November 25, 2025 • 45 mins
What happens when life truly falls apart—trees down, homes flooded, whole neighborhoods wiped out? In this episode of The Ripple Effect, Jenna Kim Jones meets the people who run toward the chaos: Team Rubicon. VP of Operations Jeff Byard pulls back the curtain on how this veteran-led volunteer force mobilizes after hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, and floods. Then Operations Associate Jen Nieder shares what really happens when the “Greyshirts” roll in—mucking out homes, clearing debris, rebuilding roofs, and somehow finding laughter in the mud. It turns out that even in disaster zones, kindness shows up wearing a headlamp—and the ripples are enormous.
Find out more and make your own ripple at TeamRubiconUSA.org.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Hey there, it's me Jennikim Jones. Welcome to the Ripple Effect.
This is the podcast that proves one small act can
change everything. You guys, I was at the grocery store
with all my children. I know you're thinking, why did
you take all four of your kids to the grocery store?
Because I'm insane and sometimes you have to do crazy
things in life. I had all the kids. We're in
(00:29):
the car, somebody's screaming, somebody's looking for something. I'm trying
to tell them all, get in your seatbelts, let's do this.
But I still have that grocery cart, and I think,
should I just leave it here this time? Should I
just let it go? No? I cannot be like Elsa.
I cannot let it go. I have to put the
cart back. We're talking these small acts, guys. Do you
(00:49):
put the grocery cart back when you're at the grocery store?
I did? Okay, this time, I did it. I did
the right thing. But I truly believe that one small
good thing adds to the ripples in the universe, and
also it saves a bumper or two. Okay, so let's
all do it. Let's put our grocery carts back. Okay.
Today's episode, though, is different. This is all about what
(01:11):
happens when life falls apart, I mean literally falls apart,
and people show up to help put those lives back together.
I'd like to think I know a thing or two
about disasters. Most of my disasters involved my kids. We
throw around the word disaster a lot in our culture,
right My hair is a disaster, dinner was a disaster,
(01:32):
or everything's a disaster. But real disasters happen every day. Hurricanes, floods, tornadoes,
and that's when you see what people are really made of.
And that's where Team Rubicon, the people we're talking to
today come in. If you've never heard of them, Team
Rubicon is a veteran led humanitarian organization that deploys volunteers,
(01:53):
they call them Gray Shirts, and they dive into these
communities after disasters. They muck out home, they clear debris,
they rebuild roofs, and they somehow rebuild hope while they're
at it. Our first guest today is Jeff Byerd. He's
Team Rubicon's senior VP of Operations, and my goodness, he
has a massive job. We're gonna hear how they mobilize,
(02:15):
how they partner, how they keep those ripples of service
spreading from neighborhood to neighborhood. Then we're going to meet
Jen Nider. She's one of Team Rubicon's incredible volunteer leaders.
Volunteer she's been on the ground after hurricanes, floods, all
the things. She will tell you what it's like when
the Gray Shirts they show up, they roll up their
(02:37):
sleeves and they get to work and get stuff done.
And spoiler alert, it's not all mud and misery. There's
joy out there. It's amazing. But that's what I've learned
about Team Rubicon. They find light in the darkest places.
And the truth is when you serve someone else, it
doesn't just change their life, it changes your life. So
(02:59):
grab your man, i'd a phorical hard hat, maybe a
box of tissues, and get ready because this one's about grit,
gratitude and the ripple effect of service. Let's meet Jeff,
Jen and Team Rubicon.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Jeff, it's great to meet you.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Great to meet you, Jenna. Thank you for having us.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Thank you taking time because I know you guys are busy.
I just want to start from the beginning, Team Rubicon, right,
it started after a disaster. Can you tell us the
beginnings of Team Rubicon and then, of course how you
got involved.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Sure, let me start by saying, it's a great day
to be a gray shirt. Every day is a good
day to be a part of Team Rubicon. But our
organization started in twenty ten after the devastating earthquake that
hit Haiti. It was not Team Rubicon. It was eight
volunteers that came together with a common mission and that's
where it was born. And you know, not too long
after that, they had a chance to deploy again to
(03:56):
Chile after a tsunami wow, and literally on their way
to the airport, they stopped it at a store. They
needed something to identify themselves and there were eight playing
gray shirts on a sales rack. And that's how the
gray shirt came about. And now it's the most iconic
symbol in the organization.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
That's so wild. Just on a whim, they just stopped
and got eight shirts. That's it. So tell me about
how you got started in this.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
I got started. I came on board in February of
twenty twenty, so it's almost six years. But I've been
in disasters going back to two thousand and two, so
I've known about Team Rubicon, but never had an opportunity
to work directly for them or with them, so to speak.
I was with FEMA at the time, a wonderful job
and great team there, but knew that at some point
(04:44):
that was going to end. And being a veteran myself,
it fit a lot of my narratives and what I
was looking for and has exceeded the expectations almost every day.
Every day's a challenge though. We've got two hundred thousand
volunteers across the country, so we're really active, been really local.
At the end of the day, it all ends up
being good.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Sure, So what drew you to that? You said you
were a veteran, so that maybe is part of it.
But why, I mean, you've been involved. It sounds like
in disaster relief for such a long time. What took
you there?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Well, I think being a veteran, and I have to
say this, I'm a marine, so you know, celebrating all
my brothers and sisters out there that are celebrating our
two hundred and fiftieth birthday simplify. But I think it
started there. I went in the Marine Corps literally three
days after graduating high school, and I don't know if
that was good or bad, but it was definitely an education.
And yes, you know, left the service, left the Corps
(05:39):
with a desire to continue to serve and did like
a lot of people went to school, didn't really find myself,
but you know, when nine to eleven hit, I knew
that there was more that God wanted me to do.
And I ended up in emergency management with the State
of Alabama and really never looked back and have had
a wonderful career and really met a lot of fantastic people.
(05:59):
But at the end of the day, you know, those folks,
myself included, all had one desire and still have one desire,
which is helping folks in disaster, helping them get their
lives back together, and trying to be a little bit
of hope in a really, really bad situation.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Thanks Jeff, I am so excited to bring in Jen,
who's on the ground with Team Rubicon's operations. She's on
the front lines with the Gray Shirts, making sure everything
is running smoothly when nothing is running at all. Jen,
thank you so much for joining us. Could you just
start at the beginning, tell us how you got involved
with Team Rubicon.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
So I grew up in Arizona, and I graduated from
high school in a year, long, long time ago, and
I did college for a semester, and then I was
dating a guy and he broke up with me, and
I was devastated.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Of course, how dare you? And so yeah, and to
teach him.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
To listen on a complete whim, I joined the Navy.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Well that's a move, I guess.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Definitely, definitely, And so I joined the Navy. And I
actually met my husband while I was in the Navy,
and we got married, and shortly after we got married,
we found out that we were going to have a baby.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Oh my gosh. All right.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
At one point, I was like, you know, probabish make
some money, because military members don't make a whole lot.
And I had heard about emergency management as a job,
and I was like, Oh, that sounds right up my alley.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
And so I went back to school. Okay, but why
does that sound right up your alley?
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Because I thrive in chaos? Okay, all right, yeah, iving chaos, Yep,
that pretty much sums it up perfect. It's just always
something that has interested me is helping people and emergency management,
you know, kind of on the front lines of helping
(07:57):
communities to be more resilient. So while I was going
to school full time, I took on a job as
a youth and children's ministry director, not a minister.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
This is not because you really driving chaos. Okay, okay,
you have proven that to us. Now.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
While I was working at the chapel on the Naval
Air Station Lamore, the chaplain came into me one day
and said, Jen, Hey, I have this friend down in
San Diego that like volunteers with this group and they
like go out and do disaster response. And I was
like interesting. So I went into my office and I
pulled up Team RUBICONUSA dot org and I watched their
(08:43):
little promo video and I was like, oh, this is it.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Are my people?
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Those are my people? Yes, you know, it's got really
cool music and you see gray shirts and it's this
uniform kind of look, and it kind of brings you
back to that military vibe of you know, having a
person to your left and a person to your right
that you know that you can count on, and going
(09:08):
and then watching them and seeing people like knocking drywall
and pulling insulation out of houses that have been damaged,
you know, and then in the video they like show
gray shirts talking to homeowners and hugging them and tears
and just like this is it? Yes, yes, And so
I joined immediately. Plus I was going to school and
(09:31):
working full time, so I did all of the online
trainings with Team Rubicon that I could, and I couldn't
really get out and deploy much. Then we transferred to
Fort Worth, Texas, which is where I am now, and
the National Operations Center is in Grand Prairie, which is
about forty five minutes depending on traffic from where I live.
