Episode 48: Randy Frost

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hey, I hope that y'all aredoing well today. This is Zoe Harrington
from Zoe Superstars of the Golden Aisles, brought to you by iHeartRadio. I
have a guest today that you guysare going to love, love, love,
and I hope that you listen tothis podcast many times you can reflect
and digress. If you're a communityperson that wants to help out, I

(00:22):
have the guest for you today that'sgoing to tell you how you can get
involved in nonprofit programs with him.All he needs is a little bit of
your time, a little bit ofcommitment. And I want to introduce you
to a fellow Midwesterner, Randy Frost. Randy, how are you today.
I'm doing very well, glad tobe here. Thank you. I'm so
glad you're here. And we weretalking just now and it's like I said,

(00:44):
I need to take a nap becauseyou wore me out. You're two
years older than I am, butyou look thirty years younger and your energy
is like that of a twenty oneyear old. And I don't know how
you do it, but I'm gladthat you do it, because what a
treasure and a gift you are comingall the way from the Midwest to be
in this community for thirty years.Now thirty two years. Let's talk about
your journey of how you got here, what you do. I have a

(01:07):
hundred pages of notes here and it'slike, oh my god, I could
write for the next ten hours aboutwhat you've done. But you were offered
a position when you were in theMidwest. I want to tell you a
very quick story. A lot ofpeople on the East Coast come to the
Midwest to get their nannies because theMidwesterners are known for having one heck of
a working attitude and can do itattitude. I think that's been instilled in

(01:33):
the Midwesterners from whence they came.And you were lured or taken away from
the Midwest, which is a bigloss to the area that you're from.
But I am so glad that you'rehere because you've made such an impact on
so many people's lives. When wewere chatting earlier, if I understood properly,
and police correct me if I'm wrong. When you were a young child,

(01:55):
you had a visual problem, youwere bullied, you were picked on.
Was this young man inside of youthat said, you know what,
when I grow up. I'm goingto do something about this so other children
don't have to suffer like I have. So you took a really negative situation
and you've turned it into a positivesituation, and you can tell these kids

(02:16):
you know what I've been there.So can you tell me exactly what you
do? Because you have such acompelling story and I'm so excited that you're
here. Well, I gotta followthat. Yeah. As I'd mentioned before,
I've worked in the mental health fieldfor forty two years now, and
the very first day off the streets, I walked into to Peak, a
state hospital, and I walked inthere for a job interview, having no

(02:39):
experience whatsoever. I completed the interviewand they called me next day and said,
hey, we would like to bringyou on. And thirty two years
ago that introduced me and I beganworking with preadolescent children. And these kids
were very young children who had experiencedthings that you would not wish upon any
of your worst enemies. Can yougive me some examples without being graphics,

(03:00):
from rape to incest. I rememberone young lady named Connie that had been
uh. I remember she had beentied up to a ceiling fan by grandparents
and each time she acted out,she would be beat with a broomstick.
I mean, just things like that, horror stories that should never happen to
anyone. You know, that's amazingyou're telling them. Later, I'm gonna

(03:22):
tell you a story that somebody cameand told me, and I felt like
I had been emotionally vomited on.The story was just it parallels what you're
saying, and how people think aboutdoing these cool things is totally beyond me
there from the dark side. ButI didn't mean to interrupt you on that,
but boy, that does that hita note. Well, and those
are things you just never forget,you, I mean, you don't anyway.
I mean I was introduced to theseyoung children, and I mean I

(03:45):
absolutely fell in love with that job, and I the same passion and care
you know, after all these yearsforty plus a year, you know,
is still there. But I justjust like those children. I mean,
I had no knowledge, no experience, but it began taking classes. Isn't
going to school and training and onand on and on. And the cool
thing is I love what I donow with the same kind of vision that

(04:08):
I did that I did that manyyears ago. Well, this walked back
thirty two years ago. When yougot that job. Thirty two years ago,
jobs are hard to come by.It's not like now you can't get
anybody to work. You had tocompete against a lot of people to get
that job. Well, i'd liketo think so, I don't know if
they were just really hard up becauseagain I didn't have a lot of experience
in actually that state hospital was thatwas actually in nineteen that was in nineteen

(04:30):
eighty, you know, And againI think everything happens for a reason,
and I really truly believed that Godopened the door and said this is this
is how I'm going to use youfor you for many years to come.
I truly believe that, you know, like many people that at a young
age, you'd worked, I'd workednumerous jobs, and it was nothing that
ever just grabbed a hold of meand said this is what I wanted to
do. On that day I foundout what I wanted to do. And

(04:51):
you were how old at that time, nineteen twenty, So you really,
you know, you've dedicated your wholelife. I haven't, and continue I
could tell you that jobs back thenwith hospitals that had benefits, because my
first life was in medicine were noteasy to get. I don't I want
you to give yourself a big padon the back. They didn't have to

(05:12):
hire you, They could have hireda lot of other people. But they
obviously saw a maturation in you ata very young age that they knew that
they could throw you in the middleof the pond and away you swam.
And that's exactly what happened because theykind of put you in a situation.
From what I heard from you earlier, you formatted things at this hospital,
correct, yes, ma'am. Whataged children did you work with at that

(05:33):
facility? That age we've pretty muchhad. I think it was like four
to four to eight years old,very very young, very young. How
hard was that for you? Thehardest part was not taking the job home
with you, as we've all learnedhow to do that. You've got to
clock out mentally as well as physically. But it was it was difficult in

(05:53):
knowing at these kids. Even myself, I grew up in a very dysfunctional
family, but not to the degreethat these children had, not to that
degree. It was very difficult.But part of that again was knowing that
even though I can't change you know, We can't necessarily change what happened to
them before, but we can certainlybegin in changing what happens today. We
talked earlier about are the framework ofour minds being wired by the time we're

