November 20, 2025 • 33 mins
A memorial reads names, but a community carries the weight. We sit down with Jeffrey Godwin to explore how the International Towing and Recovery Museum turns remembrance into real support through the Wall of the Fallen and the Survivor Fund—and why hearing those names aloud changes how we see risk, service, and family. Jeffrey explains their careful process: contacting companies first to ease the burden on families, approving cases quickly so funds reach homes when they’re needed most, and building a peer network so owners and teams aren’t alone after a tragedy.
From there, we step inside the museum’s evolving home in Chattanooga. Recent grants refreshed the roof, HVAC, and the Hall of Fame flow, and a new remembrance room offers a quiet space to reflect. Yet the mission has outgrown a converted grocery store. Low ceilings limit modern displays, from carriers to rotators, and the team is pursuing a larger building to tell a fuller story of towing technology and culture. Until then, off-site storage and rotating exhibits will bring fresh vehicles and artifacts to the floor.
Growth runs through community. The annual fundraising auction fuels operations while welcoming new Hall of Fame inductees. Membership tiers make it easier to join and make a difference, and donations—financial or artifact—put history in front of the next generation. There’s even a hometown twist: the Chattanooga Lookouts’ Wreckers games amplify Slow Down, Move Over messaging and celebrate the city where the tow truck was born. With a new stadium opening, Wreckers weekend promises a bigger stage for safety education, museum events, and industry pride.
Help us preserve stories, support families, and expand what’s possible. Become a member, make a pledge to the Survivor Fund, plan a trip to Chattanooga, and share this episode with someone who needs to hear it. Subscribe, rate, and leave a review to help more listeners find the show.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:04):
You on the train just with April and West
Wilburne.
I'm DJ Hamrington, the co-host,better known as the tow doctor.
We're on our way to the town ofproper towing and recovery,
along with our producer, ChuckCamp in the studio.
Don't go to the town of wood,could have should have.
(00:26):
You could have done this.
You should have done that.
Listen every week with mudprovoking wisdom.
(01:05):
Maybe a photo show that's comingup.
Let us know.
I'm proud to be part of a greatteam at the American Dome
Recovery Institute.
Let's make 2025 our best yearever.
I will commit to April and May.
SPEAKER_04 (01:27):
Okay, thank you for that warm intro today.
So good to always hear yourvoice.
Uh Wes is doing a class thisweek, and pretty much all week.
He just actually finished one upin Georgia, or I'm sorry,
Alabama last weekend inEnterprise Alabama.
Did it a one-day class and thena two-day class, and today as
we're talking right now, he'sdoing a two-day fire power class
(01:50):
trader with Ron Moore in thatLouisiana.
And then Saturday and Sunday isdoing a one-day heavy duty and a
one-day light duty.
So he has been a busy little,busy little trainer these last
few days.
And I think that will almostclose out the season.
And then we're already gettingdates on the schedule for next
season.
So if anybody's interested inhosting a class, give us a call
(02:14):
at 910-7479000, or you can emailus.
I am very happy to have thisinterview to myself.
I've got Jeffrey Godwin with me.
Jeffrey Godwin, would you liketo introduce yourself and tell
us a little bit about yourself?
SPEAKER_05 (02:29):
Sure.
I'm uh Jeffrey Godwin.
I am Senior Director of SolutionDesign and Integration for Cox
Automotive and work primarilywith the Fleet Net America
business.
And with my other hat, I uhvolunteer and have the pleasure
to serve as the vice presidentof the International Towing and
Recovery Hall of Fame andMuseum, as well as chairman of
(02:52):
the Wall of the Fallen andSurvivor Fund committees.
SPEAKER_04 (02:56):
That is a that is a lot of hats.
That's not just one because thatthat towing museum uh they do a
lot of things.
I this past year went to theWall of the Fallen and watched
that ceremony, and I've seenI've seen their front end of it
as far as all the stuff that isgetting done at that time.
But there's probably a lot ofback backroom stuff and a lot of
(03:18):
um uh things that you guys haveto put in place to get that day
to happen.
SPEAKER_05 (03:25):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_04 (03:27):
Yeah, it's always um eye-opening for me when I see
it, you know, what you're goingto see and you know what you're
gonna watch, but when when youhear the names out loud, it's
it's more of a tangible and yousee the family members walk up
and receive those wings.
SPEAKER_05 (03:42):
I certainly tell people who have not been to that
wall of the fallen ceremony thatthey should attend.
It's a life-changing kind ofthing.
It's uh very powerful for sure.
SPEAKER_04 (03:52):
Definitely um puts a perspective that it puts it hand
to me, it puts a tangible thingwith a theory.
You the theory is this couldhappen to me.
When you go watch it, this didhappen to somebody, you know.
And these are the people, theseare the people's families that
it happened to still mourningand grieving that loss.
(04:15):
So we appreciate we appreciatewhat you do with that.
What what is your participationin the Wall of the Fallen?
SPEAKER_05 (04:23):
Well, I've been chair of the Wall of the Fallen
since uh since it was beingconstructed uh 20 years ago.
And uh I think I took a two-yearhiatus as chairman of the wall
uh stayed on the fund and thenwent back to the wall as well
when we recombined thosecommittees.
So I lead those efforts, um,everything from processing of
(04:48):
applications through ourcommittee.
I've got 10 committedindividuals who are uh divide
the country into regions, aswell as uh somebody who handles
all of our international claims,and they gather all the
information and the committeereviews it, uh, makes sure that
it meets our policyrequirements, and uh then we,
(05:10):
from the Survivor Fund, we'reable to issue payment to
families, a gift, a financialgift, and for the wall of the
fallen, we're able to honortheir loved ones at our annual
ceremony.
SPEAKER_04 (05:22):
So when you are con when you're in communication
with family, do you approach thefamily?
Does the family approach you, oris there a little bit of that
back and forth?
SPEAKER_05 (05:32):
You know, the typical process for the
committee is we'll get anapplication in, or we'll hear
about a tragedy just you know,through the industry on the
news, whatever it happens to be.
Uh, the folks, there's a lot offolks on my committee who've
been doing it for uh the same 20years I have, or a significant
portion thereof.
And so we typically hear aboutthose tragedies pretty quickly.
(05:56):
And the committee's charge isbased on the region that you
represent, there's somebodyassigned to each state, and that
person will reach outproactively, but to the company,
not the family.
We reach out to the company,make sure they're aware of the
benefits that are available forthe family that has lost a loved
(06:19):
one, and we provide them withthe application form and links
and things that are necessary todo the application.
