September 6, 2024 • 45 mins
Brian and Trey discuss the merits of vodka and the kindness of strangers as they share an inspiring layover with Kevin Tuerff, founder of Pay It Forward 9/11.
Kevin Tuerff is an author, speaker and social entrepreneur whose profound experience with the kindness of strangers as a stranded airline passenger in Gander, Newfoundland on 9/11 inspired him to found Pay It Forward 9/11, with the mission of performing random acts of kindness each year on 9/11 to create a global ripple effect of compassion. Kevin’s story is told in his memoir “Channel of Peace: Stranded in Gander on 9/11”, and his experience on that day is one of several that served as inspiration for the Tony Award winning Broadway musical “Come From Away”.
Brian Phelps is an American radio personality, actor, and comedian best known for co-hosting the nationally and globally syndicated Mark & Brian Morning Show in Los Angeles for 25 years. As the co-lead of his own television series, with multiple roles in movies, and a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Phelps is also an inductee in the Radio Hall of Fame.
Trey Callaway is an American film and TV writer and producer who wrote the hit movie I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, and has produced successful TV series like CSI:NY, Supernatural, Rush Hour, Revolution, The Messengers, APB, Station 19 and 9-1-1 LONE STAR. He is also a Professor at USC.
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Kevin Tuerff is an author, speaker and social entrepreneur whose profound experience with the kindness of strangers as a stranded airline passenger in Gander, Newfoundland on 9/11 inspired him to found Pay It Forward 9/11, with the mission of performing random acts of kindness each year on 9/11 to create a global ripple effect of compassion. Kevin’s story is told in his memoir “Channel of Peace: Stranded in Gander on 9/11”, and his experience on that day is one of several that served as inspiration for the Tony Award winning Broadway musical “Come From Away”.
Brian Phelps is an American radio personality, actor, and comedian best known for co-hosting the nationally and globally syndicated Mark & Brian Morning Show in Los Angeles for 25 years. As the co-lead of his own television series, with multiple roles in movies, and a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Phelps is also an inductee in the Radio Hall of Fame.
Trey Callaway is an American film and TV writer and producer who wrote the hit movie I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, and has produced successful TV series like CSI:NY, Supernatural, Rush Hour, Revolution, The Messengers, APB, Station 19 and 9-1-1 LONE STAR. He is also a Professor at USC.
___________________________________
Make sure to follow us on social media at:
begoodhumanspodcast.com
instagram.com
tiktok.com
threads.net
facebook.com
x.com
patreon.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Kevin, just to make sure it's turf.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Yes, thank you for asking.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Thank you like as so you couldn't spell it correctly.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Then I can tell you a whole story of how
that was bossed on Fox News one day.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
Imagine good humans, be good humans, be good humans, or.
Speaker 4 (00:23):
We will think you sucked.
Speaker 5 (00:26):
Thank god, we.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Will thank you suck.
Speaker 5 (00:36):
Welcome in this is the Big Good Humans Podcast. I'm
Brian Phelpson. That there is Trey Callaway.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
That is me. That is me.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Yeah, Wow, what's something?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Something's up? No? No, no, no, Actually it was good. It
was weird. I had a weird morning, a little bit
to be aired. I mean, is something we can talk about. Yes,
I should always times when you get drunk, you never
know where you're gonna. I should always clarify. I I
had a little bit of a crisis on my way
into the studio this morning, not not. I saw an
accident at an intersection and and it was really just
(01:08):
a little fender bender, right. It was apparently it was
a mom taking her kid to day camp and then
she got hit by an older driver who turned left
in front of her at the last second, the way
it happens. And thankfully nobody got hurt, right, but still
I saw it happen, so I pulled over anyway, and
and I wanted to make sure everything was cool. And
(01:28):
this was the kind of funny thing, I guess, is
that two other cars pulled over at the same time, right,
and each of us was then suddenly out of our cars.
And you know, we're doing what you do. We're saying
we witnessed the crash and and and making sure everybody's
safe and helping them get to the curb. But it
was kind of almost at a certain point, like almost overkill,
(01:52):
like a little bit of competitive kindness, a little bit
like and that's.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
That's a real thing, but it's for a good reason.
Speaker 5 (01:59):
Yeah, Because I have this term when you when you
do something kind for a person, it's kind of like
it's almost selfishly because it makes you feel so good.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Well that is true, Like in that moment, I was like, oh,
I should do this because this is the right thing
to do, right, But suddenly everyone else.
Speaker 5 (02:16):
Is everybody else wants to be the hero, and well
not everybody, but those three people that pulled over after you,
that is it's wonderful even and I know exactly what
you're talking about.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
They want to be the guy they want to be. Yeah,
I mean.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
I guess, I guess that's a thing. I guess crises
create good humans.
Speaker 5 (02:36):
It absolutely does, especially in communities where that experience, they
go through hardships together, whole communities.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
And it doesn't have to be.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
A small community like we're from, but it can be
a huge, gigantic city. And I have I have the
case in point for Okay, Illinois rural area winters are brutal.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
This is northern Illinois.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Now. Listen, I've stayed in the Ice Hotel and it
wasn't as cold as Illinois windy, and you.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
Know, ten foot drifts to you know, I can't tell
you how many times I've driven my car behind a
major snowplowd just to get home.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
I mean that happens all the time.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
So it's brutal.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
Yeah, yeah, I contend I kind of learned that when
a people, when a community, when a group of people,
not just family and friends, but when a group of
people go through something together and they come out the
other end.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
You know, after three months of brutal winter, there is
a soul there, there's a bond, a soul that that
is like no weather and here's a case in point,
using Los Angeles for an example.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
So we're not in it. We're not in the Illinois anymore.
Speaker 5 (03:55):
Okay, one of the earthquakes happened. I was, yes, yeah, yeah, yeah,
it was right before I left for work. But things,
this was a big one and things actually fell down
in my house.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
It was maybe the ninety three north Ridge or.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Yes, yes, that's what it was.
Speaker 5 (04:10):
And I was, so I'm driving to work because I
want to get in as quick as possible and calm
people down and let them know, you know, we're there,
and this doesn't ever happen in LA.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
But there was kindness on the road. Yeah, I mean drivers, I.
Speaker 5 (04:27):
Mean it would be like you're a stop light or
stop side and they're like, no, no, you go because
we were all going through that together. And it absolutely
brings people together.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
I think it's I think it's almost tribal, you know,
inherently tribal.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Yeah. It kind of reduces us all back to or
it sort of bumps us back down to just being
human beings. And I have the same situations like whether
it was Tulsa where like, yeah, for us, it wasn't winters.
It was tornadoes, right, So right around this time of year,
from from May to June is Tornado Alley, and so
that would always pull the community together wherever wherever it
(05:04):
got impacted. But yeah, similarly, I'm not proud of this,
especially I know better growing up in a place like Tulsa.
But like in La I'm sure it's the same with you.
You don't always get to know your neighbors, right, That
was strange from me.
Speaker 5 (05:19):
I've said this on the show before, and I'm sorry
if I'm repeating myself. I never remember what I say
on the show. But when we went on.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Vacation for two weeks, we would leave, we would leave
the front door unlocked, just in case the neighbors needed something.
That's how well we.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Knew our names. Yeah, and you still do that to
this I still do.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Well.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
It drives my assistant crazy.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Well, but the thing is, like I off of your
earthquake stuff, like those are some of the times, some
of the only times that I've gotten to actually know neighbors.
When we're out trying to pick up chimneys that fell
down or whatever, and it's like how are you. I'm okay,
how are you? Yeah, And all of a sudden, you
just are reminded like, oh yeah, we're all on this
big blue ball together, and maybe we should treat each
(06:00):
other a little bit.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Our houses are ten fifteen feet away from each other
and I don't know them. Yeah, yeah, I try.
Speaker 5 (06:07):
I first really tried, because that's my background. That's the
way I feel in a community.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
So the way we were raised, the way we were.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Raised, and I want to get to know women and
let support each other.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Know that.
Speaker 5 (06:18):
You know, I have a dog, and if you ever
need or you know, I need to borrow an implement
like gardening something.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
I need to know that where you were going.
Speaker 5 (06:31):
But I like that you feel a little, i don't know,
more content and safe. But when I started waving at
my neighbors and they'd be like like that, that just
that reaction like we you know, it's a big city.
Halloween comes around. Oh yeah, and I wasn't going to
be home for trick or treats this particular Halloween, or
(06:51):
at least that's why I told the people. I was
actually in the back room watching a movie.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Oh you were that neighbor.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
Yeah it was that No, But I I just bought
a big bullet candy and I put it on their
doorstep the honor ball.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Yep, because they had two kids.
Speaker 5 (07:05):
Right, So I just wanted to, like again my nineteenth
try to become friends a good neighbor. Sure didn't hear
a word from them, never even got my bull back.
So it's not uncommon for that to happen.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Yeah, that was a real.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Learning experience for me.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Well, I'll tell you where this is. It's making my
mind go. And it's just that we're talking about small town,
local community stuff or the accident and I experience this morning.
Even in a larger scale Los Angeles earthquakes and stuff.
This makes me want to bring something up which is
not easy for us to talk about, especially as a
couple of knuckleheads who generally like to just have a
(07:46):
good time. But I know that I will never forget
where I was on the morning of September eleventh, two
thousand and one. Okay, I'm sitting in my home in
Woodland Hills. I've got a couple of kids, It's an
otherwise peaceful morning. And then when I flip on the
TV and I get just a glimpse of what was
(08:10):
happening in New York City, I will tell you what
my next act was. I flipped on the radio because
as a longtime listener of you and your former partner,
a longtime fan of the Mark and Briant show here
in Los Angeles, that's what I would do every morning.