(06:16):
three years old? The children inyour program were four years to what year
in that program they were pretty muchfour I think four to seven something seven?
Did they spend the night there atthe hospital? They lived there?
It was it was a residential program. A residential program. Didn't that just
break your heart when you saw thoselittle kids absolutely left behind? Do you

(06:36):
feel you made an impact on thesechildren? I do. A matter of
fact, one of the young manis now a grown adult that is married
and has his own children, andhe reconnected with me recently on Facebook.
Isn't that wonderful? You change oneperson's life and that was such a ripple
effect because not only did you changehis life, you changed his children's lives

(06:59):
and mine and yours. Yeah.Yeah, I mean, that's the gift
that you get for giving what youdid. But what did you do at
that hospital? This was your firstfertile training ground and you had a lot
of freedom to put things in place. So tell us what your daily activity
was like with these four to sevenyear old when you walk in, I
mean when you begin there, you'reyou're pretty much off the streets. You're

(07:20):
called a health service worker, whichmeans you have no experience. After a
period of time, basically you werewith him providing direct care, from getting
them up in the morning, tohelping them dress, to bay to escort
them to meals of school, justa daily routine. You were with them
at all time, providing you know, safety, security, mentorship kind of

(07:41):
thing. Then after about nine months, I was able to move up to
what we called a MHT mental healthtechnician. And each time you would move
up, you were required to goto a nine month program at the local
university. Who paid for that.The state did great. Yeah, it
was really great. I'm not onlygetting on the job training, but I'm
also working with these children and alsogetting the education getting paid for that.

(08:03):
Because this kind of continued, youknow, the pretty much the duties remained
the same, just providing direct care. Whether that was discipline, whether that
was teaching them how to eat,I mean whatever, it was just really
taking care of these children. Andthen after two years of that, I
was able to take a state boardwhich moved me up to what we call

(08:24):
a licensed to mental health technician,where you work directly under the charge nurse
and the psychiatrist, so you havemore responsibilities and part of that too is
administering medication to the patients. Sodid that take you away from the day
to day care of these four toeight year olds? Did that take you
out of that? At that pointI began to move throughout the facility a

(08:46):
little bit being exposed to some ofthe adult residents patients, but for the
most part, that was my homebase working with each children. The only
thing it really took me away fromwas when it was medication times, not
not too much. I'm still withthem because to this day, I'm I've
always been a direct care person andthat's a gift from God. That is
a true calling, that's a calling, it's a spiritual calling, which you

(09:07):
agree, ma'am. You worked,then you went on and you were able
to give medications to children. Whattime did you go to work in the
morning? It was pretty much aseven to three Then sometime we would do
the seven to seven shift during theday. Yes, ma'am, were these
children like excited to see you whenyou walk through the four year old,
and you were very much a parentalrule to them, right, a parental

(09:28):
figure. You know how loving littlechildren are or can be? Can't they
can be? They can be.Did you have favorites when you work there?
You know my answer is supposed tosay no, but obviously you do.
You do, Yeah, you do. You can't help resonate with certain
children. You just can't help itwhen you say that was you discipline them?
What was your method of disciplining?Because I know after talking to you

(09:54):
that you're not going to raise yourhand to any child ever. Back then,
you're you're learning how to do themagic one, two three, the
timeouts. Even though today's world,I still use some of those same some
of the same skills that I learnedway back then, I still use and
a variety of my programs. Butit was really just teaching these kids,
you know, how to I mean, how to make the right choice.

(10:15):
But then there's going to be consequencesof what that means. You didn't go
outside, and you didn't go outsideand play or you didn't you know,
anytime you have consequence, they haveto be and kind of fit the crime
and have some meaning behind it.And what I find too now is that
if you if you have a relationshipwith an individual and you have a positive
relationship, going to have fewer episodesof acting out behavior. I've always believed

(10:35):
that, So really you operate onthe theory of positive reinforcement more than anything.
Exactly. I give you accolades forthat, because when you and I
grew up, it was spared therod, spoiled child. It was part
and parcel back then to get squattedon your behind or hit with the switch
or whatever. Our whole world haschanged because we realize that these little people

(10:58):
have feelings. It's just like youand I do. Every time they see
something, they have an impression.I've had somebody tell me, well,
I'm not going to take my childto Disney World when they're two years old
because they won't remember anything. AndI sit there and look at them,
thinking, how could you possibly thinkthat? Do you think that they don't
learn until they're five or six yearsold? Can you give me a reason

(11:18):
behind your theory, because respectfully disagreewith you on the things that well,
I'm sure we're going to talk about. Is I'm not going to say I
don't have acting out behaviors because inany program you're going to, Like you
said, ut positive reinforcement in relationships, I usually get good results. Well,
how could you not act out ifsomebody beat the tar out of you
when you were a child, toldyou that you were worthless, that you

(11:39):
weren't going to be anything in yourlife, that you're not wanted. Where
did these children come from that cameinto the hospital setting? Can you explain
that to me? Were these childrenthat were physically taken from their homes?
Were they abandoned? How did thesechildren come to this hospital at that point
it was a little bit of thatwhat you're talking about, abandonment, the
state coming and taking the child awaybecause of things that have happened or not

(12:00):
happened within the family setting. Veryfew of those were volunteer type setting right
there. There was always a historyof negativity behind it, and for some
it was to provide safety. Youknow, we read all these books and
readers or leaders, and I knowthat you read a lot. I know
this about you, but you knowbetter than anybody how hard it is to

(12:20):
get a child away from a mother, in particular, how difficult that is
to go through the system. Andwe've all heard story after story after story
about neighbors calling saying something's going onnext door. We've seen it, we've
witnessed it, and then we readabout it five years later. What in
the world is going on with that? So these children were lucky to come

(12:41):
to that hospital. Well for many, absolutely many of the and coming to
the hospital for a lot of thekids probably saved their lot. Yes,
I believe that. Yeah, becausehow many children do we hear about that
die because of parental abuse? Youknow, nobody wants to take it a
child from the family. That tobe real, there's times it's got to
be done. Period. Now letme ask you back then, did you

