August 21, 2025 • 40 mins
Tyrus Thomas is quietly revolutionizing youth development in Winchester, Virginia. As president of both the Youth Development Center (YDC) and Winchester Rising Stars, his visionary leadership has transformed these organizations while maintaining their core mission of community service.
The conversation begins with exciting news about YDC's relocation to downtown Winchester at 302 South Loudoun Street (the former Perk Fitness building). This strategic move solves one of their biggest challenges—accessibility. "For a while, it was just always a challenge to try to get a bus out to our location," Tyrus explains. Now centrally located, the facility provides walkable access for youth throughout the community, particularly those without transportation options.
What makes Tyrus's approach remarkable is his balanced vision of both youth development and community building. The YDC has evolved from solely youth programming to becoming a true community center offering activities for all ages. While maintaining a "youth first" philosophy, they've expanded to include programs like pickleball and tai chi for seniors alongside e-sports, art classes, and basketball for young people. This intergenerational approach strengthens community bonds while maximizing their impact.
Fundraising innovation has been another hallmark of Tyrus's leadership. Their signature "Pig and Pork" bourbon tasting event demonstrates how adult-focused fundraising can coexist with youth programming, creating a family-friendly environment that doubled their revenue simply by virtue of their downtown location. These resources directly support making programs affordable and accessible to all income levels.
Beyond his YDC work, Tyrus manages an impressive portfolio of personal businesses—including a vending machine company, lawn care service, party bus rental, and auto detailing—while coaching basketball at Handley High School. This entrepreneurial spirit infuses his nonprofit leadership with practical business acumen.
Perhaps most inspiring is Tyrus's collaborative philosophy. "I ain't gotta be the smartest person in the world," he reflects, "I just gotta be around people who are just as smart or smarter than me." This humility has fostered partnerships with organizations like Hood Love and Teams Inc., creating a support network far more powerful than any single organization could provide.
Looking for ways to support your community's youth? Visit the Youth Development Center downtown or consider volunteering with one of the many partner organizations making Winchester a better place for all generations.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
I was ready, bro.
It's a hindrance.
Silence is cassette, so letyour voices be heard, man, we
brothers with opinions.
Now we spreading the word,Bringing light to the dark
Revolution is our art man a lotof people talk, but they ain't
never walked apart.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Gotta shine a light on poverty and fight against
injustice and always speak thetruth.
Hey, Chris, what's up?
What's going on, fam?
How's everything tonight?
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Good, good, we're back here, Brothers, with
Opinions, and we got a specialguest, tyrus Thomas, the
president of the YDC here inWinchester Virginia.
So Tyrus welcome.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
Thank y'all for having me yeah man no problem, I
greatly appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah, definitely excited to have you on, man.
I know he says Tyrus.
Man, you know me, I'm going tobe a hype guy.
I'm going to be real.
That's my man, citrus, rightthere.
Mr Loris fed me back in the day.
That's real people.
Man, tyrus, you do big things.
We're excited to have you on.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Thanks man, I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Yeah.
So, tyrus, you want to tell alittle bit about myself.
I'm from Winchester, I own acouple businesses.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
I coach at Hanley High School, the JV head coach,
president of Winchester RisingStars, president of the YDC.
So I've been with the YDC nowsince 2018.
I've been a part of the youthdevelopment.
Yeah, I've been there that longas a part of it.
So just try to be a communityguy where I can be.
(01:54):
So that's a little bit about me.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
How long have you been with the Rising Stars?
Speaker 4 (02:03):
I've been with the Rising Stars.
This I've been with the RisingStars.
This is my seventh year.
No so president for seven years.
I've been with the Rising Starsfor eight years altogether, but
I've been the president forseven.
Nice and October will be sevenyears.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
And how many years have you been in Hanley?
I've been at Hanley.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
This is going into my sixth year Basketball coach at
Hanley.
I also coached under Eric's.
I've known for girls for a year.
So you learned from the greatEric Green huh.
Eric is a great coach.
Eric is still a mentor.
Mr Dixon, I a mentor, mr Dixon.
(02:47):
I'll reach out to Mr Dixon if Ihave some challenging things as
well when it comes to thecoaching front, sometimes just
the life front.
You know, I learned a lot fromMr Dixon, learned a lot from
Eric.
Eric and I still talk often.
So it's those things and likewe will continue to talk, but
Eric and I are competitors, um,and we got to compete against
(03:11):
each other, but he's always likethe big brother, like we just
talk about life.
We don't even talk aboutbasketball half the time.
Right, sometimes we do, but notmost of the time.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Gotcha.
Okay, uh Ty.
So I'll start off the questionshere.
We'll get to the YDC, becausethat's why you're on here, right
?
So I know they got a newfacility, correct, new?
Speaker 4 (03:31):
location.
Yes, that was the excitingthing For a while.
For us at the YDC, it was justalways a challenge to try to get
a bus out to our location.
We could never since I've beenon the board, like I said, since
(03:53):
2018, we could never get a busstop at our location.
So we had the dream of, youknow, just having kids in the
building, and we had anopportunity to get downtown.
At first we had actually twoother locations that we were
looking at, on the north endactually but those locations
(04:14):
fell through.
But we wanted to try to be justdowntown, kind of like the old
team center, right Like wherekids can walk to it.
So that was our dream.
So when we had the opportunityto look at some places, my
executive director, nancy, shefound this.
(04:34):
She found the place we're innow, and when she showed it to
me on the computer, I said wegot to go look at it.
So we looked at it multipletimes with different board
members and now we're in thebuilding, in the building.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Where's the exact location at.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
So the exact location is 302 South Loudoun Street.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
So for most people it was the mall.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Yeah, so it's a block away from the walking mall.
So if you're, it's the old PerkFitness building.
It was Jones Furor home back inthe 60s, so it's right of
catacord.
It's an Italian touch.
The big old parking lot thatbacks up to Cameron Street as
(05:19):
soon as you go down the hill.
If you look to the left, that'sour building.
So we were able to acquire that.
We were able to acquire thehouse and the garages that went
along with it.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Do you guys have a gym in that building?
Speaker 4 (05:34):
So we have three racquetball courts currently
there at the facility.
The goal and what we're workingon is putting a full-size gym
in there, not full-size likeHanley's Gym, like court-size.
We're talking about court-size,as a college court-size gym is
(05:58):
our desire, so something likeSU-size.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
No, not building.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
The building itself is big, but we're not looking to
go as big as Shenandoah, wejust want the size of the court
to be that big, yeah, yeah, 94feet 94 feet.
So that would be.
Our big hope is to have that.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Yeah, that's dope man .
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Nice you guys have what Art and dance classes in
there going on Like some trunkor treat things coming up.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Yeah, those are the exciting things.
It was harder to do that stuffat our other facility.
Obviously, we had the big gymsand all that stuff, but the
trunk or treat and all thatstuff, with the big parking lot
and all that stuff and beingdowntown, you get it was more
right, so you get a lot moreengagement with the community
(06:55):
being downtown.
Now, we just had a.
It was called a pig and pork.
It's one of our fundraisers.
We probably, from last year tothis year, doubled the amount of
money we made just by beingdowntown, so it was a blessing
for us.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Some of the guests we have on next week for the show.
I think they're part of yourorganization with that big and
poor.
I think they're actually onthat board on that board.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
So one year before COVID I had people over at my
house and we had a bourbontasting and Andy Vipperman was
over there with us.
And then after we came out ofCOVID, andy and I was like, why
don't we take that and try to doa fundraiser for the YDC?
And then Michael Partlowbrought him on board to help us
(07:51):
with it, because Michael Partlowhe's the treasurer and VP right
now.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
You have the YDC right.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
Yes, and then Andy just stepped down from the board
like literally, just like afterthe pig and pork, basically
he's going through a lot too manhe's dealing with a lot of
stuff, but he stepped down fromthe hall of fame and everything
like.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
Andy has great insight for a lot of different
things.
He knows a lot of people, so wewere able to grow it.
