Speaker 1: I want to talk about be strong. My relief effort
Speaker 1: takes me a couple of hours to decide how we
Speaker 1: can activate and how we can help. We are at war.
Speaker 1: It has been very challenging in the sense that you
Speaker 1: say something and then you get attacked. Because I've been
Speaker 1: so vocal and involved an instrumental in relief work around
Speaker 1: the world for many years now. I started something and
Speaker 1: I keep getting deeper. We started and I couldn't get
Speaker 1: rain boots or flip flops. Literally, I was trying to
Speaker 1: get Havana's flip flops and Catherine mattresses, and I remember
Speaker 1: rain boots for Hurricane Harvey, which was my first relief effort,
Speaker 1: and people were turning me away. And I ended up
Speaker 1: doing a three hundred thousand dollars relief effort with money
Speaker 1: and in kind, which was very hard to get, but
Speaker 1: I scrounged it together. And that was when I realized
Speaker 1: that cash cards would be a great model overall, because
Speaker 1: people want the dignity and the freedom to buy what
Speaker 1: they want. So the money that we raised in many
Speaker 1: of our relief efforts have been for cash cards in
Speaker 1: certain scenarios. In most scenarios, there's a ground zero prior
Speaker 1: to cash cards. Like, the real destitute and desperation is
Speaker 1: when it's ground zero is what I call it, because
Speaker 1: you're not even at baseline. You're at basic human needs.
Speaker 1: You're at mothers have formula, Do they have band aids?
Speaker 1: Do they have wipes? Do they have toothbrushes? Do they
Speaker 1: have hydration packets? You know, we're not at kids backpacks
Speaker 1: and toys and chargers. We're not at construction materials, which
Speaker 1: comes later in the rebuild. It's really very much like
Speaker 1: you're starting to get to ground zero. So the cash
Speaker 1: cards aren't in places until they have electricity and water
Speaker 1: and things like that. So we've been all around the world,
Speaker 1: from Guatemala to Mexico to Puerto Rico, to the Bahamas
Speaker 1: to where my team is still in Maui, in Poland
Speaker 1: and Ukraine. I mean, it's really it's remarkable. And we've
Speaker 1: done over three hundred million dollars in relief worldwide. And
Speaker 1: we do not have pamphlets, we do not have rubber
Speaker 1: chicken dinner charity events, we don't hire singers, we don't
Speaker 1: have linens and flowers and any bells and any whistles,
Speaker 1: and literally money walks in the door. Now I used
Speaker 1: to beg. I used to beg, and now if I
Speaker 1: decide I'm activated, money comes in. And it could start
Speaker 1: with fifty thousand, with one hundred thousand on the first day,
Speaker 1: and then somebody big will come in. It could be
Speaker 1: Billy Joel, which it's been. It could be Matthew McConaughey,
Speaker 1: which it's been. It could be David and Nicole Tepper
Speaker 1: who owned the Carolina Panthers, which it's been. It could
Speaker 1: be billionaires, it could be you know, companies and different celebrities.
Speaker 1: And it's every time because people are passionate about different things.
Speaker 1: But lo and behold. If I get really activated and
Speaker 1: something is really important to you guys, and it's really
Speaker 1: a tragedy, like what's going on right now in Israel,
Speaker 1: someone will step forward and like the match. That's Nicole
Speaker 1: and David Tepper, who you should think publicly and tag
Speaker 1: the Carolina Panthers. They don't ask for any credit. They
Speaker 1: are chill. They are always wearing like jeans and T
Speaker 1: shirts and sweatpants in the Hamptons, and they don't ask
Speaker 1: for any credit. I just give it because they deserve it.
Speaker 1: We've had brands like kind bar and delta and away
Speaker 1: suitcases and drip drop and hydration packets and lumber and
Speaker 1: everybody comes in. The point is you establish yourself in
Speaker 1: the beginning and then people come to you, and it's
Speaker 1: extremely remarkable. It's extremely I'm extremely fortunate. It's very hard
Speaker 1: to go asking people for money, and when you get
Speaker 1: the reputation that people just want to hand it to
Speaker 1: you because I know one hundred percent is going straight
Speaker 1: to the effort. There's no bus, no begging, no advertising.
Speaker 1: It's called money to the people. And I'm very proud.
Speaker 1: And it's very gnarly. It's very gnarly because every single day,
Speaker 1: all day long, we're having conversations about things that are sensitive.
Speaker 1: You're talking about topics that are sensitive. You're talking about
Speaker 1: is it Republican or Democrat. People want you to complain
Speaker 1: and get political, and you don't want to do that
Speaker 1: because we're about helping people. And then it becomes criticism,
Speaker 1: why aren't you doing this, and why aren't you putting
Speaker 1: the money there? And why didn't you do this? And
Speaker 1: then it becomes posting, why didn't you post about Israel yet?
