March 27, 2025 • 32 mins
A chance TikTok discovery led me to Adam Dahl, a fudge maker and small business owner whose story perfectly embodies the spirit of kindness I seek to highlight on this podcast. From his Minnesota Vikings fandom to his mouthwatering fudge creations, Adam brings joy to his community through Dahlhus Fudge – a tiny 300-square-foot shop with an outsized impact.
Adam shares his journey from making holiday fudge for friends to launching a successful business, revealing the creative process behind his seasonal flavors and unique collaborations with local establishments. His secret weapon? Water-based baking emulsions that preserve flavor when added to boiling sugar, resulting in extraordinary treats like cinnamon roll fudge and maple bacon varieties that have earned him viral social media moments.
What truly sets Adam apart is his commitment to using his platform for good. Inspired by his father's philosophy to "spread the message, not the mess," Adam recently launched a campaign to tackle the $36,000 school lunch debt affecting nine schools in his district. Through his TikTok creator fund earnings, in-store donations, and growing community support, he's building a movement with t-shirts, a nonprofit fund, and participation in the "Lunch Lady Hustle 5K."
You can follow Adam and the fudge on his socials Instagram, Facebook
Adam's story reminds us that kindness can take many forms – sometimes sweet and unexpected – and that small businesses can be powerful forces for community change. As he puts it, "I want to be the best fudge, but ultimately I want to be known for more than just the chocolate." Visit dahlhusfudge.com to support Adam's mission and join the #FeedTheKids movement that's making a difference one sweet treat at a time.
#fudge #schoollunch #feedthekids #kindnessmatters
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Like what you hear on the podcast? Follow our social media for more uplifting, inspirational and feel-good content.
It's one thing to highlight the kindness that we see in the world, but it's another to, as I put in many of my social media posts, #bethechange. I am donating all of my royalties from the sale of my book, Change A World; In Order to Change The World to local and national non-profits. Your help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, hello there and welcome.
You are listening to theKindness Matters podcast and I
am your host, mike Rathbun.
What is this podcast all about?
It's about kindness.
It's a pushback againsteverything negative that we see
in the news and on social mediatoday, and it's a way to
(00:20):
highlight people, organizationsthat are simply striving to make
their little corner of theworld a little better place.
If you want to join in on theconversation, feel free Go ahead
and follow us on all of yoursocial media feeds.
We're on Facebook, instagram,tiktok.
We're even on LinkedIn underMike Rathbun.
(00:42):
Check us out.
We're even on LinkedIn underMike Rathbun.
Check us out.
And, in the meantime, so sitback, relax, enjoy and we'll get
into the Kindness Matterspodcast.
Hey, welcome to the show,everybody.
It's so nice of you to join us.
I really appreciate you takingthe time To spend a half hour or
(01:02):
so With me and my guest and, asalways, if there's something
that you hear in this episodethat inspires you or moves you
or motivates you, please makesure to share that with friends,
families, colleagues at work,or even just you know complete
(01:23):
strangers, colleagues at work,or even just you know complete
strangers.
I would appreciate it andhopefully they will appreciate
it as well.
So my guest today is Adam Dahl.
I found him on TikTok okay andthere were a few things that
(01:43):
caught my attention.
First of all, during footballseason, he always wore Minnesota
Vikings gear, so that was aplus, obviously, being from
Minnesota.
Second of all, and this is inno particular order, adam is an
experienced and creative fudgemaker, and I mean, when I was
(02:05):
growing up, fudge was basicallyreserved for Christmas time,
right, so to see somebody makingfudge all the time, that was
awesome.
But then the other thing wasthat Adam uses his TikTok
profile, his TikTok account, toraise money to help pay off
(02:28):
school lunches in his area.
And did I also mention he makesfudge?
So amazing to have you here.
Welcome to the show, adam Dahl.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Hey, thanks so much for having me, mike, I
appreciate it.
First of all, yeah, born andraised a scolder here, I've
taught my kids to do the scoldchant as well.
Having me, Mike, I appreciateit.
First of all, yeah, born andraised a Skulldrew here, yeah,
I'm always.
I've taught my kids to do theSkull chant as well.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
So Skull Yep, nice.
I see Sam Donald's on his wayto the Seahawks and, for God's
sake, don't bring in AaronRodgers.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
No, please, I might have to silently boycott a
season.
I'll still watch the game.
I would boycott a season.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Who are we kidding?