Each year we've done it, sothat was the exciting thing
about that.
Like I said, we just had thathere a couple of weeks, maybe
three weeks ago.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
And that's been a good fundraiser for you guys
right.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
Yeah, it's been our biggest fundraiser, so it was
pretty exciting.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Yeah, all right.
So since we're on that topic,what's your favorite whiskey?
Or like a little off topic,it's not off topic, if you're
talking about a pinion.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
Tyrus he's a connoisseur of tasting that
liquor yeah, so I mean, I have acouple different ones, but one
that you can it's a higher end,but you can get is EH.
Taylor, it's pretty smooth,that's liquor.
Yeah, it's a bourbon.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Yeah, yeah, never had that.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
I don't drink them more.
So yeah, I mean I don't.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
I'm not one to drink often, but yeah, when you do,
you like something nice andsmooth, right right, right,
right, right.
That's dope, y'all do that andit helps your community.
Man, like, regardless of howyou do it, like cause, I will be
honest, like if I'm firstlooking from the outside in, I'm
like liquor and roasting pigsfor the kids, like that's a
(09:43):
little different.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
But if that's what helps in this community, people
involved, and it really ishelping give back to your
community kids, that's dope manwell, what it does is it
basically lowers the cost ofevent, uh, for things for kids
to do, right, because we're notjust trying we're trying to
capture all kids right.
Like Like so low-income kidsthat can't afford it at all.
(10:06):
Like we're capturing it all.
Like we're not trying to leaveany kid out because we're a
community center.
Like we are actually rebrandingto not just a youth development
center but more to a communitycenter so we can have adult-type
paintings and all that stuff.
So we're going're glad you justtalked about, touched on.
One of the programs we have forkids is painting.
(10:29):
We're actually going to do thatfor adults as well too.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Is that going to be a sip and paint?
Speaker 3 (10:38):
No, no, no, no no.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
So that's not going to be that we're just.
You know, there's just a lot ofpeople.
If you go around, there's a lotof adults that need things too.
So like, at the old YDC we hadpickleball.
Frederick County Parks and Recdid pickleball.
For adults, we had tai chi.
(11:02):
It was an older group of folksthat would do Tai Chi at our
building.
So again, so like rebrandingand being a community center for
all and not we're still youthfirst.
But those are one of the thingsthat we would like to capture
and, especially, being downtown,want it to be for all.
(11:24):
So like, even when we had thepig and poor, we had things for
our kids all the time, like itwas a family event.
So inside we had, um, our, um,we got donated, uh, from the
elks club some nintendo switchesbecause we have e-sports there
as well um, and so the kids gotto do the e-sports and was able
(11:46):
to be in our gaming room.
So it wasn't just for adults,it was a family event.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Good Nice.
Do you take any inspirationfrom our caretaker days?
Speaker 4 (11:57):
I do, I do.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
That's just what I envisioned us to become, because
it seems like you have a lot ofthat in you too, like a little
June bug and stuff, and I knowwe didn't have so much adults
back then unless they was likekind of working and helping out.
But it seems like you have someof that in you.
So I was wondering and curiousif you was, you know, inspired
at all by those days when wegrew up in caretakers.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
Yeah, so, like one of the builders we was looking at
was right beside caretakersactually.
Um, so, yeah, um, it was undercontract so we couldn't get it,
unfortunately.
But, um, yes, caretakers, Ilike my senior year I did some
tutoring there help with allthat stuff.
So you know, Ms Gwynn, back inthe day we were able to get in
(12:44):
the gym.
It was like our firstexperience of really getting in
the gym all the time and beingable to play and having a place
to call hours as a group ofyoung kids where we could stay
out of trouble.
So that's what we're trying todo, Like it's trying to, for me,
caretakers slash the teencenter type vibe where kids just
(13:07):
had a place where they couldhave fun at, but also we got to
have a little learning behind itas well too.
So Wednesday night church weused to at the old YDC.
We had two different churchesthat were there.
We had one old YDC.
We had two different churchesthat were there.
We had one in the big gym, wehad one in our theater.
(13:29):
So it was cool that you couldget those different things, a
mix of things.
Right now we don't have that.
We're just we're just gettingin there.
We just got the blessing tochange the CEP to make sure we
could be a community centerthere.
We got that done, so yeah, Nice, tyrus.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
I got a question.
Yes, sir.
So, tyrus, what is yourleadership style?
How do you foster andcollaborative and support the
environment?
You know, the community andyour staff and volunteers at the
YDC?
Speaker 4 (14:09):
For me.
Like there Shaquille O'Nealsaid I ain't gotta be the
smartest people in the worldperson in the world, I just
gotta be around people who arejust as smart or smarter than me
.
So rather than yourself, orsmarter than me, yeah, so rather
self or smarter, yeah, likethere there's a lot of our board
(14:30):
is a lot of different folksfrom a lot of different walks of
lives and by that, likeeverybody has something,
something good to say in theroom.
So it does.
You know, you gotta allow themto do it, and then you gotta
allow the allow them to do it,and then you've got to allow the
younger folks to do it too,because they're more in touch
(14:52):
with the younger people and whatthey want to do, like the
eSports thing.
That wasn't anything the boardcame up with.
We had a former employee whowas going to Lord Fairfax for
eSports saying we should doesports.
We got connected with anotheremployee who helped us get
connected with Dave Gardner andthe Elks to get us a donation to
(15:17):
get this stuff running.
I connected with ScottBrathwaite, who was the esports
coach at Hanley, got him incontact with our executive
director.
Scott took over that and hebecame a board member at the
same time.
So it's like you just got toknow people really.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Shout out to Scott man when I was in fifth grade at
Frederick Douglass the newerone I was sick and missed a
whole week of school.
That kid, scott Brathwaite manhe showed up with his mom at the
newer one I was sick and missedmy like a whole week of school.
That kid, scott Brafway man heshowed up with his mom at the
Evans home man, and we ain'teven know each other that well,
but that was the kind of dude hewas man.
He showed up and showed me loveand I'll never forget that.
I'm like this dude, scottBrafway.
(15:58):
He's coaching at Hanley too.
Right, you're helping.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
Yeah, he was helping with football.
He was helping with football.
I'm not for sure.
I think he may have steppeddown, but he did last year.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
I know that was a little awful when you said his
name.
I'm like dude.
I'll never forget that littlestory that kid showed up.
Out of everybody that I wascool with, that guy showed up in
fifth grade at FrederickDouglass when I was in the Evans
home and brought whatever theybrought balloons or whatever
they brought.
But it was cool man.
So I ain't going to lie.
Shout out to you, scott, thatwas dope.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Right, okay, tyron.
So what I know?
You don't want to give awaymuch, but what is your?
You know the YDC's plans.
Upcoming plans say your goalsfor the next one to three years.
Where do you want to?
Speaker 4 (16:46):
be.
We want people to know who weare.
Like I told people I made thisstatement as old as the YDC is
is as new as we are, too,meaning we've been around for a
very long time but we were onthe outskirts.
So even the new people thatmoved in who you know, not
(17:12):
necessarily going to outskirtsreally don't know who the YDC is
and all that stuff.
Some people don't even knowthat our name is the youth
development center.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Right, it's the young dance club, right.
So?
Speaker 4 (17:27):
now that we're coming downtown and then there's more
people going to be able to seewho we are and different things
like that, I think our quickestthing to do is want to get in
front of as many people aspossible.
So we have, like, differentcommittees now our marketing
committee, our programscommittee, all that stuff.
(17:48):
We have a great marketingcommittee.
These folks are in marketingfor their lives and different
things like that, so they'reknown to start and market us in
a way that gets us in front ofmore people and folks like that.
So that is our short-term goal.
Our long-term goal would be tobe the place that every kid
(18:10):
wants to be and to have our gymin place.
That's the goal.
But you know, the landscape ofthe world is ever-changing, so
we try to stay on top of that bymaking sure that youth are
involved in the conversationswith that as well too.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Okay, how do you involve the youth, honestly,
well?
