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Speaker 1: Hey guys, 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 Jim and Melnda Hollinsworth. Right after these brief messages

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Speaker 1: from our general sponsors. When you step over pools of

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Speaker 1: blood as a child, and you hear shots ring out

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Speaker 1: and you're hungry, and everybody sixteen and older is around you,

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Speaker 1: it's not in school and is involved in all kinds

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Speaker 1: of nefarious activities where stealing drugs are not and not working,

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Speaker 1: hanging around doing whatever. When you finally do get to

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Speaker 1: school and are not shot or mugged or beaten before

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Speaker 1: you get there, and you have just tried to survive

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Speaker 1: the first hour of the day or the week ends,

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Speaker 1: you do not give a crap who was on the

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Speaker 1: Mayflower or what twenty fifty is.

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Speaker 2: You just don't.

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Speaker 1: And so the environment destroys learning and early childhood development,

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Speaker 1: and so goes the perpetual nature of poverty. Knowing that

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Speaker 1: their shots going off in this place for the kids

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Speaker 1: that you were trying to do homework with, I just

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Speaker 1: wonder how much of it was sticking.

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Speaker 2: For me and how hard that was.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it was definitely sticking. I am, yeah, trying to

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Speaker 3: think there was a time that we knew the police

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Speaker 3: were coming to your raid in the neighborhood. Jim was

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Speaker 3: in the neighborhood and we somehow had to switch cars.

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Speaker 3: And our daughter, Kate was in kindergarten at the time,

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Speaker 3: and so I was trying to make it back to

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Speaker 3: her kindergarten pick up. Our son will was three, and

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Speaker 3: he was in the car, and I got stuck in

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Speaker 3: the like where they had blocked off the front of

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Speaker 3: the neighborhood, you know, like the police had direct off,

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Speaker 3: like I'm about to go out, We've just switched cars,

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Speaker 3: and I think there was this moment of like that

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Speaker 3: was the moment that hit me, like I'm headed to

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Speaker 3: my daughter's elementary school. There are things happening in the neighborhood.

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Speaker 3: I know, the bus is about to come in unloading

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Speaker 3: all the kids from the neighborhood, you know, in the

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Speaker 3: middle of this place that's now locked down. I think

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Speaker 3: there were moments like that where it's like I just

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Speaker 3: didn't know how to process all the things, you know

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Speaker 3: that there were there were someone else's world was so

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Speaker 3: different than my world, but the two worlds were so

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Speaker 3: close together. So I don't knew how I think Over time,

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Speaker 3: I've had to process it.

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Speaker 1: But Jim, did you ever fear sending your pretty young

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Speaker 1: wife and mother of your two children into this neighborhood

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Speaker 1: all the time?

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Speaker 4: I mean, I think the fear of feelings would would

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Speaker 4: sort of ebb and flow at moments like Melnda's talking about,

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Speaker 4: like some like the day to day, we would be

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Speaker 4: together and we would feel good, and then something would

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Speaker 4: something would happen, like a police trade and what I'm

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Speaker 4: talking about. I mean there's you know, one afternoon, there's

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Speaker 4: you know, forty unmarked vehicles come flying in because there's

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Speaker 4: a guy hiding out in the home who just you know,

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Speaker 4: just murdered.

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Speaker 2: A police officer for god.

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Speaker 4: So so so I'm we're wait a minute, you know

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Speaker 4: that moment won't be here then, you know, other days,

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Speaker 4: I mean it's just smiling kids and everything's happy.

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Speaker 2: So it just it ebbs and flows.

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Speaker 4: I mean, I think the fun thing for us is

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Speaker 4: what we were there together and at the beginning, but

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Speaker 4: then we would start where Melinda would go by herself

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Speaker 4: and then people would say, well, you shouldn't go in there,

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Speaker 4: and we just both kept pushing, pushing, through that. I

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Speaker 4: mean because in an immigrant neighborhood like this community, their

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Speaker 4: their stories are slightly different. I mean it's connected to, hey,

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Speaker 4: there's a there's a gunshot, so here's what you do.

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Speaker 4: But it's also you know, my dad got deported. You know,

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Speaker 4: my my mom got deported, my brother got arrested. You know,

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Speaker 4: all the teenagers dropped out of school. I've got to

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Speaker 4: drop out of school just like my you know, my

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Speaker 4: parents are telling me I got to drop out of

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Speaker 4: school to make money because we don't have any money

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Speaker 4: because my dad got deported or my mom got deported,

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Speaker 4: and I got to take care of my brothers and sisters.

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Speaker 4: So it's this again, it's it's all these stories that

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Speaker 4: we're hearing. And so I think those were the things

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Speaker 4: they kept motivating us to keep showing up.

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Speaker 3: I think we recognized for the neighborhood that we're talking about,

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Speaker 3: those the big problem things are really the minority. Like

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Speaker 3: the majority of the neighborhood were moms who had these

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Speaker 3: massive hopes.

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Speaker 1: And dreams for their kids, you know, like that's why

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Speaker 1: they came here in the first place.

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Speaker 3: Here, Yeah, and so go like it wasn't like we

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Speaker 3: were in this neighborhood where you have like everybody shooting

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Speaker 3: every you know, that is not the thing. It's the

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Speaker 3: minority we're causing trouble. And so I think that was

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Speaker 3: a big thing for me.

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Speaker 2: That's a microcosm of our cities.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, at most of our cities that have all kinds

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Speaker 1: of poverty and stuff in it, everybody in poverty is

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Speaker 1: not creating crime.

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Speaker 2: The truth is, like.

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Speaker 1: In Memphis, there's in the Memphis Greater Metropolitan Area there's

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Speaker 1: like one point seven one point eight million people, and

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Speaker 1: the police will tell you the vast majority of crime

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Speaker 1: continues to be committed by the same five or six

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Speaker 1: hundred people over and over again. So in some weird way,

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Speaker 1: one point eight million people are held hostage about five

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Speaker 1: hundred people that create all this mass fear and hysteria

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Speaker 1: about crime and everything. Well, as a microcosm the neighborhood

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Speaker 1: you're talking about how many homes were in it two

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Speaker 1: hundred and twenty, I would imagine there were three or

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Speaker 1: four same thing, Yeah, and the vast majority of them

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Speaker 1: are just really poor, hard working people trying to get ahead.

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Speaker 1: And then those three homes that's what makes all of

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Speaker 1: your friends say, shouldn't go in there, they're quote all bad,

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Speaker 1: these people are all bad, when in reality it's three

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Speaker 1: or four and the rest of them are really all

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Speaker 1: really good.

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Speaker 2: Yes, just struggling and need help.

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Speaker 3: Yeh and and so much of what the need was

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Speaker 3: was not like these big, huge things. It was answering

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Speaker 3: a mom's question about how to navigate the school system,

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Speaker 3: a little bit of math, help, reminding a kid like, hey,

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Speaker 3: you've got this, just study. It wasn't this massive thing.

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Speaker 3: It was just showing up and saying you got this.

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Speaker 3: You mean, constantly being present and believing in the people

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Speaker 3: who were there.

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Speaker 2: So not being a turkey person, not being a yes.

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Speaker 1: So somebody gets shot and they say you want this

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Speaker 1: trailer that this dude gets shot in?

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Speaker 2: What happens?

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Speaker 1: Exactly what happened, And of course you said, I said yes,

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Speaker 1: Well why wouldn't you You both seem to just say.

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Speaker 2: That's what we did. Why not knowing?

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Speaker 4: I mean, maybe we were ignorance is bliss, right, We

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Speaker 4: didn't know we were getting into it, so we we

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Speaker 4: said yes. The property manager said, great, you got to

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Speaker 4: get the title from one of the drug dealers that

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Speaker 4: got shot.

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Speaker 2: You want this? Yes, Well there's the catch. Yes, there

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Speaker 2: is a catch.

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Speaker 4: So the guys that got shot, they weren't killed, but

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Speaker 4: they skipped down.

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Speaker 2: They're like, we're at I.

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Speaker 4: Don't have any idea how the property manager, I mean,

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Speaker 4: I guess phone number she got in touch with one

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Speaker 4: of the drug dealers who was living there, said like,

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Speaker 4: we need the title bag.

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Speaker 2: I don't even know why.

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Speaker 4: The property manager, I mean at this point, like she

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Speaker 4: probably should have been the one to go get it,

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Speaker 4: but I mean, whole nother story. I ended up being

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Speaker 4: the one that had to go meet this drug dealer

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Speaker 4: at a gas station middle of the day and get

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Speaker 4: a title. So I'm walking, I mean, I have like

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Speaker 4: such a small memory of this, I probably blocked it out.

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Speaker 4: Like I pull up, I don't even know exactly I'm

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Speaker 4: looking for. I see this guy over there. I'm like, hey,

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Speaker 4: are you here's the title? I mean quick, just he

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Speaker 4: hands it to me. I'm gone, dog h.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

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Speaker 4: So that's that's a big part of the story. And

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Speaker 4: we gave him thousand our check to buy his to

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Speaker 4: buy his house that he owned his mobile home.

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Speaker 1: So you're driving it, well, he probably recognizes you before

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Speaker 1: you do him. He's looking for the white dude it's

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Speaker 1: like a passed away a thousand dollars. You're just looking

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Speaker 1: for some guy who maybe he's got a bandage on

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Speaker 1: him because he was shot recently.

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Speaker 2: I don't know.

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Speaker 1: That's the most odd thing in my mind's eyes. That

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Speaker 1: could be in a movie somewhere. That's kind of funny.

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Speaker 4: And everybody that knows me is like, you're the last

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Speaker 4: person that we were saying to go, you know, have

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Speaker 4: a transaction with a drug dealer.

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Speaker 2: You know, like it's just just a weird Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Can you imagine if swatted rolled up you given those

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Speaker 1: dude a thousand dollars get drugs?

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Speaker 2: Right, that's hilarious. Oh gosh, he can't believe he did it.

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Speaker 3: We were so cautious with what we because people were

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Speaker 3: concerned about what we were doing, so we were cautious

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Speaker 3: about like what we told people. And I don't think

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Speaker 3: we told people like I knew Jim was going. It

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Speaker 3: was kind of like, I'm waiting on him to call

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Speaker 3: me that it's done, and you know, he's on his

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Speaker 3: way back home.

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Speaker 1: But this seems like it has shades of the first

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Speaker 1: few episodes of Breaking Bad. I mean, it's a little ridiculous.

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Speaker 1: It really does So how close is Dalton.

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Speaker 2: Dalton, Georgia. Yeah, two hours from US is north. Yeah, I.

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Speaker 1: Can't help but take this quick diversion as an aside Dalton, Georgia.

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Speaker 1: I'll let you tell us what happens in Dalton. What's

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Speaker 1: the industry in Dalton? They make carpet. They make lots

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Speaker 1: of carpet, and it's still a very laborious industry. And

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Speaker 1: back in the sixties it paid really well, hourly, really good,

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Speaker 1: hourly righteous and carpet.

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Speaker 2: If you can remember when the sixties shag.

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Speaker 1: Remember nobody was putting in a hard word floors back

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Speaker 1: there is that linoleum and water wall carpet, and like waterwall,

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Speaker 1: carpet was like a selling point. Today it'd be like yuck.

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Speaker 1: But right, So hardwood floors were the flooring forever. I

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Speaker 1: know this because of my business, slumber business. And then

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Speaker 1: in the late in the mid sixties up through gosh,

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Speaker 1: probably the late seventies early eighties, carpet was the thing.

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Speaker 1: You guys are my age, you know, right, And Dalton

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Speaker 1: exploded because carpet just went from you know, something you

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Speaker 1: made so to every home in the country was having carpet.

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Speaker 1: So Dalt exploded and because they were paying, they needed labor,

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Speaker 1: and they paid so well. The high schools in Dalton, Georgia,

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Speaker 1: their graduation rates went from ninety eight percent and the

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Speaker 1: sixties down to sixty because the minute people turned eighteen,

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Speaker 1: they could go to work in the carpet place and

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Speaker 1: make twenty two dollars an hour. Back them are like

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Speaker 1: forget graduation. And so the high schools in the Dalton

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Speaker 1: area and were saying they lobbied the carpet companies to

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Speaker 1: quit hiring people from that area unless they had a

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Speaker 1: high school diploma so that they could at least get

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Speaker 1: their kids to graduate. There's so much public pressure on them.

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Speaker 1: They said okay, But then all of a sudden they

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Speaker 1: ran out of labor. So there are pictures all over

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Speaker 1: northern Mexican border towns down into central Mexico of huge

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Speaker 1: billboards that say Dalton, Georgia's hiring labor, great wages moved

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Speaker 1: to Dalton. That's where the Hispanic community in Georgia came from.

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Speaker 1: Was that our country cruited them because we needed their labor.

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Speaker 1: A lot of people think that the biggest growth and was,

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Speaker 1: you know, agriculture and all of that.

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Speaker 2: Way.

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Speaker 1: There were some but for the southeast. The draw of

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Speaker 1: Hispanic labor to the Southeast largely came from Mexico and

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Speaker 1: largely came in the sixties and early seventies when our

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Speaker 1: national mentality toward immigration was completely different, and we invited

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Speaker 1: them and begged them to come here, and they largely

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Speaker 1: settled in and around the Dalton area because of that

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Speaker 1: carpet industry. And the very people now that are two

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Speaker 1: and three generations behind the first duration that came here,

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Speaker 1: that were invited here and welcomed here and recruited here,

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Speaker 1: are now vilified. And I think it's very important for

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Speaker 1: us to remember that as we start talking about quote

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Speaker 1: these illegal people that we brought here, and that is

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Speaker 1: an unc comfortable truth that people need to recognize when

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Speaker 1: they think of quote illegal aliens and quote these people

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Speaker 1: that are quote taking American jobs. No they're not. They're

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Speaker 1: satisfying jobs most Americans won't do. They cooked your food,

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Speaker 1: they clean your offices, in your homes. They they work

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Speaker 1: in construction, They build your houses, they roof your houses,

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Speaker 1: they break your houses. There's a massive amount of stuff

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Speaker 1: that goes on in this country that we take very

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Speaker 1: for granted that are done by people that are having

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Speaker 1: to live in the shadows, and you are serving these

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Speaker 1: people's children.

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Speaker 4: Listen, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you

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Speaker 4: saying that, because that's the message that we try to

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Speaker 4: communicate in our communities every day.

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Speaker 2: Because that's the reality.

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Speaker 4: We work in a community in Gainesville, Georgia, another North

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Speaker 4: Georgia community like Dalton that is the poultry capital of

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Speaker 4: the world. Yes, who got recruited to work in the

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Speaker 4: chicken plants? Same story. Now, everyone is vilifying these folks

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Speaker 4: for being here, Yet they do exactly what.

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Speaker 2: You just describe.

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Speaker 4: They're hard working, they do jobs that normal Americans don't

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Speaker 4: want to do, and so we've seen that up close.

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Speaker 4: We didn't grow up knowing that, but our interactions with

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Speaker 4: these families the last fifteen years have completely changed how

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Speaker 4: we view this issue and recognize that these folks are children,

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Speaker 4: have got I mean.

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Speaker 2: They're candidly.