I would flip on the radio while I got ready,
and that morning I was immediately struck by what a
(08:33):
radically different show. It was, certainly what a radically different
world we were suddenly living in, but specifically the show
was completely different. And so I have to ask you,
because I don't think we've ever really talked about this
as a as a listener, I want to know what
it was like for you to be on the air
that day. As somebody whose job it is to be funny, right,
(08:57):
how does that work? Because you have a very unique
point of view. Well, thank you, And first of all, look,
everyone has an important and everyone an important and vital
story of where they were, what happened to them, how
they dealt with it. So I'll just do this quickly
because it's just another story. But I I usually my
(09:20):
routine is I get up in the morning, I don't
turn on the news. I don't do because I like
to get there early and go through all my my
stacks and stacks of show prepping news and I just
like that half hour as I'm getting ready to kind
of set my mind to what is going to be
in store of the day that a comedy sketch to
their wrote the night before or Eric and I.
Speaker 5 (09:39):
So I didn't know. I didn't know what was going on.
And I got there at about when was it, you
guys are going the air at six am, six AA
maybe five fifteen, and I'm driving. I'm driving down the road,
I parked. I get to the station. I walk in
and Frank Sontag, the beautiful, wonderful Frank Sontag with who
(10:00):
our board. I walk in and he goes, he looks
at me. He's got a TV above the boy.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
He goes, are you seeing this? I went, this is weird?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
What?
Speaker 1 (10:11):
And I walk around, I look and it was just
just basically what had happened so far is when what
everybody thought was like a cessna.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Oh yeah, the first tower, the first tower.
Speaker 5 (10:21):
Was hit and smoke was coming out of it and
there was that view, so of course, okay, okay, And
then as we went leading up to six o'clock, yeah,
you know, it happened, and it was happening a lot
of places. So we had a quick powwow with the
powers would be and I suggested, look, we obviously I'm
(10:45):
not it is not time to do an Elvis sketch
or the Great White Hunter. Well, let's let's deal with this.
And I think the main thing is let people know
that we're here, let people know that we're all in this,
we're all doing it, and and maybe suggest to like
go check on your neighbor, you know, because they might
(11:07):
be they might need it, they might need a helping hand.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Well that's it, right, Like it's not there's no way
you can be funny, or that you would even want
to be funny, but that does not diminish people's need
to feel good, especially in that moment.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
And I knew a lot of people.
Speaker 5 (11:21):
I mean, there was talk like maybe we shouldn't go
on the air and play a best of no for
a number for two reasons we should be there for them,
but also a best of is, you know, hopefully a
show of yucks. You know, it's not a yucky thing,
yeah yeah, yeah, or a yuck up thing. And so
we did the show. We used a lot of network feeds,
of course from ABC, and so you know, just getting
(11:44):
the latest, getting latest. Then we'd come back and we'd
do our thing and just be supportive and and and
let them know that we're feeling the same thing they felt.
So for better, for worse, we got through it. And
I remember this, and this is just a personal thing
for me. I remember we said our goodbyes. I said,
(12:04):
be good humans. I took off my headphones, I put
them down. We were all of the whole staff was
just exhausted because working and this is going on. Yeah,
I got up. I walked out of the studio down
the hallway to the program director's office. And the program
director at the time was the lovely, the talented, the beautiful,
(12:27):
the big hearted read a while, yeah we got to
have her on the show sometimes. But I walked into
her office and she was just sitting at her desk
and she's, you know, sad and being emotional physically, just
like down like this.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
And I sat down on her couch. Didn't say a
word to her. She didn't say a word to me,
and I started bawling my eyes out, exhausted, but I
hadn't bawled that hard since I was like five, and
I just couldn't stop crying because of what has happened
(13:02):
to in the world. It was shattering for so many
of us.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Well, I really appreciate you sharing that story. I mean,
I know this. Maybe other people don't know this who
are just used to you making them laugh all the time,
and there are millions of those people. But I also
I know and love about you that you're a softy.
You've got a heart a mile wide and not but
you could be born without a heart and still be
(13:27):
deeply impacted by the events of that day that are
still far reaching to this day in the ways that
they have impacted far reaching.
Speaker 5 (13:36):
So I'll tell you, well, why don't we take a
little break, and when we come back, we're going to
be talking to someone that not experiencing from the fringe
like all of us, millions and millions all over the
world did. But he was directly involved in it, and
in his experience, the experience that he had being directly
involved in it, he did something that I do only
(14:01):
was life changing for him, but life changing for millions
and millions of people.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Oh wow, hook Okay, that's I mean, that's a powerful Hok.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
You guys are really hook right.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
We're hug all right, stick around We'll be right back
of a bigger kill, the big big we will thank you,
(14:35):
suck and Brian Phelps.
Speaker 5 (14:38):
We are back, Yes, we are, Trake Halloway, all right,
you're ready for this? Yeah, let's do it, okay, quick setup.
Due to the United States airspace being shut down following
the nine to eleven attacks, our guest today spent five
days stranded with many many other airline passengers in the
small Canadian town of gam Under, Newfoundland.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
And because of that experience that he went on to
become the founder of Pay It Forward nine to eleven.
We welcome, honored to welcome Kevin Turf.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
keV.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
How are you doing, Hi, Kevin? Thank you for joining.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Us, Thank you for having me. It's great, it's an
honor to be here.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Tell us about Gander. First of all, how big is it?
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Back in two thousand and one when I arrived there unexpectedly,
it was a population of about nine thousand people, and
over the course of a few hours, thirty eight jumbo
jets land, and all of a sudden they've got they
basically double their population with seven thousand unexpected refugees.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Unbelievable. So where were you headed to initially before your
flight was diverted and you wound up in Gander.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
I was flying directly into New York City airspace. I
was finishing a European vacation. Took off from Paris, France,
in the morning of September eleventh, and back then they
had the one TV monitor over the over the ceiling
with the with the flight path. And so we're over
the ocean, a couple of hours out before we should
(16:10):
be ready to land in New York, and all of
a sudden there's a sudden drop in elevation and when
you're over the ocean, that's not cool. And then a
bank to the.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Right an explanation at this point.
Speaker 5 (16:24):
Not yet.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
And so all of a sudden I look up at
the monitor and we're changed course, flying to the North Pole.
It looks like, you know, what's going on. I thought, well,
maybe we're just taking a weird route to get back
to New York. And then finally we were on an
Air France flight, and so the pilot came on the
PA and first in French said something. Something didn't understand,
(16:47):
but he said the word terrorism in English, and we
saw the flight attendants like gasp, and then a couple
of minutes later and broken English says, due to a
terrorist attack in the United States, we'll be landing in Gander.
And that was it.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Wow, And I'm just a guess. I'm just a guess here,
But you had never been to Gander previous to this.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
I honestly, even after we landed for hours, I wasn't
sure what country we were in. Are we in Iceland?
Are we in Canada?
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Right?
Speaker 2 (17:17):
I had never heard of Newfoundland.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
But I mean to get that announcement, and that's all
the announcement you got due to a terrorist a terrorist attack,
We're going to land in Gander, and you that's like, what.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Tell me more or something? And you didn't know they
wouldn't when did they?
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Well it was hours later. I mean we uh. And
of course I have to remind you ourselves that like
nobody had you know, there was no internet on the plane.
There was no you know, I had a cell phone,
but no one had international coverage back then. And so
even after we landed, it was we got little blips
of information, but it probably wasn't until about one o'clock
(17:57):
local time when the pilot came on the PA again
and it said, you know, the World Trade centers collapsed
and what you know, the Pentagon was hit, you know,
and we're like what what? And nobody wanted to believe it.
It was like or of course it seemed impossible, but
we couldn't verify it. I couldn't. I tried to contact,
(18:20):
you know, my parents, and who I knew would They
would be worried. They knew I was slinging into New
York that day. You could not get through. And so
a long story short, we did not see it with
their own eyes for twelve hours when we finally arrived
at a community college which became a refugee shelter.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
So that was my next question. I presumably you stayed
on the tarmac for a while or in the plane,
and then and then what fifteen hours on the plane?
Speaker 1 (18:45):
The plane, I'm.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Guessing the peanuts were gone after about the first thirty minutes.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
But then, yeah, they kept replaying movies and but the
only good part was they kept playing us with every
little mini bottle of liquor that they had.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Wow, South the ambient in.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
A wheelbarrow exactly. So okay, so fifteen hours on the plane,
then they get you off. What is your first experience
of arriving in Gander, You're looking around, what's happening? Where
do they take you?
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Well, it was I'll never forget when I you know,
there it becomes late night, you know, it's now seven
eight o'clock a night, and look, I've got a seat
on the plane over the wing window seat, and so
I look out and I see this long line of
school buses and they're coming down the runway. Yeah, and
(19:34):
that's when it hit me that they've been preparing all
day to help us get off the planes.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
So the first thing, you know, now, years later, looking
back at all this, the first thing you have to
even question is like, this is a it's a tiny airport.
There's like, you know, there was not room for any
more than one plane. Now they've got thirty eight jumbo jets. So,
but the first thing they did was the mayor decided
that they would let us in to their community, into
their country. They let us into their homes and their schools.
(20:05):
And so we get off the plane and we walk
into the terminal and it is like a party has
just erupted. There are people that have brought in Kentucky
fried chicken and boxes of donuts and sandwiches and bottled
water and things, and there is take what you want free, you.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Know, just and presumably no customs checks or any of
that stuff.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Now there was there was, There was very, very very
They were very they were concerned that there might be
terrorists on some of those planes, so they there was
a long line to get through security. And then I
managed to get to the one or two of the
payphones that they had. I called my parents collect and
they answered, and I heard their voice. I cried and
(20:46):
they cried, and I said, I think I'm in you know,
Nova Scotia, Like, no, you're not. We've we've tracked you.