We'll still watch.
I can't do that, Except if hewas here.
That'd be like watching a caraccident.
You don't want to look, but youcan't look away, right.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Brett Favre was one thing.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Aaron Rodgers, I can look, but you can't look away,
right, brett farve was one thing.
Aaron rogers, I can't do.
Yeah, yeah, nope, that that's a.
That's a line too far, butthat's beside the point.
Um, so, yeah, I mean, okay, soI watch you making fudge and you
, you do a lot of it on thescreen, right, you, you do a lot
.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
I mean, you show like almost every step yeah, um, I
do my best to hide my recipe asmuch as I can, but I think fudge
is one just a fascinating thingto a lot of people.
Anyway, it's a very Americantreat.
I have plenty of people thatcome into my shop all the time
that are from other countries,that are just kind of like what
(04:03):
is this and how do you describeit to somebody that doesn't know
?
Because it's not a caramel,it's not fully a chocolate, it's
not a brownie, it's not a cake,it's fudge.
So the process is, in and ofitself, it's fascinating to a
lot of people.
So it's a lot of fun for me toshowcase that.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Yeah, I had no idea that people from other countries
didn't know what fudge was.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
I have just kind of learned over the process of
having this business for thelast few years of kind of how
fudge got started and most of it, I think, is kind of urban
legend.
I don't think anybody reallyknows.
There's really no set actualfudge recipe and people can
debate that all they want.
You know my grandma's got thebest recipe.
My aunt had this recipe andthis is what it truly is, but
(04:48):
it's really there's.
There are literally like 10different kinds of like there's.
There's different ways to makefudge, different ingredients.
Some people use marshmallow,some people do corn syrup, some
people do frosting and powderedsugar that they microwave at
home and that that's not workingon that one.
But there are lots of ways todo it and so mine is just my own
(05:09):
recipe that I've created overthe last like 10 or so years and
it's fun to show it off.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Like I said, yeah, if I ever make it, I usually do
that no bake, refrigerator fudge.
It's not the same thing, butit's still it's good.
It's not the same thing, butit's still good.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
How did you realize your love for fudge?
Like you, it was alwayssomething that we had at
Christmas time.
I don't want to say it was likea super constant or that my mom
had the best recipe.
I think my mom would make itoccasionally and I was a
wrestler in middle school andhigh school, so wintertime was
wrestling season.
I'm on a diet anyway, but itwas always something that, like
at a holiday, I could be like,okay, cool, I can break my diet
(05:50):
a little bit, have a piece offudge and who am I kidding?
I would have four or five, but,um, and so where I live in
Lexington, kentucky, it's acollege town, um, and a lot of
our friends are transplants,like we are.
We were not from Lexington, sowe host Friendsgiving every year
with all of our friends beforeeverybody heads home for the
holidays.
So it was always kind of anextra dessert to put out.
(06:13):
You know we do the turkey andham and you know sweet potato
casserole and my wife would makean apple pie and then I would
just make fudge.
And I noticed that it becamesomething that our friends would
look forward to, um, and talkabout how great it was at
Friendsgiving, and so I justkind of started making it.
I would get excited aroundHalloween time to be like, okay,
(06:33):
what can I do this year?
What, what can I break off?
And like what, what flavor canI try?
Um, and so that's that's reallykind of how it got started and
how I realized that I've I'vegot something here, if enough
people, enough my friends are atleast encouraging me to make it
and give something else a shot.
Like that was enough for me tobe like, okay, maybe this is
(06:55):
good.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
For sure.
So you, you like, went intofull planning mode months in
advance, and that's so.
I think that's when you knowthat you're like destined to.
If you put that much effortinto it and that much time into
it, that's when you know youprobably should have a business
right yeah and I think like it,I I'm.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
I'm a cook more than anything else.
I'm not necessarily a baker, butI would find myself really
getting excited about making itand how it kind of emerged from
me just messing around in mykitchen to actually selling it
was.
There was a year where I foundmyself trying to make a bunch of
(07:40):
different flavors and I wouldjust bring them into the
teachers at our daughter'sdaycare and like, hey, try this
out, give it a shot.
And of course they were ravingabout it, which was awesome and
like a boost to my ego a littlebit.
But my wife in the back, I waskind of like stop spending all
this money on ingredients, justlike to just give it all away.
Why don't you try to sell it?
And so I just started anInstagram page where people
(08:03):
could.