(13:03):
give children ADHD medication? Did youeven know what that was? Back then
when children were hyper active or youdidn't hear the word aspergers, you didn't
hear the word autism ADHD. Imean so and we all had that,
I mean, looking back on thatnow, I guarantee anxiety disorder HD.
Oh I had those in my backpocket at that point. You know,

(13:24):
people just thought it was just aregular behavior or a way that we act
out and never heard of those thingsbefore. No, No, could we
talk about dyslexia. Did you haveany children in there that you would have
reading time with that had reading disorders, not that they couldn't read, but
they got everything backwards. Could youspot that? You know, that was
kind of a rarity. It didhappen, and sometimes maybe at an early

(13:45):
stage you didn't necessarily really understand that. As some of the kids, some
of the teenagers I work with today, of course you spot on. I
mean, you recognize that immediately.Now. Isn't that amazing how far we've
come? And we talked about earlier. One of the things that I admire
the most about you is charity startsat home. There are so many people
at risk here. We don't needto go out of the country. This

(14:07):
is just my opinion. We don'tneed to go out of the country and
help other children and people when we'vegot individuals living in the United States that
are at risk. And you know, and I know how many people are
homeless. We've seen it on television, we've seen it in magazines. We've
seen it here in Brunswick, inour backyard. This is a plague and

(14:28):
we should be taking care of thepeople here. Would you agree with that
statement? I totally agree, andthat's exactly why I quit traveling in my
work as much as I did.Okay, there you go, talk about
how you came from the Heartland toSouth Georgia all right way way back.
In nineteen ninety two, I wasworking for a psychiatric hospital in Kansas,
in Topeka called Parkview. Parkview Hospitalwas one that I've been at for two

(14:50):
years, and I was one often people that were chosen as a team
to work in the fifth floor ofa bank and design this hospital. Designed
it and built it and opened itup, and it was a fantastic facility
that is still there. And Iwas working for them, and I received
a phone call from Saint Simon's andit was actually from Charter by the Sea.

(15:13):
Charter Hospitals had ninety six hospitals inthe nation at that time, and
Charter by the Sea on St.Simon's had heard about me one or gotten
my name and called and wanted toknow if I would come down for an
interview and to tour the facility,and to tour Saint Simon's and provide a
family workshop on the weekend. Didall of those, and I was totally

(15:33):
blown away at the hospital and theprograms. I was very much, very
much blown away at Saint Simon's bythe sea, because I've always been an
ocean boy and dreamed about living bythe ocean. And they made me a
job offer for the monday before Iflew back to Topeka, and in my
mind, I knew that it wasprobably going to be the best thing for

(15:54):
me. But I also happened tobe married at that time. I had
to convince my wife that we weremoving to Georgia. And what was her
response, And did you have childrenat that time? I had very very
young children, and I were onthe radio, and I will not tell
you the things she said to me. Let's just say they were a little
bit excitable and probably use them wordsthat those little kids knew that they shouldn't

(16:15):
have known. I mean, itwas a struggle because I'm asking her to,
you know, move away from friendsand certain her parents and family and
a home, and which I did, you know, we all did.
It was definitely a struggle. Andthey came down to Saint Sima's about a
year and they were just miserable.So I actually ended up moving them back
to our house in Topeka. Icame back to Saint Simon, was determined

(16:37):
that this was going to be thebest thing for all of us and mean
that eventually it would happen and Iwould fly back every month to see the
family. And they decided about ayear later they wanted to come back and
come back to Saint Sima's and livedtogether again. But it was a struggle,
yeah, I mean lad struggle.Yeah, and particularly people that are
rooted rationally in an area. It'smy father was in the Air Force,

(17:03):
so we traveled all over the world, so that was not a big deal
to us. But when you're inan area your entire life, your generational
roots are there, that's very Sowould you say it's the best move that
your family's made. If my twodaughters and my wife were here with you
and usk them, they would sayit was the best thing that they didn't
realize it, but it was thebest thing that we could have done and
did do. How old are yourgirls? You have two girls. Oh,

(17:23):
you're getting me in trouble. Well, I know you've been married forty
years because we sat down and didthe math, or you did the math.
Yeah, they are in the thirties. Uh huh, two years apart
and they're here in town with you. Candice, my oldest daughter lives in
a waverley just outside of Brunswick,and Jessica and my youngest daughter actually is
married and lives in Making, Georgia, so they're both very close to you.

(17:45):
Absolutely in you Mins, you fellin love with your work, you
fell in love with the community,you fell in love with the people,
and you started networking at that point, I did. I did just kind
of here and there, but mostcertainly then your journey after Saint Simon's by
the Sea really began, right itdid. I mean I Charter Hospital went

(18:06):
away. All ninety six hospitals wentaway for a variety of reasons. In
two thousand, I had a wonderfulCEO that was much invested and truly really
believed in me, and he said, I'm going to help you begin your
own business because of what I've seenyou do what we do, and he
said, there's no reason not to. So he was very instrumental in helping
me and I formed a business calledSeaside Health Services, which is basically a

(18:30):
mental health program. You know.I worked in June. I did a
contract for juvenile justice for schools allover Georgia and Florida, Louisiana. I'm
still a crisis intervention trainer that Ido a lot of crisis training for.
I began to really reach out andprovide these services along with summer camps,
but I was actually doing them throughme and my business rather than doing them

(18:52):
for other people. Can you giveme an example of what a crisis intervention
is watch the news? Well,part of I mean, part of my
job is really recognizing a situation anddiffusement and who calls you when they have
a crisis these well, is ita hardline that I mean? At that
point as a trainer, I was. I did all the training for Southeast

(19:12):
Georgia Hell Systems Camden and Glenn Brunswickfor all employees, and I did that
for eight nine years. I believein through the school system they would contract
me to come in and provide thetraining for teachers. I actually worked for
about ten years contracting with US MarshalService. Every place has to have the

(19:33):
training. But basically it's really recognizea situation, diffuse in a situation and
if it comes to the crisis situationwhere you have to put your hands on
somebody to do the right thing anddo it where people don't get hurt yourself
and certainly the client or whoever else. Okay, this hits every economic level,
right, This is not just forpeople that are lower income. This

(19:55):
hits every stratosphere of that tightly correctexactly. Just let's say that I have
This is not a true story,but let's say that I had a nephew
that lived with me that was unmanageable, that decided that he was going to
be crazy and possibly on drugs,possibly not, but they are going to
harm a family member. Is thatwhen you're called into those type of situations.

