Rally Point 85

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Rally Pointers Full.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Good morning, Southwest Florida and wherever you are in America
listening to this, Welcome to the rally Point Show. I'm
Amanda Macchiato maccanue, and I have with me my co host.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Paul Pleshi.

Speaker 3 (00:17):
Good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Paul's our unofficial booking agent too. So are you ready
to jump into.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
The show, Paul, I'm ready. Let's do it right, very cool.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well, our first segment for today is Positively Caffeinated, which
is our monthly segment featuring coach Dan Boyle all the
way out in New Bronfules, Texas.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Good morning, Coach, how's it going.

Speaker 4 (00:39):
Good morning a man, Good morning, Paul, Good morning.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
So what's new. What's good in Texas?

Speaker 4 (00:47):
Well, I've got air conditioning, I've got coffee that I'm
talking to you guys, and I'm talking to the world.
That's all pretty good. Of my book, I was going
to say, and.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
I think all all three of us have a charged
coffee cups, so I think we're all positively caffeinated.

Speaker 4 (01:00):
That's what we are, absolutely absolutely, you know. I didn't
even start drinking coffee till I was active duty. But
I was in the field and Fairbanks Alaska. It was
cold and the coffee was hot, and that's all that mattered,
and it's continued thirty some years later to be now
it's a habit.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Nice. I was gonna say, I think I started drinking
coffee at my first duty station because my captain brought
back this amazing coffee from Honduras and it was really good.
And then sometimes you just need to stay awake. So yeah,
but I'm one of those people like I like a
little coffee with my creamer, or like, you know, I
church it up six ways from Sunday. So yeah, so

(01:37):
mine's mine's a little bit bougie, but it tastes great.
It makes me perky and happy and whatever in the morning,
which I'm not a morning person, so that helps.

Speaker 3 (01:47):
I had to go overseas, so I started drinking at
black because the milk and sugar, you never knew what
else was going to be in it.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
Oh gosh, right, might get a little extra.

Speaker 4 (01:58):
Prote a little meat sugar, that's no joke. I put
very very little sugar in mine because we just didn't
have anything in the field. And although I was posted
the Vietnam eravent, I'm pretty sure the coffee we got
was from the Koreem War. It was not very good,
but again it was hot.

Speaker 3 (02:14):
Wow, that's right. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
Nowadays I put honey in my coffee in lieu of sugar,
so it works.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
Oh I've heard.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
Yeah, I've tried doing bulletproof coffee with butter.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
I don't hate it, but I don't love it.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
And then it's like I had a health issue where
I had to factor out dairy for about two years.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
That was brutal.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
I think, like I ended up adopting cashew milk, which
is a total oxymoron, basically liquefied cashews, and that kind
of worked. But even still it's just not quite the
same as heavy whipping cream or man. Like the junk
food of coffee is those flavored coffee creamers and I
love them, love them, love them, but they are so

(03:00):
bad for you, so I really try to avoid them.
But I have to admit, like almond Joy is probably
my favorite one.

Speaker 4 (03:09):
You know, just just own it and at the end
of the day, it all fits. It's about volume, really
need and moderation little bit. Yeah, volume moderation, that's the
same thing, right, It's like, okay, enjoy it. It's a
treat it's not an everyday six cup of coffee habit.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
Oh gosh, So I used to drink.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
When I was at Andrew's, I drank coffee and my
captain at the time, he was hilarious. He watched me
make my coffee one morning in the office and he
was from South Carolina, so.

Speaker 1 (03:34):
He had this draw.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
He's like, it's sargeantmleconnue, what are you doing to your coffee?
And so when I had we had that Hershey's chocolate
coffee creamer. It was like caramel and Hershey's chocolate syrup
or whatever. I would pour it and I would count
to eight one, two, three, four, five, six seven eight.
That was probably about four tablespoon where a serving size

(03:58):
is one, and then I top it off with coffee.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
I mean it's it touched my soul. It made my
morning better.

Speaker 4 (04:04):
But yeah, now my only we could talk about it
all ahead, Paul.

Speaker 3 (04:11):
Now, my only additive to coffee is a shot of
Bailey's every once in a.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
While that that is wonderful. Or when I'm flying, if
I have an early flight in the airport, if that
bar is open, I'm going to get a shot of
whiskey for my coffee.

Speaker 4 (04:26):
Yes, please, okay, because the coached anyway is time and
money don't matter at the airport.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
Correct, and neither do calories. So it is yes, don't
judge me having some whiskey in my coffee at like
six o'clock in the morning.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
If that bar's open, I'm getting some.

Speaker 4 (04:44):
Right there you go.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
So now we digress, I guess. I mean the show
is called positively Caffeinated, but we're not. Just So, now
that we done got that out the way.

Speaker 4 (05:00):
What if today we talked about turning positivity into possibility?
How about that?

Speaker 1 (05:05):
That sounds like a plan.

Speaker 4 (05:06):
Let's go right. So it's actually the name of my
personal podcast. I haven't put out a podcast in several
months as I'm trying to figure out a new pat
platform because the one that I had is no longer
in existence. But that's beside the point. But years ago,
I used to call myself the excuse Eradicator and my
personal coach who are hiking Utah. And he turned around,
he goes, can I tell you something? I'm like, George, here,

(05:28):
go ahead. He goes, I effing hate that you call
yourself that. I'm like, okay, so you have to explain?
He does it? Just makes you sound like kind of
the alpha male, kind of the jerk coach, and that's
not how you come across. He goes, Ultimately, you're uber
positive and you turn it into possibility. And through the hike,
we decided that my whole coaching foundation is truly turning

(05:50):
positivity into possibility because your attitude openly sets the tones
of her day, for your relationships with ultimately your results
in life. Right, would you agree with that, Amanda. We've
worked together for a while.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
Now, absolutely, Yeah, about seven years now, so yeah, no,
I would absolutely agree with that. And honestly, that was
one of the things that the very first time I
met you, because I know I've told this story before,
but you were my uber driver when I was TDY
from my friend's house in Slageen to San Antonio Airport
and that was the one thing I noticed about you
was you had a very positive energy about you and

(06:23):
a really positive attitude and you were my uber driver.
But you know we were talking about you told me,
you know, I'm actually a life coach, and I was like,
holy cow, because I had just kind of in the
last couple of years discovered life coaching and you know
what it is and what the possibilities are for helping
other people, and that was something that I had added
to my you know, goal list too, But absolutely your

(06:45):
positivity and your attitude really stuck out to me and
made you somebody who was memorable because God knows how
many uber drivers I've had in my life. I mean,
Uber became a thing right around what twenty seventeen ish,
maybe before then he then, but I think I started
using it on TV wise back then, and I use
it a bajillion times up until recently.

