1: ready yet to have a pet responsibilities, and the organization's
Speaker 1: addressing a need because most bigger shelters are unequipped to
Speaker 1: take care of smaller animals like these. And my favorite
Speaker 1: part about it is that they also educate people on
Speaker 1: guinea pig care and terminology. So in case anybody's wondering,
Speaker 1: when guinea pigs, you know, jump up into the air
Speaker 1: with their heads thrown back because they're really excited, that's
Speaker 1: called popcornings. I think you get a bonus point just
Speaker 1: for that term. That's pretty great. I'm popcorning right now.
Speaker 1: That's good. All right. Well, I'm gonna take a page
Speaker 1: out of Mangoes book here and not exactly follow the rules.
Speaker 1: But my entry for best animal name nonprofit is called
Speaker 1: Screaming Chickens forty two. So I don't understand that that
Speaker 1: helps out chickens. What do they do? Well, I have
Speaker 1: no idea why it's called Screaming Chickens forty two, but
Speaker 1: it's a it's a nonprofit after school club in San
Speaker 1: Antonio and they do engineering outreach. They teach web design
Speaker 1: and computer programming two kids, so all important things, and
Speaker 1: apparently it started out as a four h club, but
Speaker 1: the robotics projects they do are so cool. And also
Speaker 1: they sell these geeky chicken hats, which are just big
Speaker 1: chickens and glasses that sit on top of your head
Speaker 1: on their site, so you know, it's pretty cool too.
Speaker 1: And I'm pretty sure that Anna Winter has three or
Speaker 1: four of these sitting around for special occasions, if I'm
Speaker 1: not mistaken. Yeah, nobody fact checked that, so um, I
Speaker 1: I know we've got to cut the short. We we
Speaker 1: didn't even get to talk about the Naked Clown Calendar
Speaker 1: or the Tall Clubs International Foundation. But we've got to
Speaker 1: pick a winner, and I think Give's got it this week.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think I think you're right on this one.
Speaker 1: Between Chewbacca and guinea pigs and secret socks and teaching
Speaker 1: us about popcorning, I think it's pretty clear here. So Gabe,
Speaker 1: you're gonna take the trophy. Congratulations. All right, that's two
Speaker 1: for me now, thanks, guys. I'm gonna have to get
Speaker 1: a bigger imaginary trophy case. I guess. Well that's it
Speaker 1: for today's bonus episode. Of course, while these are all
Speaker 1: fun and deserving charities, we know there's a lot of
Speaker 1: hurt going on in the world right now, and hopefully
Speaker 1: this episode gives you a reason to think about how
Speaker 1: in the many ways you can give back. But we'll
Speaker 1: be back tomorrow with a fresh Part Time Genius episode.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, Thanks again for listening. Part Time Genius
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