WEBVTT - CATHY PARKER: "Southern Lights" 0:00:05.760 --> 0:00:12.320 Hi there, Welcome aboard, Welcome to Love Someone with Delilah. 0:00:12.600 --> 0:00:15.280 Maybe you're a listener to my radio show, or maybe 0:00:15.320 --> 0:00:19.640 you're just somebody who loves loves listening to podcast and 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:24.160 it's great that you can download these podcasts and listen 0:00:24.200 --> 0:00:28.400 while you're commuting or listen at your leisure. This podcast, 0:00:28.720 --> 0:00:33.159 Love Someone with Delilah is aimed straight at your heart. 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:38.279 I'm doing this thing with a single focus to inspire you. 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:43.120 To inspire your heart. Now, my radio show at night, 0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:46.199 a lot of times we talk about romantic love or 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:48.320 people call in who are falling in love for the 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:52.199 first time. That's not what this podcast is about, not 0:00:52.400 --> 0:00:57.440 that kind of heart. I am here to encourage your 0:00:57.560 --> 0:01:02.280 heart to make the world a better place. We've all 0:01:02.440 --> 0:01:05.839 heard the sayings follow your dreams and do what you're 0:01:05.920 --> 0:01:10.520 passionate about. But sometimes in the face of these well 0:01:10.520 --> 0:01:16.160 meaning motivational mantras, you can get overwhelmed. What is my dream? 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:20.120 What is my passion? What's wrong with me that I 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:23.279 can't figure it out? What I'm supposed to be doing? 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:28.320 Does that sound like you? You're like, I want to help, 0:01:28.440 --> 0:01:30.200 I want to make the world a better place, but 0:01:30.319 --> 0:01:34.640 I don't know where to start. Well, I'm here to 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:36.679 take a little pressure off of you. I'm here to 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:40.440 tell you that you matter. Whatever it is that you're 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:45.160 doing matters, Whomever it is that you're connected to with 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:49.280 that matters. And I'm here to encourage you to do 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:52.400 just a little bit more, to step out of your 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:57.120 comfort zone. Maybe nothing earth shattering. I'm here to tell 0:01:57.160 --> 0:02:03.200 you don't need a giant bank account out or connections 0:02:03.240 --> 0:02:06.639 with the jet set. You don't need a law degree 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:11.160 or a medical degree. The only thing you need is 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:16.600 a heart that is willing to serve. My guest today, 0:02:16.639 --> 0:02:20.240 I love someone with the Lyla in this podcast personifies 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:23.600 what it means to follow the whisper in your heart. 0:02:24.000 --> 0:02:29.639 Kathy Parker was a wife, a mother of four student athletes, 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:33.280 had a full time job in a bank, and was 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:40.200 living in the southernmost state in the US in Jacksonville, Florida. 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:46.080 She saw an ESPN clip on TV about a suffering 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:52.560 town in Boro, Alaska. In desperation, the town had formed 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:56.320 a football club so that its teenage boys could have 0:02:56.440 --> 0:03:02.760 some kind of healthful activity. The inspiring activities to help 0:03:02.760 --> 0:03:07.400 them stay focused, to help motivate them. Unfortunately, in a 0:03:07.480 --> 0:03:10.440 land of permafrost. Their field was nothing more than a 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:15.880 frozen patch of rock and gravel. When Kathy saw that 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:19.440 little clip on ESPN, she was about to get moved 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:22.680 off the bench, so to speak, and into the game. 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:25.679 Kathy is on the phone lines and we're going to 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:29.160 talk about her experience. But before we get into that, 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:31.440 I want to take a moment to thank the sponsor 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:35.960 of my podcast series, the Home Depot. Your Home Depot 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:40.320 likely has the largest selection of new appliances in stock. 