Speaker 4 (18:39):
we involve the youth from different points of views.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
I should say I'm sorry.
Decision-making no um, I shouldsay I'm sorry.
Like you know, make decisionmaking.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
No, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So it was cool, like the oneyear.
Um, we uh task MichaelPartlow's uh daughter and a
couple other folks, because wedon't we, when we employ, we
usually employ some youth kidsand then some adults.
It's a mix of it so we gettheir input.
So, like this summer, we hadKian and then we had Isaiah.
(19:16):
So Kian Omer and Isaiah Baxter,along with some college folks,
do our summer fest.
So we let them come up with theprogramming had to be approved,
but we let them come up withthe programming and the ideas to
make sure we have theconnections that are needed for
the youth.
So, because it makes it betterthe things that we liked as as
(19:41):
us growing up, it's not whatkids necessarily appreciate this
day and age all the time.
Now they still love thekickball, they still love the
wiffle ball.
All that stuff's never going togo away, right?
So no crap soccer or nothinglike that.
Right Well there's differentthings that we did and that they
had fun with, but those arethings that Isaiah and the Keons
(20:05):
and all them had to puttogether.
One of the people that wasreally great who led it was
Gracie.
Gracie did a great job ofleading us in that aspect as
well, too.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Okay, nice, I mean, I love you, know you guys get the
youth involved and get theiryou know input and ideas,
because that definitely helps.
Yes, it has to.
And then so what is thecenter's philosophy on youth
development and how is itreflected in the program's offer
?
Speaker 4 (20:39):
Well, we just started with programming again.
It took us a while.
I mean to be honest with yougetting out of again um, it took
us a while.
I mean to be honest with yougetting out of covid.
It took us.
We had a few programs but wedidn't have like the programs
that we wanted.
We just got a?
Uh, a new program director, um,and, uh, lindsey browning.
(21:01):
And Lindsay Browning she'sphenomenal.
She teaches at SU dance.
She's a, she's an artist.
I'm like Lindsay she's rightnow has artwork in Crate and
Barrel, so she is really doingbig things.
(21:23):
So Crate and Barrel is selling.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Y'all have that store in Winchester.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
So there's a but like she got with the I ain't gonna
lie, I didn't hear about thatstore until like two years ago.
Y'all have that down there,yeah.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
So she got contracted .
She's a great artist.
She got contracted, her workwas put out there.
It's great.
So she became my programdirector and she's connected
with different people at SU andaround the community like her
and Jaden.
They did the handling.
They were the people who didthe handling 100, like the
(21:59):
marketing and all that stuff forthat Taking the pictures.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
You said Jaden.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
Yeah, Jaden Cyber Mm-hmm yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
So, like you know, you really connect with all your
people.
Man, that's dope.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Yeah, so like just getting connected with all those
folks and you know it's easy toget them to do the programming,
so you leave that stuff to themLike I don't, I ask them, do
they need help?
But you know that's not mystruggle to figuring out the
programming and all that stuff.
You know what I mean.
(22:32):
I have a stepson and he's, youknow, in college, a junior.
And then after that I coachbasketball right like so you
coach a lot of basketballprograms, yeah, but I'm just
saying like getting those otherpeople who are, who can touch um
(22:54):
that stuff, and then themarketing folks, like I said
before, they make sure thatwe're in everything that the
city's doing now, like with thethings downtown.
We're there, so it's prettyamazing.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
I'm excited to come and check you out when I get
back in town.
Man, that's dope man.
I'm glad you guys are downtowntoo, because, like you said,
there's way more people that cancome and be a part of the
community, especially peoplethat are underprivileged.
That helps a lot.
Caretakers you know wherecaretakers was, so that helps a
lot to have people from thatside of the town to be able to
(23:34):
be there more frequently.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Yes, that leads to one of my questions about the
youth.
How do you guys help, I guess,to say underprivileged youth,
low-income families and stufflike that?
Speaker 4 (23:50):
Well, we partner with folks, right, like, everything
costs money, right, at the endof the day, things cost money,
but that's why you have thosefundraisers, that's why you gain
partnerships, that's why youuse other nonprofits to support
each other.
I tell you, for me, one of thepartners that I like the most.
(24:19):
We have a lot of partners, butone I appreciate the most is
Hood Love most.
We have a lot of partners, butone I appreciate the most is
hood love because we partner andwe partnered a lot, um, for
different events and differentthings like that, and our
mission is the same as everybodyelse's mentioned.
Who's dealing with the youth?
I just have a greatappreciation for anybody who is
volunteering to help in anycapacity, right, because, like
(24:45):
right now, life is life at theend of the day.
So, like, how do you take yourfree time and dedicate it to
make somebody else's life easier?
So, anybody who's doing that, Iappreciate you for doing that,
because it's not something thatall people are willing to do.
So, like, just connecting withdifferent nonprofits.
(25:08):
Like in our building, we haveJohnny Craig.
Johnny Craig is a great partnerof ours.
He rents some space at the toppart of our building for teams
Inc.
And tech.
So for some troubled youth anddifferent things like that,
johnny know how to connect withthose kids in a way that not
most people can.
So you also got to have a spacefor them.
(25:31):
So joining them have done agreat job and they've been a
great partner.
It went from our old space toour new space with us.
So you know, just making sureyou're partnering with the
people, make sure like we'rekind of on the same page on how
we need to deal with the youth,but you can do it in your own
(25:52):
style and so like that, thatJohnny's been great to us too.
We've been great to him.
It's just something that workshand in hand to him.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
It's just something that works hand in hand.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
So can you name a few of your partners that we've
partnered with?
Like I said, teens Inc.
Tac partnered with Hood Love.
We've partnered with FrencherCounty as well.
Frencher County used our oldfacility for summer camp.
They did the pickleballs,different things like that.
(26:29):
We're looking to partner withsome other folks and how we
connect with them.
So we have a lot of differentpartners that we look to.
You know reach even more nowthat we're downtown.
Reach even more now that we'redowntown, because when the YDC
was built, it was built as anonprofit to support other
(26:50):
nonprofits.
Right, okay, so we still havethat's still a part of our
foundation is how can we helpothers?
But those are things that willcontinue to dude.
How can we grow, how can wesupport others at the end of the
(27:11):
day?
Speaker 3 (27:11):
Now, are there any schools getting involved?
Speaker 4 (27:16):
Before I got on the board, dr Van Heuselen was an
advisor of our board.
We also just had Ms NatalieJarameta.
She was on our board.
She just retired from our boardlast year, but yeah, like we
get those connections with thatas well too Okay.
(27:40):
I'm just kidding, because I'venever, seen like any school
shadows.
Yeah, like we connect with a lotmore folks than with people,
especially with the schoolsystem, with people.
But for us, like we're juststarting out in a new space,
Like we had to get approval tohave people in a building.
(28:00):
We had to get an approvalprocess that it goes through, so
that took a couple months.
So like that stuff is, whenyou're moving and have to get
like building permits changedand all that stuff, it just
takes time.
So like we wasn't able to getin front of like the school
right away Now at this newlocation, the way we want to,
(28:23):
because we had to wait like wewere at a pause.
So but that stuff is.
There's conversations that willbe had.
We just had our strategic.
We have a strategic planningmeeting that we had at the end
of July on what we want to do.
(28:43):
So we will move forward withthat strategic plan.
So there's things in the works.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
All right, you don't want to give anything out?
Not too much.
What's in the works?
Speaker 2 (28:58):
I got something that's in the works.
I'm not giving it all awayWorking with my favorite
non-profit, which obviously isthe Class of 2000.
Thank you, Robert Fowler andAshley Pitts.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
I think that could be a good thing for both parties
involved.
Hopefully you know what I mean.
I would definitely speak up forboth.
Speaker 4 (29:21):
Yeah, you know.
Over at the Evans home you knowthat the court's about to be
redone over there.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
You know that the one that you was at back in the day
when it got dedicated.
