January 6, 2026 • 49 mins
In this episode of The Ripple Effect, Jenna Kim Jones dives into Cougs Care—a program that turns football tailgates into service projects. Football season usually means rivalries, trash talk, and a lot of yelling. But BYU Alumni leaders Michael Johanson and Kim Marsh share how fans across the country are collecting food, coats, shoes, and books before kickoff, transforming competition into community. From a massive book drive in Texas to unexpected friendships between rival fan bases, this conversation proves that kindness travels just as well as a football team.
Find out more and make your own ripple from BYU’s Cougs Care.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, I'm Jennikim Jones and welcome back to The Ripple Effect,
the podcast that proves one small act can change everything,
even in the middle of a very loud, very chaotic,
and very territorial football season. Now, I love football. Why
(00:31):
are you laughing? I love football? Don't I sound like
I am a giant football fan. Go team Go. Here's
the deal. I do love football. There are things about
it I don't understand. For example, the kickoff. What's going
on there?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
You guys?
Speaker 1 (00:45):
The team kicks the ball, and then sometimes the team
who kicks the ball gets the ball, and then sometimes
the other team gets it. But if it bounces in
the wrong place, then nobody gets it. I don't get it.
My husband's explained it to me a thousand times. It
makes no sense. But I do love football for a
lot of other reasons. I love the sound of football.
I love that it's in the fall. I love the
spring in my husband's step when all of his teams
(01:07):
are back. It's great. Oh, I can't forget to mention
the snacks. Football snacks.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
They're epic.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
We got chicken wings and all the dips and chips.
It's a beautiful, beautiful thing. And I don't totally understand
the college football experience because my college football experience was
basically nonexistent. I went to NYU. Our mascot were the
fighting Violets. Okay, there's nothing intimidating about that. We didn't
(01:36):
have tailgates. We had poetry slams at cafes, and rivalries
were more like, oh, your experimental theater troupe offended me.
We were doing dance fights and monologue wars. So I
don't know a lot about football. Imagine my delight when
I learned about a group of football fans who are
doing tailgating so differently, like radically differently. Instead of picking fights,
(01:58):
they're picking up donations. Instead of trash talk, they're giving back.
I'm talking about Koog's Care. It's a program of the
BYU Alumni Association that turns tailgates into service projects. Let
me explain. When BYU goes to an away game, local
alumni chapters set up these amazing tailgates all the wash
in BYU Blue. They've got everything. It's food, entertainment, the
(02:20):
cheerleaders doing the fight song, and they also have a
service project attached to each one. That service project benefits
the away game community that's right BYU does service projects
for their rivals, and football can be so I don't know, aggressive,
So that's what makes these so unique. They're injecting camaraderie
(02:40):
into that competitive, tense atmosphere because after all, we're just
people with a lot in common. I mean, for goodness sakes,
we both love football at the very least. Since twenty nineteen,
they've been collecting food, books, shoes, art, supplies, you name
(03:01):
it from the very communities they visit during football season.
Over thirteen thousand tailgate attendees just last year, thousands of
donated items, five thousand pounds of food, all powered by
volunteers across the country. Today, we're talking with two of
the amazing humans behind it. First we've got Michael Johansson,
the big picture guy. Then we'll meet Kim Walsh, who's
(03:22):
basically the on the ground quarterback. See what I did there,
I threw football into this. She's basically the on the
ground quarterback for these tailgates. She and her Texas BYU
alumni chapter have created this beautiful, joyful, unexpectedly wholesome atmosphere
where rivals come together to help their neighbors. So grab
(03:42):
your team colors, your foam finger, your hopefully clean jersey,
and let's get our tailgate vibes flowing. This is Koog's
Care Kim.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
It is so nice to meet you. We share a name.
I know it's a privileged kindred spirit here.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
It's so good to have you on the podcast. Thank
you so much for joining us.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Thank you. I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Well, we're really excited to have you because I know
that you're really in the nitty gritty of it all,
and I'm so excited to learn more. But let's just start.
Let's get a little background on you. You are a
BYU cougar.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Absolutely bleed blue.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Okay, you bleed blue? Got it?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I love it? I love I love it.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
But you don't live near BYU anymore. No, you're in Texas.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Okay. We live in Lubbock.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Lubbock, Okay, so you're down in Lubbock, and tell me
what the BYU alumni community is like.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Where you're at in Texas. Yeah, so overall there's over
like five hundred thousand BYU alumni. There's over eighteen thousand
in Texas, and there's only one hundred and ninety four
in Lubbock. So, okay, we are very small, small but
mighty small but very mighty, and we are passionate and
that is that is very true. Lubbock's about three hundred
(05:01):
and fifty thousand people and most of it is Texas
Tech affiliated. So yeah, we're definitely in the minority. And
like my kids, they're the only ones that were BYU
to school on college Day and they always rep the y,
which I love. When BYU joined the Big Twelve, we
were like, Okay, well that means BYU is going to
be coming to Lubbock because they're going to start playing Tech.
(05:23):
And that's what made us kind of want to start
our chapter and have a presence here.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Oh okay, so there's a little bit of history there. Okay,
that's cool. So how did you decide to get involved
with Koug's care.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
When we started our chapter. Back when we joined the
Big Twelve and we started our BYU Alumni Lubbic chapter,
we knew that we would be hosting a tailgate honestly
every few years and whenever BYU would come and play
at Tech. We knew a couple of years before that
they'd be coming in twenty twenty five, and we were like,
all right, let's start just thinking about ideas and let's
connect to different service organizations and see who's going to
(05:57):
have a need. Kug's Care has been going on twenty nineteen,
and we knew it was going to be a part
of our tailgate.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
I cannot wait to hear more about that, Kim. But
first let's bring Michael in here. I want to hear
how this whole Koog's Care program got started. Hi, Michael,
it is so nice to me too. I really appreciate
you talking to us. I'm so excited to hear your story.
And I think we should just dive right in. Let's
go so BYU, you're known for good educational institution, and
(06:27):
you do research, and you've done all these great things,
but there's more to BYU. It sounds like, and can
you kind of tell us what that is?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
For sure? For sure? And this is where I get
really excited about talking about this. At the front of
our campus and the front of all of our campuses,
in fact, there's a sign that says enit a learn
and go forth to serve. The end of to learn
part is for all of our students who we love
and adore and we cherish them. That ended to learn
piece is really really important for that specific amount of
(06:55):
time when those students are engaged actively in that intensive
educational experience. The go forth to serve is our job.
From an alumni perspective, the go forth to serve is
really the foundation for everything that we do. You know
a lot of alumni organizations are focused on finding more donations,
(07:16):
getting that kind of engagement. We definitely want that to happen. However,
our currency is service and mentoring. Our currency is relationships,
our currency as people, and so go forth to serve
is really really important and that's really the framework for
what Kooch's care became.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
That's so cool because I did not go to BYU
and the school I would choose a great school, But
I don't know that there is this sort of camaraderie
that exists. I do get phone calls about giving donations,
but other than that, I'm not sure there's I'm sure
there's something, but I love the idea that it continues. Right,
you come and you get your education, but then you
go forth. What was it, go forth to serve? And
(07:57):
so you you know, it continues. It's taking that education
and then going and doing something. I think that's really cool.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
You have the enter to learn for you know, four years,
or if you're ongoing, it's eight years, or however many
years it is. But you're going forth to serve for
the rest of the journey, right right, and we believe
that journey goes beyond even now. So why not make
the most of it and have a little bit of
fun and make a difference while you're doing it.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Let's get to some of this fun part, right, this tailgating.
How did the Koog's tailgates get started? Whose idea was that?
And what's it like? What does it become?
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Well? Whose idea it's? I mean, I could give you
a list of people who were inspired to put this together,
but really we point it back to twenty nineteen where
we had tailgates. We were gathering like everybody else. We
were gathering together ahead of football games when we're on
the road, and so tailgating was a thing. We did
not invent tailgates.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
You know what I want. I'm glad you made that clear,
because we don't want anybody riding us saying, hey, now
wait a minute.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
So we were doing the thing, you know, we were
doing that thing. We also didn't invent service, but we
are pre wired and pre programmed to serve. The going
forth to serve is something that is part of our
DNA at the university. And so in twenty nineteen, we're
playing the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and there was
going to be a big, big gathering there right outside
(09:20):
that historic stadium. We're going to play this wonderful team.
And the organizers there name drop here, Seth killing Beeck
was our chapter leader at that point. As on a side,
he's currently our president elect for the Alumni Association. So
he's been involved for many, many years and is a
fantastic fan. But he had a vision and his group
had a vision to do a service project. It was
(09:41):
in the winter time and so they did a coat
drive as part of this gathering for a local charity.
It was a relationship that they had because our chapters
and our people, our alumni live in the communities and
so you know, that's one of the funny things about
BYU is that when we go on the road, a
lot of people say, wow, you travel really well. And
the answer to that question as well, we actually don't.
(10:02):
These are the people who are your neighbors. They're the
people who you go shopping with, they're serving on a
school board with you, your kids are playing together. And
so that's the magic really of Koch's Care, why it
works is that it's localized. So in twenty nineteen we thought,
well that worked out really well, let's see what happens
in twenty twenty. Well, we know what happens in twenty twenty.
We didn't have a season.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Nothing happened in twenty twenty, got it.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
But really what happened we actually, even with no fans
in the stands. In twenty twenty and twenty twenty one,
as it was coming back into play, we still had
two or three Kukscare projects. They weren't called Kuk'scare at
the time, but we had drop offs in Boise State.
We had people bringing canned food donations at a couple
of different places. And then twenty two we thought, okay, this,
(10:47):
we're going to have people here, We're going to get
back into the gathering. And then twenty three we just
hit it. Every single game in twenty four, same, twenty
five off the charts. Every single one was a massive
gathering with a really really great project. We started calling
it Koog's Care got a little logo to go with
it so that people could start recognizing it, and it
(11:08):
just kind of took off, and it's been so much fun. Jenna,
it's been so much fun to see people get engaged
in a different way that blasts more than a football game.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Speaking of things lasting a long long time, Kim, tell
me about planning your tailgate. When did you start?