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:43.720 That's helpful when you want to see all the options 0:03:43.720 --> 0:03:47.240 available to you. And every one of those appliances have 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:50.520 a guaranteed low price attached to it, so you know 0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:54.280 you're getting the best deals. If you're in need of 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:58.520 a new appliance, don't put it off. Visit the Home Depot. 0:03:58.800 --> 0:04:00.920 More saving more, We're doing. 0:04:01.880 --> 0:04:05.160 Hi, Kathy, Hi, Delilah. 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:09.280 Welcome to Love Someone with Delilah. 0:04:09.480 --> 0:04:12.480 Oh, thank you. I have been looking so forward to this, 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:14.040 so I'm just thrilled. 0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:17.240 That's what my executive producer said when she called my 0:04:17.400 --> 0:04:20.279 executive producer of this podcast being my sister. 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:23.080 You know, if your sister loves you and brags about you, 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:24.400 then you're doing pretty good. 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:30.360 Well, my sister loves me ferociously and fiercely and completely, 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:33.560 even when I was a horrible big sister to her 0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:34.240 growing up. 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:35.520 Well, there you go. 0:04:35.640 --> 0:04:36.279 You're blessed. 0:04:36.360 --> 0:04:37.400 Yes, I tell you. 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:41.280 Since I had the privilege of being chosen for your 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:44.440 book Club my book Northern Lights for August, and then 0:04:44.480 --> 0:04:48.440 people knew that I was going to be on your show, 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:51.799 I have heard so many testimonies and I'm telling life 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:54.960 changing stories Delilah on how. 0:04:54.960 --> 0:04:56.560 When people were going through a hard. 0:04:56.360 --> 0:04:59.039 Time, maybe through a divorce, and you know, it's not 0:04:59.240 --> 0:04:59.960 just women. 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:02.039 And there was a man the other day. It was 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:04.159 working on my website. 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:06.520 And he was retired military and he was like, oh, I. 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:09.400 Just loved Elilah. 0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:11.360 You've got a lot of fans out there. 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:15.680 I tell people, when you hear something inspiring, something powerful, 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:18.320 something that speaks directly to your heart and what you're 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:22.160 going through, that's when God borrows my voice. When you 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:27.640 hear me being jerky and egoistical, that's me taking back over. 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:29.800 That was just me God. 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:33.440 Yeah, yeah, yeah, because I can mess up anything. But 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:36.240 when I step back and let God work, it's pretty 0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:37.360 amazing what he can do. 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:38.440 Absolutely right. 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:42.919 And your book Northern Lights throughout the book and everything, 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:48.320 you give God the glory for this little miracle, not 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:54.600 little miracle, but huge miracle that you got to orchestrate, 0:05:55.320 --> 0:05:58.600 or you got to be used to orchestrate. So let's 0:05:58.640 --> 0:06:01.360 start from the very beginning of your story. Kathy Parker. 0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:04.200 He wrote the book Northern Lights, which was our August 0:06:04.240 --> 0:06:08.440 book Club pick, but the story goes back a couple 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:11.320 of years. What did you see that started this whole 0:06:11.440 --> 0:06:12.760 journey to Alaska? 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:15.840 Well, the reason the book goes back a couple of 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:20.360 years is I turned in the original manuscript with David Thomas, 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:24.520 best selling writer that was helping me, and the publishing 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:26.880 company sent it back and they were like, Nope, you're 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:28.040 leaving out some stuff. 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:30.040 And I said what And they. 