And then when they provide thatto the family, somebody from my
committee usually gets engagedwith the family to make sure
that we help them through thatprocess.
(06:39):
Application comes in.
They can be pretty sparse atfirst, which is fully acceptable
as long as you know we can seethat it was an on-the-job
tragedy and there's something toprove that up.
We are able to immediately paysurvivor fund benefits to the
family, which is the goal of thefund, is the timeliness.
(07:02):
And then beyond that, we beginto collect other backup
documentation for our files andfor our audit purposes,
particularly for the wall of thefallen, to ensure that we have
uh police reports and all thethings that go along with these
tragedies in the file.
And so we have a punch list ofthings that we have to uh
(07:26):
incorporate into that to getfinal wall approval and order
the plates and honor folks onthat wall.
SPEAKER_04 (07:34):
It's amazing how much administrative goes into
these things that people don'tthink about, but you you have to
do those things to, like yousaid, for any audit or anything
like that that happens.
You you gotta have all thosethings lined up and then
contacting the company firstbefore you before the before the
family is contacted.
Has to be something that I don'tknow if the family getting the
(07:58):
dynasty call call with thatfamily.
I don't know how much more dramaor stress I would put on them,
but at least letting the companydeal with that first aspect of
it before it's turned over tothem has to be something that
was well thought out as well.
SPEAKER_05 (08:12):
Yeah, I mean, we've certainly tried it a couple of
different ways.
And um and we have families thatdon't want to participate, we
have companies that have reasonsthey don't want to participate,
and so it's also a bit of avetting process for the
application to make sure thatit's something that um, you
(08:32):
know, we're going to process.
Um, and also, you know, we haveto look at each case
individually and make sure thatwe understand that it was an
on-the-job kind of a uh tragedyand what the circumstances were
and make sure that those alignwith our policies.
SPEAKER_04 (08:52):
So none of this could happen without the
generous donations of um folksout there putting money into
this fund.
SPEAKER_05 (09:01):
Absolutely.
You know, this fund started 20years ago, and of course, we
didn't have any money when westarted.
Um, we started raising money.
We were very successful early onin gathering a nest egg, if you
would, to get started.
Um, we had a$500 death benefitto families when we first
started issuing funds.
(09:23):
And um at our last event,because of the generosity of all
the people who have donated overthe years, we raised our minimum
death benefit to$10,000.
So everyone in the industry uhtowing in road service worldwide
is covered by the Survivor Fund.
Um, certainly not insurance,it's not insurance kinds of
(09:45):
amounts, but it's um you know anamount that's designed to uh
help with some immediate billswhere these tragedies occur
because the honestly, thisindustry and the tragedies that
happen typically hit uh folksthat are in their mid-40s and
(10:07):
are in a single breadwinnerhousehold and have uh multiple
children at home.
And so we we look at thesurvivor fund as an opportunity
to pay some money to the familyas a gift that they can use at
least to cover rent andgroceries for a short period,
um, as they work throughwhatever else they may need to
(10:31):
related to the difficultiesthey're going through,
everything from you know burialexpenses to you know what's the
next step in life.
And um we we try to help withthat.
We try to help companies aswell.
We have uh folks that have beenthrough this, folks that have
lost operators and uh have hadto deal with these types of
(10:53):
tragedies at work when you haveto immediately send somebody
back out into harm's way.
And so we try to provide some uhassistance in connecting people
who've been through it withthose who are going through it
now.
And uh I think that's a valuablead to what we do.
SPEAKER_04 (11:12):
I can imagine um I can imagine that is very
valuable uh because you feellike you're alone when that
happens, even though as evidencebeing at the wall you you're
not.
But you still feel it, andhaving at least somebody who can
relate to that has got to bemaybe not comfort, maybe
(11:35):
comfort's not the word I'mlooking for, but just just
somebody else to talk to.
SPEAKER_05 (11:40):
Yeah, and we see a little bit too with the family
fellowship that takes placeafter the event, um, for you
know, specific for the familiesof our fallen and getting those
folks together.
Um, they often, you know, theyhave private Facebook groups and
different things where uh thefamilies work together as well
(12:02):
because they're all dealing withthe same types of situations, at
least generally speaking.
SPEAKER_04 (12:09):
That's just a it's a wonderful thing that the that
the museum has undertaken.
We're gonna go to a break, andwhen we come back, we're gonna
talk about some other things umfrom the museum, okay?
(12:57):
For bringing us back on thebreak.
We we have with us JeffreyGoblin, who was talking about
the museum.
We just discussed the survivorfund from the museum, and now
we're going to talk about someof the other things that are
going on there.
Jeffrey, thank you for joiningus back again.
SPEAKER_05 (13:15):
Happy to be here.
SPEAKER_04 (13:16):
What exciting things do you see in store for the
museum?
SPEAKER_05 (13:23):
Well, um, you know, we always have a lot of
aspirations and things we wantto accomplish.
But I would say that uh firstand foremost, the thing that's
top of mind for the board todayis um we need a new building.
And, you know, um those thingsdon't come free.
(13:44):
And uh though we have some verygenerous donors who support our
efforts, um the donations wereceive annually certainly cover
operating costs and help us togrow the uh museum entity, but
it's gonna take uh a biggereffort than that to get a new
building.
(14:04):
So that's a that's a big push,but at the same time, the
building that we're in, um we'redoing a lot of work to that
place.
Um we recently received a grantfor um$100,000 that we were able
to use um in uh fixing the roofand doing some painting, and we
(14:25):
uh seal coated the parking lot,and we fixed and replaced some
air conditioners and just a lotof different things.
If you were up there this year,you would have seen we uh uh
took out the walls that were theHall of Fame and we rebuilt and
reconfigured how the Hall ofFame flows in the building, and
we built a new remembrance roomfor the Wall of the Fallen for
(14:48):
families to go and have a quietplace to reflect on their loved
one in the tragedy.
So we've got some thingsunderway like that, and we also
uh just received um that samegrant again for this year.
We just got word, I think lastweek, that we'll be receiving
another$100,000 to do um somemore upgrades, and we have a lot
(15:10):
of work planned for um for thatso that we can continue to make
better use of the space we're inuntil we can find a way to um
get a bigger home.
SPEAKER_04 (15:21):
Yeah, what are your what when you talk about getting
a bigger hall?
What are your aspirations onthat?
What do you what do youenvision?
SPEAKER_05 (15:28):
Well, oh let's see.
Um when the Friends of Towingstarted, you know, the museum
began in 1985.
So we're 40 years down the road,and the first 10 years, the
museum was a trailer that gotpulled around the country from
show to show.