I had just like a Google formwhere they could order.
It was kind of a cottagekitchen situation which here in
Kentucky you know, if you canmake things out of your house,
you got to follow the cottagelaws, but that's really how it
started and then just kind ofgrew from there.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Yeah, wow, wow.
And I'm interested in thiswhole thing because a lot of
small businesses they start offselling through social media.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
But okay, which came first?
Your brick and mortar camebefore TikTok, but my other
social accounts came muchearlier than everything else.
I was on Instagram and Facebookselling that way for a year and
a half two years, before I everhad the brick and mortar.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Okay, and then so you grew this business making and
selling fudge to the point whereyou could get a brick and
mortar store.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
I mean, that's, that's pretty cool, it's
honestly, it was kind of theperfect storm, a perfect set of
circumstances for me, because Ithink when people see my shop
through the lens of their phonescreen and what my social
accounts are and me dancingaround and this, and that I
think people have a differentidea of what my shop is, and I
(09:30):
can assure you that I can almosttouch all the walls with my
arms.
It's 300 square feet.
It actually started as a pieshop right next to a restaurant
and I was to the point where Iwas doing farmer's markets and
vendor events and selling onlineand it was 100% on the side.
(09:54):
I was still in sales and I waspicking up my daughter from
school one day and my wifeactually sent it to me but there
was a for rent sign in thewindow and she was like, hey,
this might be kind of theperfect thing Because I don't
need a big storefront, I don'tneed tables, I don't need table
service, I don't need a bunch ofsquare footage.
It's 300 square feet of me,with an electric stove, an
(10:18):
electric range like you'd havein your house, a glass case with
it and a three-compartment sinkto clean everything up.
So it's always been a grab andgo concept and I think that for
me it was and frankly for mylandlords too like a perfect fit
for just to have me in thereand have the concept fit so well
.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Yeah, for sure, and you were right.
Watching your videos, whetherit's on Instagram or TikTok or
wherever, it does seem likethere's a lot of space in there,
and maybe that's because youutilize different areas of it
and it gives the impression thatit's a huge space.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah, I think most of the time my phone is up against
a wall somewhere, so you'reseeing it all the way from one
side of the shop.
But I think when the firemarshal came in to do my
inspection he was just kind of,like you know, your capacity in
here is probably like fourpeople.
If you happen to get seven oreight, good for you.
Like you know, it's not the endof the world, but that's
(11:21):
probably pushing it.
So it's a lot smaller thanpeople think.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
Yeah, that's probably pushing it.
So it is.
It's a lot smaller than peoplethink.
Yeah, that's so cool.
Um, so now, so you're makingfudge what kind of process goes
into, because you're alwaystrying new flavors and new
recipes, right?
What kind of process goes intothat?
Speaker 2 (11:42):
For me at least, when I was starting doing this, I
kind of had the same mindsetthat you did and a lot of people
do that Fudge is a holidaytreat Okay, so that's November.
It's brown Right is a holidaytreat Okay, so that's you know,
November, just brown Right.
And so for me I was kind oflike, okay, if I'm going to make
this a full time thing, or atthe time it was okay, I'm going
(12:03):
to be selling at the farmer'smarket in 90 degree heat.
You know, nobody's thinkingabout getting a melty piece of
chocolate fudge at that time.
So how do I get it to whereit's July and people want a
piece of my fudge?
And that's where it became okay.
I've got to come up withdifferent flavors to match the
seasonality for how things aregoing.
(12:24):
So in the summertime I'm doingthings like key lime pie, orange
creamsicle, banana pudding, ohwow.
And in the wintertime, atChristmas you know it's still
the classics, but it'speppermint bark, maple, walnut,
you know, valentine's Day,salted caramel, chocolate, like
it's just.
It's got to match theseasonality to try to create
demand at a time that it's notnormally demanding.
(12:46):
But I will say one of mysecrets is I found when I'm
baking this stuff if you useextracts for flavoring, because
the sugar is boiling andextracts are alcohol based.
So when you put those intoboiling sugar it reacts
violently and you boil out a lotof the flavor.
Alternatively, there'ssomething called baking
(13:07):
emulsions, which are water based, so you put those into boiling
sugar, the water boils out, butthe flavor stays behind, and
that's really kind of my secretweapon.
It's just you and me talking.
There's no, you know.
Yeah, devote any secrets here.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
This.
This will be listened to bydozens of people.