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Speaker 1: The same people that vilify these folks are the exact

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Speaker 1: same people that when they go to a hotel and

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Speaker 1: their room and cleaned, will be who's going to do it?

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Speaker 2: Sure, who's going to do it? Sure?

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Speaker 1: Let's just be honest. We need to wake up to

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Speaker 1: the realities. We'll be right back. So you got a

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Speaker 1: drug deals trailer for your wife to teach him.

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Speaker 2: It's a nice shot, really impressive.

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Speaker 3: We're going to come in here with floorocks and we're

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Speaker 3: just going to tidy this place up and it is

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Speaker 3: going to be delightful.

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Speaker 5: And after we finally found the key.

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Speaker 3: To get into it, we thought we should just burn

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Speaker 3: this to the ground because it was that bad.

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Speaker 2: It was there was a shooting in it. I'm just

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Speaker 2: gree it was our buddons.

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Speaker 4: So the first time we got hitting, you need hazma, no, no, no,

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Speaker 4: like it actually is. Yeah, there's some police tape, but

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Speaker 4: there there is police there's police tape.

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Speaker 2: There are bullets.

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Speaker 4: There are twenty three bullet holes in a line down

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Speaker 4: the side.

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Speaker 2: You can see him account them.

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Speaker 4: And then there is a giant spot on the linoleum

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Speaker 4: of blood just like no one cleaned it up. And

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Speaker 4: the reason when I cleaned it up because the first

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Speaker 4: time we go in there, like it's a complete disaster.

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Speaker 4: I mean, there's drugs, there's junk furniture, it's the it's

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Speaker 4: the worst place you've ever seen, Like, how can humans

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Speaker 4: live here?

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Speaker 2: So we did.

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Speaker 4: We go in and I went in with a friend

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Speaker 4: of from church who is a contractor. We go in

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Speaker 4: and I'm like, well, we can't do anything with this,

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Speaker 4: and he was like, no, we can't, and and he

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Speaker 4: God bless him, God bless him. I mean, is it

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Speaker 4: a friend of ours named Russell Ward. I'll, you know,

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Speaker 4: love him till the day we die. Like he saw it.

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Speaker 4: I couldn't see it. He saw it. He said, we're

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Speaker 4: gonna get a couple of dumpsters and we're gonna clean

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Speaker 4: this out. We're gonna rebuild it. So Russell led the

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Speaker 4: charge as a volunteer. You can have Russell on the show.

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Speaker 4: I mean, like, cause here's a guy, just a good

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Speaker 4: old country boy from Georgia. People would make assumptions about

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Speaker 4: someone like him in this neighborhood and he would be

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Speaker 4: one of the ones that would vilify. And he showed

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Speaker 4: up right there and said that makes me want to cry.

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Speaker 4: Like he showed up right there and said, I'm loving

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Speaker 4: these kids and I'm going to use my gifts as

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Speaker 4: a builder and I'm going to I'm going to do

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Speaker 4: something good. And he's as normal as they get. And

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Speaker 4: he worked a full time job then this whole time,

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Speaker 4: and he would show up every day for three months

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Speaker 4: and rebuild this trailer, and we got some folks from

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Speaker 4: our church.

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Speaker 2: We cleaned it out.

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Speaker 4: I mean, we had a team that was just there

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Speaker 4: all the time, like volunteering their time to transform this

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Speaker 4: drug house shot up, got up drug house into what

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Speaker 4: would become this neighborhood community center. We didn't even know

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Speaker 4: what it was going to look like. I mean, Russell

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Speaker 4: had the vision. He cleaned it out, he rebuilt it.

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Speaker 4: We brought in carpet I had turned into just to

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Speaker 4: like what you would see at a school now, a

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Speaker 4: clean mobile classroom, big open room with a bathroom in

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Speaker 4: a closet. We did it with a nice deck, I mean,

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Speaker 4: he painted it. We did a big grand opening, and

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Speaker 4: the whole neighborhood kind of showed up really maybe to

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Speaker 4: check out, hey, what are these crazy white people doing here,

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Speaker 4: like with this building. But that moment, again, there's a

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Speaker 4: lot of this toxic charity stuff we learned. And you know,

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Speaker 4: when we first started the mom we met in the

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Speaker 4: first family, she invited us to help kids with homework.

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Speaker 4: So we responded, and it didn't know that that was

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Speaker 4: kind of the right way to do it. It happened

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Speaker 4: by accident, and this moment was the same. This idea

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Speaker 4: of establishing permanency kind of conveyed the message of we're

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Speaker 4: not leaving. We didn't know, we didn't necessarily were saying

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Speaker 4: it to everyone, but people showed up and they said man.

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Speaker 4: So then we relationships just strengthened quickly after we had

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Speaker 4: this building.

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Speaker 2: Because they saw your yeah, yeah, we're in, like we weren't.

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Speaker 4: I guess you know, we're not Turkey people at that point,

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Speaker 4: or what they would view as, hey, these are the

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Speaker 4: church people. We were kind of called that, like, these

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Speaker 4: are the church people that came in and like churches

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Speaker 4: would always come in and do an event, Hey make

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Speaker 4: ourselves feel good, and then leave. And they saw, well

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Speaker 4: they'd been they just bought a building, like and they're

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Speaker 4: now showing up every day. I guess they're going to

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Speaker 4: keep showing up.

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Speaker 3: And I think the story of Russell is really it's

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Speaker 3: one of those fun ones to go back and reflect

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Speaker 3: on what we know now. But I think some people

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Speaker 3: could listen to this and be like, well, I don't

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Speaker 3: really know that I can go and like commit to

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Speaker 3: volunteering for the next twenty years. But I think the

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Speaker 3: story of Russell coming along from people who were going

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Speaker 3: to stay long term. So I think that's important for

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Speaker 3: people who were trying to figure out where to plug

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Speaker 3: in and how to get involved and what to do

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Speaker 3: at Christmas is to you know, look for organizations who

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Speaker 3: are long term people who were making long term relational

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Speaker 3: investments versus like, hey, this is one thing that's going

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Speaker 3: to make me feel good because Russell's work was so critical.

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Speaker 3: I mean like we couldn't do this work if not.

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Speaker 5: For Russell Ward.

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Speaker 2: So so now you got this thing. Now what that's

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Speaker 2: a great question. Yeah we did. You all look at

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Speaker 2: each other go now what Yeah. I mean kind of like, okay,

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Speaker 2: we have a building.

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Speaker 4: We started, We moved from one day to two days

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Speaker 4: a week of homework club, kind of kept on growing club.

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Speaker 2: That's what we kind of call it.

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Speaker 4: Like it was not even a thing, Like it wasn't

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Speaker 4: We just were people showing up and it wasn't organizing.

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Speaker 2: Did show up saying my homework show. Yeah.

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Speaker 4: So timeline wise, this was twenty ten. Spring of twenty ten,

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Speaker 4: we opened this building. We started meeting twice a week.

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Speaker 4: We started getting to know more kids people. Come fall

383
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Speaker 4: of summer of twenty ten, one of our volunteers who

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Speaker 4: we were friends with from church.

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Speaker 2: She was a public school teacher. She came to me.

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Speaker 2: I think it was me.

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Speaker 4: She came to me and said, I think I'm supposed

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Speaker 4: to do this as my job. And I said that

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Speaker 4: sounds amazing, but we don't have any money. I mean

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Speaker 4: that was from my exact words. She was like, I'm

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Speaker 4: supposed to do this. So I remember she came to

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Speaker 4: our house. We had a meeting and I told her,

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Speaker 4: I said, well, what if we paid you two thousand

394
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Speaker 4: dollars a month? And she heard What she heard was

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Speaker 4: what if we pay you two thousand dollars for the year?

396
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Speaker 4: And she still said yes, wow, And and so.

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Speaker 2: We cleared that up. I was like, no, no, no, no,

398
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Speaker 2: we can do more.

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Speaker 4: I think we can figure out what think. Yeah, yeah,

400
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Speaker 4: I'll just go I'll just go raise it. I mean

401
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Speaker 4: at this point, I knew nothing about fundraising. We hadn't

402
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Speaker 4: raised any money yet.

403
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Speaker 2: Were you a five oh one seaton? No, we were nothing,

404
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Speaker 2: So you didn't don't have nothing.

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Speaker 1: So like, so you're hiring somebody into a thing that

406
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Speaker 1: is organization.

407
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Speaker 2: And when we did, then we and we so we

408
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Speaker 2: but we hired her. So we the church hired her.

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Speaker 4: Ah so we we brought it in as a ministry

410
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Speaker 4: of the church, which is what it was at the time.

411
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Speaker 2: So the church hired her.

412
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Speaker 4: But as soon as as soon as we made this decision,

413
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Speaker 4: I had some friends who came to me and said, hey.

414
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Speaker 4: One of them was a CPA. He was our first

415
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Speaker 4: board chair. He came to me and said, you need

416
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Speaker 4: to start a nonprofit. And I'm pretty sure my words were,

417
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Speaker 4: what is a nonprofit? I have no idea.

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Speaker 1: Literally, normal folks who saw an area needs started to

419
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Speaker 1: fill it and basically figured it out as you went

420
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Speaker 1: and still not particularly well yet correct.

421
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Speaker 2: Tons of mistakes.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, people, I mean he's a CBA, he'd been on

423
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Speaker 4: the board of multiple nonprofits. He's come to talk to me.

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Speaker 4: I'm this thirty year old, you know, pastor. He sees quickly,

425
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Speaker 4: I don't know what I'm doing, but I love it.

426
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Speaker 4: We he says, because you got to raise money and

427
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Speaker 4: you need a nonprofit. You need a five O one

428
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Speaker 4: C three. He starts setting on all these terms and like,

429
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Speaker 4: I don't have a clue what you're talking about. He

430
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Speaker 4: was like, I'll help you. He said, you need a name,

431
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Speaker 4: and we said, okay, Well, we had just.

432
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Speaker 5: Had this meeting with a bunch of moms.

433
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Speaker 3: So a bunch of moms came together and the general

434
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Speaker 3: consensus for the moms was, we're losing hope and our

435
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Speaker 3: kids being able to graduate from high school. Not because

436
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Speaker 3: they didn't want them to, not because our kids didn't

437
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Speaker 3: have like hopes and dreams and plans for their life.

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Speaker 5: Not because they couldn't.

439
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Speaker 3: Provide food and shelter, but they were struggling to navigate

440
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Speaker 3: the school system.

441
00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:46,920
Speaker 5: And so we named it center. You named it Hope Center.

442
00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:48,800
Speaker 2: So the first name was the Hope.

443
00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:51,760
Speaker 5: That moms had said, we're just living And.

444
00:23:51,720 --> 00:23:54,239
Speaker 4: This was before the this was before the conversation with

445
00:23:54,280 --> 00:23:56,600
Speaker 4: the CPA about board. So we had this thing. It

446
00:23:56,640 --> 00:23:58,439
Speaker 4: was a ministry of a church called the Hope Center.

447
00:23:59,119 --> 00:24:01,119
Speaker 4: He says, you need to start nonprofit. I'm like, okay,

448
00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:02,919
Speaker 4: well we'll start it. We'll start a nonprofit and he

449
00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:05,600
Speaker 4: helps me through the paperwork. Well, then I just did

450
00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:08,760
Speaker 4: a Google search and realized there's like ten million Hope Centers.

451
00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:11,840
Speaker 4: It's a very generic name. I was like, well, that

452
00:24:11,880 --> 00:24:14,639
Speaker 4: can't be our name. So we had to put this

453
00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:16,560
Speaker 4: put a name on here. So we literally go to

454
00:24:16,600 --> 00:24:21,680
Speaker 4: some friends of ours who they they run a business.

455
00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:24,800
Speaker 4: So you heard of the Elf on the Shelf. Yeah, yeah,

456
00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:28,920
Speaker 4: so Elf everybody's Elf and chelf. So one of our

457
00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:33,600
Speaker 4: good friends wrote the book. No, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.

458
00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:35,000
Speaker 4: She'd be a great person to have on here too,

459
00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:38,440
Speaker 4: because she's been instrumental through this whole thing. So when

460
00:24:38,480 --> 00:24:41,080
Speaker 4: I told you we took a check for one thousand

461
00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:43,560
Speaker 4: dollars to buy the trailer, well, I didn't have a

462
00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:47,240
Speaker 4: thousand dollars. But our friend, her name is Shanda. I'll

463
00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:49,080
Speaker 4: just go ahead and throw it all out there. She

464
00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:50,920
Speaker 4: may not like it, Well, we'll ask her about whatever.

465
00:24:51,359 --> 00:24:54,040
Speaker 4: She's she's great, she said.

466
00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:56,679
Speaker 1: Are you telling me the author of the Elf on

467
00:24:56,760 --> 00:25:00,320
Speaker 1: the Shelf basically paid for a drug dem from a

468
00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:01,000
Speaker 1: drug dealer?

469
00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:03,680
Speaker 2: Yep, we so we I'll see.

470
00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:05,320
Speaker 1: That could be a book for Elf on the Shelf

471
00:25:05,520 --> 00:25:08,200
Speaker 1: out Elf on the Shelf pay dealing with drug dealer.

472
00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:12,560
Speaker 4: She was one of our first volunteers and she was

473
00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:14,200
Speaker 4: in the neighborhood with us one day when we were

474
00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:16,640
Speaker 4: having this conversation a boy getting the trailer and we

475
00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:17,879
Speaker 4: look at each other, We're like, we don't have a

476
00:25:17,960 --> 00:25:19,639
Speaker 4: thousand dollars, and she looks at us and she was

477
00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:20,719
Speaker 4: like yeah, you do.

478
00:25:21,560 --> 00:25:24,520
Speaker 2: Wow, And so she was in from the beginning.

479
00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:26,919
Speaker 4: Well, when we have to you know, they have this

480
00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:28,719
Speaker 4: this is right around the time they're exploding. They have

481
00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:32,119
Speaker 4: a marketing creative team. We tell her, hey, hey, we

482
00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:33,919
Speaker 4: need a name for this thing. She was like, come

483
00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:36,000
Speaker 4: meet with our team. So we did this huge brainstorm

484
00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:37,919
Speaker 4: with her creative team and they helped us come up

485
00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:40,919
Speaker 4: with this name. And our very first name, according to

486
00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:45,480
Speaker 4: r S, was Path Project, Path Project, yep, and it

487
00:25:45,560 --> 00:25:49,439
Speaker 4: came from Shanda and her team hearing us say in

488
00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:51,640
Speaker 4: this conversation multiple times, hey, we just want to help

489
00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:54,640
Speaker 4: kids find find the right path in life. So they

490
00:25:54,640 --> 00:25:57,800
Speaker 4: came out with this catch you name. We literally just again,

491
00:25:57,920 --> 00:26:01,160
Speaker 4: same thing. Sure sounds great. So we did the irs thing.

492
00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:05,359
Speaker 4: This is this is twenty eleven. Now we're into twenty eleven.

493
00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:09,600
Speaker 4: We have a full time staff member making two thousand

494
00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:12,320
Speaker 4: dollars a month. She thought a year, She thought a year,

495
00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:15,760
Speaker 4: and yeah, she's amazing. It was amazing what she thought.

496
00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:16,800
Speaker 2: She was right.