You're in Gander, Newfoundland.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
And probably thinking even then at that point for a
little while like well I'll be here for a matter
of hours, you know, or but but those hours turned
into literal days, right.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Right right, And so yeah, we knew finally when the
pilot let us office said, your we don't know where
they're taking you, we don't know what they'll have, so
take you could only you couldn't even take your luggage
because they were worried about And so what we did
was we took the pillows that back when they had
pillows on planes, took the pillows up the planes and
(21:28):
the only thing we had in our overhead compartment were
two bottles of grey Goose vodka that we bought at
the Doody free shop in Paris, which came in really
handy and uh, and then a camera and I had
a video camera. I started documenting what was going on
there and.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
They you were led to where initially.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Well, so the next thing, you know, they're like, hurry,
get some food, get on the school bus now, and
like okay, and then so we start. The school bus
takes off and we're driving in we it's it's in
the middle of a forest. You know, there's nothing there
is super dark. Yeah, it was a little bit anxious.
They didn't even say we're taking you to the College
(22:09):
of the North Atlantic, which is a very nice community
college there, and they didn't say how long of a take,
And they actually took a route which was the quickest
way there. But if we had gone through the town,
it would have made me feel a little bit better,
like they had. There was a Walmart there and there
was you know, fast food restaurants and things, and but
we went through the back road. Basically it was the
(22:30):
quickest way to the college. And so anyway, finally walked
into this community college and they had television set up
for you know, all that they canceled school for the
next day. Volunteers had come in. They pushed back all
of the chairs in every classroom because that's where they
knew we would be sleeping in the classrooms of that college.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
I mean, this is extraordinary, and it's I'm sure it
was less in the moment. I'm sure when they weren't
telling you where you were going initially or whatever, I'm
sure it was less about withholding information and more about
these people in this small town just trying to react
as quickly as possible and mobilized to help a large
number of people from all over the world try and
(23:10):
feel safe.
Speaker 5 (23:11):
Right, So thus begins the change your life moment that
you experience this kindness. And not just for an hour
when you got off the plane to get a bucket
of chicken, but it went on for days and days
and days. And the small community, these these I don't
(23:31):
know how many people. How large is Gander, you.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Said about nine thousand, about.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Nine thousand small, small and they just banded together. They
there's a.
Speaker 5 (23:42):
Million things they could have been doing, you know, but
they came together to help those in need. And this
is when you saw something that kind of started your
pay it Forward nine to eleven.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
It kind of inspired it correct.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Yeah, So what like just a couple other examples that
were just sort of mind blowing was that, you know,
they they opened up at the college. They because they
knew we wanted to talk to our families and our offices,
and so they opened up their phones and so people
we ran up a thirteen thousand dollars phone bill. I
learned when I was writing. I was writing my memoir
(24:19):
Channel at Peace, Strandon, Gander and IGHLIGHTA. So I like,
how much did all those phone calls? Thirteen thousand dollars?
And we tried is like, can we give you money
for the call? No? No, no, you would do the same.
They kept saying like, oh, I don't know, we probably
would find a way to prop it off. And you know,
another time, were we finally just after one thing they
(24:39):
didn't have the college was showers, and so by day
three were we stink, we need a shower, we need
to change of clothes. So we hear there's a Walmart there.
So my partner Kevin and I we head out, We're
walking down the street and all of a sudden, because
it's like two miles away, it was a beautiful day,
the car pulls over, rolls down the window. Hey what
are you doing? Like, oh god, we're sorry. Well you know,
(25:00):
we're we're just visitors. And they're like, well, hop in,
we'll give you a ride. Like, you know, I don't
know about you guys. My mom always said, never get
into a car a stranger.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
I won't even get into a car with Brian, So
you smart to do that.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
So this happened three times and like so finally, you know,
we said, like, I think we better get out. We're
never going to get there. And so we met this
nice couple, chat up them up. They take us to
the walmart. You know, offered to give them some money
for gas going out of the way. No, no, you
would do the same. That kept saying, what they're talking
about is the Golden rule, the rural treat others like
(25:35):
you want to be treated. And I came back to Austin, Texas,
where when I finally it took us seven days. Finally,
the whole trip, it took seven days to just to
get home. But when I did. I wondered, would we
do the same with a small town in Texas? Would
they do the same with even a big town? It
was like Austin would would we do the same? And
(25:57):
it was It wasn't so much that that some people
helped out. It was that everybody helped. There was not
a stove in Gander that was not turned on cooking food.
They I mean from some There was one man I've
become a good friend with. His job was to wake
up at four in the morning and make toast.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Who was organizing this? Kevin? Who who kind of organized
all this?
Speaker 5 (26:18):
Were there like certain leaders of the community or because
this is a lot of organization, which who picked that
guy to make toast at four o'clock in the morning.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
They just it was the old fashioned foam tree they
you know, like at the community college. The president like said, okay,
we need you need everybody, everybody to help out and
just get up here to the school. And and the
part that I will never forget was when so it's
now midnight. I finally we're watching television these terrible images
(26:49):
and I've I had a credit card, I could have
bought a hotel room. There's only three hotels in this town, Okay,
and those had to be used for the flight cruise.
So for the first time in my life, I had
to rely on the kindness of a stranger to give
me a pillow to put my head. And so at midnight,
a young teenage boy walks in there with two pillows
(27:11):
an inflatable air mattress, and I thought, man, I want
to sleep on air mattress instead of the cold tile floor.
This is a classroom, and so I go get it,
and I just got choked up. Yeah, I said thank you,
and he's like, you bet and turns around. He leaves,
and you know, I no idea. He probably never got
his pillow back. I don't know. But it's just really powerful.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
I mean very powerful, very powerfully inspiring, and it inspired
all kinds of different things. And by the way, if
for starters, if the story sounds at all familiar, it
may be because if you're watching or listening, maybe you've
seen the Tony Award winning musical Come from Away, which
is based on a variety of these true stories from
those days in Gander, including Kevin's. By the way, there's
(27:54):
actually a character in the play named Kevin T who
I think is at least in part based on you.
But it not only inspired Tony Award winning Broadway musical,
it inspired you directly to create Pay It Forward nine eleven.
Can you tell us more about that vision and what
you have set forth to do since?
Speaker 2 (28:15):
So, because people kept saying, no, you can't pay us back,
you can't do it, I said, I can't pay it back.
Someone I borrow an idea from the film Pay It Forward.
And so I had a company in Austin at the time,
and we had about forty staff. So onto the morning
of September eleventh, in the first anniversary two thousand and two,
(28:36):
I closed the doors to my office and I handed
out one hundred dollars bills, paired people up in teams
of two, and said, go take this out and spend
this money in the community anyway you want, and then
come back and let's talk about it and see how
it goes. Honestly, I wasn't sure if the staff would
be into it or not, but they were, and they
came back because they went out with the assignment to
(28:57):
tell people, remember we said we would never forget the
lives that were lost, but then to also tell the
story about what happened to their boss who had this
better side of humanity experience, and so you know, people
started buying, you know, cups of coffee. One team went
and bought a savings bond for a single mother who
gave birth to a child who was born on nine
(29:18):
to eleven, and just it went on and on and
on and finally over. We weren't doing it for publicity,
but people found out about it and then they wanted
to get involved and do something too, And so it
became a way for people to say, rather than just
watching those images of the planes hitting the towers. Every year,
this becomes a tradition where people go out and do
(29:40):
at least three good deeds for strangers and then ask
that person to do the same, and so it does
create a ripple effect. And long story short. Now we
are on our twenty third annual attempt at this this year,
and we now do we have a national board of director's
and we have a events in Washington and d C.
(30:03):
And New York City, Austin, Texas, where I was from,
and Kansas City. And last year we had people in
forty five states and twelve countries that pledge to do this.
Speaker 5 (30:15):
You inspire audiences around the world with this talk, and
I love the name of it, the ripple effect of compassion,
which focuses on kindness of strength to strangers, immigrants and refugees,
not the people that are in our lives, not our
family you're going to get that, not our friends, but
people that are strange, strangers to you, that maybe think
(30:40):
different than you, maybe they look different from you. But
to be maybe it's not always going to work, but
you'll get positive reactions many more times than negative. But
to just pay it forward to someone that you don't know.
And that's the important thing behind.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
This, right, and you were so right that unfortunately over
the years, you know, in a time before hashtags two
thousand and two, man, we were all saying united, we stand.
It was everywhere as pervasive, and now we could not
be farther from that, and we are so siloed. And
people will tell me like, oh, well, yeah, I would
(31:19):
do what they did in Gander, you know, in my neighborhood,
but not the other neighborhood where those people live, you know,
or you know, people like they want to help their
neighborhood or their religion or their community, but not not
not their other country.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
You know.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
So in Gander they had people from ninety countries that
they allowed in, even some from Middle Eastern countries that like,
so there was great reason to be concerned, but they
took a chance. The mayor told me say, we weren't
going to let you rot on those planes and where
people need help and you help them.
Speaker 5 (31:54):
And the people stepped up. They really stepped up, like
you said, not just a few of them, but most
all of them.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Right, wow, Well, really, would you tell us a little
bit more about some of the different kinds of random
acts of kindness that you guys get rolling every year
and and let us know when when things sort of
kick off for you this year in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Yeah, thank you. So I'll just say it multiple times.
Please go visit our website at pay it Forward nine
to one one dot org and we're asking people to
register their pledge. It's free, but just tell us where
you're going to do some sort of good deed. And
what we have now is we open it up so
it's not just on September eleventh, but we say we
(32:40):
have eleven days of Kindness campaign and asking people to
do those three good deeds. That way we can get
more schools involved, more churches, businesses, and so there are.