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:33.640 Said, we want to know what has happened in your 0:06:33.680 --> 0:06:38.359 life that you would have such great faith. And it 0:06:38.440 --> 0:06:41.520 really took me back. I didn't really want to open 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:43.280 up and be personal. I just wanted to tell all 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:45.000 the good stuff, you know, I was telling. 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:45.560 You bad stuff. 0:06:46.080 --> 0:06:51.280 But it made me really think about that and I 0:06:51.360 --> 0:06:55.520 knew why, because God healed me. He'd held my marriage, 0:06:55.560 --> 0:07:00.719 a marriage that was really in trouble, and given me hope, 0:07:01.160 --> 0:07:05.400 and that's what I was trying to do for these 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:09.760 new friends in Alaska, give them hope. So that's why 0:07:09.800 --> 0:07:12.480 the book goes back to some of those struggles that 0:07:12.560 --> 0:07:17.640 I had early in our marriage and then throughout just 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:21.800 in a family that was packed with a bunch of 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:27.240 wonderful athletes and just had been given great talent and 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:32.360 really superstars in my family. But God had something for 0:07:32.480 --> 0:07:32.880 me too. 0:07:33.440 --> 0:07:36.560 So obviously you know a lot about the game of 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:42.080 football going into this little project. You had sat on 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:45.880 the bench or sat in the bleachers for how many years? 0:07:46.000 --> 0:07:49.200 Oh, a long time because my husband played ball. We 0:07:49.240 --> 0:07:53.640 got married really young in college and he played you know. 0:07:53.600 --> 0:07:54.679 We're high school sweetheart. 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:57.160 So he played high school ball, collegeball, and then went 0:07:57.200 --> 0:08:00.720 on to play professionally. And then we had four children, 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:03.160 three boys and our daughter, and they were all athletes, 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:05.960 and so they were all playing. So had spent a 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:08.360 lot of time. And I used a phrase that I 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:10.360 raised my children at the ball field, and that is 0:08:10.440 --> 0:08:13.360 so true. We've spent so much time and so much 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:16.400 of our effort and money and everything else was spent 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:17.360 at the ball field. 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:20.360 Yeah, because it's not cheap. Those clubs are not cheap. 0:08:20.480 --> 0:08:24.000 I've got girls in volleyball, and I have sons that 0:08:24.200 --> 0:08:28.360 are older that played club soccer, and that's not a 0:08:28.640 --> 0:08:29.480 cheap commitment. 0:08:29.560 --> 0:08:30.320 That is a choice. 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:32.360 I need a new washer and dryer, or I need 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:34.360 to get my boys signed up for club soccer. 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:38.640 And then like you're talking about multiple children in a 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:42.280 family that are all going in different directions. Oh yeah, yeah, 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:46.360 it is definitely something that you spend a lot of time, 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:48.760 a lot of money, a lot of effort goes to 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:51.720 raising kids at the ball field because it's not just 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:53.640 done for enjoyment anymore. 0:08:54.160 --> 0:08:57.840 It's a commitment, huge commitment, not just on the kids 0:08:57.920 --> 0:09:00.839 bar but on the mama bear driving them. So, so 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:05.040 you were watching ESPN because you come from the sports background, 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:06.439 or you're how do you had it on? 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:07.480 How were you watching? 0:09:08.000 --> 0:09:12.000 My kids actually were watching ESPN and they called my 0:09:12.080 --> 0:09:14.280 husband and I in and they said, mom, Dad, you've 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:18.160 got to see this. And it was about very Alaska's 0:09:18.160 --> 0:09:21.920 the most northern American settlement with no roads going into it. 0:09:21.920 --> 0:09:24.679 It's on the frozen tundra. And if you don't know 0:09:24.760 --> 0:09:27.320 much about the frost, I knew nothing about the frozen 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:31.600 tundra Alaska to me was mountainous with evergreens, but the 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:34.280 tundra is not like that at all. It's very flattened 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:39.240 and barren and no trees, no bushes, it's just the 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:44.600 