497
00:26:17,280 --> 00:26:19,920
Speaker 4: We have all these people at this moment that are

498
00:26:20,040 --> 00:26:22,520
Speaker 4: that are stepping up and doing, you know, doing something

499
00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:23,119
Speaker 4: really cool.

500
00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:26,399
Speaker 2: Page who was our first teacher, Shanda Dale?

501
00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:28,720
Speaker 4: Who is who was the CPA who helped me navigate

502
00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:30,960
Speaker 4: this whole process and helped us start a board. I

503
00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:32,520
Speaker 4: don't know how to I don't know what a board is.

504
00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:38,159
Speaker 4: He helped us start this board. We started a nonprofit

505
00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:43,399
Speaker 4: and then we again we're kind of thinking, well, I'm

506
00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:45,560
Speaker 4: still working full time at the church at this point,

507
00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:46,440
Speaker 4: that this is what I do.

508
00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:47,320
Speaker 2: I'm a pastor.

509
00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:51,480
Speaker 4: We had a second child, a little boy who was

510
00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:54,159
Speaker 4: born in twenty eleven, so Melinda's showing up a lot,

511
00:26:54,520 --> 00:26:55,680
Speaker 4: but we have two little kids at home.

512
00:26:55,920 --> 00:26:56,959
Speaker 2: This is just what you know.

513
00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:02,439
Speaker 4: And I think, I mean around this time, we had

514
00:27:02,440 --> 00:27:04,720
Speaker 4: a conversation with each other, you know, going back to

515
00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:06,640
Speaker 4: the Sofia question when you're going to leave. Well, hey,

516
00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:08,600
Speaker 4: now we got this building, this is a thing. I'm

517
00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:12,640
Speaker 4: still working at the church. We sit down one night

518
00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:16,480
Speaker 4: on on our couch and just said, hey, what's the

519
00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:23,000
Speaker 4: plan here? And I think we quickly kind of were like, well,

520
00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:24,640
Speaker 4: I think we need to go all in.

521
00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:31,600
Speaker 1: So that answers the question from a few years earlier,

522
00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:34,119
Speaker 1: when you were almost thirty and year twenty seven and

523
00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:37,120
Speaker 1: you're looking at each other and go like what is this?

524
00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:38,120
Speaker 2: What is this? It?

525
00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:42,720
Speaker 1: And seems like four or five years later you got

526
00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:46,360
Speaker 1: your answer. And you know, something else that's interesting is

527
00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:48,840
Speaker 1: we laugh about you really not knowing what you were

528
00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:51,919
Speaker 1: doing and everything else. You know, who didn't care that

529
00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:54,920
Speaker 1: you didn't know what you were doing? The kids, right,

530
00:27:55,880 --> 00:27:58,800
Speaker 1: they didn't care. Right, they were being helped, they were

531
00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:02,080
Speaker 1: being loved, they're being so or they knew you weren't

532
00:28:02,119 --> 00:28:06,840
Speaker 1: turkey people who cares what the mistakes were. They didn't,

533
00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:10,639
Speaker 1: you know, And that's the beauty of it. You do

534
00:28:10,760 --> 00:28:13,919
Speaker 1: bounce around through things like this, but you got to try.

535
00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:16,960
Speaker 1: And when you do try, the things that you do

536
00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:19,359
Speaker 1: do that make a difference in people's life, they don't

537
00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:21,600
Speaker 1: know if you're doing it right or wrong or whatever.

538
00:28:21,640 --> 00:28:23,040
Speaker 1: They just know they're being served.

539
00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:26,280
Speaker 4: The same for you, right when you started coaching this team,

540
00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:29,400
Speaker 4: what you did that was most important is you kept

541
00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:32,200
Speaker 4: showing up. You kept coming back, and that's what we did.

542
00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:33,960
Speaker 4: We made a bunch of mistakes, but the kids didn't

543
00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:37,320
Speaker 4: know about the mistakes. What they saw is people consistently

544
00:28:37,359 --> 00:28:39,320
Speaker 4: showing up every day in their life over a long

545
00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:42,640
Speaker 4: period of time. And guess what, it doesn't require any

546
00:28:42,640 --> 00:28:45,959
Speaker 4: special skills on our end to keep showing up. Just

547
00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:49,200
Speaker 4: normal people just normal people who.

548
00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:53,440
Speaker 3: Believed in them, like we genuinely believed that they could

549
00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:54,280
Speaker 3: do whatever they wanted.

550
00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:55,000
Speaker 2: They can.

551
00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:58,120
Speaker 1: All they need is a level playing field and access.

552
00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:02,880
Speaker 1: Just what do you think do you think the ability

553
00:29:02,920 --> 00:29:09,800
Speaker 1: of a child's a child's ability to reach their dreams

554
00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:11,920
Speaker 1: has something to do with the zip code at the

555
00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:12,720
Speaker 1: time of their birth.

556
00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:14,480
Speaker 2: The innate ability.

557
00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:20,360
Speaker 1: Maybe the societal and cultural barriers curtail that ability, but

558
00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:22,800
Speaker 1: not their innate ability. It's all there. We just have

559
00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:27,320
Speaker 1: to remove those those barriers from a boat access and

560
00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:32,560
Speaker 1: that takes a little work in love. But so you're

561
00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:40,840
Speaker 1: all in, We'll be right back.

562
00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:50,480
Speaker 4: In twenty eleven, we're working in this one neighborhood and

563
00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:56,120
Speaker 4: we get a call from the owner of this mobile

564
00:29:56,120 --> 00:30:01,600
Speaker 4: home park. Their business this is based in Detroit, Michigan.

565
00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:06,120
Speaker 4: They own nearly one hundred mobile home parks across the US.

566
00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:09,719
Speaker 4: They heard what we were doing and they flew Melenda

567
00:30:09,720 --> 00:30:12,200
Speaker 4: and I up in twenty eleven to their office in

568
00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:15,280
Speaker 4: Detroit for a day to tell him about what we

569
00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:17,120
Speaker 4: were doing. We didn't know exactly why we were going.

570
00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:21,000
Speaker 4: We we think you will you flyp here?

571
00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:24,360
Speaker 2: Yeah? In true, y'all's for him. Sure, kind of like Alex.

572
00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:26,760
Speaker 4: When Alex remailed me and said, will you fly to

573
00:30:26,760 --> 00:30:28,920
Speaker 4: Memphis and and be on a podcast?

574
00:30:28,920 --> 00:30:33,440
Speaker 2: I was like, I was like, sure, yeah, that's good.

575
00:30:33,480 --> 00:30:36,240
Speaker 2: Come to Michigan. Yeah, sure, So we did. We got

576
00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:36,480
Speaker 2: a plan.

577
00:30:36,600 --> 00:30:40,160
Speaker 4: We we showed up at their at their office in

578
00:30:40,600 --> 00:30:43,400
Speaker 4: Detroit and they look at us. I mean, the owner

579
00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:47,680
Speaker 4: is a you know, really great guy. We become really

580
00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:49,480
Speaker 4: good friends over the years. We didn't know him at

581
00:30:49,520 --> 00:30:51,640
Speaker 4: the time, so he's you know, kind of very very

582
00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:54,240
Speaker 4: very blunt. He is a venture capitalist, CEO.

583
00:30:54,320 --> 00:30:54,720
Speaker 2: Time guy.

584
00:30:54,720 --> 00:30:56,320
Speaker 4: He just looked a straight in to the mike and said, hey,

585
00:30:56,320 --> 00:30:58,400
Speaker 4: we want you on all our neighborhoods.

586
00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:02,080
Speaker 1: Did the neighborhood, the quality of the neighborhood and the

587
00:31:02,080 --> 00:31:05,320
Speaker 1: crime and all that started improving as a result of

588
00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:07,719
Speaker 1: you improving the lives of the people that lived in it.

589
00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:13,360
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, duh, no kidding. Sure, But then the first reader,

590
00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:15,920
Speaker 1: I mean, you invest in the community and all of

591
00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:18,960
Speaker 1: a sudden the community improves. Right, all right, yeah that's

592
00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:21,080
Speaker 1: but this guy has enough brains to see it, right,

593
00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:24,040
Speaker 1: and so now he wants he says, yeah, I like this.

594
00:31:25,360 --> 00:31:27,440
Speaker 1: I'd like you in every mobile home center I own

595
00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:30,640
Speaker 1: across the country crazy.

596
00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:35,520
Speaker 2: Very crazy, and we were overwhelmed. Oh you didn't say sure.

597
00:31:35,640 --> 00:31:37,040
Speaker 2: I mean that actually.

598
00:31:36,800 --> 00:31:40,720
Speaker 4: Probably was the first time we did not say hold it.

599
00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:45,080
Speaker 4: That's a lot, but we did say we did say

600
00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:47,960
Speaker 4: yes a little bit. And this gets into like a

601
00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:53,440
Speaker 4: season of a few years where we had to like

602
00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:58,600
Speaker 4: work through. Okay, we're this married couple. All of a sudden,

603
00:31:58,600 --> 00:32:00,440
Speaker 4: there's this thing. All of a sudden, it's not profit.

604
00:32:01,040 --> 00:32:03,520
Speaker 4: All of a sudden, we have these opportunities to grow.

605
00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:06,800
Speaker 4: All of a sudden. Jim is the guy, like, let's

606
00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:10,080
Speaker 4: grow Like I didn't. I didn't know I had, you know,

607
00:32:10,160 --> 00:32:13,880
Speaker 4: some entrepreneurial skills and fundraising skills. And I mean I really,

608
00:32:14,480 --> 00:32:17,760
Speaker 4: I don't really but a little bit enough to be

609
00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:19,960
Speaker 4: you know, I think you unders show you to be

610
00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:25,400
Speaker 4: to be dangerous maybe, but I'm still learning this point.

611
00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:29,760
Speaker 4: So we start. We we do start to expand. So

612
00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:31,840
Speaker 4: I tell them one, hey, I'm gonna leave my job

613
00:32:31,880 --> 00:32:34,240
Speaker 4: at the church. We need to do this. So in

614
00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:36,960
Speaker 4: t twenty twelve, I go part time at the church.

615
00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:40,640
Speaker 4: Twenty thirteen, I go full time doing this. We do

616
00:32:40,680 --> 00:32:42,880
Speaker 4: our big first fundraiser in twenty twelve. We raise a

617
00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:46,840
Speaker 4: lot of money, We're like, okay, something something cool is happening. Well,

618
00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:50,200
Speaker 4: they owned another park just down the road. So that

619
00:32:50,280 --> 00:32:52,880
Speaker 4: was the first one. Same company made sense. We're like,

620
00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:54,760
Speaker 4: we knew some churches. We're like, let's do this, And

621
00:32:54,800 --> 00:32:58,160
Speaker 4: so that happens, and then another one the next year

622
00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:01,600
Speaker 4: to all all on Gwenett count and then another one,

623
00:33:02,320 --> 00:33:09,520
Speaker 4: and then I'm headed to Nashville, Tennessee for a conference

624
00:33:09,560 --> 00:33:12,880
Speaker 4: at a church. They own a park in Franklin, Tennessee.

625
00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:14,960
Speaker 4: If you're familiar with Franklin.

626
00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:17,760
Speaker 2: There's a mobile home the park in Franklin.

627
00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:20,440
Speaker 4: There is a mobile home park owned by this same

628
00:33:20,480 --> 00:33:25,040
Speaker 4: company in downtown Franklin, Tennessee. So if any of your

629
00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:29,520
Speaker 4: listeners are very familiar with Franklin, it's the wealth. It's

630
00:33:29,560 --> 00:33:32,680
Speaker 4: one of the wealthiest communities in the country, no question.

631
00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:37,120
Speaker 4: So I I drive to this mobile home park in

632
00:33:37,160 --> 00:33:40,160
Speaker 4: Franklin on my way to this conference at a church nearby.

633
00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:42,800
Speaker 4: I stop in. They say, hey, we want you in

634
00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:46,280
Speaker 4: this neighborhood in Franklin. It's called Franklin Estates, I said.

635
00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:47,800
Speaker 4: I told the manager. I was like, this sounds good,

636
00:33:47,840 --> 00:33:50,480
Speaker 4: but like, I don't know anybody up here, but drive

637
00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:53,640
Speaker 4: to the church that night, sitting at this conference at

638
00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:55,880
Speaker 4: a table, one of the guys sitting at the table

639
00:33:55,920 --> 00:33:59,120
Speaker 4: introduced himself. He said, Hey, I'm Jason Hale with Rolling

640
00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:02,640
Speaker 4: Hills Church in Franklin, Tennessee, and my mine starts working.

641
00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:05,520
Speaker 4: I just walked over and said, hey, I just happened

642
00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:07,800
Speaker 4: to hear you were from Franklin. Let me tell you

643
00:34:07,800 --> 00:34:11,960
Speaker 4: about this little thing we're doing in Atlanta. Telling me

644
00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:13,759
Speaker 4: about this mobile home park called Franklin the States, And

645
00:34:13,800 --> 00:34:16,200
Speaker 4: he says, Hey, I actually just drove in there the

646
00:34:16,239 --> 00:34:18,680
Speaker 4: other day. I know exactly what you're talking about. I

647
00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:20,239
Speaker 4: told him what we were doing Atlanta, and he said,

648
00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:23,640
Speaker 4: let's do it here. So we launched in Tennessee. So

649
00:34:23,680 --> 00:34:28,600
Speaker 4: at the same time, we're raising a small family, starting

650
00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:30,480
Speaker 4: in one neighborhood. All of a sudden, we're in like

651
00:34:30,680 --> 00:34:34,160
Speaker 4: five mobile home communities, not really knowing what we're doing,

652
00:34:34,160 --> 00:34:35,680
Speaker 4: but we're kind of raising enough money. We hire a

653
00:34:35,680 --> 00:34:38,920
Speaker 4: couple of people, and it just starts starts growing really

654
00:34:38,960 --> 00:34:43,840
Speaker 4: really fast. And Melinda's over here just doing doing the

655
00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:46,600
Speaker 4: hard work. And I'm, you know, kind of out here.

656
00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:48,680
Speaker 4: Oh we're going to we're growing, and we have this

657
00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:50,840
Speaker 4: conversation I don't even remember what year it was was

658
00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:51,920
Speaker 4: like whoa.

659
00:34:52,920 --> 00:34:55,680
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're about to drive a train over the edge

660
00:34:55,680 --> 00:34:58,400
Speaker 3: of a cliff. Sure, like the opportunity was there to

661
00:34:58,520 --> 00:35:02,200
Speaker 3: grow big and do good things, but it was an

662
00:35:02,200 --> 00:35:05,560
Speaker 3: overwhelming like all the things and learning all the things

663
00:35:05,600 --> 00:35:07,040
Speaker 3: and we have yeah.

664
00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:09,960
Speaker 2: Back right, and so we did.

665
00:35:10,040 --> 00:35:12,640
Speaker 4: I mean, this is a lot going on, and we

666
00:35:13,160 --> 00:35:15,640
Speaker 4: figured out kind of what healthy growth looked like during

667
00:35:15,640 --> 00:35:18,840
Speaker 4: that season. I mean, we got some great coaching, you

668
00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:24,080
Speaker 4: know from a community of Christian entrepreneurs called Praxis, which

669
00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:28,080
Speaker 4: is a global community which is really a blessing for us.