And the great part about it is it's it's whatever
is up to someone's imagination and to develop what they
want to do. But I was one of my favorite
(33:02):
stories actually took place back in Canada. Canada participates in
this too. You know, they're the people who are the
kindness superstars. So the Broadway company come from away. They
when I in twenty sixteen, I stepped down for my company,
also had nobody to help me pull this off. And
(33:23):
so I went to the producers and I said, hey,
will you continue my tradition? And they said sure. So
they gave one hundred dollar bills to the cast and
the crew and the band of every production all around
the world. And so they go out and do good
deeds for strangers and then they come back and talk
about it at the end of one of their following
shows the next night. And so but this one, so
(33:45):
this was an actor and a stage manager. They were
paired together in Toronto, Canada, and they each got one
hundred dollars bill from the producers and they said, you know,
we could probably do something on our own too. So
they pulled out one hundred each one hundred. So now
the one hundred dollars orth three hundred dollars, and they went.
There was a woman who kept bringing her classes to
(34:05):
see the show from northern Ontario names Peg, and so
Peg agreed to organize a pay it Forward event for
her entire grades one through eight. And so she takes
three hundred dollars and buys three hundred dollars worth of carnations,
gives them out to the kids. The kids write little messages.
Remember we said never forget pay it Forward nine to eleven,
(34:28):
puts the little messages on each little carnation, hands them
out to the kids. The kids go out into the community.
And so I get the report back the next day
that there's this one particular girl who she came back
and wrote an essay about her experiences. She and her
friend they went to a supermarket and so we saw
this lady and she looked like she was having a
(34:48):
terrible day, she said, and so we decided to give
her the flower. And the lady started to cry, and
so they said, she said, how much for the flower? No, no,
oh no, it's it's free. It's if you want to
do a good deed, you can pay it forward. And
she started to cry some more, and she said, you
have no idea how much this means to me. My
(35:11):
daughter died yesterday.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
Oh boy, wow wow.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
So then she goes back and she writes about in
an essay, you never know what people are going through,
so there ought to be more kind.
Speaker 5 (35:24):
Of course, you know, I'm sure you'll agree that if
you don't have one hundred dollars or two hundred or
three hundred dollars to pay it forward, there are all
kinds of ways you can endless ways you talk about
you have this term, and I love this term because
it's what I feel when I do something kind for someone.
(35:47):
And I think I mentioned earlier in the show or
some sometime. I'm always repeating myself. You may know this
already about me, but as long as you don't repeat it.
But it's selfish. It's a selfish thing that I want
that selfish because it makes me feel great, not about
I'm a hero, but it makes me feel great to
(36:08):
see the joy. So there are if you can't afford
one hundred dollars, there are many Just for instance, here's
here's something, and you might have a bunch of these
that that you, you all do. But I like to
recognize the people that feel invisible. The elderly walking down
(36:28):
the street. You can just tell by the look on
their face they got to get somewhere, they want to
go into the diner, get there, whatever, and then get home,
and nobody would say hi to them. So I always do. Again,
it doesn't always work out. Sometimes I get to look
like you were you gonna hit me just highway. I
look at you, yeah, the way most of the time,
(36:49):
and most of the time I do. But a bus boy,
a service guy, you know, any kind of maintenance, cleaning ladies,
and the list goes on and on and on. Just
the people that never get talked to, you, never be
never gets acknowledged. And that's a great way to pay it.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
For something that we should all be doing every day.
But Kevin, this is a concerted effort on your part
and the part of your organization for at the very
least in those eleven days leading up to the anniversary
of nine to eleven, like, let's really triple down on this.
Let's find our own creative, inventive ways to to bring
(37:28):
some joy to people, to spread these random acts of kindness,
and then let it exponentially increase for everyone I do
for you, you do three more for someone else, and so
on and so forth. It's a it's an extraordinary effort.
So yes, please, if you want to get involved in this,
the first stop should be to go to pay it
(37:50):
Forward nine to one one dot org. We're absolutely also
going to make a link on our website, be Good
Humans podcast dot com to the pay It Forward nine
one one dot org site. So definitely start there. Do
it year round people, that's what we're here to encourage
you to do in general.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
But absolutely it's like feeling it the Christmas spirit.
Speaker 3 (38:10):
Year round a little bit. Yeah, yeah, you.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
Always wish like Christmas is almost over. It's just been
so great. Everybody's so great.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
Yeah, you're yeah, you know, you're you're right, you're exactly
right about there is a feeling. And I did a
ted X talk called about the Helpers High the fact
that's the feeling that when you do this, you sense
this feeling of euphoria that lasts for several minutes.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
That's the term.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
And so then it's like, you know, being kind of
compassionate is like it is our muscle is our excuse me,
our brain is a muscle, and just like all muscles,
it needs to be trained, and so we can when
do you start doing these things? You know, just throughout
these eleven days, it starts to get you in the
habit and then what's amazing. In my book, I interviewed
(38:53):
other people who they started doing it at my company
and then like, for example, there was a husband of
one of my employees who he said, you know what,
I used to be a guy who I saw people
pulled over on the side of the road, and I
just I wasn't going to stop, you know, he said,
But now because of what you all got me to do,
now I stopped, and I just recently stopped. There's a
(39:14):
guy who ran out of gas, so I picked him up,
brought him to the gas station, wait for him to
get the gas can, and the gas brought him back
to his car. So he said, thank you.
Speaker 5 (39:23):
Yeah, I mean these are and you didn't even need
to thank you, but it felt great when you got
it right right exactly.
Speaker 3 (39:29):
These are great moments of humanity. I personally have three
takeaways here, Brian. Number one, I can't wait to go
to Gander, I really right. Number Two, if I travel anywhere,
I'm going to travel always with two bottles of gray
Goose in my luggage right for sure, and number and
number three. Wherever I go, I want to go with
Kevin Turf, because this is someone who has taken notice
(39:53):
of the good thing strangers did for you in the
wake of so much unimaginable tragedy and created something marvel
side of it. Truly has decided to pay it forward
literally by doing so many kindnesses of your own for others.
You are the absolute definition of a good human, Kevin,
and we cannot thank you enough for taking the time
to join us today to tell us your story and
(40:14):
most importantly, to tell us about pay it forward. Nine
to eleven.
Speaker 5 (40:17):
And I should tell you, Kevin, that usually wouldn't we
have We have guests every show, but usually when when
they haven't come in and they're on like a zoom
situation like you are, we usually send them a very nice,
be good human's hat. Yes, but for you, a handle
a handle of grey.
Speaker 3 (40:35):
Gooslada with a mug depart in.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
You deserve it, yes, fantastic. Well, thank you for the
opportunity and thank you for sharing this effort. And we
do hope that everyone, especially in California, yeah, really want
to get more participation.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
Extremely well done, Kevin.
Speaker 6 (40:53):
Thank you a pleasure meeting you, absolutely, thank you a bill.
Speaker 3 (41:04):
We will take you suck. I think I think we
were both worried about that one a little bit.
Speaker 5 (41:09):
Well only because obviously of the subject matter and the
way we like to present our show with fun and lightheardness.
And again, twenty percent of our episodes will probably be
a little heavy subjects, Yeah, a little heavy. Seventy percent,
eighty percent will be you know, just fun and lighthearted.
But but yes, we were worried about it. We were concerned, like,
(41:30):
how do you know, hey, let's talk about.
Speaker 3 (41:34):
Yeah, right, because even after twenty three years, I mean,
it brings back a lot of dark and painful memories
for everybody. But the thing about it is when you
reframe it the way Kevin is doing as a reason
to do random acts of kindness, it gives people all
kinds of hope, which which I know is basically what
we are hoping to do with this show. Yeah, we
(41:56):
want to entertain people absolutely, so you know, let's let's finish.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
I love your summation, Go.
Speaker 3 (42:01):
Ahead, entertain people just for a second.
Speaker 1 (42:05):
I can tell you that, uh, this was entertaining to me, Yes,
all right, in a.
Speaker 5 (42:12):
Topic that it's not obviously a fun topic to do.
And he was wonderfully amazing, a great speaker and had
a sense of humor and nola.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
But at this top I think we were both concerned
as we talked him earlier about how do we make
this a little more like we like the show?
Speaker 5 (42:28):
So he mentioned greg Guz vodka a couple of times
in the early part of the episode, and I wrote down,
I don't know if you can see this greguz vodka,
because that's going to be my big finish.
Speaker 1 (42:39):
I'm going to do a joke about that as soon
as as soon as Trey gets done, you know talking,
I'm gonna a big finish, big punch, and we're gonna
have a great time. He'll laugh. It's going to be great.
So I'm like, I'm bady, wait for two.
Speaker 5 (42:56):
We're gonna great go And then you mentioned it like, oh,
but this is the entertaining part because both of us
oh sensitive, you know, to trying to make this as
fun as possible as well as dealing with what was
going on.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
We were both looking for the big finish. Yes, yeah,
I mean to bring with your fault. I mean it
was like we I didn't know you had thought of it.
You didn't know I had thought of it.
Speaker 3 (43:19):
Right to bring it full circle, it was like the
comedy version of me and three other cars full of
people pulling over at the same time to sort of
try and help. Exactly, we're both of that. That's agreed.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
So I think, you know, maybe in the in the future,
we'll just do this, but I'll do it really subtlely.
I'll do subtle like this.
Speaker 3 (43:38):
Or you'll just say out loud, great ghosts. All right.
In the meantime, do us a favorite. Go visit our
website at Big in Humans podcast dot com, where you
absolutely will find a link for the pay It Forward
nine to one one dot org. Uh, but also where
you can tell us, and please do this. Tell us
about the good humans in your lives, people that you
(43:58):
think we should meet that would be good for us
to talk to. Also, give us your best pointers on
how to be a good human. We could always use
a few of those. Uh, there's is there anything else? No,
there's not speaking while we're behind.