Um, so okay, that's, that's socool.
Now you have a really goodreputation there in in Lexington
, um, and you have a lot ofcommunity with a lot of the
other businesses.
I know you did.
(13:43):
Would we call it acollaboration Mm-hmm?
With a couple of businessesthere when it comes to your
fudge flavors?
Can you talk about that alittle bit?
Speaker 2 (13:55):
when it comes to your fudge flavors.
Can you talk about that alittle bit?
Yeah, it's something that thelocal business community in
Lexington is awesome.
It's something that I'm sureexists everywhere else.
But just how we all uplift eachother, we're checking in
constantly.
(14:17):
You can connect with just randompeople that you wouldn't
normally connect with, fromdifferent backgrounds, that just
have all these amazing shopshere in Lexington, and so it
became actually the first onewas they reached out to me is a
bakery here in Lexington calledFutile Bakery.
They have the best cinnamonrolls and we've kind of gone
back and forth Like I've gottensome of their stuff.
(14:37):
They came in and they got anadvent calendar a couple of a
couple of years ago, which issomething that I do with the
holidays.
It's a fun, it's fantastic.
Uh, but they got one and theywere like hey, would you ever
think of, like, would you everbe interested in in doing a
collaboration where somethingwith our cinnamon rolls and I
said, send them over, I'll getin the lab, We'll figure this
out.
And that was really honestly,my first kind of quote, unquote
(15:02):
viral moment, if you will.
It's the first video on TikTokthat I had that went over
200,000 views, which I never hadbefore.
I was doing you know a couplehundred here and there was just
putting the cinnamon rolls intomy fudge and figuring out how
that worked and it isunbelievable.
The cinnamon rolls do the heavylifting there but that sparked a
(15:27):
bunch of other people reachingout.
I had a pit master at one ofthe breweries here that was kind
of like, hey, how can we collab?
And I was like how are we goingto put you know, pulled pork in
the fudge?
We did a maple bacon.
He smoked a pork belly.
That was fantastic, it wasunbelievable.
And I've done everything fromthat to I've done a Kentucky
bourbon caramel popcorn.
(15:47):
There's some stuff possiblywith like cocktails and bourbon
that we're going to be doingcoming up.
So it's, it's cool.
Like I mean, the social aspectof it is a little bit of an
outreach for other smallbusinesses to want to partner up
and see what kind of fun stuffwe can do.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Yeah, the creativity that goes into that on your end
is just mind-boggling.
You're like, okay, now how do Iget pulled pork into it?
Step into the lab, I like thatyeah that would, uh, the pool.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
I'm glad that he was like you know what, I'll smoke a
pork belly and we could dosomething with bacon, because if
we were having pork, I don'tknow that would have really I
would have been pulling out allthe stops to figure that one out
.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
I have crumbled bacon into a chocolate chip cookie
recipe.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
That was awesome that's the way to go.
The saltiness always yes, salty, sweet.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Can't, can't, can't deny the the awesomeness of that
um.
So okay, now something thatthat you talk.
You talk pretty openly aboutyour relationship with your dad,
um, and he's kind of aninspiring figure as far as
(17:11):
because he went through a roughpatch there but then he turned
himself around.
He went through a rough patchthere but then he turned himself
around and, um, and I love yousaid something that he always
said was spread the message, notthe mess.
I love that story.
Can you tell that story for us?
Speaker 2 (17:31):
yeah, absolutely.
Um, so my dad uh passed in 2020.
So a lot of you know kind ofwhat I've done the last few
years has been kind of inspired.
But also, you know, when I wasa kid he was not in our lives.
(17:59):
He was.
He was an alcoholic but he was,thank thank God, sober for
almost 30 years, up a little bitin the AA community, just
because when we would come visithim, you know we might hit an
AA meeting on a Friday nightbefore we go to his house for
(18:19):
the weekend.
Or when I would live with himfor a couple of years, you know
he was always hitting a meetingor you know, anytime I call him
he'd be at the 430 holding court.
But a lot of that culture iskind of some of these sayings
and motivation and I never fullygot the grasp if the spread the
message, not the mess, was anAA thing or if that was him.
(18:43):
His ability to turn a phrase,his intuition, his wit and his
sense of humor were alwayssomething that really could
rally a crowd around him.
But that's something he wouldsay a lot to the newcomers that
would come to his centers is.
You know, we're here to spreadthe message, not the mess.