And I jumped in and that's you know, Team Rubicon
(09:54):
became my thing. This was one way that I could
get some good experience in emergency management but also get
to go to kick ass things.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
So that's how it all began. But it seems like
everything was leading you. Every little step you took was
leading you to Team Rubicon.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Really, oh, absolutely, yeah. These homeowners because of the population
that Team Rubicon focuses on, you know, we try to
work with people who are less likely to get help,
whether they have low insurance or low insurance. Veterans, the
elderly first responders who, at the same time that they
(10:33):
are out helping other people in their community, their own
lives have been shattered to a certain degree. I just remember,
like the emotion of it and that sense of community
was just a huge draw for me. How could I
say no, it did? It sounds like it did. Yeah,
(10:56):
tell us about the gray shirts. What does the gray
shirt represent? What does it mean to you? What does
it mean to the organization?
Speaker 2 (11:04):
The gray shirt to me, represents hope, and it represents service,
and not just service, it's selfless service for others. You know,
we're in a unique position on this side. We're gray Shirts,
but we're also running the business of Team Rubicon, and
it is a business. From that sense, everything we do
takes a dollar and we have to manage that well
and raise that well. When I have the opportunities to
(11:25):
be around our volunteer gray shirts, you know, it's a bonus.
I get to see just the diversity of thought and
age and experience all comes together in a disaster site
and it works as a team. You know, after a
couple of days working really really hard, they may get
that hug from the disaster survivor that you get a
sense of real self worth when you're helping others and
(11:45):
you're taking time out of your day to really commit
to helping others in hard situations. As we're doing this conversation,
we've got gray Shirts in Jamaica. We've also got gray
Shirts in Bethel, Alaska. And I'm an Alabama guy. That's
way too cold for me. Cold, but I'm just doing
tremendous work in some of the farthest reaches of our
(12:06):
country and of the globe.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
I would just love to walk through a day on
the ground. Right something has happened and you guys are
ready to jump in and that spirit of helping. What
is a day on the ground Like when Team Rubicon
shows up.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
I'll give you the day on the ground once an
operation has started. So Gray Shirts are gonna wake up
in the morning. You know, several of our Gray Shirts
are going to get up at ridiculous hours, like four
o'clock in the morning and want coffee. That's not me,
That is definitely not me. They're gonna get up, They're
gonna want their coffee. Everyone gets up, has breakfast, and
(12:45):
then we have what's called the morning brief and they're
gonna get their first assignment of the day, and then
all the strike teams are going to load up their vehicles.
They've all seen their names and information up on what
we call a two of four, which is your assignment list,
and every one of our command in general staff is
going to brief them out on what's going to happen
(13:07):
that day. At the end of that, the incident commander
is going to kind of give that last kind of
ugh raw that speech, the GSD speech get shit done,
and the incident commander is going to be that final
voice of that morning brief that motivates the Gray Shirts
to get out into the field.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
I think I need that speech every day. Someone needs it.
Coming to my house and give me the GSD speech.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
When we're done, I'll do one for you. You just
keep the recording.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
And play, just play it every more I can do,
and do the superhero pose at the same time, because
that's what they say. Yes you think I'm joking, this
is what I need in my life. Okay, so you've
gotten the speech.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
The strike teams are going to get on the road
and when they first get to the house, hopefully the
homeowners there. Occasionally they're not, but usually they are, and
the strike team leader kind of their job to sit
down or just have a conversation with that homeowner, and
we had a team that came out and did a
(14:08):
site survey, but that strike team leader is going to
have a little more in depth conversation with a homeowner
and get their story. So that Strike team leader has
a tough job because that's the emotional side. What items
are they looking for? Because one of the things that
separates us from some other spontaneous volunteers or other organizations,
(14:30):
and not saying that they don't do it, I'm just
saying I know that we do is taking that extra
time to say, hey, is there anything that you're like
looking for that you haven't found? And there could be
well I'm missing my jewelry that my grandmother gave me
or my husband's uniform from World War Two, I haven't
(14:52):
found it yet. And so our Gray Shirts really take
pride in working hard for the home owners to make
sure that not only are we getting them into a
space and into a place where they can start to rebuild,
but to help them capture some of those moments of
(15:15):
their past, some of their mementos and history. I can't
even tell you how many times I've been on an
operation where there was someone who's son or husband or
wife was a previous service member and their uniform was
almost destroyed, and our Gray Shirts on the ground take
(15:37):
those uniforms, go find the closest laundromat, have them restored,
and then present them back to the homeowner. Hundreds of
times have we had flags that have been destroyed by
storms that we have replaced or spent that extra time
to clean ourselves and rehand back to homeowners. And it's
(16:03):
moments like that throughout the day when you're working out
in the field that build an overall operational sense.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
My goodness, that's so meaningful. Yes, I didn't know how
personal it got. Absolutely to have someone look you in
the eye when you're going through something terrible, to say,
what can I do? I see you, I want to
do something.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
And it's life changing you for both. It's not just
the homeowner, but the Gray Shirts. When we look at
our population of Gray Shirts, and you know they talk
about seventy percent or veterans, another twenty percent our first responders,
and another ten percent or kick ass civilians.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Just yeah, we go, yeah, I love it.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
But when you think about that seventy percent of veterans,
and then you consider the mental health aspect of a
large percentage of that seventy percent and where are they
and what brought them to Team Rubicon. Moments like this
(17:11):
can be cathartic and healing and powerful for both sides
of the house. And it's very important.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Once you put the gray shirt on, you're never alone again.
You always have a battle buddy that you can reach
out to, or that you've been on an operation with
that's going to reach out to you. Loneliness is an
issue in our country. We're here to combat loneliness. We're
here to give you a sense of community. We know
the tragedy which is veteran suicide, and we're not a
(17:42):
veteran service organization, but we work really really closely with
the veteran service organizations and that ability to continue that
service and to continue to put on a uniform, albeit different,
that can mean a lot. And then when you start
sharing your story and hearing other stories, you quickly realize, hey,
this isn't just me. I'm not alone in this. And
(18:05):
you know, I think that's a big takeaway of being
a Gray Shirt.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
That is so beautiful, Jeff, And with so many gray
shirts being veterans, Team Rubicon is really connecting people and
combating loneliness, like you said, and you mentioned you had
like two hundred thousand volunteers. How do you guys handle that?
How does this go on a daily basis?
Speaker 2 (18:26):
That's a great question. I still had to figured it out.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
I know I'm feeling overwhelmed for you. Okay, that's what
I'm trying to say. How can you do it?
Speaker 2 (18:35):
We have our operations Associates, which are full time staff
and they may manage two to three states depending on
the size of gray shirts, the amount of activity, and
then a layer under that, it's really our secret sauce
and they're the backbone of Team Rubicon. We have volunteer leaders,
and these are individuals that give anywhere from forty to
forty plus hours a week to the organization and really
(18:59):
run a lot lot of our functions and our mentors
to newer volunteers. One of the questions I get a
lot is you know, I'm so sorry I hadn't been
able to deploy, And I always say, hey, don't worry
about that. That time will come, and when it does,
we appreciate it. But we know you're on the bus,
so to speak. So the two hundred thousand aren't always active,
but it's a lot of energy that we can bring
(19:19):
to bear in certain situations.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Yeah, you were listing that list, I'm thinking, I don't know.
My back kind of hurts, my knees kind of hurt.
But it sounds like you've got a tough group of
people going in there. Okay, So it sounds to me
like your volunteers are pretty spectacular people. What makes a
gray shirt.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
I'd say, first of all, commitment, commitment to serve others,
Commitment to, you know, do the hard things when others
may not be willing to do that. The other and
this was one of our cultural principles as adults only.
We put a lot of different people out in dangerous situations.
Anytime you have a chainsaw, it can be dangerous. Anytime
you're running at the equipment, it can be dangerous.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
I tell my husband that every time he's in the yard, guy,
this is dangerous.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
So, you know, we trust our volunteers, and part of
that trust is being an adult making sure that you're
taking care of those that you're in charge of taking
care of. And you know, it truly is a team,
whether you've been on the team ten years or this
is your first deployment.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
That's what it feels like. It feels like once you're
in it, you are in it. But what happens if
someone comes in a different colored shirt? Do you just
immediately kick them right out? There are no orange shirts here? Okay,
if it's great, only.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
That's funny, we may you know, get him to change
shirts in a minute. But one of the biggest challenges
after a disaster that that community's face and we saw it.
I saw in the biggest scale that I've seen it
in my career was after the devastating floods on July
fourth down in the Hill Country of Texas. Tremendous, you know, damnage.
(20:57):
But when you anytime you have a loss of life,
the emotions are really really heavy. And when you have
a loss of life of children, that gets the whole
machine running towards that area. And that happened in the
Hill Country. But you have a sea of goodwill, so
you know, you may have thousands of really good intended
folks that want to come out and just self volunteer.
It sounds great, but logistically, if you don't have enough
(21:21):
food in the community for survivors, how are you going
to feed and fuel? And somebody gets hurt, you know,
just it really can compound the disaster. So one of
the skill sets that we have is we can help
communities task organize and make that volunteer experience as impactful
as possible. You know, it's really hard to turn somebody
down when they're wanting to donate their time. And so
(21:43):
that's one area. And then where can we be forced multipliers.