(20:18):
Those are typical situations. And Imean, even from there, I've
done a lot in my career andI'm proud of that. But I also
provided we would do a lot ofinterventions into a home for out of control
teenagers adults, whether drugs, whatever. So we would do the interventions and
also slash transports to a facility becausethe family knew that they would be unable

(20:42):
to do that safely. If yousee somebody that you think is a danger
to their family, if a neighborsees that they really need to say something,
don't you think, oh, exactly, you see something, your body
and I know you know that yourbody sends out signal and I tell people.
When you get those signals, yourbody's trying to tell you something that's

(21:03):
right. Now. I'm gonna tellyou a crazy story. It's not crazy,
but it was fascinating to me becauseI had a police officer come in
and we were doing some business oneday, and he really had something heavy
on his heart, and I said, is everything okay with you today?
And he said, you know,I want to tell you a story because
I know that you're not going tomention any names, but I'd like to
share this with you because it reallybothers me. I got called out to

(21:26):
a family home. A mother andfather called because they have a son that's
six foot five and he used tobeat the heck out of these people continually.
So this police officer goes out there, listens to the complaint, and
the father says, you know,I don't know what in the world is
going on where this came from.And the police officer looked at him and

(21:47):
said, you know what, hewas not always six foot five and two
hundred and fifty pounds. In otherwords, this started at a very early
age, and you allowed your childto get away with behavior that should never
have allowed in your household. Now, you've let the lion out of the
cage, but you run in situationslike this absolutely. I mean especially when
I when I contracted for different countiesthrough the juvenile system, the judges a

(22:11):
lot of time would refer most ofthese families that were experiencing what you're talking
about. We had a twelve weekfamily program that they had not only had
to do individual counseling with me inmy office I had a private office in
Richmond Hill, but they also hadto attend and graduate from this twelve week
program, which means they gave effort. You didn't just come. You come,

(22:33):
you attend, and when you havea situation like that, like I
said, it's not pointing fingers,but you have to first identify what's the
problem, where other problems are comingfrom. That's an amazing program. So
there are people that come back afterthe twelve weeks program because they didn't get
it the first twelve week go around. There were times and a lot of
times they would do that as Imean, to volunteer and ask if they

(22:56):
could because they actually bought into it, but they knew they could have done
more. Well, that's amazing,I mean, what a healing process that
is for everybody. Right at thattime in Brian County. At that time,
we were the second or third mostproductive diversion program in the state of
Georgia. You told me about programsthat you offer. I'd like to know
where you get your funding. Wetalked about you're involved with the Saint Simon's

(23:19):
Island Rotary Club, right, andcan you told me about the most sounds
so enchanting. You have farm whereyou take children and you teach them from
the ground up how to take careof these animals. And everybody that's done
any research knows that there is animaltherapy, and particularly with horses. We

(23:40):
connect with horses in such a way. And I had a friend say to
me one day, why do youthink that is? And I said,
for generations that was our mode oftransportation. If your horse was the one
that got you around, you're goingto form a connection with them, right
absolutely. And have you ever beento an arena and watched children that have
very special needs and how gentle thesehorses are with them. Isn't that amazing?

(24:04):
It's the most beautiful thing you've everseen. But I don't want to
get into that because I could talkabout that for hours because of my girlfriend
Paula Prey. But tell us aboutyour farm you have, where it's located.
Do I have to pay to comein? Can I bring groups out
there? Can I have a birthdayparty out there? Can you tell me
about this? The farm is actuallyin Waverley, Georgia, which is you
know, people think Waverley, whereis that? And it's really halfway between

(24:26):
Woodbine and Brunswick. I mean aswe sat here, we could be there
in ten minutes, so it's reallynot too far away. It truly belongs
to my daughter and son in lawand there are four four grandkids. But
his family, his family operated,everybody that works there when we're open,
his family include. It's called theInk and Chet two Plantation. You can

(24:48):
see it on Facebook. If youlook on Facebook. The first thing you're
gonna do is say, oh,when can I come? Because it's not
just I mean it's the paddings do. It's a birthday party, it's a
place where people do private retreats.It's not just your typical feet an animal
and leave. We've got all kindsof animals. There is a giant jumping
pillow. I'm the tractor driver forthe hay rides, the Safari rides that

(25:08):
there's all kinds of activities do forfamilies, and most families come and we'll
stay for four to five hours.Everything costs money, as you know,
and it does cost We open upusually around mid April and stay open on
weekends until the end of December.The reason we do that because when it
gets really really hot, people don'twant to come out, so we really

(25:29):
try to open it up on theweekends when it's actually bearable. I mean,
we have a parakeet house. Inthe last two weeks we have had
forty one babies born, which isa record. This will be a forty
year of operation. We can't blamethat on COVID, blame on the nice
weather. But I mean that israbbits, that is goats, that is
cows, as baby, donkeys,ducks, geese, and what we do

(25:55):
with that is my granddaughter and kids. This is a responsibility these animals.
We take them from their mammas afterabout the fourth or fifth day and they
have to bottle feed these babies everyfour hours. So right now they're in
the process of bottle feed and fortyone babies every four hours, forty four
hours a day. Any complaints outof them when they have to do it.

(26:15):
It isn't that amazing how they've connectedwith these These are their little siblings,
so to speak. They're very connectedwith us. You know, I've
always had pets. We have petsnow. But if you stop and think
about all the variety of animals outthere, these kids will say they are
very blessed. They have something thatother kids don't have with all these animals,
and they're around them every day.I mean, there's lots to do.
So you have over two hundred animalsright now, plus the new babies.