670
00:35:28,160 --> 00:35:33,239
Speaker 4: And then Stand Together Foundation came alongside us and kind

671
00:35:33,280 --> 00:35:36,600
Speaker 4: of taught us a little bit how to run a nonprofit.

672
00:35:36,840 --> 00:35:39,040
Speaker 4: And this was all happening around the same time, and

673
00:35:39,080 --> 00:35:41,959
Speaker 4: so we learned a lot. I think we grew as people.

674
00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:45,279
Speaker 4: We were also getting older, and life experience tends to,

675
00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:47,440
Speaker 4: you know, teach you some things that maybe when you're

676
00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:48,719
Speaker 4: thirty you don't know, but then.

677
00:35:48,600 --> 00:35:50,960
Speaker 5: When you say yes every time immediately Yeah.

678
00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:52,960
Speaker 1: But the problem with the age is you might not

679
00:35:53,360 --> 00:35:56,680
Speaker 1: now go do a thousand dollars deal with the drug dealer.

680
00:35:56,800 --> 00:36:00,520
Speaker 1: Maybe you might not do it today you would have

681
00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:02,880
Speaker 1: done when you were thirty and young and stupid and

682
00:36:02,960 --> 00:36:07,640
Speaker 1: just that's right. So youth has its place in these endeavors.

683
00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:11,760
Speaker 1: So tell me what we look like now.

684
00:36:12,800 --> 00:36:15,160
Speaker 3: So I have the greatest job in the world. So

685
00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:19,000
Speaker 3: I work in that first neighborhood it's called Gueneada, States.

686
00:36:19,200 --> 00:36:21,480
Speaker 3: I love my job so much I could cry. So

687
00:36:21,640 --> 00:36:24,560
Speaker 3: I work with only high schoolers. So back in the

688
00:36:24,640 --> 00:36:27,440
Speaker 3: very beginning, it was hard to find high schoolers. Like

689
00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:29,319
Speaker 3: they were there, but they were kids who were tucked

690
00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:31,759
Speaker 3: in their houses. Their parents had them walked in, you know.

691
00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:34,279
Speaker 3: They were not kids who were on the street. But

692
00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:37,440
Speaker 3: in the beginning, we'd get calls in the night, you know,

693
00:36:37,560 --> 00:36:39,279
Speaker 3: like from the police, like hey, I've got some and

694
00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:40,759
Speaker 3: so in the back of my car they say that

695
00:36:40,800 --> 00:36:43,920
Speaker 3: they know you, you know that kind of thing and

696
00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:46,960
Speaker 3: eat high schoolers. And they would say, well, I graduated

697
00:36:46,960 --> 00:36:49,480
Speaker 3: from the tenth grade, or I graduated.

698
00:36:48,880 --> 00:36:51,240
Speaker 2: From graduated from the tenth grade.

699
00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:53,600
Speaker 3: Like that was a very common phrase that we would

700
00:36:53,640 --> 00:36:56,640
Speaker 3: hear back in the beginning. So now I work with

701
00:36:56,680 --> 00:36:58,120
Speaker 3: all the high schoolers in the neighborhood.

702
00:36:58,120 --> 00:36:58,640
Speaker 5: That's my job.

703
00:36:58,680 --> 00:37:02,080
Speaker 3: In Buenetta, States, there are forty five of them between

704
00:37:02,160 --> 00:37:05,960
Speaker 3: ninth and twelfth grade and they are amazing doing really

705
00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:08,840
Speaker 3: cool things. So they work on like, you know, what

706
00:37:08,880 --> 00:37:10,800
Speaker 3: are their giftings, what are they enjoying, what kind of

707
00:37:10,920 --> 00:37:15,680
Speaker 3: jobs we do, career visits and practice communication skills and

708
00:37:15,719 --> 00:37:18,319
Speaker 3: being advocates for themselves in school? And what clubs are

709
00:37:18,320 --> 00:37:20,160
Speaker 3: they going to be involved in? I mean, I literally

710
00:37:20,160 --> 00:37:21,080
Speaker 3: get to do the greatest.

711
00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:24,040
Speaker 1: What are transformation from what you showed up to, which

712
00:37:24,160 --> 00:37:26,480
Speaker 1: was most of the high school kids had dropped out

713
00:37:26,920 --> 00:37:29,640
Speaker 1: to now the high school kids have dreams and aspiration

714
00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:34,319
Speaker 1: and goals of being nurses and firemen and doctors and attorneys.

715
00:37:33,800 --> 00:37:35,439
Speaker 5: And whatever they're doing it. Yeah.

716
00:37:35,480 --> 00:37:39,000
Speaker 1: Do you have a sense of what the graduation high

717
00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:42,400
Speaker 1: school graduation rate was of that neighborhood when you showed

718
00:37:42,480 --> 00:37:42,879
Speaker 1: up first?

719
00:37:42,920 --> 00:37:44,560
Speaker 2: What it is today? Yeah?

720
00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:49,000
Speaker 4: I think our best, Yes, around thirty three percent kids

721
00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:51,680
Speaker 4: were graduating, so sixty six percent were not. Just I

722
00:37:51,719 --> 00:37:54,600
Speaker 4: mean that's a small community that was based on conversation.

723
00:37:54,840 --> 00:37:57,399
Speaker 2: Sure, in this one, less than half for now waiting.

724
00:37:57,960 --> 00:38:01,359
Speaker 3: Oh man, it's pretty much everybody graduate or find some

725
00:38:01,480 --> 00:38:02,160
Speaker 3: type of Do.

726
00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:04,120
Speaker 2: You understand how huge that is?

727
00:38:05,600 --> 00:38:08,040
Speaker 4: It's a it's a really cool thing, like being in

728
00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:09,359
Speaker 4: it every day, especially in this one.

729
00:38:09,360 --> 00:38:09,840
Speaker 2: Neighborhood.

730
00:38:09,880 --> 00:38:13,680
Speaker 4: We sometimes miss this so so to Melenda's point that

731
00:38:13,480 --> 00:38:16,560
Speaker 4: that first group of high schoolers and we were the

732
00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:19,000
Speaker 4: ones that were with them, and it was it was

733
00:38:19,040 --> 00:38:22,560
Speaker 4: scary sometimes honestly, Like there were some there were some

734
00:38:22,719 --> 00:38:25,880
Speaker 4: really tough moments. I mean I remember being being in

735
00:38:25,960 --> 00:38:28,960
Speaker 4: the street and and like ten high school boys like

736
00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:31,799
Speaker 4: surrounding me, thinking for a second then I'm about to

737
00:38:31,800 --> 00:38:34,960
Speaker 4: get jumped, but only to realize like they're actually just

738
00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:37,200
Speaker 4: coming to tell me something. But lives like this feeling

739
00:38:37,239 --> 00:38:41,239
Speaker 4: of like, oh who is a little nervous, Like some

740
00:38:41,320 --> 00:38:44,239
Speaker 4: of those that group of ten, like picture of my mind,

741
00:38:44,239 --> 00:38:49,719
Speaker 4: they're not alive now because of life choices, drugs or violence.

742
00:38:50,760 --> 00:38:51,800
Speaker 2: Some are in jail.

743
00:38:53,080 --> 00:38:55,080
Speaker 4: But like this whole like fifteen years later, like this

744
00:38:55,120 --> 00:38:57,080
Speaker 4: group of high schooler's that Molenda works with, like it's

745
00:38:57,120 --> 00:39:00,600
Speaker 4: so cool, like they're they're not They're not They're not

746
00:39:00,680 --> 00:39:02,160
Speaker 4: that And I don't know, I mean not man, I

747
00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:03,759
Speaker 4: don't know, like what the reason is.

748
00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:07,040
Speaker 2: I mean, oh yeah, oh yeah, you did well. I

749
00:39:07,120 --> 00:39:09,000
Speaker 2: mean I think it is people.

750
00:39:09,040 --> 00:39:11,720
Speaker 4: It's relationships and we haven't even talked, you know about

751
00:39:12,200 --> 00:39:13,399
Speaker 4: kind of what we do day to day.

752
00:39:13,440 --> 00:39:14,680
Speaker 2: And I mean we're getting to that.

753
00:39:15,320 --> 00:39:17,799
Speaker 1: But yeah, but so so how many of you how

754
00:39:17,800 --> 00:39:19,680
Speaker 1: many of these are there now?

755
00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:24,239
Speaker 4: Yeah, so there are seven communities where we work. So

756
00:39:24,239 --> 00:39:27,280
Speaker 4: so we operate community centers inside seven mobile home parks,

757
00:39:27,280 --> 00:39:30,200
Speaker 4: six or in North Georgia, ones in Tennessee.

758
00:39:30,560 --> 00:39:33,520
Speaker 1: And you're not doing homework anymore. So tell me what

759
00:39:33,680 --> 00:39:37,879
Speaker 1: this has morphed into inside these seven communities.

760
00:39:39,680 --> 00:39:41,480
Speaker 2: So it started as homework.

761
00:39:41,560 --> 00:39:43,600
Speaker 4: We thought that that was going to be the solution

762
00:39:43,760 --> 00:39:48,359
Speaker 4: to the problem of high school dropouts, you know.

763
00:39:47,480 --> 00:39:49,160
Speaker 2: Crime progress or or yeah.

764
00:39:49,239 --> 00:39:52,040
Speaker 4: Yeah, if a kid graduates high school, then they're the

765
00:39:52,120 --> 00:39:55,520
Speaker 4: problem solved. Well, we learned quickly over the years talking

766
00:39:55,520 --> 00:39:57,560
Speaker 4: to kids who did who did meet that goal of

767
00:39:57,600 --> 00:39:59,960
Speaker 4: graduation and having conversation with them when they're twenty one

768
00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:03,280
Speaker 4: or twenty two and them saying, you know, my life's

769
00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:05,120
Speaker 4: not really that different than the kid that dropped out

770
00:40:05,120 --> 00:40:08,360
Speaker 4: and working the same job as them. And so we

771
00:40:08,440 --> 00:40:11,239
Speaker 4: tried to dig deeper and recognize like there were a

772
00:40:11,280 --> 00:40:12,239
Speaker 4: whole lot of just.

773
00:40:12,200 --> 00:40:13,239
Speaker 2: Like like.

774
00:40:15,080 --> 00:40:17,919
Speaker 4: Internal life skills, some of the things that you talked

775
00:40:17,920 --> 00:40:22,719
Speaker 4: about with your football team, Bill, life skills that you

776
00:40:22,800 --> 00:40:26,480
Speaker 4: might describe a healthy, flourishing adult having, like the ability

777
00:40:26,520 --> 00:40:31,080
Speaker 4: to work as a team, you know, discipline, integrity, honesty.

778
00:40:31,239 --> 00:40:35,160
Speaker 4: Like we weren't doing that type of work at the beginning.

779
00:40:35,200 --> 00:40:37,279
Speaker 4: We were just thinking, hey, homework is the solution. What

780
00:40:37,400 --> 00:40:41,080
Speaker 4: we learned like homework is kind of just a symptom

781
00:40:41,160 --> 00:40:43,560
Speaker 4: of a deeper root cause, like a kid not doing

782
00:40:43,640 --> 00:40:46,160
Speaker 4: their homework. It's not always as they don't know how

783
00:40:46,160 --> 00:40:48,680
Speaker 4: to do it. It's it's really like what you talked about,

784
00:40:49,080 --> 00:40:50,839
Speaker 4: when a kid wakes up in the morning and they

785
00:40:50,840 --> 00:40:53,560
Speaker 4: have all these fears and challenges, like homework's the last

786
00:40:53,560 --> 00:40:55,279
Speaker 4: thing on their list. So what if we kind of

787
00:40:55,280 --> 00:40:59,399
Speaker 4: address something and that means realized like it's right, it's

788
00:40:59,400 --> 00:41:01,840
Speaker 4: a thing, like it's an academic thing. So we decided

789
00:41:01,880 --> 00:41:03,719
Speaker 4: a few years ago, hey, we're going to transform our

790
00:41:03,800 --> 00:41:08,520
Speaker 4: program to be more relationship focused, centered on positive adults

791
00:41:08,960 --> 00:41:11,000
Speaker 4: being in the lives of these kids every day. We

792
00:41:11,040 --> 00:41:13,640
Speaker 4: have a curriculum that we use that teaches some of

793
00:41:13,640 --> 00:41:16,720
Speaker 4: these basic life skills, but ultimately, like it's what people

794
00:41:16,760 --> 00:41:19,480
Speaker 4: like Melinda and our staff and volunteers, and we've got

795
00:41:19,480 --> 00:41:22,000
Speaker 4: twenty people that work for us across all seven neighborhoods.

796
00:41:22,160 --> 00:41:25,319
Speaker 4: We have a couple hundred volunteers that show up every

797
00:41:25,320 --> 00:41:30,080
Speaker 4: week and they're just loving kids through like. So as

798
00:41:30,320 --> 00:41:33,440
Speaker 4: a faith based org, I mean we believe strongly. We

799
00:41:33,520 --> 00:41:39,040
Speaker 4: talk every day our north star is God loves you.

800
00:41:40,160 --> 00:41:43,000
Speaker 4: God loves everyone around you, and God created you for

801
00:41:43,040 --> 00:41:45,239
Speaker 4: a purpose. And we talk to our kids like to

802
00:41:45,320 --> 00:41:48,080
Speaker 4: your point earlier, like these kids can do anything. They

803
00:41:48,120 --> 00:41:51,440
Speaker 4: are created innately with the ability to do anything that

804
00:41:51,440 --> 00:41:55,879
Speaker 4: they want. There are societal barriers in place for whether

805
00:41:55,880 --> 00:41:57,359
Speaker 4: it be a kid from Memphis or a kid from

806
00:41:57,400 --> 00:42:00,880
Speaker 4: a mobile home park in Georgia that we have to

807
00:42:00,920 --> 00:42:04,200
Speaker 4: work towards overcoming. But on the inside, we believe every

808
00:42:04,360 --> 00:42:08,800
Speaker 4: human is created by God on purpose, with a purpose,

809
00:42:08,800 --> 00:42:09,799
Speaker 4: and so that's what we're going to try to get

810
00:42:09,800 --> 00:42:10,840
Speaker 4: our kids tough. So what does it look like to

811
00:42:10,840 --> 00:42:14,640
Speaker 4: help them fulfill that? It is people like our staff

812
00:42:14,640 --> 00:42:17,759
Speaker 4: and volunteers coming alongside them every day, offering smiles and

813
00:42:17,840 --> 00:42:22,960
Speaker 4: hugs and encouraging words, challenging, challenging them to be better. Yeah,

814
00:42:22,960 --> 00:42:26,719
Speaker 4: there's academic support that we do, but it is you

815
00:42:26,760 --> 00:42:29,480
Speaker 4: call it mentoring, you call it, you know, relational investment,

816
00:42:29,520 --> 00:42:31,160
Speaker 4: you call it show it up every day. I mean

817
00:42:31,160 --> 00:42:33,600
Speaker 4: it's just people. I mean a football coach is like

818
00:42:33,920 --> 00:42:35,279
Speaker 4: was a football coach do with their team the most

819
00:42:35,320 --> 00:42:37,640
Speaker 4: important way. They just keep showing up and they teach

820
00:42:37,680 --> 00:42:40,000
Speaker 4: tactical stuff, right, But I think the best coaches, you

821
00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:42,000
Speaker 4: would agree, are the ones that can kind of internally

822
00:42:42,080 --> 00:42:45,359
Speaker 4: motivate people. And so that's what we try to do.