Speaker 2 (11:25):
We joke because I started planning it in January and
the party was in November, so I was like, this
is my BUYU baby, it's like nine months.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Yeah, Oh my god, you did it.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
You did it well. How did it go?
Speaker 1 (11:37):
How was your baby?
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Oh? It was incredible. So b YU give so much support.
The actual alumni organization gives so much support to their
local chapters. I had a Zoom conference with someone in Provo,
Curtis Isaac, who spearheads everything, and he's incredible. He emailed
us a twenty six page handbook of here's how you
do this successfully and start your committees. It started greatvolunteers
(12:00):
and start looking for a venue and for t shirts
and for food and all of the moving parts, and
then get connected to a service organization for your Kooch's
Care Project. The actual day of we had about four
hundred people signed up to come, and we estimated that
it was about twelve hundred people that actually came to
the party. Yeah, and it was Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Yeah wait, so were you prepared for that?
Speaker 2 (12:24):
You know, we made it work so we only had
food for the people that preregistered for food. Everyone else
could come and just join the party.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Great.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
We had they're inflatables. There's like giveaways, there's t shirts.
We had a merch shop where people could buy BYU swag.
We had popcorn and cougar tails like all these fun
things to give away. So it was awesome. It was
so much fun.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Okay, wait, what's a cougar tail? You have to tell
everyone what a cougartail is.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
A cougartail is the elite snack at BYU. It's like
a fourteen inch maple donut and it's anyway, it is
like a maple bar, like a maple bar. Like, oh
my gosh, you guys, imagine this. PYU knows what they're doing.
That's the greatest.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Snack of all time.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
I know, we've got I mean, if you go to Provo,
they got mint brownies. They've got cookies and cream chuckolate milk,
and they've got cougartails and that's what we wanted to
bring forth in Texas.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Of course. Yeah, well everything's bigger in Texas, right, that's
you got to like come prepared.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
It's true.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
That is amazing. So you had twelve hundred people that
is wild. Talk to me about what the service project
was in Lubbock and how that went.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Yeah, we decided to sponsor Literacy Lubbock, which is a
fantastic nonprofit here in town that they do everything from
toddler story times at the libraries and then they do
ged and esl classes for adults. They help people get educated.
Their goal is to hand out eight thousand books a
year and they want to get books into the hands
of people because they know once a book is in
(13:55):
your home, like you can read it, you can love it.
And when I was at BUYU studied elementary vcation, became
a teacher love that. As a mom, I'm seeing my
kids read all the time, and I just feel like
there's no greater gift than literacy. And so also as
a university representing the idea of let's learn right, we
(14:16):
hope this is this is just awesome. Let's let's support
literacy Lubbock. And so I was able to connect with
the Lubbock chapter president for Texas Tech and I kind
of told him my idea. I said, hey, b why
he does these at away games. We would love to
get you guys involved too. And to my knowledge, it's
the first time that this is this partnership has happened
in a kookscare project where the hosting alumni has said, yeah,
(14:39):
we want to we want to collaborate with you. I
was like, this is fantastic. So I talked with him.
He's like, We're going to make this a week long thing.
Let's do drop sites around town. We're going to have
one at a pizza parlor. And I was like, I
know Crumble, Like, let's let's host on at Crumble. Like,
let's have different places where people can drop off books,
you know, get some swag from either of tea or whatever,
(15:01):
and let's make this awesome. All of the screens throughout campus,
through the dorms, through the buildings that said, here's our
flyer BYU and Texas Tech are working together for a
book drive to support literacy. Lebic and I just loved that.
I loved that students were seeing BYU next to Texas
Tech with the word combined and service, and I was like,
this is so cool, Like all throughout the week on
(15:23):
the most hyped game of the season right too, like
two ranked teams, like this is this is a hype.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
That's huge thing.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
And Texas Tech fans are so passionate, they are they
are all in, and they kind of love being the
villains sometimes they I've heard this from many Texas Tech alumni.
We kind of like being the villains, and we like
we like ruffle and some feathers. And here we are
working together, showing up doing news drops and things like that,
(15:51):
together side by side, him and his red, me and
my blue and saying, hey, we want a sport literacy
LEVEC together. And the response was amazing. We had over
six three hundred books donated. Oh my gosh, so forty
five hundred donated, eighteen hundred purchase on Amazon for a
(16:11):
total of three hundred and fifty six books.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Give it.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
That's amazing, plus like venmo donations and and we just
sat back and we're like this, this is incredible.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
It is incredible because football is aggressive, it's competitive. It
can be a little mean, a little violent, and yet
you've got these two teams that are having great seasons
coming together and it's just so the opposite of football.
But that's what made it so cool, right, It's just
this like, hey, let's do it together. And I love
(16:43):
that it was a first time that you just had
to call and ask, hey, why not you know, I
mean that's just that one little thing that turned into
look at what you did. Yeah, over six thousand books, Mike.
What else has been going on this season?
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Yeah, this season's been really fun. It's also it's almost
been become sort of a competition. Not a competition, but
like that's been as our local leaders of the in
the Alumni Group Alumni Association know that this project is coming,
they want to have the best project.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Of course, of course, well it is football. There is
that competitive sort of you can't get away from it.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Right, right, I mean, I could tell you every single
one was really really positive. We did a book drive
in Colorado supporting the Family Learning Center at Boulder. We
did what was called Operations Sunnyside Read and Feed, a
book and food drive supporting the Sunnyside Foundation in Tucson, Arizona.
This one I'm particularly proud of is in October of
(17:42):
this year in Iowa State at Ames at Iowa State
and Ames, Iowa. It was a tie to our church's history.
In Iowa, there was this business leader who was not
a member of our church, but he saw these pioneer
people walking across his property and aims and he just
(18:02):
noticed them and he saw them very ill prepared to
do what they were about to do, and he just
had this soft spot in his heart for children specifically,
and he donated pairs of shoes and boots to these
children so that they would be protected in their journey west.
And that was documented in our church's history. And when
(18:26):
it came to selecting a service project, we honored that
gift from one hundred and twenty five one hundred and
seventy five years ago Wow by organizing a chew donation
project for children to honor Charles Good and what he
did for our people. And that was really cool to
see people just come from all over the region with
(18:48):
shoes and they say, we want we want people to
have shoes because Charles Good took care of us. And
then Cincinnati was a code drive that helped support a
group called Cincinnati Cincinnati ANAACP organization throughout the metro Cincinnati
area providing local children with winter coats.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Wow, so you've done kind of a little bit of everything.
But why do this? I mean, tailgates are for the competition, right,
They're for the fun of the game. Why did you
guys want to do this because it is so unusual?
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Well, it is unusual, and like I said earlier, were
we've been given a charge to be different. Just as
an aside, I was in Dallas a couple days ago
and was invited to go participate in the in their
pregame activity, which was very different than ours. But what
I love about one of the interactions that I had
(19:42):
with one of their big fans was she said, I
really want to not like you, but you need to
stop being so nice. It is so hard to not
like you.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
So that's the strategy. You're disarming the competition. Is that
what it is?
Speaker 3 (19:58):
If it needs to come down to strategy, that's it
right there. But bottom line is we don't have a
corner on the market of good in the world. There
is so much good in this world, and this is
an opportunity to be a little bit different. And some
to shine some light on the good that exists in
communities like Lubbock, Texas, sir Ames, Iowa, or Orlando, Florida,
(20:22):
or Boulder, Colorado, or anywhere where our football team goes,
and by extension, hopefully other places will continue to catch
on to this opportunity to do some good that lasts.
And our tagline is connected for good, it means too,
and it is defined in two different areas. Connected for
good meaning the good versus bad. You know, we're connected
(20:43):
for good, we want to do good and we don't
have a corner on that market. But also connected for
good meaning enduring that it's going to last, it's going
to take, it's going to be there after the football
team leaves, after BYU headquarters or Provo influence is heading
out of the at the airport or the train station,
because that's our people still stay there, Our alumni still
(21:06):
stay there, and we want to give them even more
opportunities to serve and to lift and to be proud
of who they are.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Well, I love the idea that it's something that's lasting.
You know, I think at some point the game starts
and somebody wins and somebody loses, and yet there's something
else that the community can take away from the experience.
I'm not saying winning and losing doesn't matter. I get it,
it's important, But I just feel like giving the community
(21:39):
something else on top of whatever happens at the game
is really cool.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
And you're not alone in that. The miracles that happen
after the game is when our fans and friends walk
across the street and go and serve their neighbor. There
are a lot of great things that can happen, and
you know, wheelchair campaigns in Africa and providing thousands and
thousands of pounds of food through massive worldwide organizations, very
(22:09):
very important and very good to be involved in. And
miracles happen every day between the ones, and that's what
we want to create more of an environment for everybody
who touches BYU to know that we love one another.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Right Well, that's I mean, that's what this show is
all about. Right That's why we're talking to you guys,
because it's that one little thing. You know, your neighbors
getting along better, people in the community looking for ways
that they can just do a little bit and then
a little bit more. So that's exactly why we're here. Together.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
I love that, and I love it on two levels.
And one is that there are over six thousand books
that are now going out to the community. That's incredible,
and there are going to be stories there of people
that say, hey, this is the book that helped my
kid want But you also have this idea that while
we usually would be really competitive, and we would usually
look at the other person and say I don't want
(23:07):
to work with you. You're wearing the wrong color, like
you are wearing the opposite jersey right, And instead we're saying, hey,
I like to work with you. Let's do this project together.
And now it's so funny. So a couple stories. Yeah,
this president that I worked with, his name is Chris,
and we started working together. And a couple weeks later,
(23:28):
B why you was playing the Utilians and it's like
the Holy Work game. It's our biggest rivalry. And I
get this text from this guy who we're playing their
team later this season and he just says, Hey, just
want to let you know I changed into my blue shirt.
I'm cheering for you guys today, and I'm like, I
love it. Thank you, Chris will take you. He's like,
that is awesome. I know I'm a Raider, but I'm
(23:49):
wearing blue, and I was like, awesome. Fast forward a
little bit and we start working together and I love this.
The Literacy Lubbic director showed up to our tailgate wearing
purple and she's like, it's both of you. I want
to represent Tech, so I work purple today and I
was like, I love it.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
That is kind of perfect. It wasn't really perfect. Well,
that's what I'm just saying.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
It's like all these little.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Things you're bringing community out, and I love the idea that.