Speaker 4 (29:40):
So when it got dedicated to you guys, so, um, I
was reached out to him to golook at the court and condition
it was in and what I thoughtneeded to happen for the court
yeah, because they turned itinto a skate park for a while
yeah so, but the court's aboutto.
Um, there's uh people that areabout to start redoing your
(30:04):
court over there at the add-inshome.
Um, like I said, I had to giveinput on what I think needed to
change for for that court, right, and so it's about.
It's about to happen, man, foryou like.
I literally just went therelast month I'll be fired.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
No lie, I've always had a dream of one day being
able to afford to come back andfix it up and make it real nice.
But that's dope.
If you were really doingsomething, I'd be fired.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
I just was a consultant.
Speaker 4 (30:32):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so I'll figure it out.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
I was just a consultant on what needed to
happen for you guys but that'sstill.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
There's no flash, yeah, yeah yeah, there's no
flash.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Very commendable man Respect.
Speaker 4 (30:46):
Sorry, you didn't know, chris.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that'sawesome, exactly, that's awesome
.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Exactly that's what I'm saying.
Tyrus is on it.
Speaker 4 (30:53):
Yeah, man, I got reached out too, so I went over
there, checked it out and justlet them know what they needed
to do to make it right.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Nice yeah.
That's dope man, chris you gotany more questions for Tyrus?
I don't have too many dope man,so Chris you got any more
questions for Tyrus?
Speaker 2 (31:12):
I don't have too many questions, man.
You spoke very eloquently and,like you're doing your thing,
man, I'm proud of you.
I don't really got too manymore questions because we can go
into a whole lot of differentavenues and we don't need to do
that.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
Don't go down that road, I'm just proud of you for
real.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Tyrus, like keep doing your thing, man, keep
being a leader in the communityand helping give back.
Man, we appreciate you and eventhough I'm a far away from you
right now, I see it, man, andit's not a lot of people like
you, man, I'm proud of you,thank you man Can't say it
enough.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
I greatly appreciate it.
I just wanted to.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
And you two are the only two that, at the Hoops for
Hope, in the four years thatit's happened so far, have been
honored.
That weren't so-calledbasketball legends.
Speaker 4 (31:56):
Awesome, correct.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Because you guys give back and do for the community
man.
But Tyrus, you do big things,man, Keep going, Thank you, sir.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
I just wanted to give you your flowers, tyrus,
because I think the world of youknow you might not know that,
but I do.
World of you know you might notknow that but I do sometimes be
bickering what?
But hey you, you was there atthe hospital for when I was in
my surgery, like one of the fewthat showed up.
You know you're a good dude.
I just want everybody to knowthat because a lot of people
think you know you got thatresting pissed off face.
(32:24):
I just, I just again the guyhe's a great, just Deep in
thought.
Speaker 4 (32:31):
How can I make the next move?
Yeah, I'm always deep inthought.
I'm just going from the Nextday, like you know, I'll get off
work, I'll go back to work LikeI mow grass.
I went to go check out abuilding For the new detailing
Business just started with ChadMoore and Tim Keeler, like.
(32:53):
So it's just go, go, go.
Plus, I had a board meetinglast night for the YDC.
It's like it's never ending.
But it's okay that it's neverending because I'm just
impacting people and I think youknow I had this guy in my life.
He said said you're not put onthis earth to have fun.
You're put on this earth tohelp people and impact people.
(33:15):
So, if you really think aboutit, most of us in our time of
need, we had to have somebodyelse along the way.
So that just tends to happenthat we need to be able to
support each other, and so youjust got to go get it.
Most of the times when peoplesee me, it's really more tired
than anything else that's cooltoo.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
We just want to give you a big thank you.
You're a great guy, thank you.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Keep doing your thing , man.
You really are crushing it, man.
I'm proud of you.
Speaker 3 (33:49):
Before we get off, I got to shout out Keep doing your
thing, man.
You really are crushing it, man.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
I'm proud of you.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
And we'll let you grab a little pro Before we get
off I got to shout out Sleazy.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
He just celebrated his 45th birthday.
Happy birthday, he did.
Speaker 4 (33:57):
He did, Mr Harris man congrats.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
You're doing big things over there at the
dealership.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
Tyrus, you want to shout out your businesses?
Oh wow, Go ahead.
If you want to let the peopleknow.
Speaker 4 (34:10):
So I own a vending machine business.
It's called TJT Vending.
I mow grass with other, but Ihave a party bus called Drive
you to Party and then justopening a section of detailing,
like I said, with Chad Moore andTim Keeler.
(34:33):
So just went to detail inschool.
Four businesses, yeah.
So I just went to detail inschool, yeah that doesn't
include Rising Stars.
That doesn't include RisingStars.
That doesn't include theWadding Sea.
That's six, that's dope man.
(34:53):
Yeah, so just the detailingbusiness.
It's exciting because I justwent all the way to like I did.
I did detailing in college.
It was a part of uh, jermaineand I.
We never lived on a rapid.
We never lived on campus so likewe always had an apartment,
jermaine and I worked full-timewhile we were in college and I
(35:15):
detailed cars on the side.
And then when I went and workedfor Enterprise, I did detailing
, I did cleaning of their cars.
We didn't really detail cars,we just cleaned cars.
So the things I didn't knowwhat.
I knew how to buckle car, Ididn't know how to do paint
correction, so I just went toschool for paint correction and
(35:36):
ceramic coating and I went allthe way to basically where
Spooky Nook is at.
It was in the same Mannheim, pa, right there where the biggest
auto auction is to detail andwork.
So I learned a lot.
I got my certifications in thatand we're ready to rock.
We got some cars to do thisweekend.
(35:58):
We did some cars last weekend.
We're just ready to go.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
man Well, I might have to get my car in there, hey
, bring it.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
I mean if you can't support each other's businesses,
man, that's a tough day, andthat's a thing support each
other.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
You just touched on that earlier.
Yeah, everybody.
Support each other.
Speaker 4 (36:16):
Like you know, at the end of the day, like you're not
going to be able to toucheverybody, everybody's not going
to like your personality, butthere's somebody that's going to
like the other person'spersonality and there's multiple
businesses out there, there'smultiple organizations out there
(36:36):
.
Pick what's best for you andthat's cool.
Like I think sometimes itbecomes more than what it needs
to be, but I think the morepeople go and really celebrate
each other, study each other, Ithink that's the thing that you
(36:59):
should really look at into andso I think that's it for me.
That's it At the end of the day, as long as you work and you're
taking care of your family, andthen, if you can support
organizations, support thoseorganizations.
They really need the help.
These nonprofits, they do needthe help to do the good work for
(37:24):
the communities.
Speaker 3 (37:26):
Right, love it, man, love it.
Hey, I appreciate you havingyou, having you know, having you
on today and hey, best of luckto you and all your business
adventures so I'll definitely.
I'll definitely support you Ialready got you more my loan no,
but that's real.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
A lot of y'all need to support man.
Don't sit back and be like Iwish I had my grass cut or I
could get my car detailed andstuff and then don't act upon it
.
Somebody like tyrus is outthere trying to ground and feed
his family and help other peoplein the community.
Go support that young man andgo support everybody else in
your community that does.
That helps give back.
And if you can't help give back, at least support the others
that can.
(38:04):
Tyrus keep doing your thing.
And no lie, tony, you know Ican't leave this part out
because you fumbled a little bit.
Speaker 3 (38:10):
I'm always hyped.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
Here we go.
Tyrus and I grew up from thedays of the Little League, Jets
baby.
Speaker 3 (38:18):
Oh God, yes, it did.
Oh, my God, jeez, sorry, artthe.
Falcons sucked my boy, we werejust undisciplined and horrible.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
Sorry, javon, no, I just love Javon.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
Spencer, we had the talent, but we just couldn't win
.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
Definitely a great show man, Exciting and fun to
have you on Tyrus.
Wish you nothing but the best.