823
00:42:45,520 --> 00:42:46,680
Speaker 4: And so that's what it looks like for us in

824
00:42:46,680 --> 00:42:49,680
Speaker 4: seven neighborhoods. We work with, you know, almost six hundred

825
00:42:50,000 --> 00:42:53,160
Speaker 4: kindergarten to twelve thirde students every week across all seven

826
00:42:53,160 --> 00:42:54,200
Speaker 4: neighborhood fascinating.

827
00:42:54,400 --> 00:42:57,279
Speaker 3: You know, I feel like during these years, every few

828
00:42:57,320 --> 00:42:59,279
Speaker 3: years we raise the bar. You know, we're like, oh,

829
00:42:59,400 --> 00:43:02,200
Speaker 3: we're running this big and our kids have met that

830
00:43:02,280 --> 00:43:04,200
Speaker 3: bar and exceeded it every single time. You know, like

831
00:43:04,239 --> 00:43:07,120
Speaker 3: we're constantly raising the bar for our kids, and they're

832
00:43:07,239 --> 00:43:09,840
Speaker 3: just really doing amazing things, Like they're now going and

833
00:43:09,840 --> 00:43:12,000
Speaker 3: being leaders in their school, and they're joining clubs and

834
00:43:12,440 --> 00:43:15,120
Speaker 3: they're the captain of the soccer team and they are

835
00:43:15,440 --> 00:43:17,440
Speaker 3: you know, and in their neighborhood like so so many

836
00:43:17,480 --> 00:43:19,319
Speaker 3: of our kids when they graduate, they're the first person

837
00:43:19,360 --> 00:43:21,920
Speaker 3: in their family to graduate from high school and like

838
00:43:22,120 --> 00:43:25,719
Speaker 3: celebrating that in the neighborhood. You know, we just had

839
00:43:25,719 --> 00:43:28,440
Speaker 3: a big graduate celebration a couple of weeks ago, and

840
00:43:28,520 --> 00:43:31,080
Speaker 3: just to for the kids to kind of reflect on

841
00:43:31,160 --> 00:43:33,440
Speaker 3: the challenges and things they've overcome to get to this

842
00:43:33,560 --> 00:43:35,640
Speaker 3: place is really special.

843
00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:38,040
Speaker 2: Have you noticed a change in the parents.

844
00:43:39,520 --> 00:43:43,680
Speaker 3: I think the parents are more what is the word

845
00:43:46,080 --> 00:43:48,640
Speaker 3: I want to say, confident? You know, I think of

846
00:43:48,719 --> 00:43:50,399
Speaker 3: a story of one of our moms in Maria Lane,

847
00:43:50,440 --> 00:43:53,360
Speaker 3: and this has been years ago. We were having programs

848
00:43:53,400 --> 00:43:55,280
Speaker 3: and she comes running through the door with her son's

849
00:43:55,320 --> 00:43:59,879
Speaker 3: report card and it had like, you know, English was whatever, gray,

850
00:44:00,400 --> 00:44:01,520
Speaker 3: math was whatever grade and.

851
00:44:01,520 --> 00:44:04,480
Speaker 5: There was help and help had ina for not applicable.

852
00:44:05,239 --> 00:44:08,960
Speaker 3: And she knew that INN was needs improvement from the

853
00:44:09,040 --> 00:44:12,560
Speaker 3: conduct and that A was an A and those two

854
00:44:12,560 --> 00:44:14,640
Speaker 3: things didn't make sense that they would go together. And

855
00:44:14,640 --> 00:44:17,719
Speaker 3: she was so panicked about that in A as the

856
00:44:17,760 --> 00:44:20,480
Speaker 3: health grade because she wanted to understand the.

857
00:44:20,480 --> 00:44:23,600
Speaker 5: Report card that is so interesting and instead that's.

858
00:44:23,440 --> 00:44:27,520
Speaker 1: The language barrier and that's that's the quote navigating the

859
00:44:27,560 --> 00:44:29,880
Speaker 1: school system because you don't understand.

860
00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:32,640
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was such a small thing, and so she

861
00:44:32,800 --> 00:44:35,239
Speaker 5: came in panicked like what am I supposed to do

862
00:44:35,280 --> 00:44:35,520
Speaker 5: with this?

863
00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:37,960
Speaker 3: And so it was really easy to explain that, but

864
00:44:38,040 --> 00:44:40,280
Speaker 3: for her to make that phone call to the school

865
00:44:40,360 --> 00:44:41,920
Speaker 3: would be a barrier, you know, at that time, that

866
00:44:41,920 --> 00:44:44,319
Speaker 3: would have been a tough phone call to make and.

867
00:44:44,280 --> 00:44:45,600
Speaker 5: To explain what they concerned was.

868
00:44:45,760 --> 00:44:52,120
Speaker 3: So I think that we see parents just more confident

869
00:44:52,520 --> 00:44:55,160
Speaker 3: in what because they can come get their questions answered,

870
00:44:55,200 --> 00:44:56,399
Speaker 3: you know, like, hey, what does this mean?

871
00:44:56,480 --> 00:44:57,759
Speaker 5: Or how do I do this? Or what do you

872
00:44:57,800 --> 00:44:59,040
Speaker 5: think is the right thing.

873
00:45:01,040 --> 00:45:01,279
Speaker 1: To do?

874
00:45:01,360 --> 00:45:03,160
Speaker 3: It's the same thing I do as a parent, you know,

875
00:45:03,239 --> 00:45:06,600
Speaker 3: Like our daughter is a theater kid, and we neither

876
00:45:06,640 --> 00:45:09,600
Speaker 3: of us have any theater experience growing up, so we

877
00:45:09,760 --> 00:45:12,080
Speaker 3: reached out to people who we could ask to help

878
00:45:12,160 --> 00:45:14,480
Speaker 3: us learn, like how does theater work for kids? What

879
00:45:14,560 --> 00:45:17,279
Speaker 3: do you sign your kid up? So I think that's

880
00:45:17,320 --> 00:45:19,560
Speaker 3: the thing is. It's just it's a beautiful network of

881
00:45:19,680 --> 00:45:24,000
Speaker 3: people working together. So I think we're all better because

882
00:45:24,000 --> 00:45:24,439
Speaker 3: of the work.

883
00:45:24,600 --> 00:45:26,680
Speaker 1: It dawns on me as I listen to you that

884
00:45:26,719 --> 00:45:31,960
Speaker 1: these kids that are graduating are now with the goals,

885
00:45:32,440 --> 00:45:40,120
Speaker 1: with dreams, with the background of knowledge that you're giving them,

886
00:45:41,360 --> 00:45:46,040
Speaker 1: They're probably going to now have expectations of their children

887
00:45:46,080 --> 00:45:50,520
Speaker 1: that their parents didn't have of them. And that breaks

888
00:45:50,520 --> 00:45:54,200
Speaker 1: the proverbial chain, which ironically works you out of a

889
00:45:54,280 --> 00:45:56,040
Speaker 1: job because if.

890
00:45:55,920 --> 00:45:57,960
Speaker 2: You do a good enough job, they won't need you anymore.

891
00:45:59,000 --> 00:45:59,280
Speaker 5: Great.

892
00:46:00,000 --> 00:46:03,240
Speaker 4: I think that should be the goal of every nonprofit. Yeah,

893
00:46:03,440 --> 00:46:07,680
Speaker 4: is to work yourself out of existence. It doesn't quite

894
00:46:07,719 --> 00:46:10,360
Speaker 4: exist in the in the in the industry necessarily, but

895
00:46:10,400 --> 00:46:14,160
Speaker 4: I think the people that get it know that if like,

896
00:46:14,440 --> 00:46:16,239
Speaker 4: we don't want like, it'd be great if we had

897
00:46:16,280 --> 00:46:16,960
Speaker 4: to go do something else.

898
00:46:19,600 --> 00:46:20,640
Speaker 2: That's kind of beautiful.

899
00:46:21,520 --> 00:46:23,400
Speaker 3: And a lot of our staff we haven't talked about this,

900
00:46:23,480 --> 00:46:25,799
Speaker 3: but we have staff who are kids who grew up

901
00:46:25,800 --> 00:46:28,919
Speaker 3: in PATH programs or their moms from the neighborhood who

902
00:46:29,000 --> 00:46:31,839
Speaker 3: their moms who came on as volunteers who then became

903
00:46:31,880 --> 00:46:32,800
Speaker 3: assistants who.

904
00:46:32,640 --> 00:46:33,400
Speaker 5: Now lead kids. Z.

905
00:46:33,880 --> 00:46:36,200
Speaker 1: That was my next question. Did any of the parents

906
00:46:36,440 --> 00:46:41,160
Speaker 1: in the neighborhood start volunteering? Yes, that's great. They're taking

907
00:46:41,239 --> 00:46:44,040
Speaker 1: ownership of their neighborhood.

908
00:46:44,080 --> 00:46:47,319
Speaker 3: And they are far more effective at the work than

909
00:46:47,360 --> 00:46:49,360
Speaker 3: I am. You know, like our kids who grew up

910
00:46:49,360 --> 00:46:53,400
Speaker 3: in the program, because they just instinctly know exactly what

911
00:46:53,480 --> 00:46:55,520
Speaker 3: to do in situations and they know what to say

912
00:46:55,520 --> 00:46:56,200
Speaker 3: better than I do.

913
00:46:56,400 --> 00:46:57,960
Speaker 5: You know, like they are light years ahead.

914
00:46:58,000 --> 00:46:58,880
Speaker 2: And yeah, they're so good.

915
00:46:58,920 --> 00:47:01,440
Speaker 4: We hired them I mean, we've hired a bunch of

916
00:47:01,440 --> 00:47:03,800
Speaker 4: these folks to come come work with us because they're amazing.

917
00:47:06,640 --> 00:47:07,600
Speaker 2: We'll be right back.

918
00:47:17,080 --> 00:47:17,279
Speaker 5: Well.

919
00:47:17,520 --> 00:47:20,439
Speaker 1: I also read that also part of the program now

920
00:47:20,600 --> 00:47:24,480
Speaker 1: is like week long summer trips or something.

921
00:47:24,840 --> 00:47:27,120
Speaker 2: Tell me about that. Yeah, so we're about to go.

922
00:47:28,640 --> 00:47:31,840
Speaker 2: Every summer we take students on.

923
00:47:34,120 --> 00:47:36,959
Speaker 4: Younger kids go to summer day camps all day long,

924
00:47:37,200 --> 00:47:39,719
Speaker 4: but starting middle school and older, we take them on

925
00:47:39,760 --> 00:47:44,200
Speaker 4: an overnight summer camp experience to a you know, traditional

926
00:47:44,239 --> 00:47:47,160
Speaker 4: camp setting where we go. They go without their parents,

927
00:47:47,200 --> 00:47:50,200
Speaker 4: they go with our team. This year, we're taking about

928
00:47:50,239 --> 00:47:54,520
Speaker 4: one hundred and thirty middle and high school students to

929
00:47:54,640 --> 00:47:57,200
Speaker 4: overnight camp, and for many of them, it's their first

930
00:47:57,560 --> 00:47:58,960
Speaker 4: you know experience.

931
00:47:58,600 --> 00:48:01,440
Speaker 2: S'mores, the whole school, the whole thing, like swimming in

932
00:48:01,440 --> 00:48:01,799
Speaker 2: the lake.

933
00:48:02,120 --> 00:48:04,680
Speaker 4: You know, like it just really really fun stuff that

934
00:48:04,680 --> 00:48:06,800
Speaker 4: they're not getting, you know, in their neighborhood.

935
00:48:06,840 --> 00:48:09,359
Speaker 2: And so it's just this, you know, what is that

936
00:48:09,520 --> 00:48:13,719
Speaker 2: like for them? That has to be that has to

937
00:48:13,800 --> 00:48:15,480
Speaker 2: be something, Yeah, you know it is.

938
00:48:16,560 --> 00:48:20,239
Speaker 3: I would say you watch their confidence grow over the

939
00:48:20,280 --> 00:48:22,600
Speaker 3: course of the week, you know, like trying the new

940
00:48:22,640 --> 00:48:26,040
Speaker 3: things and responsibility. I think that what they gain in

941
00:48:26,120 --> 00:48:28,120
Speaker 3: confidence and responsibility in a week.

942
00:48:28,680 --> 00:48:32,240
Speaker 5: You you cannot teach it. After school program.

943
00:48:31,920 --> 00:48:35,200
Speaker 2: Talk about Alexa? Do you mean? I'll talk about Lea.

944
00:48:35,840 --> 00:48:38,040
Speaker 4: So Alexa is one of our students who she told

945
00:48:38,080 --> 00:48:41,319
Speaker 4: me a few months ago about summer camp and she

946
00:48:41,520 --> 00:48:43,799
Speaker 4: said it was the best week of my.

947
00:48:43,760 --> 00:48:46,440
Speaker 2: Life, the best week. It was the best week of

948
00:48:46,440 --> 00:48:47,839
Speaker 2: her life. So all these things in money.

949
00:48:47,880 --> 00:48:51,080
Speaker 4: So I wasn't with her, she was with Melinda, and

950
00:48:51,320 --> 00:48:53,719
Speaker 4: she she told me just in a conversation, Hey, this

951
00:48:53,880 --> 00:48:56,560
Speaker 4: was the best week of my life. Here's what she said.

952
00:48:56,640 --> 00:48:58,560
Speaker 4: So I'm talking to you know, we work with a

953
00:48:58,600 --> 00:49:01,440
Speaker 4: lot of teenagers. Like they all have a phone. They're all,

954
00:49:01,960 --> 00:49:05,400
Speaker 4: you know, just like American kids, all all American kids, right,

955
00:49:05,400 --> 00:49:09,080
Speaker 4: regardless of of their demographic, they're addicted to their devices.

956
00:49:09,880 --> 00:49:11,240
Speaker 2: We struggle with that with our own kids.

957
00:49:11,480 --> 00:49:14,759
Speaker 4: So Alexa said in the same conversation, she said, I

958
00:49:14,800 --> 00:49:17,080
Speaker 4: can't believe they took my phone away for the week.

959
00:49:18,000 --> 00:49:22,880
Speaker 4: It was the best week of my life. And I said,

960
00:49:23,040 --> 00:49:25,600
Speaker 4: that's exactly what I said. So Alexa, what.

961
00:49:25,560 --> 00:49:27,879
Speaker 2: Do you what do you think? What do you think

962
00:49:27,920 --> 00:49:33,600
Speaker 2: that means? Did she get it? I don't know if

963
00:49:33,640 --> 00:49:35,960
Speaker 2: my dumb kids, well I don't know if they get it.

