July 28, 2024 • 29 mins
This organization has been doing good work in Kentucky for a long time, so long that many take for granted they're around. Also, are aging politicians out of touch with Americans? One of the youngest ever elected to office thinks so. This week in Kentucky Focus w/Scott Fitzgerald
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(00:01):
Coming up on this week's Kentucky Focus. This organization is doing good work here
in Kentucky and wants to reintroduce itself. Also, with President Biden stepping down
from his presidential run, that callsfor term limits on elected officials are growing
louder. I'm Scott Fitzgerald and thisis Kentucky Focus. Welcome to Kentucky Focus
on the Kentucky News Network, theshow that looks at issues affecting the Commonwealth
(00:25):
and its citizens. We cover statepolitics, in history, human interest stories,
sports, and even entertainment. It'sKentucky Focus on kN N. Hear
that that's the sound of your life, perfectly imperfect, beating in rhythm to
(00:46):
the world you've created. But everytime you drive after drinking, music gets
drowned out. Your life sounds prettygreat. Don't let a buzz ruin it.
Buzz driving is drunk driving. Don'tdrive bust A message from n It's
in the ad council. Get hurtin the game. We tough it out.
(01:07):
Feel exhausted, we push on feelingdown. We pull ourselves up by
the bootstraps. But there are timeswhen bootstraps aren't enough, when stress gets
to us and we need to talkto someone about what we're really going through.
So we're going to reach out becausesometimes mental health is not a one
person job. Is it? Loveyour Mind Today dot org. That's Love
(01:30):
your Mind Today dot org. Broughtto you by the Huntsman Mental Health Institute
and the Head Council. Welcome toKentucky Focus. I I'm Scot Fitzgerald.
And Catholic Church has a long historyof serving the commonwealth of Kentucky. A
big part of that organization is,of course Catholic Charities. Well, they've
been around for a long time.They are reintroducing themselves to the community.
(01:51):
Joining us is Neil Sullivan. GreetingsNeil, thanks for taking time. So
what is Catholic Charities. Catholic Charitiesof Lulaville. It's a non off a
social service arm of the Archdiocese ofLouisville. And for those of you out
there who don't know what the archdioceseis, it's kind of the major organization
of the Catholic Church. We covertwenty four counties throughout central Kentucky. So
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the archdiocese ranges from Indiana all theway down to the Tennessee border. So
think of Catholic Charities as the churchat work in our community, and our
mission is to really fight to upholdand enhance the dignity of the human person,
regardless of faith, so we workwith everybody of all faiths. This
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is not a Catholic thing. Well, we know you as the local Catholic
Charities, Neil, you are amuch bigger organization. Correct. Catholic Charities
is part of Catholic Charities USA,which is a network of one hundred and
sixty eight agencies across the country andrecently they've just launched a marketing campaign called
(02:57):
we Are There and you can findinformation were there dot us. We're spending
a few minutes with Neil Sullivan.He is with Catholic Charities here in the
Commonwealth and they're working to reintroduce themselvesin what they've been doing for quite a
while in our community. Neil.A big part of Catholic Charities involves international
communities. Correct, Yeah, wesure do. Our Refugee and Migration Services
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organization or department within Catholic Charities isone of our largest and the way we
look at it, basically, nobodywants to be a refugee. If they
have their brothers, they'd rather beback in their home country with their family,
with their village. They become refugeesbecause of persecution or war, or
drought or genocide. So what wedo is meet them where they are.
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So Catholic Charities Us stay and CatholicCharities of Louisville has an arrangement with the
federal government in which we are sanctionedto welcome refugees once they come off the
plane. Every refugee that comes tous has come through the proper channels.
They may have been in a refugeecamp for ten years, and when they
come off that plane and land inLouisville, which is a welcoming city,
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Catholic Charities is there to meet themliterally at the airport. And then for
the first ninety days, you know, we set them up with housing,
food, help them with transportation,how to ride a bus line. We
teach English as a second language.So we just welcome them to Louisville and
get them on their way and getthem resettled. We fight for the human
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dignity of the person. When wewelcome people here, we see them as
people, not as labels, andwe say welcome, You're one of God's
children and We're here to help.What can we do to help you?
Eil Sullivan is with us. He'swith Catholic Charities as the long time a
local organization is reaching out to reintroducethemselves and let others know about the good
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work they do here at home.Neil talk about some of the other things
Catholic Charities does. Last night lookedthe poverty rate of Kentucky is sixteen and
a half percent. That's the sixthworst poverty rate in the entire United States.
Mississippi is nineteen percent. They're theworst. So sixteen percent, nineteen
percent, that's not too far apart. So we have some real challenges on
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our hands just right here at home. This poverty leads to a lot of
things like food insecurity, and housinginstability. We talked about refugees. These
people are right here among us,and our mission to uphold the dignity of
these people. We've developed nine programsthat attack, you know, some of
the most significant social challenges that weface right here at home. When the
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poverty rate is that high, youcan't feed your family, your car breaks
down all of a sudden, youbecome vulnerable. We have a program called
the Bikita Empowerment Initiative, which helpssurvivors of human trafficking. Okay, you
hear human trafficking and you think youcringe a little bit, just being totally
honest, it's like, oh mygosh, how terrible. Well, these
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are regular people who have become extremelyvulnerable to get in a situation where they
owe people money and they can't getout without labor trafficking. So that's an
example of one of our programs.But they also offer housing stability services.
I mean, people are just onepaycheck away or one problem away, maybe
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from being out on the streets.So we step in and help people at
their time of need, not asa handout, but to help them get
through a little bit of a minicrisis, and then we coach them up
in developing skills that allow them tomove forward with confidence and the skill set.