Winchester, the wholesurrounding area, man, you guys
go support them and do more forthe community yourself, man,
Give back show love, that's whatit's about.
Tyrus is one of the ones thatlead by example.
I love it, and everybody.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
please subscribe to our YouTube channel please.
It's free.
Yeah, it takes two seconds.
All right everybody.
Tyrus enjoyed having you on.
Thank you, that's the show fortoday.
We'll catch everybody nextSunday.
1994 State Champs Hanley Champson next Sunday.
Everyone, we're scheduled atSunday because that's when we
(39:17):
can get all the guys together.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Yeah, ain't going to lie.
Tyrus and Wayne and all of themshould start a pig roast that
day just to have fun with it.
Speaker 3 (39:26):
All right Chris, all right man.
Y'all be safe man.
All right man, all right Chris,all right man, y'all be safe
man.
All right man, all right man.
I'll see you next Thursday.
All right man, all right man,all right man, all right man,
all right man, all right man,all right man, all right man,
all right man, all right man.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
All right, man, all right, but then you must
comprehend.
Outro Music.
I was ready, bro.
It's a hindrance.
Silence is cassette, so letyour voices be heard, man, we
brothers with opinions.
Now we spreading the word,Bringing light to the dark
Revolution is our art man a lotof people talk, but they ain't
never walked apart.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Gotta shine a light on poverty and fight against
injustice and always speak thetruth.
Hey, Chris, what's up?
What's going on, fam?
How's everything tonight?
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Good, good, we're back here, Brothers, with
Opinions, and we got a specialguest, tyrus Thomas, the
president of the YDC here inWinchester Virginia.
So Tyrus welcome.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
Thank y'all for having me yeah man no problem, I
greatly appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah, definitely excited to have you on, man.
I know he says Tyrus.
Man, you know me, I'm going tobe a hype guy.
I'm going to be real.
That's my man, citrus, rightthere.
Mr Loris fed me back in the day.
That's real people.
Man, tyrus, you do big things.
We're excited to have you on.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Thanks man, I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Yeah.
So, tyrus, you want to tell alittle bit about myself.
I'm from Winchester, I own acouple businesses.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
I coach at Hanley High School, the JV head coach,
president of Winchester RisingStars, president of the YDC.
So I've been with the YDC nowsince 2018.
I've been a part of the youthdevelopment.
Yeah, I've been there that longas a part of it.
So just try to be a communityguy where I can be.
(01:54):
So that's a little bit about me.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
How long have you been with the Rising Stars?
Speaker 4 (02:03):
I've been with the Rising Stars.
This I've been with the RisingStars.
This is my seventh year.
No so president for seven years.
I've been with the Rising Starsfor eight years altogether, but
I've been the president forseven.
Nice and October will be sevenyears.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
And how many years have you been in Hanley?
I've been at Hanley.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
This is going into my sixth year Basketball coach at
Hanley.
I also coached under Eric's.
I've known for girls for a year.
So you learned from the greatEric Green huh.
Eric is a great coach.
Eric is still a mentor.
Mr Dixon, I a mentor, mr Dixon.
(02:47):
I'll reach out to Mr Dixon if Ihave some challenging things as
well when it comes to thecoaching front, sometimes just
the life front.
You know, I learned a lot fromMr Dixon, learned a lot from
Eric.
Eric and I still talk often.
So it's those things and likewe will continue to talk, but
Eric and I are competitors, um,and we got to compete against
(03:11):
each other, but he's always likethe big brother, like we just
talk about life.
We don't even talk aboutbasketball half the time.
Right, sometimes we do, but notmost of the time.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Gotcha.
Okay, uh Ty.
So I'll start off the questionshere.
We'll get to the YDC, becausethat's why you're on here, right
?
So I know they got a newfacility, correct, new?
Speaker 4 (03:31):
location.
Yes, that was the excitingthing For a while.
For us at the YDC, it was justalways a challenge to try to get
a bus out to our location.
We could never since I've beenon the board, like I said, since
(03:53):
2018, we could never get a busstop at our location.
So we had the dream of, youknow, just having kids in the
building, and we had anopportunity to get downtown.
At first we had actually twoother locations that we were
looking at, on the north endactually but those locations
(04:14):
fell through.
But we wanted to try to be justdowntown, kind of like the old
team center, right Like wherekids can walk to it.
So that was our dream.
So when we had the opportunityto look at some places, my
executive director, nancy, shefound this.
(04:34):
She found the place we're innow, and when she showed it to
me on the computer, I said wegot to go look at it.
So we looked at it multipletimes with different board
members and now we're in thebuilding, in the building.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Where's the exact location at.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
So the exact location is 302 South Loudoun Street.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
So for most people it was the mall.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Yeah, so it's a block away from the walking mall.
So if you're, it's the old PerkFitness building.
It was Jones Furor home back inthe 60s, so it's right of
catacord.
It's an Italian touch.
The big old parking lot thatbacks up to Cameron Street as
(05:19):
soon as you go down the hill.
If you look to the left, that'sour building.
So we were able to acquire that.
We were able to acquire thehouse and the garages that went
along with it.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Do you guys have a gym in that building?
Speaker 4 (05:34):
So we have three racquetball courts currently
there at the facility.
The goal and what we're workingon is putting a full-size gym
in there, not full-size likeHanley's Gym, like court-size.
We're talking about court-size,as a college court-size gym is
(05:58):
our desire, so something likeSU-size.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
No, not building.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
The building itself is big, but we're not looking to
go as big as Shenandoah, wejust want the size of the court
to be that big, yeah, yeah, 94feet 94 feet.
So that would be.
Our big hope is to have that.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Yeah, that's dope man .
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Nice you guys have what Art and dance classes in
there going on Like some trunkor treat things coming up.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Yeah, those are the exciting things.
It was harder to do that stuffat our other facility.
Obviously, we had the big gymsand all that stuff, but the
trunk or treat and all thatstuff, with the big parking lot
and all that stuff and beingdowntown, you get it was more
right, so you get a lot moreengagement with the community
(06:55):
being downtown.
Now, we just had a.
It was called a pig and pork.
It's one of our fundraisers.
We probably, from last year tothis year, doubled the amount of
money we made just by beingdowntown, so it was a blessing
for us.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Some of the guests we have on next week for the show.
I think they're part of yourorganization with that big and
poor.
I think they're actually onthat board on that board.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
So one year before COVID I had people over at my
house and we had a bourbontasting and Andy Vipperman was
over there with us.
And then after we came out ofCOVID, andy and I was like, why
don't we take that and try to doa fundraiser for the YDC?
And then Michael Partlowbrought him on board to help us
(07:51):
with it, because Michael Partlowhe's the treasurer and VP right
now.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
You have the YDC right.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
Yes, and then Andy just stepped down from the board
like literally, just like afterthe pig and pork, basically
he's going through a lot too manhe's dealing with a lot of
stuff, but he stepped down fromthe hall of fame and everything
like.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
Andy has great insight for a lot of different
things.
He knows a lot of people, so wewere able to grow it.
Each year we've done it, sothat was the exciting thing
about that.
Like I said, we just had thathere a couple of weeks, maybe
three weeks ago.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
And that's been a good fundraiser for you guys
right.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
Yeah, it's been our biggest fundraiser, so it was
pretty exciting.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Yeah, all right.
So since we're on that topic,what's your favorite whiskey?
Or like a little off topic,it's not off topic, if you're
talking about a pinion.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
Tyrus he's a connoisseur of tasting that
liquor yeah, so I mean, I have acouple different ones, but one
that you can it's a higher end,but you can get is EH.
Taylor, it's pretty smooth,that's liquor.
Yeah, it's a bourbon.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Yeah, yeah, never had that.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
I don't drink them more.
So yeah, I mean I don't.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
I'm not one to drink often, but yeah, when you do,
you like something nice andsmooth, right right, right,
right, right.
That's dope, y'all do that andit helps your community.