If I can have a gray shirt that's organizing and
leading ten volunteers, I can spread that around and we
can get one hundred folks working, or one hundred and
fifty folks working. But a disaster survivor and this is
just an example, you know, Jen, if your home's hit,
you may need one hundred of different things. You may
(22:04):
need legal services or some of the social services that
we don't provide. So we always want to bring partners
with us. We may only can do ten things, but
if we know who can do those other ninety things,
they're welcome. It's a one team, one fight mentality. Disaster
recovery is not an individual sport by any means. Now,
we think we do it well, but we want to
partner with others that may have skills that we don't have.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Yeah, I love that you got to bring everybody together.
Is there something that you have had happen to you
out on the field, something specific that has really shaped
your life or meant something maybe more than others for
some reason, or just a specific moment that's stuck with you.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
I want to preface this by saying that I am
almost always on command and general staff, so I'm the
gray Shirt that's helping the Gray Shirts get out into
the field.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Right.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
So, for me, my most incredible moments have been when
Gray Shirts have come back to me and said, I
got to have this moment because you made it possible
for me to be out there. I was out on
an op in Louisiana. For me, I take it very personally.
(23:22):
I want our Gray Shirts to have the best experience
that they possibly can. And we were the first wave,
so we had no electricity other than generators. We didn't
have air conditioning. So we're talking Louisiana in the summer.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
So hot, So I know, so hot.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Oh it was so bad, you know.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
I went around, I took everyone's lunch order. Hey, do
you want a peanut butter and jelly sandwnch, do you
want a turkey sand? You know, what do you want?
And so I packed all of their lunches and then
I took a cue from my mom and I wrote
everybody a note on a napkin and I stuck it
in that lunch bag. And at the end of the day,
(24:01):
I didn't say anything to anyone. I just packed their lunch,
put their name on it, and gave it to the
strike team. The end of the day, one of our
Gray Shirts came up to me and said, Jen, you
made me cry today and I was like, I'm sorry,
that was not my plan. And he said to me, no,
(24:22):
what you did that note? When I opened up my
lunch out in the field, that note that you wrote
to me with my name on it meant so much
more than you can possibly imagine.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
And so.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
That was my way of giving them something. And I
know that our Gray Shirts go out and do that
every day on every operation, to every homeowner.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Amazing, Jen and Jeff, how do you guys decide where
to go?
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Well, we let the need side And when I say need,
you know, we have disasters in our country and in
the globe you know, daily, and we want to be
at all of them. But what we look for and
where we do Our work is really in the vulnerable communities.
We look at factors like social vulnerability. Where is the
highest social vulnerability index? We look at insurance. We generally
(25:21):
work on those that don't have insurance, are under insured.
And you know, the data will show if you don't
have the safety nets that a lot of people have
and a disaster hits, you're going to spiral downwards quicker
than anybody else. And the spiral upwards is almost non existence.
Thirty two percent of our country does not have five
(25:41):
hundred dollars for an emergency account, so you know the
need's going to be there. But that's what that's some
of the factors that we look for when we talk
about individual homes. But everybody's in need in the immediate
aftermass of a disaster, So we want to get in
and help the community's clear roads so that the firefighters
and first respond can get to need and the disaster
(26:02):
survivors can get to the resources that are available to them.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
You're helping before and after a disaster, too, Isn't that true?
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Right? That's true. Most of our work before is around
the mitigation space, and the best disaster response you can
have is no response because you've mitigated the hazard. So
that's what our goal is there. And then just community
engagement doing service projects. It's about knowing the communities we're
in and supporting their needs, not just in times of disasters.
(26:32):
The more we can have our Gray Shirts together, the
more of a local team we form and they can
be there when it's needed after a disaster.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Do you notice like a change in the Gray Shirts
from when they start? Do you see changes in people?
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Absolutely unimaginable change. You see big gruff guys that go
out in the morning on their first operation and they
come back at the end of the day and they
sit down at what we call campfire. And at the
end of the day when everyone comes back, the strike
team leaders go and they give the report. But at
the end of the day, after dinner, we do what
(27:09):
we cause campfire. And this was started by Jake Wood
and the other eight people that went to Haiti in
twenty ten, and it's a way for our Gray Shirts
to decompress, to talk about what they saw that day,
to talk about what they experienced. So you get girl.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
God, It goes out on his first deployment and he's
going to kick ass and he comes back at the
end of the day and he's like, I just hugged
this little old lady for ten minutes today because she
just needed a hug.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
That's so nice. It's so nice.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
And you see that, you hear that, You hear those changes,
and it's not like a one off. It happens every
day over and over. You get first responders who have
seen things, seen the stuff, and they come back and
they're in tears because they got to save a flag,
(28:09):
they got to help someone who is experienced the worst
day of their lives.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
You know, I think about first responders. They've seen everything,
and sometimes even though they're the ones first responding, there
are things that are just so out of their hands
and this can be something that they can, you know,
so tangible, can complete and do such good. I love that.
So tell us about that really good part when you
get to, you know, hand a homeowner back their keys,
(28:39):
or you've finished whatever project you're working on. Tell us
what that's like.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
So at the end of the day, when we walk
away from a house and we leave it what we
call tr clean, where there's not nails sticking out of
two by fours and there's not dirt and dust on
the ground and you go to the homeowner and you're like, hey,
can we walk through the house together and I can
show you what we accomplished, give you some tips, and
(29:07):
you walk outside and you take a picture with your
entire strike team and the homeowner and you know that
you did the very best that you could do for
them to get them to the next step. It's just
an amazing feeling. Yeah, it has to be, and that's
(29:28):
one of the reasons why our gray shirts keep coming
back because it's kind of a high, you know. It's
a little bit of that and that feeling of accomplishment,
just that yeah, how I did that. I help them,
They're ready to move forward, and that's a good feeling.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
Yeah, people come back over and over again.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
It sounds like we have people who will literally take
their vacation from work just to deploy.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
So yes, yeah, you know, I've been thinking about you
guys as I've learned about you and was preparing to
talk to you, and I kept coming back to this
idea that like, you're in these terrible I'm getting emotional.
You're in these disasters right and people are suffering, and
you'd think, oh, I'm going into help. It would be
(30:19):
just sad all the time. But I feel from you
and from this organization that there is joy somehow to
be found here.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
Absolutely. Anyone that knows me personally knows my tagline on
my email on everything is choose Joy.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
So for me, yes, absolutely, because we help people see hope,
We help people see a light at the end of
the tunnel.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
It might be long.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
And that's the thing that people oftentimes don't understand is
recovery is not quick. It's not going to happen in
a week. It's not going to happen in two weeks.
It could be a year. But we give just that
nugget of hope and that little bit of joy and
that hug and that helping other people. And for some
(31:18):
of our great shirts, it's during a time when they
need help and by helping others, it helps them. And
so it's a two way street.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
You know. Our show is called the Ripple Effect, and
we're looking for these moments, these opportunities people like you
who are creating these ripples. So can you talk to
me a little bit about some of the transformations you've
seen during this experience?
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Sure, and I can give you, you know, I'll give you
a personal story.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
I'd love that.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
I worked for a number of years for the State
of Alabama and the Emergency Management Agency there, and Alabama
is a great state, but it gets hit with a
lot of disaster, so you know, a lot of experience there.
I got appointed to FEMA in twenty seventeen as the
Associate Administrator for Response and Recovery. Pretty big position, a
big step. Moved the family to d C. Did that experience,
(32:13):
but my time at Alabama, my time in FEMA, definitely.
In twenty seventeen, we had Harvey, Irma Maria, three big storms.
I probably bought a million blue tarps, as much as
we could buy. Right fast forward to Hurricane Laura, and
I was in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and I was with
some Gray shirts and I was new but had an
(32:34):
opportunity to get on a roof and put a blue
tarp on the roof with a crew. And I was
up there and it dawned on me, and I mean
it hit me like a ton of bricks and actually
got emotional. But I had never put a blue tarp
on a roof. I had done all that, but I've
never been able to do that. Last mile logistics so
it transformed me. Then that day stuck with me to
(32:56):
this day. It still motivates me to do that extra
mile for Team Rubicon. And it's really camaraderie and family.
You know, if you ask about a gray Shirt, you
know you're never alone in life. You've got fellow Gray
Shirts that have been through experiences, that may have lived
your experience, that can help you through that.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
That gives extra meaning to gray shirt right then and there.
I mean, that's so cool, a different kind of uniform,
right and I see that in what you're talking about,
how these ripple effects are rippling to everybody, not just
the people you're helping. Absolutely, your veterans and your Gray
Shirts are having their lives changed too. How have you
(33:36):
seen Team Rubicon and the Gray Shirts change a community?