Speaker 5 (44:10):
We're gonna go get a gray goose and we're gonna
enjoy that right now.
Speaker 1 (44:15):
Is there a grant.
Speaker 5 (44:16):
Do you know if there's a I mean, really seriously
celebrate the wonderful show.
Speaker 3 (44:20):
Yeah, we're gonna go find it. Yeah, we're gonna find it.
Speaker 5 (44:22):
Do you think he'd mind if I get well, Kevin's
not hearing us, right, No? Do you think Kevin in
mind if I get a kettle one?
Speaker 1 (44:27):
Because you know I like it better than I'm right
there with you? Are you really?
Speaker 3 (44:31):
Yeah? Wow? I am?
Speaker 4 (44:32):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (44:32):
And then we're gonna go get in a drink, and
you guys do as a favor. Be Good Humans. Bye bye.
Be good Humans. Be good Humans.
Speaker 5 (44:44):
Good humans, or we will think you sucked.
Speaker 3 (44:48):
Be Good Humans is executive produced by Brian Phelps, Trey Calloway,
and Grant Anderson, with associate producers Sean Fitzgerald and Clementine
Callaway and partnership with straw Hut Media.
Speaker 1 (44:57):
Please like, follow, and subscribe, and remember, be Good Humans.
Kevin, just to make sure it's turf.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Yes, thank you for asking.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Thank you like as so you couldn't spell it correctly.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Then I can tell you a whole story of how
that was bossed on Fox News one day.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
Imagine good humans, be good humans, be good humans, or.
Speaker 4 (00:23):
We will think you sucked.
Speaker 5 (00:26):
Thank god, we.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Will thank you suck.
Speaker 5 (00:36):
Welcome in this is the Big Good Humans Podcast. I'm
Brian Phelpson. That there is Trey Callaway.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
That is me. That is me.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Yeah, Wow, what's something?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Something's up? No? No, no, no, Actually it was good. It
was weird. I had a weird morning, a little bit
to be aired. I mean, is something we can talk about. Yes,
I should always times when you get drunk, you never
know where you're gonna. I should always clarify. I I
had a little bit of a crisis on my way
into the studio this morning, not not. I saw an
accident at an intersection and and it was really just
(01:08):
a little fender bender, right. It was apparently it was
a mom taking her kid to day camp and then
she got hit by an older driver who turned left
in front of her at the last second, the way
it happens. And thankfully nobody got hurt, right, but still
I saw it happen, so I pulled over anyway, and
and I wanted to make sure everything was cool. And
(01:28):
this was the kind of funny thing, I guess, is
that two other cars pulled over at the same time, right,
and each of us was then suddenly out of our cars.
And you know, we're doing what you do. We're saying
we witnessed the crash and and and making sure everybody's
safe and helping them get to the curb. But it
was kind of almost at a certain point, like almost overkill,
(01:52):
like a little bit of competitive kindness, a little bit
like and that's.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
That's a real thing, but it's for a good reason.
Speaker 5 (01:59):
Yeah, Because I have this term when you when you
do something kind for a person, it's kind of like
it's almost selfishly because it makes you feel so good.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Well that is true, Like in that moment, I was like, oh,
I should do this because this is the right thing
to do, right, But suddenly everyone else.
Speaker 5 (02:16):
Is everybody else wants to be the hero, and well
not everybody, but those three people that pulled over after you,
that is it's wonderful even and I know exactly what
you're talking about.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
They want to be the guy they want to be. Yeah,
I mean.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
I guess, I guess that's a thing. I guess crises
create good humans.
Speaker 5 (02:36):
It absolutely does, especially in communities where that experience, they
go through hardships together, whole communities.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
And it doesn't have to be.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
A small community like we're from, but it can be
a huge, gigantic city. And I have I have the
case in point for Okay, Illinois rural area winters are brutal.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
This is northern Illinois.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Now. Listen, I've stayed in the Ice Hotel and it
wasn't as cold as Illinois windy, and you.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
Know, ten foot drifts to you know, I can't tell
you how many times I've driven my car behind a
major snowplowd just to get home.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
I mean that happens all the time.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
So it's brutal.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
Yeah, yeah, I contend I kind of learned that when
a people, when a community, when a group of people,
not just family and friends, but when a group of
people go through something together and they come out the
other end.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
You know, after three months of brutal winter, there is
a soul there, there's a bond, a soul that that
is like no weather and here's a case in point,
using Los Angeles for an example.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
So we're not in it. We're not in the Illinois anymore.
Speaker 5 (03:55):
Okay, one of the earthquakes happened. I was, yes, yeah, yeah, yeah,
it was right before I left for work. But things,
this was a big one and things actually fell down
in my house.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
It was maybe the ninety three north Ridge or.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Yes, yes, that's what it was.
Speaker 5 (04:10):
And I was, so I'm driving to work because I
want to get in as quick as possible and calm
people down and let them know, you know, we're there,
and this doesn't ever happen in LA.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
But there was kindness on the road. Yeah, I mean drivers, I.
Speaker 5 (04:27):
Mean it would be like you're a stop light or
stop side and they're like, no, no, you go because
we were all going through that together. And it absolutely
brings people together.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
I think it's I think it's almost tribal, you know,
inherently tribal.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Yeah. It kind of reduces us all back to or
it sort of bumps us back down to just being
human beings. And I have the same situations like whether
it was Tulsa where like, yeah, for us, it wasn't winters.
It was tornadoes, right, So right around this time of year,
from from May to June is Tornado Alley, and so
that would always pull the community together wherever wherever it
(05:04):
got impacted. But yeah, similarly, I'm not proud of this,
especially I know better growing up in a place like Tulsa.
But like in La I'm sure it's the same with you.
You don't always get to know your neighbors, right, That
was strange from me.
Speaker 5 (05:19):
I've said this on the show before, and I'm sorry
if I'm repeating myself. I never remember what I say
on the show. But when we went on.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Vacation for two weeks, we would leave, we would leave
the front door unlocked, just in case the neighbors needed something.
That's how well we.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Knew our names. Yeah, and you still do that to
this I still do.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Well.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
It drives my assistant crazy.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Well, but the thing is, like I off of your
earthquake stuff, like those are some of the times, some
of the only times that I've gotten to actually know neighbors.
When we're out trying to pick up chimneys that fell
down or whatever, and it's like how are you. I'm okay,
how are you? Yeah, And all of a sudden, you
just are reminded like, oh yeah, we're all on this
big blue ball together, and maybe we should treat each
(06:00):
other a little bit.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Our houses are ten fifteen feet away from each other
and I don't know them. Yeah, yeah, I try.
Speaker 5 (06:07):
I first really tried, because that's my background. That's the
way I feel in a community.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
So the way we were raised, the way we were.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Raised, and I want to get to know women and
let support each other.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Know that.
Speaker 5 (06:18):
You know, I have a dog, and if you ever
need or you know, I need to borrow an implement
like gardening something.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
I need to know that where you were going.
Speaker 5 (06:31):
But I like that you feel a little, i don't know,
more content and safe. But when I started waving at
my neighbors and they'd be like like that, that just
that reaction like we you know, it's a big city.
Halloween comes around. Oh yeah, and I wasn't going to
be home for trick or treats this particular Halloween, or
(06:51):
at least that's why I told the people. I was
actually in the back room watching a movie.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Oh you were that neighbor.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
Yeah it was that No, But I I just bought
a big bullet candy and I put it on their
doorstep the honor ball.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Yep, because they had two kids.
Speaker 5 (07:05):
Right, So I just wanted to, like again my nineteenth
try to become friends a good neighbor. Sure didn't hear
a word from them, never even got my bull back.
So it's not uncommon for that to happen.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Yeah, that was a real.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Learning experience for me.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Well, I'll tell you where this is. It's making my
mind go. And it's just that we're talking about small town,
local community stuff or the accident and I experience this morning.
Even in a larger scale Los Angeles earthquakes and stuff.
This makes me want to bring something up which is
not easy for us to talk about, especially as a
couple of knuckleheads who generally like to just have a
(07:46):
good time. But I know that I will never forget
where I was on the morning of September eleventh, two
thousand and one. Okay, I'm sitting in my home in
Woodland Hills. I've got a couple of kids, It's an
otherwise peaceful morning. And then when I flip on the
TV and I get just a glimpse of what was
(08:10):
happening in New York City, I will tell you what
my next act was. I flipped on the radio because
as a longtime listener of you and your former partner,
a longtime fan of the Mark and Briant show here
in Los Angeles, that's what I would do every morning.
I would flip on the radio while I got ready,
and that morning I was immediately struck by what a
(08:33):
radically different show. It was, certainly what a radically different
world we were suddenly living in, but specifically the show
was completely different. And so I have to ask you,
because I don't think we've ever really talked about this
as a as a listener, I want to know what
it was like for you to be on the air
that day. As somebody whose job it is to be funny, right,
(08:57):
how does that work? Because you have a very unique
point of view. Well, thank you, And first of all, look,
everyone has an important and everyone an important and vital
story of where they were, what happened to them, how
they dealt with it. So I'll just do this quickly
because it's just another story. But I I usually my
(09:20):
routine is I get up in the morning, I don't
turn on the news. I don't do because I like
to get there early and go through all my my
stacks and stacks of show prepping news and I just
like that half hour as I'm getting ready to kind
of set my mind to what is going to be
in store of the day that a comedy sketch to
their wrote the night before or Eric and I.
Speaker 5 (09:39):
So I didn't know. I didn't know what was going on.
And I got there at about when was it, you
guys are going the air at six am, six AA
maybe five fifteen, and I'm driving. I'm driving down the road,
I parked. I get to the station. I walk in
and Frank Sontag, the beautiful, wonderful Frank Sontag with who
(10:00):
our board. I walk in and he goes, he looks
at me. He's got a TV above the boy.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
He goes, are you seeing this? I went, this is weird?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
What?