Everybody's got mess and theworld has enough mess.
(19:05):
We don't need any more mess.
Let's focus on spreading themessage, whatever that is and to
me, as I've grown this businessthat's kind of become a mission
statement for me of just howcan I take what I've got, spread
goodness, whatever that is.
For some people it's simply thefudge.
For others it's the message ofa smile when you come into my
(19:30):
shop.
It's kindness in the community,it's being a safe place to come
if you need a safe place.
It's being a safe place to comeif you need a safe place.
That, to me, is somethingthat's so important in what I'm
trying to do with this businessis be more than just fudge,
because you know fudge you canget a lot of different fudge
everywhere.
I want to be the best fudge,but ultimately I want to be
(19:54):
known for more than just thechocolate.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Sure, sure.
And to that end, you have takenthe power of TikTok shall we
say and you've utilized that tospread some good message in your
community that to spread somegood message in your community.
(20:21):
When did you decide to startusing TikTok, the creator fund,
to start paying off lunch debt?
Speaker 2 (20:26):
So this came about really about eight weeks ago.
It's been quite a whirlwind of afew weeks for me.
Yeah, it's super recent, but I,you know, probably at the
beginning of January maybe, Ihad like 1500 followers, full
transparency.
I kind of made a post that saidhey, there's a lot going on in
the world right now.
(20:47):
This is what I believe, this iswhat my business is about.
And that got me to a pointwhere enough people supported me
to put me over 10,000 followers.
And at that point TikTok issaying hey, you can monetize
this if you want.
I saw a couple other creatorsdoing it.
There's a guy in North Carolina.
His TikTok account is Lomax theLorax.
(21:08):
He got to the same point wherehe was like, hey, I'm going to
take all this money and I'mgoing to donate it to student
lunch debt in my community.
And he got inspired fromanother account.
Uh, she's a teacher in Utah.
Uh, her account is Mrs Cactusvibes.
She kind of does similar thingswhere she's kind of dancing
around to some music for aminute and, um, you know,
(21:31):
they've got an almost $3 milliondebt in Utah for for lunches.
So, oh my gosh, um, and Iimmediately connected with that,
as I've got two, you know,elementary age kids and I was
like the thought of theirfriends.
Not being able to afford lunchlike just devastates me, and
again, I'm less than a blockfrom their school.
(21:52):
So that's kind of how itstarted.
And then, once I kind of didsome digging and realized how
big the debt is for us here, itwas kind of like, okay, it's my
mission now.
It's $36,000 as of February 7th, just for nine schools in our
district.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Everybody else is Title I, so it's my mission now,
before the end of the schoolyear, to get that paid off yeah,
because you were doing a wholeseries there and you were kind
of like leading up to the revealof how much is owed out there
and I remember watching thatvideo and you, I, I was just
(22:32):
like deflated, I'm like oh mygod, it's that much still.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
And it's.
It's crazy.
I you know I don't thinkfeeding children is a polarizing
topic at all.
Um, much like everything else,you know the the nuts and bolts
of some of those things arepolitical, but at the end of the
day, it's like you know what.
Whatever that takes to makesure that the families are taken
(22:58):
care of, that need to be takencare of, I'll do it, I got to do
it.
And the TikTok is going to giveme some extra money and it's
ballooned beyond just the TikTok.
You know, people are cominginto my shop making cash
donations, people are Venmoingme online and now it's kind of
snowballed a little bit into OK,we're setting up a nonprofit
(23:18):
fund to get this taken care of.
You're going to be able tosponsor us for 5Ks coming up
throughout the year.
So, like I said, it's reallybecome my mission to pay this
off and make sure that ourcommunity doesn't have this debt
at all.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Yeah, and you know I think some people I mean I did a
post the other day about whatwhat did your lunchbox look like
when you were in grade school?
And I don't know why I rememberthis right.
I'm like I can barely rememberwhat I had for dinner two nights
(23:53):
ago, but I remember vividlythere was a TV show in the
sixties called the rat patroland I had a rat patrol lunchbox,
right, and I looked online andit's like those are selling for
like hundreds of dollars.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
If only you'd have had the close time to save it.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
But yeah, I know, right, I think I didn't even
think it was a year old before Ihad one of the old thermoses
and it had the glass inside andI think I dropped the lunchbox
and the thermos broke and thatwas the end of that.
But yeah, a lot of people saidyou know, well, I had a paper
bag.