A big story in the news lately, of course, has been the
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rising cost of groceries. I knowit's become harder and harder for families with
a somewhat stable income to afford groceries. I can only imagine what it's like
for families that are struggling. Neil, you have a food pinch based in
Louisville, that I can only cometo think is and in high demand and
will continue to be in demand.Can you talk about that it's always in
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big demand. We're sorry to saythat a lot of these problems are very
persistent. You know, Relentless problemsrequire relentless help. The Sister Visitor Center
is our food pantry in the WestEnd. As I mentioned, yes,
we help people in the West Endwho are facing food insecurity. But I
also mentioned at the top that wealways are fighting for the dignity of the
(07:30):
human person. So what's different andunique about Sister Visitor Center. It's referred
to as a pantry of choice,and what that means is that our clients
schedule time to come into the pantry, which is set up like a grocery
store. So you come in,you get your shopping cart, you have
your shopping list, and you gofrom aisle to aisle and pick up things
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that you need for your family.And we have volunteers who help chop alongside
the person who's shopping if they haveneed or questions about what's this ingredient for
or recipes or what's healthy and what'snot healthy. But this notion of a
choice pantry is very much about buildingand sustaining dignity of the person. They
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get to pick the cereal for theirkids, they know what the dinner is
planned for the week. It's notas if they're handed a bag and say
thank you very much. So wejust think that's very very important. Joining
us is Neil Sullivan. With Catholiccharities which are a staple of course here
in the Commonwealth, then continue todo great work. As you heard Neil
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mention, they rely on volunteers lookingto do good themselves. Neil, along
those lines, what type of peopleare you looking for and how can they
get involved? Yeah, well,thanks Scott. What we're looking for let
me start with that. We're lookingfor people with a big heart. They
have to feel it, they wantto do good for other people. So
when they come to us, wehave plenty of good things for them to
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do. If they visit our websiteat c SEU lou dot org, you'll
see a drop down menu for volunteeropportunities and pretty much every one of our
nine programs has a very good andstrong opportunity to get involved. We need
youth mentors for our refugees. Englishis a second language teachers. Common Earth
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Gardens is a program of ours whichis very big on urban gardening. We're
always looking for people to help maintainthe grounds and the gardens. It sounds
like a gardening club, but it'sa food insecurity club. So these gardens
are located in areas where there arefood deserts. This helps families eat healthy
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and maintain a healthy lifestyle to thedegree possible in a very affordable way.
We have another really important program.It's called Long Term Care Budsmoth. We
advocate for the residents of long termcare facilities. The obvious clients of a
long term care facility would be theelder, but there are also younger people
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who may have had a brain injury. But these people need help and live
in a long term care facility andto be a train on Budsman there is
I think forty hours of training thatgoes into that. But we also have
somebody that wants to go visit.We have friendly Visitors volunteer opportunity, so
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we want people to go and justbe with people living in long term care
facilities that might be very alone andmight not have other people checking in on
them. We have volunteer opportunities foreverything from an individual who has some free
time on a Saturday to corporations thathave large groups that are looking for team
(10:46):
building, So we have something foreverybody. And then Scott would also like
to mention and reinforce that we arepart of Catholic Charities USA, and I
think that's significant because Catholic Charities USAhas one one hundred and sixty eight agencies
across the country. We collectively servedfifteen million people last year and served over
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thirty million meals, and we havea network of two hundred and fifteen thousand
volunteers nationally. So we have needsfor financial and volunteer resources here locally,
both for Louisville and Central Kentucky ourarchdiocese, but we also have the support
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information sharing with other agencies around thecountry that help our programs be absolutely world
class. So folks are listening andmaybe they know someone who lives in another
community and other diocese and they thinkthey would be a good fit for something,
they can reach out to that localCatholic Charities organization. Absolutely, and
(11:50):
you can find a directory of theone hundred and sixty eight agencies by going
to we are there dot US.We are there, Neil, this has
been very insightful. Thank you fortaking time to talk to us. I
appreciate you and everybody There are CatholicCharities, Scott, thanks for having me,
and thanks to all your listeners whoare listening to the story and want
(12:11):
to get involved. He is NeilSullivan with Catholic Charities, and again,
if you'd like to get involved herein Kentucky or anywhere else, simply long
onto Catholic CHARITIESUSA dot org. Comingup. After a series of public stepbacks,
President Biden steps down from his reelectionbid is age becoming an issue in
politics. I'm Scott Fitzgerald and you'relistening to Kentucky Focus. I'm Scarlett Johansson.
(12:39):
My family relied on public assistance tohelp provide meals for us. These
meals fueled my involvement in theater andthe arts as a child, which fostered
my love for acting. The FeedingAmerican Network of Food Banks helps millions of
people put food on the table.You can join the Movement to End Hunger
by donating, volunteering, and advocating. Because when people are fed, futures
are nourished. Join the Movement toEnd Hunger at Feeding America dot org slash
(13:03):
act now brought to you by FeedingAmerica and the AD Council. After a
serious of public mistaps, President JoeBiden withdrew his name from another run at
the wine house. Are our politicianslosing touch with the voters? And could
it be contributed to age. Joiningus to talk about this is Josh Lavizan,
who in twenty twelve became the youngestelected official in New York State and
(13:24):
the youngest Jewish elected official in theUnited States. Josh, thanks for taking
time to join us. Did itsurprise you when President Biden dropped out?
You know, it's surprising in thatI believe that the Biden team has completely
messed up the past couple of months, right the palace intrigue that has plagued
the nation. The fact that JoeBiden was in up until the very moment
(13:48):
that he was out. I wassurprised at the process. But was I
surprised that he dropped out? No, I will tell you not just the
absolutely disassed tost debate performance, butthe fact that watching him over the past
couple of months and even over theyears, his ability to vigorously prosecute the
(14:11):
case for a referendum on his administration, you know, for for a meritorious
argument about seeking another term. Ido not believe he was at the top
of his game, and so Iwas not surprised that it ended up with
him dropping out. Josh Laffazin joinsus to talk about age and politics again.