Speaker 3 (33:42):
Talk a little bit about the flooding that just happened
here in Texas, July fourth flooding, And just to really
paint a picture for you, I'm driving into Hunt, Texas,
which is where Camp Mystic is. We we were able
to get into the Hunt Independent School District, into their
(34:06):
middle school. They welcomed us in, they let us stay there.
We had our Ford operating base out of the cafeteria.
We had tents out on the backfield where our Gray
Shirts stayed on cots. And one example of how we
know that we made an impact on this community is
(34:28):
as they are getting ready to leave, about two and
a half weeks after we first started, the vice principal
of the school is talking to a group of people
outside and one of our Gray Shirts walks by and
she says, that's Team Rubicon. Those are our people. I'll
(34:50):
tell you, I just did a conference panel. I just
came back yesterday actually, and I was in the airport
shuttle on my way back to the airport and the
driver was like, so, you know, why are you here
visiting Oklahoma City? And I said, I was here for
a legal aid conference. They wanted to talk about disaster preparedness.
(35:11):
And he's like, oh, well, who are you with And
I said, oh, I'm with Team Rubicon. He said, Team Rubicon.
I love Team Rubicon.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
They helped my.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
Community a few years ago after a tornado, and I went, yay,
I'm so glad we were able to do that.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
You know what I love about what you said that
they remember you, that you're there people, human connection with others,
right absolutely, You guys go in and you help, and
you're making these just deep connections so that well, I'm
speaking for you here, but it seems like you really
love these.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
People absolutely, And I love.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
That connection because I just think we need more of
it so that when we hear about other people, we're
more forgiving, we're more understanding, we're more ready to jump
in and help. And I think I feel that from you.
I feel like you have found your calling, Jen. I
think you're right in these moments of disaster, whether it's
(36:02):
the people who you're helping or the Gray Shirts themselves.
When I say that word resilience, what do you think
of and what does it look like?
Speaker 2 (36:10):
Resilience can mean a million things, but from the individual
Gray Shirt, it's the ability to see a problem and
realize that you may not solve it on day one,
but if you're resilient, you're going to get after it
on day two because the problem has to be solved.
Speaker 3 (36:25):
I did want to say one of my favorite things
about Team Rubicon is that we do this without boundaries,
Like we don't care who you are, we don't care
who you vote for, we don't care what color you are,
we don't care who you live with. None of those
things matter, and all of the gray shirts go into
it knowing that and exuding that from their very being,
(36:49):
because you think about with you know, over two hundred
thousand gray shirts on the books. We are a microcosm
of society, and so there are people from all sites
and to be able to come together for this shared cause,
to help this community and this community and this community.
(37:09):
It doesn't matter which community is. We are there and
we want to help them.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Then something else I think we all need to embrace
more of is just we're all different, but we all
need and want similar things. So why can't we just
dive in and help? It doesn't matter. And I just
feel like I need a gray shirt. Got to get
my hands on this fashion, this gray shirt fashion here. Okay,
make sure you put your name on it. If you
(37:35):
don't put your the name of your choosing on there,
someone else will give you a nickname.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
And I can't promise you'll like it.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
Oh, I don't know. That's tempting.
Speaker 3 (37:45):
There are some interesting nicknames out there, for sure.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
I'm curious for those of us maybe who aren't involved
as much, what is like a misconception about disaster response
that you think is out there and maybe we clear
it up, or what's something that you could tell us
that maybe we don't know.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
You know, a misconception about Team Rubicon is that you know,
you have to know how to operate a chain saw,
and no, we've got finance volunteers, We've got Command of
general staff, volunteers. I am the world's worst in a
change saw. And the volunteers will tell you that, they're like,
don't give Jeff the change solis. Let him, you know,
pick up wood on a larger scale. I tell my
team this all the time. We are in the people business.
(38:27):
We're not in the disaster response business. So I think that,
you know, a misconception is it's a bunch of equipment
and process and technique, and it is, but it's, end
of the day, it's about the people.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
As I've learned more about what Team Rubicon does, it's
like it's so personal. There is such a connection to
the gray Shirts and the people they're serving, And I
didn't realize that. What is it like when you see
the work working, when you see things really happening, It
must be hard to leave, is it.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
It can be hard to leave. But what we try
to leave behind is new gray shirts. You know, how
do we leave a community and now they have fifteen
new gray shirts that are carrying that forward. That's the
real goal. Our secret sauce is always going to be
our volunteers. I mean, there's certain things at my level
that I'm cued in on. Right, do we get everybody
there safely? Did we leave with the same amount we
started with? That's that's the it's important, got to make
(39:21):
sure we lock those down. But when we see the
work that's being done, and we see and here are
testimonials from our disaster survivors or communities we worked in,
it just validates that what we do matters. What we
do matters, and sure somebody else could do that, but
you know, could they do it as efficient? Could they
do it with as much focus on the volunteers. Our
(39:43):
clients are disaster survivors. Our means by which we serve them,
which are just as important, are our gray shirts. And
it's really three simple rules we live by. Take care
of the disaster survivor, which is our good job. Take
care of those that's supporting and doing the work that's
taking care or the disaster survivor. That's a gray shirt,
And rule number three. You see rule number one, So
(40:05):
you just keep repeating that and repeating it. Yeah, yeah,
and it works.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
Yeah, right there, I see the ripple effect. Right. You said,
our goal is to make more gray Shirts so that
when the next thing comes, you have another group of
people ready to jump in. And how powerful would it be,
after you've been served by the Gray Shirts to then
be able to put on that uniform and do the
same for someone else. I mean, that's what we're going for.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
What brings you back every day to do this job,
What keeps you going.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
What keeps me going is knowing that my small contribution
to the team is a piece of the larger wheel
that supports our Gray Shirts on the ground. We say this, look,
we'll do the suck so they can have the awesomeness.
I obviously help lead our operations, but we have a
long term recovery program that does longer term rebuilds, and
(41:02):
we started a workforce development program. So if you're a
volunteer and you've never picked up a chainsaw and you say, hey,
look I really want to learn how to do that,
we don't let just anybody pick them up. We have
a certified training program that's built off the for service.
But you can go all the way from just basic
chainsaw to teaching.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
The class goodness.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
So you know, I always say, look, there's skills you
can learn from Team Rubicon that won't cost you a thing,
and it can help you help others down the road
that you know you may never know. So we've got
to continue to put that in because I want our
gray Shirts that are giving up their time, leaving their homes,
going to somewhere, meeting folks they don't know, forming a team,
(41:42):
and then doing good work. I want them to have
that awesomeness and we'll do the you know, the back
office stuff that needs to be done. It has to
be done. But you're ready to join. I mean we
can get you. You know, Team Rubicon USA dot org.
You can ready to go quick.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
Oh my gosh, watch out world, watch out, watch out world.
I'm learning how to use a chainsaw. My husband will
be so scared. Everyone should be scared. But I got
to know. Okay, tell us how we can get involved.
I need to get a gray shirt because I want
to get a nickname. I've been told that you guys
give each other nicknames, and I'm very excited about that.
Speaker 2 (42:19):
Okay, that's uh. There's a lot of banner back and forth.
So you know, the best way to learn about Team
Rubicon is Team Rubicon USA dot or or gets our website.
There's two things that fuel our mission, the Gray Shirts,
and that means you've got to have a commitment of
time and you want to step into that. If you're
not there yet, you know, a dollar goes a long way,
and I can assure you it's going in the right
(42:40):
places to help the right people. The Team Rubicon USA
dot org.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
Okay, we're going to have all that info for everybody,
but I love that you guys are so careful. You know,
if we donate, we know it's going to this great cause.
And I appreciate that so much. Thanks so much for
chatting with me.
Speaker 2 (42:57):
Oh, thank you for having us. It's been a joy.
And again it's a great to be a Gray Shirt.
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (43:02):
And last but not LEASTJSD.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
Get stuff done. Get it done, Yes, get it done.
Oh my goodness, what a conversation. I don't know about you,
but I'm feeling kind of like humbled a little bit,
but also ready to go lift something heavy. I kind
(43:24):
of want to prove myself here. Team Rubicon is proof
that even in chaos, kindness shows up and they're usually
wearing a gray shirt and a headlamb. If you want
to be part of that ripple, you should head to
Team REUBICONUSA dot org. You can volunteer, you can donate,
or you can just learn more about how they turn
heartbreak into hope. It's amazing, guys. I honestly I like,
(43:48):
I feel jazzed. I feel like I could do something great.
And by the way, if you do join Team Rubicon,
you gotta tell me your nickname. I gotta know. And
also what would my nickname be? Keemix snackface Jennikkim Please
don't ever do that again, missus. You're still holding that
hammer incorrectly. I don't know about you, but I am
(44:11):
grateful for Team Rubicon and all the things they're doing.