(26:38):
Absolutely, and we haven't We getmy son in law as a trader.
He goes this week. He wasin Tennessee. So some of the
babies we trade off sale, buthe's always adding to and trading. We
we have a camel. He's anadolescent, about twelve. He's eight foot
two inches and he's probably gonna growanother two feet in the next few years.

(26:59):
How did you come How did youcome upon a camel? I was
raised in Turkey and I used tolove to go camel riding. How did
you come upon a camel in SouthGeorgia? Well, in Tennessee, Kentucky
there and even in Florida there's allkind of animal trade shows like car show.
So my son in law goes andwheels and deals and he tries to
add things that will bring people out. And it's the most gentile animal.

(27:21):
His name is is Stewey. Andif you go up to Stewey and you
turn around, I mean he willput his head down and actually take picture
with you. But he will alsovick your face, which is really gross,
but that's part. You know.The cool thing is when when I
provide the camp, the adventure camps, I want these kids. We go
out there at least two days aweek, if not three, expose them
to the animals where they get topet, they get to feed. It's

(27:45):
funny because so many of these kidsare scared of death. They see animals
they've never seen before. Speaking ofthe camel, I tried to get some
of the boys morning Star to rideit. The first time they came up,
they were scared to death, butthey've never ridden a horse before.
It was understand and one finally said, hey, okay, I'm our ride.
And when the other boys seen that, he didn't die or get bucked
off, and they were willing todo it even there. It's not just

(28:07):
exposing them to an animal. It'sthat confidence level at getting to do things
that they've never done before that they'veThey've never pet a camel, they've never
ridden a horse, they've never doneany of this stuff. And it's all
about self confidence and having fun,putting a smile on your face in the
heart, and it's like, God, guess what I got to do today.
When we were talking earlier, youdid something that really surprises me,
because whenever a young child is taughtto ride a horse, they're taught from

(28:33):
how to groom the horse, brushthem down, get the saddle on,
and you do the exact same thingsthat a professional trainer would do. Yeah,
you've got a great big animal there. A matter of fact, I've
got two granddaughters in making that actuallythey have learned the same type thing.
And I was up there last weekand got to watch them not only a
ride, but it get to takecare of the owner of the place.
Is just incredible. Teaching them allthe same things that I have stolen or

(28:56):
borrowed from them of how to approachthat horse. And it's a beautiful animal.
You know, you don't scream,you don't holler. You're very gentle
with them, and step by astep, you see the confidence grow until
the moment they actually get on asaddle. And it's funny because a lot
of times I'll say, I wantyou to walk with me, I want
you to lead the horse. Okay, we can do that, but on
the next trip, guess what,you're on your own taking away that anxiety

(29:18):
and that fear and seeing the smileon their faces. So it's all about
and giving them the self confidence sayyou can do this exactly when you reflect
as a child, you're sitting therethinking, if I can be in front
of a beast of burden and Ilove horses, If I can do that,
I don't do anything. I wasscared to death, but I overcame
that fear. So it sounds tome like you're trying to get these kids
out of being fear based. Isthat right? I mean, it's the

(29:41):
enjoyment of being around a horse.But that's the bottom wide is that self
confidence and building on that daily andbuilding continue to build on that. How
do you get your funding for yourfacility because it costs a lot to feed
two hundred plus animals. That isagain my families. That is their business
and my son will retire for manyyears at Walmart and said, this is

(30:02):
what we're going to do. Imean it's a farm. You know,
they have timber, you know,the trade and animals things like that as
part of the revenue. But Imean it costs. It costs sixteen dollars
a person to come in there.And that's what I tell people. You're
here all day long, and I'mgonna call it you other day and said,
well, it's sixteen dollars at alot, and I said, you
know what, come out. Ifyou don't think it's worthwhile, I'll give
you your money back. And shewouldn't ask for money back. Right now,
you were saying that it's so hotout there. Any of you people

(30:26):
that have items to donate, thereare many many people that love to tailgate.
They're past that they'd rather watch gamesinside their house. If any of
you have any type of coverings,I am positive that these people would love
to have those out there for shelterwhenever it becomes really hot. And I'm
sure that you would take other donations. And can you tell us some other

(30:47):
donations that you need at this point, buy's water coolers. If I come
out there, I'm going to bringyou cases of water well, and I
mean we have concession stands. Imean there's gonna eat there, you can
kind of things like that. Imean we pretty much have. I think
my true answer to that would bemore any type of donations would probably fit
more of the programs we do withthe youth who probably in more need than

(31:10):
out there. Okay, let's segueinto that. Then let's go back to
your youth program that really touches yourheart, because your eyes light up when
you talk about that. I'm gonnatalk to you about two programs, and
I'll try to do this without keepingkeeping all your time up. No no
seaside enrichment programs. And again we'rea five O one C three nonprofit.
This is something that I have doneoff and on for years, but I'm

(31:30):
now doing it full time in thecommunity. The first program is our Adventure
Camps, and these are five dayprograms that children around sometimes seven till eleven
are referred to me and we screenedthem, We talk to them, and
we make sure they are fitting forour particular program. Funding comes from individual
sponsors. It cost us two hundredand fifty dollars per child per five days,

(31:53):
of which I'll explain to you aboutthat and where that goes. We
find a home base in Brunswick andactually continue to really look. There is
a building down here outside of Bronzewickin the Baldwin area. It's a recreational
building that the city rents to me. But I'm trying to find a building
and i'll get in that a littlebit later that I can actually call home
base because we do so much try. You know, we go here and

(32:15):
they're quite a bit, but Ineed a home base with that in mind,
the wait a minute, let's lookon what do you need in a
home based facility. Well, thehome base is because you know, like
if we go to the farm,or we go to the jack O Island,
or we go somewhere, it's reallyhard for many of the families who
have these kids who may not havetransportation to get them. So I try