Speaker 1 (07:06):
And I don't always remember who my Uber driver is,
but I remember who you.

Speaker 4 (07:09):
Were, so yeah, and I was just starting my own
I was starting my own business, right I just left
Corporate America and you have to supplement you saw bills
right when you leave.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
You had just launched your YouTube channel.

Speaker 4 (07:22):
Actually I'm sorry.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
You had just launched your YouTube channel because you were
telling me about it. I mean not just but you
had a YouTube channel and you were telling me about.

Speaker 4 (07:32):
It, and all of that stuff was still around. And
I'm blessed when I run into people like you who
have known five, ten, fifteen years. They remind me every
day that actually all the things I said I wanted
to do that I've actually done, and when you're living it,
you don't always remember, right.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
Until you look back and then you're like, oh, wow,
I did do that. I did do that, yep, right.

Speaker 4 (07:51):
But I think the positivity also leaves the optimism. Look
if you I try to get everybody to see their future,
and I call it a vivid vision, and you can
look at it and think, oh, my life is going
to be terrible in a month, six months, a year,
ten years, or what's the best that can happen. It
doesn't mean it's perfect. It's never going to be linear,
meaning it happens exactly the way you see it. But

(08:13):
I don't believe there's failure either. We just learn or
try to learn a better way to do things.

Speaker 2 (08:18):
It's such a great reframe, honestly, it really is to
ask yourself that. And it reminds me of that one
saying that's like what would you do if you knew
you could not fail? I mean that really changes your
perspective because most people are afraid to do something because
they might fail. Or they'll do it, but it nags
at them like this might not work and I might fail,

(08:40):
and you know, but turning that on its head, you
know kind of. It really changes, like you said, it
changes that mindset for sure.

Speaker 4 (08:49):
For sure, and it's not toxic positivity. We still have
to live in the real world. But when life is hard,
life is sad. Life, life is literally a four letter word.

Speaker 5 (08:58):
M m.

Speaker 1 (08:59):
That's for sure.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
People now say sometimes what you say said. Hence why
people say life be life in sometimes.

Speaker 4 (09:09):
Right, right, But I think it's a matter of perspective
and trying to create and paint a picture. I mean,
an artist has to see the finished painting before it's done, true,
The architect had to see the finished building before it
was done. The musician had to see or feel the
notes before they were ever put on paper or sung
or chord with strums, right.

Speaker 1 (09:30):
Mm hmm that's true.

Speaker 4 (09:31):
Well, what's the difference in our life if we stop
waiting and start creating? And so I try to get
people and I want every all the listeners to work backwards?
Where do you want to be? And I say, think
in years, plan in months and living days. I' let's
say that again, thinking years, Where do you want to

(09:52):
be at the end of this year, next year, next year?
How far do you want to go? I typically tried
to coach people three years out because it's tangible. A decade,
although I've lived several decades, seems far away, but three
years is almost touxible because at the end of the year,
I'm already six months in the next year, I'm eighteen
months in. So think in years, plan in months, live

(10:13):
and days. So we work backwards. What do you have
to do every single day to move toward the vision
of the future that you want?

Speaker 2 (10:22):
That's a positive. That's a powerful thing to think about
for sure.

Speaker 4 (10:27):
Right So, and I challenge you, and you may not
have the answer, and maybe you and Paul and Sarge
and Vain can talk about it later. And justin what
do you want the Rally Point show to look like
at the end of this year?

Speaker 1 (10:41):
Right?

Speaker 3 (10:42):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (10:42):
There are definitely plans for how this will continue to
grow and morph and change and maybe even branch out,
you know, into other additional shows.

Speaker 4 (10:55):
So does that not get you to the studio? It's
a little bit more fire in your belly your heart, like, Okay,
I'm doing it today. What's going to look like this year?
You know? What are the offshoots of the show and
where can everything go?

Speaker 1 (11:08):
Absolutely?

Speaker 2 (11:09):
Yeah, no, it is and it's powerful when we can
see the fruits of our labor because somebody we had
on the show led to another connection with somebody else
that impacted someone's life.

Speaker 1 (11:20):
Like that's that's huge.

Speaker 4 (11:23):
Does that? It doesn't really get much better than that.

Speaker 1 (11:25):
If you asked me, I would agree.

Speaker 2 (11:27):
I mean sometimes, like you know, we joke about being
high on life, but it's true, like in the in
the case of the show, like you do get a
high from helping people or from seeing programs receive the
visibility they deserve. And then when you circle back with
those folks later, they tell you, like, since being on
your show, you know, we've had an uptake and activity
on our site, or we've had more people apply for

(11:48):
whatever program we have than we did before. It's always
a gratifying thing. But it's not about us. It's about
the listeners. It's about the guests that come on our
show and wanting to make sure that you know, we
we help them tell their stories about their military service,
if their veterans, or if they have a veteran centric
program or nonprofit. It's about making sure that we give

(12:10):
visibility to their program so that other people can benefit
from it and know about it. And take advantage of it.

Speaker 1 (12:17):
It's it's really.

Speaker 2 (12:18):
About the you know, third fourth order effects of it.
The show is great, this is fun. I absolutely love
what I do here. Being on this show is a
true blessing. But at the same time, for me, it's
not about me, and I think Paul you would agree
with that.