Speaker 1 (10:11):
And I walk around, I look and it was just
just basically what had happened so far is when what
everybody thought was like a cessna.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Oh yeah, the first tower, the first tower.
Speaker 5 (10:21):
Was hit and smoke was coming out of it and
there was that view, so of course, okay, okay, And
then as we went leading up to six o'clock, yeah,
you know, it happened, and it was happening a lot
of places. So we had a quick powwow with the
powers would be and I suggested, look, we obviously I'm
(10:45):
not it is not time to do an Elvis sketch
or the Great White Hunter. Well, let's let's deal with this.
And I think the main thing is let people know
that we're here, let people know that we're all in this,
we're all doing it, and and maybe suggest to like
go check on your neighbor, you know, because they might
(11:07):
be they might need it, they might need a helping hand.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Well that's it, right, Like it's not there's no way
you can be funny, or that you would even want
to be funny, but that does not diminish people's need
to feel good, especially in that moment.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
And I knew a lot of people.
Speaker 5 (11:21):
I mean, there was talk like maybe we shouldn't go
on the air and play a best of no for
a number for two reasons we should be there for them,
but also a best of is, you know, hopefully a
show of yucks. You know, it's not a yucky thing,
yeah yeah, yeah, or a yuck up thing. And so
we did the show. We used a lot of network feeds,
of course from ABC, and so you know, just getting
(11:44):
the latest, getting latest. Then we'd come back and we'd
do our thing and just be supportive and and and
let them know that we're feeling the same thing they felt.
So for better, for worse, we got through it. And
I remember this, and this is just a personal thing
for me. I remember we said our goodbyes. I said,
(12:04):
be good humans. I took off my headphones, I put
them down. We were all of the whole staff was
just exhausted because working and this is going on. Yeah,
I got up. I walked out of the studio down
the hallway to the program director's office. And the program
director at the time was the lovely, the talented, the beautiful,
(12:27):
the big hearted read a while, yeah we got to
have her on the show sometimes. But I walked into
her office and she was just sitting at her desk
and she's, you know, sad and being emotional physically, just
like down like this.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
And I sat down on her couch. Didn't say a
word to her. She didn't say a word to me,
and I started bawling my eyes out, exhausted, but I
hadn't bawled that hard since I was like five, and
I just couldn't stop crying because of what has happened
(13:02):
to in the world. It was shattering for so many
of us.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Well, I really appreciate you sharing that story. I mean,
I know this. Maybe other people don't know this who
are just used to you making them laugh all the time,
and there are millions of those people. But I also
I know and love about you that you're a softy.
You've got a heart a mile wide and not but
you could be born without a heart and still be
(13:27):
deeply impacted by the events of that day that are
still far reaching to this day in the ways that
they have impacted far reaching.
Speaker 5 (13:36):
So I'll tell you, well, why don't we take a
little break, and when we come back, we're going to
be talking to someone that not experiencing from the fringe
like all of us, millions and millions all over the
world did. But he was directly involved in it, and
in his experience, the experience that he had being directly
involved in it, he did something that I do only
(14:01):
was life changing for him, but life changing for millions
and millions of people.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Oh wow, hook Okay, that's I mean, that's a powerful Hok.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
You guys are really hook right.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
We're hug all right, stick around We'll be right back
of a bigger kill, the big big we will thank you,
(14:35):
suck and Brian Phelps.
Speaker 5 (14:38):
We are back, Yes, we are, Trake Halloway, all right,
you're ready for this? Yeah, let's do it, okay, quick setup.
Due to the United States airspace being shut down following
the nine to eleven attacks, our guest today spent five
days stranded with many many other airline passengers in the
small Canadian town of gam Under, Newfoundland.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
And because of that experience that he went on to
become the founder of Pay It Forward nine to eleven.
We welcome, honored to welcome Kevin Turf.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
keV.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
How are you doing, Hi, Kevin? Thank you for joining.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Us, Thank you for having me. It's great, it's an
honor to be here.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Tell us about Gander. First of all, how big is it?
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Back in two thousand and one when I arrived there unexpectedly,
it was a population of about nine thousand people, and
over the course of a few hours, thirty eight jumbo
jets land, and all of a sudden they've got they
basically double their population with seven thousand unexpected refugees.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Unbelievable. So where were you headed to initially before your
flight was diverted and you wound up in Gander.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
I was flying directly into New York City airspace. I
was finishing a European vacation. Took off from Paris, France,
in the morning of September eleventh, and back then they
had the one TV monitor over the over the ceiling
with the with the flight path. And so we're over
the ocean, a couple of hours out before we should
(16:10):
be ready to land in New York, and all of
a sudden there's a sudden drop in elevation and when
you're over the ocean, that's not cool. And then a
bank to the.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Right an explanation at this point.
Speaker 5 (16:24):
Not yet.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
And so all of a sudden I look up at
the monitor and we're changed course, flying to the North Pole.
It looks like, you know, what's going on. I thought, well,
maybe we're just taking a weird route to get back
to New York. And then finally we were on an
Air France flight, and so the pilot came on the
PA and first in French said something. Something didn't understand,
(16:47):
but he said the word terrorism in English, and we
saw the flight attendants like gasp, and then a couple
of minutes later and broken English says, due to a
terrorist attack in the United States, we'll be landing in Gander.
And that was it.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Wow, And I'm just a guess. I'm just a guess here,
But you had never been to Gander previous to this.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
I honestly, even after we landed for hours, I wasn't
sure what country we were in. Are we in Iceland?
Are we in Canada?
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Right?
Speaker 2 (17:17):
I had never heard of Newfoundland.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
But I mean to get that announcement, and that's all
the announcement you got due to a terrorist a terrorist attack,
We're going to land in Gander, and you that's like, what.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Tell me more or something? And you didn't know they
wouldn't when did they?
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Well it was hours later. I mean we uh. And
of course I have to remind you ourselves that like
nobody had you know, there was no internet on the plane.
There was no you know, I had a cell phone,
but no one had international coverage back then. And so
even after we landed, it was we got little blips
of information, but it probably wasn't until about one o'clock
(17:57):
local time when the pilot came on the PA again
and it said, you know, the World Trade centers collapsed
and what you know, the Pentagon was hit, you know,
and we're like what what? And nobody wanted to believe it.
It was like or of course it seemed impossible, but
we couldn't verify it. I couldn't. I tried to contact,
(18:20):
you know, my parents, and who I knew would They
would be worried. They knew I was slinging into New
York that day. You could not get through. And so
a long story short, we did not see it with
their own eyes for twelve hours when we finally arrived
at a community college which became a refugee shelter.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
So that was my next question. I presumably you stayed
on the tarmac for a while or in the plane,
and then and then what fifteen hours on the plane?
Speaker 1 (18:45):
The plane, I'm.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Guessing the peanuts were gone after about the first thirty minutes.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
But then, yeah, they kept replaying movies and but the
only good part was they kept playing us with every
little mini bottle of liquor that they had.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Wow, South the ambient in.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
A wheelbarrow exactly. So okay, so fifteen hours on the plane,
then they get you off. What is your first experience
of arriving in Gander, You're looking around, what's happening? Where
do they take you?
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Well, it was I'll never forget when I you know,
there it becomes late night, you know, it's now seven
eight o'clock a night, and look, I've got a seat
on the plane over the wing window seat, and so
I look out and I see this long line of
school buses and they're coming down the runway. Yeah, and
(19:34):
that's when it hit me that they've been preparing all
day to help us get off the planes.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
So the first thing, you know, now, years later, looking
back at all this, the first thing you have to
even question is like, this is a it's a tiny airport.
There's like, you know, there was not room for any
more than one plane. Now they've got thirty eight jumbo jets. So,
but the first thing they did was the mayor decided
that they would let us in to their community, into
their country. They let us into their homes and their schools.
(20:05):
And so we get off the plane and we walk
into the terminal and it is like a party has
just erupted. There are people that have brought in Kentucky
fried chicken and boxes of donuts and sandwiches and bottled
water and things, and there is take what you want free, you.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Know, just and presumably no customs checks or any of
that stuff.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Now there was there was, There was very, very very
They were very they were concerned that there might be
terrorists on some of those planes, so they there was
a long line to get through security. And then I
managed to get to the one or two of the
payphones that they had. I called my parents collect and
they answered, and I heard their voice. I cried and
(20:46):
they cried, and I said, I think I'm in you know,
Nova Scotia, Like, no, you're not. We've we've tracked you.
You're in Gander, Newfoundland.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
And probably thinking even then at that point for a
little while like well I'll be here for a matter
of hours, you know, or but but those hours turned
into literal days, right.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Right right, And so yeah, we knew finally when the
pilot let us office said, your we don't know where
they're taking you, we don't know what they'll have, so
take you could only you couldn't even take your luggage
because they were worried about And so what we did
was we took the pillows that back when they had
pillows on planes, took the pillows up the planes and
(21:28):
the only thing we had in our overhead compartment were
two bottles of grey Goose vodka that we bought at
the Doody free shop in Paris, which came in really
handy and uh, and then a camera and I had
a video camera. I started documenting what was going on
there and.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
They you were led to where initially.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Well, so the next thing, you know, they're like, hurry,
get some food, get on the school bus now, and
like okay, and then so we start. The school bus
takes off and we're driving in we it's it's in
the middle of a forest. You know, there's nothing there
is super dark. Yeah, it was a little bit anxious.