(32:36):
to make life easier and have ahome base where we all meet that morning
as a meat place and a pickupplace. The Baldwin Recreation Center was one
that I used Christmas week. Wedid two weeks a camp adventure camp and
we serve twenty eight children for aweek. You know, we did fourteen
each one. Okay, fourteen wedon't do not bust them in yet,

(32:57):
that's on my check off list,is getting there. But we served fourteen
in each program, which is kindof my magic number. And we provided
the despite the cold. Weather wasmiserable, but we provided a Christmas.
Can't We provided kids for Christmas thatthese kids probably would not have had Christmas
without us. From book we didbook bags, water bottles. The book

(33:22):
bags had gifts in them, themeals and snacks. There were blankets because
it was so cold and we weregoing to be outside of a lot that
we're in these book bags. Andthen some gifts that my wife had went
out and bought, so they gota really really nice Christmas kind of thing.

(33:43):
So that was our home base wasout here at the Baldwin Rec Center.
So I'm continuing to look as Iwant one. I want to building
the number one. I don't payfor. This is a nonprofit program.
The money that we get needs togo to these children, right, Okay,
So the weather really kind of messwith us because it was so cold,
but we will be doing another onein spring break and then we will

(34:05):
do two in June and two inJuly, all five day program. So
the money comes from individual sponsors,which the community has been really really good
about. It comes from the secondpart of this program where we have a
work program and revenue that comes inthat I'll explain to also goes in there.
And then I have applied for twoparticular local grants that I was able

(34:30):
to be blessed with to get lastyear that helped with funding as well.
So you got this from the state, Actually no, it was from Oki
Finoki out of way Across gave usa grant because of the programs, and
then Coastal Georgia also and we reapplied. I'll know in June if we get

(34:54):
that again. They gave us areally nice grant to help. In the
past we didn't get in grant,but we because we're five oh one.
I'm a Pine for everything everywhere.Now, well you should be. Yeah,
you know, like we said earlier, charity starts at home, and
I am fed up with people gettingmoney that come into this country that have
never earned a dime to pay SocialSecurity nor any healthcare benefits. We're giving

(35:16):
it to them when you've got childrenthat are totally at risk that need this.
Have you been in touch with thegovernor? No, man, I
met him when he was first running. He was here on the island.
I met hey and his wife andgreat, great people. But you know
this, I mean, I'm goingfull blast, but it's kind of step
by step by step and I'm makingprogress. But the reason they're calling adventure

(35:39):
camps basically their therapeutic camp. Westill talk, we circle up. I
want these kids to learn how tolook you in the eye and talk to
you and say what they mean andmean what they say, learning how to
talk communicate, learning how to trustpeople again, because most of these kids
have had heartache, heartbreak and traumain their life in many different ways,

(35:59):
that they deserve to know the pastdoes not have to dictate what the future
brings. And I tell them thatevery day we've all had something. If
I sat around and think of allthe bad things I've done in my life,
I get angry, I get depressed, I get sad, and it's
not what I did, it's whatI do today. And it's the same
type of theory. So we're reallybeautiful philosophy. You know what, Let

(36:21):
that check that at the door.Baby, you know what, I can't
do anything about the past. Ican do a lot about the future.
Now. I might be able togo back and make amends, but I'm
not going to be able to exactthat situation right exactly. And do these
children become very cohesive by sharing storiesof their own backgrounds. Have you listened
to these children interact and talk about, well, this happened at my house.

(36:44):
Another quiet child opens up and said, well, you know, this
is what happened at my house.And this is not normal. What we're
doing right now with our great leaderRandy is normal. We want to live
like this. So you're giving theman example of really what they want in
their future and what they really need. Right it's usually late Tuesday or Wednesday

(37:05):
when one takes the chance to share, and then you can see where no
one's laughing at them, no one'sjoking, everybody's listening. And then all
of a sudden, the person nextto you says, begin and in the
beginning, for these children who geta scholarship from my organization, they have
to write me a letter and tellme why I should accept them into my

(37:30):
program. And when they write thatletter, those who can write the ones,
they can't have somebody to help themwrite it. But that is really
the ticket, whether you're going tocome into my program or not. Well,
how can I get in touch withyou if I have a nephew and
niece a child at risk? Ofcourse, you know a lot of people

(37:50):
would love to help their family members, but they've just they're strapped and they're
doing everything they can, paycheck topaycheck for their own children. They might
have a niece or nephew that's leftbehind, and how do they find out
about you? Well, it's funnyyou said that, because you know,
being on Saints or being in thisarea for a long time, a lot
of people know what I've done orwhat I do, and it's quite often
I get calls. Is here's mysituation. I don't know what to do,

(38:15):
but it's basically Randy Frost at nineone two two three zero zero two
zero four or Seaside seventeen two thousandat yahoo dot com phone number. Email
is really the best way. Okay, for those of you just joining us,

(38:35):
I have an unbelievable gentleman that tookhis time to come out today to
explain what he does. And I'mtelling you he has not only made an
impact in his own life, hisfamily's life, He's made an impact for
every person living in this community becausehe's making better citizens out of these children.
He's hoping to get a hold ofthem where they came from the worst

(38:58):
imaginable city situations and showing them theother side of the coin. And then
at that point you decide how you'regoing to live. I'm showing you how
you can live, and if youwant to do it, you can do
it. So yours is not alwaysan easy job. No one to tell
you a quick story. When wewere living in Ismail, Turkey, I

(39:21):
was a girl scout and there wereseveral of us that wanted to get our
camping badge. So my mother wasvery British and I don't know why she
volunteered to go on this outing becauseshe was so prissy and immaculate all the
time. So there were twelve othermothers that went out there. There were
no men, were sleeping at aplace called Thermopoli Park that they built for