I mean, at the end of the day, you and
Texas Tech, you still want to win the game, absolutely,
but it doesn't really matter because you have friends now
on the opposite team. You you know, there's probably some
more understanding between the two schools. It's just such a
(24:35):
great thing.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Yeah, you know, one thing my husband had said, He's like,
you know, we lost the game, which we did. We
lost pretty terribly, honestly. He's like, but I feel like
BUYU gained something so much more significant and we're really
doing our relationship with Tech and to have it based
on service. So so a couple more things. So after
the after the game, my husband and I got invited
(24:57):
to the Texas Tech Distinguished Alumni which was really unexpected
and really neat. So we sat at a table with
the alumni director that I had worked with, and then
some people I didn't know who didn't know me, and
they start talking about the football season and we're listening
and the guy next to me just goes yeah, and
then there's BYU. Man, you want to hate those guys,
(25:18):
but you can't.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
I was like, do you tell me?
Speaker 2 (25:22):
I said, did you know who why we're here? And
he's like, no, who are you? And I was like,
we're the BYU lobbing chapter chairs and he's like stop, No,
did I just say something embarrassing? I said, you just
let me easdrop on the fact that you loved my school.
So thank you, thank you for that.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
We heard what you said and you can't take it back.
And that has happened in the grocery store. It's happened,
you know, just around town. I have friends that work
at Tech that just said. People talk about BYU now
and they smile when they say BYU and they're like
so excited.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
And there was a game where if they lost, if
Arizona lost, then we were going to go to the
Big Twelve Championship against Tech and so they and their
game was the night before ours. Anyway, they lost, so
we knew we're going to the championship. We're playing Texas Tech.
And immediately I get a text from my friend Chris
who says, hey, is BYU doing anything for the game,
(26:16):
And I said, yeah, They're going to do a cook's
care project and he said, we want in And that
was the first thing he said, is are you doing
an event? Because we went in and I said yeah, absolutely,
And so what we had started in Lubbock continued on
to the Big Twelve Championship in Arlington, and both schools
had tailgates across the parking lot from each other with
a giving machine in the middle, and they were doing
(26:39):
a four pronged service project and people were coming to
donate foods from Red and from Blue. They had both
mascots there, They had both teams there, all supporting Arlington
charities and a couple other charities in Dallas. And I
just thought it was amazing. And I get a text
from my friend at the giving machine. He said, hey,
after working with BA, I would do anything for your
(27:02):
school like I will forever cheer for BYU when you
don't play tech and I can't wait to see us
keep working together, like this has been amazing. And I
mean this guy didn't know a thing about BYU or
and now Harry is like, and this isn't about BYU.
This is about how serving unites people, right, and like
how when you do something for someone else your heart
(27:25):
is softened to them and you feel love and you
feel uplifted. It feels so good exactly. Yeah, I'd love
to share this really cool experience. So rewind the clocks
back to November. Texas Tech has a team barber. He
works with the football team, and his wife was in
a really bad car accident and was hit by a
drunk driver and was in the ICU. They had a
(27:47):
GoFundMe setup so that he could kind of help with
costs of childcare for their sweet three year old and
just help with things. Their goal was twenty five thousand dollars,
and around this time it was sitting at about six
thousand dollars. A BYU fan got hold of this and said,
all right, cougarnation, and immediately different fans started to donate.
(28:07):
This is this is an unorchestrated drive, right, like my
our book drive that was very orchestrated. We had buyers,
we had all these things, and then this organically came
about where good people wanted to help a family and need.
So in a matter of days, this GoFundMe went from
six thousand dollars to one hundred and sixty thousand dollars
(28:32):
and I think I just checked it out. It's now
up to what is it, one hundred and ninety seven
thousand dollars. I have support for this family. And we
go to the game and there people were not allowed
to bring posters into the game, but there was one
male that had a poster and it said thank you
for your support for the Orties family. And it was
(28:53):
the barber and he was standing there just so grateful
for the support that Cougarnation showed to him. And you
read that goalfundme, Man, you're going to cry. It's like
love your neighbor even when they're the opposing team. Like
football is fun, but families are forever. We're sending our
love for BYU. And someone wrote, like, supporting this cause
that makes me feel better even if we lose, so
(29:14):
like and fast forward, we're at our championship playoff game,
and there is a post about a couple that are
BYU alumni. They were unfortunately in a head on collision
the day before Thanksgiving and the husband, Gavin, passed away
on the scene and his wife was put in the ICU.
(29:36):
And there was a Texas Tech Red Raider fan that said, hey,
BYU showed up for text Team Barber this season and
now it's our turn, so let's return the love. And
they put a spotlight on this family and there is
over one hundred and seventeen thousand dollars that have been donated. Wow.
That goalfundme says things like sending persons support from Raider
(29:59):
Nation in and love and light from the Red Raiders,
and we're like sending love from the Big twelve family
at Texas Tech. Like and someone wrote Grade writers support BYU.
And I'm I'm looking at this literally with tears in
my eyes reading these these things and thinking we're fighting
against them for a championship title and here we are,
(30:21):
and people are donating and they're giving, and they're saying,
we are praying for you and your family in this
hard time that you're going through, but we love you
and we want what's best for you. And we want
to help and we want to lift, and it doesn't
exist in any other sports culture. And I'm really hoping
that it just becomes a part of what we do
(30:41):
that you know, you can even say college sports as
a whole. Can you imagine if every college just picked
one game where they did a service project, Yeah, it
would be it would be hundreds of games. It would
be hundreds of right, thousands of things collected to give
back to communities. And yeah, let's make that a part
of our culture. Let's make that a part of who
we are as fans everywhere with an opportunity to help out.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
In my mind, I'm thinking, boy, I hope people are
listening to this and going like, yes, I can do
something like that. And the idea that these schools, I mean,
it would be an easy thing to do. You know,
you have these games, you know it's coming, and honestly,
I kind of feel like it makes the competition a
little more fun. Absolutely, Like you know when you have
a rivalry with a sibling or a friend, and it's
(31:27):
so fun to kind of raz each other and compete,
but at the end of the day, you would do
anything for that person. I mean, to me, it sounds
more fun.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Yeah, yeah, and it was actually really funny. Game week
we shout up to my son had an appointment. So
I go to the school. I'm wearing blue. I wore
blue all week, so I've worn blue and I show
up and they're like, look at you in that shirt
and I was like, yeah, here are you and she goes,
can I tell you I'm like diehard tech fan. I'm
like yeah. She's like, and our family chat is all
(31:56):
about how we don't want to destroy you guys. And
she's like, it feels like a sibling rivalry instead of
like a throat like we're gonna we're going to demolish them.
She's like, there's no hate speech. It's it's just a
sibling rivalry. A sibling rivalry is like so fun, right.
I have five brothers and sisters and we have a
big family. So I'm like, that's the most fun. And
(32:17):
I have four kids and I want them to have fun,
and you know, so.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
I like, I love that idea that like there's just
love there and it doesn't mean we cheer for the
other team. We still want to win, but the love
is there, and I think I would love to see
that go everywhere. So Michael, tell me about the atmosphere
of your tailgates. What are you first? Tell me what
you're like at a tailgate? Okay, are you like the
party animal? Are you at the grill? Are you just
(32:45):
enjoying the food? You're talking football stats? What's what's a
great tailgate for you?
Speaker 3 (32:51):
That's a great question. I'm not at the grill, and
that's probably a really good thing. I love to grill.
But when you have you know, two three four thousand people,
I'm not at the girl.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
You're not sure, I'm out.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
I'm out.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
That's too many.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
So feeding feeding that many people is great a challenge
for sure. You know, the the environment is just high energy.
We focus really quite a lot on the registration experience,
the touch points as people show up, accessibility, bringing family.
It's not a high high touch environment. It's you know,
everybody's welcome, and that's what we want people to to recognize.
(33:28):
And frankly, our hope, my hope is that we get
a whole lot of families that don't end up going
to the football game, and maybe they go to the
football game. Don't let the ticket people know that. I
said that. But if if we get people who can't
afford the game or just want to have that experience
of gathering together. Then we want that experience to and
(33:49):
that's what we're trying to create in that space. A
lot of fandom. We we got We bought a whole
bunch of inflatables that are that are Bayu blue. We
create this this very active environment where you know, kids
can be thrown a football with their parents through an
inflatable piece, they can take a picture on a big chair.
They've got a big archway that enters that people enter
(34:11):
into so you can see it from a distance. We
want them to be close by so that it's part
of the whole game day environment, even for their visiting teams.
We've been so welcomed by so many of these communities
that they see how many people come, They're like, yeah,
please bring your party to us. We want the party
to be right here, because it adds to that that
we've we've received very little resistance to that. And I
(34:36):
just love being with the people and seeing families show up.
And for many people, this is a one time during
the season or even perhaps their life that they get
the opportunity to come and to participate in something like this.
And if we can create that for you know, a
dad or a mom and their seven year old daughter
or son. There's food, there's games.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
You know, the Cosmo is there.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
That's good. That's good.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
And the cheerleaders come and they lead the crowd in the
in the fight song and they do some cheers and
so there's a lot of high energy. Usually the president
of the university makes a stop by uh and and
greets because he wants to see the people gathering and
he's such a huge fan of by U and bo
athletics and he feels so strongly about this and the
(35:24):
opportunities for service as well.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
I feel like I want to come to one.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
You should.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
I know, I'm I I gotta get out to one
of these.
Speaker 3 (35:36):
You just pick one, Jenna, and I will make sure
that you get there.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Well, yes, oh man vi P, that's good.
Speaker 3 (35:43):
You are a VIP.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
So are there times when it's been hard to go
into a community and have this big party and service
project or or has it truly just sort of worked
out for you guys?
