February 5, 2025 • 26 mins
Cops and deputies have the hardest jobs. They see, everyday, perhaps the worst and the best of humanity. Today's show highlights a retired LEO (law enforcement officer) who saw the tremendous need in his community of the West Side, and put his passion for people into action, creating "The Help Squad." My guest is Brian Ibold and his charity partner Sam Jasper, together they lead this Colerain non-profit organization named the 2024 "Best New Non-Profit" by the Colerain Chamber of Commerce. Brian is taking a different approach to handling problems and issues his neighbors face.
Click here to visit The Help Squad online.
Viva Las Vegas Fundraiser information
March 28, 2025
7pm - 11pm
Willow Event Center
7881 Colerain Ave.
Enjoy food, fun, monte carlo games, raffles, split the pot and the entertainment of Elvis impersonator Mike Davis.
Click here to visit The Help Squad online.
Viva Las Vegas Fundraiser information
March 28, 2025
7pm - 11pm
Willow Event Center
7881 Colerain Ave.
Enjoy food, fun, monte carlo games, raffles, split the pot and the entertainment of Elvis impersonator Mike Davis.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This week on iHeart Sincy.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
I was raised by a single mother and I saw
her struggle.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
Today you're going to meet a former Cincinnati cop and
Hamilton County Sheriff's deputy who took a lesson from his
own childhood turned it into a passion project to help
his neighbors in need.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Now on iHeart Sinsey with Sandy Collins.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
If this is your first time, welcome to iHeart Sinsey.
I'm Sandy Collins. Got a couple of great people for
you to meet today from the Cincinnati area. Today I'm
speaking with retired law enforcement officer Brian Ibold and his
partner Sam Jasper. They head up the Help Squad. This
is a new faith based nonprofit just recognized by the
Coal Ring Chamber of Commerces New Nonprofit of the Year
(00:43):
for twenty twenty four. Now you may have seen a
couple of stories this week on local TV news about
the Help Squad. Brian Ibold is a native of the
Queen's City and we're going to hear his story in
a few moments. But first, when Brian retired from law
enforcement about four years ago, his career was beautifully summed
up by his police dispatcher for all of his fellow
(01:04):
officers to hear on the radio, as is custom when
a cop signs off for the last time. So let's
meet Brian Ibold and Sam Jasper from the Help Squad
we spoke earlier this week. Brian, I heard your last
call was a great introduction to who you are. Do
you mind if we hear that right now?
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Yeah? Sure, yeah. I wasn't aware that was even available.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Especially unit's on West, Central and East frequency. Sergeant Ibel
started his law enforcement career in nineteen ninety one was
the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department, and nineteen ninety three, Sergeant
Ivoll joined the Cincinni Police Department, where he spent thirteen years.
While with the Cincinni Police Department, Sergeant Ivold was promoted
to RINKO sergeant and served on the Violent Crimes Squad.
(01:50):
In two thousand and six, Bryan joined Green County Police
Department and was promoted to the rank of sergeant after
spending several years assigned to the Regional Enforcement Arcrotics Unit
and serve citizens of Green Township with great dedication and integrity.
On April thirtieth, twenty twenty, Sargant Ivell Will be retiring.
I've a distinguished twenty and a half year career. Thank you,
(02:10):
Sergeant Ibel for your years of dedicated service. Congratulations on
your well earned retirement. Related him account Communications at ten o'clock.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
So how are you. It's good to see you.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yeah, thank you. Yeah, I appreciate this opportunity. I'm kind
of embarrassed that I'm not tech savvy. Hey, did you
happen to see the TV coverage?
Speaker 1 (02:29):
How was it? It was awesome.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
It was really helpful for us, you know, to kind
of get the word out and show people some of
the things that we do.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
And hopefully gain their support.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
So Sam, tell me what you do for the Help Squad.
Speaker 5 (02:44):
Okay, I'm the vice president of the Help Squad.
Speaker 6 (02:48):
Originally I was running an outreach over here in Coleraine
Township called Pivot three sixty Care Center and connecting with
local families here that we're struggling. I was teaching faith
education to public school students and through that process a
lot of the children I quickly discovered we're having a
(03:12):
lot of issues at home and their families were struggling
and things like that. So we started that mission to
connect with those families and help people in our school district,
and then it just kind of expanded to individuals and
others in the community that we're also experiencing, you know,
(03:33):
financial barriers, lots of housing, utility shutoffs and things like that.
So that's kind of how we got started doing this.
And Brian's group had come to the Colorine Township nonprofit
networking group meeting. It's called col Reine Hope, and we
(03:54):
had connected there. We found out that, hey, our groups
are doing things that are very similar.
Speaker 5 (04:02):
He was an official nonprofit and.
Speaker 6 (04:03):
We were not yet, and we were looking like, do
we need to become a nonprofit on our own? Should
we partner with somebody? And it just made a lot
of sense. When our two groups met, we merged.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
So you help folks typically in the West Side. What
part of Cincinnati do you focus on.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Well, we only have four service areas. They are all
on the West Side and those four service areas are
Green Township, Dell High Township, Cole Rain Township, and the
City of Shiviat.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
And I'm sure you're hoping to expand at some point,
but right now you probably got your hands full. Let's
talk about what the Help Squad provides for folks in
those areas that need help, Sam, you want to go
into that a little bit.