Speaker 1: Why didn't you stand with Israel yet? When I've been
Speaker 1: head down and you know, raised almost seven hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty thousand dollars in two days with a goal of
Speaker 1: a million dollars. And I am preparing to go down
Speaker 1: to Florida to visit my warehouse to show you guys
Speaker 1: where all of this aid lives like a costco, and
Speaker 1: how the process works, and that we didn't have a
Speaker 1: warehouse when I started years ago. We I did the
Speaker 1: three hundred thousand dollars for Harvey, and then I wanted
Speaker 1: to do something for Puerto Rico. I spent my own
Speaker 1: I think it was like twenty thirty thousand dollars to
Speaker 1: get down to Puerto Rico and fill a plane. And
Speaker 1: I in the beginning used to be on every relief trip,
Speaker 1: like in Guatemala, in Mexico, and and then I became
Speaker 1: more instrumental in like moving all the streets, the strings,
Speaker 1: Like I've got a team that is always on the
Speaker 1: ground and flying into Malle and flying into Poland and Ukraine,
Speaker 1: and this is what they do. And I often feel
Speaker 1: guilty like why I should be there, and like then
Speaker 1: I've got britann and I'm not going to bring her
Speaker 1: into New Orleans during the or the playing the flights
Speaker 1: get canceled because we're going into a hurricane zone and
Speaker 1: like you know, and Paul was like, you are you
Speaker 1: the prechairman of Coca Cola isn't putting the liquid into
Speaker 1: every bottle? Like You're better served making all the decisions
Speaker 1: like running the messaging. And I realize that Michael and
Speaker 1: I are the greatest partnership ever. Global Global Empowerment Mission
Speaker 1: is his five oh one C three and his five
Speaker 1: oh one C three is rated very high on Charity Navigator,
Speaker 1: and it allows for the infrastructure and the very small
Speaker 1: staff of volunteers and being completely lead. And there's a
Speaker 1: small percentage that goes to salaries and building and rent
Speaker 1: and all that stuff. And you tell the partners up front.
Speaker 1: So for example, if David and Nicole Tepper are donating,
Speaker 1: they decide they know what percentage is going to salaries
Speaker 1: and rents, et cetera. Be Strong as an initiative. Any
Speaker 1: money donated to be Strong, none of that goes to
Speaker 1: salaries or any of that stuff. I came in, I said,
Speaker 1: there can be no gray area. I'm a public person.
Speaker 1: One hundred percent needs to go to the effort. So
Speaker 1: if you donate to be Strong, one hundred percent goes.
Speaker 1: But there are people that are business people like in
Speaker 1: Nicolon David Temper, that realize that you need to pay people.
Speaker 1: You can't people work. People in philanthropy work seven days
Speaker 1: a week, eighteen hour days. Do not criticize charities that
Speaker 1: have a good rating on Charity Navigator where it's a
Speaker 1: reasonable percentage, because you don't want people that you don't
Speaker 1: want volunteers three hundred sixty five days a year. You
Speaker 1: know what kind of people you'll have, people come and go.
Speaker 1: You don't want a revolving door, want rock solid people
Speaker 1: that do take a reasonable and fair salary. And you
Speaker 1: just want to make sure that the whole charity's overhead
Speaker 1: is legit, and you can look that up. But my
Speaker 1: money that comes through to be Strong goes one hundred
Speaker 1: percent to the effort. But there are times that someone
Speaker 1: wants to donate a lot and I tell them, you know,
Speaker 1: it's not the sexy charity Global Impairment Mission, because they
Speaker 1: have a percentage that goes to the infrastructure, which has
Speaker 1: to and a lot of people want to underwrite that
Speaker 1: because they realize that that's the nuts and bolts of it,
Speaker 1: that's the people on the ground. So it's just you
Speaker 1: got to get educated and you have to work with
Speaker 1: people that are transparent and the big orgs, most of
Speaker 1: the big orgs, they've called us to help them. Puerto Rico,
Speaker 1: two big celebrities wanted to spend thirty thousand dollars to
Speaker 1: take planes. Guess what they call the big one, the
Speaker 1: big one that you guys always think about, where they
Speaker 1: have like crazy overhead and a ridiculous amount of money
Speaker 1: never gets to the people because it's bullshit. They told
Speaker 1: those celebrities to call us. They couldn't help them. I'm like,
Speaker 1: we're nobody. How a fuck can't you help them? So
Speaker 1: it's gnarly, it's aggressive. You're always sort of on the
Speaker 1: edge of your seat and scared. But it's going very well.
Speaker 1: And I'm going to my warehouse and we will be
Speaker 1: sending cargo planes filled with aid. That is not where
Speaker 1: the million dollars that we will raise will go. The
Speaker 1: million dollars will be distributed to families and there will
Speaker 1: likely be refugees, and that will be a whole different effort.
Speaker 1: But in ground zero right now, this is the effort
Speaker 1: of us loading cargo planes to go into Israel and
Speaker 1: distribute aid that we get donated that is in our
Speaker 1: costco size warehouse year round. So just felt like ranting
Speaker 1: today and giving you a little education on be strong
Speaker 1: and what we do