Speaker 3 (35:57):
Well, you know, any events planner who may major events
planner who listening to this right now would say, well, yeah,
there's always a problem. There are always hiccups along the way,
but from the communities that we've come to really know, really,
there hasn't been anybody who said, oh, we don't want
you to be a part of this. We've had two
(36:17):
of our recent tailgates at the alumni house sponsored by
the alumni Association of the visiting host.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
Oh wow, so wow.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
The same day we're at their alumni house, right, And
that's been remarkable and not just speaks to the character
of the kinds of people that are in this business. Again,
I'll say it again. We don't have a corner on good.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
I don't know and are sounding pretty good, Michael.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
There are so many good people who want to have
opportunities to do good, but some there's there's so much
negativity in this world that we get bogged down by
that or we're too busy, and that's a whole other
concept of that we're too busy to really focus on
the positive or accentuate the optimism of all the things
(37:05):
around us. And they're so much good. And maybe it's
rose colored glasses, but I'll wear those every day if it.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
Makes a difference, Honestly, if it gets you through the day,
I say keep them on, But I do think you're right.
I think there is a ton of good and when
people are presented with the opportunity to do something good,
and it sounds like the way you guys are building
these tailgates, it's an easy opportunity to go like, hey,
I could do that. I'm going to the game anyway.
(37:32):
I want to be part of this whole experience. Anyway,
You've given people a reason to choose good, and we
hope that.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
They continue to do that and others as well. You know,
the West Virginia University a couple of years ago, after
seeing this and after they hosted us so well, they're
chief alumni officer there called me and he was so
excited to tell me that they had launched a campaign
for their homecoming that was a coats and blankets drive
for a local community hospital children's hospital, and they did
(38:00):
amazing works within their scope. And that's that's the magic.
We hope and have a lot of faith that that
it's going to make a difference in a lot of
people's lives when other people start picking up that baton
and creating their own programs, and that's what I hope.
I hope that every other college in this country, every
(38:22):
athletics program in this country, starts looking at how they
can be a little bit different and to use their
to use their platforms to do a little bit of good.
And we're seeing it.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
So that's what my hope happens, that the every single
one of these programs starts thinking about how could we
be a little bit more, how can be a little
bit different and do some good.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
Well, it seems like it's a again, it's that weird,
you know, dichotomy of like that aggressive, wild football game,
but then you have this really nice, lovely thing happening
at the same time. So it's it's an interesting idea
and I like it. But I was wondering if maybe
there was a specific experience you've had or something you've
(39:05):
seen happen at these Koog's Care parties, these tailgates that
you could share with us, something that maybe change the
way you look at the world or changed your perspective
on something, Any specific examples you could share with us.
Speaker 3 (39:20):
Yeah, Kooch's Care projects are fantastic, and they're attracting a
lot more of the kinds of engagements that we want
people to really get behind, which is the positive side
of competition. So when somebody comes and they're from a
small community in Iowa and they make a multi hour
drive to go to this one event and it's probably
(39:40):
going to be the only one they go to for
years and years, And then they show up and they
see the sea of blue and they see BYU and
they know that BYU is connected to something that really
means something to them. And so when they can connect
those two things to a grander scale and think, oh,
I could make a difference in service, I could make
a difference in my nameighborhood, I could I could go
(40:02):
to college. And so that's the kind of people, that's
the kind of experiences that we want to create. And again,
we we don't have a corner on the market of good,
and there's a lot of good to be found and
to be had here.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
That's a I love it. I love it. I love
that you guys are just spreading more good. You know,
you keep saying you don't have the corner on it,
and yeah, there are great people all over the world,
but to actively try to engage people in good is
a fantastic cause. I want to know, what does this
really meant? For you personally, Kim, You know you you
(40:35):
spearheaded this, this amazing service project. You've seen change in
your community, clearly just from your experiences wearing blue around town.
But how has this really been for you personally? What
has impacted your life.
Speaker 2 (40:50):
It's a good question, and it might cause for me
to get emotional, but that's okay.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
We love that.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
We love emotion. I worked really hard on this tailgate.
I spent a lot of hours and a lot of
time thinking about things and honestly being prayerful about how
can we make a difference, and being in a place
where BYU is such a minority, and wanting to represent
(41:16):
our school in a way that people would see us
and say, I'm proud of you guys. But the night
before the tailgate, I came home and BYU had sent
us these volunteer shirts and it said celebrating Gifts of Light,
which is the BYU one fifty theme, And I thought,
this is so beautiful here. I am like God, help
(41:38):
make this meaningful, Help make this project shine in a
way that's bigger than what I could do. The response
we got was huge. The camaraderie we got was huge.
We had a national endorsement from Andy Reid and Patrick
Mahomes about our specific service project, saying, hey, because Andy
Reid's BYU alumni, Patrick Mahomes' Tech alumni.
Speaker 5 (41:59):
And they said, Coach, I hear your Cougar's are headed
to Lovey this week to take on my Red Raiders.
Speaker 6 (42:04):
That's right, Patrick, It's gonna be a great one. But
before kickoff BYU and Texas Tech fans are teaming up
for a great cause, supporting literacy Lobock, a nonprofit that
helps kids and families build brighter futures through reading and education.
Fans can bring new or gently use books to donate
at the tailgate.
Speaker 5 (42:23):
That's awesome, Coach. I love that both fan bases are
coming together for something that really can make a difference.
So no matter which team you cheer for, come out,
lend a hand and help families and love it.
Speaker 6 (42:32):
Let's show what it means to give back, and then
let's go have a great game.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
And we had a national endorsement like are you kidding?
Speaker 1 (42:41):
Amazing?
Speaker 2 (42:42):
And I couldn't do that on my own, right, This
wasn't just me, this is I feel like the blessings
that come as we extend love towards others. I just
saw one by one little things happen that just made
everything work. And we get to this event and there's
(43:05):
over a thousand people there that and it went without
a hitch, Like are you kidding me?
Speaker 1 (43:10):
This is amazing?
Speaker 2 (43:11):
And we have since seen the hearts of everyone on
bull sides softened towards the other team in a way
that they said, hey, can we do this again? And
we're going to plan on doing something when we play
you guys again, and do you do this for basketball too? Like?
How do we do this for every sport? And I'm
(43:31):
sitting here thinking this is bigger than me. This is
bigger than a poster that I could have made that
said hey, book drive here right like this was. It
was just incredible and it was huge.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
It's beautiful. It's exactly what I think Koog's care really is.
You know, parties, parties with a purpose, right with a purpose.
I love your story. Thank you for sharing that. Wouldn't
it be cool if this really did spread this? You
know you said, oh, I just it's one two hour party,
but look at what You're one two hour part has inspired.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
Absolutely, It's so cool. And at the end of the day.
The party was a lot of work. The service project
really wasn't like this is not hard to do to
put together, and there's plenty of people to support anybody
doing service.
Speaker 1 (44:17):
Yeah, it's like you say on once you get people excited,
or you just tell people like, hey, we're going to
try to do something good, there is just something that
you go, Okay, I want to do that. I want
to do that too. How can people get involved? It
sounds to me like Koog's Care is just getting started. Really.
I mean, you guys have been around for a few years,
but it seems to me that things are really starting
(44:38):
to get going here. How can other people be involved?
Speaker 3 (44:43):
That's a great question. And so maybe if this was
where an open caller show that we could open up
the phone lines and get all the collective ideas out there.
I would love to have any ideas that people can
think of to magnify this opportunity. How do people know?
I think we need to make it more accessible. Athletics
is a great partner, Our colleges are a great partners.
(45:05):
The church organization obviously is a wonderful partner in the
local areas where we go, and so we get those
messages into those different platforms, we can ever lose the
gathering component of the tailgates. But this year we really
leaned into an online opportunity to serve and to donate
to the causes, and that's really taken off. So we
(45:26):
have Amazon wish lists and other online programs where people
who are all across the country, in the world, they
want to get involved, but they're not going to go
to a game because it's just so far away. And
on our website, so alumni BYU dot edu and then
find the Koug's Care project for that specific game or
(45:47):
throughout the season and they'll be linked to donate.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
Well, I am so appreciative of you taking your time
to speak with us today and telling us all about
Koog's Care. I love the name. I love what you
gots are doing, and i'd say keep it up. Let's
keep this party going.
Speaker 3 (46:04):
Well, it's definitely a party with a purpose. That's what
our president calls it, and that's the banner that we're
flying and put a lot of good in the room
and the good gets better, that's what we're trying to do.
Speaker 1 (46:14):
I love that the good gets better.
Speaker 3 (46:17):
Thank you for what you're doing. I mean, this is
a great platform. This is a great message. I think
the world needs more of it, so do I.
Speaker 2 (46:26):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (46:26):
It's great for me. It puts me in a good mood.
Speaker 3 (46:29):
And it may not be what people really want. You know,
it's not. But if we can I think the word
is cringe. If we can cringe a little bit on
the good side of things, then I think we're doing
the right thing.
Speaker 1 (46:41):
Yep, I say, let's do it. Who knew football tailgating
could feel like a warm hug instead of a battlefield.
If this is what tailgates were like everywhere, I'd go
to all of them. I'd be there early, I'd bring
I wouldn't even flinch when someone yelled goo koog's inches
(47:03):
from my face because they do that. Okay, Michael and
Kim showed us that fandom doesn't have to be about
drawing battle lines. It can be about connection and community
and using your already passionate fan base to actually lift
people up and not just shout at referees. Together and honestly,
I love that. I feel like we need more of
(47:24):
that energy in the world. Less trash talk, more trash pickup,
less rivalry, more ripple effect. So here's your challenge this
football season. The next time you head to a tailgate
or even just watch a game at home, think about
can you create a moment of connection instead of confrontation.
Talk to the fans from other teams, share snacks, ask
(47:44):
what's happening in their community, and if you're lucky enough
to stumble onto a Koug's Care tailgate, just jump in
and help out. Here's the thing. I always host a
big Super Bowl party because why not. It's fun, it's
something to do. And this year, I'm like, maybe we
should add some service. We could make some baby blankets
or something, and then we'd give those blankets to the
organization we were helping. They'd be like, why did these
(48:06):
baby blankets smell like barbecue chicken wings? And we'd be like, hey,
we did. We're helping here, We're helping. Okay, now listen,
if you guys do something great, tell me about it,
tag me at Jenn Kim Jones or use the hashtag
Ripple Effect. I want to see your tailgate good deeds,
your community moments, your victories, and your character wins. And
(48:27):
don't miss next week's episode because we are rolling. Literally,
we're talking to the Free Wheelchair Mission they are helping
people all over the world gain mobility and independence. It's
a gorgeous story and you won't want to miss it
until then. Go team any team. Your team might team
(48:48):
all the teams. Just be kind and keep those ripples
going
Hey, I'm Jennikim Jones and welcome back to The Ripple Effect,
the podcast that proves one small act can change everything,
even in the middle of a very loud, very chaotic,
and very territorial football season. Now, I love football. Why
(00:31):
are you laughing? I love football? Don't I sound like
I am a giant football fan. Go team Go. Here's
the deal. I do love football. There are things about
it I don't understand. For example, the kickoff. What's going
on there?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
You guys?