Speaker 1 (12:33):
It's more about what comes out of it.

Speaker 3 (12:36):
I've always looked at it, try anything. The different things
I've done in my life, some of them I just
it were just fantastic. Now I don't do them constantly,
but I did those, and I think those are all
helping building blocks for you to get to where you
want to go. And you also can't be afraid to fail,

(12:58):
because you'd need that's a learning experience that you can change.
You can take a failure and make it into a positive.
But so if you're not planning out to do anything,
you're not going to get anywhere.

Speaker 4 (13:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:13):
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (13:14):
There's a quote actually from a video that Dane sent
me and Paul send it to you. It's a young
woman at her commencement ceremony. I don't remember if it's
called I think it's college, but she talks about don't
fear failure. But absolutely fear regret.

Speaker 3 (13:34):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (13:35):
So don't be afraid to fail to try something and
not be good at it. And I will admit that
was an extremely difficult lesson for me to learn, because
probably like the hardest lesson for me in failure was
when I was about thirty eight thirty nine years old
and I realized that I was I was, actually I

(13:56):
think thirty eight, thirty seven, thirty eight, but I was
in a job where I really, like, you know what,
I really thought I wanted this job, but I don't
really think I'm good at it. And I had always
been determined to be good at whatever I was going
to do, and for the most part, I was successful.
And then it got to a point with this one
role where I tried so hard, and I tried for

(14:19):
the right reasons, you know, definitely not for my own glory,
but just in trying, I started realizing, like, maybe I'm
not good at this job. And there were, unfortunately people
who kind of came into the picture to try to
tell me not only was I not good at the job,
but everything about me was wrong. And that was that
was hard. That was part of that failure. But at

(14:39):
the same time, the thing about it like the time.
At the time, it was hard to live in that
and sit in that and be comfortable with that. But
looking back in hindsight, it really was a matter of
you know, now that I look at it, did I
fail in some ways? Yes, But in some ways now
I was successful. But I definitely don't regret that I

(15:03):
tried and that I did what I did. You know,
I did the best I could at the end of
the day, so I don't regret that. But the failure
piece was kind of hard to deal with because it
was something that I just wasn't very accustomed to, I guess.
But as I get older, and I think this is
probably true of a lot of people, As you get older,

(15:24):
you kind of don't get too.

Speaker 1 (15:26):
Caught up on that as much anymore.

Speaker 2 (15:28):
So you're kind of a little more willing to take
a risk, give it, you know, give something a try,
and you're not so much worried about failure or what
other people might think. As you get older, it kind
of shifts focus.

Speaker 4 (15:44):
Right, So nobody said any of the things failure to
learning is easy, right, So emotionally it might have just
torn you down, But here you are X number of
years later looking at it, in hindsight, and Steve Job says,
you can only connect the dots looking backwards, but you
must live life moving forward. So what in the moment

(16:05):
when you were disappointed, saddened, you know you you didn't
appreciate it, perhaps, but here you are several years later,
and look at where you are and how you've turned
that into something just who you are today exactly.

Speaker 2 (16:18):
And looking back to it helps you to realize who
helped get you through those hard seasons, so you're all
the more grateful for them, and you're able to articulate
to them, or at least try to articulate to them
what they did for you in those times, because sometimes
they don't realize that either. I definitely had people in
my path who had no idea that there were days

(16:39):
that they were the only ray of sunshine that I saw,
and it was something simple. They might have stopped by
my office to small talk, but that was something that
day that was my lifeline because everything else felt like
it was burning down around me.

Speaker 4 (16:55):
Ultimately, that's what the show is. We have no idea
was listening on the other end. But if one thing
that you say start says, you know. Paul says that
ignites them to move forward and stay in the game,
and we've done our job.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (17:12):
I think a lot of people sometimes we tend to
get into kind of a narrowed view, I guess tunnel vision,
and think that we're kind of by ourselves or alone
and whatever we might be facing. But then once we
start talking about it, once we kind of start peeling
some things back, I think we start to realize that
we're not quite se alone as we thought we were

(17:33):
in some of our situations.

Speaker 4 (17:36):
I would agree one hundred percent there are many people
that have walked a similar path, and we maybe on
chapter ten and they're only on chapter one. Right, Well,
that's where we want to encourage them. Not to compare
my chapter ten with your chapter one. We all had
to start somewhere, we all had had to learn in
the process, and it's never going to look exactly the

(17:58):
same for anybody. That's why I think the positivity helped. Okay,
this stuck right now, But what positive outcome can I
take from this experience today? So first times you have
to sit on that emotionally before you actually take action.

Speaker 2 (18:15):
So the positive peace about that. Sometimes in some of
the worst trials of my life have been knowing that
eventually I will be used to help somebody else and
walk alongside them in a similar season. And that when
I realized that, that was life changing, because sometimes you

(18:36):
want to just sit there, you know, and unpack in
the little Woe is Me puddle and sit there and
be like, oh, this is so awful. But then when
you realize that in a way, you're kind of being
like forged in fire to a degree, so.

Speaker 1 (18:51):
That then when you're going along in.

Speaker 2 (18:54):
Life, somebody's going to cross paths with you that's in
a very similar situation, and at that point you're going
to know how to walk alongside them. You're going to
have a pretty good idea of how to empathize with
them and have some form of understanding of what they
might need in that moment. Where other people won't be

(19:15):
able to do that because they haven't been through that before,
they haven't walked that mile.

Speaker 4 (19:22):
That's and that's hope. That's part of maturation, it's part
of growing up. Absolutely, we don't know what we don't know.
We've all been ten, twenty, potentially thirty forty and learning
from those experiences so so that you can help and
even if you think they're not listening. Kind of like
raising kids right.

Speaker 2 (19:44):
That we all can identify with, Yes, tell children one
O one, But even being a kid, I sure didn't
listen to what my parents had to say.

