April 10, 2025 • 33 mins
Tammy Diehn, Executive Director of 2B Continued, introduces us to the organization she founded to help young people in west central Minnesota.
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(00:11):
welcome to the KindnessChronicles, where once again, we
hope to inject the world withthe dose of the Minnesota
Kindness.
Sure.
That it desperately needs begetting a lot of feedback.
Steve Brown in the Hi buddystudio.
Steve's here.
This is probably the busiestweek for our co-host, Kevin
Gorg.
Yeah.
Combination of, uh, the KentuckyDerby coming up.
(00:34):
The Masters Wild Hockey.
He's got a big game tonight.
He's a busy guy.
He is a busy, busy lab.
Spring is his busiest time, likecrossover from, uh, from hockey
to, uh, the horses, to hockey tohorses.
And uh, we have a guest that'swe're going to, uh, connect with
here in just a minute.
But, uh, what's do in yourworld, Steve?
I don't know.
(00:54):
Um, just enjoying the fact thatthe weather's getting better
and, uh.
You know, we've hit an all timeloan.
We just start talking about theweather.
I know.
Well, I do wanna say something.
I don't wanna talk about tariffsright now.
No.
We could talk about tariffs.
That's been an interesting, Idon't want to, I'm sick of
hearing about them.
I'm sick of talking about it.
The stock market.
Just don't look at your 401kpeople just, you know, when it's
(01:16):
down, you're just buying more ata cheaper price.
That's the way I have to look atit.
We purposely don't go politicalwith this'cause we could really
stratify things.
We don't really like to do thisand get political because it,
uh, it's, it's not good for us.
It's gross.
Yeah.
We don't wanna get into It'sgross.
Everyone's talking about it.
Anyway, our point, our mission,this whole show is about.
Uh, positivity and, and nottoxic positivity.
(01:39):
Th things in the real worldwhere people are doing real
things that are, um,interesting, uh, and
compassionate toward humanity.
And we have one of those peoplewith us today.
We do.
We have our friend, our newfriend, Tammy Dean from an
organization called to Becontinued to be continued.
Tammy, welcome to the KindnessChronicles.
(02:00):
Hello.
Thank you so much for having me.
We're excited to have you on.
I had mentioned to Steve that,uh, I became introduced to, to
be continued by, uh, our friendSteve Johnson.
And Steve Johnson is theincoming board chair of
Minnesota Masonic Charities wholives in Winthrop, Minnesota,
and Winthrop, Minnesota is, oneof the communities that Tammy's
(02:24):
organization serves.
Where is Winthrop, Minnesota.
I've heard of it.
I don't remember where.
It's, it's God's country, ofcourse.
Okay.
Is it South?
I, I don't know.
It's kind of Southwest fromwhere we're at.
Okay.
Yeah.
Got it.
Tammy, where are we calling youat?
Are you in Glenco?
I actually live in ruralArlington.
Oh, yes.
Arlington Not, which is a suburbof Glenco.
Okay.
(02:44):
Yes.
I live, um, about three miles ongravel no matter which way you,
um, go.
And, uh, so really truly in themiddle of nowhere.
So I have a question about that.
Living on a gravel road, I havean obsession with having a clean
car.
Uhhuh you probably never get tohave.
Yeah, I could not live on agravel road.
(03:06):
I, I grew up on a gravel road.
We lived out in Grant, uh, cityof Grant, grand Township.
And it was, I didn't know apaved road was like, so cars
were always dirty and dust.
The house gets dusty'cause carsgo by and it, it's, it's.
Not, it's not a fun thing.
But was that a mud hut that youlived in, out on the gravel
road?
No, but it was quite, uh, quiteout there.
Out there.
(03:26):
And so I, I can, I can totallyunderstand what's, what Tammy's
saying.
It's, it's dusty, but your carneeds to be get, you know,
washed regularly.
So what I know about Tammy,Tammy is a nurse by, uh, by
trade, but Tammy started thisorganization called to be
continued.
How many years ago was it,Tammy?
It's coming on six years now.
(03:46):
It was in, uh, July of 2019 thatwe officially became a 5 0 1 C3
nonprofit.
Are you comfortable telling ussort of the or origin story?
Sure.
I lost my sister to suicide.
She died in January of 2017.
And then in July of 2019, Ifounded to be continued, uh,
(04:09):
with a dedicated board ofdirectors, our maid name was.
And Shelly's nickname was Tuby.
Oh, cute.
Okay.
And so that is where the firstpart of this comes from.
Um, and then the other part ofour namesake is, um, about, it
represents my sister's careerpath.
She was an inpatient mentalhealth nurse.
(04:30):
She cared for people with mentalhealth challenges on a daily
basis and was very passionateabout it.
And so while we do not provideprofessional services, we carry
on her legacy.
Through advocacy, education, andoutreach in our eight county
area.
Our eight county area includes,um, the counties of Brown
(04:51):
Carver, McLeod, Meer, NICoE,Renville, Sibley, and Wright.
And for Minnesotans, we usuallyonly hear about those when there
is weather coming through.
Yeah, yeah.
Right.
Those of us city slickers, eventhough we, live on paved roads,
it is true though, the only timeI hear about Meer County is when
(05:11):
there's a tornado.
That's what tornado I learnedabout the counties of Minnesota
as well.
Yes, yes.
But there are other great thingsother than tornadoes happening
in those eight counties.
Of course, that's kinda WestCentral Minnesota tell us some
of the cities that thosecounties, contain.
Sure.
So our office is in Glenco andwe, um, that's in McLeod County
and Hutchinson.
(05:32):
Lester Prairie are all in CLECounty.
And then over in Sibley Countywe have Arlington, Gaylord
Winthrop, given, we service the,St.
Peter's and Nick County.
Okay.
So down there.
Okay.
We have new in Brown County.
Renville County includes OliviaFairfax, Then we go over county
(05:53):
and that's Litchfield EdenValley.
We are in Wright County, whichis like Buffalo, Waverley,
Howard Lake Buffalo, correct.
then of course Carver is,Watertown, Young America,
Waconia are some of the placesthat we provide, um, our
education too.
So this has been a Minnesotageography.
(06:15):
Yeah, exactly.
Uh, lesson for those of you Yes.
Get your map out.
So I had, lunch with Tammy acouple of weeks ago and you
know, a lot of the stuff that wedo at Minnesota Masonic
Charities is very metro centric.
Mm-hmm.
And when Steve Johnson, whohappens to live in Winthrop,
became aware of this to becontinued organization and the
work that they're doing.
(06:37):
We wanna reflect, the interestsof people throughout the state
of Minnesota, not just, youknow, in the metro area.
It's a big chunk of the state.
How is it that you go about,providing program?
It's a big area.
How are you doing that?