Speaker 1 (00:45):
The team kicks the ball, and then sometimes the team
who kicks the ball gets the ball, and then sometimes
the other team gets it. But if it bounces in
the wrong place, then nobody gets it. I don't get it.
My husband's explained it to me a thousand times. It
makes no sense. But I do love football for a
lot of other reasons. I love the sound of football.
I love that it's in the fall. I love the
spring in my husband's step when all of his teams
(01:07):
are back. It's great. Oh, I can't forget to mention
the snacks. Football snacks.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
They're epic.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
We got chicken wings and all the dips and chips.
It's a beautiful, beautiful thing. And I don't totally understand
the college football experience because my college football experience was
basically nonexistent. I went to NYU. Our mascot were the
fighting Violets. Okay, there's nothing intimidating about that. We didn't
(01:36):
have tailgates. We had poetry slams at cafes, and rivalries
were more like, oh, your experimental theater troupe offended me.
We were doing dance fights and monologue wars. So I
don't know a lot about football. Imagine my delight when
I learned about a group of football fans who are
doing tailgating so differently, like radically differently. Instead of picking fights,
(01:58):
they're picking up donations. Instead of trash talk, they're giving back.
I'm talking about Koog's Care. It's a program of the
BYU Alumni Association that turns tailgates into service projects. Let
me explain. When BYU goes to an away game, local
alumni chapters set up these amazing tailgates all the wash
in BYU Blue. They've got everything. It's food, entertainment, the
(02:20):
cheerleaders doing the fight song, and they also have a
service project attached to each one. That service project benefits
the away game community that's right BYU does service projects
for their rivals, and football can be so I don't know, aggressive,
So that's what makes these so unique. They're injecting camaraderie
(02:40):
into that competitive, tense atmosphere because after all, we're just
people with a lot in common. I mean, for goodness sakes,
we both love football at the very least. Since twenty nineteen,
they've been collecting food, books, shoes, art, supplies, you name
(03:01):
it from the very communities they visit during football season.
Over thirteen thousand tailgate attendees just last year, thousands of
donated items, five thousand pounds of food, all powered by
volunteers across the country. Today, we're talking with two of
the amazing humans behind it. First we've got Michael Johansson,
the big picture guy. Then we'll meet Kim Walsh, who's
(03:22):
basically the on the ground quarterback. See what I did there,
I threw football into this. She's basically the on the
ground quarterback for these tailgates. She and her Texas BYU
alumni chapter have created this beautiful, joyful, unexpectedly wholesome atmosphere
where rivals come together to help their neighbors. So grab
(03:42):
your team colors, your foam finger, your hopefully clean jersey,
and let's get our tailgate vibes flowing. This is Koog's
Care Kim.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
It is so nice to meet you. We share a name.
I know it's a privileged kindred spirit here.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
It's so good to have you on the podcast. Thank
you so much for joining us.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Thank you. I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Well, we're really excited to have you because I know
that you're really in the nitty gritty of it all,
and I'm so excited to learn more. But let's just start.
Let's get a little background on you. You are a
BYU cougar.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Absolutely bleed blue.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Okay, you bleed blue? Got it?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I love it? I love I love it.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
But you don't live near BYU anymore. No, you're in Texas.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Okay. We live in Lubbock.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Lubbock, Okay, so you're down in Lubbock, and tell me
what the BYU alumni community is like.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Where you're at in Texas. Yeah, so overall there's over
like five hundred thousand BYU alumni. There's over eighteen thousand
in Texas, and there's only one hundred and ninety four
in Lubbock. So, okay, we are very small, small but
mighty small but very mighty, and we are passionate and
that is that is very true. Lubbock's about three hundred
(05:01):
and fifty thousand people and most of it is Texas
Tech affiliated. So yeah, we're definitely in the minority. And
like my kids, they're the only ones that were BYU
to school on college Day and they always rep the y,
which I love. When BYU joined the Big Twelve, we
were like, Okay, well that means BYU is going to
be coming to Lubbock because they're going to start playing Tech.
(05:23):
And that's what made us kind of want to start
our chapter and have a presence here.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Oh okay, so there's a little bit of history there. Okay,
that's cool. So how did you decide to get involved
with Koug's care.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
When we started our chapter. Back when we joined the
Big Twelve and we started our BYU Alumni Lubbic chapter,
we knew that we would be hosting a tailgate honestly
every few years and whenever BYU would come and play
at Tech. We knew a couple of years before that
they'd be coming in twenty twenty five, and we were like,
all right, let's start just thinking about ideas and let's
connect to different service organizations and see who's going to
(05:57):
have a need. Kug's Care has been going on twenty nineteen,
and we knew it was going to be a part
of our tailgate.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
I cannot wait to hear more about that, Kim. But
first let's bring Michael in here. I want to hear
how this whole Koog's Care program got started. Hi, Michael,
it is so nice to me too. I really appreciate
you talking to us. I'm so excited to hear your story.
And I think we should just dive right in. Let's
go so BYU, you're known for good educational institution, and
(06:27):
you do research, and you've done all these great things,
but there's more to BYU. It sounds like, and can
you kind of tell us what that is?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
For sure? For sure? And this is where I get
really excited about talking about this. At the front of
our campus and the front of all of our campuses,
in fact, there's a sign that says enit a learn
and go forth to serve. The end of to learn
part is for all of our students who we love
and adore and we cherish them. That ended to learn
piece is really really important for that specific amount of
(06:55):
time when those students are engaged actively in that intensive
educational experience. The go forth to serve is our job.
From an alumni perspective, the go forth to serve is
really the foundation for everything that we do. You know
a lot of alumni organizations are focused on finding more donations,
(07:16):
getting that kind of engagement. We definitely want that to happen. However,
our currency is service and mentoring. Our currency is relationships,
our currency as people, and so go forth to serve
is really really important and that's really the framework for
what Kooch's care became.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
That's so cool because I did not go to BYU
and the school I would choose a great school, But
I don't know that there is this sort of camaraderie
that exists. I do get phone calls about giving donations,
but other than that, I'm not sure there's I'm sure
there's something, but I love the idea that it continues. Right,
you come and you get your education, but then you
go forth. What was it, go forth to serve? And
(07:57):
so you you know, it continues. It's taking that education
and then going and doing something. I think that's really cool.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
You have the enter to learn for you know, four years,
or if you're ongoing, it's eight years, or however many
years it is. But you're going forth to serve for
the rest of the journey, right right, and we believe
that journey goes beyond even now. So why not make
the most of it and have a little bit of
fun and make a difference while you're doing it.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Let's get to some of this fun part, right, this tailgating.
How did the Koog's tailgates get started? Whose idea was that?
And what's it like? What does it become?
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Well? Whose idea it's? I mean, I could give you
a list of people who were inspired to put this together,
but really we point it back to twenty nineteen where
we had tailgates. We were gathering like everybody else. We
were gathering together ahead of football games when we're on
the road, and so tailgating was a thing. We did
not invent tailgates.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
You know what I want. I'm glad you made that clear,
because we don't want anybody riding us saying, hey, now
wait a minute.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
So we were doing the thing, you know, we were
doing that thing. We also didn't invent service, but we
are pre wired and pre programmed to serve. The going
forth to serve is something that is part of our
DNA at the university. And so in twenty nineteen, we're
playing the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and there was
going to be a big, big gathering there right outside
(09:20):
that historic stadium. We're going to play this wonderful team.
And the organizers there name drop here, Seth killing Beeck
was our chapter leader at that point. As on a side,
he's currently our president elect for the Alumni Association. So
he's been involved for many, many years and is a
fantastic fan. But he had a vision and his group
had a vision to do a service project. It was
(09:41):
in the winter time and so they did a coat
drive as part of this gathering for a local charity.
It was a relationship that they had because our chapters
and our people, our alumni live in the communities and
so you know, that's one of the funny things about
BYU is that when we go on the road, a
lot of people say, wow, you travel really well. And
the answer to that question as well, we actually don't.
(10:02):
These are the people who are your neighbors. They're the
people who you go shopping with, they're serving on a
school board with you, your kids are playing together. And
so that's the magic really of Koch's Care, why it
works is that it's localized. So in twenty nineteen we thought,
well that worked out really well, let's see what happens
in twenty twenty. Well, we know what happens in twenty twenty.
We didn't have a season.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Nothing happened in twenty twenty, got it.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
But really what happened we actually, even with no fans
in the stands. In twenty twenty and twenty twenty one,
as it was coming back into play, we still had
two or three Kukscare projects. They weren't called Kuk'scare at
the time, but we had drop offs in Boise State.
We had people bringing canned food donations at a couple
of different places. And then twenty two we thought, okay, this,
(10:47):
we're going to have people here, We're going to get
back into the gathering. And then twenty three we just
hit it. Every single game in twenty four, same, twenty
five off the charts. Every single one was a massive
gathering with a really really great project. We started calling
it Koog's Care got a little logo to go with
it so that people could start recognizing it, and it
(11:08):
just kind of took off, and it's been so much fun. Jenna,
it's been so much fun to see people get engaged
in a different way that blasts more than a football game.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Speaking of things lasting a long long time, Kim, tell
me about planning your tailgate. When did you start?
Speaker 2 (11:25):
We joke because I started planning it in January and
the party was in November, so I was like, this
is my BUYU baby, it's like nine months.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Yeah, Oh my god, you did it.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
You did it well. How did it go?
Speaker 1 (11:37):
How was your baby?
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Oh? It was incredible. So b YU give so much support.