frozen tundra. And so they had started a football program there, 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:48.280 and the reason why is because in this isolated community 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:51.400 of less than five thousand people, they had a lot 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:56.160 of social problems that came from kids not staying in school, 0:09:56.440 --> 0:10:00.880 and so their dropout rate was extremely high and their 0:10:00.920 --> 0:10:05.240 team suicide as well as drug use, just things that 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:07.720 kids could get involved in when they had a whole 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:09.360 lot of time on their hands, when they were not 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:12.240 motivated that kind of thing. And they had done a 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:15.840 survey and ask the kids, well, what could we implement 0:10:16.000 --> 0:10:18.080 in the school. They were given a one time funding 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:20.840 to implement a program that would keep kids in school, 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:23.000 and the kids came back and said, well, if we 0:10:23.040 --> 0:10:27.560 had football, but it was extremely problematic because there's no 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:30.240 roads going in or out the closest communities five hundred 0:10:30.240 --> 0:10:33.160 miles away. They'd have to fly to play every opponent, 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:36.560 or fly the opponent in, and then where are they 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:38.880 going to play a game on the frozen tundra? When 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:41.680 it does with the ice during the winter. In the 0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:43.520 summer months, it just turns into mush. 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:44.640 So they played on. 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:49.199 This gravel covered field and you can imagine the cuts 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:51.840 and sprained ankles and all the things that came from that. 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:53.440 So it was a real. 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:55.880 Eye opening special that we were watching. 0:10:56.440 --> 0:10:59.160 But I knew that that sport would work. 0:10:59.880 --> 0:11:01.040 I had seen what had. 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:01.760 Done in our community. 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:05.280 My husband was coaching, and I saw him mentoring young 0:11:05.320 --> 0:11:07.400 men and we'd have them over to our home and 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:09.720 they stay with us, neat with us and all that, 0:11:10.000 --> 0:11:12.560 and I knew that it was something that could have 0:11:12.640 --> 0:11:16.000 a profound impact on that community. In fact, they even 0:11:16.080 --> 0:11:18.959 said to my husband, I said, I understand why people 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:20.959 will get up in arms about the money that it's 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:22.960 going to cost. I said, but that football program is 0:11:23.000 --> 0:11:26.240 going to save their lives. And my husband said, you're right, 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:30.160 Well what do you do about that? So I had 0:11:30.200 --> 0:11:33.359 never been to Alaska. I didn't know anyone from Alaska. 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:37.640 But my husband was overseeing putting in an artificial turf 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:40.959 field in our area in Sunny Florida, and it was like. 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:44.280 God said, if your kids need this, how much? Just more? 0:11:44.320 --> 0:11:47.640 Do they need it there where they can't even grow grasps. 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:52.000 So I had this bright idea of raising the funds, 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:56.079 giving them an artificial turf field like the one we had, 0:11:56.760 --> 0:11:58.400 and teaching them how to play football. 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:01.840 Okay, I be right there for just a second, Kathy, 0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:04.400 hold on, we need to hear a lot more of 0:12:04.440 --> 0:12:08.040 this amazing story, but I also need to give some 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:10.520 time to this message. 0:12:11.280 --> 0:12:12.599 So how soon. 0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:17.959 After you saw this special on ESPN did you have 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:20.640 this bright idea of, Hey, you know what we're putting 0:12:20.720 --> 0:12:22.840 artificial trip in here in Florida, Let's just head to 0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:24.840 north to Alaska and do the same thing there. 