Our biggest program is, uh, teamMental Health First Aid.
We actually provide aevidence-based training in 20
(06:57):
schools now, uh, offering it to,uh, mostly 10th graders.
The program is, um, availablefor ninth through 12th.
Um, and we go in.
Six lesson curriculum in classsizes that are typical for the
school.
So if there are, uh, you know,four sections of health 10, then
(07:24):
we go into each one of thosesections and teach the six
lesson curriculum.
We're not allowed to teach it inlarge group assemblies.
We have to teach to an entiregrade level, so a required
course.
Safety measures that have beenbuilt in by the, curriculum.
(07:48):
And, uh, so we usually are inthe school one day a week and,
uh, go into each of thoseclassrooms.
So of the 20 schools, it equatesto about, 80 sections of
students that we actually year.
(08:09):
We're in conversations withright now as well to add to our
program and Tammy, who does thetraining, who actually goes into
the school and does thetraining.
we have six instructors that,uh, are trained and certified
in, uh, this Teen Mental HealthFirst Aid instructor.
Um.
Curriculum, and they, uh, wehave two of them specifically
(08:32):
that this is their job.
They offer this in multipleschools, and then we have some
part-time, instructors as wellthat teach in maybe one or two
schools.
okay, so you, you go to theseschools, what are they getting?
What, what's, what are youseeing happen with these kids
when, when you leave so we areable to provide this curriculum.
(08:53):
It's again, a six lessoncurriculum that they get over
the course of six weeks.
And, um, it includes a, anaction plan that they can, they
learn and can apply to,situations, for themselves, for
their peers, for other friends.
And ultimately it teaches themthe warning signs of, mental
(09:18):
health.
Substance use challenges, schoolviolence, bullying crisis, and
it helps them connect to atrusted adult.
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
So just curiously, what are someof those, uh, warning signs?
I'm assuming the majority ofyour objective is to make sure
that people are on the lookoutfor these challenges that their
(09:40):
peers might be experiencing.
there's not an all inclusivelist.
Of course.
Yeah.
But, um, kind of knowing wheretheir friend is at, you know, is
there a situation, um, that um,might be causing them some
distress?
Is there, a change in theirbehavior?
(10:03):
Are they isolating more?
Um, are they disengaging?
Um, those are a couple, youknow, examples.
So it might be situation, itmight be behavioral, it might be
something that they're sayingthat they can recognize that
maybe this person, um, isneeding some additional.
(10:23):
Support.
If we've talked about it once,we've talked about it 25, 50
times over the course of theshows that we've done, that the
mental health crisis withteenagers specifically has gotta
be at an all time high.
Yeah.
I think a lot of it goes back tothe, the CO situation and the
use of, uh.
Of their devices, you know,social media, those type of
(10:44):
things.
Isolation.
Yeah.
It's just, you know, it'sheartbreaking when you hear
about how many, stories, youhear about this kind of stuff
and it's just great to know thatthere are some resources out
there Who created thecurriculum.
So the curriculum was developedby the National Council for
Wellbeing and um, it's anational program.
(11:05):
Oh, cool.
And it actually started inAustralia and then in about
2019, um, it was brought over tothe United States and.
A Lady Gaga had a big influenceon actually bringing it here.
She had a, um, an idea to, uh,bring it all across, um, the
United States.
(11:26):
And I think that probably thepandemic did slow some of, um,
the campaign down from, um, ithappening and then Right.
You know, in 20.
Certainly resurfacing again andso.
(11:51):
You know, helping themunderstand and, um, know what to
do.
Um, we also are able to offerthem, um, encouragement and
recognition that recovery ispossible and that we are
resilient people.
So there is really a lot of.
(12:11):
Positivity and hope that goesalong with this curriculum.
when you think about the timingof this, you talk about the fact
that Covid slowed down thelaunch of this program, but
think about the, uh, the, thedemand for the program that has
happened as a result of covid.
It's really serendipity at its,uh, finest.
(12:34):
Now, Steve, you're a, amusician, so do you, do you
think you could get Lady Gaga onthe program?
Uh, no, I probably not.
Probably not?
No.
Um, that's cool that she, shehelped, um, bring it to
fruition.
That's really, really cool.
Um, I was gonna ask, I was gonnaask Tammy, where did you grow
up?
I'm just curious.
I grew up in, okay, you.
(12:58):
It's out in one of thosecounties out, uh, yet that way
it's in the country somewhere.
Yo, hold on.
Lemme see if Lester, if Iremember what Lester Prairie is
in the same county as, is itHutchinson?
Litchfield?
Yes.
It's, see, oh, I know it's, youknow, Lester are both off of
Highway seven.
(13:19):
Okay.
I used to live in Wilmer West,so I kind of, I'm a little
familiar.
Well, I lived in actually themetropolis known as Candy Yohi.
Which is a suburb of Wilmer.
Oh yeah.
Yep.
Yeah.
I lived in a, an apartmentcomplex.
It was in the middle of a, uh, Ijust this fun story because I
love to tell stories.
I lived in an apartment.
I was working for Target.
(13:40):
And there was a brand new store,A T 6 61.
Oh yeah.
In Wilmer.
Yep.
And I moved into this apartmentcomplex.
It was in the middle of acornfield, and the next day I
got the Candy Yohi citydirectory, and my name was in
it, and it came.
In an envelope.
Yeah.
I'm not selling.
Somebody saw it.
You moved in and they wrote itin there and printed it.
(14:01):
They're like, oh my God, we gota new guy here in town.
We, we got one.
We got one, yes.
Okay, so, so you grew up inLister Prairie, and your sister,
was she younger than you?
I didn't hear.
Is she older?
Was she older than you, youngerthan you?
She was my baby sister.
Okay.
Yeah.
Okay.
so we both graduated fromWestern Prairie.
as a marketing major, I lovethe, the, the many different
(14:22):
ways that you can look at thename of your organization.
I.
To be continued.
Yeah.
So to me it's sort of like acontinuation of your sister
Tuby.
Yep.
This is her dream through theeyes of, uh, of her loved ones.
And it could be seen as ofanyone's to well, course,
commission of to Beed continued.
Yeah.
That's super smart.
There's, you know what manylevels, right?
(14:45):
Very many levels.
Isn't that fun?
how do you fund this program?
Great question.
We do not receive any federal orstate funding.
we fund this through, privatedonations and, small grants and,
just the generosity ofcommunity.
And most of that is gainedthrough our annual fundraiser,
(15:08):
which is a dancing like theshow.
with you, which is thisSaturday.
It is this Saturday.
Oh, yes, yes.
Mm-hmm.
So we actually are, um, settingup, we set up some of the, um,
production today and, uh, we'llfinish up tomorrow and dress
rehearsal, start tomorrow andyeah, it's, where's it at?