The actual alumni organization gives so much support to their
local chapters. I had a Zoom conference with someone in Provo,
Curtis Isaac, who spearheads everything, and he's incredible. He emailed
us a twenty six page handbook of here's how you
do this successfully and start your committees. It started greatvolunteers
(12:00):
and start looking for a venue and for t shirts
and for food and all of the moving parts, and
then get connected to a service organization for your Kooch's
Care Project. The actual day of we had about four
hundred people signed up to come, and we estimated that
it was about twelve hundred people that actually came to
the party. Yeah, and it was Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Yeah wait, so were you prepared for that?
Speaker 2 (12:24):
You know, we made it work so we only had
food for the people that preregistered for food. Everyone else
could come and just join the party.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Great.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
We had they're inflatables. There's like giveaways, there's t shirts.
We had a merch shop where people could buy BYU swag.
We had popcorn and cougar tails like all these fun
things to give away. So it was awesome. It was
so much fun.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Okay, wait, what's a cougar tail? You have to tell
everyone what a cougartail is.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
A cougartail is the elite snack at BYU. It's like
a fourteen inch maple donut and it's anyway, it is
like a maple bar, like a maple bar. Like, oh
my gosh, you guys, imagine this. PYU knows what they're doing.
That's the greatest.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Snack of all time.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
I know, we've got I mean, if you go to Provo,
they got mint brownies. They've got cookies and cream chuckolate milk,
and they've got cougartails and that's what we wanted to
bring forth in Texas.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Of course. Yeah, well everything's bigger in Texas, right, that's
you got to like come prepared.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
It's true.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
That is amazing. So you had twelve hundred people that
is wild. Talk to me about what the service project
was in Lubbock and how that went.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Yeah, we decided to sponsor Literacy Lubbock, which is a
fantastic nonprofit here in town that they do everything from
toddler story times at the libraries and then they do
ged and esl classes for adults. They help people get educated.
Their goal is to hand out eight thousand books a
year and they want to get books into the hands
of people because they know once a book is in
(13:55):
your home, like you can read it, you can love it.
And when I was at BUYU studied elementary vcation, became
a teacher love that. As a mom, I'm seeing my
kids read all the time, and I just feel like
there's no greater gift than literacy. And so also as
a university representing the idea of let's learn right, we
(14:16):
hope this is this is just awesome. Let's let's support
literacy Lubbock. And so I was able to connect with
the Lubbock chapter president for Texas Tech and I kind
of told him my idea. I said, hey, b why
he does these at away games. We would love to
get you guys involved too. And to my knowledge, it's
the first time that this is this partnership has happened
in a kookscare project where the hosting alumni has said, yeah,
(14:39):
we want to we want to collaborate with you. I
was like, this is fantastic. So I talked with him.
He's like, We're going to make this a week long thing.
Let's do drop sites around town. We're going to have
one at a pizza parlor. And I was like, I
know Crumble, Like, let's let's host on at Crumble. Like,
let's have different places where people can drop off books,
you know, get some swag from either of tea or whatever,
(15:01):
and let's make this awesome. All of the screens throughout campus,
through the dorms, through the buildings that said, here's our
flyer BYU and Texas Tech are working together for a
book drive to support literacy. Lebic and I just loved that.
I loved that students were seeing BYU next to Texas
Tech with the word combined and service, and I was like,
this is so cool, Like all throughout the week on
(15:23):
the most hyped game of the season right too, like
two ranked teams, like this is this is a hype.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
That's huge thing.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
And Texas Tech fans are so passionate, they are they
are all in, and they kind of love being the
villains sometimes they I've heard this from many Texas Tech alumni.
We kind of like being the villains, and we like
we like ruffle and some feathers. And here we are
working together, showing up doing news drops and things like that,
(15:51):
together side by side, him and his red, me and
my blue and saying, hey, we want a sport literacy
LEVEC together. And the response was amazing. We had over
six three hundred books donated. Oh my gosh, so forty
five hundred donated, eighteen hundred purchase on Amazon for a
(16:11):
total of three hundred and fifty six books.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Give it.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
That's amazing, plus like venmo donations and and we just
sat back and we're like this, this is incredible.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
It is incredible because football is aggressive, it's competitive. It
can be a little mean, a little violent, and yet
you've got these two teams that are having great seasons
coming together and it's just so the opposite of football.
But that's what made it so cool, right, It's just
this like, hey, let's do it together. And I love
(16:43):
that it was a first time that you just had
to call and ask, hey, why not you know, I
mean that's just that one little thing that turned into
look at what you did. Yeah, over six thousand books, Mike.
What else has been going on this season?
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Yeah, this season's been really fun. It's also it's almost
been become sort of a competition. Not a competition, but
like that's been as our local leaders of the in
the Alumni Group Alumni Association know that this project is coming,
they want to have the best project.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Of course, of course, well it is football. There is
that competitive sort of you can't get away from it.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Right, right, I mean, I could tell you every single
one was really really positive. We did a book drive
in Colorado supporting the Family Learning Center at Boulder. We
did what was called Operations Sunnyside Read and Feed, a
book and food drive supporting the Sunnyside Foundation in Tucson, Arizona.
This one I'm particularly proud of is in October of
(17:42):
this year in Iowa State at Ames at Iowa State
and Ames, Iowa. It was a tie to our church's history.
In Iowa, there was this business leader who was not
a member of our church, but he saw these pioneer
people walking across his property and aims and he just
(18:02):
noticed them and he saw them very ill prepared to
do what they were about to do, and he just
had this soft spot in his heart for children specifically,
and he donated pairs of shoes and boots to these
children so that they would be protected in their journey west.
And that was documented in our church's history. And when
(18:26):
it came to selecting a service project, we honored that
gift from one hundred and twenty five one hundred and
seventy five years ago Wow by organizing a chew donation
project for children to honor Charles Good and what he
did for our people. And that was really cool to
see people just come from all over the region with
(18:48):
shoes and they say, we want we want people to
have shoes because Charles Good took care of us. And
then Cincinnati was a code drive that helped support a
group called Cincinnati Cincinnati ANAACP organization throughout the metro Cincinnati
area providing local children with winter coats.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Wow, so you've done kind of a little bit of everything.
But why do this? I mean, tailgates are for the competition, right,
They're for the fun of the game. Why did you
guys want to do this because it is so unusual?
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Well, it is unusual, and like I said earlier, were
we've been given a charge to be different. Just as
an aside, I was in Dallas a couple days ago
and was invited to go participate in the in their
pregame activity, which was very different than ours. But what
I love about one of the interactions that I had
(19:42):
with one of their big fans was she said, I
really want to not like you, but you need to
stop being so nice. It is so hard to not
like you.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
So that's the strategy. You're disarming the competition. Is that
what it is?
Speaker 3 (19:58):
If it needs to come down to strategy, that's it
right there. But bottom line is we don't have a
corner on the market of good in the world. There
is so much good in this world, and this is
an opportunity to be a little bit different. And some
to shine some light on the good that exists in
communities like Lubbock, Texas, sir Ames, Iowa, or Orlando, Florida,
(20:22):
or Boulder, Colorado, or anywhere where our football team goes,
and by extension, hopefully other places will continue to catch
on to this opportunity to do some good that lasts.
And our tagline is connected for good, it means too,
and it is defined in two different areas. Connected for
good meaning the good versus bad. You know, we're connected
(20:43):
for good, we want to do good and we don't
have a corner on that market. But also connected for
good meaning enduring that it's going to last, it's going
to take, it's going to be there after the football
team leaves, after BYU headquarters or Provo influence is heading
out of the at the airport or the train station,
because that's our people still stay there, Our alumni still
(21:06):
stay there, and we want to give them even more
opportunities to serve and to lift and to be proud
of who they are.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Well, I love the idea that it's something that's lasting.
You know, I think at some point the game starts
and somebody wins and somebody loses, and yet there's something
else that the community can take away from the experience.
I'm not saying winning and losing doesn't matter. I get it,
it's important, But I just feel like giving the community
(21:39):
something else on top of whatever happens at the game
is really cool.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
And you're not alone in that. The miracles that happen
after the game is when our fans and friends walk
across the street and go and serve their neighbor. There
are a lot of great things that can happen, and
you know, wheelchair campaigns in Africa and providing thousands and
thousands of pounds of food through massive worldwide organizations, very
(22:09):
very important and very good to be involved in. And
miracles happen every day between the ones, and that's what
we want to create more of an environment for everybody
who touches BYU to know that we love one another.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Right Well, that's I mean, that's what this show is
all about. Right That's why we're talking to you guys,
because it's that one little thing. You know, your neighbors
getting along better, people in the community looking for ways
that they can just do a little bit and then
a little bit more. So that's exactly why we're here. Together.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
I love that, and I love it on two levels.
And one is that there are over six thousand books
that are now going out to the community. That's incredible,
and there are going to be stories there of people
that say, hey, this is the book that helped my
kid want But you also have this idea that while
we usually would be really competitive, and we would usually
look at the other person and say I don't want
(23:07):
to work with you. You're wearing the wrong color, like
you are wearing the opposite jersey right, And instead we're saying, hey,
I like to work with you. Let's do this project together.
And now it's so funny. So a couple stories. Yeah,
this president that I worked with, his name is Chris,
and we started working together. And a couple weeks later,
(23:28):
B why you was playing the Utilians and it's like
the Holy Work game. It's our biggest rivalry. And I
get this text from this guy who we're playing their
team later this season and he just says, Hey, just
want to let you know I changed into my blue shirt.
I'm cheering for you guys today, and I'm like, I
love it. Thank you, Chris will take you. He's like,
that is awesome. I know I'm a Raider, but I'm
(23:49):
wearing blue, and I was like, awesome. Fast forward a
little bit and we start working together and I love this.
The Literacy Lubbic director showed up to our tailgate wearing
purple and she's like, it's both of you. I want
to represent Tech, so I work purple today and I
was like, I love it.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
That is kind of perfect. It wasn't really perfect. Well,
that's what I'm just saying.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
It's like all these little.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Things you're bringing community out, and I love the idea that.
