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February 3, 2025 • 9 mins

Joe from Esurave and Ben from The Change for Good Challenge pop in the studio to discuss a 24 hour fundraising event happening on the Gold Coast from Saturday 21st Feb to raise money for Esuarve. Ben also spoke about his personal struggles with addiction and how he turned his life around.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, a new year to you. We're back, We're back.
You got married?

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Who would marry you?

Speaker 3 (00:09):
Come on, guys, come on, he probably had a long list.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
He's pretty actually a pretty amazing guy.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Yeah, I like Gaily right now. That works.

Speaker 4 (00:18):
We're connecting with all our friends of the show, so
you know, in the new year, and it's nice to
say welcome back to twenty twenty five and that we're
still on board the east Wave train and helping you
guys achieve all your goals. And you've brought in a
friend today and it's Ben because you guys are doing
a big fundraising challenge for Estwave, so we say hello

(00:40):
to you as well.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Ben, say hi to the Gold Coast.

Speaker 4 (00:43):
Everyone knows Joe now after Gaily's to the rescue, but
we don't know who you are, and we're going to
find a bit more out about you in a moment.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
But what's going on, Joe?

Speaker 5 (00:51):
Oh, Look, there's everything going on. It's an exciting year
for East Wave. Over the last four or five years,
we've really set our foundations and we've got a lot
of big goals and plans moving forward. But probably even
to start the year off, we've just signed a federal
contract to be able to build a couple of tiny
homes with our young people.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
We'll be able to put young people.

Speaker 5 (01:08):
That are homeless into these homes and then also provide
twenty four to seven wrap around support. So that's just
the start of our year, and our year is only
going to get better from here.

Speaker 4 (01:15):
Those homes, so they're going to be on the site
that we went to. So the kids will now because
when we were doing the Gaily to the Rescue, that
was the conversation that these kids are still some living
homeless and then they're building homes to sell to other
people and they haven't even got a home for themselves.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
Yeah exactly.

Speaker 5 (01:30):
So yeah, they will be up on our property that
we have and I think that's a beautiful thing of
doing Gaily to the Rescue is the witness that it
gave the community that there's an organization out there not
only doing something about the youth crime, but also putting
other preventative measures in place.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
And the housing is a big one. So it's really
exciting for us.

Speaker 6 (01:47):
So the wraparound support has basically been there for them
twenty four to seven.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
Yeah, after hours, Yeah, Yeah, it's great.

Speaker 4 (01:53):
So obviously we've got the new government in and we
were talking to you leading up to is everything coming
to fruition. We've got to keep everyone in respond and accountable.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
Yeah, great question.

Speaker 5 (02:02):
There's nothing on paper yet, however, David Christophullia, Laura Gouber.
They definitely keep it in contact with us. Only this
Wednesday coming up. I've got a big meeting to sign
up to be part of the early Intervention Plan. So
there's movement. We just need at you know, a signature
on the dotted line.

Speaker 6 (02:18):
We need the result like because for a long time
it has been a lot of talk, but now it's action. Yeah,
so it needs you need finality on the action.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
Right, Yeah. Absolutely.

Speaker 5 (02:29):
Look what I can say of DC is he's come
to the party with everything he said he's going to
for us, So jumping on here is only going to
put some more pressure on it.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
We're waiting, mate, We're waiting.

Speaker 4 (02:41):
You brought in Ben, and the two of you are
going to be doing a big challenge unlike anything before.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
Ben.

Speaker 4 (02:45):
You've got an interesting story. You're an ice addict for
many years.

Speaker 7 (02:48):
I was, Yeah, I was addicted to ice for eight years.
I was addicted to drugs and alcohol for fifteen years
in total. So I started selling drugs when I was
fifteen years old, moved that home very young, then started
smoking ice when I was eighteen years old, and the
next eight years my life probably looks like something you'd
expect to see on an Underbelly TV episode.

Speaker 6 (03:03):
Wow, you're only so young now?

Speaker 3 (03:04):
Thirty two?

Speaker 7 (03:05):
Yeah, so it was only two years ago that I
completely actually gave it all up, you know, turned my
life around and was able to actually use my story no,
how to help other people?