I don't and I can't.
(24:43):
I'm having a hard time wrappingmy head around the richest
country in the history of theworld and kids can't afford to
eat lunch and there's somethingwrong with that fundamentally
and morally and on several otherlevels, but but this is, this
is amazing what you're doing,and I realize it's not just you,
but you're the person that Ifound, and I don't know if it's
(25:03):
the algorithm, but now, everytime I open up TikTok, all I'm
seeing are ladies schoolteachers dancing for nice twerk,
by the way.
And you guys are going to haveto go to his page and watch it.
I'm not going to go into anymore detail than that, but so
you're kind of supporting aspecific 5K coming up here,
(25:25):
aren't you?
Speaker 2 (25:26):
I am.
So part of this has been wherenow people are starting to reach
out and say, hey, we've gotthis going on or I'm learning a
lot of information about kind ofhow a lot of this process works
.
But I live in Fayette County,so the FCPS I think it's
Association for Nutrition iswhat their official title is
it's the Lunch Ladies.
(25:46):
But they sent me information ona 5K that they do in May.
It's called the Lunch LadyHustle 5K and that raises money
for scholarships for employeesand for students.
So they've invited me toparticipate as kind of a vendor.
So we're going to set up abooth there, give away some
(26:07):
fudge samples and some stickersand stuff.
But I also like doing 5k.
So I signed up for the race andI thought you know what?
This is probably a greatopportunity to fundraise beyond
just the TikTok money, beyondjust, you know, people coming in
and giving me cash.
What I'm going to do and I'mstill working out the details on
this, but I've created the dollwho's fudge team on this race.
(26:29):
You can sign up virtually aswell.
You don't have to be here inlexington.
You can sign up virtually.
If you join my team, you get adiscount on your registration,
um, and if you sign up for myteam or if you make a donation
online, you will get a Feed theKids t-shirt.
And what I wanted out of this,in addition to the donations,
(26:50):
was really just to form acommunity here of this Feed the
Kids kind of army.
I want the whole race to befilled with t-shirts of Feed the
Kids.
I want Lexington and all acrossthe country to be filled with
(27:11):
t-shirts that feed the kids andreally show kind of the strength
and the community of this iswhat we can do when we're
together and we put our mindstowards something and we can
again set aside a lot of themess of this world and really
just push out a message of unity, kindness, like community and
really taking care of those inthe community that need it the
most yeah, for sure, and so nowwe'll have, and I just realized
(27:32):
that this whole conversation Ihaven't mentioned the name of
your fudge shop.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Once it's doll who's fudge?
Yes, sir, for pete's sake, wewill have a have a link to your
website in the show notes andI'll have Instagram and TikTok
links as well, if somebody'slistening and they go.
(27:56):
Hey, I want to support that.
They could do that through yourwebsite, right?
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Yeah, absolutely so.
I ship all over the countrydirectly from my shop website,
right?
Yeah, absolutely so.
I ship all over the countrydirectly from my shop so you can
order online.
That's kind of how I startedwas shipping out online and
doing these in-person events.
So I had the website for a longtime.
It was never meant to be aslarge a portion of my business
as it's become over these lasttwo months, but it is a big part
(28:22):
of the business now and wereally are shipping fudge all
over the country and some peopleare saying it's the best fudge
they've ever had, so I'm notgoing to argue with them.
I'm also too, humble.
I'm also happy to be second orthird.
If you know your mom orgrandma's got a better recipe,
that's totally fine with me.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Don't mess with me, Maz Fudge I would never dream of
that.
But yeah, and it just goes backto the creativity, and you're
putting out so much great stuffinto the world, adam, and I
really appreciate it.
I appreciate you, I appreciateyour fudge, I appreciate your
(29:04):
message and thank you so muchfor taking a few minutes to come
on and talk to me about this.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
Absolutely.
I really appreciate you havingme on.
Thank you so much.
This has been super fun.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Well, this episode is going to come out March 27th,
so hopefully there'll be time tomaybe get some more donations.
You said that the 5k was in May.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
The 5k is in May.
It is May 10th, so it'sMother's Day weekend, but by the
time this episode comes out, Iwill have probably a lot more
information on my socialaccounts.
I've got meetings set up in thenext week or so to get the
nonprofit fund finalized.
I should have t-shirts in handby the time this episode comes
out.
So there's there will be a lotof moving parts in the next few
weeks.