(39:45):
the American children, so we wouldhave a place to camp and we would
have a place to go swimming.And I had my eye. I had
so many merit badges because we werevery involved with the girl Scouts. No
television in Turkey, and if wewere not outside playing and my father came
home, or we weren't doing musiclessons or ballet or whatever, we better

(40:07):
have a book in our hands.My father was very stern about that because
he said, readers are leaders,and I want to talk to you about
that in a minute. But here, at two thirty three o'clock in the
morning, a sheep herder comes through. He had no idea he was grazing
his sheep in this area. Hehad no idea. There were like fifty
little girl scouts out there with tenmothers, and of course when these sheep

(40:30):
descended upon us, it was likewe were so excited. The mothers were
running around screaming. It was thechildren that got control of the whole situation,
not the mothers. And I gettogether with girlfriends often and that story
gets embellished upon, as you canimagine, every year. But it's a
really fun story to tell because we'reall out there running around in our pajamas

(40:52):
petting these sheep, and our parentswere like, no, no, no,
they have to go. No.We just we made an evening of
it. So that was one ofour favorite stories. Have you ever gone
to the Eagles Scouts, to theBoy Scouts and said, hey, do
you guys have anything that you canoffer us to help these young men get

(41:13):
their Eagle Scout badges? Have youapproached anybody and is that something that you
would ever be interested in? No, I'd be very interested in. Again,
that's kind of you know, you'vegot the to do list and there's
a making things on there. Idid speak to a gentleman not too long
ago who's very much involved in andthe Scouting program all over the country,

(41:36):
and there's a facility in Brunswick that'sbeen kind of shut down that we've talked
about maybe being able to use,but it was going to require some work
and sometimes so quick answer that Ihave not, but I will certainly not
rule that out absolutely. Wodn't thatbe great? Yeah, they have those
mentors out there, the young menmentor these people because a lot of these

(41:57):
Eagle Scouts, from what I undersstand from friends that have been heavily involved
with this, a lot of theseEagle Scouts or children that have come from
families that are at risk and theydon't want to live their lives like that,
and they find mentors that help themthrough this program. And of course
it's always excellent on your resume forcollege or when you go into the military.

(42:19):
When they see that Eagle Scout onthere, that's like a gold star
by your name automatically, right.So for anybody listening that's involved with the
Scouts, please consider donating some timeto this great organization. So you've been
here forty years now, how longhave you been here? Tell me what
you've seen happen in the community overall this time, because you've got a

(42:43):
bird's eye view on programs that werenever available. These children were at risk,
they were hanging, and you facilitateda lot of things in this town.
And you need to take credit forthat because you've done. I've asked
around about you before I had youon the show, and you've done.
I'm pretty amazing. She still hadme come yes, yes, but you

(43:04):
know, uh, just off thecharts here for a second. My son
is a little sagittarius, and mygirlfriend taught astronomy and astrology at a major
university, and we're dictated by thewater. We all know that I could
tell you emergency room stories just throughmy ears. We're not going to go
through that today. But you're aSagittarian. And I said to you,

(43:25):
my son's a sage and when hemakes up his mind, get out of
the way because you're going to getit done. And you've just dug your
heels in here and not look backto the Midwest. You're here, I
am, we are. So canyou tell me the landscape back then as
opposed to what it is now?Because you came here in the dark days,

(43:47):
really, and you've made such animpact in this community. I think
you ought to have a big goldcrown on your head for what you've got.
Oh, I appreciate that. Imean, I think the biggest thing.
You know, we use that termat risk in a long time ago,
we identified at risk with certain peoplein certain families. In today's world,
Saint Simon's brunche, I don't carewhere. I mean to me,
every child fits the category of atrisk. So the needs and the demands

(44:14):
and the challenges and the situations.I mean, all they have done is
twofold and escalate. For there's alwaysbeen a needs for specialized program always and
I just feel so much that there'sso much more needed. And one of
the things that I'm really hoping todo and really gonna do. Is we

(44:34):
have so many organizations where somebody's doingthis, and you're doing this, and
I'm doing this, and it's youknow, the one huge goal is to
start bringing some of these together.And you know, I'm always going to
work my tail off, that's notit. But I just think we can
do so much more than what we'vebeen doing. Well, I agree with

(44:55):
that. And do you feel thata stumbling block could possibly be ego based
with some people that don't want tocome together and be a cohesive unit.
No, this is my little pieceof cheese, that's your piece of cheese.
Instead of doing for the better good? Have you found that to be
I And again this is not anegative. You ask me a question,
and I'm going to share that withyou over the years. And again,

(45:23):
I'm a person that if I'm gonnakeep knocking at your door you don't answer,
I'm gonna knock it again and gonext door. And I'm going to
But I have knocked on some doorswith different agencies that for a long time
people ask me, all these thingsyou're doing at these different cities and counties,
why are you're not doing here?Well? One was the time too.
I really ran into a lot ofroadblocks. Can you tell me what

(45:47):
some of those roadblocks are? AndI know that we and I've already given
you the open door by saying egosor boy. Well, I mean,
I really I'm not comfortable naming No, I don't want your name names.
Just circumstances or instances when somebody couldhave really helped you and made a difference
and they didn't and they're not aroundanymore, because you know what, God
knows everything that's happening. Yeah,I mean, it's not just helping me

(46:12):
out. I think we could havehelped each other out. I mean that's
the way I kind of look atthat. I'm a huge team player.
But no, there were different ones, but two again with me, with
me really going full blast, fulltime with us. Now you know,
I'm attended monthly meetings for family connections. I'm I'm personally at some of these
places that I was not at before. So I can be a little more

(46:36):
verbal, a little more vocal andknocking the door a little bit harder kind
of thing. So I think someof those walls have either began to crumble
down or people maybe a little bitmore willing right. I'm hoping, so
I really am. Well, it'sbecause you've been around a long time,
you have credibility, and you're nota flash in the pan, and you're

(46:58):
here to stay. How many hoursa week do you work? I cannot
even imagine that your mind ever turnsoff. Actually it's lower now than what
it was because again, not justwith the the adventure the camp program,
but my you know, I'm stillcontracting at a morning Star Children's Services and