(15:30):
Where's it being held?
It's at the city center.
Okay.
We, started doing this our firstyear.
We had a cast of 12 couples fromthe community.
We, seek out couples who arewilling to be ambassadors for
us.
They don't dance by, byprofession and, but we ask them
(15:51):
to pair with a choreographer.
They learn a dance, they dofundraising for us and really
become ambassadors in their owncommunity.
Um, beyond the fundraising isreally the conversations that
get started.
Such a great idea.
Yeah.
Connections that can get made.
So, um, we started this in like.
(16:17):
Birthday on April, 2020.
And of course we know that, thatthat wasn't a good week.
And so then we postpone for oneyear and 11 of the 12 couples
were, um, able to stillparticipate and we held it under
kind of.
Minimum, audience.
And so we had to live stream it.
(16:39):
which happened to be a blessingfor us because people got to
know us more people got to knowus than if we would've just had
our live audience.
So we continued this everysingle year.
We have a in-person, audience ofabout six.
And then, we live stream it.
Anybody can get a register for alive stream and you can watch it
(17:02):
in the comfort of your own homeor wherever you're at.
and then we also have watchparties so couples can, engage
with a school, a church, a bar,restaurant, whatever, and have
them host a watch party for.
This year we have 14 watchparties in Wow.
(17:25):
The eight county area.
That is so much fun.
So do they all learn the samedance or are they doing
different dances?
It's, uh, competition.
So they each learn a differentdance.
Okay.
So they get to choose?
Yep.
They get to choose the song.
And work with the choreographer.
(17:46):
The choreographer cuts it downto about a minute and a half or
two minutes, and then they meetwith the choreographer about
weekly.
some of them are meeting morethan once a week and there's
lots of conversation about, youknow, dancing in the.
The out the garage because thedance floor to practice every
(18:09):
night.
So they feel it's prettyamazing.
We announced our dancers inJanuary.
We do a reveal night.
What fun.
So from third till April, uh,12th this year there.
Um, just going along thatjourney.
It's amazing.
(18:30):
So what kind of dances are, Imean, are they doing the, the
rba, the, the Charleston Rmbais, that's not a dance.
The Rmba, you mean?
The tango and the Samba?
Samba Rba.
Roomba.
Oh wait, the Roomba, that's avacuum.
That's a vacuum.
So I'm gonna not talk anymore.
Well, there well, no, I'm justOkay, Mr.
Fitness.
(18:50):
No, no, no, no, no.
I'm not trying to, I, I don't, Idon't think No, I know what you
get.
Ram's a dance.
That's all.
I just wanted to make sure.
You know what?
I appreciate the feedback.
You know what?
That was kind feedback.
There's probably a tango,there's probably a, I'm not
asking you.
I'm asking the professionalwho's been to a bunch of these.
Yes.
Tammy, why don't you tell uswhat kind of Rmba dances they're
doing?
(19:10):
So much variety.
There's so much variety.
It's amazing.
You everything from um, countryto big band to, nineties to okay
hip hop.
Oh, okay.
Everything.
But it's, it's all, there is avariety of everything.
It's ballroom dancing, but, and.
(19:31):
Many of the dancers will have amashup of music too.
Oh, there we go.
So they might have two or threesongs within that two minute
segment.
Cool.
Oh, so, so, so is there a rmba,did I make that up?
Should I look it up?
I don't think so.
No.
I swear on Do you do wordle?
(19:51):
No, I don't do oral.
I think I did Rmba once and itcame up as a real thing.
Maybe something is a rmba, butit's not a dance.
So this is a rumba maybe?
Rumba Rumba.
Rumba.
Rumba.
That's Iba just said itdifferent.
I have a funny accent.
Yeah, yeah.
Rmba.
I just, I didn't mean to callyou out, I'm just curious.
No, it's fine.
I think it is.
Yes.
I'm just looking it up.
(20:12):
It looks like it's a Cuban.
That's what I meant.
Yeah.
There you go.
I think Desi Arna used to do arumba.
But he said, called it a rmba.
I swear I saw it on I love Lucy.
You're right, you're right.
It's wrong.
Thank you.
Probably, yeah.
You were close.
I was close.
I have a speech impedimentmaybe.
No, you just, so Tammy, um, I,I'm assuming that some of these
(20:34):
couples really take itseriously.
Do you have couples that willcome back year after year to
compete?
We, don't actually that Oh.
12 new couples every year.
So do the former winning couplesshow up and do they have like
swagger, wear some sort of likea sash or a crown special
(20:55):
seating?
No, they, um, well there isn'tspecial seating for them.
Um, it's a great idea.
Um, but some of them come backand volunteer at.
Sometimes they'll engage inother activities to support us
even beyond the dance.
They'll walk in our parade unit,or they'll represent us, you
(21:18):
know, maybe at a county fairbooth.
So these, um, they really engagein the community.
They really become, just reallysupportive of us.
Even beyond the dance.
Is it like a sponsorship perdancer?
we give them tools to be able togo out and seek, what we call
(21:38):
recognition level donors.
Oh.
we have different levels ofthat.
so they, will engage with, intheir communities there is a lot
of social media presence and sotheir friends and family.
Does their own thing.
We don't, give them a templatethat they have to follow.
(22:00):
many of them are doing eventsalready where they maybe will
host a puzzle, event, you know,like a puzzle contest or, if
they work with another nonprofitwho maybe has, the ability to do
some gaming, like a bingo.
Oh yeah.
Those types of things.
(22:21):
Get some hype going.
Um, so yeah, so there is,there's different ways that,
that it comes together, but,they're free to do what they
want and as little or as much asas they want.
So how does the, probably don'tput high pressure on that.
Yeah.
How does the judging go?
Who judges I.
Because I would imagine thatthere's, you know, controversy.
(22:44):
Yeah.
we only have celebrity judges.
We don't rubric that follow, um.
The dance couples understandfrom the very beginning that
this is a charity event.
Yeah.
And it's a friendly competition.
Oh boy.
And at the end of the day, um,really we're, you know, we're
(23:05):
here for mental health and uh,suicide prevention awareness,
and so you have to always keepthat in check.
Yeah.
LP.
Medical center, he actuallyyear, uh.
(23:29):
And Brittany Arneson is a radiopersonality on 1 0 7 0.1, which
is under the umbrella of theHubbard Broadcasting Yes, yeah.
Company.
And then Chad Harland is a highschool teacher at.
(23:50):
Program director of for highschool.
Hutchinson to, I think there's46 schools in holy cow, who now
have the REACH program as anoption.
So, just try to connect, indifferent ways, bringing
(24:12):
community together for thisevent.
Okay.
Now we're just gonna to, to, towrap this up.
Couple things.
One is, do you have a specialrecognition for the couple that
raises the most money?