Speaker 6 (04:51):
Yeah, sure, So we help families with financial aid, you know,
families that are struggling with rent, shutoffs and utilities, things
along that line. And then if they're struggling with food
or other types of services clothing, we help connect them
to those things. We provide food through various means and
(05:13):
connect them with local food pantries so that they have
something that might be more sustainable, you know, for them
long term. But yeah, rent is our biggest category. Utility
shutoffs would be our second category. We also do a
lot with transportation. We helped Canvas Mobile with the car
(05:34):
so she would have transportation back and forth and not
have to continue to ride the bus. But we do
that quite a bit, also helping families with transportation needs,
whether it might be a repair or you know, sometimes
we're gifted a new car and we're able to share
that resource with the family and need and you know,
(05:55):
it always works out that when the need arises, the
need is answered.
Speaker 5 (06:00):
So we're very blessed in that.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
I find Cincinnatians to be very generous. Yes, if you're
interested in finding out more. While we're talking here, I'll
just tell you. The website is the help Squadsincy dot com,
the help Squad Sincy with a y dot com. And
I'm speaking with Brian Eibold. He's a retired police sergeant,
law enforcement officer, actually a former sheriff's deputy and then
(06:26):
went to work for CPD and then onto Green Township
and retired a few years ago, along with Sam Jasper,
who's the VP of the Help Squad. So, Brian, tell
me how you got the idea to put the help
Squad together. You were on the streets, you were seeing
the need, and you took it from there.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Yeah, that is definitely one of the reasons.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
The other reason is that it's been near and dear
to me most of my life. Is that I was
raised by a single mother and I saw her struggle,
and you know, there is a.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Time that I just can't get out of my mind.
Excuse me.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
When I was probably i don't know, like probably eight
nine years old, we lived in some crappy apartment on
Queen City Avenue, and that was the best my mom
could do, you know, And our lights were off, our
electric was off, and we were under at candlelight at
the kitchen table eating. I was eating a cold TV
(07:25):
dinner and she was eating peanut butter of a jar
with a spoon. So could you imagined if my mother
could have picked up a phone and said, man, we
just ran into some financial issues. Can you turn our
electric on? Or can you help us? Can you be something?
And there wasn't anything there. There was no resources. And
to be honest with you, if I was, let's say
(07:48):
I was, you know, ten years old, and now I'm
fifty five, I don't know of really any agency that
does exactly what we do to the extent, and we
do it and that's been what forty five years ago,
and they there's still nothing that because some of the
things that we do, I'm telling you right now, Nope,
(08:10):
I've never heard of anybody doing.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Well, let's ring down on some of that. What are
some of those things?
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Well, I mean, I have to give you it's kind
of the examples of the people that we've helped. But
one quick example is we had a lady who her
husband had just was diagnosed with stage four cancer. So
he was, you know, he was obviously very sick and
he could not work. However, he did get some sort
of compensation through Social Security or something that they were
(08:38):
barely making their.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Bills, just making by.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
So she ended up having to quit her job as
well to care for her husband with the stage four cancer.
So hospice ends up getting involved, and hospice now was
coming to their house to assist her something like six
hours a day. So when hospice was in the house,
what she wanted to do is go out and do
Uber Eats or uber or you know some of those
(09:05):
you know where they delivering things just to make extra
money to make ends meet, you know, for her and
her husband. And so when she contacted us, I said,
what do you need?
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Do you need a car? She goes, oh, no, no, I
have a car.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
I said, all, okay, do you need help getting your
driver's license valid?
Speaker 5 (09:23):
No?
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Now I have a valid license. I said, well, well,
if you have a car and you have license, how
can we help you? And she said, when you do
something with Uber or any of these agencies, there was
a certain type of insurance you have to carry, and
the insurance was relatively expensive per month.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Well, they're barely making ends meet.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
So she just asked us to pay her car insurance
and we did, and she went out and she was
able to make ends meet, and she had cash and
they made it. Now, unfortunately, you know, the husband passed away,
you know, weeks weeks later. But in that intim she
did you know, and I don't know how many places
(10:08):
paid your car insurance. So that was part, you know,
with with my mother, you know, being a single mother
and whatnot.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
That was part of the reason.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
The second part, just real quick, is as a police officer, now,
a lot of half of my career, almost half of
my career, was spent in an undercover narcotics role capacity,
So I was like an undercover copy whatever you want
to call it. And but when I was in uniform,
you know, police car, police had, you know, uniform, A
lot of our runs, radio runs were we were dispatched
(10:39):
for family trouble, families arguing, domestic disputes, disorderly people in
the house, things like that. So when we would get
to these scenes, to these residences and people screaming and
hollering this.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
That and the other.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
But when you would separate the mom and the dad,
or the grandma and the grandpa or the brother, just
separate the family and you would just talk to them.
The majority of the issues that these people are arguing
and screaming about were finances. Mom just got laid off,
and how the heck are they going to pay the
rent now they had just got fired. The car was
(11:13):
going to get repolld if we don't pay this next
payment in two days. It was financial reasons and as
a you know, as a younger policeman, I'm like, oh, well,
there has to be an organization that you can call
for this.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
I mean, who would want you to lose your car?
You lose your car, you can't get to work. You
can't get to work, you're going to get evicted.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
If you get evicted, you're living on the street, or
you're going to the government saying hey, we need help.
Like why wouldn't the government prevent this? Well they don't,
but we do. And so that was another reason, because
it's finances that are causing a lot of the issues.
So man, if we can help with finances, I mean
(11:50):
we're doing some really good work. And that was between
my experiences as a kid with my single mother and
then seeing what I saw as a police officer.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
You have I mean just made let's do this. We're
going to take a quick break.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
My guests today are retired law enforcement officer Brian Ibold
and Sam Jasper, the founders of the Help Squad on
the West Side. It's a nonprofit helping several communities there
more about that coming up in a moment.