And um, you know, then we movedinto um an actual building in
(15:50):
Chattanooga and had a facilityand uh spent I think eight years
there before we moved to ourcurrent location.
We've been at the currentlocation, which is a converted
grocery store.
Um and we've been there since uh2003, I believe.
And um it's just we've outgrownthe building.
(16:12):
We have a lot of people whowould like to donate uh vehicles
and other artifacts for ourexhibits that we haven't had
room for.
And so now, in order to numberone, rotate out some exhibits,
we moved everything around thisyear, but next year we will have
rotated out some trucks andthings.
(16:32):
But to be able to do that, um,you know, we've got some
off-site storage arranged sothat we can have some things in
uh you know protected that havebeen donated.
So now we'll spend some timeover the next six months
bringing in vehicles that havebeen donated and getting things
ready for exhibit and hopefullyrefreshing the place a little
(16:55):
bit for this year.
But the thing that we'relacking, you know, we have low
ceilings, like I said, it's aconverted grocery store.
Uh it would be really nice to beable to have a rotator or any
type of modern heavy vehicle,even if it wasn't a donated unit
that we owned, if it wassomething that could be
(17:16):
displayed to show more of theevolution and timeline of the
industry.
You know, we don't have aflatbed in the place at all.
Yeah, yes, you know, whether youcall it a carrier, a flatbed, a
slide bed, a tilt bed, whateverit is, we don't have one.
And we need to have some ofthose more modern pieces of
equipment too.
(17:37):
And we have access to a lot ofthose things.
We just don't have the space.
SPEAKER_04 (17:42):
Yeah, definitely there is there's a lot to um if
you've ever been to theInternational Town Museum, you
need to go as as an experience.
Um when you go on the floor, thethe museum floor with all the
trucks, it is a lot in a littlespace.
And I think you guys have evenoverflowed some down in um the
(18:03):
the bottom floor too a littlebit, it looks like.
SPEAKER_05 (18:06):
Yeah, it's pretty full down there.
We're reconfiguring that space.
We're going to uh we get a lotof requests from folks that want
to have events at our facility,and so we do um smaller local
events, things like through thechamber of commerce and stuff at
the museum.
And um, folks that want to usethat space, it can be a profit
(18:29):
center for us.
So we're going to um makemodifications to the space to
make it more attractive as anevent venue and to make sure
that the artifacts that are inthere, other than those that are
against the walls, can be easilypulled out and make room for
those types of events.
So that's you know, the thedownstairs is um actually full
(18:55):
now too.
Uh but through somereconfiguration, we'll have some
flexibilities there, and thenagain more as we um have some
offsite storage and things likethat.
SPEAKER_04 (19:05):
Yeah, in recent years, Wes has done classes down
on that bottom floor too.
And I know that I know there'sbeen other training events down
there as well.
SPEAKER_05 (19:14):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_04 (19:15):
And the kitchen, the kitchen is very adequate for
what you guys gotta do as far aslike bringing food in and and
and having so there um there's alot of possibilities on that
down that downstairs area.
And I also did notice um the thehall of the wall of the hall of
fame.
That I could when I walkedthrough there, I was like, oh,
what happened?
(19:35):
Um it took me a s it took me amoment to to um to regroup
myself I was walking throughthere because I was used to
walking down that one hallway.
SPEAKER_05 (19:43):
Uh-huh.
And then I think that expandingit gave us the ability to put
everybody in chronologicalorder.
And we were out of space to addany new classes in that hallway.
So now we have a whole notherhallway.
SPEAKER_02 (19:56):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_05 (19:57):
Plus the way it was reconfigured instead of that
hallway.
We could have done it beforewith that hallway being a dead
end.
We could have made the hallwayfor the extra photos and
continued, but then people wouldhave had to go down and turn
around and come back out.
And so this makes the flow alittle better.
They can go through the Hall ofFame and see all that.
(20:17):
And then when they come out,they're over in the area where
our uh little tater tot, therotator for kids to operate, is
and that kind of stuff.
And so um, yeah, we like the thenew configuration and it gives
us room, like I say, for um, youknow, years to come of inductees
to be added if we end up stayingat this building.
SPEAKER_04 (20:40):
Yeah, hopefully um right now it's gorgeous.
It's it's a great place to goto.
Um, I love going there.
I love going to the gift shop.
They've they've done so muchwith that.
West gets a little, I don't wantto say emotional because that's
not the West feels uh uh um aconnection with that place.
I feel I think he feels like hewas part of the initial um parts
(21:04):
of it as far as help helpingwith it goes.
SPEAKER_05 (21:06):
And when you put some what equity equity in
something, you do feel, but alsothere is a time things grow, and
when things grow, you've got tofigure out where to move that to
Yeah, no, and uh Wes wascertainly instrumental in um
what the museum has done overthe years, and uh he's provided
a lot of valuable information onthe history of the industry and
(21:29):
those kinds of things, and hecertainly appreciate all that
involvement as well as he's donea tremendous amount of
fundraising over the years forthe Survivor Fund and uh helping
us to get to where we are.
SPEAKER_04 (21:41):
Yeah, every everybody uh, you know, it's a
it's a team effort, that'sthat's an everybody thing, but
Wes is a very big advocate forthe industry itself and the
museum and and the people thatput their hearts into uh making
this thing something that we cancome to.
All right, we're gonna go tobreak, and when we come back,
(22:03):
we're gonna talk about um somemore about the museum because
this is this is our passion.
Um, this is something that welove and a place that we love to
go.
And we're also gonna talk aboutmembership drives, the Survivor
Fund and the museum, which Ibelieve, and when Jeff Jeffrey
Kozek, you could you get you cancorrect me if I'm wrong, are two
different um membership drives.
(22:25):
So we'll be back in one minute.
SPEAKER_00 (24:00):
We also offer the National Town Operator
Certification, an independentlysourced virtual testing program
covering light duty, heavy duty,electric, and alternative fuel
vehicles.
SPEAKER_04 (24:13):
Thanks for uh bringing us back in.
And we have Jeffrey Goblin whois um joining me on this podcast
today to talk about theInternational Tony Museum and
all the great things that thathave happened in the past and
the bright future that we arelooking into for this for this
um wonderful building.
(24:33):
Jeff, what else is going on atthe museum?
What else can we look forwardto?
SPEAKER_05 (24:40):
Well, I think that uh you know we're experiencing
some growth and we're lookingforward to more.
So we're always like anybodylooking for new members.
Um the museum is supported bydonations and by our annual
events, so I'm always trying toraise awareness around those.