Well, we have four.
The pre-event fundraising, whichis, um, we have a first, second,
and third place for that, andthat competition ends on Friday
(24:35):
at 6:00 PM Okay, so they've beenraising money from January 3rd
till this Friday, April 11th,and then, uh, there is.
The dress rehearsal in theafternoon on Saturday.
And then there, uh, is thejudges, um, choice, which is
(24:59):
another, trophy, category.
And so the judges are there atthe show and they'll, um, give
their, and.
up to 40.
And, so that's another category.
(25:19):
And then there's the peoplechoice category where, the
audience and, in person and alsothe live stream viewing audience
can, call our phone bank andmake a donation or, they can
vote online, vote or donate.
They can do that through, ourwebsite.
(25:41):
There's multiple platforms inwhich they can vote as a
people's choice.
And so that is a also a trophycategory.
Then the couple with the mostvotes, and then there is an
overall of.
All of those and they go homewith a beautiful mere ball
trophy.
Oh my.
do you remember the PinewoodDerby?
(26:01):
Of course.
Did you ever, of course,participate in the Pinewood
Derby?
Yeah, I was a Cubs scout.
I never was able to have a carthat had very much mechanical
ability.
Yeah, me neither.
But I always liked the fact thatthey had like for for style
points?
Yeah I would always put togethera car that looked really cool.
Yeah.
It moved really slow, stuck onthe top, which is kind of like
me, right?
(26:22):
Well, I mean that's, sure, sure.
John, so that's, hold on.
I, I've said something.
Okay.
I was just gonna, I was gonnasay to Tammy, I can appreciate
you're talking about phone bank,you're talking about the live
show.
Um, it sounds like you, you guyshave done this before.
Quite a production.
It's a big production.
There's a lot of stuff I knowabout production.
There's a lot of things you haveto think about to put on a show
(26:43):
like this.
I think it's amazing thatyou've, you, you're doing this
and you're raising money, andthis has been how many years now
you've done this?
This is year five.
Wow.
This is year five.
And you guys have it down?
We do.
we have a good, productioncompany that we work with.
I have great staff, we havegreat volunteers.
people just absolutely love itand it's, it's a way of engaging
(27:07):
the community and starting thatconversation.
Yeah.
You can go to our website, uh,the number two, letter B
continued org, and you'll seedancing like the Stars.
And you can click on that and itwill lead you to, being able to
get a live stream ticket.
Very cool.
And also will list where thewatch parties are and it'll give
(27:30):
you an opportunity to write acheck, I would imagine.
Right.
Put a credit card in there.
Absolutely.
I had a chance to, uh, to lookthrough the.
Annual report that Tammyprovided me.
And it is incredible the numberof donors that you've been able
to attract to your organizationin five short years.
It is so impressive.
(27:52):
And just the way that you'vegone about engaging the
community in a fun, meaningfulway.
this is the type of thing thatevery.
Nonprofit organization reallyought to try and emulate, you
know, golf tournaments.
Everybody does a golftournament.
Yeah.
And there's so much work thatgoes into it with very little
return here.
Tammy and her crew have figuredout a way to engage couples from
(28:17):
communities all over the theirservice area.
In the fundraising process,somehow get them to go out and
put their vanity aside anddance.
Yeah.
And have fun doing c It's achallenge.
Yeah.
With 600 people watching.
Yeah.
Good God, what an impressiveidea.
Idea.
And it's a lot of work, uh, fromTammy's and, and her team's
(28:39):
perspective.
There's a lot of work to put iton, but I think the cause is so
great and people are so, so, youknow, in tune with why it's so
important.
So I, I think it's awesome.
I was just gonna say it's, it'svery humbling, um, to have seen
it be so engaging to thecommunities and you just hear
(28:59):
all the stories that the dancerswill tell you.
About how they started aconversation with somebody and
pretty soon their stories beingshared and, and people thanking
them for what they're doing.
'cause they've been touched.
And what a beautiful tribute toyour sister.
Yep.
I'm telling you.
Yep.
Just heartwarming.
(29:21):
So my last question is this, doyou have any success stories
that you'd be, willing to share?
I actually preparation for our.
We go and teach, uh, QPR at alocal.
What is QPR College?
(29:42):
Um, question persuade, refer.
It's the mental health versionof CPR.
Oh, cute.
And, um, once a semester I goover to Ridgewater College in
Hutchinson and teach it to theirsenior nursing students.
And the nursing instructor,shared, through a testimonial
(30:02):
today about how just a few daysafter I had been there to teach
the course, one of her studentswas engaging in a conversation
with a patient that hospitalizedand recognized some of the
warning signs and.
(30:22):
And actually, follow that threestep.
Training and, possibly averted asuicide Wow.
Was able to, provide additionalinformation to their, their
provider and, startconversations and.
Start getting the support thatthey needed.
So again, we do not provide anyprofessional services.
(30:46):
We are only out in the communityto provide education, outreach
and resources.
Yep.
Um,, we know that's important,which in many respects is, is
probably more impactful because,you know, any.
Healthcare professional rightnow is so busy, but to have all
(31:06):
of these people out therelooking for ways to keep an eye
out for this mm-hmm.
You know, what a great use of,resources.
You gotta feel, you gotta feelgreat about that.
Tammy.
Just, your efforts have, youknow, expanded to this kind of,
uh, training and, and that kindof story is pretty impactful.
Like with CPR, if onlyhealthcare workers were trained
(31:27):
in CPR, we wouldn't save nearlythe lives that we do because
community members are trained inCPR.
Right?
There's, there's, yeah.
If somebody collapses in a mallYeah, in a church, in a school,
or whatever.
There's likely people aroundthat know how to take those
three basic steps to getsomebody to the next level of
care.
(31:47):
And that same thing applieshere.
The more people trained in ourcommunities.
Yep.
Um, in our social circles, themore likely it is that we'll
recognize that somebody isstruggling.
That is gold right there.
It's fantastic.
Whoever came up with the QPRthing.
Yep.
They gotta be high fivingthemselves.
(32:08):
Yep.
That's good.
That is, and, and the way thatyou've described it, if it's
something that we're all trainedin, it's just, the effect is
just, uh, what's the word I'mlooking for?
Expansive, uh, exp uh,exponential.
Yes.
Yes, yes.
Exponential.
That's a big word.
Yep.
We don't usually use threesyllable words.
Yeah.
Exponential.
That's four.
(32:28):
So we're bad at math and bad atfour syllable words.
Ah, well, Tammy, thank you somuch for your time.
Yeah, thank you.
And good luck on Saturday.
I'm sure it's gonna be afantastic event.
And, uh, looking forward to, uh,to hearing, uh, how things
turned out for you.
Thank you so.
All right.
It been been my pleasure.
You have a good evening.