Speaker 6 (12:16):
That's when they find themselves down and out right. So
we're trying to help folks walk through that process and
get connected to the right things, give them hope.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
This is iHeart Cincy.
Speaker 6 (12:28):
This is fifty five karc AN iHeartRadio station.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
All right, we're back here on iHeart Sincy. I'm Sandy Collins,
my guest today. Brian Ibold, a retired police officer who
worked as a deputy in Hamilton County, then in the
Cincinnati Police Department, and finally Green Township, where he retired
after nearly thirty years in law enforcement just about four
years ago. The founder of the Help Squad, which helps
the folks the four communities on the West side of Cincinnati,
(12:57):
along with Sam Jasper, who's the VP of their group,
nonprofit group, faith based and you work together to provide
lots of other services we've talked about to financial services.
I also see on the list here, food support, and clothing,
home and furnishing. You know, sometimes people get the frisk
apartment and there's no there's nothing to put in it.
(13:17):
So I'm sure you help out with things like that.
What other services that we haven't really talked about.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
You want to highlight sam, you want to bring it up.
Speaker 6 (13:26):
Yeah, some of the other services that we work with.
We try to connect families with services that they're not
familiar with. They've just kind of imagined you've experienced this setback,
this change of circumstance, and you don't know where to go,
who to turn to. So we try to make sure
that we have a really good list of resources to
(13:49):
help folks. And again one of the biggest things was food,
you know, and knowing our local food pantry resources, how
to connect them to various things clothing of course you mentioned,
but then other things would be like we had helped
a family connect to Hamilton County Developmental Disabilities. She had
(14:10):
some disabled children. They weren't aware of benefits that could
be available to them with help with her children, respite care,
things like that. We get seniors and veterans all the
time through applications and you know, they don't know where
to go or who to turn to. They were told
(14:31):
just to call a phone number and it can be
a very frustrating, high barrier process for them.
Speaker 5 (14:38):
Usually when you're in the.
Speaker 6 (14:39):
Midst of a situation, you also may be super stressed
and you don't have the mental capacity to you know,
get through the process of call this person, now, call
this person, call that person, and you kind of get
the run around, and they get very frustrated, give up,
(15:00):
and then that's when they find themselves down and out right.
So we're trying to help folks walk through that process
and get connected to the right things, give them hope
and that somebody cares enough to take the time to
sit there and make phone calls with them and get
them connected to the right resources. We work with, you know,
(15:21):
some of the agencies we have to use, some of
the county agencies also, but a lot of times when
you can call up and you know somebody by name,
then it's always very helpful than just saying here, call
this number. So we try to make sure that we
have a good connection with these resources too as to
where to send people and if they're not in our
(15:43):
service area, because we do get a lot of applications.
Last year we had one hundred and ten applications come
through seventy three of those we were able to assist
with financial aid and a variety of services, but the
rest of those were not in our service area or
didn't qualify for financial aid, and so what we do
(16:05):
is try to connect them to elevate their situation, to
get them to a better place.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
There are a lot of services. Over the past couple
of years of doing this show, we've talked with a
lot of nonprofit organizations that provide different aspects of help,
and they're all so willing. It's just finding out where
they're at, and so it's nice to know, and it's
pretty much the bottom line is every organization that I've
spoken to says we're going to help you find it
(16:32):
here or somewhere else. So if you don't know where
you're gonna reach out, you can certainly contact the help Squad,
but you can also go to the iHeartRadio app and
look on the iHeart sincey podcast list. There's so many
organizations that do specialized help that you might need. Like
there's an organization that builds bunk beds for families who
(16:54):
maybe the grandparents have gotten their grandkids and there's something
wrong with the parents that they can take care of them,
and so they're sleeping on their floor at grandma's house.
So they'll make bunk beds for these kids and things,
so they're specialized help. The one thing that brings them
all together is this concern about people's human condition and
being able to help. And I appreciate the help squad Cincinnati, Brian,
(17:17):
What do you see here coming up?
Speaker 1 (17:18):
What are your big challenges?
Speaker 2 (17:20):
We have been a five to one C three since
twenty twenty one. I think was in March of twenty
twenty one, and you know, we started out slow, you know,
to be honest with you was you know, I thought, hey,
you know, maybe we'll help a couple of people here
and there. So myself and three three women from church
just kind of tried to get this going and we
(17:42):
helped a couple of people. It was kind of kind
of nice, and we were kind of on our way,
just you know, here and there, and then we ran
into Sam at the meeting. She was that Corraine Chamber
of Commerce meeting, and that was all it took.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
You know, that's great. We needed Sam and Sam.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Needed us, and we combined, we merged and it's been
this is this is darniar a corporation.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Now, I mean, this is a forty hour work week
for me.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
And just to let you know, in the list, we
don't get paid. Every donation goes to directly to help people.
This is all to be honest. You know what, if
I'm really honest, I probably lose ten grand a year
I'm doing this. So we're we're not making any money
and we're and the money that is donated to us
goes right into to help people.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
And the vision, our vision is.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Now you have to understand we're helping four areas in
Hamilton County.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
How many areas are there, do you know?
Speaker 3 (18:40):
I mean there's tons of dozens, dozens and dozens here.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
So the vision is to have a help squad.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Nor would a help squad Westchester, a help squad west End,
you know, or you know other there's more people that
need help just on the west side of Cincinnati. Trying
to get that launch, trying to get people involved who
that's been tough. Another thing that concerns us moving forward
is we're only as good as the money we have
(19:08):
in the bank. And you can't help a whole lot
of people, you know, with your good looks. So it's
obviously money you need donations that simple, and we fundraise
quite often, so that is a concern. You know, if
we run out of donors, then we can't help a
whole lot of people, and that would that would be detrimental.