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As the youngest elected official in NewYork State, Josh is part of
the next generation of American leadership thatfeels it may be time for age limits
when it comes to our elected officials. In fact, according to Pew Research
and a survey conducted before President Bidenstepped decide, over half of those surveys
said they'd like to see both candidatesreplaced. Well, nearly eighty percent said
it is time for age limits.Could this be seeing Josh as a sign
(14:54):
we're headed in the right direction.I think we're heading in the wrong direction.
The Economist came out with a studythat said the United States of America
has the oldest representatives in the developedworld. Right in the United States.
The representatives across government are older thananywhere else, you know, really really
in the in the free world.And what it shows is that government is
not representative of every generation. It'srepresentative of folks who either can afford,
(15:20):
you know, the pay cut torun or who can afford to finance their
campaigns. I will tell you Biden, elected at eighty one, you know,
will be the oldest president ever andhe dropped out. Now, Trump,
if elected at seventy eight, willalso become the oldest president ever.
And the majority of Americans are unhappywith the state of the race. Right
as you mentioned, over half ofvoters would like to see both Trump and
(15:43):
and Biden were placed. And theargument I'll make is that four of the
nation's founding fathers were in their twentiesduring the Constitutional Convention. And it's why
I'm calling for a constitutional amendment toenact age limits seventy five for Congress,
eighty for the presidents. And ifage limits are already in place for jobs
of far lesser consequence than president rightseventy to be a judge in New York,
(16:08):
sixty five for pilots, sixty oneair traffic controllers, fifty seven FBI
special agents. Of all of thesejobs have established age maximums. The President
of the United States, the leaderof the free world, the most important
and demanding job on the globe.Absolutely should be subject to an age limit.
Again, we're talking to former NewYork Legislator Josh Laffizan, who in
(16:32):
twenty twelve became the youngest elected officialin New York State. We're talking about
age limits on politicians, a hotbutton issue after President Biden withdrew his reelection
bid amid several public miscues. Josh, you mentioned age limits for other professions
in the United States. Not tryingto sound insensitive here, but you have
politicians like Chuck Grassley who are atninety years old. It does make it
(16:52):
difficult to think he's got to handleon what a mostly younger population expects of
those making decisions for them. It'soutrageous, right, And I will tell
you, you know, having servedin office for over a decade, and
my constituents who were senior citizens,were most adamant that folks in government were
too old and that they wanted freshideas and a new generation of leaders.
(17:15):
So this is not ageis you know. Quite frankly, it's the opposite.
The founding fathers had the Preshian visionto decide that you needed a certain level
of life experience in order to serve. So they said twenty five for the
House, thirty for the Senate,and thirty five for the presidency. So
(17:36):
I absolutely agree that there is afloor. Right, there is a minimum
age in which somebody needs a certainamount of life experience and a certain amount,
you know, of circumspection and ofunderstanding of the world in order to
serve in that same vein. Youknow, there comes a time where,
(17:56):
you know, Chuck Grassley and somefolks have been in the Senate longer than
I've been alive, and at thatpoint, you know, because I believe
in term limits, that we don'thave term limits. At some point there
has to be an honest conversation thatthe United States Congress, the most important
governing body in the history of theplanet in which we live on, the
most consequential democratic bastion in the worldtoday, is not able to keep up
(18:22):
with the urgency and the vigor inwhich we need them to. And I
will tell you the proof is inthe pudding. The last Congress was the
least productive Congress in the history ofthe Republic. They passed thirty four bills,
most of which we're renaming of alocal post office. At that point,
how can we not have an honestconversation and say, you know,
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quite frankly, with incredulity, thatthe Congress is now working for us and
something needs to change. As oneof the youngest lawmakers elected to office,
Josh, what are some of theissues a younger generation faces in twenty twenty
four? Young people are out ragedat the level of urgency that our elected
officials seem to have. Right,our our generation, which is the largest
(19:07):
generation in the history of the country, we're the most underrepresented. And so
when when you look at issues facingyoung people, right, the high cost
of housing, college affordability, Uh, climate and the environment, ending the
scourgea of of gun violence, youknow, of course inflation. Uh.
You know, young young people areare looking at our government on both sides
(19:32):
and saying, uh, you know, why isn't there more urgency? Why
isn't there a more comprehensive plan tohelp young people flourish in this country?
And and contrarily, Uh, wesee a government racking up record amount of
debt. Uh. It is nosecret that it's our generation that's going to
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have to pay back the interest onthat debt and the principle and so uh,
young young people are saying, uh, we have a government that doesn't
seem to be working for us,and it's no wonder why there is an
all time high in terms of thelevel of dissatisfaction in government. And it's
why I'm such a staunch proponent ofgovernment reforms like term limits. Congress has
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less a single digit, less thanten percent approval rating, get over ninety
percent of incumbents get re elected.And you know, the analogy I make
is that if you ran a businessand only nine percent of your customers approved
of customer service, and you retainednine out of ten employees, you know,
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quite frankly, you would look inwardand say something is wrong here.
But the same analogy for Congress.We continue to put back the very people
that are not delivering results for us. So young people are outraged, and
it's why they're looking for someone,anyone who can deliver result, you know,
for the issues that that that aremost consequential for us. Josh Lavison
(21:04):
is one of the youngest people toever be elected to office, and he's
joining us as he's calling for newage limits on politicians. Josh, let
me ask you, are we ina culture shift? I think so.