(32:49):
Thanks.
Thank you.
Bye-bye.
And off we go.
welcome to the KindnessChronicles, where once again, we
hope to inject the world withthe dose of the Minnesota
Kindness.
Sure.
That it desperately needs begetting a lot of feedback.
Steve Brown in the Hi buddystudio.
Steve's here.
This is probably the busiestweek for our co-host, Kevin
Gorg.
Yeah.
Combination of, uh, the KentuckyDerby coming up.
(00:34):
The Masters Wild Hockey.
He's got a big game tonight.
He's a busy guy.
He is a busy, busy lab.
Spring is his busiest time, likecrossover from, uh, from hockey
to, uh, the horses, to hockey tohorses.
And uh, we have a guest that'swe're going to, uh, connect with
here in just a minute.
But, uh, what's do in yourworld, Steve?
I don't know.
(00:54):
Um, just enjoying the fact thatthe weather's getting better
and, uh.
You know, we've hit an all timeloan.
We just start talking about theweather.
I know.
Well, I do wanna say something.
I don't wanna talk about tariffsright now.
No.
We could talk about tariffs.
That's been an interesting, Idon't want to, I'm sick of
hearing about them.
I'm sick of talking about it.
The stock market.
Just don't look at your 401kpeople just, you know, when it's
(01:16):
down, you're just buying more ata cheaper price.
That's the way I have to look atit.
We purposely don't go politicalwith this'cause we could really
stratify things.
We don't really like to do thisand get political because it,
uh, it's, it's not good for us.
It's gross.
Yeah.
We don't wanna get into It'sgross.
Everyone's talking about it.
Anyway, our point, our mission,this whole show is about.
Uh, positivity and, and nottoxic positivity.
(01:39):
Th things in the real worldwhere people are doing real
things that are, um,interesting, uh, and
compassionate toward humanity.
And we have one of those peoplewith us today.
We do.
We have our friend, our newfriend, Tammy Dean from an
organization called to Becontinued to be continued.
Tammy, welcome to the KindnessChronicles.
(02:00):
Hello.
Thank you so much for having me.
We're excited to have you on.
I had mentioned to Steve that,uh, I became introduced to, to
be continued by, uh, our friendSteve Johnson.
And Steve Johnson is theincoming board chair of
Minnesota Masonic Charities wholives in Winthrop, Minnesota,
and Winthrop, Minnesota is, oneof the communities that Tammy's
(02:24):
organization serves.
Where is Winthrop, Minnesota.
I've heard of it.
I don't remember where.
It's, it's God's country, ofcourse.
Okay.
Is it South?
I, I don't know.
It's kind of Southwest fromwhere we're at.
Okay.
Yeah.
Got it.
Tammy, where are we calling youat?
Are you in Glenco?
I actually live in ruralArlington.
Oh, yes.
Arlington Not, which is a suburbof Glenco.
Okay.
(02:44):
Yes.
I live, um, about three miles ongravel no matter which way you,
um, go.
And, uh, so really truly in themiddle of nowhere.
So I have a question about that.
Living on a gravel road, I havean obsession with having a clean
car.
Uhhuh you probably never get tohave.
Yeah, I could not live on agravel road.
(03:06):
I, I grew up on a gravel road.
We lived out in Grant, uh, cityof Grant, grand Township.
And it was, I didn't know apaved road was like, so cars
were always dirty and dust.
The house gets dusty'cause carsgo by and it, it's, it's.
Not, it's not a fun thing.
But was that a mud hut that youlived in, out on the gravel
road?
No, but it was quite, uh, quiteout there.
Out there.
(03:26):
And so I, I can, I can totallyunderstand what's, what Tammy's
saying.
It's, it's dusty, but your carneeds to be get, you know,
washed regularly.
So what I know about Tammy,Tammy is a nurse by, uh, by
trade, but Tammy started thisorganization called to be
continued.
How many years ago was it,Tammy?
It's coming on six years now.
(03:46):
It was in, uh, July of 2019 thatwe officially became a 5 0 1 C3
nonprofit.
Are you comfortable telling ussort of the or origin story?
Sure.
I lost my sister to suicide.
She died in January of 2017.
And then in July of 2019, Ifounded to be continued, uh,
(04:09):
with a dedicated board ofdirectors, our maid name was.
And Shelly's nickname was Tuby.
Oh, cute.
Okay.
And so that is where the firstpart of this comes from.
Um, and then the other part ofour namesake is, um, about, it
represents my sister's careerpath.
She was an inpatient mentalhealth nurse.
(04:30):
She cared for people with mentalhealth challenges on a daily
basis and was very passionateabout it.
And so while we do not provideprofessional services, we carry
on her legacy.
Through advocacy, education, andoutreach in our eight county
area.
Our eight county area includes,um, the counties of Brown
(04:51):
Carver, McLeod, Meer, NICoE,Renville, Sibley, and Wright.
And for Minnesotans, we usuallyonly hear about those when there
is weather coming through.
Yeah, yeah.
Right.
Those of us city slickers, eventhough we, live on paved roads,
it is true though, the only timeI hear about Meer County is when
(05:11):
there's a tornado.
That's what tornado I learnedabout the counties of Minnesota
as well.
Yes, yes.
But there are other great thingsother than tornadoes happening
in those eight counties.
Of course, that's kinda WestCentral Minnesota tell us some
of the cities that thosecounties, contain.
Sure.
So our office is in Glenco andwe, um, that's in McLeod County
and Hutchinson.
(05:32):
Lester Prairie are all in CLECounty.
And then over in Sibley Countywe have Arlington, Gaylord
Winthrop, given, we service the,St.
Peter's and Nick County.
Okay.
So down there.
Okay.
We have new in Brown County.
Renville County includes OliviaFairfax, Then we go over county
(05:53):
and that's Litchfield EdenValley.
We are in Wright County, whichis like Buffalo, Waverley,
Howard Lake Buffalo, correct.
then of course Carver is,Watertown, Young America,
Waconia are some of the placesthat we provide, um, our
education too.
So this has been a Minnesotageography.
(06:15):
Yeah, exactly.
Uh, lesson for those of you Yes.
Get your map out.
So I had, lunch with Tammy acouple of weeks ago and you
know, a lot of the stuff that wedo at Minnesota Masonic
Charities is very metro centric.
Mm-hmm.
And when Steve Johnson, whohappens to live in Winthrop,
became aware of this to becontinued organization and the
work that they're doing.
(06:37):
We wanna reflect, the interestsof people throughout the state
of Minnesota, not just, youknow, in the metro area.
It's a big chunk of the state.
How is it that you go about,providing program?
It's a big area.
How are you doing that?
Our biggest program is, uh, teamMental Health First Aid.