Man, like, regardless of howyou do it, like cause, I will be
honest, like if I'm firstlooking from the outside in, I'm
like liquor and roasting pigsfor the kids, like that's a
(09:43):
little different.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
But if that's what helps in this community, people
involved, and it really ishelping give back to your
community kids, that's dope manwell, what it does is it
basically lowers the cost ofevent, uh, for things for kids
to do, right, because we're notjust trying we're trying to
capture all kids right.
Like Like so low-income kidsthat can't afford it at all.
(10:06):
Like we're capturing it all.
Like we're not trying to leaveany kid out because we're a
community center.
Like we are actually rebrandingto not just a youth development
center but more to a communitycenter so we can have adult-type
paintings and all that stuff.
So we're going're glad you justtalked about, touched on.
One of the programs we have forkids is painting.
(10:29):
We're actually going to do thatfor adults as well too.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Is that going to be a sip and paint?
Speaker 3 (10:38):
No, no, no, no no.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
So that's not going to be that we're just.
You know, there's just a lot ofpeople.
If you go around, there's a lotof adults that need things too.
So like, at the old YDC we hadpickleball.
Frederick County Parks and Recdid pickleball.
For adults, we had tai chi.
(11:02):
It was an older group of folksthat would do Tai Chi at our
building.
So again, so like rebrandingand being a community center for
all and not we're still youthfirst.
But those are one of the thingsthat we would like to capture
and, especially, being downtown,want it to be for all.
(11:24):
So like, even when we had thepig and poor, we had things for
our kids all the time, like itwas a family event.
So inside we had, um, our, um,we got donated, uh, from the
elks club some nintendo switchesbecause we have e-sports there
as well um, and so the kids gotto do the e-sports and was able
(11:46):
to be in our gaming room.
So it wasn't just for adults,it was a family event.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Good Nice.
Do you take any inspirationfrom our caretaker days?
Speaker 4 (11:57):
I do, I do.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
That's just what I envisioned us to become, because
it seems like you have a lot ofthat in you too, like a little
June bug and stuff, and I knowwe didn't have so much adults
back then unless they was likekind of working and helping out.
But it seems like you have someof that in you.
So I was wondering and curiousif you was, you know, inspired
at all by those days when wegrew up in caretakers.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
Yeah, so, like one of the builders we was looking at
was right beside caretakersactually.
Um, so, yeah, um, it was undercontract so we couldn't get it,
unfortunately.
But, um, yes, caretakers, Ilike my senior year I did some
tutoring there help with allthat stuff.
So you know, Ms Gwynn, back inthe day we were able to get in
(12:44):
the gym.
It was like our firstexperience of really getting in
the gym all the time and beingable to play and having a place
to call hours as a group ofyoung kids where we could stay
out of trouble.
So that's what we're trying todo, Like it's trying to, for me,
caretakers slash the teencenter type vibe where kids just
(13:07):
had a place where they couldhave fun at, but also we got to
have a little learning behind itas well too.
So Wednesday night church weused to at the old YDC.
We had two different churchesthat were there.
We had one old YDC.
We had two different churchesthat were there.
We had one in the big gym, wehad one in our theater.
(13:29):
So it was cool that you couldget those different things, a
mix of things.
Right now we don't have that.
We're just we're just gettingin there.
We just got the blessing tochange the CEP to make sure we
could be a community centerthere.
We got that done, so yeah, Nice, tyrus.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
I got a question.
Yes, sir.
So, tyrus, what is yourleadership style?
How do you foster andcollaborative and support the
environment?
You know, the community andyour staff and volunteers at the
YDC?
Speaker 4 (14:09):
For me.
Like there Shaquille O'Nealsaid I ain't gotta be the
smartest people in the worldperson in the world, I just
gotta be around people who arejust as smart or smarter than me
.
So rather than yourself, orsmarter than me, yeah, so rather
self or smarter, yeah, likethere there's a lot of our board
(14:30):
is a lot of different folksfrom a lot of different walks of
lives and by that, likeeverybody has something,
something good to say in theroom.
So it does.
You know, you gotta allow themto do it, and then you gotta
allow the allow them to do it,and then you've got to allow the
younger folks to do it too,because they're more in touch
(14:52):
with the younger people and whatthey want to do, like the
eSports thing.
That wasn't anything the boardcame up with.
We had a former employee whowas going to Lord Fairfax for
eSports saying we should doesports.
We got connected with anotheremployee who helped us get
connected with Dave Gardner andthe Elks to get us a donation to
(15:17):
get this stuff running.
I connected with ScottBrathwaite, who was the esports
coach at Hanley, got him incontact with our executive
director.
Scott took over that and hebecame a board member at the
same time.
So it's like you just got toknow people really.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Shout out to Scott man when I was in fifth grade at
Frederick Douglass the newerone I was sick and missed a
whole week of school.
That kid, scott Brathwaite manhe showed up with his mom at the
newer one I was sick and missedmy like a whole week of school.
That kid, scott Brafway man heshowed up with his mom at the
Evans home man, and we ain'teven know each other that well,
but that was the kind of dude hewas man.
He showed up and showed me loveand I'll never forget that.
I'm like this dude, scottBrafway.
(15:58):
He's coaching at Hanley too.
Right, you're helping.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
Yeah, he was helping with football.
He was helping with football.
I'm not for sure.
I think he may have steppeddown, but he did last year.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
I know that was a little awful when you said his
name.
I'm like dude.
I'll never forget that littlestory that kid showed up.
Out of everybody that I wascool with, that guy showed up in
fifth grade at FrederickDouglass when I was in the Evans
home and brought whatever theybrought balloons or whatever
they brought.
But it was cool man.
So I ain't going to lie.
Shout out to you, scott, thatwas dope.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Right, okay, tyron.
So what I know?
You don't want to give awaymuch, but what is your?
You know the YDC's plans.
Upcoming plans say your goalsfor the next one to three years.
Where do you want to?
Speaker 4 (16:46):
be.
We want people to know who weare.
Like I told people I made thisstatement as old as the YDC is
is as new as we are, too,meaning we've been around for a
very long time but we were onthe outskirts.
So even the new people thatmoved in who you know, not
(17:12):
necessarily going to outskirtsreally don't know who the YDC is
and all that stuff.
Some people don't even knowthat our name is the youth
development center.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Right, it's the young dance club, right.
So?
Speaker 4 (17:27):
now that we're coming downtown and then there's more
people going to be able to seewho we are and different things
like that, I think our quickestthing to do is want to get in
front of as many people aspossible.
So we have, like, differentcommittees now our marketing
committee, our programscommittee, all that stuff.
(17:48):
We have a great marketingcommittee.
These folks are in marketingfor their lives and different
things like that, so they'reknown to start and market us in
a way that gets us in front ofmore people and folks like that.
So that is our short-term goal.
Our long-term goal would be tobe the place that every kid
(18:10):
wants to be and to have our gymin place.
That's the goal.
But you know, the landscape ofthe world is ever-changing, so
we try to stay on top of that bymaking sure that youth are
involved in the conversationswith that as well too.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Okay, how do you involve the youth, honestly,
well?
Speaker 4 (18:39):
we involve the youth from different points of views.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
I should say I'm sorry.
Decision-making no um, I shouldsay I'm sorry.
Like you know, make decisionmaking.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
No, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So it was cool, like the oneyear.
Um, we uh task MichaelPartlow's uh daughter and a
couple other folks, because wedon't we, when we employ, we
usually employ some youth kidsand then some adults.
It's a mix of it so we gettheir input.
So, like this summer, we hadKian and then we had Isaiah.
(19:16):
So Kian Omer and Isaiah Baxter,along with some college folks,
do our summer fest.
So we let them come up with theprogramming had to be approved,
but we let them come up withthe programming and the ideas to
make sure we have theconnections that are needed for
the youth.
So, because it makes it betterthe things that we liked as as
(19:41):
us growing up, it's not whatkids necessarily appreciate this
day and age all the time.
Now they still love thekickball, they still love the
wiffle ball.
All that stuff's never going togo away, right?