And you know, I was laughingwith some friends the other day. Uh,
the last ten days have been acultural shift. Right, We're living
through an important chapter in American history. Right, in the span of ten
(21:27):
days, we had a former presidentshot and back on the campaign trail,
and current president see the nomination,a current vice president step up to claim
the nomination. Right, you know, we're living through history. So so
in terms of you know, howfast time is moving, I think it's
unprecedented. But I think we areliving in a cultural shift in that I
(21:49):
think there is a uniform agreement forthe first time in a long time,
that that that our government is notresponsive to the needs of the people,
and that our government elected officials areare quite simply far too old to either
be in touch with everyday Americans oror to be able to vigorously prosecute,
(22:11):
you know, the case for Americanexceptionalism across the globe and delivered change.
So so I do think we're ina cultural shift in that everyone seems to
be unhappy. Right. You wentfrom two thousand and eight with the election
of President Obama, this this younger, transformative figure, you know, fast
forward, you know, almost fifteentwenty years, and there seems to be
(22:36):
complete dissatisfaction with both candidates. Iwould note that both Kamala Harris and Donald
Trump have high unfavorable ratings fifty fivepoint five percent view Harris unfavorably, fifty
three point seven percent view Trump unfavorably. So I think the cultural shift revolves
around this notion that people are unhappywith any of the choices we have and
(23:00):
and they're looking for anybody, somebody, you know, who can deliver change
and be a defining voice in ourpolitics. Last question for you, Josh,
are there viable candidates out there nowfor younger voters? I think so.
The selection of JD. Vance wasa play, in my opinion,
by the Republicans to target the youngerdemographic. This is somebody who, at
(23:22):
thirty nine is a member of thenext generation. This is somebody who served
in the Iraq War and talks aboutgetting America out of these forever wars,
you know, which is popular amongyoung people. Somebody who worked in technology
and can speak about tech to ayounger generation. So I believe that the
selection of Kamala Harris, you know, you know, targeting specifically a younger
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nominee. I think in this electionit's going to be the vice presidential candidates
who can go out and make thecase for relatability among young people. So
I will say the youth vote isup for grabs in this election. Going
forward. You know, there areof course names names to look at.
I think Governor Wes Moore of Marylandis a young and vibrant leader. Of
(24:11):
course. Josh Shapiro out of Pennsylvaniasecretary footage edge of course as a young
and dynamic leader. So you know, the Democrats have a deep bench of
these young leaders. And of courseon the right you have younger leaders coming
up in the Congress and the Senatewho will see over the next couple of
terms. So what I say ispay attention to the Congress because it looks
(24:36):
like it's auditions are open for twentytwenty eight as we speak. This is
a question in a conversation, Josh, I've been wanting to have with somebody
for a long time. So you'reright on time, my friend. I
appreciate you taking time to talk tous. If folks want to find out
more about you, and you mentioneda program, if you have a podcast
or anything that folks would like tolisten to, where can they go?
Yeah, of course, so JoshLaughason dot com is my website and I
(24:57):
will say I'm on TikTok, I'mon Instagram, I'm on Twitter. Please
continue to follow my pages. TheJosh Lafazan Show is coming soon, and
most importantly, I look forward tobeing back on your programs soon. Wonderful
Josh, Thank you so much,my friend. Have yourself a great week
and we will talk again soon forsure, looking forward to it. Thanks
(25:18):
again. You can bet this conversationis just starting and it will be around
for a while. I'm Scott Fitzgerald. You're listening to Kentucky Focus. We're
back to wrap things up after this. In sitcoms, when someone has a
problem, they just blurt it outand move on. Well, I lost
my job and my parakeet is missing. How is your day? But the
(25:41):
real world is different. Managing life'schallenges could be overwhelming. So what do
we do? We get support?The Huntsman Mental Health Institute and the AD
Council have mental health resources available foryou at love Yourmind Today dot org.
That's love your Mind Today dot org. See how much further you can go
when you take care of your mentalhealth. Do not to stop going and
(26:07):
stay say please do always sing withme. That means do not stop going.
I judas they say please, they'llalways remember Bisbee don't drive distracted,
a message brought to you by theNational Highway Traffic Safety Administration Project yellow Light
and the AD Council faves. Whatare you doing? What? I'm just
(26:32):
smelling the lawn. No, it'sblazing hot and dry out here. Don't
you remember? Smoky Bear says avoidusing power equipment when it's windyer dry.
Where'd you learn this? Oh,it's a smokybear dot com with many other
wildfire prevention tips right, Thanks honeyBear, because remember, only you can
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prevent wildfires. Brought to you bythe USDA Forest Service, your state forester,
and the AD Council. I don'tdo it for this, it's Kentucky
Focus. A big thank you tonight. Sullivant with Catholic Charities. For more
information or if you want to knowhow you can help by volunteering your time
and or resources, simply visit CatholicCharities USA dot org or locally within the
Louisville area cc lou dot org.Also thank you to Josh Lafazon, one
(27:18):
of the youngest elected officials in Americawho is calling for age limits on our
elected officials. For more information,you can visit Josh Labazon dot com or
find him on any social media outlet. For all of us here at Kentucky
Focus and the Kentucky News Network,I'm Scott Fitzgerald, thanking you as always
for taking time to tune in andtelling you to make it a safe,
happy week. We'll talk to younext time. Kentucky Focus on the Kentucky
(27:41):
News Network the show that looks atissues affecting the Commonwealth and it's citizens.
We cover state politics, in history, human interest stories, sports, and
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Coming up on this week's Kentucky Focus. This organization is doing good work here
in Kentucky and wants to reintroduce itself. Also, with President Biden stepping down
from his presidential run, that callsfor term limits on elected officials are growing
louder. I'm Scott Fitzgerald and thisis Kentucky Focus. Welcome to Kentucky Focus
on the Kentucky News Network, theshow that looks at issues affecting the Commonwealth
(00:25):
and its citizens. We cover statepolitics, in history, human interest stories,
sports, and even entertainment. It'sKentucky Focus on kN N. Hear
that that's the sound of your life, perfectly imperfect, beating in rhythm to
(00:46):
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drowned out. Your life sounds prettygreat. Don't let a buzz ruin it.