(19:31):
I can tell you this that some of the things
are starting to come together. Myself, Sam and the rest
of our board members. We can't do this by ourselves.
Need we need community support. And I have been going
to churches and saying, look, you're in our service area.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
We help people.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
I know people go to churches and bang on the
door and say, hey, we don't have food, Hey are
electrics off? What do you do with those people? And
nine out of ten churches don't really have anything to
do with them.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
However, they don't have the resources. They don't have the desire,
but they don't have the resources, and they don't know
about you until you tell them, right.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
So I've been going to these churches and I've said, listen,
you can partner with us, and that when someone bangs
on the door, just.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Give them our card. We'll take care of it. We
need the community.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
We need businesses to get involved, we need the churches
to get involved. We need you know, just regular people
to get involved. So that's you know, that is the vision.
But here's something really good is that we have a
repair shop for vehicles, broken folds, oil on Bridgetown Road.
(20:38):
They have just gave us a ten thousand dollars grant
that anytime we have a vehicle, single, mom, elderly, single day,
whatever and it needs repaired, they will repair our vehicles
up to ten thousand dollars. Now, let me ask you this,
what if we got five gas stations to do that?
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Now we're at fifty thousand. Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (21:01):
You can change everyone's so accustomed to seeing all this.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
It doesn't have to be that way.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
You know, we can do this, but not just Sam
and I. We meet everybody, and you know, and two,
when you.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Ask for help, oftentimes, you know, everyone has a cash
flow concerns and they may not think that their service
can actually help as well.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
So think about, you.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Know, what it is that you actually do, and see
how you can turn that around to help the nonprofit
of your choice, the help squad here in Cincinnati, whomever
is in your neighborhood to help the folks and our
neighbors that are struggling. And it's just only getting getting
harder with all the prices going up. I do know
about the Viva Las Vegas fundraiser.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
We have Elvis in the building.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
What is his name, Mike, Mike Davis, Mike Davis, and
he's going to do his Elvis tribute and you've got
a Monte Carlo and Knight plan. Sam, You want to
tell me about the fundraise in March.
Speaker 6 (22:01):
Yeah, So it's going to be a lot of fun.
So March twenty eighth, it's going to be seven pm
to eleven. It's at Willow Event Center on Comorane Avenue,
And like you said, we're going to have Mike Davis
there with entertainment. We'll have DJ aj there for music,
and then we're also going to have some games with
a professional entertainment company.
Speaker 5 (22:24):
So that should be a.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Lot of the money Carlo kind of thing.
Speaker 5 (22:28):
Yeah, the money Carlo kind of thing.
Speaker 6 (22:30):
So, and we're going to have food and lots of
great drinks and things like that.
Speaker 5 (22:35):
So it's fifty.
Speaker 6 (22:37):
Five dollars for a single ticket and then one hundred
dollars for a couple and they can purchase those tickets
right through our website at help Squadsinc.
Speaker 5 (22:46):
Dot com. Just click on buy tickets and you're on
your way. But yeah, we're we're looking forward to it
should be a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
So calling all all of us personators who are out
there and all the women who love them, Yes, this
is going to be the place for you. It's a
Friday night, March twentyeighth.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Go ahead. It didn't mean to cut you off there.
Speaker 5 (23:03):
Sam, No, No, you're fine.
Speaker 6 (23:06):
And so we try to do things on a quarterly
basis just to help us with our donations. And so
we'll have a summer concert coming up at the beer
house over on Route one twenty eight and it'll be
a night.
Speaker 5 (23:21):
I think it's going to be July nineteenth.
Speaker 6 (23:23):
That date needs to be confirmed, but I think that's
pretty much the date. And under the sun a local
band will be playing, and so we'll have split the
pod in a variety of baskets things like that's lots
of fun that night as well. And then August, if
you got golfers out there, August sixteenth, we have our
(23:43):
golf fundraiser coming up at Pebble Creek Golf Course and
then our fourth quarter we kind of reserve for giving
back to the community. We usually do a toy drive.
We help a lot of our local pantries things like
that with needs that they have, so we'll do a
variety of things in that in that way. So Brian
(24:04):
mentioned you met Sam, but I do come with a
big team over here in Cole Rane. So you know,
I had a group of about ten to twelve individuals
that were assisting me also here on the col Raine side.
So some of them came from my church that I
go to over at Northwest Community Church. But then we
have it's a non denominational group that formed for the
(24:27):
Pivot three sixty mission. So I'm only as good as
my team, you.
Speaker 5 (24:31):
Know, right, it's not just me team.
Speaker 6 (24:36):
My team over here is awesome and they've assumed a
lot of positions on our board and are are super helpful.
And then spearheading the fundraising and grant writing. You know,
we've added a grant writing team, so we're excited about
all of those things.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
So if you want to find out more, it's the
Help Squad Cincinnati. Ryan Ibold and Sam Jasper, thank you
so much for what you do, your vision and how
you help the community there on the West side.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
We need people to get off the couch and final
a purpose in their life and help people that are struggling.