We actually provide aevidence-based training in 20
(06:57):
schools now, uh, offering it to,uh, mostly 10th graders.
The program is, um, availablefor ninth through 12th.
Um, and we go in.
Six lesson curriculum in classsizes that are typical for the
school.
So if there are, uh, you know,four sections of health 10, then
(07:24):
we go into each one of thosesections and teach the six
lesson curriculum.
We're not allowed to teach it inlarge group assemblies.
We have to teach to an entiregrade level, so a required
course.
Safety measures that have beenbuilt in by the, curriculum.
(07:48):
And, uh, so we usually are inthe school one day a week and,
uh, go into each of thoseclassrooms.
So of the 20 schools, it equatesto about, 80 sections of
students that we actually year.
(08:09):
We're in conversations withright now as well to add to our
program and Tammy, who does thetraining, who actually goes into
the school and does thetraining.
we have six instructors that,uh, are trained and certified
in, uh, this Teen Mental HealthFirst Aid instructor.
Um.
Curriculum, and they, uh, wehave two of them specifically
(08:32):
that this is their job.
They offer this in multipleschools, and then we have some
part-time, instructors as wellthat teach in maybe one or two
schools.
okay, so you, you go to theseschools, what are they getting?
What, what's, what are youseeing happen with these kids
when, when you leave so we areable to provide this curriculum.
(08:53):
It's again, a six lessoncurriculum that they get over
the course of six weeks.
And, um, it includes a, anaction plan that they can, they
learn and can apply to,situations, for themselves, for
their peers, for other friends.
And ultimately it teaches themthe warning signs of, mental
(09:18):
health.
Substance use challenges, schoolviolence, bullying crisis, and
it helps them connect to atrusted adult.
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
So just curiously, what are someof those, uh, warning signs?
I'm assuming the majority ofyour objective is to make sure
that people are on the lookoutfor these challenges that their
(09:40):
peers might be experiencing.
there's not an all inclusivelist.
Of course.
Yeah.
But, um, kind of knowing wheretheir friend is at, you know, is
there a situation, um, that um,might be causing them some
distress?
Is there, a change in theirbehavior?
(10:03):
Are they isolating more?
Um, are they disengaging?
Um, those are a couple, youknow, examples.
So it might be situation, itmight be behavioral, it might be
something that they're sayingthat they can recognize that
maybe this person, um, isneeding some additional.
(10:23):
Support.
If we've talked about it once,we've talked about it 25, 50
times over the course of theshows that we've done, that the
mental health crisis withteenagers specifically has gotta
be at an all time high.
Yeah.
I think a lot of it goes back tothe, the CO situation and the
use of, uh.
Of their devices, you know,social media, those type of
(10:44):
things.
Isolation.
Yeah.
It's just, you know, it'sheartbreaking when you hear
about how many, stories, youhear about this kind of stuff
and it's just great to know thatthere are some resources out
there Who created thecurriculum.
So the curriculum was developedby the National Council for
Wellbeing and um, it's anational program.
(11:05):
Oh, cool.
And it actually started inAustralia and then in about
2019, um, it was brought over tothe United States and.
A Lady Gaga had a big influenceon actually bringing it here.
She had a, um, an idea to, uh,bring it all across, um, the
United States.
(11:26):
And I think that probably thepandemic did slow some of, um,
the campaign down from, um, ithappening and then Right.
You know, in 20.
Certainly resurfacing again andso.
(11:51):
You know, helping themunderstand and, um, know what to
do.
Um, we also are able to offerthem, um, encouragement and
recognition that recovery ispossible and that we are
resilient people.
So there is really a lot of.
(12:11):
Positivity and hope that goesalong with this curriculum.
when you think about the timingof this, you talk about the fact
that Covid slowed down thelaunch of this program, but
think about the, uh, the, thedemand for the program that has
happened as a result of covid.
It's really serendipity at its,uh, finest.
(12:34):
Now, Steve, you're a, amusician, so do you, do you
think you could get Lady Gaga onthe program?
Uh, no, I probably not.
Probably not?
No.
Um, that's cool that she, shehelped, um, bring it to
fruition.
That's really, really cool.
Um, I was gonna ask, I was gonnaask Tammy, where did you grow
up?
I'm just curious.
I grew up in, okay, you.
(12:58):
It's out in one of thosecounties out, uh, yet that way
it's in the country somewhere.
Yo, hold on.
Lemme see if Lester, if Iremember what Lester Prairie is
in the same county as, is itHutchinson?
Litchfield?
Yes.
It's, see, oh, I know it's, youknow, Lester are both off of
Highway seven.
(13:19):
Okay.
I used to live in Wilmer West,so I kind of, I'm a little
familiar.
Well, I lived in actually themetropolis known as Candy Yohi.
Which is a suburb of Wilmer.
Oh yeah.
Yep.
Yeah.
I lived in a, an apartmentcomplex.
It was in the middle of a, uh, Ijust this fun story because I
love to tell stories.
I lived in an apartment.
I was working for Target.
(13:40):
And there was a brand new store,A T 6 61.
Oh yeah.
In Wilmer.
Yep.
And I moved into this apartmentcomplex.
It was in the middle of acornfield, and the next day I
got the Candy Yohi citydirectory, and my name was in
it, and it came.
In an envelope.
Yeah.
I'm not selling.
Somebody saw it.
You moved in and they wrote itin there and printed it.
(14:01):
They're like, oh my God, we gota new guy here in town.
We, we got one.
We got one, yes.
Okay, so, so you grew up inLister Prairie, and your sister,
was she younger than you?
I didn't hear.
Is she older?
Was she older than you, youngerthan you?
She was my baby sister.
Okay.
Yeah.
Okay.
so we both graduated fromWestern Prairie.
as a marketing major, I lovethe, the, the many different
(14:22):
ways that you can look at thename of your organization.
I.
To be continued.
Yeah.
So to me it's sort of like acontinuation of your sister
Tuby.
Yep.
This is her dream through theeyes of, uh, of her loved ones.
And it could be seen as ofanyone's to well, course,
commission of to Beed continued.
Yeah.
That's super smart.
There's, you know what manylevels, right?
(14:45):
Very many levels.
Isn't that fun?
how do you fund this program?
Great question.
We do not receive any federal orstate funding.
we fund this through, privatedonations and, small grants and,
just the generosity ofcommunity.
And most of that is gainedthrough our annual fundraiser,
(15:08):
which is a dancing like theshow.
with you, which is thisSaturday.
It is this Saturday.
Oh, yes, yes.
Mm-hmm.
So we actually are, um, settingup, we set up some of the, um,
production today and, uh, we'llfinish up tomorrow and dress
rehearsal, start tomorrow andyeah, it's, where's it at?
(15:30):
Where's it being held?
It's at the city center.
Okay.
We, started doing this our firstyear.