964
00:49:35,960 --> 00:49:38,200
Speaker 4: I mean, like I think hopefully as they mature, she

965
00:49:38,239 --> 00:49:40,880
Speaker 4: will get it and she'll remember she's like, oh yeah,

966
00:49:41,160 --> 00:49:43,480
Speaker 4: Like when I put this thing down and I'm just

967
00:49:43,560 --> 00:49:45,840
Speaker 4: with people, it's better.

968
00:49:46,120 --> 00:49:46,359
Speaker 1: I think.

969
00:49:46,400 --> 00:49:48,759
Speaker 3: What's really cool about Alexa too is like camp was

970
00:49:48,840 --> 00:49:51,560
Speaker 3: huge for her, and then she is part of like

971
00:49:51,600 --> 00:49:55,200
Speaker 3: a high school firefighting program where she's taking firefighting as

972
00:49:55,200 --> 00:49:57,440
Speaker 3: a class for one of her high school things. And

973
00:49:57,480 --> 00:50:00,360
Speaker 3: then this summer or the week before she leaves for camp,

974
00:50:00,800 --> 00:50:04,520
Speaker 3: she's working at a camp through her firefighting program for

975
00:50:05,000 --> 00:50:07,880
Speaker 3: elementary kids who come and learn about our fighting.

976
00:50:07,960 --> 00:50:09,240
Speaker 5: So there are kids.

977
00:50:09,280 --> 00:50:12,160
Speaker 3: It's like, what what we invest in our kids? Our

978
00:50:12,239 --> 00:50:14,600
Speaker 3: path kids? We are seeing them go invest into their

979
00:50:14,600 --> 00:50:17,160
Speaker 3: communities like outside of path, inside path, but then also

980
00:50:17,920 --> 00:50:18,759
Speaker 3: outside of path.

981
00:50:19,000 --> 00:50:21,319
Speaker 1: When did it change the Path united? Because now it's

982
00:50:21,360 --> 00:50:22,799
Speaker 1: Path United, that's right.

983
00:50:22,840 --> 00:50:24,960
Speaker 4: Twenty twenty one, we just kind of did a rebrand

984
00:50:24,960 --> 00:50:28,640
Speaker 4: a little bit again, one of those kind of gut reactions.

985
00:50:28,640 --> 00:50:30,640
Speaker 2: We're like, we don't really like her name anymore.

986
00:50:31,480 --> 00:50:34,920
Speaker 4: So, I mean there was some you know, we we

987
00:50:34,960 --> 00:50:37,080
Speaker 4: felt like, I mean, in the in the nonprofit space,

988
00:50:37,120 --> 00:50:39,000
Speaker 4: there was a lot of trendy names using the word

989
00:50:39,040 --> 00:50:41,320
Speaker 4: project we were like, you know, we didn't want.

990
00:50:41,160 --> 00:50:45,239
Speaker 5: Our kids path path was is so path makes sense? Yeah?

991
00:50:45,280 --> 00:50:46,759
Speaker 4: Yeah, So we were like, hey, what is it. What's

992
00:50:46,760 --> 00:50:48,359
Speaker 4: a cool new name? And we did we did, we did,

993
00:50:48,640 --> 00:50:51,600
Speaker 4: you know, had a market consult to come in and

994
00:50:51,640 --> 00:50:53,520
Speaker 4: help us, and he kind of came with his name

995
00:50:53,520 --> 00:50:55,920
Speaker 4: Path United, and we we we liked the word united.

996
00:50:56,000 --> 00:50:58,320
Speaker 4: I mean it's just shows kind of like this vision

997
00:50:58,360 --> 00:51:01,840
Speaker 4: of teamwork and people in the community, outside the community

998
00:51:01,880 --> 00:51:03,839
Speaker 4: kind of all working together towards the same goal, which

999
00:51:03,840 --> 00:51:06,960
Speaker 4: our mission is to help kids in mobile home parks,

1000
00:51:06,960 --> 00:51:10,480
Speaker 4: to inspire them to find their path in life, to

1001
00:51:10,520 --> 00:51:13,680
Speaker 4: find their path to God's purpose for their life.

1002
00:51:13,920 --> 00:51:16,160
Speaker 1: So, I mean you started as a as a history

1003
00:51:16,200 --> 00:51:22,640
Speaker 1: guy pastor, then this thing, then negotiating with drug dealers

1004
00:51:23,040 --> 00:51:28,520
Speaker 1: and and the executive director of what is now Path United,

1005
00:51:28,800 --> 00:51:35,319
Speaker 1: and Melinda, you now run the high school section of

1006
00:51:35,360 --> 00:51:36,799
Speaker 1: this original community.

1007
00:51:38,920 --> 00:51:39,720
Speaker 2: I mean wow.

1008
00:51:40,360 --> 00:51:46,359
Speaker 1: But I have a sense that you aren't as a

1009
00:51:46,360 --> 00:51:49,080
Speaker 1: couple two people that will say, Okay, we've made it,

1010
00:51:49,160 --> 00:51:51,319
Speaker 1: this is it, cross your arms and run. Which got

1011
00:51:51,520 --> 00:51:53,200
Speaker 1: what's the future look like?

1012
00:51:54,680 --> 00:51:57,840
Speaker 2: And I think we definitely talk about that a lot.

1013
00:51:58,000 --> 00:52:01,279
Speaker 4: I mean, we're we're in our forties now, So we're

1014
00:52:01,280 --> 00:52:04,279
Speaker 4: not We're not the you know, the young twenty eight

1015
00:52:04,320 --> 00:52:05,279
Speaker 4: year old that doesn't.

1016
00:52:05,320 --> 00:52:06,120
Speaker 2: That know like it.

1017
00:52:06,440 --> 00:52:11,680
Speaker 4: It is hard to to run a nonprofit, the the

1018
00:52:11,680 --> 00:52:14,959
Speaker 4: ins and outs of raising money and managing a team.

1019
00:52:15,040 --> 00:52:16,720
Speaker 4: I mean, I think you've probably talked to a million

1020
00:52:16,760 --> 00:52:19,600
Speaker 4: people and in our shoes that would say like, there

1021
00:52:19,640 --> 00:52:20,600
Speaker 4: are there are challenges.

1022
00:52:20,640 --> 00:52:22,080
Speaker 2: So we're we're trying to navigate that.

1023
00:52:22,120 --> 00:52:25,319
Speaker 4: We're trying to have a healthy family and and raise

1024
00:52:25,320 --> 00:52:27,880
Speaker 4: our kids and but at the same time recognizing like

1025
00:52:27,920 --> 00:52:33,480
Speaker 4: they're there are really cool opportunities to take what we

1026
00:52:33,560 --> 00:52:35,960
Speaker 4: do to two more kids. So we don't have this

1027
00:52:36,719 --> 00:52:39,759
Speaker 4: strategic plan of going to be working in this many

1028
00:52:39,760 --> 00:52:43,080
Speaker 4: neighborhoods in this many years we have. We have recognized

1029
00:52:44,280 --> 00:52:48,719
Speaker 4: that the most effective growth for us is listening to

1030
00:52:48,840 --> 00:52:54,160
Speaker 4: where God opens doors in in specific communities and and

1031
00:52:54,320 --> 00:52:55,520
Speaker 4: just kind of following.

1032
00:52:55,680 --> 00:52:57,040
Speaker 2: And so that's kind of where we are.

1033
00:52:57,080 --> 00:53:00,880
Speaker 4: We launched our newest site two years go in in

1034
00:53:00,920 --> 00:53:03,520
Speaker 4: a different county near us, and so we're we're spread

1035
00:53:03,520 --> 00:53:06,960
Speaker 4: out geographically across North Georgia. There's a couple other communities

1036
00:53:06,960 --> 00:53:10,239
Speaker 4: that that are that we're exploring like what that looks like.

1037
00:53:10,280 --> 00:53:12,520
Speaker 4: So we're we both went to Uga. There's a community

1038
00:53:12,520 --> 00:53:17,719
Speaker 4: in Athens, Georgia that we're we're looking another place you

1039
00:53:17,719 --> 00:53:19,640
Speaker 4: would next maybe right right right?

1040
00:53:20,080 --> 00:53:23,279
Speaker 1: And so does the owner of all this land and

1041
00:53:23,560 --> 00:53:27,239
Speaker 1: trailer parks and everything else. I mean he's still all in.

1042
00:53:27,280 --> 00:53:29,239
Speaker 1: Anywhere you want to go, they're all in.

1043
00:53:29,360 --> 00:53:32,480
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean like yeah, that's not necessarily the barrier.

1044
00:53:32,520 --> 00:53:33,520
Speaker 4: I mean there's an open door.

1045
00:53:33,520 --> 00:53:33,719
Speaker 2: I'm in.

1046
00:53:33,760 --> 00:53:36,600
Speaker 4: The barrier for us is in these cities across the southeast,

1047
00:53:36,680 --> 00:53:41,040
Speaker 4: Like does is there local support for us? Looks like

1048
00:53:41,120 --> 00:53:45,239
Speaker 4: churches and you know, volunteer base and funding and all

1049
00:53:45,280 --> 00:53:49,480
Speaker 4: these things where we we have tried to launch in

1050
00:53:49,600 --> 00:53:52,360
Speaker 4: places where we thought it sounded good and it didn't work,

1051
00:53:53,200 --> 00:53:55,400
Speaker 4: and so we recognized like it has to be a

1052
00:53:55,440 --> 00:54:00,279
Speaker 4: local community. Like we can't we can't manufacture the for

1053
00:54:00,320 --> 00:54:05,560
Speaker 4: the work from Loganville, Georgia where we live in another

1054
00:54:05,600 --> 00:54:06,520
Speaker 4: city in the No.

1055
00:54:06,680 --> 00:54:08,839
Speaker 1: But it's a scalable idea. For the point is if

1056
00:54:08,840 --> 00:54:14,520
Speaker 1: somebody listening to us says, I know a place, my

1057
00:54:14,680 --> 00:54:18,960
Speaker 1: church or my friends or both, there's a there's a

1058
00:54:19,080 --> 00:54:21,720
Speaker 1: big enough group of people that would want to pile

1059
00:54:21,800 --> 00:54:26,440
Speaker 1: into this, and we could help raise money from our

1060
00:54:26,480 --> 00:54:31,560
Speaker 1: local area for this. It's scalable and they could learn

1061
00:54:31,600 --> 00:54:35,200
Speaker 1: from you and they could fold under your banners. So

1062
00:54:35,760 --> 00:54:38,279
Speaker 1: the barriers are the people and the fundraising for the

1063
00:54:38,280 --> 00:54:40,160
Speaker 1: communities that want it.

1064
00:54:40,200 --> 00:54:40,799
Speaker 2: Seems to me.

1065
00:54:41,360 --> 00:54:43,239
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, no, no, so it's pretty accurate. I mean, I

1066
00:54:43,239 --> 00:54:46,640
Speaker 4: think I think are The first dream scenario for us

1067
00:54:46,640 --> 00:54:49,920
Speaker 4: would be if there are people interested in doing similar work.

1068
00:54:50,320 --> 00:54:50,880
Speaker 2: We will.

1069
00:54:51,120 --> 00:54:53,719
Speaker 4: We will share with you everything that we know and

1070
00:54:53,760 --> 00:54:56,640
Speaker 4: you go do it now. If an opportunity of arises,

1071
00:54:56,719 --> 00:54:59,000
Speaker 4: like Tennessee where it can be a path thing, I mean,

1072
00:54:59,040 --> 00:54:59,799
Speaker 4: we're we're open.

1073
00:54:59,800 --> 00:55:01,359
Speaker 2: We're not actively seeking that.

1074
00:55:01,400 --> 00:55:04,040
Speaker 4: I mean we we really we really just want to

1075
00:55:04,120 --> 00:55:06,839
Speaker 4: keep doing the good work that we feel like God

1076
00:55:06,840 --> 00:55:09,120
Speaker 4: has called us to do in this season. And if

1077
00:55:09,120 --> 00:55:11,880
Speaker 4: that means a new path site grade, but I really

1078
00:55:12,080 --> 00:55:16,520
Speaker 4: want it to be you know, people maybe even just

1079
00:55:16,600 --> 00:55:18,640
Speaker 4: hearing our story, recognize that they can do it like

1080
00:55:18,719 --> 00:55:22,200
Speaker 4: you can do it on your own I mean normal.

1081
00:55:23,560 --> 00:55:24,200
Speaker 2: Though. Yeah.

1082
00:55:24,239 --> 00:55:28,319
Speaker 4: Well, almost six hundred kids, wow, across seven neighborhoods.

1083
00:55:28,600 --> 00:55:30,280
Speaker 2: Wow. Kindergarten of twelfth grade.

1084
00:55:30,760 --> 00:55:37,440
Speaker 1: All all from showing up one day with some gifts

1085
00:55:38,480 --> 00:55:44,799
Speaker 1: and finding yourself immersed in toxic charity and not want

1086
00:55:44,920 --> 00:55:47,480
Speaker 1: to be that that's really the beginning.

1087
00:55:47,600 --> 00:55:50,960
Speaker 2: Absolutely what an amazing thing.

1088
00:55:51,200 --> 00:55:54,719
Speaker 1: Tell me you've got to have and probably for you

1089
00:55:54,840 --> 00:55:57,680
Speaker 1: milling more, you've got to have. And may I'm not

1090
00:55:57,719 --> 00:56:01,239
Speaker 1: going to make you do the favorite, but tell me

1091
00:56:01,280 --> 00:56:05,600
Speaker 1: a story of someone that you know, without a shadow

1092
00:56:05,600 --> 00:56:08,080
Speaker 1: of a doubt, is doing something now they would not

1093
00:56:08,200 --> 00:56:11,160
Speaker 1: have been doing if it wasn't for this. Tell me

1094
00:56:11,320 --> 00:56:15,000
Speaker 1: like that fun great, Give me a story that's just

1095
00:56:15,120 --> 00:56:23,200
Speaker 1: gonna metaphorically epitomize the work of all of this. Do

1096
00:56:23,239 --> 00:56:24,000
Speaker 1: you have one?

1097
00:56:24,640 --> 00:56:28,200
Speaker 3: There are so many stories, it's people always ask that question,

1098
00:56:28,440 --> 00:56:33,279
Speaker 3: and it's so interesting. I'll tell you one of my

1099
00:56:33,320 --> 00:56:35,400
Speaker 3: things I think is a favorite story of mine. So

1100
00:56:35,560 --> 00:56:39,560
Speaker 3: one of our students his names of Manuel, but he

1101
00:56:39,600 --> 00:56:41,480
Speaker 3: also goes by Butters because he was a great soccer

1102
00:56:41,520 --> 00:56:43,000
Speaker 3: player and he smooth is better.

1103
00:56:43,560 --> 00:56:45,560
Speaker 2: But he's like smooth like Butter.

1104
00:56:45,640 --> 00:56:46,520
Speaker 5: Yeah, smooth like Butter.

1105
00:56:46,760 --> 00:56:47,120
Speaker 2: I love it.

1106
00:56:47,560 --> 00:56:51,120
Speaker 5: So he's twenty seven now, is that right? And so

1107
00:56:51,600 --> 00:56:52,560
Speaker 5: he really did.