Speaker 4 (19:53):
And then I'd go down the street and David's dad
would say somebody'd come home and said, David's dad said this,
And I'm sure my dad was like, Lord, I've said
that for less in years and he just finally got
it or heard it. So we'd have to keep saying
it and keep saying it, and keep believing it, and
keep growing and keep encouraging and support of it at
the same time working on ourselves. But that's the key,

(20:14):
I think, and that's the positive aspect, and that's the
way to look at it long term.

Speaker 3 (20:19):
I think it takes a long time also to give
yourself a break because you're your worst critic. That takes
a long time to learn that you're not as bad
as you think you are.

Speaker 4 (20:31):
You're a lot better, a lot better. And I think
if we go back a little bit further, when Amanda
said worrying about sometimes what people think about us or whatever, Hey,
listen up, people aren't worried about you. They're worried about
their darn selves, right, and who cares what Billy from
high school thinks. It's been a long time since I've

(20:51):
been in high school, and I wish I'm nothing but
the best. Or you know now that Ozzy Osbourne and
Hulk Hogan passed and you know the world is going
to mourn for a few days. They had global impact,
and then you know what the world's going to do.
They're going to go back to living because that's what
we have to do. And so at this point, I

(21:13):
don't believe that I have the impact that Assie or
hul Cogan did. So why would I hold back on
my hopes, my dreams and not swing for the fences
because my family will mourn, my friends will mourn, and
then you know what's going to happen again, They're going
to go back to living.

Speaker 1 (21:30):
It's pretty accurate.

Speaker 2 (21:31):
I mean, it is easy to get caught in a
moment as long as you don't stay there. There's a
saying about that that says something like, you know, grief, sadness,
whatever the case might be, it's okay to take a break,
you know, pull over on the road of life. If
you will cry about a little process it some but

(21:52):
don't camp out like that's not the place to stop.

Speaker 1 (21:55):
You have to continue moving forward.

Speaker 2 (21:58):
And for some people that it might be harder than
it is for others, especially depending on the weight in
the gravity of that life event that causes them to
stop in their tracks and have to kind of pull
over and process and you know, grieve and get through
what they need to. But thankfully there are people that

(22:20):
will come along their path to help them, and that
there are resources out there to help in those exact
situations so that people can continue moving forward and keep living.
So hopefully people if they're out there, you know, kind
of in that situation where they feel like they're broke
down on the side of the road of life right

(22:41):
now and have been stuck for a while, hopefully that
resonates with them to know that help is there.

Speaker 1 (22:47):
It is.

Speaker 2 (22:48):
It's to some degree it's a matter of reaching out
for it, but it is there, and hopefully they see
that and they see that there is you know, a
positive light at the end of the tunnel for them
and that you know, there is a way out. I
was reading a book the other night that talked about
like platitudes and how frustrated the character in the book

(23:10):
was with them, But there really is truth in the
saying that the only way out is through right.

Speaker 4 (23:18):
I think it was Churchill that said, if you're going
through hell, keep going.

Speaker 2 (23:23):
Right, and then there was a fantastic country song written
about that too.

Speaker 4 (23:28):
But all of that is that it's okay. All emotions
are good. They don't all feel good, they're all necessary,
and it's okay to sit on them for a certain
amount of time and then you have to either get
up yourself, find help, take it one step at a time.
It's not even one day at a time. Sometimes it's one moment,
it's time, depending on where you are or what gravity

(23:49):
of the situation is. And then again, one of the
reasons that I coach the way I do is that
for when times are hard, not really when times are
easy or they're good, and so that when becomes a struggle,
you have tools and your tool belt to use to
keep moving. So I say there's a tool belt, toolbox,

(24:09):
and a toolshed. The tool belt should be things that
you use every single day to live your life. The
toolbox are going to be tools that you learn that
you bring out on occasion, and those things that are
in your tool shed. Those are things you might need
every couple of years, but you learn them and they're
back and the recesses of who you are, what you are,
and what you need, but you have them at your

(24:31):
disposal and you get that tool belt, toolbox and toolshed,
all the tools you need. And it really happens just
over time and continually learning and growing and living.

Speaker 2 (24:42):
Kind of like how when we're in the military and
something happens and our training just kicks in and it
kind of just take takes control in the moment.

Speaker 4 (24:50):
You know, the first time I had to do CPR
and use the AED and then you have to do
you know, the report afterwards that you know, you have
to turn it all in because I was working at
a gym and they're like, man, you just did everything right.
I'm like, I don't know it just because of all

(25:11):
the military training, all the post military training, and I
was hoping I would never have to use it. But
you just do it and it becomes autopilot. And that's
drop thankfully by the way, that gentleman just lives that right, right.
But it was one of those things I was sitting
at the desk and things only seem to happen or
not go right on a Friday afternoon at the gym

(25:32):
when I might we in jeans and cowboy boots because
it was super slow and so I was running the
front desk, but another woman in the gym that worked
there called my name, and the way you call my neighborsus,
the man is saying, hey day, how are you versus
hey day? I need help? Completely different. Yeah, and then
you just bring into action and you and you do it.
But that's what we're that's really all we're trying to

(25:53):
do is to create the plan. And so if things
go south, you have the tools. But if things don't
go south, and you can continue moving and elevating, you know,
boom boom, boom boom. Take that positive outlook, turn that
positivity into possibility. Know that what you seek you will find,
and each and every day wake up with some intention
to be better than yesterday, right.

Speaker 2 (26:14):
To get through this thing called life.

Speaker 4 (26:19):
Well, thank you so much, happy to you.

Speaker 2 (26:21):
Welcome, Yeah, thank you for being on this month. We
really appreciate you. It's always a good time having you
on the show. You always kind of give us something
to think about and kind of chew on until the
next time, so we'll talk to you next month.

Speaker 4 (26:36):
Sounds good, Amanda, have a great day to Paul too.

Speaker 1 (26:39):
Thanks Coach Dan Brook.