The people that you walk by, the people you drop
there are struggling and we can help.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
We can all come together and do it. We need
to serve, we can do it. Love that message. Thank
you so much, Thank us so much.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
Well, we've run out of time for this week, but
you can hear this show on the iHeartRadio app beginning
next week. Just go there on the iHeart Sinsey podcast
feed and all the shows are there with all the
great nonprofits and great people in the Cincinnati Tri state
area who make such a difference in our lives.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
It's all free. It's downloadable right.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
There on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Hope you'll take a look.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Thanks for listening today. If you've got any questions, comments,
you'd like to suggest somebody for the show, I'd love
to hear from you. Shoot me an email to iHeart
Sinsey with an i at ihea Heartmedia dot com. Iheartsinsey
at iHeartMedia dot com.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Enjoy the week.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
I'll see you here next time.
Speaker 4 (26:10):
Iheartsinsey is a production of iHeartMedia, Cincinnati
This week on iHeart Sincy.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
I was raised by a single mother and I saw
her struggle.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
Today you're going to meet a former Cincinnati cop and
Hamilton County Sheriff's deputy who took a lesson from his
own childhood turned it into a passion project to help
his neighbors in need.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Now on iHeart Sinsey with Sandy Collins.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
If this is your first time, welcome to iHeart Sinsey.
I'm Sandy Collins. Got a couple of great people for
you to meet today from the Cincinnati area. Today I'm
speaking with retired law enforcement officer Brian Ibold and his
partner Sam Jasper. They head up the Help Squad. This
is a new faith based nonprofit just recognized by the
Coal Ring Chamber of Commerces New Nonprofit of the Year
(00:43):
for twenty twenty four. Now you may have seen a
couple of stories this week on local TV news about
the Help Squad. Brian Ibold is a native of the
Queen's City and we're going to hear his story in
a few moments. But first, when Brian retired from law
enforcement about four years ago, his career was beautifully summed
up by his police dispatcher for all of his fellow
(01:04):
officers to hear on the radio, as is custom when
a cop signs off for the last time. So let's
meet Brian Ibold and Sam Jasper from the Help Squad
we spoke earlier this week. Brian, I heard your last
call was a great introduction to who you are. Do
you mind if we hear that right now?
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Yeah? Sure, yeah. I wasn't aware that was even available.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Especially unit's on West, Central and East frequency. Sergeant Ibel
started his law enforcement career in nineteen ninety one was
the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department, and nineteen ninety three, Sergeant
Ivoll joined the Cincinni Police Department, where he spent thirteen years.
While with the Cincinni Police Department, Sergeant Ivold was promoted
to RINKO sergeant and served on the Violent Crimes Squad.
(01:50):
In two thousand and six, Bryan joined Green County Police
Department and was promoted to the rank of sergeant after
spending several years assigned to the Regional Enforcement Arcrotics Unit
and serve citizens of Green Township with great dedication and integrity.
On April thirtieth, twenty twenty, Sargant Ivell Will be retiring.
I've a distinguished twenty and a half year career. Thank you,
(02:10):
Sergeant Ibel for your years of dedicated service. Congratulations on
your well earned retirement. Related him account Communications at ten o'clock.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
So how are you. It's good to see you.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yeah, thank you. Yeah, I appreciate this opportunity. I'm kind
of embarrassed that I'm not tech savvy. Hey, did you
happen to see the TV coverage?
Speaker 1 (02:29):
How was it? It was awesome.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
It was really helpful for us, you know, to kind
of get the word out and show people some of
the things that we do.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
And hopefully gain their support.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
So Sam, tell me what you do for the Help Squad.
Speaker 5 (02:44):
Okay, I'm the vice president of the Help Squad.
Speaker 6 (02:48):
Originally I was running an outreach over here in Coleraine
Township called Pivot three sixty Care Center and connecting with
local families here that we're struggling. I was teaching faith
education to public school students and through that process a
lot of the children I quickly discovered we're having a
(03:12):
lot of issues at home and their families were struggling
and things like that. So we started that mission to
connect with those families and help people in our school district,
and then it just kind of expanded to individuals and
others in the community that we're also experiencing, you know,
(03:33):
financial barriers, lots of housing, utility shutoffs and things like that.
So that's kind of how we got started doing this.
And Brian's group had come to the Colorine Township nonprofit
networking group meeting. It's called col Reine Hope, and we
(03:54):
had connected there. We found out that, hey, our groups
are doing things that are very similar.
Speaker 5 (04:02):
He was an official nonprofit and.
Speaker 6 (04:03):
We were not yet, and we were looking like, do
we need to become a nonprofit on our own? Should
we partner with somebody? And it just made a lot
of sense. When our two groups met, we merged.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
So you help folks typically in the West Side. What
part of Cincinnati do you focus on.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Well, we only have four service areas. They are all
on the West Side and those four service areas are
Green Township, Dell High Township, Cole Rain Township, and the
City of Shiviat.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
And I'm sure you're hoping to expand at some point,
but right now you probably got your hands full. Let's
talk about what the Help Squad provides for folks in
those areas that need help, Sam, you want to go
into that a little bit.
Speaker 6 (04:51):
Yeah, sure, So we help families with financial aid, you know,
families that are struggling with rent, shutoffs and utilities, things
along that line. And then if they're struggling with food
or other types of services clothing, we help connect them
to those things. We provide food through various means and
(05:13):
connect them with local food pantries so that they have
something that might be more sustainable, you know, for them
long term. But yeah, rent is our biggest category. Utility
shutoffs would be our second category. We also do a
lot with transportation. We helped Canvas Mobile with the car
(05:34):
so she would have transportation back and forth and not
have to continue to ride the bus. But we do
that quite a bit, also helping families with transportation needs,
whether it might be a repair or you know, sometimes
we're gifted a new car and we're able to share
that resource with the family and need and you know,
(05:55):
it always works out that when the need arises, the
need is answered.