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:26.959 How soon after that thought came to you. 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:30.000 Did the thought come to you that this is going 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:33.720 to be a really hard, almost impossible task. 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:37.760 Well, you know, I had this tendency of jumping off 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:42.880 the cliffs, you know, And I think that it was 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:46.280 quite soon. It was that same day that we saw 0:12:46.320 --> 0:12:50.160 that special on ESPN. I announced to my family, what, 0:12:50.559 --> 0:12:52.360 you know, I felt like God had shown me and 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:53.559 that what we were going to do. 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:57.119 And they, again, you know, Mom. 0:12:56.880 --> 0:13:00.120 That's that's impossible. And my husband was the same way, 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:02.000 and I kept trying to get him to let me 0:13:02.120 --> 0:13:06.040 talk to the turf company that was putting in our field, 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:08.680 and finally he said, Okay, I'll get you a meeting, 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:11.560 and I just kept talking about it and talking about it. 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:17.120 I think that I really started realizing how hard it 0:13:17.240 --> 0:13:21.079 was going to be, but I was already well into 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:22.360 the process. 0:13:22.640 --> 0:13:22.880 Now. 0:13:22.920 --> 0:13:26.480 I tried giving it away. I tried renegging, I tried 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:31.200 everything you could do to say, uh, I've made a 0:13:31.240 --> 0:13:32.959 big mistake here, but. 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:33.880 Just could not. 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:37.280 It was such a burning in my heart that I 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:40.240 just could not give up on it. And so when 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:43.480 we held a press conference at our high school and 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:46.480 announced to the world, that was probably the hardest thing 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:48.640 that I had to do because I. 0:13:48.679 --> 0:13:51.360 Knew then there was no going back. 0:13:51.600 --> 0:13:52.800 There was no going back. 0:13:53.000 --> 0:13:56.360 You're exactly right, there's no going back because you said 0:13:56.360 --> 0:13:59.640 it publicly and you can't take it back. 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:00.840 That's right. 0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:04.240 And so that I was sick, I mean just literally 0:14:04.280 --> 0:14:07.719 sick to my stomach. But we did that press conference 0:14:08.640 --> 0:14:13.600 and the story just spread, like all across the United States. 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:17.680 We started getting cards in the mail from people all over, 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:20.760 just ordinary people that would say things like, you know, 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:24.400 athletics had a great impact on my children or my grandchildren. 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:26.160 I want to be a part of this. We had 0:14:26.160 --> 0:14:30.040 a family whose son was killed on nine to eleven 0:14:30.280 --> 0:14:32.880 in the World Trade Center, and it was some money 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:35.680 from his estate. They said he would love to be 0:14:35.720 --> 0:14:38.440 a part of something like this, and just people from 0:14:38.480 --> 0:14:41.120 all over wanted to be a part of it, and 0:14:41.240 --> 0:14:45.360 they started giving. And so that was extreme motivation to 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:48.760 keep going. And yes, there were tremendous obstacles, so many 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:53.040 times where we thought that it couldn't happen. We had 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:56.840 six hundred and fifty thousand pounds of products transported out 0:14:56.840 --> 0:15:01.760 of the state of Georgia, Pennsylvania and Canada into a. 0:15:01.760 --> 0:15:03.600 Place how many pounds. 0:15:03.280 --> 0:15:06.720 Going into it over six hundred and fifty thousand pounds. 0:15:06.520 --> 0:15:10.680 Six hundred and fifty thousand pounds taking it to a 0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:11.320 blaze with. 0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:15.600 No roads exactly, and it went by every means of transportation. 