Speaker 4 (26:41):
Thanks, yeah, we'll do. I've had it out right now.
You'll be good.

Speaker 1 (26:45):
Awesome you too, Take care.

Speaker 4 (26:47):
Bye.

Speaker 6 (26:48):
Calling all veterans. On August the night, there's going to
be a veteran resource fair at m Vett's Post three
twelve in Northport. Come on out as Warrior Wellness and
am Vets three twelve welcome veteran owned businesses and veteran resources.
They'll be serving breakfast from eight thirty to ten thirty,
so come on out join us. If you're interested in
setting up a booth, come out to seventy to fifty

(27:10):
Chancellor Boulevard, north Port, Florida. For more information, reach out
to Justin Lefford at four two three five nine nine
nine five four six or if Justin at Warrior dashw
dot com.

Speaker 4 (27:23):
See you there.

Speaker 2 (27:26):
And now in this segment, it's our monthly Helping Hearts
for Heroes updates. So we have in the studio with
us Shawna, Kim and Stacy who are all part of
Helping Hearts for Heroes and so we're going to talk
today about Veteran Family Fun Day.

Speaker 1 (27:41):
So welcome to the show. Ladies. Thank you, thank you absolutely.

Speaker 2 (27:45):
So tell us about Veteran Family Fun Day.

Speaker 1 (27:47):
What are all those details with it.

Speaker 7 (27:49):
Veteran Family Funday this year will be November eighth at
the Moose Lodge twenty one, twenty one on Loveland Boulevard.
It's a day four veterans in their families to come
out and get everything for free and enjoy everything that
we have going on. Will have hopefully lots of sponsors.
We are looking for sponsors.

Speaker 1 (28:08):
The presenting sponsors.

Speaker 2 (28:09):
So I guess the main stay with all of the
sponsorship packages other than the drive of honor is free
vendor space, which that's a huge deal. Most of you
that you know people who do events, they usually know
there's a vendor fee involved. So free vendor space is
huge Facebook posts with the company logo or name depending
on the level of sponsorship, and then the company logo

(28:32):
or name being printed on all event print materials. So
that's kind of the overarching and then where it kind
of changes a little bit is when you get to
the three star sponsor, it involves formal recognition at the event,
and then for the four star sponsor, there's a presenting sponsor,
information in the event press release, and then obviously recognition

(28:55):
at the event. So these are the tiers of sponsorship
for you know, any business is or individuals even who
might want to do something positive in the community that
supports veterans in their families.

Speaker 1 (29:07):
So that's awesome.

Speaker 2 (29:08):
It's nice that there are varying levels of sponsorship and
people can go online to get more information about the pricing, right, Yes,
they can, Okay, great, and we have.

Speaker 7 (29:19):
We also have a Facebook page so they can follow
us on Facebook and get all the updated information as well.

Speaker 1 (29:25):
What is the name of the Facebook page?

Speaker 7 (29:26):
Veterans Family Funday?

Speaker 2 (29:27):
Perfect, So Veterans with an S. Yes, okay, Veterans Family Funday.
And so that's the Facebook page. What is the website
people can go to for more information the helping Helping
for Heroes dot com. Okay, awesome, So that's good to know.
So this, but this Veteran Family Funday, this isn't something new, right,
this is something that used to be done regularly Charlotte County.

Speaker 1 (29:50):
Yes.

Speaker 7 (29:51):
During COVID, of course, you know, we had to stop
all of that, so I decided to reignite the events again.

Speaker 1 (29:57):
Very cool.

Speaker 2 (29:58):
And so what can people expect. What can families expect
when they come to this West.

Speaker 7 (30:02):
Can expect free food, free resources in the community, veteran
friendly businesses that want to support the event and just
have a fun day. The kids get free ice cream, wive,
bounce houses, water slides, a carnival.

Speaker 1 (30:19):
Okay, great, so it'll be like a big run.

Speaker 3 (30:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (30:23):
I mean in the past these events have been really
well received and the community really comes together and really
makes this so successful.

Speaker 8 (30:32):
There's so much fun stuff for the children to do,
and that's what really makes a lot of fun, from
the face painting and cookie decorating, coloring, just everything imaginable
happens out there.

Speaker 2 (30:42):
So nice, and I know parents love something that's free,
so that's like the best. Once they hear free and
that the kids will be entertained, that's usually kind of
an easy sell. So and the fact that it supports
veterans makes it, you know, something great.

Speaker 1 (30:57):
For the whole community. So okay.

Speaker 2 (30:59):
So, but it's November eighth, from eleven am to five
pm at Moose Lodge number twenty one, twenty one on
Loveland Boulevard in Poor Charlotte. Very cool and so if
there are individuals that want to get involved. You have
a planning committee in place. We do things of that nature.
If people were to want to get involved from a

(31:19):
planning standpoint.

Speaker 1 (31:21):
We are.

Speaker 7 (31:21):
We have Our first committee meeting was a couple of
weeks ago, so we will be planning those on a
monthly basis. If they want to get involved to be
on our committee, I would love that they can either
contact me via email or cell phone. My cell phone
has been broadcast on this radio station for years, so
hasn't changed nine four one eight one five zero two

(31:43):
nine to one or Stacey Stacy dot Jones j O
n E. S at sci hyphen us dot com.

Speaker 2 (31:52):
Okay, great, Yeah, because people might want to be involved
with planning, that might be how they give back if
sponsorship isn't and off or you know, so that would
be nice to have many hands make light work.

Speaker 7 (32:05):
Yes, absolutely, And we have vendor spaces available if you
just want to be a vendor.

Speaker 1 (32:09):
If you're a veteran friendly.

Speaker 7 (32:10):
Business and you want to participate, you can be a
vendor as well without a sponsorship.

Speaker 1 (32:16):
Got it? And but can people sell things?

Speaker 5 (32:19):
Right?

Speaker 1 (32:20):
They can cannot sell it?

Speaker 7 (32:21):
Has everything is going to be free?