And also, guys, don't forget to let us know what
you're up to. All right, are you causing any ripples
out there? Please let us know. Use the hashtag ripple
effect tag me at jenik Kim Jones. We want to
know what you're up to. And then lastly, I know
I'm telling you you got to do a lot of things,
but stay with me, and next time on the Ripple Effect,
(44:34):
we're going to be talking vending machines, but not just
your standard vending machines. These are different and they're changing lives,
so you're going to want to tune in for that.
Don't miss it.
Hey there, it's me Jennikim Jones. Welcome to the Ripple Effect.
This is the podcast that proves one small act can
change everything. You guys, I was at the grocery store
with all my children. I know you're thinking, why did
you take all four of your kids to the grocery store?
Because I'm insane and sometimes you have to do crazy
things in life. I had all the kids. We're in
(00:29):
the car, somebody's screaming, somebody's looking for something. I'm trying
to tell them all, get in your seatbelts, let's do this.
But I still have that grocery cart, and I think,
should I just leave it here this time? Should I
just let it go? No? I cannot be like Elsa.
I cannot let it go. I have to put the
cart back. We're talking these small acts, guys. Do you
(00:49):
put the grocery cart back when you're at the grocery store?
I did? Okay, this time, I did it. I did
the right thing. But I truly believe that one small
good thing adds to the ripples in the universe, and
also it saves a bumper or two. Okay, so let's
all do it. Let's put our grocery carts back. Okay.
Today's episode, though, is different. This is all about what
(01:11):
happens when life falls apart, I mean literally falls apart,
and people show up to help put those lives back together.
I'd like to think I know a thing or two
about disasters. Most of my disasters involved my kids. We
throw around the word disaster a lot in our culture,
right My hair is a disaster, dinner was a disaster,
(01:32):
or everything's a disaster. But real disasters happen every day. Hurricanes, floods, tornadoes,
and that's when you see what people are really made of.
And that's where Team Rubicon, the people we're talking to
today come in. If you've never heard of them, Team
Rubicon is a veteran led humanitarian organization that deploys volunteers,
(01:53):
they call them Gray Shirts, and they dive into these
communities after disasters. They muck out home, they clear debris,
they rebuild roofs, and they somehow rebuild hope while they're
at it. Our first guest today is Jeff Byerd. He's
Team Rubicon's senior VP of Operations, and my goodness, he
has a massive job. We're gonna hear how they mobilize,
(02:15):
how they partner, how they keep those ripples of service
spreading from neighborhood to neighborhood. Then we're going to meet
Jen Nider. She's one of Team Rubicon's incredible volunteer leaders.
Volunteer she's been on the ground after hurricanes, floods, all
the things. She will tell you what it's like when
the Gray Shirts they show up, they roll up their
(02:37):
sleeves and they get to work and get stuff done.
And spoiler alert, it's not all mud and misery. There's
joy out there. It's amazing. But that's what I've learned
about Team Rubicon. They find light in the darkest places.
And the truth is when you serve someone else, it
doesn't just change their life, it changes your life. So
(02:59):
grab your man, i'd a phorical hard hat, maybe a
box of tissues, and get ready because this one's about grit,
gratitude and the ripple effect of service. Let's meet Jeff,
Jen and Team Rubicon.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Jeff, it's great to meet you.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Great to meet you, Jenna. Thank you for having us.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Thank you taking time because I know you guys are busy.
I just want to start from the beginning, Team Rubicon, right,
it started after a disaster. Can you tell us the
beginnings of Team Rubicon and then, of course how you
got involved.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Sure, let me start by saying, it's a great day
to be a gray shirt. Every day is a good
day to be a part of Team Rubicon. But our
organization started in twenty ten after the devastating earthquake that
hit Haiti. It was not Team Rubicon. It was eight
volunteers that came together with a common mission and that's
where it was born. And you know, not too long
after that, they had a chance to deploy again to
(03:56):
Chile after a tsunami wow, and literally on their way
to the airport, they stopped it at a store. They
needed something to identify themselves and there were eight playing
gray shirts on a sales rack. And that's how the
gray shirt came about. And now it's the most iconic
symbol in the organization.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
That's so wild. Just on a whim, they just stopped
and got eight shirts. That's it. So tell me about
how you got started in this.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
I got started. I came on board in February of
twenty twenty, so it's almost six years. But I've been
in disasters going back to two thousand and two, so
I've known about Team Rubicon, but never had an opportunity
to work directly for them or with them, so to speak.
I was with FEMA at the time, a wonderful job
and great team there, but knew that at some point
(04:44):
that was going to end. And being a veteran myself,
it fit a lot of my narratives and what I
was looking for and has exceeded the expectations almost every day.
Every day's a challenge though. We've got two hundred thousand
volunteers across the country, so we're really active, been really local.
At the end of the day, it all ends up
being good.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Sure, So what drew you to that? You said you
were a veteran, so that maybe is part of it.
But why, I mean, you've been involved. It sounds like
in disaster relief for such a long time. What took
you there?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Well, I think being a veteran, and I have to
say this, I'm a marine, so you know, celebrating all
my brothers and sisters out there that are celebrating our
two hundred and fiftieth birthday simplify. But I think it
started there. I went in the Marine Corps literally three
days after graduating high school, and I don't know if
that was good or bad, but it was definitely an education.
And yes, you know, left the service, left the Corps
(05:39):
with a desire to continue to serve and did like
a lot of people went to school, didn't really find myself,
but you know, when nine to eleven hit, I knew
that there was more that God wanted me to do.
And I ended up in emergency management with the State
of Alabama and really never looked back and have had
a wonderful career and really met a lot of fantastic people.
(05:59):
But at the end of the day, you know, those folks,
myself included, all had one desire and still have one desire,
which is helping folks in disaster, helping them get their
lives back together, and trying to be a little bit
of hope in a really, really bad situation.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Thanks Jeff, I am so excited to bring in Jen,
who's on the ground with Team Rubicon's operations. She's on
the front lines with the Gray Shirts, making sure everything
is running smoothly when nothing is running at all. Jen,
thank you so much for joining us. Could you just
start at the beginning, tell us how you got involved
with Team Rubicon.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
So I grew up in Arizona, and I graduated from
high school in a year, long, long time ago, and
I did college for a semester, and then I was
dating a guy and he broke up with me, and
I was devastated.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Of course, how dare you? And so yeah, and to
teach him.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
To listen on a complete whim, I joined the Navy.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Well that's a move, I guess.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Definitely, definitely, And so I joined the Navy. And I
actually met my husband while I was in the Navy,
and we got married, and shortly after we got married,
we found out that we were going to have a baby.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Oh my gosh. All right.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
At one point, I was like, you know, probabish make
some money, because military members don't make a whole lot.
And I had heard about emergency management as a job,
and I was like, Oh, that sounds right up my alley.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
And so I went back to school. Okay, but why
does that sound right up your alley?
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Because I thrive in chaos? Okay, all right, yeah, iving chaos, Yep,
that pretty much sums it up perfect. It's just always
something that has interested me is helping people and emergency management,
you know, kind of on the front lines of helping
(07:57):
communities to be more resilient. So while I was going
to school full time, I took on a job as
a youth and children's ministry director, not a minister.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
This is not because you really driving chaos. Okay, okay,
you have proven that to us. Now.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
While I was working at the chapel on the Naval
Air Station Lamore, the chaplain came into me one day
and said, Jen, Hey, I have this friend down in
San Diego that like volunteers with this group and they
like go out and do disaster response. And I was
like interesting. So I went into my office and I
pulled up Team RUBICONUSA dot org and I watched their
(08:43):
little promo video and I was like, oh, this is it.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Are my people?
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Those are my people? Yes, you know, it's got really
cool music and you see gray shirts and it's this
uniform kind of look, and it kind of brings you
back to that military vibe of you know, having a
person to your left and a person to your right
that you know that you can count on, and going
(09:08):
and then watching them and seeing people like knocking drywall
and pulling insulation out of houses that have been damaged,
you know, and then in the video they like show
gray shirts talking to homeowners and hugging them and tears
and just like this is it? Yes, yes, And so
I joined immediately. Plus I was going to school and
(09:31):
working full time, so I did all of the online
trainings with Team Rubicon that I could, and I couldn't
really get out and deploy much. Then we transferred to
Fort Worth, Texas, which is where I am now, and
the National Operations Center is in Grand Prairie, which is
about forty five minutes depending on traffic from where I live.
And I jumped in and that's you know, Team Rubicon
(09:54):
became my thing. This was one way that I could
get some good experience in emergency management but also get
to go to kick ass things.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
So that's how it all began. But it seems like
everything was leading you. Every little step you took was
leading you to Team Rubicon.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Really, oh, absolutely, yeah. These homeowners because of the population
that Team Rubicon focuses on, you know, we try to
work with people who are less likely to get help,
whether they have low insurance or low insurance. Veterans, the
elderly first responders who, at the same time that they
(10:33):
are out helping other people in their community, their own
lives have been shattered to a certain degree. I just remember,
like the emotion of it and that sense of community
was just a huge draw for me. How could I
say no, it did? It sounds like it did. Yeah,
(10:56):
tell us about the gray shirts. What does the gray
shirt represent? What does it mean to you? What does
it mean to the organization?