1108
00:56:52,440 --> 00:56:54,200
Speaker 3: Not think he was going to graduate from high school,

1109
00:56:54,239 --> 00:56:56,040
Speaker 3: Like he really did not have any plans. But he

1110
00:56:56,040 --> 00:56:58,200
Speaker 3: would always meet up with Jim and Jim and be like, yeah,

1111
00:56:58,280 --> 00:57:00,239
Speaker 3: just keep trying. He loved to learn and that was

1112
00:57:00,280 --> 00:57:03,000
Speaker 3: what was so fascinating, Like he was fascinated by what

1113
00:57:03,080 --> 00:57:05,279
Speaker 3: he was learning at school, and he would talk to

1114
00:57:05,360 --> 00:57:07,239
Speaker 3: us about that, but he just wasn't turning his work

1115
00:57:07,280 --> 00:57:10,839
Speaker 3: in or and so somewhere along the lines during high

1116
00:57:10,840 --> 00:57:13,920
Speaker 3: school he starts putting the work in. He ends up

1117
00:57:13,920 --> 00:57:18,040
Speaker 3: being on the soccer latest senior year of high school.

1118
00:57:18,160 --> 00:57:23,200
Speaker 3: He's twenty seven now, and he's a Docker recipient. So

1119
00:57:24,400 --> 00:57:26,200
Speaker 3: to go to college would have he had to pay

1120
00:57:26,200 --> 00:57:28,400
Speaker 3: out of state tuition, so that wasn't a possibility for him.

1121
00:57:28,440 --> 00:57:30,040
Speaker 5: But he works really hard.

1122
00:57:30,160 --> 00:57:33,720
Speaker 3: He owns several trailers in the neighborhood, kind of has

1123
00:57:33,720 --> 00:57:37,120
Speaker 3: an entrepreneurial spirit, kind of does a lot of different jobs.

1124
00:57:37,120 --> 00:57:40,320
Speaker 3: He's a great person. But he'll stop by our house

1125
00:57:40,360 --> 00:57:42,800
Speaker 3: sometimes and he loves to reminisce about the old days.

1126
00:57:43,880 --> 00:57:45,880
Speaker 3: And he just like he'll he'll come and just sit

1127
00:57:45,920 --> 00:57:48,080
Speaker 3: on our front porch with us and just reminisce about,

1128
00:57:48,200 --> 00:57:50,200
Speaker 3: you know, what it was like back in the And

1129
00:57:50,240 --> 00:57:52,880
Speaker 3: it's so funny because he'll always say, like, y'all spoil

1130
00:57:52,920 --> 00:57:54,560
Speaker 3: these kids. Now, you know, they get to go to

1131
00:57:54,600 --> 00:57:59,280
Speaker 3: overnight camp and and back all we had the only

1132
00:57:59,320 --> 00:58:02,240
Speaker 3: thing that we had to like field trip because we

1133
00:58:02,240 --> 00:58:04,240
Speaker 3: don't have any money. Was once a year we would

1134
00:58:04,240 --> 00:58:06,880
Speaker 3: take them to Lake Lanar Islands, like water park because

1135
00:58:06,880 --> 00:58:09,720
Speaker 3: we got free tickets, and I would make them read

1136
00:58:10,120 --> 00:58:13,320
Speaker 3: all summer to earn their ticket to Lake Lanar Islands.

1137
00:58:13,560 --> 00:58:16,640
Speaker 3: And it's just funny to hear these older kids reflect

1138
00:58:16,800 --> 00:58:22,880
Speaker 3: on what things were like then, you know, and Sophia.

1139
00:58:23,120 --> 00:58:25,160
Speaker 3: I tell the story of Sofia, you know, who says,

1140
00:58:25,320 --> 00:58:28,120
Speaker 3: when are you going to leave? She has kids now

1141
00:58:28,160 --> 00:58:32,800
Speaker 3: of her own, and her oldest is four, he might

1142
00:58:32,840 --> 00:58:36,040
Speaker 3: be five, and he like made the a honor role

1143
00:58:36,120 --> 00:58:38,800
Speaker 3: or whatever. He did something recently and like his name

1144
00:58:38,880 --> 00:58:39,680
Speaker 3: and his work was in the.

1145
00:58:39,680 --> 00:58:40,400
Speaker 5: Hallway in school.

1146
00:58:40,440 --> 00:58:44,439
Speaker 3: And so she's texting me pictures of her kids work

1147
00:58:44,520 --> 00:58:46,280
Speaker 3: and how well he's doing in school.

1148
00:58:46,320 --> 00:58:50,320
Speaker 2: So that has to make you feel just stories, Yeah,

1149
00:58:50,440 --> 00:58:50,840
Speaker 2: those are.

1150
00:58:50,880 --> 00:58:53,840
Speaker 1: Great stories because that was a girl who may not

1151
00:58:53,920 --> 00:58:56,280
Speaker 1: have ever even graduated in high school and now she's

1152
00:58:56,840 --> 00:59:00,280
Speaker 1: rejoicing in her kid's own good school work, which to

1153
00:59:00,360 --> 00:59:02,919
Speaker 1: a point kind of goes back to what I said,

1154
00:59:02,920 --> 00:59:06,640
Speaker 1: if you do a good enough job, you're not going

1155
00:59:06,720 --> 00:59:10,440
Speaker 1: to be needed, which is a beautiful thing. And then

1156
00:59:10,480 --> 00:59:12,959
Speaker 1: maybe you can move to South Africa after all once

1157
00:59:13,000 --> 00:59:17,520
Speaker 1: that happens, You know, as I think about the guy

1158
00:59:17,800 --> 00:59:19,840
Speaker 1: flying you up to Michigan and saying I want one

1159
00:59:19,880 --> 00:59:22,400
Speaker 1: of these in every one of my places, I mean,

1160
00:59:22,440 --> 00:59:25,600
Speaker 1: the only reason he would do that. He's a pragmatic businessman.

1161
00:59:25,720 --> 00:59:27,920
Speaker 1: I'm sure he likes you and everything. But the truth

1162
00:59:28,000 --> 00:59:32,640
Speaker 1: is it makes his neighborhoods more desirable because they're safer,

1163
00:59:32,760 --> 00:59:35,400
Speaker 1: people more involved in the community and everything else. That

1164
00:59:35,440 --> 00:59:38,040
Speaker 1: only makes sense. And I get that, and there's nothing

1165
00:59:38,080 --> 00:59:41,640
Speaker 1: wrong with that, that's wonderful, But can you give me

1166
00:59:41,720 --> 00:59:46,400
Speaker 1: a sense of the way the neighborhood on the ground

1167
00:59:46,440 --> 00:59:50,040
Speaker 1: has changed from that first days you showed up to now?

1168
00:59:50,960 --> 00:59:55,400
Speaker 1: And also does that mean people take more pride in

1169
00:59:55,400 --> 01:00:00,920
Speaker 1: the neighborhood and is it prettier? And do people return

1170
01:00:00,960 --> 01:00:03,200
Speaker 1: to it now because it's such a nice place to live?

1171
01:00:03,280 --> 01:00:05,200
Speaker 1: I mean, what does all that look like? Because I

1172
01:00:05,200 --> 01:00:09,840
Speaker 1: got to believe, besides the kids changing, the actual asset

1173
01:00:10,040 --> 01:00:13,920
Speaker 1: of the neighborhood itself has gone through a transformation as well,

1174
01:00:14,000 --> 01:00:16,280
Speaker 1: which and what does that look like in terms of

1175
01:00:16,280 --> 01:00:17,480
Speaker 1: people leaving and coming back.

1176
01:00:19,320 --> 01:00:22,360
Speaker 3: I love my time in the Gueneado states Mille Home Park,

1177
01:00:22,440 --> 01:00:23,640
Speaker 3: Like that's where I work every week.

1178
01:00:23,640 --> 01:00:26,040
Speaker 5: I'm there all the time. I never drive my car

1179
01:00:26,040 --> 01:00:26,640
Speaker 5: in the neighborhood.

1180
01:00:26,640 --> 01:00:28,480
Speaker 3: I always walk to go visit people, because you're going

1181
01:00:28,520 --> 01:00:30,800
Speaker 3: to run into people if you're from this house to

1182
01:00:30,840 --> 01:00:34,520
Speaker 3: this house. And there is a neat sense of community

1183
01:00:34,600 --> 01:00:36,720
Speaker 3: that's different from my neighborhood. So I pull into my house,

1184
01:00:36,800 --> 01:00:39,240
Speaker 3: open the garage door, pull in, I shut the garage door.

1185
01:00:39,880 --> 01:00:42,880
Speaker 3: But in the trailer park, you don't have the garage

1186
01:00:42,880 --> 01:00:45,920
Speaker 3: it so you see your neighbor more. You know your neighbor,

1187
01:00:46,400 --> 01:00:48,360
Speaker 3: you know your kids are playing together. But I think

1188
01:00:48,400 --> 01:00:51,600
Speaker 3: a really great story is one of our families moved out.

1189
01:00:51,680 --> 01:00:56,560
Speaker 3: So a Landra graduated from high school, went did some work,

1190
01:00:56,560 --> 01:00:57,680
Speaker 3: getting a translated sertificate.

1191
01:00:57,840 --> 01:00:58,840
Speaker 5: She works for path now.

1192
01:01:00,120 --> 01:01:02,600
Speaker 3: She and her family bought a house a few miles away,

1193
01:01:02,640 --> 01:01:05,720
Speaker 3: and she has a younger brother, Alejandro, who is still

1194
01:01:05,760 --> 01:01:09,280
Speaker 3: in programs, and so they've moved out. They own their

1195
01:01:09,280 --> 01:01:12,280
Speaker 3: own house, and he really wants their family to buy

1196
01:01:12,880 --> 01:01:15,320
Speaker 3: another home in the neighborhood where they can come and

1197
01:01:15,320 --> 01:01:18,280
Speaker 3: stay on the weekends because he misses his friends and

1198
01:01:18,320 --> 01:01:20,840
Speaker 3: so he kind of wants like a weekend home where

1199
01:01:20,880 --> 01:01:23,280
Speaker 3: on Fridays, after he's done with school, his family can

1200
01:01:23,320 --> 01:01:25,880
Speaker 3: come and live in the neighborhood to be so. And

1201
01:01:25,920 --> 01:01:27,880
Speaker 3: I think there's a lot of truth to that, Like

1202
01:01:27,880 --> 01:01:32,040
Speaker 3: there's something beautiful about the friendships, the relationships, the community.

1203
01:01:33,480 --> 01:01:34,320
Speaker 5: It's just really special.

1204
01:01:34,440 --> 01:01:37,920
Speaker 4: Yeah, kids will tell us that the neighborhood feels safer.

1205
01:01:38,320 --> 01:01:40,960
Speaker 4: The owners will say like, hey, it is safer. And

1206
01:01:41,000 --> 01:01:44,240
Speaker 4: so I think that that has helped helped grow this

1207
01:01:44,360 --> 01:01:47,880
Speaker 4: sense of hey, like yeah, Alejandro wants to move back.

1208
01:01:47,920 --> 01:01:50,280
Speaker 2: It's there is real community.

1209
01:01:51,160 --> 01:01:55,400
Speaker 4: I mean, immigrant neighborhoods are really fascinating in that sense,

1210
01:01:55,480 --> 01:01:57,440
Speaker 4: is that you have so many connections and people know

1211
01:01:57,520 --> 01:02:01,200
Speaker 4: each other, and now that a lot of you know,

1212
01:02:01,240 --> 01:02:04,560
Speaker 4: gang and drug activity is gone, it does it feels

1213
01:02:04,640 --> 01:02:06,520
Speaker 4: really safe. I mean, we we're sometimes like, hey, we

1214
01:02:06,560 --> 01:02:08,320
Speaker 4: should just move in here. I mean, and then you're

1215
01:02:08,360 --> 01:02:13,800
Speaker 4: balancing that with this American dream for kids growing up

1216
01:02:13,960 --> 01:02:16,920
Speaker 4: in lower income communities of what does it mean for me.

1217
01:02:16,920 --> 01:02:20,360
Speaker 1: To know home ownership be a home ownership? Yeah, building assets,

1218
01:02:20,440 --> 01:02:20,880
Speaker 1: that's right.

1219
01:02:21,000 --> 01:02:23,440
Speaker 4: So like when you are living in a mobile home,

1220
01:02:23,520 --> 01:02:26,160
Speaker 4: it's affordable housing. It's the most affordable housing there is.

1221
01:02:26,160 --> 01:02:29,360
Speaker 4: But that asset is depreciating, so it's not a real asset, right,

1222
01:02:29,440 --> 01:02:32,400
Speaker 4: So we know that part of the you know, breaking

1223
01:02:32,480 --> 01:02:35,560
Speaker 4: the generational cyclo poverty is home ownership, Like what does

1224
01:02:35,600 --> 01:02:38,880
Speaker 4: that look like? And how does that you know, change

1225
01:02:38,880 --> 01:02:41,600
Speaker 4: of families dynamic over thirty or forty or fifty years,

1226
01:02:41,600 --> 01:02:43,640
Speaker 4: and so it's an interesting thing, like we want kids

1227
01:02:43,640 --> 01:02:44,280
Speaker 4: to find.

1228
01:02:44,040 --> 01:02:46,120
Speaker 2: A job where they can afford to buy a house.

1229
01:02:46,200 --> 01:02:48,520
Speaker 4: And but then you know, I mean we see this

1230
01:02:48,560 --> 01:02:51,160
Speaker 4: all the time, like there, like are the kids in

1231
01:02:51,160 --> 01:02:54,240
Speaker 4: this neighborhood are growing up? They are American kids, right,

1232
01:02:54,360 --> 01:02:59,840
Speaker 4: so they are second generation immigrants. They are Mexican like

1233
01:02:59,840 --> 01:03:03,360
Speaker 4: their parents, but they're fully American like their peers at school,

1234
01:03:03,960 --> 01:03:05,960
Speaker 4: and the one a lot of things same things that

1235
01:03:06,000 --> 01:03:09,800
Speaker 4: Americans want. I think we lose some of that in

1236
01:03:09,840 --> 01:03:12,520
Speaker 4: our culture. We lose you know, by having the big

1237
01:03:12,560 --> 01:03:14,720
Speaker 4: house in our own private yard. We lose some of

1238
01:03:14,720 --> 01:03:16,200
Speaker 4: this community. And I don't know the answer.

1239
01:03:16,200 --> 01:03:18,040
Speaker 1: I don't know how to but in the same respect,

1240
01:03:19,400 --> 01:03:23,320
Speaker 1: but there's another guy we've talked to recently. Friends after

1241
01:03:23,400 --> 01:03:27,200
Speaker 1: Five is his organization, and his belief set is if

1242
01:03:27,200 --> 01:03:29,960
Speaker 1: we want to solve inner city crime and poverty and

1243
01:03:30,000 --> 01:03:33,240
Speaker 1: all of it, it's simply raised the black middle class.