Speaker 2 (32:25):
Yes, perfect information yes, yes, yeah, more like an info fair,
but also activities for the kids and for the families
and entertainment. As far as there being music, will it
be a DJ Oh no, they'll be live music. Wonderful, Okay, great.

Speaker 1 (32:43):
And this is the.

Speaker 5 (32:43):
Same day as the Veteran's Day Parade, So if you're
looking for a fun day from beginning to end, you
can start your day supporting the parade and then finish
it off with us over at the Veteran Family Fun Day.

Speaker 1 (32:56):
Absolutely excellent. Sounds like a good option.

Speaker 2 (33:01):
So yeah, that weekend will definitely be a busy one,
but hopefully this one is one where people can come
together and gather around this. So in years past, was
it a similar setup.

Speaker 7 (33:14):
It was a similar setup. We were hosting it at
a church and we kind of moved away from the
church and I approached the Moose and they were graciously
accepted and they actually are donating the food as well.

Speaker 1 (33:26):
Oh wow, that's wonderful.

Speaker 2 (33:28):
They're a very fraternal, family friendly kind of organization, so
that makes a lot of sense.

Speaker 8 (33:34):
Well, they were so supportive last year when we started
our home Goods for Heroes drive. They were like, like
it was a no brainer for them to do it.

Speaker 2 (33:41):
Wonderful there is supportive now if at the Veteran Family Funday,
will there be any boxes out if people would feel
led to bring anything for Helping Hearts for Heroes.

Speaker 5 (33:52):
Yeah, we're obviously always looking for donations for our home
Goods for Heroes. If you would like to bring a
donation on that is certainly something you can do. Otherwise
throughout the entire year, we have boxes in the community
in many different retail spaces, lodges so or you can
always just go directly to the Amazon storefront and purchase

(34:14):
right off the Amazon list.

Speaker 2 (34:16):
And can people access that through the website? Do they
go to Helping Heartsfoheroes dot com and there's a link
to the Amazon Store.

Speaker 5 (34:22):
You can get the link from our Facebook page. That's
the easiest way to do it. You go on to
the Helping Hearts for Heroes Facebook page and then there's
a link on there to the Amazon Store and then
you can ship directly to us from there. You don't
have to worry about how you're going to get the items.
It's just one stop, click and right.

Speaker 2 (34:40):
That's so easy because I gave some items i think
last year and it was so easy to just kind
of pull up my Amazon app or whatever, get the
link to the storefront and go through the list and
figure out what did I want to add to my cart,
and then it really does. It ships straight there. Everything's
already preloaded. It's kind of a no brainer. You just
put what you want in the cart, pay for it,

(35:03):
and it shows up where it needs to go. There's
no need for it to come to you, and then
you be the middle person. So there are a lot
of ways to make that very convenient. So with the
Veteran Family FUNDAY is what's the long term view of this? Like,
what's the long term vision for the Veteran Family Funday.

Speaker 7 (35:20):
Long term vision is to keep it going every year. Absolutely,
we want to keep it going and keep the resources
available to all of our veterans and their families. Charlotte
County has over fifty thousand veterans and a lot of
them don't know where the resources are right So this
is an opportunity for them to come to one place,
find all the resources, get all the information that they

(35:42):
need to help them.

Speaker 3 (35:44):
If I want to help and be apart make this
a success, how can I apply to help. The day
of the event, you.

Speaker 1 (35:53):
Can volunteer.

Speaker 7 (35:56):
Off our Facebook page. You can go to our Facebook
page or contact me and I can add you to
our volunteer list.

Speaker 3 (36:01):
Absolutely, okay, so that's another resource that we can supply you.

Speaker 5 (36:06):
Yeah, absolutely, yeah, And I mean it really is a
fun day, guys.

Speaker 1 (36:12):
There's not a lot of time where you can.

Speaker 5 (36:13):
Get out and meet a lot of people of like mind,
similar backgrounds, just getting out and celebrating each other. You know,
this is a great day for you to come out
and meet other veterans, but also a great day for
you know, kids, just to be able to be out
with their adult family and meeting other kids and adults
get to congregate while the kids get to play and

(36:34):
have fun and do different crafts and activities. And it's
at zero cost.

Speaker 2 (36:40):
Awesome, And there will be I'm sure like plenty of
covered feeding for people.

Speaker 7 (36:46):
So vendors will be indoors and outdoors okay. Plus they
have an outdoor tiki hut at the Moose Lodge, so
that's all undercover. That's where the entertainment will be. And
then of course all the kids' activities outside the bounce
house and ice cream and stuff like that.

Speaker 2 (37:01):
Wonderful And I do see the difference between that. So
with the presenting sponsor, which is the four star and
the three star sponsor, they get indoor or they get
indoor or outdoor vendor space, so that makes sense where
the sponsor the two and one star sponsors are outside.
So it sounds like there will be a lot of
groups from the community here, whether it's a business or

(37:23):
an organization or a nonprofit, really anyone and everyone can
kind of come out and share what they do or
how they give back to veterans. So that's a good way,
even if you know they can't sell anything, but they
can at least give some visibility to what it is
that they offer, and then if people want pricing or

(37:43):
information about it, they can contact them outside of the event.

Speaker 1 (37:47):
Absolutely perfect.

Speaker 5 (37:49):
And if you are not able to attend, but you
do want to help and maybe you want to do
like an in kind donation, you have some craft, you
have some different activities, different things that you have a
vail that you would like to be part of, but
you physically can't be there that day. You do have
the option to reach out to us and we can
talk about ways that you can still participate and we

(38:11):
can give you that credit while being able to support
the cause with the kids.

Speaker 7 (38:16):
And we do have an end kind sponsor already. Waste
Management has donated palettes of water and all of the
trash receptacles and liners. So they have stepped up every
year that I've done this event and richly donate whatever
I asked for.

Speaker 8 (38:31):
Well, you know, we are absolutely very lucky being here
in Charlotte County. It's a county that truly supports all
their veterans in every way possible, So we are blessed absolutely.