Speaker 2 (11:04):
The gray shirt to me, represents hope, and it represents service,
and not just service, it's selfless service for others. You know,
we're in a unique position on this side. We're gray Shirts,
but we're also running the business of Team Rubicon, and
it is a business. From that sense, everything we do
takes a dollar and we have to manage that well
and raise that well. When I have the opportunities to
(11:25):
be around our volunteer gray shirts, you know, it's a bonus.
I get to see just the diversity of thought and
age and experience all comes together in a disaster site
and it works as a team. You know, after a
couple of days working really really hard, they may get
that hug from the disaster survivor that you get a
sense of real self worth when you're helping others and
(11:45):
you're taking time out of your day to really commit
to helping others in hard situations. As we're doing this conversation,
we've got gray Shirts in Jamaica. We've also got gray
Shirts in Bethel, Alaska. And I'm an Alabama guy. That's
way too cold for me. Cold, but I'm just doing
tremendous work in some of the farthest reaches of our
(12:06):
country and of the globe.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
I would just love to walk through a day on
the ground. Right something has happened and you guys are
ready to jump in and that spirit of helping. What
is a day on the ground Like when Team Rubicon
shows up.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
I'll give you the day on the ground once an
operation has started. So Gray Shirts are gonna wake up
in the morning. You know, several of our Gray Shirts
are going to get up at ridiculous hours, like four
o'clock in the morning and want coffee. That's not me,
That is definitely not me. They're gonna get up, They're
gonna want their coffee. Everyone gets up, has breakfast, and
(12:45):
then we have what's called the morning brief and they're
gonna get their first assignment of the day, and then
all the strike teams are going to load up their vehicles.
They've all seen their names and information up on what
we call a two of four, which is your assignment list,
and every one of our command in general staff is
going to brief them out on what's going to happen
(13:07):
that day. At the end of that, the incident commander
is going to kind of give that last kind of
ugh raw that speech, the GSD speech get shit done,
and the incident commander is going to be that final
voice of that morning brief that motivates the Gray Shirts
to get out into the field.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
I think I need that speech every day. Someone needs it.
Coming to my house and give me the GSD speech.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
When we're done, I'll do one for you. You just
keep the recording.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
And play, just play it every more I can do,
and do the superhero pose at the same time, because
that's what they say. Yes you think I'm joking, this
is what I need in my life. Okay, so you've
gotten the speech.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
The strike teams are going to get on the road
and when they first get to the house, hopefully the
homeowners there. Occasionally they're not, but usually they are, and
the strike team leader kind of their job to sit
down or just have a conversation with that homeowner, and
we had a team that came out and did a
(14:08):
site survey, but that strike team leader is going to
have a little more in depth conversation with a homeowner
and get their story. So that Strike team leader has
a tough job because that's the emotional side. What items
are they looking for? Because one of the things that
separates us from some other spontaneous volunteers or other organizations,
(14:30):
and not saying that they don't do it, I'm just
saying I know that we do is taking that extra
time to say, hey, is there anything that you're like
looking for that you haven't found? And there could be
well I'm missing my jewelry that my grandmother gave me
or my husband's uniform from World War Two, I haven't
(14:52):
found it yet. And so our Gray Shirts really take
pride in working hard for the home owners to make
sure that not only are we getting them into a
space and into a place where they can start to rebuild,
but to help them capture some of those moments of
(15:15):
their past, some of their mementos and history. I can't
even tell you how many times I've been on an
operation where there was someone who's son or husband or
wife was a previous service member and their uniform was
almost destroyed, and our Gray Shirts on the ground take
(15:37):
those uniforms, go find the closest laundromat, have them restored,
and then present them back to the homeowner. Hundreds of
times have we had flags that have been destroyed by
storms that we have replaced or spent that extra time
to clean ourselves and rehand back to homeowners. And it's
(16:03):
moments like that throughout the day when you're working out
in the field that build an overall operational sense.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
My goodness, that's so meaningful. Yes, I didn't know how
personal it got. Absolutely to have someone look you in
the eye when you're going through something terrible, to say,
what can I do? I see you, I want to
do something.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
And it's life changing you for both. It's not just
the homeowner, but the Gray Shirts. When we look at
our population of Gray Shirts, and you know they talk
about seventy percent or veterans, another twenty percent our first responders,
and another ten percent or kick ass civilians.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Just yeah, we go, yeah, I love it.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
But when you think about that seventy percent of veterans,
and then you consider the mental health aspect of a
large percentage of that seventy percent and where are they
and what brought them to Team Rubicon. Moments like this
(17:11):
can be cathartic and healing and powerful for both sides
of the house. And it's very important.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Once you put the gray shirt on, you're never alone again.
You always have a battle buddy that you can reach
out to, or that you've been on an operation with
that's going to reach out to you. Loneliness is an
issue in our country. We're here to combat loneliness. We're
here to give you a sense of community. We know
the tragedy which is veteran suicide, and we're not a
(17:42):
veteran service organization, but we work really really closely with
the veteran service organizations and that ability to continue that
service and to continue to put on a uniform, albeit different,
that can mean a lot. And then when you start
sharing your story and hearing other stories, you quickly realize, hey,
this isn't just me. I'm not alone in this. And
(18:05):
you know, I think that's a big takeaway of being
a Gray Shirt.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
That is so beautiful, Jeff, And with so many gray
shirts being veterans, Team Rubicon is really connecting people and
combating loneliness, like you said, and you mentioned you had
like two hundred thousand volunteers. How do you guys handle that?
How does this go on a daily basis?
Speaker 2 (18:26):
That's a great question. I still had to figured it out.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
I know I'm feeling overwhelmed for you. Okay, that's what
I'm trying to say. How can you do it?
Speaker 2 (18:35):
We have our operations Associates, which are full time staff
and they may manage two to three states depending on
the size of gray shirts, the amount of activity, and
then a layer under that, it's really our secret sauce
and they're the backbone of Team Rubicon. We have volunteer leaders,
and these are individuals that give anywhere from forty to
forty plus hours a week to the organization and really
(18:59):
run a lot lot of our functions and our mentors
to newer volunteers. One of the questions I get a
lot is you know, I'm so sorry I hadn't been
able to deploy, And I always say, hey, don't worry
about that. That time will come, and when it does,
we appreciate it. But we know you're on the bus,
so to speak. So the two hundred thousand aren't always active,
but it's a lot of energy that we can bring
(19:19):
to bear in certain situations.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Yeah, you were listing that list, I'm thinking, I don't know.
My back kind of hurts, my knees kind of hurt.
But it sounds like you've got a tough group of
people going in there. Okay, So it sounds to me
like your volunteers are pretty spectacular people. What makes a
gray shirt.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
I'd say, first of all, commitment, commitment to serve others,
Commitment to, you know, do the hard things when others
may not be willing to do that. The other and
this was one of our cultural principles as adults only.
We put a lot of different people out in dangerous situations.
Anytime you have a chainsaw, it can be dangerous. Anytime
you're running at the equipment, it can be dangerous.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
I tell my husband that every time he's in the yard, guy,
this is dangerous.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
So, you know, we trust our volunteers, and part of
that trust is being an adult making sure that you're
taking care of those that you're in charge of taking
care of. And you know, it truly is a team,
whether you've been on the team ten years or this
is your first deployment.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
That's what it feels like. It feels like once you're
in it, you are in it. But what happens if
someone comes in a different colored shirt? Do you just
immediately kick them right out? There are no orange shirts here? Okay,
if it's great, only.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
That's funny, we may you know, get him to change
shirts in a minute. But one of the biggest challenges
after a disaster that that community's face and we saw it.
I saw in the biggest scale that I've seen it
in my career was after the devastating floods on July
fourth down in the Hill Country of Texas. Tremendous, you know, damnage.
(20:57):
But when you anytime you have a loss of life,
the emotions are really really heavy. And when you have
a loss of life of children, that gets the whole
machine running towards that area. And that happened in the
Hill Country. But you have a sea of goodwill, so
you know, you may have thousands of really good intended
folks that want to come out and just self volunteer.
It sounds great, but logistically, if you don't have enough
(21:21):
food in the community for survivors, how are you going
to feed and fuel? And somebody gets hurt, you know,
just it really can compound the disaster. So one of
the skill sets that we have is we can help
communities task organize and make that volunteer experience as impactful
as possible. You know, it's really hard to turn somebody
down when they're wanting to donate their time. And so
(21:43):
that's one area. And then where can we be forced multipliers.