Buzz driving is drunk driving. Don'tdrive bust A message from n It's
in the ad council. Get hurtin the game. We tough it out.
(01:07):
Feel exhausted, we push on feelingdown. We pull ourselves up by
the bootstraps. But there are timeswhen bootstraps aren't enough, when stress gets
to us and we need to talkto someone about what we're really going through.
So we're going to reach out becausesometimes mental health is not a one
person job. Is it? Loveyour Mind Today dot org. That's Love
(01:30):
your Mind Today dot org. Broughtto you by the Huntsman Mental Health Institute
and the Head Council. Welcome toKentucky Focus. I I'm Scot Fitzgerald.
And Catholic Church has a long historyof serving the commonwealth of Kentucky. A
big part of that organization is,of course Catholic Charities. Well, they've
been around for a long time.They are reintroducing themselves to the community.
(01:51):
Joining us is Neil Sullivan. GreetingsNeil, thanks for taking time. So
what is Catholic Charities. Catholic Charitiesof Lulaville. It's a non off a
social service arm of the Archdiocese ofLouisville. And for those of you out
there who don't know what the archdioceseis, it's kind of the major organization
of the Catholic Church. We covertwenty four counties throughout central Kentucky. So
(02:15):
the archdiocese ranges from Indiana all theway down to the Tennessee border. So
think of Catholic Charities as the churchat work in our community, and our
mission is to really fight to upholdand enhance the dignity of the human person,
regardless of faith, so we workwith everybody of all faiths. This
(02:36):
is not a Catholic thing. Well, we know you as the local Catholic
Charities, Neil, you are amuch bigger organization. Correct. Catholic Charities
is part of Catholic Charities USA,which is a network of one hundred and
sixty eight agencies across the country andrecently they've just launched a marketing campaign called
(02:57):
we Are There and you can findinformation were there dot us. We're spending
a few minutes with Neil Sullivan.He is with Catholic Charities here in the
Commonwealth and they're working to reintroduce themselvesin what they've been doing for quite a
while in our community. Neil.A big part of Catholic Charities involves international
communities. Correct, Yeah, wesure do. Our Refugee and Migration Services
(03:20):
organization or department within Catholic Charities isone of our largest and the way we
look at it, basically, nobodywants to be a refugee. If they
have their brothers, they'd rather beback in their home country with their family,
with their village. They become refugeesbecause of persecution or war, or
drought or genocide. So what wedo is meet them where they are.
(03:45):
So Catholic Charities Us stay and CatholicCharities of Louisville has an arrangement with the
federal government in which we are sanctionedto welcome refugees once they come off the
plane. Every refugee that comes tous has come through the proper channels.
They may have been in a refugeecamp for ten years, and when they
come off that plane and land inLouisville, which is a welcoming city,
(04:11):
Catholic Charities is there to meet themliterally at the airport. And then for
the first ninety days, you know, we set them up with housing,
food, help them with transportation,how to ride a bus line. We
teach English as a second language.So we just welcome them to Louisville and
get them on their way and getthem resettled. We fight for the human
(04:31):
dignity of the person. When wewelcome people here, we see them as
people, not as labels, andwe say welcome, You're one of God's
children and We're here to help.What can we do to help you?
Eil Sullivan is with us. He'swith Catholic Charities as the long time a
local organization is reaching out to reintroducethemselves and let others know about the good
(04:53):
work they do here at home.Neil talk about some of the other things
Catholic Charities does. Last night lookedthe poverty rate of Kentucky is sixteen and
a half percent. That's the sixthworst poverty rate in the entire United States.
Mississippi is nineteen percent. They're theworst. So sixteen percent, nineteen
percent, that's not too far apart. So we have some real challenges on
(05:15):
our hands just right here at home. This poverty leads to a lot of
things like food insecurity, and housinginstability. We talked about refugees. These
people are right here among us,and our mission to uphold the dignity of
these people. We've developed nine programsthat attack, you know, some of
the most significant social challenges that weface right here at home. When the
(05:40):
poverty rate is that high, youcan't feed your family, your car breaks
down all of a sudden, youbecome vulnerable. We have a program called
the Bikita Empowerment Initiative, which helpssurvivors of human trafficking. Okay, you
hear human trafficking and you think youcringe a little bit, just being totally
honest, it's like, oh mygosh, how terrible. Well, these
(06:03):
are regular people who have become extremelyvulnerable to get in a situation where they
owe people money and they can't getout without labor trafficking. So that's an
example of one of our programs.But they also offer housing stability services.
I mean, people are just onepaycheck away or one problem away, maybe
(06:26):
from being out on the streets.So we step in and help people at
their time of need, not asa handout, but to help them get
through a little bit of a minicrisis, and then we coach them up
in developing skills that allow them tomove forward with confidence and the skill set.