You know, our annual fundraisingauction is uh uh quite the
(25:03):
spectacle to people and raises atremendous amount of money.
And it's also an opportunity forpeople to meet that year's
inductees at that meet and greetevent.
Um, this year we had eight folksgo into the Hall of Fame, so we
now have 382 members after thisyear's class.
Amazing.
And um, so you know that's stuffthat um we enjoy doing, and it
(25:27):
also helps the museum.
And, you know, again, we'realways looking for new members.
We've restructured somemembership levels and things
recently, and uh there's a lotof different ways that people
can join and support the museumand its efforts.
SPEAKER_04 (25:43):
All right, let us know what is what is the best
way if you want to become amember or if you want to donate,
either either one or both, whatis the best way to do that?
SPEAKER_05 (25:55):
Uh well towing museum.com has a uh membership
form available there.
You can sign up straight on thewebsite.
You can certainly contact themuseum directly for that.
And as far as donations, um Iaccept.
It's just real simple.
If somebody has something theywant to donate, whether it's a
(26:15):
financial gift or it's um anartifact to donate to the
museum, um, our goal is to youknow accept those things and to
do so quickly and put them togood use, whatever is most
beneficial to the museum in theprocess.
SPEAKER_04 (26:32):
I I heard this thing and it's kind of stuck with me
that we have at our fingertipsaccess to so many things that
people are looking now more forexperiences than they are
objects.
If you want an experience, go tothe international if you have
never been, or if it's been along time since you have been,
(26:53):
go to the international towing,make it a weekend trip, make it
a week trip, make it a beach,you know, make it a uh uh spring
break trip.
It is a trip in also Chattanoogagorgeous area.
So for that experience, I reallyimplore you to um to take that
trip and walk down the memorylane of the past.
(27:16):
And I I think we also can see afuture for this too.
SPEAKER_05 (27:19):
Can we just absolutely and you know if
people are looking for times toattend, certainly the museum
weekend is a great one.
But uh if you're within a couplehours of Chattanooga and any
other travel, it's worth thetrip to Chattanooga to uh
experience the museum.
And you know, there's also otheropportunities.
(27:39):
You know, we started workingwith um the local minor league
team, the Chattanooga Lookouts,a few years ago.
In the last two years, they'vehad an alternate alternative
identity of the ChattanoogaWreckers.
Wow.
So they played six games each ofthe last couple of years as the
Wreckers.
Um, you know, they've got logosand stuff for Major League
(28:01):
Baseball.
We sell all those things for uhMajor League Baseball in the
gift shop at the museum, as wellas they do that at the stadium.
But this year, this coming year,um and I don't have the dates
yet, but the Lookouts arebuilding a new stadium that
opens in April, and uh they'regoing to use the alternate
identity of the Wreckers thisyear as instead of six games
(28:27):
that are spread out, they'regonna have some double headers
and stuff and make like aweekend out of it that's
Wreckers weekend.
And so I think that we'llprobably have some things in
conjunction with that.
And once those dates are readyand we know what's going on,
we'll get that out to people.
But that'll be something to lookforward to this summer when we
hope we can get a lot of folksfrom the industry there.
(28:49):
Um, you know, support thebaseball thing.
It's a great tie-in to whatwe're doing.
The team is extremely supportiveof the museum and our efforts
and uh in recognizingChattanooga as the birthplace of
the tow truck in general.
SPEAKER_04 (29:04):
That sounds amazing.
I I somehow didn't know that.
As soon as you get that, we'llpost it all over the place as
well and um to get the word outfor that.
But I bet you a lot of peoplewill be interested in that.
SPEAKER_05 (29:15):
Absolutely.
And uh, you know, if uh ifpeople want the the baseball
gear or whatever, like I say, wehave that stuff at the museum
and in our online gift shop.
But really, I think that it's uhit's a fantastic thing to come
and experience.
Um, and they really do a greatjob of recognizing our industry
(29:36):
at those events.
They do a lot of work onslowdown move over at those
events and just trying toeducate the public.
And so it's been a goodpartnership, and we're excited
about it continuing.
We're even looking at havingsome of our annual events at the
stadium next year becausethey're going to have some some
great venues to host uh some ofour events.
SPEAKER_04 (30:00):
That sounds I'm excited about that.
I'm looking forward to thatalready.
So I'm gonna go ahead and book aroom right now at this day
bridge.
So all right.
Jeffrey, would you like to haveany closing comments?
SPEAKER_05 (30:13):
No, I uh I hope that um you know your listeners will
uh visit the website andhopefully at some point have an
opportunity to visit the museumitself.
And uh, you know, we lookforward to their feedback and
how we can continue to improveand uh meet the mission of the
museum at the same time that weyou know serve the industry we
(30:34):
support.
SPEAKER_04 (30:36):
Go ahead and go over that um way to contact for for
any donations for membership andum and we'll leave it there.
SPEAKER_05 (30:46):
Yeah, the Towing Museum website is probably uh
the best place for those things.
I mean, obviously, if folks havecomplexity in what they're
giving or whatever, it's easierto contact a person.
People can reach out to me, theycan reach out to Bill Graziano,
who's the president of themuseum, they can reach out to
the museum directly, and thestaff there can assist.
(31:09):
And then, as far as um donationsand that kind of stuff, we also
accept donations on the website,um, just financial stuff, we can
set up recurring things.
And then we are also restartinga uh pledge drive that we do for
the Survivor Fund that each timean operator's killed and the
(31:31):
survivor fund pays out to afamily so that we already know
it meets the requirements andeverything.
People who have made a pledge,we send out some information to
them that says, hey, here's atragedy that happened, here's
the basic details.
We've already supported thefamily in this, but you made a
pledge that each time one ofthese operators got killed, you
(31:53):
could donate you know X amountof money, we'll say$20.
And so we send that out, and sowe've written a check to a
family that you know in incurrent times it's$10,000
minimum, but we we've writtenthat check, and then through the
pledge program, we hope toreplenish some of those coffers.
(32:14):
And um we've we turned that offabout uh 12 to 18 months ago
just because we needed somebetter ways to administer some
things, so we're building somesoftware tools, but we're gonna
be launching that program againfirst of the year, and um, we're
hopeful that that will help toyou know offset some things.
(32:35):
A year and a half ago when weshut it down, it was um it was a
couple thousand dollars inpledges, and those things would
come in each time we had atragedy, and so it helps us to
be able to raise the deathbenefit and to improve the
offerings from the SurvivorFund.
SPEAKER_04 (32:51):
Yes, I I see that is always something you guys have
to work in.