So no crap soccer or nothinglike that.
Right Well there's differentthings that we did and that they
had fun with, but those arethings that Isaiah and the Keons
(20:05):
and all them had to puttogether.
One of the people that wasreally great who led it was
Gracie.
Gracie did a great job ofleading us in that aspect as
well, too.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Okay, nice, I mean, I love you, know you guys get the
youth involved and get theiryou know input and ideas,
because that definitely helps.
Yes, it has to.
And then so what is thecenter's philosophy on youth
development and how is itreflected in the program's offer
?
Speaker 4 (20:39):
Well, we just started with programming again.
It took us a while.
I mean to be honest with yougetting out of again um, it took
us a while.
I mean to be honest with yougetting out of covid.
It took us.
We had a few programs but wedidn't have like the programs
that we wanted.
We just got a?
Uh, a new program director, um,and, uh, lindsey browning.
(21:01):
And Lindsay Browning she'sphenomenal.
She teaches at SU dance.
She's a, she's an artist.
I'm like Lindsay she's rightnow has artwork in Crate and
Barrel, so she is really doingbig things.
(21:23):
So Crate and Barrel is selling.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Y'all have that store in Winchester.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
So there's a but like she got with the I ain't gonna
lie, I didn't hear about thatstore until like two years ago.
Y'all have that down there,yeah.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
So she got contracted .
She's a great artist.
She got contracted, her workwas put out there.
It's great.
So she became my programdirector and she's connected
with different people at SU andaround the community like her
and Jaden.
They did the handling.
They were the people who didthe handling 100, like the
(21:59):
marketing and all that stuff forthat Taking the pictures.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
You said Jaden.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
Yeah, Jaden Cyber Mm-hmm yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
So, like you know, you really connect with all your
people.
Man, that's dope.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Yeah, so like just getting connected with all those
folks and you know it's easy toget them to do the programming,
so you leave that stuff to themLike I don't, I ask them, do
they need help?
But you know that's not mystruggle to figuring out the
programming and all that stuff.
You know what I mean.
(22:32):
I have a stepson and he's, youknow, in college, a junior.
And then after that I coachbasketball right like so you
coach a lot of basketballprograms, yeah, but I'm just
saying like getting those otherpeople who are, who can touch um
(22:54):
that stuff, and then themarketing folks, like I said
before, they make sure thatwe're in everything that the
city's doing now, like with thethings downtown.
We're there, so it's prettyamazing.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
I'm excited to come and check you out when I get
back in town.
Man, that's dope man.
I'm glad you guys are downtowntoo, because, like you said,
there's way more people that cancome and be a part of the
community, especially peoplethat are underprivileged.
That helps a lot.
Caretakers you know wherecaretakers was, so that helps a
lot to have people from thatside of the town to be able to
(23:34):
be there more frequently.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Yes, that leads to one of my questions about the
youth.
How do you guys help, I guess,to say underprivileged youth,
low-income families and stufflike that?
Speaker 4 (23:50):
Well, we partner with folks, right, like, everything
costs money, right, at the endof the day, things cost money,
but that's why you have thosefundraisers, that's why you gain
partnerships, that's why youuse other nonprofits to support
each other.
I tell you, for me, one of thepartners that I like the most.
(24:19):
We have a lot of partners, butone I appreciate the most is
Hood Love most.
We have a lot of partners, butone I appreciate the most is
hood love because we partner andwe partnered a lot, um, for
different events and differentthings like that, and our
mission is the same as everybodyelse's mentioned.
Who's dealing with the youth?
I just have a greatappreciation for anybody who is
volunteering to help in anycapacity, right, because, like
(24:45):
right now, life is life at theend of the day.
So, like, how do you take yourfree time and dedicate it to
make somebody else's life easier?
So, anybody who's doing that, Iappreciate you for doing that,
because it's not something thatall people are willing to do.
So, like, just connecting withdifferent nonprofits.
(25:08):
Like in our building, we haveJohnny Craig.
Johnny Craig is a great partnerof ours.
He rents some space at the toppart of our building for teams
Inc.
And tech.
So for some troubled youth anddifferent things like that,
johnny know how to connect withthose kids in a way that not
most people can.
So you also got to have a spacefor them.
(25:31):
So joining them have done agreat job and they've been a
great partner.
It went from our old space toour new space with us.
So you know, just making sureyou're partnering with the
people, make sure like we'rekind of on the same page on how
we need to deal with the youth,but you can do it in your own
(25:52):
style and so like that, thatJohnny's been great to us too.
We've been great to him.
It's just something that workshand in hand to him.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
It's just something that works hand in hand.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
So can you name a few of your partners that we've
partnered with?
Like I said, teens Inc.
Tac partnered with Hood Love.
We've partnered with FrencherCounty as well.
Frencher County used our oldfacility for summer camp.
They did the pickleballs,different things like that.
(26:29):
We're looking to partner withsome other folks and how we
connect with them.
So we have a lot of differentpartners that we look to.
You know reach even more nowthat we're downtown.
Reach even more now that we'redowntown, because when the YDC
was built, it was built as anonprofit to support other
(26:50):
nonprofits.
Right, okay, so we still havethat's still a part of our
foundation is how can we helpothers?
But those are things that willcontinue to dude.
How can we grow, how can wesupport others at the end of the
(27:11):
day?
Speaker 3 (27:11):
Now, are there any schools getting involved?
Speaker 4 (27:16):
Before I got on the board, dr Van Heuselen was an
advisor of our board.
We also just had Ms NatalieJarameta.
She was on our board.
She just retired from our boardlast year, but yeah, like we
get those connections with thatas well too Okay.
(27:40):
I'm just kidding, because I'venever, seen like any school
shadows.
Yeah, like we connect with a lotmore folks than with people,
especially with the schoolsystem, with people.
But for us, like we're juststarting out in a new space,
Like we had to get approval tohave people in a building.
(28:00):
We had to get an approvalprocess that it goes through, so
that took a couple months.
So like that stuff is, whenyou're moving and have to get
like building permits changedand all that stuff, it just
takes time.
So like we wasn't able to getin front of like the school
right away Now at this newlocation, the way we want to,
(28:23):
because we had to wait like wewere at a pause.
So but that stuff is.
There's conversations that willbe had.
We just had our strategic.
We have a strategic planningmeeting that we had at the end
of July on what we want to do.
(28:43):
So we will move forward withthat strategic plan.
So there's things in the works.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
All right, you don't want to give anything out?
Not too much.
What's in the works?
Speaker 2 (28:58):
I got something that's in the works.
I'm not giving it all awayWorking with my favorite
non-profit, which obviously isthe Class of 2000.
Thank you, Robert Fowler andAshley Pitts.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
I think that could be a good thing for both parties
involved.
Hopefully you know what I mean.
I would definitely speak up forboth.
Speaker 4 (29:21):
Yeah, you know.
Over at the Evans home you knowthat the court's about to be
redone over there.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
You know that the one that you was at back in the day
when it got dedicated.
Speaker 4 (29:40):
So when it got dedicated to you guys, so, um, I
was reached out to him to golook at the court and condition
it was in and what I thoughtneeded to happen for the court
yeah, because they turned itinto a skate park for a while
yeah so, but the court's aboutto.
Um, there's uh people that areabout to start redoing your
(30:04):
court over there at the add-inshome.
Um, like I said, I had to giveinput on what I think needed to
change for for that court, right, and so it's about.
It's about to happen, man, foryou like.
I literally just went therelast month I'll be fired.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
No lie, I've always had a dream of one day being
able to afford to come back andfix it up and make it real nice.
But that's dope.
If you were really doingsomething, I'd be fired.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
I just was a consultant.
Speaker 4 (30:32):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so I'll figure it out.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
I was just a consultant on what needed to
happen for you guys but that'sstill.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
There's no flash, yeah, yeah yeah, there's no
flash.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Very commendable man Respect.
Speaker 4 (30:46):
Sorry, you didn't know, chris.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that'sawesome, exactly, that's awesome
.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Exactly that's what I'm saying.