Speaker 2 (03:12):
And is that what you're doing with east One?

Speaker 4 (03:14):
How's the connection of what you guys are about to achieve,
which we'll hear in a moment, but how has your
connection come together?

Speaker 3 (03:20):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (03:20):
So with working with East Wave, I work with men
currently aged twenty five to forty five, and I had
an idea that, you know, instead of intervening with men
that are already struggling, how good would it be to
be able to prevent and work with younger men. And
then I heard about Joey and the work they were
doing at East Wave through a friend of ours, Marco,
who has more men a business here in Southport, and
we were looking at putting on a twenty four hour
endurance event just as a fundraiser because we'd like to

(03:42):
do a fundraiser once a year here and a few
of my mates that come from a similar background, and
we were struggling at the time to get our own charity.

Speaker 3 (03:50):
Across the line.

Speaker 7 (03:50):
And I had this number there for Joey and I
tried going in four or five times previously, and I
was literally about the cancel the event. We had everything aligned,
everything was working out, everything was ready to go apart
from our charity, and I was like, you know what,
I'm going to try and call this Joey buy again
And he answered on the first ring And that was
probably about.

Speaker 3 (04:04):
What two months three months ago? Yeah, And since then
it's been some smoth sailing.

Speaker 7 (04:07):
So absolutely very happy to be supporting Eastwave and the
work that they do with these young men and women
who were stuck in the cycle of youth crime and
be able to show these young men and women that
there's a whole community of people here that really care
about them, because for a lot of them, that's what
they're missing about life.

Speaker 4 (04:19):
What about you and your recovery, Like what turned the
corner for you to give it all up.

Speaker 3 (04:23):
There was a couple of turning points for me.

Speaker 7 (04:24):
So I actually came from a really good background, really
good family, and for me, it was a lack of
self worth that I found when I I guess I
started to find that self worth when I started taking
drugs because all of a sudden, I fit in. I
had people that I thought were my friends, right. I
really struggled to fit in from a young age. But
I was sitting in my prison cell. I think it
was the fifth or sixth time I was locked up,
So I was locked up six times. I did a
total of four years across that six times being locked up,

(04:47):
and I looked around and I saw the same people
that were coming in and out across this I think
it was about eighteen months I was locked up at
this point in time, and I saw the same people
coming out, coming in and out three or four times,
and I was like, look at these losers.

Speaker 3 (04:59):
And then the penny drop and I was like, that's me.

Speaker 7 (05:01):
I've got this really good upbringing, I've got good morals,
good values, but I lost them along the way through
drug addiction. And it was just something that really made
me think, like there's so many people out there haven't
got that. If I can get out from here and
turn my life around. In turn, I can also give
these other people hope.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
And so now what do you do?

Speaker 7 (05:17):
So I've got a company called Interchange Coaching. We've got
a programmer run called The New Age Men. It's a
six months I guess you could call it a mentorship
where I work with men who a struggling with self sabotage,
their drugs, alcohol, womanizing, and gambling.

Speaker 3 (05:30):
And so I help them to break through.

Speaker 7 (05:32):
Their self sabotage and behaviors which always come back to
a lack of self worth because they're trying to find
self worth through external validation or things outside of themselves
that make them feel good. And I help them to,
I guess, get rid of self sabotage and behaviors and
become better father's partners and businessmen.

Speaker 2 (05:44):
Wow, you're amazing.

Speaker 6 (05:46):
Yeah, that's half the point, isn't it. It's half the
problem is all of that, And it's internal versus external.

Speaker 3 (05:51):
Exactly right, And it always externals quick.

Speaker 6 (05:53):
And the funniest thing is external power is the bigger
fall anyone that is grandiose and saying how I'm going
and look at the woman that I'm with or women
that I'm with and all stuff. When it all goes wrong,
they fall a lot harder than someone that's balanced on
the inside. So you spot on with that. So well
done on that. Now what's the challenge.

Speaker 3 (06:12):
That's the well it's never been done before.