1244
01:03:33,560 --> 01:03:35,320
Speaker 1: And that's what he's doing. And so he puts on

1245
01:03:35,400 --> 01:03:42,760
Speaker 1: events where upcoming black college graduates or black entrepreneurs that

1246
01:03:42,800 --> 01:03:46,480
Speaker 1: are trying to break into the middle class meet with

1247
01:03:47,160 --> 01:03:52,320
Speaker 1: white folks so that they become quote friends after five

1248
01:03:52,480 --> 01:03:56,120
Speaker 1: and have access. And his goal is to build the

1249
01:03:56,160 --> 01:04:00,520
Speaker 1: black middle class, because he says, once you've class, you

1250
01:04:00,560 --> 01:04:03,080
Speaker 1: buy a house. Once you own a house, you start

1251
01:04:03,120 --> 01:04:05,880
Speaker 1: having an asset that appreciates that you could borrow against,

1252
01:04:05,960 --> 01:04:08,280
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, the middle class. And once

1253
01:04:08,320 --> 01:04:12,520
Speaker 1: you come out of lower class into the middle class,

1254
01:04:12,560 --> 01:04:15,400
Speaker 1: than poverty and lack of education, those things start going away,

1255
01:04:16,040 --> 01:04:19,840
Speaker 1: and so build the middle class. So ironically enough, it

1256
01:04:20,040 --> 01:04:22,080
Speaker 1: kind of speaks to what you're talking about. Is it's

1257
01:04:22,120 --> 01:04:25,000
Speaker 1: awesome that that's the great affordable community. But if you

1258
01:04:25,000 --> 01:04:27,120
Speaker 1: start graduating making money, you want to move on and

1259
01:04:27,200 --> 01:04:29,760
Speaker 1: start having an asset and home ownership and everything else.

1260
01:04:29,800 --> 01:04:33,280
Speaker 1: And so I can see how, Yeah, the neighborhood's improved,

1261
01:04:33,320 --> 01:04:35,200
Speaker 1: but the same respect, you kind of want people to

1262
01:04:35,280 --> 01:04:37,280
Speaker 1: rotate out of the neighborhood to better themselves.

1263
01:04:37,280 --> 01:04:39,320
Speaker 2: Sure, sure, it's an interest. We have a conversation all

1264
01:04:39,360 --> 01:04:39,600
Speaker 2: the time.

1265
01:04:39,680 --> 01:04:42,960
Speaker 4: It's a real thing, Like we want kids, this upward mobility, right,

1266
01:04:43,000 --> 01:04:46,040
Speaker 4: this is what the American dream looks like talking about

1267
01:04:46,040 --> 01:04:47,840
Speaker 4: the black middle class with friends after five. I mean

1268
01:04:47,880 --> 01:04:49,760
Speaker 4: as you could say the same in the Latino community.

1269
01:04:49,760 --> 01:04:52,000
Speaker 4: I mean like that, the exact same thing, exact same thing.

1270
01:04:52,200 --> 01:04:55,160
Speaker 4: So we want that, like we want that for these kids.

1271
01:04:56,160 --> 01:04:57,360
Speaker 4: We'd love for them to hang on some of the

1272
01:04:57,360 --> 01:05:00,520
Speaker 4: cool stuff about the neighborhood and maybe do And there

1273
01:05:00,520 --> 01:05:03,920
Speaker 4: are people doing this in interesting neighborhood. They are mixed

1274
01:05:03,920 --> 01:05:06,240
Speaker 4: income communities that are really focused on how do you

1275
01:05:06,280 --> 01:05:07,720
Speaker 4: how do you make community? I mean, I think that

1276
01:05:07,760 --> 01:05:10,720
Speaker 4: we're getting it a little wrong in our suburban neighborhoods.

1277
01:05:10,760 --> 01:05:12,280
Speaker 2: I think that there's a better way.

1278
01:05:13,040 --> 01:05:15,000
Speaker 4: And it's a whole other conversation, right, And there are

1279
01:05:15,000 --> 01:05:16,760
Speaker 4: people out there that probably great for you to talk

1280
01:05:16,800 --> 01:05:19,520
Speaker 4: to you here, that are doing this well. But but

1281
01:05:19,640 --> 01:05:23,760
Speaker 4: how do you bring groups together and still value relationships

1282
01:05:23,760 --> 01:05:27,720
Speaker 4: and community but also these things that can change a

1283
01:05:27,760 --> 01:05:29,080
Speaker 4: family all.

1284
01:05:29,040 --> 01:05:31,800
Speaker 2: For the opportunity to move on pretty cool stuff.

1285
01:05:32,920 --> 01:05:36,800
Speaker 1: If somebody wants to know more, wants to do exactly

1286
01:05:36,800 --> 01:05:39,680
Speaker 1: what you said here, how you did it, and no more.

1287
01:05:40,720 --> 01:05:43,920
Speaker 1: Somebody wants to volunteer somewhere locally where one of these

1288
01:05:43,920 --> 01:05:48,000
Speaker 1: things are, or you know, anybody out there that wants

1289
01:05:48,040 --> 01:05:51,720
Speaker 1: to to financially support you. How do they find you?

1290
01:05:52,720 --> 01:05:56,360
Speaker 4: Well, so pretty easy. I'm happy to share my email address.

1291
01:05:56,400 --> 01:05:59,600
Speaker 4: They can reach out to me directly Jim Jim at

1292
01:05:59,640 --> 01:06:04,320
Speaker 4: path United dot org and pretty pretty good on emails,

1293
01:06:04,360 --> 01:06:06,920
Speaker 4: so I'll I'll reply. I mean, I would love to

1294
01:06:07,000 --> 01:06:10,000
Speaker 4: chat with people who are interested in this work. Obviously,

1295
01:06:10,440 --> 01:06:12,760
Speaker 4: you know in the regions where we are in Nashville,

1296
01:06:12,800 --> 01:06:15,320
Speaker 4: Metro Atlanta, but around the country, I mean wherever, Like

1297
01:06:15,360 --> 01:06:17,040
Speaker 4: if people we'll talk, we'll talk.

1298
01:06:17,120 --> 01:06:18,720
Speaker 2: We'll just work anywhere. Anyhow.

1299
01:06:19,080 --> 01:06:22,000
Speaker 3: Yeah, when we started, we we did spend a lot

1300
01:06:22,040 --> 01:06:25,640
Speaker 3: of time trying to find somebody who could help us,

1301
01:06:25,760 --> 01:06:29,080
Speaker 3: and we really struggled with that. So like a young

1302
01:06:29,160 --> 01:06:30,880
Speaker 3: Jim and Melinda who are trying to figure it out,

1303
01:06:30,920 --> 01:06:31,280
Speaker 3: call us.

1304
01:06:31,280 --> 01:06:33,960
Speaker 4: We love to talk about well, we have actually said,

1305
01:06:34,200 --> 01:06:36,360
Speaker 4: and we've talked to people around the country. We have

1306
01:06:36,440 --> 01:06:40,200
Speaker 4: talked about we are normal people, Like we didn't even

1307
01:06:40,280 --> 01:06:44,200
Speaker 4: you know, know this is folks, but we've we've said

1308
01:06:44,200 --> 01:06:47,760
Speaker 4: that word, like, hey, we're just normal people. Like what

1309
01:06:47,760 --> 01:06:51,439
Speaker 4: what what we have had which and maybe this will

1310
01:06:51,440 --> 01:06:52,640
Speaker 4: resonate with some listeners.

1311
01:06:52,680 --> 01:06:54,160
Speaker 2: And what we have had.

1312
01:06:55,440 --> 01:07:00,560
Speaker 4: Is a social network in the community. Is where we

1313
01:07:00,600 --> 01:07:02,520
Speaker 4: are from because we are from there, so like we

1314
01:07:02,600 --> 01:07:07,320
Speaker 4: are just normal people, and so knowing churches and business

1315
01:07:07,320 --> 01:07:10,640
Speaker 4: owners and people like has helped has helped, you know,

1316
01:07:10,760 --> 01:07:14,240
Speaker 4: elevate this work. But I think there's a lot of

1317
01:07:14,240 --> 01:07:15,520
Speaker 4: people out there that have that.

1318
01:07:16,480 --> 01:07:18,040
Speaker 1: I think there's a lot of people out there that

1319
01:07:18,240 --> 01:07:22,760
Speaker 1: are contractors like your buddy, and that are CPA's like

1320
01:07:22,840 --> 01:07:27,120
Speaker 1: your buddy, and that our elf on the shelf, people

1321
01:07:27,640 --> 01:07:31,760
Speaker 1: like your friend that would love to get involved. They

1322
01:07:31,840 --> 01:07:35,920
Speaker 1: just need a path. And what you did was you

1323
01:07:35,960 --> 01:07:38,919
Speaker 1: got out of your comfort zone. You went into an

1324
01:07:39,000 --> 01:07:42,240
Speaker 1: area of need where you saw it. And for all

1325
01:07:42,280 --> 01:07:45,400
Speaker 1: of those well intentioned people that didn't know where to

1326
01:07:45,680 --> 01:07:49,600
Speaker 1: employ their talents, you simply offered them a path. And

1327
01:07:49,640 --> 01:07:52,760
Speaker 1: then when you offer people a path, things come together.

1328
01:07:53,600 --> 01:07:56,280
Speaker 1: And I saw it in my own life. I mean

1329
01:07:56,280 --> 01:07:59,360
Speaker 1: when I started an asss or two of us. By

1330
01:07:59,400 --> 01:08:01,680
Speaker 1: the end of it, we had a staff of eleven.

1331
01:08:01,880 --> 01:08:05,600
Speaker 1: Ten of them were volunteer coaches. And the church that

1332
01:08:05,680 --> 01:08:08,880
Speaker 1: most of them went to when Manassas started their baseball

1333
01:08:08,880 --> 01:08:12,680
Speaker 1: program up, they had a group of guys who attended

1334
01:08:12,760 --> 01:08:15,680
Speaker 1: church on Sunday nights at all road motorcycles and one

1335
01:08:15,760 --> 01:08:19,919
Speaker 1: day eighty seven guys showed up on motorcycles with shovels

1336
01:08:19,920 --> 01:08:22,840
Speaker 1: and rakes and made the baseball field look good. They

1337
01:08:22,840 --> 01:08:25,040
Speaker 1: would have never done that had we not there, but

1338
01:08:25,080 --> 01:08:28,200
Speaker 1: they were always willing. They just needed to see a

1339
01:08:28,240 --> 01:08:31,240
Speaker 1: path and have an opportunity. And so you do the

1340
01:08:31,280 --> 01:08:33,559
Speaker 1: work to provide the path and opportunity, and people will

1341
01:08:33,600 --> 01:08:35,639
Speaker 1: crawl out of the woodwork to do the right things.

1342
01:08:35,720 --> 01:08:40,240
Speaker 1: And ultimately that's what the two of you have done,

1343
01:08:40,400 --> 01:08:42,840
Speaker 1: oddly a path for the kids, but also a path

1344
01:08:42,880 --> 01:08:46,160
Speaker 1: for the people that helped the kids. It's an amazing

1345
01:08:46,200 --> 01:08:50,519
Speaker 1: story and you're a great example of you know, I mean,

1346
01:08:51,080 --> 01:08:53,360
Speaker 1: you don't be got to be part of some NGO.

1347
01:08:53,400 --> 01:08:55,439
Speaker 1: Nobody tapped you on the shoulder and said, hey, you're

1348
01:08:55,479 --> 01:09:00,679
Speaker 1: going to do this. You just normal folks who, sorry

1349
01:09:00,720 --> 01:09:05,080
Speaker 1: as Eden, filled it. And in doing so, y'all, I

1350
01:09:05,120 --> 01:09:10,320
Speaker 1: hope you are will allow yourselves. I know you're probably

1351
01:09:10,600 --> 01:09:16,520
Speaker 1: hyper sensitive to being toxic charity givers, and you probably

1352
01:09:17,439 --> 01:09:20,559
Speaker 1: recoil at anything that even feels remotely close to it.

1353
01:09:20,680 --> 01:09:23,400
Speaker 1: Because when I think of anything I'm doing or say,

1354
01:09:23,960 --> 01:09:26,479
Speaker 1: and I'm like, oh, could that be turkey personis, I

1355
01:09:26,600 --> 01:09:29,960
Speaker 1: just actually back up from it. But I do hope

1356
01:09:30,040 --> 01:09:32,719
Speaker 1: you will give yourselves the opportunity to look one another

1357
01:09:32,760 --> 01:09:38,080
Speaker 1: and I it's just you and you, and recognize changing

1358
01:09:38,200 --> 01:09:44,280
Speaker 1: six hundred kids lives a year quite a legacy, and

1359
01:09:44,960 --> 01:09:47,240
Speaker 1: it's certainly a blessing for you, but it's a blessing

1360
01:09:47,280 --> 01:09:50,920
Speaker 1: to those around And I do think you are allowed

1361
01:09:53,240 --> 01:09:55,960
Speaker 1: the opportunity to at least look at each other and

1362
01:09:56,080 --> 01:10:01,040
Speaker 1: celebrate your work, because it's worth of celebrating. Phenomenal story.

1363
01:10:01,760 --> 01:10:06,639
Speaker 1: Thank you, congratulations on it. I hope some somebody listening

1364
01:10:06,640 --> 01:10:08,840
Speaker 1: out there will be inspired in some way to be

1365
01:10:08,880 --> 01:10:11,559
Speaker 1: involved and reach out to you, because I get the

1366
01:10:11,600 --> 01:10:12,759
Speaker 1: sense you would say.

1367
01:10:13,160 --> 01:10:17,839
Speaker 2: Sure, thank You're right, thank you, thank you, Bill, thank.

1368
01:10:17,680 --> 01:10:20,719
Speaker 1: You having us, Thanks thanks for so much for spend

1369
01:10:20,720 --> 01:10:27,519
Speaker 1: the afternoon and memphisis I really appreciate it great, and

1370
01:10:27,640 --> 01:10:30,920
Speaker 1: thank you for joining us this week. If Jim and

1371
01:10:30,960 --> 01:10:34,920
Speaker 1: Melinda Hollinsworth or other guests have inspired you in general,

1372
01:10:35,120 --> 01:10:39,280
Speaker 1: or better yet, inspired you to take action by volunteering

1373
01:10:39,320 --> 01:10:44,080
Speaker 1: with Path United, by donating to them, or starting something

1374
01:10:44,240 --> 01:10:48,280
Speaker 1: like it in your community, or something else entirely, please

1375
01:10:48,360 --> 01:10:51,240
Speaker 1: let me know. I'd love to hear about it. You

1376
01:10:51,280 --> 01:10:55,679
Speaker 1: can write me anytime at Bill at normalfolks dot us,

1377
01:10:55,760 --> 01:10:59,720
Speaker 1: and I promise I will respond. If you enjoyed this episode,

1378
01:10:59,760 --> 01:11:01,639
Speaker 1: please please share it with friends that are on social,

1379
01:11:02,360 --> 01:11:06,800
Speaker 1: subscribe to the podcast, rate and review it, Become a

1380
01:11:06,840 --> 01:11:10,840
Speaker 1: premium member at normalfolks dot us, any and all of

1381
01:11:10,880 --> 01:11:13,880
Speaker 1: these things that will help us grow an army of

1382
01:11:14,000 --> 01:11:18,160
Speaker 1: normal folks. Thanks to our producer, Iron Light Labs, I'm

1383
01:11:18,200 --> 01:11:20,639
Speaker 1: Bill Courtney. I will see you next week.