SPEAKER_05 (32:54):
Um And if anybody happens to have a really large
high-ceiling building somewherein the Chattanooga area that
they'd like to donate, I wouldbe more than happy to talk to
them about how we can help themon their taxes from that.
SPEAKER_04 (33:10):
You take it off their hands and help them with
their taxes.
SPEAKER_05 (33:13):
I would be more than happy to accept a building as a
donation.
SPEAKER_04 (33:16):
That is so nice of you.
Well, you guys heard it here, soI'm sure people from Chattanooga
are gonna hear this.
And if they know somebody whoknows somebody, get a hold of
Jeffrey.
All right, Jeffrey, thank you somuch.
I have enjoyed thisconversation.
And if you haven't been toTennessee and to the Tell
Museum, you need to go.
(33:36):
All right, everybody, come nextweek.
You on the train just with April and West
Wilburne.
I'm DJ Hamrington, the co-host,better known as the tow doctor.
We're on our way to the town ofproper towing and recovery,
along with our producer, ChuckCamp in the studio.
Don't go to the town of wood,could have should have.
(00:26):
You could have done this.
You should have done that.
Listen every week with mudprovoking wisdom.
(01:05):
Maybe a photo show that's comingup.
Let us know.
I'm proud to be part of a greatteam at the American Dome
Recovery Institute.
Let's make 2025 our best yearever.
I will commit to April and May.
SPEAKER_04 (01:27):
Okay, thank you for that warm intro today.
So good to always hear yourvoice.
Uh Wes is doing a class thisweek, and pretty much all week.
He just actually finished one upin Georgia, or I'm sorry,
Alabama last weekend inEnterprise Alabama.
Did it a one-day class and thena two-day class, and today as
we're talking right now, he'sdoing a two-day fire power class
(01:50):
trader with Ron Moore in thatLouisiana.
And then Saturday and Sunday isdoing a one-day heavy duty and a
one-day light duty.
So he has been a busy little,busy little trainer these last
few days.
And I think that will almostclose out the season.
And then we're already gettingdates on the schedule for next
season.
So if anybody's interested inhosting a class, give us a call
(02:14):
at 910-7479000, or you can emailus.
I am very happy to have thisinterview to myself.
I've got Jeffrey Godwin with me.
Jeffrey Godwin, would you liketo introduce yourself and tell
us a little bit about yourself?
SPEAKER_05 (02:29):
Sure.
I'm uh Jeffrey Godwin.
I am Senior Director of SolutionDesign and Integration for Cox
Automotive and work primarilywith the Fleet Net America
business.
And with my other hat, I uhvolunteer and have the pleasure
to serve as the vice presidentof the International Towing and
Recovery Hall of Fame andMuseum, as well as chairman of
(02:52):
the Wall of the Fallen andSurvivor Fund committees.
SPEAKER_04 (02:56):
That is a that is a lot of hats.
That's not just one because thatthat towing museum uh they do a
lot of things.
I this past year went to theWall of the Fallen and watched
that ceremony, and I've seenI've seen their front end of it
as far as all the stuff that isgetting done at that time.
But there's probably a lot ofback backroom stuff and a lot of
(03:18):
um uh things that you guys haveto put in place to get that day
to happen.
SPEAKER_05 (03:25):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_04 (03:27):
Yeah, it's always um eye-opening for me when I see
it, you know, what you're goingto see and you know what you're
gonna watch, but when when youhear the names out loud, it's
it's more of a tangible and yousee the family members walk up
and receive those wings.
SPEAKER_05 (03:42):
I certainly tell people who have not been to that
wall of the fallen ceremony thatthey should attend.
It's a life-changing kind ofthing.
It's uh very powerful for sure.
SPEAKER_04 (03:52):
Definitely um puts a perspective that it puts it hand
to me, it puts a tangible thingwith a theory.
You the theory is this couldhappen to me.
When you go watch it, this didhappen to somebody, you know.
And these are the people, theseare the people's families that
it happened to still mourningand grieving that loss.
(04:15):
So we appreciate we appreciatewhat you do with that.
What what is your participationin the Wall of the Fallen?
SPEAKER_05 (04:23):
Well, I've been chair of the Wall of the Fallen
since uh since it was beingconstructed uh 20 years ago.
And uh I think I took a two-yearhiatus as chairman of the wall
uh stayed on the fund and thenwent back to the wall as well
when we recombined thosecommittees.
So I lead those efforts, um,everything from processing of
(04:48):
applications through ourcommittee.
I've got 10 committedindividuals who are uh divide
the country into regions, aswell as uh somebody who handles
all of our international claims,and they gather all the
information and the committeereviews it, uh, makes sure that
it meets our policyrequirements, and uh then we,
(05:10):
from the Survivor Fund, we'reable to issue payment to
families, a gift, a financialgift, and for the wall of the
fallen, we're able to honortheir loved ones at our annual
ceremony.
SPEAKER_04 (05:22):
So when you are con when you're in communication
with family, do you approach thefamily?
Does the family approach you, oris there a little bit of that
back and forth?
SPEAKER_05 (05:32):
You know, the typical process for the
committee is we'll get anapplication in, or we'll hear
about a tragedy just you know,through the industry on the
news, whatever it happens to be.
Uh, the folks, there's a lot offolks on my committee who've
been doing it for uh the same 20years I have, or a significant
portion thereof.
And so we typically hear aboutthose tragedies pretty quickly.
(05:56):
And the committee's charge isbased on the region that you
represent, there's somebodyassigned to each state, and that
person will reach outproactively, but to the company,
not the family.
We reach out to the company,make sure they're aware of the
benefits that are available forthe family that has lost a loved
(06:19):
one, and we provide them withthe application form and links
and things that are necessary todo the application.
And then when they provide thatto the family, somebody from my
committee usually gets engagedwith the family to make sure
that we help them through thatprocess.
(06:39):
Application comes in.
They can be pretty sparse atfirst, which is fully acceptable
as long as you know we can seethat it was an on-the-job
tragedy and there's something toprove that up.
We are able to immediately paysurvivor fund benefits to the
family, which is the goal of thefund, is the timeliness.
(07:02):
And then beyond that, we beginto collect other backup
documentation for our files andfor our audit purposes,
particularly for the wall of thefallen, to ensure that we have
uh police reports and all thethings that go along with these
tragedies in the file.
And so we have a punch list ofthings that we have to uh
(07:26):
incorporate into that to getfinal wall approval and order
the plates and honor folks onthat wall.