Speaker 5 (06:00):
So we're very blessed in that.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
I find Cincinnatians to be very generous. Yes, if you're
interested in finding out more. While we're talking here, I'll
just tell you. The website is the help Squadsincy dot com,
the help Squad Sincy with a y dot com. And
I'm speaking with Brian Eibold. He's a retired police sergeant,
law enforcement officer, actually a former sheriff's deputy and then
(06:26):
went to work for CPD and then onto Green Township
and retired a few years ago, along with Sam Jasper,
who's the VP of the Help Squad. So, Brian, tell
me how you got the idea to put the help
Squad together. You were on the streets, you were seeing
the need, and you took it from there.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Yeah, that is definitely one of the reasons.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
The other reason is that it's been near and dear
to me most of my life. Is that I was
raised by a single mother and I saw her struggle,
and you know, there is a.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Time that I just can't get out of my mind.
Excuse me.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
When I was probably i don't know, like probably eight
nine years old, we lived in some crappy apartment on
Queen City Avenue, and that was the best my mom
could do, you know, And our lights were off, our
electric was off, and we were under at candlelight at
the kitchen table eating. I was eating a cold TV
(07:25):
dinner and she was eating peanut butter of a jar
with a spoon. So could you imagined if my mother
could have picked up a phone and said, man, we
just ran into some financial issues. Can you turn our
electric on? Or can you help us? Can you be something?
And there wasn't anything there. There was no resources. And
to be honest with you, if I was, let's say
(07:48):
I was, you know, ten years old, and now I'm
fifty five, I don't know of really any agency that
does exactly what we do to the extent, and we
do it and that's been what forty five years ago,
and they there's still nothing that because some of the
things that we do, I'm telling you right now, Nope,
(08:10):
I've never heard of anybody doing.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Well, let's ring down on some of that. What are
some of those things?
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Well, I mean, I have to give you it's kind
of the examples of the people that we've helped. But
one quick example is we had a lady who her
husband had just was diagnosed with stage four cancer. So
he was, you know, he was obviously very sick and
he could not work. However, he did get some sort
of compensation through Social Security or something that they were
(08:38):
barely making their.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Bills, just making by.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
So she ended up having to quit her job as
well to care for her husband with the stage four cancer.
So hospice ends up getting involved, and hospice now was
coming to their house to assist her something like six
hours a day. So when hospice was in the house,
what she wanted to do is go out and do
Uber Eats or uber or you know some of those
(09:05):
you know where they delivering things just to make extra
money to make ends meet, you know, for her and
her husband. And so when she contacted us, I said,
what do you need?
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Do you need a car? She goes, oh, no, no, I
have a car.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
I said, all, okay, do you need help getting your
driver's license valid?
Speaker 5 (09:23):
No?
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Now I have a valid license. I said, well, well,
if you have a car and you have license, how
can we help you? And she said, when you do
something with Uber or any of these agencies, there was
a certain type of insurance you have to carry, and
the insurance was relatively expensive per month.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Well, they're barely making ends meet.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
So she just asked us to pay her car insurance
and we did, and she went out and she was
able to make ends meet, and she had cash and
they made it. Now, unfortunately, you know, the husband passed away,
you know, weeks weeks later. But in that intim she
did you know, and I don't know how many places
(10:08):
paid your car insurance. So that was part, you know,
with with my mother, you know, being a single mother
and whatnot.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
That was part of the reason.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
The second part, just real quick, is as a police officer, now,
a lot of half of my career, almost half of
my career, was spent in an undercover narcotics role capacity,
So I was like an undercover copy whatever you want
to call it. And but when I was in uniform,
you know, police car, police had, you know, uniform, A
lot of our runs, radio runs were we were dispatched
(10:39):
for family trouble, families arguing, domestic disputes, disorderly people in
the house, things like that. So when we would get
to these scenes, to these residences and people screaming and
hollering this.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
That and the other.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
But when you would separate the mom and the dad,
or the grandma and the grandpa or the brother, just
separate the family and you would just talk to them.
The majority of the issues that these people are arguing
and screaming about were finances. Mom just got laid off,
and how the heck are they going to pay the
rent now they had just got fired. The car was
(11:13):
going to get repolld if we don't pay this next
payment in two days. It was financial reasons and as
a you know, as a younger policeman, I'm like, oh, well,
there has to be an organization that you can call
for this.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
I mean, who would want you to lose your car?
You lose your car, you can't get to work. You
can't get to work, you're going to get evicted.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
If you get evicted, you're living on the street, or
you're going to the government saying hey, we need help.
Like why wouldn't the government prevent this? Well they don't,
but we do. And so that was another reason, because
it's finances that are causing a lot of the issues.
So man, if we can help with finances, I mean
(11:50):
we're doing some really good work. And that was between
my experiences as a kid with my single mother and
then seeing what I saw as a police officer.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
You have I mean just made let's do this. We're
going to take a quick break.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
My guests today are retired law enforcement officer Brian Ibold
and Sam Jasper, the founders of the Help Squad on
the West Side. It's a nonprofit helping several communities there
more about that coming up in a moment.
Speaker 6 (12:16):
That's when they find themselves down and out right. So
we're trying to help folks walk through that process and
get connected to the right things, give them hope.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
This is iHeart Cincy.
Speaker 6 (12:28):
This is fifty five karc AN iHeartRadio station.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
All right, we're back here on iHeart Sincy. I'm Sandy Collins,
my guest today. Brian Ibold, a retired police officer who
worked as a deputy in Hamilton County, then in the
Cincinnati Police Department, and finally Green Township, where he retired
after nearly thirty years in law enforcement just about four
years ago. The founder of the Help Squad, which helps
the folks the four communities on the West side of Cincinnati,
(12:57):
along with Sam Jasper, who's the VP of their group,
nonprofit group, faith based and you work together to provide
lots of other services we've talked about to financial services.