A big story in the news lately, of course, has been the
(06:47):
rising cost of groceries. I knowit's become harder and harder for families with
a somewhat stable income to afford groceries. I can only imagine what it's like
for families that are struggling. Neil, you have a food pinch based in
Louisville, that I can only cometo think is and in high demand and
will continue to be in demand.Can you talk about that it's always in
(07:08):
big demand. We're sorry to saythat a lot of these problems are very
persistent. You know, Relentless problemsrequire relentless help. The Sister Visitor Center
is our food pantry in the WestEnd. As I mentioned, yes,
we help people in the West Endwho are facing food insecurity. But I
also mentioned at the top that wealways are fighting for the dignity of the
(07:30):
human person. So what's different andunique about Sister Visitor Center. It's referred
to as a pantry of choice,and what that means is that our clients
schedule time to come into the pantry, which is set up like a grocery
store. So you come in,you get your shopping cart, you have
your shopping list, and you gofrom aisle to aisle and pick up things
(07:54):
that you need for your family.And we have volunteers who help chop alongside
the person who's shopping if they haveneed or questions about what's this ingredient for
or recipes or what's healthy and what'snot healthy. But this notion of a
choice pantry is very much about buildingand sustaining dignity of the person. They
(08:15):
get to pick the cereal for theirkids, they know what the dinner is
planned for the week. It's notas if they're handed a bag and say
thank you very much. So wejust think that's very very important. Joining
us is Neil Sullivan. With Catholiccharities which are a staple of course here
in the Commonwealth, then continue todo great work. As you heard Neil
(08:35):
mention, they rely on volunteers lookingto do good themselves. Neil, along
those lines, what type of peopleare you looking for and how can they
get involved? Yeah, well,thanks Scott. What we're looking for let
me start with that. We're lookingfor people with a big heart. They
have to feel it, they wantto do good for other people. So
when they come to us, wehave plenty of good things for them to
(08:56):
do. If they visit our websiteat c SEU lou dot org, you'll
see a drop down menu for volunteeropportunities and pretty much every one of our
nine programs has a very good andstrong opportunity to get involved. We need
youth mentors for our refugees. Englishis a second language teachers. Common Earth
(09:18):
Gardens is a program of ours whichis very big on urban gardening. We're
always looking for people to help maintainthe grounds and the gardens. It sounds
like a gardening club, but it'sa food insecurity club. So these gardens
are located in areas where there arefood deserts. This helps families eat healthy
(09:41):
and maintain a healthy lifestyle to thedegree possible in a very affordable way.
We have another really important program.It's called Long Term Care Budsmoth. We
advocate for the residents of long termcare facilities. The obvious clients of a
long term care facility would be theelder, but there are also younger people
(10:01):
who may have had a brain injury. But these people need help and live
in a long term care facility andto be a train on Budsman there is
I think forty hours of training thatgoes into that. But we also have
somebody that wants to go visit.We have friendly Visitors volunteer opportunity, so
(10:22):
we want people to go and justbe with people living in long term care
facilities that might be very alone andmight not have other people checking in on
them. We have volunteer opportunities foreverything from an individual who has some free
time on a Saturday to corporations thathave large groups that are looking for team
(10:46):
building, So we have something foreverybody. And then Scott would also like
to mention and reinforce that we arepart of Catholic Charities USA, and I
think that's significant because Catholic Charities USAhas one one hundred and sixty eight agencies
across the country. We collectively servedfifteen million people last year and served over
(11:07):
thirty million meals, and we havea network of two hundred and fifteen thousand
volunteers nationally. So we have needsfor financial and volunteer resources here locally,
both for Louisville and Central Kentucky ourarchdiocese, but we also have the support
(11:28):
information sharing with other agencies around thecountry that help our programs be absolutely world
class. So folks are listening andmaybe they know someone who lives in another
community and other diocese and they thinkthey would be a good fit for something,
they can reach out to that localCatholic Charities organization. Absolutely, and
(11:50):
you can find a directory of theone hundred and sixty eight agencies by going
to we are there dot US.We are there, Neil, this has
been very insightful. Thank you fortaking time to talk to us. I
appreciate you and everybody There are CatholicCharities, Scott, thanks for having me,
and thanks to all your listeners whoare listening to the story and want
(12:11):
to get involved. He is NeilSullivan with Catholic Charities, and again,
if you'd like to get involved herein Kentucky or anywhere else, simply long
onto Catholic CHARITIESUSA dot org. Comingup. After a series of public stepbacks,
President Biden steps down from his reelectionbid is age becoming an issue in
politics. I'm Scott Fitzgerald and you'relistening to Kentucky Focus. I'm Scarlett Johansson.
(12:39):
My family relied on public assistance tohelp provide meals for us. These
meals fueled my involvement in theater andthe arts as a child, which fostered
my love for acting. The FeedingAmerican Network of Food Banks helps millions of
people put food on the table.You can join the Movement to End Hunger
by donating, volunteering, and advocating. Because when people are fed, futures
are nourished. Join the Movement toEnd Hunger at Feeding America dot org slash
(13:03):
act now brought to you by FeedingAmerica and the AD Council. After a
serious of public mistaps, President JoeBiden withdrew his name from another run at
the wine house. Are our politicianslosing touch with the voters? And could
it be contributed to age. Joiningus to talk about this is Josh Lavizan,
who in twenty twelve became the youngestelected official in New York State and
(13:24):
the youngest Jewish elected official in theUnited States. Josh, thanks for taking
time to join us. Did itsurprise you when President Biden dropped out?
You know, it's surprising in thatI believe that the Biden team has completely
messed up the past couple of months, right the palace intrigue that has plagued
the nation. The fact that JoeBiden was in up until the very moment
(13:48):
that he was out. I wassurprised at the process. But was I
surprised that he dropped out? No, I will tell you not just the
absolutely disassed tost debate performance, butthe fact that watching him over the past
couple of months and even over theyears, his ability to vigorously prosecute the
(14:11):
case for a referendum on his administration, you know, for for a meritorious
argument about seeking another term. Ido not believe he was at the top
of his game, and so Iwas not surprised that it ended up with
him dropping out. Josh Laffazin joinsus to talk about age and politics again.
(14:31):
As the youngest elected official in NewYork State, Josh is part of
the next generation of American leadership thatfeels it may be time for age limits
when it comes to our elected officials. In fact, according to Pew Research
and a survey conducted before President Bidenstepped decide, over half of those surveys
said they'd like to see both candidatesreplaced. Well, nearly eighty percent said
it is time for age limits.Could this be seeing Josh as a sign
(14:54):
we're headed in the right direction.I think we're heading in the wrong direction.
The Economist came out with a studythat said the United States of America
has the oldest representatives in the developedworld. Right in the United States.