I mean, at the end of the day, you and
Texas Tech, you still want to win the game, absolutely,
but it doesn't really matter because you have friends now
on the opposite team. You you know, there's probably some
more understanding between the two schools. It's just such a
(24:35):
great thing.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Yeah, you know, one thing my husband had said, He's like,
you know, we lost the game, which we did. We
lost pretty terribly, honestly. He's like, but I feel like
BUYU gained something so much more significant and we're really
doing our relationship with Tech and to have it based
on service. So so a couple more things. So after
the after the game, my husband and I got invited
(24:57):
to the Texas Tech Distinguished Alumni which was really unexpected
and really neat. So we sat at a table with
the alumni director that I had worked with, and then
some people I didn't know who didn't know me, and
they start talking about the football season and we're listening
and the guy next to me just goes yeah, and
then there's BYU. Man, you want to hate those guys,
(25:18):
but you can't.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
I was like, do you tell me?
Speaker 2 (25:22):
I said, did you know who why we're here? And
he's like, no, who are you? And I was like,
we're the BYU lobbing chapter chairs and he's like stop, No,
did I just say something embarrassing? I said, you just
let me easdrop on the fact that you loved my school.
So thank you, thank you for that.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
We heard what you said and you can't take it back.
And that has happened in the grocery store. It's happened,
you know, just around town. I have friends that work
at Tech that just said. People talk about BYU now
and they smile when they say BYU and they're like
so excited.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
And there was a game where if they lost, if
Arizona lost, then we were going to go to the
Big Twelve Championship against Tech and so they and their
game was the night before ours. Anyway, they lost, so
we knew we're going to the championship. We're playing Texas Tech.
And immediately I get a text from my friend Chris
who says, hey, is BYU doing anything for the game,
(26:16):
And I said, yeah, They're going to do a cook's
care project and he said, we want in And that
was the first thing he said, is are you doing
an event? Because we went in and I said yeah, absolutely,
And so what we had started in Lubbock continued on
to the Big Twelve Championship in Arlington, and both schools
had tailgates across the parking lot from each other with
a giving machine in the middle, and they were doing
(26:39):
a four pronged service project and people were coming to
donate foods from Red and from Blue. They had both
mascots there, They had both teams there, all supporting Arlington
charities and a couple other charities in Dallas. And I
just thought it was amazing. And I get a text
from my friend at the giving machine. He said, hey,
after working with BA, I would do anything for your
(27:02):
school like I will forever cheer for BYU when you
don't play tech and I can't wait to see us
keep working together, like this has been amazing. And I
mean this guy didn't know a thing about BYU or
and now Harry is like, and this isn't about BYU.
This is about how serving unites people, right, and like
how when you do something for someone else your heart
(27:25):
is softened to them and you feel love and you
feel uplifted. It feels so good exactly. Yeah, I'd love
to share this really cool experience. So rewind the clocks
back to November. Texas Tech has a team barber. He
works with the football team, and his wife was in
a really bad car accident and was hit by a
drunk driver and was in the ICU. They had a
(27:47):
GoFundMe setup so that he could kind of help with
costs of childcare for their sweet three year old and
just help with things. Their goal was twenty five thousand dollars,
and around this time it was sitting at about six
thousand dollars. A BYU fan got hold of this and said,
all right, cougarnation, and immediately different fans started to donate.
(28:07):
This is this is an unorchestrated drive, right, like my
our book drive that was very orchestrated. We had buyers,
we had all these things, and then this organically came
about where good people wanted to help a family and need.
So in a matter of days, this GoFundMe went from
six thousand dollars to one hundred and sixty thousand dollars
(28:32):
and I think I just checked it out. It's now
up to what is it, one hundred and ninety seven
thousand dollars. I have support for this family. And we
go to the game and there people were not allowed
to bring posters into the game, but there was one
male that had a poster and it said thank you
for your support for the Orties family. And it was
(28:53):
the barber and he was standing there just so grateful
for the support that Cougarnation showed to him. And you
read that goalfundme, Man, you're going to cry. It's like
love your neighbor even when they're the opposing team. Like
football is fun, but families are forever. We're sending our
love for BYU. And someone wrote, like, supporting this cause
that makes me feel better even if we lose, so
(29:14):
like and fast forward, we're at our championship playoff game,
and there is a post about a couple that are
BYU alumni. They were unfortunately in a head on collision
the day before Thanksgiving and the husband, Gavin, passed away
on the scene and his wife was put in the ICU.
(29:36):
And there was a Texas Tech Red Raider fan that said, hey,
BYU showed up for text Team Barber this season and
now it's our turn, so let's return the love. And
they put a spotlight on this family and there is
over one hundred and seventeen thousand dollars that have been donated. Wow.
That goalfundme says things like sending persons support from Raider
(29:59):
Nation in and love and light from the Red Raiders,
and we're like sending love from the Big twelve family
at Texas Tech. Like and someone wrote Grade writers support BYU.
And I'm I'm looking at this literally with tears in
my eyes reading these these things and thinking we're fighting
against them for a championship title and here we are,
(30:21):
and people are donating and they're giving, and they're saying,
we are praying for you and your family in this
hard time that you're going through, but we love you
and we want what's best for you. And we want
to help and we want to lift, and it doesn't
exist in any other sports culture. And I'm really hoping
that it just becomes a part of what we do
(30:41):
that you know, you can even say college sports as
a whole. Can you imagine if every college just picked
one game where they did a service project, Yeah, it
would be it would be hundreds of games. It would
be hundreds of right, thousands of things collected to give
back to communities. And yeah, let's make that a part
of our culture. Let's make that a part of who
we are as fans everywhere with an opportunity to help out.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
In my mind, I'm thinking, boy, I hope people are
listening to this and going like, yes, I can do
something like that. And the idea that these schools, I mean,
it would be an easy thing to do. You know,
you have these games, you know it's coming, and honestly,
I kind of feel like it makes the competition a
little more fun. Absolutely, Like you know when you have
a rivalry with a sibling or a friend, and it's
(31:27):
so fun to kind of raz each other and compete,
but at the end of the day, you would do
anything for that person. I mean, to me, it sounds
more fun.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Yeah, yeah, and it was actually really funny. Game week
we shout up to my son had an appointment. So
I go to the school. I'm wearing blue. I wore
blue all week, so I've worn blue and I show
up and they're like, look at you in that shirt
and I was like, yeah, here are you and she goes,
can I tell you I'm like diehard tech fan. I'm
like yeah. She's like, and our family chat is all
(31:56):
about how we don't want to destroy you guys. And
she's like, it feels like a sibling rivalry instead of
like a throat like we're gonna we're going to demolish them.
She's like, there's no hate speech. It's it's just a
sibling rivalry. A sibling rivalry is like so fun, right.
I have five brothers and sisters and we have a
big family. So I'm like, that's the most fun. And
(32:17):
I have four kids and I want them to have fun,
and you know, so.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
I like, I love that idea that like there's just
love there and it doesn't mean we cheer for the
other team. We still want to win, but the love
is there, and I think I would love to see
that go everywhere. So Michael, tell me about the atmosphere
of your tailgates. What are you first? Tell me what
you're like at a tailgate? Okay, are you like the
party animal? Are you at the grill? Are you just
(32:45):
enjoying the food? You're talking football stats? What's what's a
great tailgate for you?
Speaker 3 (32:51):
That's a great question. I'm not at the grill, and
that's probably a really good thing. I love to grill.
But when you have you know, two three four thousand people,
I'm not at the girl.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
You're not sure, I'm out.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
I'm out.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
That's too many.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
So feeding feeding that many people is great a challenge
for sure. You know, the the environment is just high energy.
We focus really quite a lot on the registration experience,
the touch points as people show up, accessibility, bringing family.
It's not a high high touch environment. It's you know,
everybody's welcome, and that's what we want people to to recognize.
(33:28):
And frankly, our hope, my hope is that we get
a whole lot of families that don't end up going
to the football game, and maybe they go to the
football game. Don't let the ticket people know that. I
said that. But if if we get people who can't
afford the game or just want to have that experience
of gathering together. Then we want that experience to and
(33:49):
that's what we're trying to create in that space. A
lot of fandom. We we got We bought a whole
bunch of inflatables that are that are Bayu blue. We
create this this very active environment where you know, kids
can be thrown a football with their parents through an
inflatable piece, they can take a picture on a big chair.
They've got a big archway that enters that people enter
(34:11):
into so you can see it from a distance. We
want them to be close by so that it's part
of the whole game day environment, even for their visiting teams.
We've been so welcomed by so many of these communities
that they see how many people come, They're like, yeah,
please bring your party to us. We want the party
to be right here, because it adds to that that
we've we've received very little resistance to that. And I
(34:36):
just love being with the people and seeing families show up.
And for many people, this is a one time during
the season or even perhaps their life that they get
the opportunity to come and to participate in something like this.
And if we can create that for you know, a
dad or a mom and their seven year old daughter
or son. There's food, there's games.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
You know, the Cosmo is there.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
That's good. That's good.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
And the cheerleaders come and they lead the crowd in the
in the fight song and they do some cheers and
so there's a lot of high energy. Usually the president
of the university makes a stop by uh and and
greets because he wants to see the people gathering and
he's such a huge fan of by U and bo
athletics and he feels so strongly about this and the
(35:24):
opportunities for service as well.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
I feel like I want to come to one.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
You should.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
I know, I'm I I gotta get out to one
of these.
Speaker 3 (35:36):
You just pick one, Jenna, and I will make sure
that you get there.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Well, yes, oh man vi P, that's good.
Speaker 3 (35:43):
You are a VIP.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
So are there times when it's been hard to go
into a community and have this big party and service
project or or has it truly just sort of worked
out for you guys?
Speaker 3 (35:57):
Well, you know, any events planner who may major events
planner who listening to this right now would say, well, yeah,
there's always a problem. There are always hiccups along the way,
but from the communities that we've come to really know, really,
there hasn't been anybody who said, oh, we don't want
you to be a part of this. We've had two
(36:17):
of our recent tailgates at the alumni house sponsored by
the alumni Association of the visiting host.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
Oh wow, so wow.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
The same day we're at their alumni house, right, And
that's been remarkable and not just speaks to the character
of the kinds of people that are in this business. Again,
I'll say it again. We don't have a corner on good.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
I don't know and are sounding pretty good, Michael.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
There are so many good people who want to have
opportunities to do good, but some there's there's so much
negativity in this world that we get bogged down by
that or we're too busy, and that's a whole other
concept of that we're too busy to really focus on
the positive or accentuate the optimism of all the things
(37:05):
around us. And they're so much good. And maybe it's
rose colored glasses, but I'll wear those every day if it.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
Makes a difference, Honestly, if it gets you through the day,
I say keep them on, But I do think you're right.