We had a cast of 12 couples fromthe community.
We, seek out couples who arewilling to be ambassadors for
us.
They don't dance by, byprofession and, but we ask them
(15:51):
to pair with a choreographer.
They learn a dance, they dofundraising for us and really
become ambassadors in their owncommunity.
Um, beyond the fundraising isreally the conversations that
get started.
Such a great idea.
Yeah.
Connections that can get made.
So, um, we started this in like.
(16:17):
Birthday on April, 2020.
And of course we know that, thatthat wasn't a good week.
And so then we postpone for oneyear and 11 of the 12 couples
were, um, able to stillparticipate and we held it under
kind of.
Minimum, audience.
And so we had to live stream it.
(16:39):
which happened to be a blessingfor us because people got to
know us more people got to knowus than if we would've just had
our live audience.
So we continued this everysingle year.
We have a in-person, audience ofabout six.
And then, we live stream it.
Anybody can get a register for alive stream and you can watch it
(17:02):
in the comfort of your own homeor wherever you're at.
and then we also have watchparties so couples can, engage
with a school, a church, a bar,restaurant, whatever, and have
them host a watch party for.
This year we have 14 watchparties in Wow.
(17:25):
The eight county area.
That is so much fun.
So do they all learn the samedance or are they doing
different dances?
It's, uh, competition.
So they each learn a differentdance.
Okay.
So they get to choose?
Yep.
They get to choose the song.
And work with the choreographer.
(17:46):
The choreographer cuts it downto about a minute and a half or
two minutes, and then they meetwith the choreographer about
weekly.
some of them are meeting morethan once a week and there's
lots of conversation about, youknow, dancing in the.
The out the garage because thedance floor to practice every
(18:09):
night.
So they feel it's prettyamazing.
We announced our dancers inJanuary.
We do a reveal night.
What fun.
So from third till April, uh,12th this year there.
Um, just going along thatjourney.
It's amazing.
(18:30):
So what kind of dances are, Imean, are they doing the, the
rba, the, the Charleston Rmbais, that's not a dance.
The Rmba, you mean?
The tango and the Samba?
Samba Rba.
Roomba.
Oh wait, the Roomba, that's avacuum.
That's a vacuum.
So I'm gonna not talk anymore.
Well, there well, no, I'm justOkay, Mr.
Fitness.
(18:50):
No, no, no, no, no.
I'm not trying to, I, I don't, Idon't think No, I know what you
get.
Ram's a dance.
That's all.
I just wanted to make sure.
You know what?
I appreciate the feedback.
You know what?
That was kind feedback.
There's probably a tango,there's probably a, I'm not
asking you.
I'm asking the professionalwho's been to a bunch of these.
Yes.
Tammy, why don't you tell uswhat kind of Rmba dances they're
doing?
(19:10):
So much variety.
There's so much variety.
It's amazing.
You everything from um, countryto big band to, nineties to okay
hip hop.
Oh, okay.
Everything.
But it's, it's all, there is avariety of everything.
It's ballroom dancing, but, and.
(19:31):
Many of the dancers will have amashup of music too.
Oh, there we go.
So they might have two or threesongs within that two minute
segment.
Cool.
Oh, so, so, so is there a rmba,did I make that up?
Should I look it up?
I don't think so.
No.
I swear on Do you do wordle?
(19:51):
No, I don't do oral.
I think I did Rmba once and itcame up as a real thing.
Maybe something is a rmba, butit's not a dance.
So this is a rumba maybe?
Rumba Rumba.
Rumba.
Rumba.
That's Iba just said itdifferent.
I have a funny accent.
Yeah, yeah.
Rmba.
I just, I didn't mean to callyou out, I'm just curious.
No, it's fine.
I think it is.
Yes.
I'm just looking it up.
(20:12):
It looks like it's a Cuban.
That's what I meant.
Yeah.
There you go.
I think Desi Arna used to do arumba.
But he said, called it a rmba.
I swear I saw it on I love Lucy.
You're right, you're right.
It's wrong.
Thank you.
Probably, yeah.
You were close.
I was close.
I have a speech impedimentmaybe.
No, you just, so Tammy, um, I,I'm assuming that some of these
(20:34):
couples really take itseriously.
Do you have couples that willcome back year after year to
compete?
We, don't actually that Oh.
12 new couples every year.
So do the former winning couplesshow up and do they have like
swagger, wear some sort of likea sash or a crown special
(20:55):
seating?
No, they, um, well there isn'tspecial seating for them.
Um, it's a great idea.
Um, but some of them come backand volunteer at.
Sometimes they'll engage inother activities to support us
even beyond the dance.
They'll walk in our parade unit,or they'll represent us, you
(21:18):
know, maybe at a county fairbooth.
So these, um, they really engagein the community.
They really become, just reallysupportive of us.
Even beyond the dance.
Is it like a sponsorship perdancer?
we give them tools to be able togo out and seek, what we call
(21:38):
recognition level donors.
Oh.
we have different levels ofthat.
so they, will engage with, intheir communities there is a lot
of social media presence and sotheir friends and family.
Does their own thing.
We don't, give them a templatethat they have to follow.
(22:00):
many of them are doing eventsalready where they maybe will
host a puzzle, event, you know,like a puzzle contest or, if
they work with another nonprofitwho maybe has, the ability to do
some gaming, like a bingo.
Oh yeah.
Those types of things.
(22:21):
Get some hype going.
Um, so yeah, so there is,there's different ways that,
that it comes together, but,they're free to do what they
want and as little or as much asas they want.
So how does the, probably don'tput high pressure on that.
Yeah.
How does the judging go?
Who judges I.
Because I would imagine thatthere's, you know, controversy.
(22:44):
Yeah.
we only have celebrity judges.
We don't rubric that follow, um.
The dance couples understandfrom the very beginning that
this is a charity event.
Yeah.
And it's a friendly competition.
Oh boy.
And at the end of the day, um,really we're, you know, we're
(23:05):
here for mental health and uh,suicide prevention awareness,
and so you have to always keepthat in check.
Yeah.
LP.
Medical center, he actuallyyear, uh.
(23:29):
And Brittany Arneson is a radiopersonality on 1 0 7 0.1, which
is under the umbrella of theHubbard Broadcasting Yes, yeah.
Company.
And then Chad Harland is a highschool teacher at.
(23:50):
Program director of for highschool.
Hutchinson to, I think there's46 schools in holy cow, who now
have the REACH program as anoption.
So, just try to connect, indifferent ways, bringing
(24:12):
community together for thisevent.
Okay.
Now we're just gonna to, to, towrap this up.
Couple things.
One is, do you have a specialrecognition for the couple that
raises the most money?
Well, we have four.