The representatives across government are older thananywhere else, you know, really really
in the in the free world.And what it shows is that government is
not representative of every generation. It'srepresentative of folks who either can afford,
(15:20):
you know, the pay cut torun or who can afford to finance their
campaigns. I will tell you Biden, elected at eighty one, you know,
will be the oldest president ever andhe dropped out. Now, Trump,
if elected at seventy eight, willalso become the oldest president ever.
And the majority of Americans are unhappywith the state of the race. Right
as you mentioned, over half ofvoters would like to see both Trump and
(15:43):
and Biden were placed. And theargument I'll make is that four of the
nation's founding fathers were in their twentiesduring the Constitutional Convention. And it's why
I'm calling for a constitutional amendment toenact age limits seventy five for Congress,
eighty for the presidents. And ifage limits are already in place for jobs
of far lesser consequence than president rightseventy to be a judge in New York,
(16:08):
sixty five for pilots, sixty oneair traffic controllers, fifty seven FBI
special agents. Of all of thesejobs have established age maximums. The President
of the United States, the leaderof the free world, the most important
and demanding job on the globe.Absolutely should be subject to an age limit.
Again, we're talking to former NewYork Legislator Josh Laffizan, who in
(16:32):
twenty twelve became the youngest elected officialin New York State. We're talking about
age limits on politicians, a hotbutton issue after President Biden withdrew his reelection
bid amid several public miscues. Josh, you mentioned age limits for other professions
in the United States. Not tryingto sound insensitive here, but you have
politicians like Chuck Grassley who are atninety years old. It does make it
(16:52):
difficult to think he's got to handleon what a mostly younger population expects of
those making decisions for them. It'soutrageous, right, And I will tell
you, you know, having servedin office for over a decade, and
my constituents who were senior citizens,were most adamant that folks in government were
too old and that they wanted freshideas and a new generation of leaders.
(17:15):
So this is not ageis you know. Quite frankly, it's the opposite.
The founding fathers had the Preshian visionto decide that you needed a certain level
of life experience in order to serve. So they said twenty five for the
House, thirty for the Senate,and thirty five for the presidency. So
(17:36):
I absolutely agree that there is afloor. Right, there is a minimum
age in which somebody needs a certainamount of life experience and a certain amount,
you know, of circumspection and ofunderstanding of the world in order to
serve in that same vein. Youknow, there comes a time where,
(17:56):
you know, Chuck Grassley and somefolks have been in the Senate longer than
I've been alive, and at thatpoint, you know, because I believe
in term limits, that we don'thave term limits. At some point there
has to be an honest conversation thatthe United States Congress, the most important
governing body in the history of theplanet in which we live on, the
most consequential democratic bastion in the worldtoday, is not able to keep up
(18:22):
with the urgency and the vigor inwhich we need them to. And I
will tell you the proof is inthe pudding. The last Congress was the
least productive Congress in the history ofthe Republic. They passed thirty four bills,
most of which we're renaming of alocal post office. At that point,
how can we not have an honestconversation and say, you know,
(18:47):
quite frankly, with incredulity, thatthe Congress is now working for us and
something needs to change. As oneof the youngest lawmakers elected to office,
Josh, what are some of theissues a younger generation faces in twenty twenty
four? Young people are out ragedat the level of urgency that our elected
officials seem to have. Right,our our generation, which is the largest
(19:07):
generation in the history of the country, we're the most underrepresented. And so
when when you look at issues facingyoung people, right, the high cost
of housing, college affordability, Uh, climate and the environment, ending the
scourgea of of gun violence, youknow, of course inflation. Uh.
You know, young young people areare looking at our government on both sides
(19:32):
and saying, uh, you know, why isn't there more urgency? Why
isn't there a more comprehensive plan tohelp young people flourish in this country?
And and contrarily, Uh, wesee a government racking up record amount of
debt. Uh. It is nosecret that it's our generation that's going to
(19:52):
have to pay back the interest onthat debt and the principle and so uh,
young young people are saying, uh, we have a government that doesn't
seem to be working for us,and it's no wonder why there is an
all time high in terms of thelevel of dissatisfaction in government. And it's
why I'm such a staunch proponent ofgovernment reforms like term limits. Congress has
(20:18):
less a single digit, less thanten percent approval rating, get over ninety
percent of incumbents get re elected.And you know, the analogy I make
is that if you ran a businessand only nine percent of your customers approved
of customer service, and you retainednine out of ten employees, you know,
(20:41):
quite frankly, you would look inwardand say something is wrong here.
But the same analogy for Congress.We continue to put back the very people
that are not delivering results for us. So young people are outraged, and
it's why they're looking for someone,anyone who can deliver result, you know,
for the issues that that that aremost consequential for us. Josh Lavison
(21:04):
is one of the youngest people toever be elected to office, and he's
joining us as he's calling for newage limits on politicians. Josh, let
me ask you, are we ina culture shift? I think so.
And you know, I was laughingwith some friends the other day. Uh,
the last ten days have been acultural shift. Right, We're living
through an important chapter in American history. Right, in the span of ten
(21:27):
days, we had a former presidentshot and back on the campaign trail,
and current president see the nomination,a current vice president step up to claim
the nomination. Right, you know, we're living through history. So so
in terms of you know, howfast time is moving, I think it's
unprecedented. But I think we areliving in a cultural shift in that I
(21:49):
think there is a uniform agreement forthe first time in a long time,
that that that our government is notresponsive to the needs of the people,
and that our government elected officials areare quite simply far too old to either
be in touch with everyday Americans oror to be able to vigorously prosecute,
(22:11):
you know, the case for Americanexceptionalism across the globe and delivered change.