They didn't even say we're taking you to the College
(22:09):
of the North Atlantic, which is a very nice community
college there, and they didn't say how long of a take,
And they actually took a route which was the quickest
way there. But if we had gone through the town,
it would have made me feel a little bit better,
like they had. There was a Walmart there and there
was you know, fast food restaurants and things, and but
we went through the back road. Basically it was the
(22:30):
quickest way to the college. And so anyway, finally walked
into this community college and they had television set up
for you know, all that they canceled school for the
next day. Volunteers had come in. They pushed back all
of the chairs in every classroom because that's where they
knew we would be sleeping in the classrooms of that college.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
I mean, this is extraordinary, and it's I'm sure it
was less in the moment. I'm sure when they weren't
telling you where you were going initially or whatever, I'm
sure it was less about withholding information and more about
these people in this small town just trying to react
as quickly as possible and mobilized to help a large
number of people from all over the world try and
(23:10):
feel safe.
Speaker 5 (23:11):
Right, So thus begins the change your life moment that
you experience this kindness. And not just for an hour
when you got off the plane to get a bucket
of chicken, but it went on for days and days
and days. And the small community, these these I don't
(23:31):
know how many people. How large is Gander, you.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Said about nine thousand, about.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Nine thousand small, small and they just banded together. They
there's a.
Speaker 5 (23:42):
Million things they could have been doing, you know, but
they came together to help those in need. And this
is when you saw something that kind of started your
pay it Forward nine to eleven.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
It kind of inspired it correct.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Yeah, So what like just a couple other examples that
were just sort of mind blowing was that, you know,
they they opened up at the college. They because they
knew we wanted to talk to our families and our offices,
and so they opened up their phones and so people
we ran up a thirteen thousand dollars phone bill. I
learned when I was writing. I was writing my memoir
(24:19):
Channel at Peace, Strandon, Gander and IGHLIGHTA. So I like,
how much did all those phone calls? Thirteen thousand dollars?
And we tried is like, can we give you money
for the call? No? No, no, you would do the same.
They kept saying like, oh, I don't know, we probably
would find a way to prop it off. And you know,
another time, were we finally just after one thing they
(24:39):
didn't have the college was showers, and so by day
three were we stink, we need a shower, we need
to change of clothes. So we hear there's a Walmart there.
So my partner Kevin and I we head out, We're
walking down the street and all of a sudden, because
it's like two miles away, it was a beautiful day,
the car pulls over, rolls down the window. Hey what
are you doing? Like, oh god, we're sorry. Well you know,
(25:00):
we're we're just visitors. And they're like, well, hop in,
we'll give you a ride. Like, you know, I don't
know about you guys. My mom always said, never get
into a car a stranger.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
I won't even get into a car with Brian, So
you smart to do that.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
So this happened three times and like so finally, you know,
we said, like, I think we better get out. We're
never going to get there. And so we met this
nice couple, chat up them up. They take us to
the walmart. You know, offered to give them some money
for gas going out of the way. No, no, you
would do the same. That kept saying, what they're talking
about is the Golden rule, the rural treat others like
(25:35):
you want to be treated. And I came back to Austin, Texas,
where when I finally it took us seven days. Finally,
the whole trip, it took seven days to just to
get home. But when I did. I wondered, would we
do the same with a small town in Texas? Would
they do the same with even a big town? It
was like Austin would would we do the same? And
(25:57):
it was It wasn't so much that that some people
helped out. It was that everybody helped. There was not
a stove in Gander that was not turned on cooking food.
They I mean from some There was one man I've
become a good friend with. His job was to wake
up at four in the morning and make toast.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Who was organizing this? Kevin? Who who kind of organized
all this?
Speaker 5 (26:18):
Were there like certain leaders of the community or because
this is a lot of organization, which who picked that
guy to make toast at four o'clock in the morning.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
They just it was the old fashioned foam tree they
you know, like at the community college. The president like said, okay,
we need you need everybody, everybody to help out and
just get up here to the school. And and the
part that I will never forget was when so it's
now midnight. I finally we're watching television these terrible images
(26:49):
and I've I had a credit card, I could have
bought a hotel room. There's only three hotels in this town, Okay,
and those had to be used for the flight cruise.
So for the first time in my life, I had
to rely on the kindness of a stranger to give
me a pillow to put my head. And so at midnight,
a young teenage boy walks in there with two pillows
(27:11):
an inflatable air mattress, and I thought, man, I want
to sleep on air mattress instead of the cold tile floor.
This is a classroom, and so I go get it,
and I just got choked up. Yeah, I said thank you,
and he's like, you bet and turns around. He leaves,
and you know, I no idea. He probably never got
his pillow back. I don't know. But it's just really powerful.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
I mean very powerful, very powerfully inspiring, and it inspired
all kinds of different things. And by the way, if
for starters, if the story sounds at all familiar, it
may be because if you're watching or listening, maybe you've
seen the Tony Award winning musical Come from Away, which
is based on a variety of these true stories from
those days in Gander, including Kevin's. By the way, there's
(27:54):
actually a character in the play named Kevin T who
I think is at least in part based on you.
But it not only inspired Tony Award winning Broadway musical,
it inspired you directly to create Pay It Forward nine eleven.
Can you tell us more about that vision and what
you have set forth to do since?
Speaker 2 (28:15):
So, because people kept saying, no, you can't pay us back,
you can't do it, I said, I can't pay it back.
Someone I borrow an idea from the film Pay It Forward.
And so I had a company in Austin at the time,
and we had about forty staff. So onto the morning
of September eleventh, in the first anniversary two thousand and two,
(28:36):
I closed the doors to my office and I handed
out one hundred dollars bills, paired people up in teams
of two, and said, go take this out and spend
this money in the community anyway you want, and then
come back and let's talk about it and see how
it goes. Honestly, I wasn't sure if the staff would
be into it or not, but they were, and they
came back because they went out with the assignment to
(28:57):
tell people, remember we said we would never forget the
lives that were lost, but then to also tell the
story about what happened to their boss who had this
better side of humanity experience, and so you know, people
started buying, you know, cups of coffee. One team went
and bought a savings bond for a single mother who
gave birth to a child who was born on nine
(29:18):
to eleven, and just it went on and on and
on and finally over. We weren't doing it for publicity,
but people found out about it and then they wanted
to get involved and do something too, And so it
became a way for people to say, rather than just
watching those images of the planes hitting the towers. Every year,
this becomes a tradition where people go out and do
(29:40):
at least three good deeds for strangers and then ask
that person to do the same, and so it does
create a ripple effect. And long story short. Now we
are on our twenty third annual attempt at this this year,
and we now do we have a national board of director's
and we have a events in Washington and d C.
(30:03):
And New York City, Austin, Texas, where I was from,
and Kansas City. And last year we had people in
forty five states and twelve countries that pledge to do this.
Speaker 5 (30:15):
You inspire audiences around the world with this talk, and
I love the name of it, the ripple effect of compassion,
which focuses on kindness of strength to strangers, immigrants and refugees,
not the people that are in our lives, not our
family you're going to get that, not our friends, but
people that are strange, strangers to you, that maybe think
(30:40):
different than you, maybe they look different from you. But
to be maybe it's not always going to work, but
you'll get positive reactions many more times than negative. But
to just pay it forward to someone that you don't know.
And that's the important thing behind.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
This, right, and you were so right that unfortunately over
the years, you know, in a time before hashtags two
thousand and two, man, we were all saying united, we stand.
It was everywhere as pervasive, and now we could not
be farther from that, and we are so siloed. And
people will tell me like, oh, well, yeah, I would
(31:19):
do what they did in Gander, you know, in my neighborhood,
but not the other neighborhood where those people live, you know,
or you know, people like they want to help their
neighborhood or their religion or their community, but not not
not their other country.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
You know.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
So in Gander they had people from ninety countries that
they allowed in, even some from Middle Eastern countries that like,
so there was great reason to be concerned, but they
took a chance. The mayor told me say, we weren't
going to let you rot on those planes and where
people need help and you help them.
Speaker 5 (31:54):
And the people stepped up. They really stepped up, like
you said, not just a few of them, but most
all of them.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Right, wow, Well, really, would you tell us a little
bit more about some of the different kinds of random
acts of kindness that you guys get rolling every year
and and let us know when when things sort of
kick off for you this year in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Yeah, thank you. So I'll just say it multiple times.
Please go visit our website at pay it Forward nine
to one one dot org and we're asking people to
register their pledge. It's free, but just tell us where
you're going to do some sort of good deed. And
what we have now is we open it up so
it's not just on September eleventh, but we say we
(32:40):
have eleven days of Kindness campaign and asking people to
do those three good deeds. That way we can get
more schools involved, more churches, businesses, and so there are.
And the great part about it is it's it's whatever
is up to someone's imagination and to develop what they
want to do. But I was one of my favorite
(33:02):
stories actually took place back in Canada. Canada participates in
this too. You know, they're the people who are the
kindness superstars. So the Broadway company come from away. They
when I in twenty sixteen, I stepped down for my company,
also had nobody to help me pull this off. And
(33:23):
so I went to the producers and I said, hey,
will you continue my tradition? And they said sure. So
they gave one hundred dollar bills to the cast and
the crew and the band of every production all around
the world. And so they go out and do good
deeds for strangers and then they come back and talk
about it at the end of one of their following
shows the next night. And so but this one, so
(33:45):
this was an actor and a stage manager. They were
paired together in Toronto, Canada, and they each got one
hundred dollars bill from the producers and they said, you know,
we could probably do something on our own too. So
they pulled out one hundred each one hundred. So now
the one hundred dollars orth three hundred dollars, and they went.
There was a woman who kept bringing her classes to
(34:05):
see the show from northern Ontario names Peg, and so
Peg agreed to organize a pay it Forward event for
her entire grades one through eight. And so she takes
three hundred dollars and buys three hundred dollars worth of carnations,
gives them out to the kids. The kids write little messages.
Remember we said never forget pay it Forward nine to eleven,
(34:28):
puts the little messages on each little carnation, hands them
out to the kids. The kids go out into the community.