I also see on the list here, food support, and clothing,
home and furnishing. You know, sometimes people get the frisk
apartment and there's no there's nothing to put in it.
(13:17):
So I'm sure you help out with things like that.
What other services that we haven't really talked about.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
You want to highlight sam, you want to bring it up.
Speaker 6 (13:26):
Yeah, some of the other services that we work with.
We try to connect families with services that they're not
familiar with. They've just kind of imagined you've experienced this setback,
this change of circumstance, and you don't know where to go,
who to turn to. So we try to make sure
that we have a really good list of resources to
(13:49):
help folks. And again one of the biggest things was food,
you know, and knowing our local food pantry resources, how
to connect them to various things clothing of course you mentioned,
but then other things would be like we had helped
a family connect to Hamilton County Developmental Disabilities. She had
(14:10):
some disabled children. They weren't aware of benefits that could
be available to them with help with her children, respite care,
things like that. We get seniors and veterans all the
time through applications and you know, they don't know where
to go or who to turn to. They were told
(14:31):
just to call a phone number and it can be
a very frustrating, high barrier process for them.
Speaker 5 (14:38):
Usually when you're in the.
Speaker 6 (14:39):
Midst of a situation, you also may be super stressed
and you don't have the mental capacity to you know,
get through the process of call this person, now, call
this person, call that person, and you kind of get
the run around, and they get very frustrated, give up,
(15:00):
and then that's when they find themselves down and out right.
So we're trying to help folks walk through that process
and get connected to the right things, give them hope
and that somebody cares enough to take the time to
sit there and make phone calls with them and get
them connected to the right resources. We work with, you know,
(15:21):
some of the agencies we have to use, some of
the county agencies also, but a lot of times when
you can call up and you know somebody by name,
then it's always very helpful than just saying here, call
this number. So we try to make sure that we
have a good connection with these resources too as to
where to send people and if they're not in our
(15:43):
service area, because we do get a lot of applications.
Last year we had one hundred and ten applications come
through seventy three of those we were able to assist
with financial aid and a variety of services, but the
rest of those were not in our service area or
didn't qualify for financial aid, and so what we do
(16:05):
is try to connect them to elevate their situation, to
get them to a better place.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
There are a lot of services. Over the past couple
of years of doing this show, we've talked with a
lot of nonprofit organizations that provide different aspects of help,
and they're all so willing. It's just finding out where
they're at, and so it's nice to know, and it's
pretty much the bottom line is every organization that I've
spoken to says we're going to help you find it
(16:32):
here or somewhere else. So if you don't know where
you're gonna reach out, you can certainly contact the help Squad,
but you can also go to the iHeartRadio app and
look on the iHeart sincey podcast list. There's so many
organizations that do specialized help that you might need. Like
there's an organization that builds bunk beds for families who
(16:54):
maybe the grandparents have gotten their grandkids and there's something
wrong with the parents that they can take care of them,
and so they're sleeping on their floor at grandma's house.
So they'll make bunk beds for these kids and things,
so they're specialized help. The one thing that brings them
all together is this concern about people's human condition and
being able to help. And I appreciate the help squad Cincinnati, Brian,
(17:17):
What do you see here coming up?
Speaker 1 (17:18):
What are your big challenges?
Speaker 2 (17:20):
We have been a five to one C three since
twenty twenty one. I think was in March of twenty
twenty one, and you know, we started out slow, you know,
to be honest with you was you know, I thought, hey,
you know, maybe we'll help a couple of people here
and there. So myself and three three women from church
just kind of tried to get this going and we
(17:42):
helped a couple of people. It was kind of kind
of nice, and we were kind of on our way,
just you know, here and there, and then we ran
into Sam at the meeting. She was that Corraine Chamber
of Commerce meeting, and that was all it took.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
You know, that's great. We needed Sam and Sam.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Needed us, and we combined, we merged and it's been
this is this is darniar a corporation.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Now, I mean, this is a forty hour work week
for me.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
And just to let you know, in the list, we
don't get paid. Every donation goes to directly to help people.
This is all to be honest. You know what, if
I'm really honest, I probably lose ten grand a year
I'm doing this. So we're we're not making any money
and we're and the money that is donated to us
goes right into to help people.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
And the vision, our vision is.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Now you have to understand we're helping four areas in
Hamilton County.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
How many areas are there, do you know?
Speaker 3 (18:40):
I mean there's tons of dozens, dozens and dozens here.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
So the vision is to have a help squad.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Nor would a help squad Westchester, a help squad west End,
you know, or you know other there's more people that
need help just on the west side of Cincinnati. Trying
to get that launch, trying to get people involved who
that's been tough. Another thing that concerns us moving forward
is we're only as good as the money we have
(19:08):
in the bank. And you can't help a whole lot
of people, you know, with your good looks. So it's
obviously money you need donations that simple, and we fundraise
quite often, so that is a concern. You know, if
we run out of donors, then we can't help a
whole lot of people, and that would that would be detrimental.
(19:31):
I can tell you this that some of the things
are starting to come together. Myself, Sam and the rest
of our board members. We can't do this by ourselves.