SPEAKER_04 (07:34):
It's amazing how much administrative goes into
these things that people don'tthink about, but you you have to
do those things to, like yousaid, for any audit or anything
like that that happens.
You you gotta have all thosethings lined up and then
contacting the company firstbefore you before the before the
family is contacted.
Has to be something that I don'tknow if the family getting the
(07:58):
dynasty call call with thatfamily.
I don't know how much more dramaor stress I would put on them,
but at least letting the companydeal with that first aspect of
it before it's turned over tothem has to be something that
was well thought out as well.
SPEAKER_05 (08:12):
Yeah, I mean, we've certainly tried it a couple of
different ways.
And um and we have families thatdon't want to participate, we
have companies that have reasonsthey don't want to participate,
and so it's also a bit of avetting process for the
application to make sure thatit's something that um, you
(08:32):
know, we're going to process.
Um, and also, you know, we haveto look at each case
individually and make sure thatwe understand that it was an
on-the-job kind of a uh tragedyand what the circumstances were
and make sure that those alignwith our policies.
SPEAKER_04 (08:52):
So none of this could happen without the
generous donations of um folksout there putting money into
this fund.
SPEAKER_05 (09:01):
Absolutely.
You know, this fund started 20years ago, and of course, we
didn't have any money when westarted.
Um, we started raising money.
We were very successful early onin gathering a nest egg, if you
would, to get started.
Um, we had a$500 death benefitto families when we first
started issuing funds.
(09:23):
And um at our last event,because of the generosity of all
the people who have donated overthe years, we raised our minimum
death benefit to$10,000.
So everyone in the industry uhtowing in road service worldwide
is covered by the Survivor Fund.
Um, certainly not insurance,it's not insurance kinds of
(09:45):
amounts, but it's um you know anamount that's designed to uh
help with some immediate billswhere these tragedies occur
because the honestly, thisindustry and the tragedies that
happen typically hit uh folksthat are in their mid-40s and
(10:07):
are in a single breadwinnerhousehold and have uh multiple
children at home.
And so we we look at thesurvivor fund as an opportunity
to pay some money to the familyas a gift that they can use at
least to cover rent andgroceries for a short period,
um, as they work throughwhatever else they may need to
(10:31):
related to the difficultiesthey're going through,
everything from you know burialexpenses to you know what's the
next step in life.
And um we we try to help withthat.
We try to help companies aswell.
We have uh folks that have beenthrough this, folks that have
lost operators and uh have hadto deal with these types of
(10:53):
tragedies at work when you haveto immediately send somebody
back out into harm's way.
And so we try to provide some uhassistance in connecting people
who've been through it withthose who are going through it
now.
And uh I think that's a valuablead to what we do.
SPEAKER_04 (11:12):
I can imagine um I can imagine that is very
valuable uh because you feellike you're alone when that
happens, even though as evidencebeing at the wall you you're
not.
But you still feel it, andhaving at least somebody who can
relate to that has got to bemaybe not comfort, maybe
(11:35):
comfort's not the word I'mlooking for, but just just
somebody else to talk to.
SPEAKER_05 (11:40):
Yeah, and we see a little bit too with the family
fellowship that takes placeafter the event, um, for you
know, specific for the familiesof our fallen and getting those
folks together.
Um, they often, you know, theyhave private Facebook groups and
different things where uh thefamilies work together as well
(12:02):
because they're all dealing withthe same types of situations, at
least generally speaking.
SPEAKER_04 (12:09):
That's just a it's a wonderful thing that the that
the museum has undertaken.
We're gonna go to a break, andwhen we come back, we're gonna
talk about some other things umfrom the museum, okay?
(12:57):
For bringing us back on thebreak.
We we have with us JeffreyGoblin, who was talking about
the museum.
We just discussed the survivorfund from the museum, and now
we're going to talk about someof the other things that are
going on there.
Jeffrey, thank you for joiningus back again.
SPEAKER_05 (13:15):
Happy to be here.
SPEAKER_04 (13:16):
What exciting things do you see in store for the
museum?
SPEAKER_05 (13:23):
Well, um, you know, we always have a lot of
aspirations and things we wantto accomplish.
But I would say that uh firstand foremost, the thing that's
top of mind for the board todayis um we need a new building.
And, you know, um those thingsdon't come free.
(13:44):
And uh though we have some verygenerous donors who support our
efforts, um the donations wereceive annually certainly cover
operating costs and help us togrow the uh museum entity, but
it's gonna take uh a biggereffort than that to get a new
building.
(14:04):
So that's a that's a big push,but at the same time, the
building that we're in, um we'redoing a lot of work to that
place.
Um we recently received a grantfor um$100,000 that we were able
to use um in uh fixing the roofand doing some painting, and we
(14:25):
uh seal coated the parking lot,and we fixed and replaced some
air conditioners and just a lotof different things.
If you were up there this year,you would have seen we uh uh
took out the walls that were theHall of Fame and we rebuilt and
reconfigured how the Hall ofFame flows in the building, and
we built a new remembrance roomfor the Wall of the Fallen for
(14:48):
families to go and have a quietplace to reflect on their loved
one in the tragedy.
So we've got some thingsunderway like that, and we also
uh just received um that samegrant again for this year.
We just got word, I think lastweek, that we'll be receiving
another$100,000 to do um somemore upgrades, and we have a lot
(15:10):
of work planned for um for thatso that we can continue to make
better use of the space we're inuntil we can find a way to um
get a bigger home.
SPEAKER_04 (15:21):
Yeah, what are your what when you talk about getting
a bigger hall?
What are your aspirations onthat?
What do you what do youenvision?
SPEAKER_05 (15:28):
Well, oh let's see.
Um when the Friends of Towingstarted, you know, the museum
began in 1985.
So we're 40 years down the road,and the first 10 years, the
museum was a trailer that gotpulled around the country from
show to show.
And um, you know, then we movedinto um an actual building in
(15:50):
Chattanooga and had a facilityand uh spent I think eight years
there before we moved to ourcurrent location.
We've been at the currentlocation, which is a converted
grocery store.
Um and we've been there since uh2003, I believe.
And um it's just we've outgrownthe building.
(16:12):
We have a lot of people whowould like to donate uh vehicles
and other artifacts for ourexhibits that we haven't had
room for.
And so now, in order to numberone, rotate out some exhibits,
we moved everything around thisyear, but next year we will have
rotated out some trucks andthings.
(16:32):
But to be able to do that, um,you know, we've got some
off-site storage arranged sothat we can have some things in
uh you know protected that havebeen donated.
So now we'll spend some timeover the next six months
bringing in vehicles that havebeen donated and getting things
ready for exhibit and hopefullyrefreshing the place a little
(16:55):
bit for this year.