I think there is a ton of good and when
people are presented with the opportunity to do something good,
and it sounds like the way you guys are building
these tailgates, it's an easy opportunity to go like, hey,
I could do that. I'm going to the game anyway.
(37:32):
I want to be part of this whole experience. Anyway,
You've given people a reason to choose good, and we
hope that.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
They continue to do that and others as well. You know,
the West Virginia University a couple of years ago, after
seeing this and after they hosted us so well, they're
chief alumni officer there called me and he was so
excited to tell me that they had launched a campaign
for their homecoming that was a coats and blankets drive
for a local community hospital children's hospital, and they did
(38:00):
amazing works within their scope. And that's that's the magic.
We hope and have a lot of faith that that
it's going to make a difference in a lot of
people's lives when other people start picking up that baton
and creating their own programs, and that's what I hope.
I hope that every other college in this country, every
(38:22):
athletics program in this country, starts looking at how they
can be a little bit different and to use their
to use their platforms to do a little bit of good.
And we're seeing it.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
So that's what my hope happens, that the every single
one of these programs starts thinking about how could we
be a little bit more, how can be a little
bit different and do some good.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
Well, it seems like it's a again, it's that weird,
you know, dichotomy of like that aggressive, wild football game,
but then you have this really nice, lovely thing happening
at the same time. So it's it's an interesting idea
and I like it. But I was wondering if maybe
there was a specific experience you've had or something you've
(39:05):
seen happen at these Koog's Care parties, these tailgates that
you could share with us, something that maybe change the
way you look at the world or changed your perspective
on something, Any specific examples you could share with us.
Speaker 3 (39:20):
Yeah, Kooch's Care projects are fantastic, and they're attracting a
lot more of the kinds of engagements that we want
people to really get behind, which is the positive side
of competition. So when somebody comes and they're from a
small community in Iowa and they make a multi hour
drive to go to this one event and it's probably
(39:40):
going to be the only one they go to for
years and years, And then they show up and they
see the sea of blue and they see BYU and
they know that BYU is connected to something that really
means something to them. And so when they can connect
those two things to a grander scale and think, oh,
I could make a difference in service, I could make
a difference in my nameighborhood, I could I could go
(40:02):
to college. And so that's the kind of people, that's
the kind of experiences that we want to create. And again,
we we don't have a corner on the market of good,
and there's a lot of good to be found and
to be had here.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
That's a I love it. I love it. I love
that you guys are just spreading more good. You know,
you keep saying you don't have the corner on it,
and yeah, there are great people all over the world,
but to actively try to engage people in good is
a fantastic cause. I want to know, what does this
really meant? For you personally, Kim, You know you you
(40:35):
spearheaded this, this amazing service project. You've seen change in
your community, clearly just from your experiences wearing blue around town.
But how has this really been for you personally? What
has impacted your life.
Speaker 2 (40:50):
It's a good question, and it might cause for me
to get emotional, but that's okay.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
We love that.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
We love emotion. I worked really hard on this tailgate.
I spent a lot of hours and a lot of
time thinking about things and honestly being prayerful about how
can we make a difference, and being in a place
where BYU is such a minority, and wanting to represent
(41:16):
our school in a way that people would see us
and say, I'm proud of you guys. But the night
before the tailgate, I came home and BYU had sent
us these volunteer shirts and it said celebrating Gifts of Light,
which is the BYU one fifty theme, And I thought,
this is so beautiful here. I am like God, help
(41:38):
make this meaningful, Help make this project shine in a
way that's bigger than what I could do. The response
we got was huge. The camaraderie we got was huge.
We had a national endorsement from Andy Reid and Patrick
Mahomes about our specific service project, saying, hey, because Andy
Reid's BYU alumni, Patrick Mahomes' Tech alumni.
Speaker 5 (41:59):
And they said, Coach, I hear your Cougar's are headed
to Lovey this week to take on my Red Raiders.
Speaker 6 (42:04):
That's right, Patrick, It's gonna be a great one. But
before kickoff BYU and Texas Tech fans are teaming up
for a great cause, supporting literacy Lobock, a nonprofit that
helps kids and families build brighter futures through reading and education.
Fans can bring new or gently use books to donate
at the tailgate.
Speaker 5 (42:23):
That's awesome, Coach. I love that both fan bases are
coming together for something that really can make a difference.
So no matter which team you cheer for, come out,
lend a hand and help families and love it.
Speaker 6 (42:32):
Let's show what it means to give back, and then
let's go have a great game.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
And we had a national endorsement like are you kidding?
Speaker 1 (42:41):
Amazing?
Speaker 2 (42:42):
And I couldn't do that on my own, right, This
wasn't just me, this is I feel like the blessings
that come as we extend love towards others. I just
saw one by one little things happen that just made
everything work. And we get to this event and there's
(43:05):
over a thousand people there that and it went without
a hitch, Like are you kidding me?
Speaker 1 (43:10):
This is amazing?
Speaker 2 (43:11):
And we have since seen the hearts of everyone on
bull sides softened towards the other team in a way
that they said, hey, can we do this again? And
we're going to plan on doing something when we play
you guys again, and do you do this for basketball too? Like?
How do we do this for every sport? And I'm
(43:31):
sitting here thinking this is bigger than me. This is
bigger than a poster that I could have made that
said hey, book drive here right like this was. It
was just incredible and it was huge.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
It's beautiful. It's exactly what I think Koog's care really is.
You know, parties, parties with a purpose, right with a purpose.
I love your story. Thank you for sharing that. Wouldn't
it be cool if this really did spread this? You
know you said, oh, I just it's one two hour party,
but look at what You're one two hour part has inspired.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
Absolutely, It's so cool. And at the end of the day.
The party was a lot of work. The service project
really wasn't like this is not hard to do to
put together, and there's plenty of people to support anybody
doing service.
Speaker 1 (44:17):
Yeah, it's like you say on once you get people excited,
or you just tell people like, hey, we're going to
try to do something good, there is just something that
you go, Okay, I want to do that. I want
to do that too. How can people get involved? It
sounds to me like Koog's Care is just getting started. Really.
I mean, you guys have been around for a few years,
but it seems to me that things are really starting
(44:38):
to get going here. How can other people be involved?
Speaker 3 (44:43):
That's a great question. And so maybe if this was
where an open caller show that we could open up
the phone lines and get all the collective ideas out there.
I would love to have any ideas that people can
think of to magnify this opportunity. How do people know?
I think we need to make it more accessible. Athletics
is a great partner, Our colleges are a great partners.
(45:05):
The church organization obviously is a wonderful partner in the
local areas where we go, and so we get those
messages into those different platforms, we can ever lose the
gathering component of the tailgates. But this year we really
leaned into an online opportunity to serve and to donate
to the causes, and that's really taken off. So we
(45:26):
have Amazon wish lists and other online programs where people
who are all across the country, in the world, they
want to get involved, but they're not going to go
to a game because it's just so far away. And
on our website, so alumni BYU dot edu and then
find the Koug's Care project for that specific game or
(45:47):
throughout the season and they'll be linked to donate.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
Well, I am so appreciative of you taking your time
to speak with us today and telling us all about
Koog's Care. I love the name. I love what you
gots are doing, and i'd say keep it up. Let's
keep this party going.
Speaker 3 (46:04):
Well, it's definitely a party with a purpose. That's what
our president calls it, and that's the banner that we're
flying and put a lot of good in the room
and the good gets better, that's what we're trying to do.
Speaker 1 (46:14):
I love that the good gets better.
Speaker 3 (46:17):
Thank you for what you're doing. I mean, this is
a great platform. This is a great message. I think
the world needs more of it, so do I.
Speaker 2 (46:26):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (46:26):
It's great for me. It puts me in a good mood.
Speaker 3 (46:29):
And it may not be what people really want. You know,
it's not. But if we can I think the word
is cringe. If we can cringe a little bit on
the good side of things, then I think we're doing
the right thing.
Speaker 1 (46:41):
Yep, I say, let's do it. Who knew football tailgating
could feel like a warm hug instead of a battlefield.
If this is what tailgates were like everywhere, I'd go
to all of them. I'd be there early, I'd bring
I wouldn't even flinch when someone yelled goo koog's inches
(47:03):
from my face because they do that. Okay, Michael and
Kim showed us that fandom doesn't have to be about
drawing battle lines. It can be about connection and community
and using your already passionate fan base to actually lift
people up and not just shout at referees. Together and honestly,
I love that. I feel like we need more of
(47:24):
that energy in the world. Less trash talk, more trash pickup,
less rivalry, more ripple effect. So here's your challenge this
football season. The next time you head to a tailgate
or even just watch a game at home, think about
can you create a moment of connection instead of confrontation.
Talk to the fans from other teams, share snacks, ask
(47:44):
what's happening in their community, and if you're lucky enough
to stumble onto a Koug's Care tailgate, just jump in
and help out. Here's the thing. I always host a
big Super Bowl party because why not. It's fun, it's
something to do. And this year, I'm like, maybe we
should add some service. We could make some baby blankets
or something, and then we'd give those blankets to the
organization we were helping. They'd be like, why did these
(48:06):
baby blankets smell like barbecue chicken wings? And we'd be like, hey,
we did. We're helping here, We're helping. Okay, now listen,
if you guys do something great, tell me about it,
tag me at Jenn Kim Jones or use the hashtag
Ripple Effect. I want to see your tailgate good deeds,
your community moments, your victories, and your character wins. And
(48:27):
don't miss next week's episode because we are rolling. Literally,
we're talking to the Free Wheelchair Mission they are helping
people all over the world gain mobility and independence. It's
a gorgeous story and you won't want to miss it
until then. Go team any team. Your team might team
(48:48):
all the teams. Just be kind and keep those ripples
going
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