If I can have a gray shirt that's organizing and
leading ten volunteers, I can spread that around and we
can get one hundred folks working, or one hundred and
fifty folks working. But a disaster survivor and this is
just an example, you know, Jen, if your home's hit,
you may need one hundred of different things. You may
(22:04):
need legal services or some of the social services that
we don't provide. So we always want to bring partners
with us. We may only can do ten things, but
if we know who can do those other ninety things,
they're welcome. It's a one team, one fight mentality. Disaster
recovery is not an individual sport by any means. Now,
we think we do it well, but we want to
partner with others that may have skills that we don't have.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Yeah, I love that you got to bring everybody together.
Is there something that you have had happen to you
out on the field, something specific that has really shaped
your life or meant something maybe more than others for
some reason, or just a specific moment that's stuck with you.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
I want to preface this by saying that I am
almost always on command and general staff, so I'm the
gray Shirt that's helping the Gray Shirts get out into
the field.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Right.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
So, for me, my most incredible moments have been when
Gray Shirts have come back to me and said, I
got to have this moment because you made it possible
for me to be out there. I was out on
an op in Louisiana. For me, I take it very personally.
(23:22):
I want our Gray Shirts to have the best experience
that they possibly can. And we were the first wave,
so we had no electricity other than generators. We didn't
have air conditioning. So we're talking Louisiana in the summer.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
So hot, So I know, so hot.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Oh it was so bad, you know.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
I went around, I took everyone's lunch order. Hey, do
you want a peanut butter and jelly sandwnch, do you
want a turkey sand? You know, what do you want?
And so I packed all of their lunches and then
I took a cue from my mom and I wrote
everybody a note on a napkin and I stuck it
in that lunch bag. And at the end of the day,
(24:01):
I didn't say anything to anyone. I just packed their lunch,
put their name on it, and gave it to the
strike team. The end of the day, one of our
Gray Shirts came up to me and said, Jen, you
made me cry today and I was like, I'm sorry,
that was not my plan. And he said to me, no,
(24:22):
what you did that note? When I opened up my
lunch out in the field, that note that you wrote
to me with my name on it meant so much
more than you can possibly imagine.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
And so.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
That was my way of giving them something. And I
know that our Gray Shirts go out and do that
every day on every operation, to every homeowner.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Amazing, Jen and Jeff, how do you guys decide where
to go?
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Well, we let the need side And when I say need,
you know, we have disasters in our country and in
the globe you know, daily, and we want to be
at all of them. But what we look for and
where we do Our work is really in the vulnerable communities.
We look at factors like social vulnerability. Where is the
highest social vulnerability index? We look at insurance. We generally
(25:21):
work on those that don't have insurance, are under insured.
And you know, the data will show if you don't
have the safety nets that a lot of people have
and a disaster hits, you're going to spiral downwards quicker
than anybody else. And the spiral upwards is almost non existence.
Thirty two percent of our country does not have five
(25:41):
hundred dollars for an emergency account, so you know the
need's going to be there. But that's what that's some
of the factors that we look for when we talk
about individual homes. But everybody's in need in the immediate
aftermass of a disaster, So we want to get in
and help the community's clear roads so that the firefighters
and first respond can get to need and the disaster
(26:02):
survivors can get to the resources that are available to them.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
You're helping before and after a disaster, too, Isn't that true?
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Right? That's true. Most of our work before is around
the mitigation space, and the best disaster response you can
have is no response because you've mitigated the hazard. So
that's what our goal is there. And then just community
engagement doing service projects. It's about knowing the communities we're
in and supporting their needs, not just in times of disasters.
(26:32):
The more we can have our Gray Shirts together, the
more of a local team we form and they can
be there when it's needed after a disaster.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Do you notice like a change in the Gray Shirts
from when they start? Do you see changes in people?
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Absolutely unimaginable change. You see big gruff guys that go
out in the morning on their first operation and they
come back at the end of the day and they
sit down at what we call campfire. And at the
end of the day when everyone comes back, the strike
team leaders go and they give the report. But at
the end of the day, after dinner, we do what
(27:09):
we cause campfire. And this was started by Jake Wood
and the other eight people that went to Haiti in
twenty ten, and it's a way for our Gray Shirts
to decompress, to talk about what they saw that day,
to talk about what they experienced. So you get girl.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
God, It goes out on his first deployment and he's
going to kick ass and he comes back at the
end of the day and he's like, I just hugged
this little old lady for ten minutes today because she
just needed a hug.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
That's so nice. It's so nice.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
And you see that, you hear that, You hear those changes,
and it's not like a one off. It happens every
day over and over. You get first responders who have
seen things, seen the stuff, and they come back and
they're in tears because they got to save a flag,
(28:09):
they got to help someone who is experienced the worst
day of their lives.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
You know, I think about first responders. They've seen everything,
and sometimes even though they're the ones first responding, there
are things that are just so out of their hands
and this can be something that they can, you know,
so tangible, can complete and do such good. I love that.
So tell us about that really good part when you
get to, you know, hand a homeowner back their keys,
(28:39):
or you've finished whatever project you're working on. Tell us
what that's like.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
So at the end of the day, when we walk
away from a house and we leave it what we
call tr clean, where there's not nails sticking out of
two by fours and there's not dirt and dust on
the ground and you go to the homeowner and you're like, hey,
can we walk through the house together and I can
show you what we accomplished, give you some tips, and
(29:07):
you walk outside and you take a picture with your
entire strike team and the homeowner and you know that
you did the very best that you could do for
them to get them to the next step. It's just
an amazing feeling. Yeah, it has to be, and that's
(29:28):
one of the reasons why our gray shirts keep coming
back because it's kind of a high, you know. It's
a little bit of that and that feeling of accomplishment,
just that yeah, how I did that. I help them,
They're ready to move forward, and that's a good feeling.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
Yeah, people come back over and over again.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
It sounds like we have people who will literally take
their vacation from work just to deploy.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
So yes, yeah, you know, I've been thinking about you
guys as I've learned about you and was preparing to
talk to you, and I kept coming back to this
idea that like, you're in these terrible I'm getting emotional.
You're in these disasters right and people are suffering, and
you'd think, oh, I'm going into help. It would be
(30:19):
just sad all the time. But I feel from you
and from this organization that there is joy somehow to
be found here.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
Absolutely. Anyone that knows me personally knows my tagline on
my email on everything is choose Joy.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
So for me, yes, absolutely, because we help people see hope,
We help people see a light at the end of
the tunnel.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
It might be long.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
And that's the thing that people oftentimes don't understand is
recovery is not quick. It's not going to happen in
a week. It's not going to happen in two weeks.
It could be a year. But we give just that
nugget of hope and that little bit of joy and
that hug and that helping other people. And for some
(31:18):
of our great shirts, it's during a time when they
need help and by helping others, it helps them. And
so it's a two way street.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
You know. Our show is called the Ripple Effect, and
we're looking for these moments, these opportunities people like you
who are creating these ripples. So can you talk to
me a little bit about some of the transformations you've
seen during this experience?
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Sure, and I can give you, you know, I'll give you
a personal story.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
I'd love that.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
I worked for a number of years for the State
of Alabama and the Emergency Management Agency there, and Alabama
is a great state, but it gets hit with a
lot of disaster, so you know, a lot of experience there.
I got appointed to FEMA in twenty seventeen as the
Associate Administrator for Response and Recovery. Pretty big position, a
big step. Moved the family to d C. Did that experience,
(32:13):
but my time at Alabama, my time in FEMA, definitely.
In twenty seventeen, we had Harvey, Irma Maria, three big storms.
I probably bought a million blue tarps, as much as
we could buy. Right fast forward to Hurricane Laura, and
I was in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and I was with
some Gray shirts and I was new but had an
(32:34):
opportunity to get on a roof and put a blue
tarp on the roof with a crew. And I was
up there and it dawned on me, and I mean
it hit me like a ton of bricks and actually
got emotional. But I had never put a blue tarp
on a roof. I had done all that, but I've
never been able to do that. Last mile logistics so
it transformed me. Then that day stuck with me to
(32:56):
this day. It still motivates me to do that extra
mile for Team Rubicon. And it's really camaraderie and family.
You know, if you ask about a gray Shirt, you
know you're never alone in life. You've got fellow Gray
Shirts that have been through experiences, that may have lived
your experience, that can help you through that.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
That gives extra meaning to gray shirt right then and there.
I mean, that's so cool, a different kind of uniform,
right and I see that in what you're talking about,
how these ripple effects are rippling to everybody, not just
the people you're helping. Absolutely, your veterans and your Gray
Shirts are having their lives changed too. How have you
(33:36):
seen Team Rubicon and the Gray Shirts change a community?
Speaker 3 (33:42):
Talk a little bit about the flooding that just happened
here in Texas, July fourth flooding, And just to really
paint a picture for you, I'm driving into Hunt, Texas,
which is where Camp Mystic is. We we were able
to get into the Hunt Independent School District, into their
(34:06):
middle school. They welcomed us in, they let us stay there.
We had our Ford operating base out of the cafeteria.