But the thing that we'relacking, you know, we have low
ceilings, like I said, it's aconverted grocery store.
Uh it would be really nice to beable to have a rotator or any
type of modern heavy vehicle,even if it wasn't a donated unit
that we owned, if it wassomething that could be
(17:16):
displayed to show more of theevolution and timeline of the
industry.
You know, we don't have aflatbed in the place at all.
Yeah, yes, you know, whether youcall it a carrier, a flatbed, a
slide bed, a tilt bed, whateverit is, we don't have one.
And we need to have some ofthose more modern pieces of
equipment too.
(17:37):
And we have access to a lot ofthose things.
We just don't have the space.
SPEAKER_04 (17:42):
Yeah, definitely there is there's a lot to um if
you've ever been to theInternational Town Museum, you
need to go as as an experience.
Um when you go on the floor, thethe museum floor with all the
trucks, it is a lot in a littlespace.
And I think you guys have evenoverflowed some down in um the
(18:03):
the bottom floor too a littlebit, it looks like.
SPEAKER_05 (18:06):
Yeah, it's pretty full down there.
We're reconfiguring that space.
We're going to uh we get a lotof requests from folks that want
to have events at our facility,and so we do um smaller local
events, things like through thechamber of commerce and stuff at
the museum.
And um, folks that want to usethat space, it can be a profit
(18:29):
center for us.
So we're going to um makemodifications to the space to
make it more attractive as anevent venue and to make sure
that the artifacts that are inthere, other than those that are
against the walls, can be easilypulled out and make room for
those types of events.
So that's you know, the thedownstairs is um actually full
(18:55):
now too.
Uh but through somereconfiguration, we'll have some
flexibilities there, and thenagain more as we um have some
offsite storage and things likethat.
SPEAKER_04 (19:05):
Yeah, in recent years, Wes has done classes down
on that bottom floor too.
And I know that I know there'sbeen other training events down
there as well.
SPEAKER_05 (19:14):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_04 (19:15):
And the kitchen, the kitchen is very adequate for
what you guys gotta do as far aslike bringing food in and and
and having so there um there's alot of possibilities on that
down that downstairs area.
And I also did notice um the thehall of the wall of the hall of
fame.
That I could when I walkedthrough there, I was like, oh,
what happened?
(19:35):
Um it took me a s it took me amoment to to um to regroup
myself I was walking throughthere because I was used to
walking down that one hallway.
SPEAKER_05 (19:43):
Uh-huh.
And then I think that expandingit gave us the ability to put
everybody in chronologicalorder.
And we were out of space to addany new classes in that hallway.
So now we have a whole notherhallway.
SPEAKER_02 (19:56):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_05 (19:57):
Plus the way it was reconfigured instead of that
hallway.
We could have done it beforewith that hallway being a dead
end.
We could have made the hallwayfor the extra photos and
continued, but then people wouldhave had to go down and turn
around and come back out.
And so this makes the flow alittle better.
They can go through the Hall ofFame and see all that.
(20:17):
And then when they come out,they're over in the area where
our uh little tater tot, therotator for kids to operate, is
and that kind of stuff.
And so um, yeah, we like the thenew configuration and it gives
us room, like I say, for um, youknow, years to come of inductees
to be added if we end up stayingat this building.
SPEAKER_04 (20:40):
Yeah, hopefully um right now it's gorgeous.
It's it's a great place to goto.
Um, I love going there.
I love going to the gift shop.
They've they've done so muchwith that.
West gets a little, I don't wantto say emotional because that's
not the West feels uh uh um aconnection with that place.
I feel I think he feels like hewas part of the initial um parts
(21:04):
of it as far as help helpingwith it goes.
SPEAKER_05 (21:06):
And when you put some what equity equity in
something, you do feel, but alsothere is a time things grow, and
when things grow, you've got tofigure out where to move that to
Yeah, no, and uh Wes wascertainly instrumental in um
what the museum has done overthe years, and uh he's provided
a lot of valuable information onthe history of the industry and
(21:29):
those kinds of things, and hecertainly appreciate all that
involvement as well as he's donea tremendous amount of
fundraising over the years forthe Survivor Fund and uh helping
us to get to where we are.
SPEAKER_04 (21:41):
Yeah, every everybody uh, you know, it's a
it's a team effort, that'sthat's an everybody thing, but
Wes is a very big advocate forthe industry itself and the
museum and and the people thatput their hearts into uh making
this thing something that we cancome to.
All right, we're gonna go tobreak, and when we come back,
(22:03):
we're gonna talk about um somemore about the museum because
this is this is our passion.
Um, this is something that welove and a place that we love to
go.
And we're also gonna talk aboutmembership drives, the Survivor
Fund and the museum, which Ibelieve, and when Jeff Jeffrey
Kozek, you could you get you cancorrect me if I'm wrong, are two
different um membership drives.
(22:25):
So we'll be back in one minute.
SPEAKER_00 (24:00):
We also offer the National Town Operator
Certification, an independentlysourced virtual testing program
covering light duty, heavy duty,electric, and alternative fuel
vehicles.
SPEAKER_04 (24:13):
Thanks for uh bringing us back in.
And we have Jeffrey Goblin whois um joining me on this podcast
today to talk about theInternational Tony Museum and
all the great things that thathave happened in the past and
the bright future that we arelooking into for this for this
um wonderful building.
(24:33):
Jeff, what else is going on atthe museum?
What else can we look forwardto?
SPEAKER_05 (24:40):
Well, I think that uh you know we're experiencing
some growth and we're lookingforward to more.
So we're always like anybodylooking for new members.
Um the museum is supported bydonations and by our annual
events, so I'm always trying toraise awareness around those.
You know, our annual fundraisingauction is uh uh quite the
(25:03):
spectacle to people and raises atremendous amount of money.
And it's also an opportunity forpeople to meet that year's
inductees at that meet and greetevent.
Um, this year we had eight folksgo into the Hall of Fame, so we
now have 382 members after thisyear's class.
Amazing.
And um, so you know that's stuffthat um we enjoy doing, and it
(25:27):
also helps the museum.
And, you know, again, we'realways looking for new members.
We've restructured somemembership levels and things
recently, and uh there's a lotof different ways that people
can join and support the museumand its efforts.
SPEAKER_04 (25:43):
All right, let us know what is what is the best
way if you want to become amember or if you want to donate,
either either one or both, whatis the best way to do that?
SPEAKER_05 (25:55):
Uh well towing museum.com has a uh membership
form available there.