So so I do think we're ina cultural shift in that everyone seems to
be unhappy. Right. You wentfrom two thousand and eight with the election
of President Obama, this this younger, transformative figure, you know, fast
forward, you know, almost fifteentwenty years, and there seems to be
(22:36):
complete dissatisfaction with both candidates. Iwould note that both Kamala Harris and Donald
Trump have high unfavorable ratings fifty fivepoint five percent view Harris unfavorably, fifty
three point seven percent view Trump unfavorably. So I think the cultural shift revolves
around this notion that people are unhappywith any of the choices we have and
(23:00):
and they're looking for anybody, somebody, you know, who can deliver change
and be a defining voice in ourpolitics. Last question for you, Josh,
are there viable candidates out there nowfor younger voters? I think so.
The selection of JD. Vance wasa play, in my opinion,
by the Republicans to target the youngerdemographic. This is somebody who, at
(23:22):
thirty nine is a member of thenext generation. This is somebody who served
in the Iraq War and talks aboutgetting America out of these forever wars,
you know, which is popular amongyoung people. Somebody who worked in technology
and can speak about tech to ayounger generation. So I believe that the
selection of Kamala Harris, you know, you know, targeting specifically a younger
(23:45):
nominee. I think in this electionit's going to be the vice presidential candidates
who can go out and make thecase for relatability among young people. So
I will say the youth vote isup for grabs in this election. Going
forward. You know, there areof course names names to look at.
I think Governor Wes Moore of Marylandis a young and vibrant leader. Of
(24:11):
course. Josh Shapiro out of Pennsylvaniasecretary footage edge of course as a young
and dynamic leader. So you know, the Democrats have a deep bench of
these young leaders. And of courseon the right you have younger leaders coming
up in the Congress and the Senatewho will see over the next couple of
terms. So what I say ispay attention to the Congress because it looks
(24:36):
like it's auditions are open for twentytwenty eight as we speak. This is
a question in a conversation, Josh, I've been wanting to have with somebody
for a long time. So you'reright on time, my friend. I
appreciate you taking time to talk tous. If folks want to find out
more about you, and you mentioneda program, if you have a podcast
or anything that folks would like tolisten to, where can they go?
Yeah, of course, so JoshLaughason dot com is my website and I
(24:57):
will say I'm on TikTok, I'mon Instagram, I'm on Twitter. Please
continue to follow my pages. TheJosh Lafazan Show is coming soon, and
most importantly, I look forward tobeing back on your programs soon. Wonderful
Josh, Thank you so much,my friend. Have yourself a great week
and we will talk again soon forsure, looking forward to it. Thanks
(25:18):
again. You can bet this conversationis just starting and it will be around
for a while. I'm Scott Fitzgerald. You're listening to Kentucky Focus. We're
back to wrap things up after this. In sitcoms, when someone has a
problem, they just blurt it outand move on. Well, I lost
my job and my parakeet is missing. How is your day? But the
(25:41):
real world is different. Managing life'schallenges could be overwhelming. So what do
we do? We get support?The Huntsman Mental Health Institute and the AD
Council have mental health resources available foryou at love Yourmind Today dot org.
That's love your Mind Today dot org. See how much further you can go
when you take care of your mentalhealth. Do not to stop going and
(26:07):
stay say please do always sing withme. That means do not stop going.
I judas they say please, they'llalways remember Bisbee don't drive distracted,
a message brought to you by theNational Highway Traffic Safety Administration Project yellow Light
and the AD Council faves. Whatare you doing? What? I'm just
(26:32):
smelling the lawn. No, it'sblazing hot and dry out here. Don't
you remember? Smoky Bear says avoidusing power equipment when it's windyer dry.
Where'd you learn this? Oh,it's a smokybear dot com with many other
wildfire prevention tips right, Thanks honeyBear, because remember, only you can
(26:52):
prevent wildfires. Brought to you bythe USDA Forest Service, your state forester,
and the AD Council. I don'tdo it for this, it's Kentucky
Focus. A big thank you tonight. Sullivant with Catholic Charities. For more
information or if you want to knowhow you can help by volunteering your time
and or resources, simply visit CatholicCharities USA dot org or locally within the
Louisville area cc lou dot org.Also thank you to Josh Lafazon, one
(27:18):
of the youngest elected officials in Americawho is calling for age limits on our
elected officials. For more information,you can visit Josh Labazon dot com or
find him on any social media outlet. For all of us here at Kentucky
Focus and the Kentucky News Network,I'm Scott Fitzgerald, thanking you as always
for taking time to tune in andtelling you to make it a safe,
happy week. We'll talk to younext time. Kentucky Focus on the Kentucky
(27:41):
News Network the show that looks atissues affecting the Commonwealth and it's citizens.
We cover state politics, in history, human interest stories, sports, and
even entertainment. It's Kentucky Focus onkNN. When it comes to making plans,
you are the best. What aboutthose roundtrips that you plan in advance,
(28:04):
which are perfect on your way thereand perfect on your way back.
Or those meetings with friends for whichyou make a group chat three months before
so that nobody or anything is missing. Or your daughter's first birthday party you
planned it with such dedication that insteadof the first it felt like our kinses.
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The same way, you plan eachdetail for those moments. Start planning
to protect you and your loved onesfrom a natural disaster. Sign up for
local weather and emergency alerts, preparean emergency kit, and make a family
communications plan. Protecting your family isthe best plan you can make. Get
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AD Council. Don't you wish yourlife came with a warning app that dog
does not want better? Well.Life doesn't always give you time to change
the outcome, but pre diabetes does. Take the one minute test today at
Do I Have Prediabetes dot org?Brought to you by the AD Council and
It's pre Diabetes Awareness Partners. OutHere in the middle of these acres,
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it can feel like you're the onlyperson on earth. That's how it feels
when you're struggling with your mental health. But you don't have to feel alone.
Find more information at Love Youormind Todaydot org, brought to you by
the Huntsman Mental Health Institute and theAD Council.
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