(29:48):
So definitely go check out thesocials, figure out if this is
something that you want tosupport us in doing.
You can absolutely do that in avariety of ways and there will
be plenty of information on howto do that.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Fantastic, I have to say before I go, I mean before
we wrap this up Fantastic, Ihave to say.
Before I go, I mean before wewrap this up, I also love your
shop and the shirts that youwear.
I love the fudge around andfind out.
I love Well, is it hashtag?
Feed the kids.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
Yeah, hashtag feed the kids is something that I
put've put on all the socialsthat I've done.
Again, it's kind of a way forthat community to just kind of
build.
I also do oh Fudge all the time.
I've got some shirts that sayget rich or die fudging, it's
all, just it's fudge.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
It's supposed to be fun, it is.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
My personality is a big smile goofing off.
You know I have plenty ofteachers, I'm sure growing up
called me the class clown ordidn't pay enough attention or
was trying to make people laughtoo often and not doing what
he's supposed to be doing.
So now here I am stillcontinuing to do that.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
It's all tongue-in-cheek and in good fun
and you're making a living andmaking a difference in the world
, doing it so fantastic.
Thanks so much, adam.
I appreciate your time and Iappreciate what you're doing.
Keep doing it and, yeah, we'llbe in touch.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
I really appreciate you, Mike.
I hope you have a great rest ofyour day, great rest of your
week.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
You too.
Bye-bye.
I really want to thank you fortaking this time to listen to
(31:39):
this episode.
Bye-bye.
If you experienced any of thosepositive feelings, please
consider sharing this podcastwith your friends, family, work
colleagues, complete strangers,whoever.
I'm always striving to offeryou a better podcast, so give me
some feedback, let me know howyou think I'm doing.
Email me, leave me a message onmy socials it would mean the
(32:03):
world.
Leave me a message on mysocials.
It would mean the world Alsofeel free to follow us on our
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This podcast is part of theMayday Media Network.
If you have an idea for apodcast and need some production
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(32:27):
out the many different shows,like Afrocentric Spoil, my Movie
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(32:48):
You've been listening to theKindness Matters podcast.
I'm your host, Mike Rathman.
Have a fantastic week.
Well, hello there and welcome.
You are listening to theKindness Matters podcast and I
am your host, mike Rathbun.
What is this podcast all about?
It's about kindness.
It's a pushback againsteverything negative that we see
in the news and on social mediatoday, and it's a way to
(00:20):
highlight people, organizationsthat are simply striving to make
their little corner of theworld a little better place.
If you want to join in on theconversation, feel free Go ahead
and follow us on all of yoursocial media feeds.
We're on Facebook, instagram,tiktok.
We're even on LinkedIn underMike Rathbun.
(00:42):
Check us out.
We're even on LinkedIn underMike Rathbun.
Check us out.
And, in the meantime, so sitback, relax, enjoy and we'll get
into the Kindness Matterspodcast.
Hey, welcome to the show,everybody.
It's so nice of you to join us.
I really appreciate you takingthe time To spend a half hour or
(01:02):
so With me and my guest and, asalways, if there's something
that you hear in this episodethat inspires you or moves you
or motivates you, please makesure to share that with friends,
families, colleagues at work,or even just you know complete
(01:23):
strangers, colleagues at work,or even just you know complete
strangers.
I would appreciate it andhopefully they will appreciate
it as well.
So my guest today is Adam Dahl.
I found him on TikTok okay andthere were a few things that
(01:43):
caught my attention.
First of all, during footballseason, he always wore Minnesota
Vikings gear, so that was aplus, obviously, being from
Minnesota.
Second of all, and this is inno particular order, adam is an
experienced and creative fudgemaker, and I mean, when I was
(02:05):
growing up, fudge was basicallyreserved for Christmas time,
right, so to see somebody makingfudge all the time, that was
awesome.
But then the other thing wasthat Adam uses his TikTok
profile, his TikTok account, toraise money to help pay off
(02:28):
school lunches in his area.
And did I also mention he makesfudge?
So amazing to have you here.
Welcome to the show, adam Dahl.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Hey, thanks so much for having me, mike, I
appreciate it.
First of all, yeah, born andraised a scolder here, I've
taught my kids to do the scoldchant as well.
Having me, Mike, I appreciateit.
First of all, yeah, born andraised a Skulldrew here, yeah,
I'm always.
I've taught my kids to do theSkull chant as well.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
So Skull Yep, nice.