The pre-event fundraising, whichis, um, we have a first, second,
and third place for that, andthat competition ends on Friday
(24:35):
at 6:00 PM Okay, so they've beenraising money from January 3rd
till this Friday, April 11th,and then, uh, there is.
The dress rehearsal in theafternoon on Saturday.
And then there, uh, is thejudges, um, choice, which is
(24:59):
another, trophy, category.
And so the judges are there atthe show and they'll, um, give
their, and.
up to 40.
And, so that's another category.
(25:19):
And then there's the peoplechoice category where, the
audience and, in person and alsothe live stream viewing audience
can, call our phone bank andmake a donation or, they can
vote online, vote or donate.
They can do that through, ourwebsite.
(25:41):
There's multiple platforms inwhich they can vote as a
people's choice.
And so that is a also a trophycategory.
Then the couple with the mostvotes, and then there is an
overall of.
All of those and they go homewith a beautiful mere ball
trophy.
Oh my.
do you remember the PinewoodDerby?
(26:01):
Of course.
Did you ever, of course,participate in the Pinewood
Derby?
Yeah, I was a Cubs scout.
I never was able to have a carthat had very much mechanical
ability.
Yeah, me neither.
But I always liked the fact thatthey had like for for style
points?
Yeah I would always put togethera car that looked really cool.
Yeah.
It moved really slow, stuck onthe top, which is kind of like
me, right?
(26:22):
Well, I mean that's, sure, sure.
John, so that's, hold on.
I, I've said something.
Okay.
I was just gonna, I was gonnasay to Tammy, I can appreciate
you're talking about phone bank,you're talking about the live
show.
Um, it sounds like you, you guyshave done this before.
Quite a production.
It's a big production.
There's a lot of stuff I knowabout production.
There's a lot of things you haveto think about to put on a show
(26:43):
like this.
I think it's amazing thatyou've, you, you're doing this
and you're raising money, andthis has been how many years now
you've done this?
This is year five.
Wow.
This is year five.
And you guys have it down?
We do.
we have a good, productioncompany that we work with.
I have great staff, we havegreat volunteers.
people just absolutely love itand it's, it's a way of engaging
(27:07):
the community and starting thatconversation.
Yeah.
You can go to our website, uh,the number two, letter B
continued org, and you'll seedancing like the Stars.
And you can click on that and itwill lead you to, being able to
get a live stream ticket.
Very cool.
And also will list where thewatch parties are and it'll give
(27:30):
you an opportunity to write acheck, I would imagine.
Right.
Put a credit card in there.
Absolutely.
I had a chance to, uh, to lookthrough the.
Annual report that Tammyprovided me.
And it is incredible the numberof donors that you've been able
to attract to your organizationin five short years.
It is so impressive.
(27:52):
And just the way that you'vegone about engaging the
community in a fun, meaningfulway.
this is the type of thing thatevery.
Nonprofit organization reallyought to try and emulate, you
know, golf tournaments.
Everybody does a golftournament.
Yeah.
And there's so much work thatgoes into it with very little
return here.
Tammy and her crew have figuredout a way to engage couples from
(28:17):
communities all over the theirservice area.
In the fundraising process,somehow get them to go out and
put their vanity aside anddance.
Yeah.
And have fun doing c It's achallenge.
Yeah.
With 600 people watching.
Yeah.
Good God, what an impressiveidea.
Idea.
And it's a lot of work, uh, fromTammy's and, and her team's
(28:39):
perspective.
There's a lot of work to put iton, but I think the cause is so
great and people are so, so, youknow, in tune with why it's so
important.
So I, I think it's awesome.
I was just gonna say it's, it'svery humbling, um, to have seen
it be so engaging to thecommunities and you just hear
(28:59):
all the stories that the dancerswill tell you.
About how they started aconversation with somebody and
pretty soon their stories beingshared and, and people thanking
them for what they're doing.
'cause they've been touched.
And what a beautiful tribute toyour sister.
Yep.
I'm telling you.
Yep.
Just heartwarming.
(29:21):
So my last question is this, doyou have any success stories
that you'd be, willing to share?
I actually preparation for our.
We go and teach, uh, QPR at alocal.
What is QPR College?
(29:42):
Um, question persuade, refer.
It's the mental health versionof CPR.
Oh, cute.
And, um, once a semester I goover to Ridgewater College in
Hutchinson and teach it to theirsenior nursing students.
And the nursing instructor,shared, through a testimonial
(30:02):
today about how just a few daysafter I had been there to teach
the course, one of her studentswas engaging in a conversation
with a patient that hospitalizedand recognized some of the
warning signs and.
(30:22):
And actually, follow that threestep.
Training and, possibly averted asuicide Wow.
Was able to, provide additionalinformation to their, their
provider and, startconversations and.
Start getting the support thatthey needed.
So again, we do not provide anyprofessional services.
(30:46):
We are only out in the communityto provide education, outreach
and resources.
Yep.
Um,, we know that's important,which in many respects is, is
probably more impactful because,you know, any.
Healthcare professional rightnow is so busy, but to have all
(31:06):
of these people out therelooking for ways to keep an eye
out for this mm-hmm.
You know, what a great use of,resources.
You gotta feel, you gotta feelgreat about that.
Tammy.
Just, your efforts have, youknow, expanded to this kind of,
uh, training and, and that kindof story is pretty impactful.
Like with CPR, if onlyhealthcare workers were trained
(31:27):
in CPR, we wouldn't save nearlythe lives that we do because
community members are trained inCPR.
Right?
There's, there's, yeah.
If somebody collapses in a mallYeah, in a church, in a school,
or whatever.
There's likely people aroundthat know how to take those
three basic steps to getsomebody to the next level of
care.
(31:47):
And that same thing applieshere.
The more people trained in ourcommunities.
Yep.
Um, in our social circles, themore likely it is that we'll
recognize that somebody isstruggling.
That is gold right there.
It's fantastic.
Whoever came up with the QPRthing.
Yep.
They gotta be high fivingthemselves.
(32:08):
Yep.
That's good.
That is, and, and the way thatyou've described it, if it's
something that we're all trainedin, it's just, the effect is
just, uh, what's the word I'mlooking for?
Expansive, uh, exp uh,exponential.
Yes.
Yes, yes.
Exponential.
That's a big word.
Yep.
We don't usually use threesyllable words.
Yeah.
Exponential.
That's four.
(32:28):
So we're bad at math and bad atfour syllable words.
Ah, well, Tammy, thank you somuch for your time.
Yeah, thank you.
And good luck on Saturday.
I'm sure it's gonna be afantastic event.
And, uh, looking forward to, uh,to hearing, uh, how things
turned out for you.
Thank you so.
All right.
It been been my pleasure.
You have a good evening.
(32:49):
Thanks.
Thank you.
Bye-bye.
And off we go.
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