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:19.920 Ups was a huge component through the lower forty eight 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:25.440 through semis and trains and then tote a big barge 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:28.840 company out of Seattle. I mean, just and on and 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:33.520 on partnering together to see this come to fruition. So 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:37.440 from the time frame Delilah, when we made that announcement 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:40.720 in that press conference, that just you know, just made 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:44.240 me so I was so afraid to do to watching 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:49.240 them play on that bright blue It's bright blue with 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:52.960 yellow enzones and sits just one hundred yards from the 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:57.120 Arctic Ocean. It was less than six months, so it 0:15:57.200 --> 0:15:59.280 was just a tremendous miracle. 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:04.320 Wait, did you go to Barrow before that trip? 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:08.760 No, that was your first trip. Was actually delivering. 0:16:08.240 --> 0:16:13.400 It first trip. We'd already sent installers there to work 0:16:13.440 --> 0:16:16.440 on it and to get it ready. I actually flew 0:16:16.480 --> 0:16:21.680 in with thirteen others from Jacksonville, Florida and national media 0:16:22.160 --> 0:16:23.720 to watch that first game. 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:24.960 Wow. 0:16:25.520 --> 0:16:28.120 So you didn't go up there beforehand and meet the 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:31.040 kids and meet the coach and get inspired that way, 0:16:31.080 --> 0:16:34.240 You just kept working diligently behind the scenes. 0:16:34.560 --> 0:16:36.680 Most of our communication was over the phone. 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:41.560 Now, we did bring the team to Jacksonville during that 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:44.640 time after we had made the announcement. Our head coach 0:16:45.280 --> 0:16:50.720 at the time in Jacksonville, Florida, Darryl Sutherland, just a wonderful, 0:16:50.760 --> 0:16:53.440 godly man, and he said, Kathy, it's not good enough 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:54.400 to just. 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:55.120 Give them a field. 0:16:55.160 --> 0:16:57.000 We need to teach them what it's like to be 0:16:57.040 --> 0:17:00.520 student athletes. They need to come down, participate in spring 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:03.680 practice with us, stay in our homes and so we 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:07.520 did that and that was life changing for us. You 0:17:07.560 --> 0:17:09.199 know how when you go and you want to do 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:12.240 something for someone, you think I'm just so going to 0:17:12.320 --> 0:17:15.280 bless them, that you end up being the one so blessed. 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:20.040 That was exactly what happened. When the team came to Jacksonville. 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:20.399 And stayed in our homes. 0:17:20.480 --> 0:17:23.199 Our eyes were open the things we had taken for 0:17:23.280 --> 0:17:26.919 granted for so long, and just an amazing thing to 0:17:26.960 --> 0:17:29.760 be able to reach out and help that community and 0:17:29.920 --> 0:17:34.480 get a relationship with people that had really sort of 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:38.680 been forgotten. They're on the outskirts on that North. 0:17:38.520 --> 0:17:39.440 Slope Borough. 0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:45.040 People of indigenous people. They're Native American people, and they 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:50.919 have amazing cultures, amazing things that they hold strong to, 0:17:51.080 --> 0:17:54.280 like taking care of their neighbors and respect for elders, 0:17:54.400 --> 0:17:57.920 and just amazing kind of way of life living off 0:17:57.920 --> 0:18:02.000 the land, sea in the air, not taking anything for granted, 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:05.640 and we had gotten far away from some of those 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:10.040 concepts and so making the relationship with these people and 0:18:10.240 --> 0:18:14.040 just seeing what wonderful, wonderful people they were, it was 0:18:14.080 --> 0:18:17.160 an amazing thing for us. It really really blessed us 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:18.760 much more than we ever blessed them. 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:20.080 And your kids. 0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:23.000 How did it impact your four kids when that was 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:24.920 going on, Well. 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:27.239 To be caught honest, when it first started happening, they 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:30.120 were like, mom has lost it this time, and she's 0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:33.280 really good to embarrassed. This is not gonna be good. 0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:34.800 But that's our job, isn't it. 0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:36.440 You know it is. 