We had tents out on the backfield where our Gray
Shirts stayed on cots. And one example of how we
know that we made an impact on this community is
(34:28):
as they are getting ready to leave, about two and
a half weeks after we first started, the vice principal
of the school is talking to a group of people
outside and one of our Gray Shirts walks by and
she says, that's Team Rubicon. Those are our people. I'll
(34:50):
tell you, I just did a conference panel. I just
came back yesterday actually, and I was in the airport
shuttle on my way back to the airport and the
driver was like, so, you know, why are you here
visiting Oklahoma City? And I said, I was here for
a legal aid conference. They wanted to talk about disaster preparedness.
(35:11):
And he's like, oh, well, who are you with And
I said, oh, I'm with Team Rubicon. He said, Team Rubicon.
I love Team Rubicon.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
They helped my.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
Community a few years ago after a tornado, and I went, yay,
I'm so glad we were able to do that.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
You know what I love about what you said that
they remember you, that you're there people, human connection with others,
right absolutely, You guys go in and you help, and
you're making these just deep connections so that well, I'm
speaking for you here, but it seems like you really
love these.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
People absolutely, And I love.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
That connection because I just think we need more of
it so that when we hear about other people, we're
more forgiving, we're more understanding, we're more ready to jump
in and help. And I think I feel that from you.
I feel like you have found your calling, Jen. I
think you're right in these moments of disaster, whether it's
(36:02):
the people who you're helping or the Gray Shirts themselves.
When I say that word resilience, what do you think
of and what does it look like?
Speaker 2 (36:10):
Resilience can mean a million things, but from the individual
Gray Shirt, it's the ability to see a problem and
realize that you may not solve it on day one,
but if you're resilient, you're going to get after it
on day two because the problem has to be solved.
Speaker 3 (36:25):
I did want to say one of my favorite things
about Team Rubicon is that we do this without boundaries,
Like we don't care who you are, we don't care
who you vote for, we don't care what color you are,
we don't care who you live with. None of those
things matter, and all of the gray shirts go into
it knowing that and exuding that from their very being,
(36:49):
because you think about with you know, over two hundred
thousand gray shirts on the books. We are a microcosm
of society, and so there are people from all sites
and to be able to come together for this shared cause,
to help this community and this community and this community.
(37:09):
It doesn't matter which community is. We are there and
we want to help them.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Then something else I think we all need to embrace
more of is just we're all different, but we all
need and want similar things. So why can't we just
dive in and help? It doesn't matter. And I just
feel like I need a gray shirt. Got to get
my hands on this fashion, this gray shirt fashion here. Okay,
make sure you put your name on it. If you
(37:35):
don't put your the name of your choosing on there,
someone else will give you a nickname.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
And I can't promise you'll like it.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
Oh, I don't know. That's tempting.
Speaker 3 (37:45):
There are some interesting nicknames out there, for sure.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
I'm curious for those of us maybe who aren't involved
as much, what is like a misconception about disaster response
that you think is out there and maybe we clear
it up, or what's something that you could tell us
that maybe we don't know.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
You know, a misconception about Team Rubicon is that you know,
you have to know how to operate a chain saw,
and no, we've got finance volunteers, We've got Command of
general staff, volunteers. I am the world's worst in a
change saw. And the volunteers will tell you that, they're like,
don't give Jeff the change solis. Let him, you know,
pick up wood on a larger scale. I tell my
team this all the time. We are in the people business.
(38:27):
We're not in the disaster response business. So I think that,
you know, a misconception is it's a bunch of equipment
and process and technique, and it is, but it's, end
of the day, it's about the people.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
As I've learned more about what Team Rubicon does, it's
like it's so personal. There is such a connection to
the gray Shirts and the people they're serving, And I
didn't realize that. What is it like when you see
the work working, when you see things really happening, It
must be hard to leave, is it.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
It can be hard to leave. But what we try
to leave behind is new gray shirts. You know, how
do we leave a community and now they have fifteen
new gray shirts that are carrying that forward. That's the
real goal. Our secret sauce is always going to be
our volunteers. I mean, there's certain things at my level
that I'm cued in on. Right, do we get everybody
there safely? Did we leave with the same amount we
started with? That's that's the it's important, got to make
(39:21):
sure we lock those down. But when we see the
work that's being done, and we see and here are
testimonials from our disaster survivors or communities we worked in,
it just validates that what we do matters. What we
do matters, and sure somebody else could do that, but
you know, could they do it as efficient? Could they
do it with as much focus on the volunteers. Our
(39:43):
clients are disaster survivors. Our means by which we serve them,
which are just as important, are our gray shirts. And
it's really three simple rules we live by. Take care
of the disaster survivor, which is our good job. Take
care of those that's supporting and doing the work that's
taking care or the disaster survivor. That's a gray shirt,
And rule number three. You see rule number one, So
(40:05):
you just keep repeating that and repeating it. Yeah, yeah,
and it works.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
Yeah, right there, I see the ripple effect. Right. You said,
our goal is to make more gray Shirts so that
when the next thing comes, you have another group of
people ready to jump in. And how powerful would it be,
after you've been served by the Gray Shirts to then
be able to put on that uniform and do the
same for someone else. I mean, that's what we're going for.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
What brings you back every day to do this job,
What keeps you going.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
What keeps me going is knowing that my small contribution
to the team is a piece of the larger wheel
that supports our Gray Shirts on the ground. We say this, look,
we'll do the suck so they can have the awesomeness.
I obviously help lead our operations, but we have a
long term recovery program that does longer term rebuilds, and
(41:02):
we started a workforce development program. So if you're a
volunteer and you've never picked up a chainsaw and you say, hey,
look I really want to learn how to do that,
we don't let just anybody pick them up. We have
a certified training program that's built off the for service.
But you can go all the way from just basic
chainsaw to teaching.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
The class goodness.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
So you know, I always say, look, there's skills you
can learn from Team Rubicon that won't cost you a thing,
and it can help you help others down the road
that you know you may never know. So we've got
to continue to put that in because I want our
gray Shirts that are giving up their time, leaving their homes,
going to somewhere, meeting folks they don't know, forming a team,
(41:42):
and then doing good work. I want them to have
that awesomeness and we'll do the you know, the back
office stuff that needs to be done. It has to
be done. But you're ready to join. I mean we
can get you. You know, Team Rubicon USA dot org.
You can ready to go quick.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
Oh my gosh, watch out world, watch out, watch out world.
I'm learning how to use a chainsaw. My husband will
be so scared. Everyone should be scared. But I got
to know. Okay, tell us how we can get involved.
I need to get a gray shirt because I want
to get a nickname. I've been told that you guys
give each other nicknames, and I'm very excited about that.
Speaker 2 (42:19):
Okay, that's uh. There's a lot of banner back and forth.
So you know, the best way to learn about Team
Rubicon is Team Rubicon USA dot or or gets our website.
There's two things that fuel our mission, the Gray Shirts,
and that means you've got to have a commitment of
time and you want to step into that. If you're
not there yet, you know, a dollar goes a long way,
and I can assure you it's going in the right
(42:40):
places to help the right people. The Team Rubicon USA
dot org.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
Okay, we're going to have all that info for everybody,
but I love that you guys are so careful. You know,
if we donate, we know it's going to this great cause.
And I appreciate that so much. Thanks so much for
chatting with me.
Speaker 2 (42:57):
Oh, thank you for having us. It's been a joy.
And again it's a great to be a Gray Shirt.
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (43:02):
And last but not LEASTJSD.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
Get stuff done. Get it done, Yes, get it done.
Oh my goodness, what a conversation. I don't know about you,
but I'm feeling kind of like humbled a little bit,
but also ready to go lift something heavy. I kind
(43:24):
of want to prove myself here. Team Rubicon is proof
that even in chaos, kindness shows up and they're usually
wearing a gray shirt and a headlamb. If you want
to be part of that ripple, you should head to
Team REUBICONUSA dot org. You can volunteer, you can donate,
or you can just learn more about how they turn
heartbreak into hope. It's amazing, guys. I honestly I like,
(43:48):
I feel jazzed. I feel like I could do something great.
And by the way, if you do join Team Rubicon,
you gotta tell me your nickname. I gotta know. And
also what would my nickname be? Keemix snackface Jennikkim Please
don't ever do that again, missus. You're still holding that
hammer incorrectly. I don't know about you, but I am
(44:11):
grateful for Team Rubicon and all the things they're doing.
And also, guys, don't forget to let us know what
you're up to. All right, are you causing any ripples
out there? Please let us know. Use the hashtag ripple
effect tag me at jenik Kim Jones. We want to
know what you're up to. And then lastly, I know
I'm telling you you got to do a lot of things,
but stay with me, and next time on the Ripple Effect,
(44:34):
we're going to be talking vending machines, but not just
your standard vending machines. These are different and they're changing lives,
so you're going to want to tune in for that.
Don't miss it.
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