Tyrus is on it.
Speaker 4 (30:53):
Yeah, man, I got reached out too, so I went over
there, checked it out and justlet them know what they needed
to do to make it right.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Nice yeah.
That's dope man, chris you gotany more questions for Tyrus?
I don't have too many dope man,so Chris you got any more
questions for Tyrus?
Speaker 2 (31:12):
I don't have too many questions, man.
You spoke very eloquently and,like you're doing your thing,
man, I'm proud of you.
I don't really got too manymore questions because we can go
into a whole lot of differentavenues and we don't need to do
that.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
Don't go down that road, I'm just proud of you for
real.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Tyrus, like keep doing your thing, man, keep
being a leader in the communityand helping give back.
Man, we appreciate you and eventhough I'm a far away from you
right now, I see it, man, andit's not a lot of people like
you, man, I'm proud of you,thank you man Can't say it
enough.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
I greatly appreciate it.
I just wanted to.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
And you two are the only two that, at the Hoops for
Hope, in the four years thatit's happened so far, have been
honored.
That weren't so-calledbasketball legends.
Speaker 4 (31:56):
Awesome, correct.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Because you guys give back and do for the community
man.
But Tyrus, you do big things,man, Keep going, Thank you, sir.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
I just wanted to give you your flowers, tyrus,
because I think the world of youknow you might not know that,
but I do.
World of you know you might notknow that but I do sometimes be
bickering what?
But hey you, you was there atthe hospital for when I was in
my surgery, like one of the fewthat showed up.
You know you're a good dude.
I just want everybody to knowthat because a lot of people
think you know you got thatresting pissed off face.
(32:24):
I just, I just again the guyhe's a great, just Deep in
thought.
Speaker 4 (32:31):
How can I make the next move?
Yeah, I'm always deep inthought.
I'm just going from the Nextday, like you know, I'll get off
work, I'll go back to work LikeI mow grass.
I went to go check out abuilding For the new detailing
Business just started with ChadMoore and Tim Keeler, like.
(32:53):
So it's just go, go, go.
Plus, I had a board meetinglast night for the YDC.
It's like it's never ending.
But it's okay that it's neverending because I'm just
impacting people and I think youknow I had this guy in my life.
He said said you're not put onthis earth to have fun.
You're put on this earth tohelp people and impact people.
(33:15):
So, if you really think aboutit, most of us in our time of
need, we had to have somebodyelse along the way.
So that just tends to happenthat we need to be able to
support each other, and so youjust got to go get it.
Most of the times when peoplesee me, it's really more tired
than anything else that's cooltoo.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
We just want to give you a big thank you.
You're a great guy, thank you.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Keep doing your thing , man.
You really are crushing it, man.
I'm proud of you.
Speaker 3 (33:49):
Before we get off, I got to shout out Keep doing your
thing, man.
You really are crushing it, man.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
I'm proud of you.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
And we'll let you grab a little pro Before we get
off I got to shout out Sleazy.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
He just celebrated his 45th birthday.
Happy birthday, he did.
Speaker 4 (33:57):
He did, Mr Harris man congrats.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
You're doing big things over there at the
dealership.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
Tyrus, you want to shout out your businesses?
Oh wow, Go ahead.
If you want to let the peopleknow.
Speaker 4 (34:10):
So I own a vending machine business.
It's called TJT Vending.
I mow grass with other, but Ihave a party bus called Drive
you to Party and then justopening a section of detailing,
like I said, with Chad Moore andTim Keeler.
(34:33):
So just went to detail inschool.
Four businesses, yeah.
So I just went to detail inschool, yeah that doesn't
include Rising Stars.
That doesn't include RisingStars.
That doesn't include theWadding Sea.
That's six, that's dope man.
(34:53):
Yeah, so just the detailingbusiness.
It's exciting because I justwent all the way to like I did.
I did detailing in college.
It was a part of uh, jermaineand I.
We never lived on a rapid.
We never lived on campus so likewe always had an apartment,
jermaine and I worked full-timewhile we were in college and I
(35:15):
detailed cars on the side.
And then when I went and workedfor Enterprise, I did detailing
, I did cleaning of their cars.
We didn't really detail cars,we just cleaned cars.
So the things I didn't knowwhat.
I knew how to buckle car, Ididn't know how to do paint
correction, so I just went toschool for paint correction and
(35:36):
ceramic coating and I went allthe way to basically where
Spooky Nook is at.
It was in the same Mannheim, pa, right there where the biggest
auto auction is to detail andwork.
So I learned a lot.
I got my certifications in thatand we're ready to rock.
We got some cars to do thisweekend.
(35:58):
We did some cars last weekend.
We're just ready to go.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
man Well, I might have to get my car in there, hey
, bring it.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
I mean if you can't support each other's businesses,
man, that's a tough day, andthat's a thing support each
other.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
You just touched on that earlier.
Yeah, everybody.
Support each other.
Speaker 4 (36:16):
Like you know, at the end of the day, like you're not
going to be able to toucheverybody, everybody's not going
to like your personality, butthere's somebody that's going to
like the other person'spersonality and there's multiple
businesses out there, there'smultiple organizations out there
(36:36):
.
Pick what's best for you andthat's cool.
Like I think sometimes itbecomes more than what it needs
to be, but I think the morepeople go and really celebrate
each other, study each other, Ithink that's the thing that you
(36:59):
should really look at into andso I think that's it for me.
That's it At the end of the day, as long as you work and you're
taking care of your family, andthen, if you can support
organizations, support thoseorganizations.
They really need the help.
These nonprofits, they do needthe help to do the good work for
(37:24):
the communities.
Speaker 3 (37:26):
Right, love it, man, love it.
Hey, I appreciate you havingyou, having you know, having you
on today and hey, best of luckto you and all your business
adventures so I'll definitely.
I'll definitely support you Ialready got you more my loan no,
but that's real.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
A lot of y'all need to support man.
Don't sit back and be like Iwish I had my grass cut or I
could get my car detailed andstuff and then don't act upon it
.
Somebody like tyrus is outthere trying to ground and feed
his family and help other peoplein the community.
Go support that young man andgo support everybody else in
your community that does.
That helps give back.
And if you can't help give back, at least support the others
that can.
(38:04):
Tyrus keep doing your thing.
And no lie, tony, you know Ican't leave this part out
because you fumbled a little bit.
Speaker 3 (38:10):
I'm always hyped.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
Here we go.
Tyrus and I grew up from thedays of the Little League, Jets
baby.
Speaker 3 (38:18):
Oh God, yes, it did.
Oh, my God, jeez, sorry, artthe.
Falcons sucked my boy, we werejust undisciplined and horrible.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
Sorry, javon, no, I just love Javon.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
Spencer, we had the talent, but we just couldn't win
.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
Definitely a great show man, Exciting and fun to
have you on Tyrus.
Wish you nothing but the best.
Winchester, the wholesurrounding area, man, you guys
go support them and do more forthe community yourself, man,
Give back show love, that's whatit's about.
Tyrus is one of the ones thatlead by example.
I love it, and everybody.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
please subscribe to our YouTube channel please.
It's free.
Yeah, it takes two seconds.
All right everybody.
Tyrus enjoyed having you on.
Thank you, that's the show fortoday.
We'll catch everybody nextSunday.
1994 State Champs Hanley Champson next Sunday.
Everyone, we're scheduled atSunday because that's when we
(39:17):
can get all the guys together.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Yeah, ain't going to lie.
Tyrus and Wayne and all of themshould start a pig roast that
day just to have fun with it.
Speaker 3 (39:26):
All right Chris, all right man.
Y'all be safe man.
All right man, all right Chris,all right man, y'all be safe
man.
All right man, all right man.
I'll see you next Thursday.
All right man, all right man,all right man, all right man,
all right man, all right man,all right man, all right man,
all right man, all right man.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
All right, man, all right, but then you must
comprehend.
Outro Music.
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