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:40.600 I constantly come up with ways to thoroughly embarrass my 0:18:40.720 --> 0:18:43.520 children just so that they will have stories when they're older. 0:18:43.640 --> 0:18:46.919 I mean, yeah, I rolled down the windows of the 0:18:46.960 --> 0:18:49.040 car and sing out loud at the top of mountain. 0:18:49.240 --> 0:18:55.080 Yeah, exactly, exactly. So they were very skeptical at first, 0:18:55.800 --> 0:18:58.959 but then when we ended up bringing the team and 0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:03.840 they got to share, especially with athletes, Laila, you know 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:07.200 your kids, you spend so much time on your diet, 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:12.359 your exercise, your performance, your workout, your you spend so 0:19:12.480 --> 0:19:15.160 much time on that. But to be able to take 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:19.240 something that you're good at. My kids have been playing 0:19:19.320 --> 0:19:22.200 ball since they were babies, So to be able to 0:19:22.280 --> 0:19:25.159 take something that you knew how to do and teach 0:19:25.320 --> 0:19:29.560 someone else who've never played that game before, that was 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:32.199 an amazing thing to see happen. And it was so 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:36.160 rewarding for our kids to be able to transfer their 0:19:36.200 --> 0:19:39.240 knowledge onto the team who'd never played. 0:19:40.160 --> 0:19:42.919 Now, do your kids or anybody in your community that 0:19:43.040 --> 0:19:46.080 helped take on this challenge, did they still have relationships 0:19:46.119 --> 0:19:47.119 with the team in Barrow. 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:48.399 Yes. 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:51.320 In fact, I'm going in about a week and a 0:19:51.400 --> 0:19:55.919 half back to Barrow. I've been several times and the 0:19:56.040 --> 0:20:00.359 name has changed to the Kiavik and that it. The 0:20:00.400 --> 0:20:05.919 people are amazing. The relationships have grown strong. Now the 0:20:06.040 --> 0:20:09.600 young people that we've helped on that first team have 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:12.560 grown up and we get to see what kind of 0:20:12.640 --> 0:20:16.280 a husbands they are and what type of fathers they are. 0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:19.480 We went to that first game in two thousand and seven, 0:20:19.560 --> 0:20:22.800 and then seven years later I went on my second 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:27.000 trip and we had a party and had a gathering 0:20:27.160 --> 0:20:30.600 of all that original team that could come just to 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:35.240 see how they turned out who they were, Because, quite honestly, 0:20:35.880 --> 0:20:38.920 if these were young people who had not turned out 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:44.480 to be great citizens and community leaders and fathers and husbands, 0:20:44.600 --> 0:20:47.480 and there would be no story because it would not 0:20:47.520 --> 0:20:50.000 have worked. It would have been a waste of money. 0:20:50.359 --> 0:20:55.080 But they were just what had happened in their lives 0:20:55.119 --> 0:20:57.840 and the things that have happened through them being able 0:20:57.840 --> 0:21:01.440 to participate in that s forard and to have it 0:21:01.480 --> 0:21:02.960 was an amazing thing to see. 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:08.080 So did they see did the school see like a change? 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:10.360 Was there a drop in the dropout rate? Was there 0:21:10.359 --> 0:21:13.280 a drop in the suicide rate? Was there an increase 0:21:13.320 --> 0:21:15.760 in test scores? Did they see the direct correlation? 0:21:16.520 --> 0:21:16.680 Oh? 0:21:16.720 --> 0:21:21.640 Yeah, we had that data pretty quickly. Within two years 0:21:21.760 --> 0:21:26.399 of starting the football program. The graduation rate had been 0:21:26.440 --> 0:21:28.919 in the forties. It went into the high eighties. So 0:21:28.960 --> 0:21:29.840 it almost. 0:21:29.640 --> 0:21:31.480 Doubled in two years. 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:37.640 Wow, we had tremendous data to pull from as far 0:21:37.680 --> 0:21:41.200 as what had happened in the school. I will tell 0:21:41.240 --> 0:21:45.720 you in twenty seventeen, just two years ago, that football 0:21:45.760 --> 0:21:50.960 team won the state championship and I was very fortunate 0:21:51.040 --> 0:21:53.400 to be able to attend that game. And of course 0:21:53.440 --> 0:21:56.720 I'm just crying and thinking it cannot get any better 0:21:56.760 --> 0:22:00.480 than this. And then over the intercom they announced the 0:22:00.560 --> 0:22:03.919 highest GPA for the football teams in the state and 0:22:04.000 --> 0:22:05.200 they won that one too. 0:22:05.400 --> 0:22:07.040 Whoa, Yeah. 0:22:07.359 --> 0:22:10.760 So it didn't just didn't just it wasn't just a 0:22:10.800 --> 0:22:12.640 football game, right. 0:22:13.440 --> 0:22:18.040