You can sign up straight on thewebsite.
You can certainly contact themuseum directly for that.
And as far as donations, um Iaccept.
It's just real simple.
If somebody has something theywant to donate, whether it's a
(26:15):
financial gift or it's um anartifact to donate to the
museum, um, our goal is to youknow accept those things and to
do so quickly and put them togood use, whatever is most
beneficial to the museum in theprocess.
SPEAKER_04 (26:32):
I I heard this thing and it's kind of stuck with me
that we have at our fingertipsaccess to so many things that
people are looking now more forexperiences than they are
objects.
If you want an experience, go tothe international if you have
never been, or if it's been along time since you have been,
(26:53):
go to the international towing,make it a weekend trip, make it
a week trip, make it a beach,you know, make it a uh uh spring
break trip.
It is a trip in also Chattanoogagorgeous area.
So for that experience, I reallyimplore you to um to take that
trip and walk down the memorylane of the past.
(27:16):
And I I think we also can see afuture for this too.
SPEAKER_05 (27:19):
Can we just absolutely and you know if
people are looking for times toattend, certainly the museum
weekend is a great one.
But uh if you're within a couplehours of Chattanooga and any
other travel, it's worth thetrip to Chattanooga to uh
experience the museum.
And you know, there's also otheropportunities.
(27:39):
You know, we started workingwith um the local minor league
team, the Chattanooga Lookouts,a few years ago.
In the last two years, they'vehad an alternate alternative
identity of the ChattanoogaWreckers.
Wow.
So they played six games each ofthe last couple of years as the
Wreckers.
Um, you know, they've got logosand stuff for Major League
(28:01):
Baseball.
We sell all those things for uhMajor League Baseball in the
gift shop at the museum, as wellas they do that at the stadium.
But this year, this coming year,um and I don't have the dates
yet, but the Lookouts arebuilding a new stadium that
opens in April, and uh they'regoing to use the alternate
identity of the Wreckers thisyear as instead of six games
(28:27):
that are spread out, they'regonna have some double headers
and stuff and make like aweekend out of it that's
Wreckers weekend.
And so I think that we'llprobably have some things in
conjunction with that.
And once those dates are readyand we know what's going on,
we'll get that out to people.
But that'll be something to lookforward to this summer when we
hope we can get a lot of folksfrom the industry there.
(28:49):
Um, you know, support thebaseball thing.
It's a great tie-in to whatwe're doing.
The team is extremely supportiveof the museum and our efforts
and uh in recognizingChattanooga as the birthplace of
the tow truck in general.
SPEAKER_04 (29:04):
That sounds amazing.
I I somehow didn't know that.
As soon as you get that, we'llpost it all over the place as
well and um to get the word outfor that.
But I bet you a lot of peoplewill be interested in that.
SPEAKER_05 (29:15):
Absolutely.
And uh, you know, if uh ifpeople want the the baseball
gear or whatever, like I say, wehave that stuff at the museum
and in our online gift shop.
But really, I think that it's uhit's a fantastic thing to come
and experience.
Um, and they really do a greatjob of recognizing our industry
(29:36):
at those events.
They do a lot of work onslowdown move over at those
events and just trying toeducate the public.
And so it's been a goodpartnership, and we're excited
about it continuing.
We're even looking at havingsome of our annual events at the
stadium next year becausethey're going to have some some
great venues to host uh some ofour events.
SPEAKER_04 (30:00):
That sounds I'm excited about that.
I'm looking forward to thatalready.
So I'm gonna go ahead and book aroom right now at this day
bridge.
So all right.
Jeffrey, would you like to haveany closing comments?
SPEAKER_05 (30:13):
No, I uh I hope that um you know your listeners will
uh visit the website andhopefully at some point have an
opportunity to visit the museumitself.
And uh, you know, we lookforward to their feedback and
how we can continue to improveand uh meet the mission of the
museum at the same time that weyou know serve the industry we
(30:34):
support.
SPEAKER_04 (30:36):
Go ahead and go over that um way to contact for for
any donations for membership andum and we'll leave it there.
SPEAKER_05 (30:46):
Yeah, the Towing Museum website is probably uh
the best place for those things.
I mean, obviously, if folks havecomplexity in what they're
giving or whatever, it's easierto contact a person.
People can reach out to me, theycan reach out to Bill Graziano,
who's the president of themuseum, they can reach out to
the museum directly, and thestaff there can assist.
(31:09):
And then, as far as um donationsand that kind of stuff, we also
accept donations on the website,um, just financial stuff, we can
set up recurring things.
And then we are also restartinga uh pledge drive that we do for
the Survivor Fund that each timean operator's killed and the
(31:31):
survivor fund pays out to afamily so that we already know
it meets the requirements andeverything.
People who have made a pledge,we send out some information to
them that says, hey, here's atragedy that happened, here's
the basic details.
We've already supported thefamily in this, but you made a
pledge that each time one ofthese operators got killed, you
(31:53):
could donate you know X amountof money, we'll say$20.
And so we send that out, and sowe've written a check to a
family that you know in incurrent times it's$10,000
minimum, but we we've writtenthat check, and then through the
pledge program, we hope toreplenish some of those coffers.
(32:14):
And um we've we turned that offabout uh 12 to 18 months ago
just because we needed somebetter ways to administer some
things, so we're building somesoftware tools, but we're gonna
be launching that program againfirst of the year, and um, we're
hopeful that that will help toyou know offset some things.
(32:35):
A year and a half ago when weshut it down, it was um it was a
couple thousand dollars inpledges, and those things would
come in each time we had atragedy, and so it helps us to
be able to raise the deathbenefit and to improve the
offerings from the SurvivorFund.
SPEAKER_04 (32:51):
Yes, I I see that is always something you guys have
to work in.
SPEAKER_05 (32:54):
Um And if anybody happens to have a really large
high-ceiling building somewherein the Chattanooga area that
they'd like to donate, I wouldbe more than happy to talk to
them about how we can help themon their taxes from that.
SPEAKER_04 (33:10):
You take it off their hands and help them with
their taxes.
SPEAKER_05 (33:13):
I would be more than happy to accept a building as a
donation.
SPEAKER_04 (33:16):
That is so nice of you.
Well, you guys heard it here, soI'm sure people from Chattanooga
are gonna hear this.
And if they know somebody whoknows somebody, get a hold of
Jeffrey.
All right, Jeffrey, thank you somuch.
I have enjoyed thisconversation.
And if you haven't been toTennessee and to the Tell
Museum, you need to go.
(33:36):
All right, everybody, come nextweek.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.