Speaker 2 (38:42):
Well, it's wonderful to see this event come back from
kind of being on a bit of a hiatus. I mean,
I think the world kind of changed five years ago
and it took a little while for everybody to kind
of for all of us to kind of get things
back on track or you know, kind of trying to
bring back some things that maybe had to be set
aside for a little while. So this will definitely be

(39:05):
I think a fun event and I think a great
way to spend a day, get some fresh air, you know,
see what's out there for us, because I do think
there are a lot of resources, not just in the county,
but just in general for veterans that go unused because
people don't know about them exactly. So, you know, for
anyone who feels like I wish there was a resource
for fill in the blank, it would definitely be worth

(39:27):
it to come out to this event because chances are
you very well may find it. So that would be
another wonderful way to kind of help make those connections
and help make sure that those resources do get used.
Because there are nonprofits and organizations out there who want
to give, they want to do for other people, it's
just hard to get their message out in a way
because sometimes it just kind of gets drowned out among

(39:49):
everything else.

Speaker 1 (39:50):
So hopefully this will be a way to do that.

Speaker 2 (39:54):
Whether it's you know, through sponsorship and having a vendor
space or even just walking around and networking with other
people in general. It's a great option either way. And
so that's going to be again November eight, twenty twenty five,
from eleven a m To five pm at the Port
Charlotte Moose Lodge that's located on Loveland Boulevard. So, and

(40:15):
it looks like you already have quite a few sponsors
on the on the flyer, and these flyers are available
via social media via the Helping Hearts for Heroes facebook page,
and then you did say that there's a Veteran's Family
Funday facebook page as well. Great and can people send
messages through that if they have additional questions.

Speaker 7 (40:35):
Absolutely, or they can contact me directly.

Speaker 1 (40:38):
Fantastic, So awesome. Are there going to be?

Speaker 2 (40:42):
Is there kind of like a schedule of events that
might come out as it gets a little bit clear
where to tell people, like, you know, which group is
going to be on stage for live music or anything
like that.

Speaker 1 (40:52):
We'll have a map.

Speaker 7 (40:53):
We'll have a map where all the vendors are with
a list of where the vendors are located at the
actual lodge and then a list of dates and times
and that what bands are going to be playing.

Speaker 2 (41:05):
So yeah, wonderful and it's nice to know that people
can get involved to help from a planning standpoint too,
if they want to contact you at Stacy S t
A C. Y dot Jones, j O. N. E. S
at sci dash us dot com or via phone at
nine four one eight one five zero two nine one,

(41:26):
because I'm sure the to do list is pretty long,
and so the more people the better to kind of
lighten that load and make things a little bit easier,
and plus it gives somebody, I think, the gratification of
being able to give back on whatever level they're able to,
Like SHAWNA said, if they can't be there on November eighth,
but they kind of want to help put things in

(41:47):
motion or help put things together prior to that. It's
a wonderful way to give back. And I know, as
a veteran myself, we really do appreciate when the community
comes out and supports us and shows it. I mean
a lot of times people say things like, you know,
thank you for your service, and we do appreciate that sentiment,
but it's always really nice to see it be lived

(42:07):
out and walked out. So so hopefully folks in the
community will rally around this, whether they're veterans or whether
they're unaffiliated, but maybe just appreciate the service of those
who have served or are serving.

Speaker 1 (42:22):
That would just be a great way to get involved.

Speaker 2 (42:24):
So this is definitely going to be something that in
years to come, I think we'll see kind of grow
and blossom and just kind of keep getting bigger and
hopefully just keep involving more and more of the community
as we go forward.

Speaker 1 (42:40):
So that'll be really.

Speaker 2 (42:41):
Great and then, so with Veterans Family Funday, we know
about that coming up and then, but Helping Hearts for
Heroes is about so much more than that. So Veterans
Family Funday kind of falls under the umbrella of Helping
Hearts for Heroes. But for people listening who maybe haven't
heard your monthly segment before, talk about what Helping Hearts

(43:01):
for Heroes is, what do they exist to do.

Speaker 4 (43:06):
Now?

Speaker 8 (43:06):
Helping Hearts at five oh one c three that was
created after we did the Home Goods for Heroes collection.
We're here to assist those veterans who might maybe they
need a light bill assistance, however we can possibly help them.
We want to support our veterans after them protecting us
and serving our country. So we are in the process

(43:27):
of planning some more fundraisers. Hopefully we'll have a couple
more bingo setups. We just had a beautiful fundraiser for
Warrior Wellness, which also falls under Helping Hearts for Heroes.
That was last Sunday, and anybody that joined us, thank
you so much for your contributions and support for the
Warrior Wellness program. For that Justin Ludford is overseeing. So

(43:49):
if you have any information or one information excuse me,
and you can contact myself at nine four one seven seven,
nine six six three five or SHAWNA.

Speaker 5 (43:58):
At one four zero two five eight, And you can
always reach us on our Facebook page Helping Hearts for
Heroes or on our website Helping Heartsfoheroes dot com.

Speaker 1 (44:10):
Perfect.

Speaker 2 (44:11):
So, yeah, there's a lot that kind of goes into
Helping Hearts for Heroes. I kind of like the fact
that it's a multi faceted kind of program. It's not
just one, I guess, single solitary kind of goal. It
kind of spreads the gambit across veterans. And being able
to sit on the board is a huge blessing for sure,

(44:31):
because it's nice to see all the different ways that
we can help veterans, and there's so many ways to
do it.

Speaker 1 (44:36):
I mean, we're just.