(47:21):
I do that, but also withmy work mentor program that we have not
talked about, that could be ninedays a week because the community has been
so awesome about providing us with workthat we just cannot get caught up yet.
But it's a great thing. Okay, So I want to go back
to something that you said earlier whenwe were talking, which just really struck

(47:42):
a chord in my heart. AndI was telling you just now, my
father said readers or leaders, andyou have these children keep journals. Can
you talk to us about that,because I think that's amazing that I have
what you have, these children keepjournals, journals. That's where we kind
of left off of the camp.So when we do it, an experience
you know, at the camp,the first thing we circle up, we
talk, we plan today, kindof let them know who's doing, what

(48:06):
we're going to, kind of do, set the tone for my expectations.
And uh, then we do whatwe call cooperative. We don't necessarily do
a lot of competitive games because alot of these kids don't have the self
esteem to It's just like if youthink about junior high school, middle school,
you have a lot of kids thatdo not want to dress out for
gym class because they're not good atit, are going to embarrass the cell.

(48:28):
I don't want to do that.You know, we'll shoot baskets,
we'll do things, we'll have fun, but we do a lot of cooperative
activities learning how to work with eachother. I'm huge in the team building.
And then we do we talk aboutwhere we're going that day on the
adventure, whether that's to the beachto go ocean singing, whether that's going
to the farm, whether that's goingto you know, getting on a boat

(48:52):
and going offshore fishing. So wedo these type of things, and I
always have a photographer, which ismy granddaughter who comes long and takes pictures.
When we returned to the home,base, we set and we circle
up and then we talk about attitudeand gratitude because I remind them there was
one day we went on a friendof mine's boat and we went all the

(49:13):
way to Fernandina. He had tostop and get gas. I had all
the kids go back to the backand watch the as he put gas in,
and I said, tell me howmuch money that showed? And showed
three hundred dollars. So I said, okay, somebody just paid three hundred
dollars worth a gas to put youon his boat. Who do we need
to think? And it was thecaptain of the boat. But teaching these
kids to be grateful someone has provideda scholarship to view for you to be

(49:37):
in this program, you know,to learning how to thank people and be
grateful, not for again, notworry about your past, to be grateful
for today and where we're headed.So that's how it works. And then
at that point we do a journal. They do a weekly journal. And
at that point they can draw,they can write, but they're required to

(49:59):
do journal writing. And they youknow, they make some of the guys,
some of the young boys, kindof resistive, but once they get
started right and at the end ofthe week, they take these journals with
them, and I was telling usalways that it's not too long ago.
I still run into kids who havebeen in these programming years ago, as
young as teenagers and even young adultsthat still tell me that they still have

(50:21):
their journals. Isn't that amazing?It's fantastic for them to keep those journals
and reflect from whence I came andthis man who I didn't know stepped in
and helped me. And I canexpect that your father figure to a lot
of these people. Would you agreewith that? Well, I wish there
was more time, because you know, they really do need that. When

(50:43):
I spoke to I spoke to theGrandparents Association and at a church recently about
about the upcoming programs, and Iwould say easily ninety percent of those children
involved do not have a father figure, unless it's possibly another family member grandfather

(51:06):
type of thing. Have you everapproached the VFW. Have you ever spoken
to them about helping you? Notthe VFW, not yet. I think
that would be a wonderful thing becausea lot of those soldiers lied to get
into the military when they were fifteenor sixteen years old to get away from
their families because of the same exactreasons that you're talking about. So it
would be wonderful if you could puta great mentorship program together. That's well

(51:30):
and number one, that's the maingoal of finding me the building. I've
got materials, I've got in mymind what i want to do. It's
just it's doing it right. Buteven then when that does happen, which
is going to happen this year,obviously there I've also got in mind.
You know, it's not something I'mdoing by myself. There's other people are

(51:50):
going to be involved. So great, Well, my god, can I
have you back on the show becausethis hour went so quickly. I want
to do some more research and talkingto you about this, getting other people
involved with you. But I dowant to repeat your telephone number. You
have been listening to Randy Frost,who originated from Topeka, Kansas and was
drawn to this island to help peoplethat are very much at risk. And

(52:14):
I would say you've done one greatjob. I applaud you for that.
Your telephone number is nine one twotwo three zero zero two O four And
as you know, this is apodcast, so you can always go up
and listen for this number, butI'm going to repeat it again. It's
nine one two two three zero zerotwo zero four. We're listening to Randy

(52:36):
Frost Frost thanks Snowman or you canget in touch with them at Seaside one
seven two zero zero zero at yahoodot com. And I am telling you
right now, you are building yoursteps to heaven, and I thank you
for that because you've made an impacton so many people's lives. I doubt

(52:57):
that you even know the people thatyou've touched, from one person to another.
When you threw that pebble in thepond, that ripple effect is astounding.
And I want to thank you personallyfor doing what you've done in this
community has not been easy. Iappreciate it. I really do. Thank
you. I can't wait to haveyou back on again. I'm going to
come out to your facility. Iwant to view it. I want to
see it, and I want tocome back and talk to you about all
this because I'm gonna be out theretaking notes. I wouldn't know. I'd

(53:20):
love that. You would definitely bemy guest to come out. Well.
I appreciate it, Randy. We'lltalk to you soon. Thank you so
much, Hey, this is ZoeHarrington from Noble House Jewelry on Saint Simon's
Island, Georgia, across the streetfrom the post office at seventeen hundred Fredericka
Road. How amazing you have ahometown jeweler that says you deserve fine jewelry
shop and compare. The more youlook, the better we look. Hey
everyone, this is Zoe Harrington fromNoble House Jewelry on Saint Simon's Island,

(53:44):
Georgia, at seventeen hundred Fredericka acrossthe street from the post office. How
amazing you have a hometown jeweler thatsays you deserve fine jewelry shop and compare.
The more you look, the betterwe look.