And so I get the report back the next day
that there's this one particular girl who she came back
and wrote an essay about her experiences. She and her
friend they went to a supermarket and so we saw
this lady and she looked like she was having a
(34:48):
terrible day, she said, and so we decided to give
her the flower. And the lady started to cry, and
so they said, she said, how much for the flower? No, no,
oh no, it's it's free. It's if you want to
do a good deed, you can pay it forward. And
she started to cry some more, and she said, you
have no idea how much this means to me. My
(35:11):
daughter died yesterday.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
Oh boy, wow wow.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
So then she goes back and she writes about in
an essay, you never know what people are going through,
so there ought to be more kind.
Speaker 5 (35:24):
Of course, you know, I'm sure you'll agree that if
you don't have one hundred dollars or two hundred or
three hundred dollars to pay it forward, there are all
kinds of ways you can endless ways you talk about
you have this term, and I love this term because
it's what I feel when I do something kind for someone.
(35:47):
And I think I mentioned earlier in the show or
some sometime. I'm always repeating myself. You may know this
already about me, but as long as you don't repeat it.
But it's selfish. It's a selfish thing that I want
that selfish because it makes me feel great, not about
I'm a hero, but it makes me feel great to
(36:08):
see the joy. So there are if you can't afford
one hundred dollars, there are many Just for instance, here's
here's something, and you might have a bunch of these
that that you, you all do. But I like to
recognize the people that feel invisible. The elderly walking down
(36:28):
the street. You can just tell by the look on
their face they got to get somewhere, they want to
go into the diner, get there, whatever, and then get home,
and nobody would say hi to them. So I always do. Again,
it doesn't always work out. Sometimes I get to look
like you were you gonna hit me just highway. I
look at you, yeah, the way most of the time,
(36:49):
and most of the time I do. But a bus boy,
a service guy, you know, any kind of maintenance, cleaning ladies,
and the list goes on and on and on. Just
the people that never get talked to, you, never be
never gets acknowledged. And that's a great way to pay it.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
For something that we should all be doing every day.
But Kevin, this is a concerted effort on your part
and the part of your organization for at the very
least in those eleven days leading up to the anniversary
of nine to eleven, like, let's really triple down on this.
Let's find our own creative, inventive ways to to bring
(37:28):
some joy to people, to spread these random acts of kindness,
and then let it exponentially increase for everyone I do
for you, you do three more for someone else, and so
on and so forth. It's a it's an extraordinary effort.
So yes, please, if you want to get involved in this,
the first stop should be to go to pay it
(37:50):
Forward nine to one one dot org. We're absolutely also
going to make a link on our website, be Good
Humans podcast dot com to the pay It Forward nine
one one dot org site. So definitely start there. Do
it year round people, that's what we're here to encourage
you to do in general.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
But absolutely it's like feeling it the Christmas spirit.
Speaker 3 (38:10):
Year round a little bit. Yeah, yeah, you.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
Always wish like Christmas is almost over. It's just been
so great. Everybody's so great.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
Yeah, you're yeah, you know, you're you're right, you're exactly
right about there is a feeling. And I did a
ted X talk called about the Helpers High the fact
that's the feeling that when you do this, you sense
this feeling of euphoria that lasts for several minutes.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
That's the term.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
And so then it's like, you know, being kind of
compassionate is like it is our muscle is our excuse me,
our brain is a muscle, and just like all muscles,
it needs to be trained, and so we can when
do you start doing these things? You know, just throughout
these eleven days, it starts to get you in the
habit and then what's amazing. In my book, I interviewed
(38:53):
other people who they started doing it at my company
and then like, for example, there was a husband of
one of my employees who he said, you know what,
I used to be a guy who I saw people
pulled over on the side of the road, and I
just I wasn't going to stop, you know, he said,
But now because of what you all got me to do,
now I stopped, and I just recently stopped. There's a
(39:14):
guy who ran out of gas, so I picked him up,
brought him to the gas station, wait for him to
get the gas can, and the gas brought him back
to his car. So he said, thank you.
Speaker 5 (39:23):
Yeah, I mean these are and you didn't even need
to thank you, but it felt great when you got
it right right exactly.
Speaker 3 (39:29):
These are great moments of humanity. I personally have three
takeaways here, Brian. Number one, I can't wait to go
to Gander, I really right. Number Two, if I travel anywhere,
I'm going to travel always with two bottles of gray
Goose in my luggage right for sure, and number and
number three. Wherever I go, I want to go with
Kevin Turf, because this is someone who has taken notice
(39:53):
of the good thing strangers did for you in the
wake of so much unimaginable tragedy and created something marvel
side of it. Truly has decided to pay it forward
literally by doing so many kindnesses of your own for others.
You are the absolute definition of a good human, Kevin,
and we cannot thank you enough for taking the time
to join us today to tell us your story and
(40:14):
most importantly, to tell us about pay it forward. Nine
to eleven.
Speaker 5 (40:17):
And I should tell you, Kevin, that usually wouldn't we
have We have guests every show, but usually when when
they haven't come in and they're on like a zoom
situation like you are, we usually send them a very nice,
be good human's hat. Yes, but for you, a handle
a handle of grey.
Speaker 3 (40:35):
Gooslada with a mug depart in.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
You deserve it, yes, fantastic. Well, thank you for the
opportunity and thank you for sharing this effort. And we
do hope that everyone, especially in California, yeah, really want
to get more participation.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
Extremely well done, Kevin.
Speaker 6 (40:53):
Thank you a pleasure meeting you, absolutely, thank you a bill.
Speaker 3 (41:04):
We will take you suck. I think I think we
were both worried about that one a little bit.
Speaker 5 (41:09):
Well only because obviously of the subject matter and the
way we like to present our show with fun and lightheardness.
And again, twenty percent of our episodes will probably be
a little heavy subjects, Yeah, a little heavy. Seventy percent,
eighty percent will be you know, just fun and lighthearted.
But but yes, we were worried about it. We were concerned, like,
(41:30):
how do you know, hey, let's talk about.
Speaker 3 (41:34):
Yeah, right, because even after twenty three years, I mean,
it brings back a lot of dark and painful memories
for everybody. But the thing about it is when you
reframe it the way Kevin is doing as a reason
to do random acts of kindness, it gives people all
kinds of hope, which which I know is basically what
we are hoping to do with this show. Yeah, we
(41:56):
want to entertain people absolutely, so you know, let's let's finish.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
I love your summation, Go.
Speaker 3 (42:01):
Ahead, entertain people just for a second.
Speaker 1 (42:05):
I can tell you that, uh, this was entertaining to me, Yes,
all right, in a.
Speaker 5 (42:12):
Topic that it's not obviously a fun topic to do.
And he was wonderfully amazing, a great speaker and had
a sense of humor and nola.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
But at this top I think we were both concerned
as we talked him earlier about how do we make
this a little more like we like the show?
Speaker 5 (42:28):
So he mentioned greg Guz vodka a couple of times
in the early part of the episode, and I wrote down,
I don't know if you can see this greguz vodka,
because that's going to be my big finish.
Speaker 1 (42:39):
I'm going to do a joke about that as soon
as as soon as Trey gets done, you know talking,
I'm gonna a big finish, big punch, and we're gonna
have a great time. He'll laugh. It's going to be great.
So I'm like, I'm bady, wait for two.
Speaker 5 (42:56):
We're gonna great go And then you mentioned it like, oh,
but this is the entertaining part because both of us
oh sensitive, you know, to trying to make this as
fun as possible as well as dealing with what was
going on.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
We were both looking for the big finish. Yes, yeah,
I mean to bring with your fault. I mean it
was like we I didn't know you had thought of it.
You didn't know I had thought of it.
Speaker 3 (43:19):
Right to bring it full circle, it was like the
comedy version of me and three other cars full of
people pulling over at the same time to sort of
try and help. Exactly, we're both of that. That's agreed.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
So I think, you know, maybe in the in the future,
we'll just do this, but I'll do it really subtlely.
I'll do subtle like this.
Speaker 3 (43:38):
Or you'll just say out loud, great ghosts. All right.
In the meantime, do us a favorite. Go visit our
website at Big in Humans podcast dot com, where you
absolutely will find a link for the pay It Forward
nine to one one dot org. Uh, but also where
you can tell us, and please do this. Tell us
about the good humans in your lives, people that you
(43:58):
think we should meet that would be good for us
to talk to. Also, give us your best pointers on
how to be a good human. We could always use
a few of those. Uh, there's is there anything else? No,
there's not speaking while we're behind.
Speaker 5 (44:10):
We're gonna go get a gray goose and we're gonna
enjoy that right now.
Speaker 1 (44:15):
Is there a grant.
Speaker 5 (44:16):
Do you know if there's a I mean, really seriously
celebrate the wonderful show.
Speaker 3 (44:20):
Yeah, we're gonna go find it. Yeah, we're gonna find it.
Speaker 5 (44:22):
Do you think he'd mind if I get well, Kevin's
not hearing us, right, No? Do you think Kevin in
mind if I get a kettle one?
Speaker 1 (44:27):
Because you know I like it better than I'm right
there with you? Are you really?
Speaker 3 (44:31):
Yeah? Wow? I am?
Speaker 4 (44:32):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (44:32):
And then we're gonna go get in a drink, and
you guys do as a favor. Be Good Humans. Bye bye.
Be good Humans. Be good Humans.
Speaker 5 (44:44):
Good humans, or we will think you sucked.
Speaker 3 (44:48):
Be Good Humans is executive produced by Brian Phelps, Trey Calloway,
and Grant Anderson, with associate producers Sean Fitzgerald and Clementine
Callaway and partnership with straw Hut Media.
Speaker 1 (44:57):
Please like, follow, and subscribe, and remember, be Good Humans.
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