Speaker 2 (44:38):
Scratching the surface with like helping veterans who are transitioning
from homelessness to be able to have home goods to
put in their house, or like Kim said, you know,
if they need help with that deposit to turn the
lights on or water or whatever the case might be.
Then it's nice to know that there is a way
to give a hand up to our fellow veterans as

(44:59):
they are transitioning out of homelessness and you know, back
to having a place to call their own home, which
is really nice. But yes, the Warrior Wellness piece is
absolutely wonderful too, because I think it kind of helps
with the holistic approach to wellness. So I mean, you
need to have there's like basic needs, right, like you know,

(45:20):
you need shelter, you need food, But I mean wellness
takes on a multitude of facets, Like there's emotional wellness,
mental wellness. You know, having your needs met is one thing,
but having engagement or being mobile after a certain point,
I mean, gosh, I'm in my forties and I feel
like some.

Speaker 1 (45:39):
Days that's a struggle.

Speaker 2 (45:41):
So I mean making sure that, you know, helping Hearts
for Heroes kind of exist to address all of it,
whether it's helping people be mobile, helping them be socially engaged,
bringing them out to events like Veterans Family Fun Day,
getting them active in the community, kind of interacting with
people because I think sometimes we kind of tend to

(46:01):
withdraw and kind of, you know, retreat into ourselves and
kind of become pseudo hermits. I guess on some level,
it happens, and so it's nice to know that there's
a program that if people want to, you know, not
kind of have that happen for them. They have ways
to get out in the community, to engage and to

(46:24):
stay active meet other people. So Fall is one of
our Righteous Wreckers with the legacy rout Club that falls
under Warrior Wellness. So what's your experience as far as
how helping Hearts for Heroes kind of puts everything together?

Speaker 3 (46:40):
Well, everything that they do, everything, every person that they touch,
uh is it's priceless. So we need to do we
need to continue to support them, support their activities so
we can continue to do that in our community.

Speaker 1 (46:57):
Totally agree.

Speaker 8 (46:58):
And what's nice is I mean this started out as
just kind of a small, what we thought would be
kind of small, you know, fundraiser for our veterans at
that Veterans Homeless Village has kind of evolved into so
many areas and so forth, and I think we've done
fourteen donations at this point.

Speaker 5 (47:15):
Fourteen well, so since October to now, we've had fourteen
veterans that we helped that were displaced, all were homeless,
who are now into their own housing and we were
able to give them all of those essential items to
get them up and started. We've done three successful fundraisers

(47:35):
since then. All those proceeds are going directly back into
the community. We do this one hundred percent for free.
We are not paid in any way at all. We
are all doing this as volunteers and every dollar that
you donate and we raise is going directly back into
the community.

Speaker 2 (47:52):
And that's huge because there are a lot of organizations
out there that can't necessarily say that. Some groups come
with overhead, some groups people get paid. So it is
kind of helpful to make sure that people are aware
of how their contributions are utilized and where their fun
their funds are going. I wish everybody was that fiscally transparent,

(48:18):
but it's nice that we are so absolutely like it's it,
and it is really impressive because for all the fundraisers
that we have done, it never ceases to impress and
amaze meet at how the community shows up every single time,
whether it's a Bingo fundraiser or the Warrior Wellness fundraiser,

(48:39):
which was basically you know, socializing over drinks and appetizers
on the rooftop of the wiburn I mean, that was
a gorgeous setting. A little hot, but it was a
day at a little hot, but yeah, it was. It
was a great venue. It was nice to be able
to look around and see you know, Charlotte Harbor and

(49:00):
Ashley Parking places like that from that vantage point. I
had never been up there before, but it was just
nice to see the community come together through you know,
whether it was donating raffle baskets or items for a
silent auction, or people just coming and bidding on them,
or buying raffle tickets or you know, giving a contribution

(49:20):
to enjoy the appetizers and the drinks at that one fundraiser.
I mean, that was that was wonderful. That was actually
really encouraging. I mean, it's a it's a good problem
to have when you run out of table space because
you've gone so many.

Speaker 1 (49:32):
Raffle basket donations. That's a nice problem to have, for sure.

Speaker 8 (49:37):
And kudos to the wire An because they donated the
food and the drinks for us and the venue and
the venue, so we.

Speaker 5 (49:44):
Are really excited. We do have another event that we're
planning for December with them, so there will be more
to come.

Speaker 1 (49:52):
But it's going to be kind of a dual.

Speaker 5 (49:54):
Thing where we're going to be helping two different types
of members of the community at once. So think of
your most needed populations of people. Children and elderly and
veterans are coming together with a wieburn around Christmas time
to do a really funn event.

Speaker 2 (50:10):
That's awesome, And usually around Christmas time a lot of
people are looking for a way to give back and
be philanthropic. And for some people I know too, it
gets to a point in life where you're like, I
kind of have everything I need. I don't really need
a Christmas gift. I actually know people who for their
birthday or for Christmas or whatever, what they do is

(50:32):
they just say, I want to be able to give
to whatever groups. So if that's anybody who's listening, definitely
helping Hearts for Heroes would be a fantastic program to
give to you because it's so multifaceted, and it touches
the entire span of veterans, their families, all ages, and

(50:53):
it helps impact lives.

Speaker 1 (50:55):
So it's huge.

Speaker 2 (50:57):
So but one last time I'm just to touch on
it again because it's coming up. It's going to be huge.
There's still much to be done, but it's going to
get done and it's going to be great. The Veteran
Family Fun Day is happening on November eighth, twenty twenty five,
from eleven am to five pm at the Moose Lodge
in Port Charlotte on lovel And Boulevard. There will be food,

(51:19):
there will be live music, There will be all kinds
of vendors. There will be bounce houses for the kids.
There will be a great ways for free to tire
them out, to interact with the community, and to just
come together, have a great time and see why Charlotte
County is the premier county for veterans. So, ladies, thank
you so much for being on the show. We appreciate

(51:42):
you and we look forward to having you on again
next month.

Speaker 3 (51:46):
Thank thank you, thank you, thank you for.

Speaker 1 (51:49):
Pleasure.

Speaker 2 (51:52):
And that's our show for today. We appreciate you joining
us on the Rally Point Radio show. We're missing a
couple folks today, like the Serge and Justin Ludford. Yes
I was, but I think we held it down pretty well.
So until next time, rally Pointers fall Out