Need we need community support. And I have been going
to churches and saying, look, you're in our service area.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
We help people.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
I know people go to churches and bang on the
door and say, hey, we don't have food, Hey are
electrics off? What do you do with those people? And
nine out of ten churches don't really have anything to
do with them.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
However, they don't have the resources. They don't have the desire,
but they don't have the resources, and they don't know
about you until you tell them, right.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
So I've been going to these churches and I've said, listen,
you can partner with us, and that when someone bangs
on the door, just.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Give them our card. We'll take care of it. We
need the community.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
We need businesses to get involved, we need the churches
to get involved. We need you know, just regular people
to get involved. So that's you know, that is the vision.
But here's something really good is that we have a
repair shop for vehicles, broken folds, oil on Bridgetown Road.
(20:38):
They have just gave us a ten thousand dollars grant
that anytime we have a vehicle, single, mom, elderly, single day,
whatever and it needs repaired, they will repair our vehicles
up to ten thousand dollars. Now, let me ask you this,
what if we got five gas stations to do that?
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Now we're at fifty thousand. Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (21:01):
You can change everyone's so accustomed to seeing all this.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
It doesn't have to be that way.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
You know, we can do this, but not just Sam
and I. We meet everybody, and you know, and two,
when you.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Ask for help, oftentimes, you know, everyone has a cash
flow concerns and they may not think that their service
can actually help as well.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
So think about, you.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Know, what it is that you actually do, and see
how you can turn that around to help the nonprofit
of your choice, the help squad here in Cincinnati, whomever
is in your neighborhood to help the folks and our
neighbors that are struggling. And it's just only getting getting
harder with all the prices going up. I do know
about the Viva Las Vegas fundraiser.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
We have Elvis in the building.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
What is his name, Mike, Mike Davis, Mike Davis, and
he's going to do his Elvis tribute and you've got
a Monte Carlo and Knight plan. Sam, You want to
tell me about the fundraise in March.
Speaker 6 (22:01):
Yeah, So it's going to be a lot of fun.
So March twenty eighth, it's going to be seven pm
to eleven. It's at Willow Event Center on Comorane Avenue,
And like you said, we're going to have Mike Davis
there with entertainment. We'll have DJ aj there for music,
and then we're also going to have some games with
a professional entertainment company.
Speaker 5 (22:24):
So that should be a.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Lot of the money Carlo kind of thing.
Speaker 5 (22:28):
Yeah, the money Carlo kind of thing.
Speaker 6 (22:30):
So, and we're going to have food and lots of
great drinks and things like that.
Speaker 5 (22:35):
So it's fifty.
Speaker 6 (22:37):
Five dollars for a single ticket and then one hundred
dollars for a couple and they can purchase those tickets
right through our website at help Squadsinc.
Speaker 5 (22:46):
Dot com. Just click on buy tickets and you're on
your way. But yeah, we're we're looking forward to it
should be a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
So calling all all of us personators who are out
there and all the women who love them, Yes, this
is going to be the place for you. It's a
Friday night, March twentyeighth.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Go ahead. It didn't mean to cut you off there.
Speaker 5 (23:03):
Sam, No, No, you're fine.
Speaker 6 (23:06):
And so we try to do things on a quarterly
basis just to help us with our donations. And so
we'll have a summer concert coming up at the beer
house over on Route one twenty eight and it'll be
a night.
Speaker 5 (23:21):
I think it's going to be July nineteenth.
Speaker 6 (23:23):
That date needs to be confirmed, but I think that's
pretty much the date. And under the sun a local
band will be playing, and so we'll have split the
pod in a variety of baskets things like that's lots
of fun that night as well. And then August, if
you got golfers out there, August sixteenth, we have our
(23:43):
golf fundraiser coming up at Pebble Creek Golf Course and
then our fourth quarter we kind of reserve for giving
back to the community. We usually do a toy drive.
We help a lot of our local pantries things like
that with needs that they have, so we'll do a
variety of things in that in that way. So Brian
(24:04):
mentioned you met Sam, but I do come with a
big team over here in Cole Rane. So you know,
I had a group of about ten to twelve individuals
that were assisting me also here on the col Raine side.
So some of them came from my church that I
go to over at Northwest Community Church. But then we
have it's a non denominational group that formed for the
(24:27):
Pivot three sixty mission. So I'm only as good as
my team, you.
Speaker 5 (24:31):
Know, right, it's not just me team.
Speaker 6 (24:36):
My team over here is awesome and they've assumed a
lot of positions on our board and are are super helpful.
And then spearheading the fundraising and grant writing. You know,
we've added a grant writing team, so we're excited about
all of those things.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
So if you want to find out more, it's the
Help Squad Cincinnati. Ryan Ibold and Sam Jasper, thank you
so much for what you do, your vision and how
you help the community there on the West side.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
We need people to get off the couch and final
a purpose in their life and help people that are struggling.
The people that you walk by, the people you drop
there are struggling and we can help.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
We can all come together and do it. We need
to serve, we can do it. Love that message. Thank
you so much, Thank us so much.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
Well, we've run out of time for this week, but
you can hear this show on the iHeartRadio app beginning
next week. Just go there on the iHeart Sinsey podcast
feed and all the shows are there with all the
great nonprofits and great people in the Cincinnati Tri state
area who make such a difference in our lives.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
It's all free. It's downloadable right.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
There on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Hope you'll take a look.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Thanks for listening today. If you've got any questions, comments,
you'd like to suggest somebody for the show, I'd love
to hear from you. Shoot me an email to iHeart
Sinsey with an i at ihea Heartmedia dot com. Iheartsinsey
at iHeartMedia dot com.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Enjoy the week.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
I'll see you here next time.
Speaker 4 (26:10):
Iheartsinsey is a production of iHeartMedia, Cincinnati
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Dateline NBC
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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!