Speaker 7 (06:16):
So the change for a good challenge is a twenty
four hour endurance event which brings together a lot of
elements that I guess these young men and women will
be struggling with, so the ones that are stuck in
the cycle of youth crime. So we've got it broken
down into five four hour events. So it's a four
hour run, a four hour downhill mountain bike, a four
hour gym workout, four hour pack much and a four
hour open water kayaking session. And so the run represents
the fact that these kids are running from something. The
downhill mountain biking is that these kids are on a

(06:37):
downward spiral and to get to where they want to
go in life, it's an uphill battle. The gym workout
is helping them to find that any strength. The pack
much is about strength and numbers so fine in community.
And then the kayaking is the fact that not everyone
is in the same boat and so instead of getting
angry at these kids that are about doing this crime.
If we could get curious rather than furious, right, which
is a last little saying I love from Kuber Chapman,

(06:58):
a good friend of mine. We realize that these kids
are on the street, not sleeping at home in their
bed because there's something going on in their life. And
eighty five percent of these young men and women that
are stuck in a cycle of youth crime that end
up in JUVI suffer with a mental illness which links
back to physical, mental, sexual, or emotional abuse. So there's
a reason behind it. It's not that they're just out
stealing cars because they want to be they're missing something.
Like I said, I come from a good home, but

(07:19):
I was still without doing crime because I found a
place where I fit in, because I didn't feel like
I fit in with the community. And so with this
whole event, the whole purpose behind it is showing these
young men and women that there is a whole community
of people here that care about them to give them
a place to belong. And so our goal is to
raise one hundred thousand dollars to help ESTWA with everything
that they're doing and just to further their mission. To
help to save the lives of some young men and women.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
I love this.

Speaker 4 (07:39):
I love the Gold Coast because you're talking about Cooper,
who we've had here on air before Cooper bought a
hob on. You know other people we helped up Cooper
with Marco from mob Like. Honestly, there is a great
male community really trying to help our young men and
it's great to see. And I hope people hear that
with what we try to share as well, that we
just don't give up in despair, that there are people

(08:01):
and good men that are really trying to help. So
how can we support you guys? So obviously you're doing this,
You've got people just to give.

Speaker 2 (08:07):
What do you need?

Speaker 3 (08:08):
What do you need to tell you? Three weeks away?

Speaker 7 (08:10):
Three weeks away from the event, which means we have
two weeks left for anyone that wants to participate in
the event.

Speaker 3 (08:14):
Now know just to enter?

Speaker 6 (08:15):
Is it if you want to enter as a team
or yep.

Speaker 7 (08:18):
So you can either do one event, two events, or
pay the price point to do the whole thing. Every
dollar raise is going to Estwave's the challenge itself. You
can do it as an individual or as a team.
Before and with that. Obviously, whether you wanted to come
and do one event in to events, it doesn't matter
whether you do like the first event or the third
event or whatever it might be. But we want people
to come and get involved just to once again show
these kids that there's so many people here that care
about them. If you can't get involved, we are looking

(08:39):
for people to either be spectators, just to come and support,
or even just to donate. And so for any donations
or any more information on the event, you can go
to www. Dot inter Change, which is iont O c
h A NNGE dot org and all the details are there.
You can make your donations there, and like I said,
every dollar raise is going to help eswave in the
amazing mission they have.

Speaker 5 (08:57):
Yeah, even some referral prizes or auction prizes or be good.
But look, I'm definitely not built for any durance event.
So if you want to even come ever, laugh at me,
I'll be down there struggling.

Speaker 1 (09:05):
So you're welcome, short and sharp, Short and sharp, I
thought you were about to say, shot off. Definitely not.

Speaker 7 (09:12):
The event itself is on the twenty second and twenty
third of February. We start at eight am at Griffith
University for the run. We finished at eight thirty am
at Crumbin Beach where we'll be finishing off with the kayaking,
but all the details for that are on www Dot
interchange dot org.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
Love it, Love you both.

Speaker 4 (09:27):
Thank you so much and you know you've always got
our support, Joe.

Speaker 1 (09:31):
So thank you guys, your religion.

Speaker 3 (09:32):
Thank you guys.
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