I see Sam Donald's on his wayto the Seahawks and, for God's
sake, don't bring in AaronRodgers.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
No, please, I might have to silently boycott a
season.
I'll still watch the game.
I would boycott a season.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Who are we kidding?
We'll still watch.
I can't do that, Except if hewas here.
That'd be like watching a caraccident.
You don't want to look, but youcan't look away, right.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Brett Favre was one thing.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Aaron Rodgers, I can look, but you can't look away,
right, brett farve was one thing.
Aaron rogers, I can't do.
Yeah, yeah, nope, that that's a.
That's a line too far, butthat's beside the point.
Um, so, yeah, I mean, okay, soI watch you making fudge and you
, you do a lot of it on thescreen, right, you, you do a lot
.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
I mean, you show like almost every step yeah, um, I
do my best to hide my recipe asmuch as I can, but I think fudge
is one just a fascinating thingto a lot of people.
Anyway, it's a very Americantreat.
I have plenty of people thatcome into my shop all the time
that are from other countries,that are just kind of like what
(04:03):
is this and how do you describeit to somebody that doesn't know
?
Because it's not a caramel,it's not fully a chocolate, it's
not a brownie, it's not a cake,it's fudge.
So the process is, in and ofitself, it's fascinating to a
lot of people.
So it's a lot of fun for me toshowcase that.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Yeah, I had no idea that people from other countries
didn't know what fudge was.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
I have just kind of learned over the process of
having this business for thelast few years of kind of how
fudge got started and most of it, I think, is kind of urban
legend.
I don't think anybody reallyknows.
There's really no set actualfudge recipe and people can
debate that all they want.
You know my grandma's got thebest recipe.
My aunt had this recipe andthis is what it truly is, but
(04:48):
it's really there's.
There are literally like 10different kinds of like there's.
There's different ways to makefudge, different ingredients.
Some people use marshmallow,some people do corn syrup, some
people do frosting and powderedsugar that they microwave at
home and that that's not workingon that one.
But there are lots of ways todo it and so mine is just my own
(05:09):
recipe that I've created overthe last like 10 or so years and
it's fun to show it off.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Like I said, yeah, if I ever make it, I usually do
that no bake, refrigerator fudge.
It's not the same thing, butit's still it's good.
It's not the same thing, butit's still good.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
How did you realize your love for fudge?
Like you, it was alwayssomething that we had at
Christmas time.
I don't want to say it was likea super constant or that my mom
had the best recipe.
I think my mom would make itoccasionally and I was a
wrestler in middle school andhigh school, so wintertime was
wrestling season.
I'm on a diet anyway, but itwas always something that, like
at a holiday, I could be like,okay, cool, I can break my diet
(05:50):
a little bit, have a piece offudge and who am I kidding?
I would have four or five, but,um, and so where I live in
Lexington, kentucky, it's acollege town, um, and a lot of
our friends are transplants,like we are.
We were not from Lexington, sowe host Friendsgiving every year
with all of our friends beforeeverybody heads home for the
holidays.
So it was always kind of anextra dessert to put out.
(06:13):
You know we do the turkey andham and you know sweet potato
casserole and my wife would makean apple pie and then I would
just make fudge.
And I noticed that it becamesomething that our friends would
look forward to, um, and talkabout how great it was at
Friendsgiving, and so I justkind of started making it.
I would get excited aroundHalloween time to be like, okay,
(06:33):
what can I do this year?
What, what can I break off?
And like what, what flavor canI try?
Um, and so that's that's reallykind of how it got started and
how I realized that I've I'vegot something here, if enough
people, enough my friends are atleast encouraging me to make it
and give something else a shot.
Like that was enough for me tobe like, okay, maybe this is
(06:55):
good.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
For sure.
So you, you like, went intofull planning mode months in
advance, and that's so.
I think that's when you knowthat you're like destined to.
If you put that much effortinto it and that much time into
it, that's when you know youprobably should have a business
right yeah and I think like it,I I'm.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
I'm a cook more than anything else.
I'm not necessarily a baker, butI would find myself really
getting excited about making itand how it kind of emerged from
me just messing around in mykitchen to actually selling it
was.
There was a year where I foundmyself trying to make a bunch of
(07:40):
different flavors and I wouldjust bring them into the
teachers at our daughter'sdaycare and like, hey, try this
out, give it a shot.
And of course they were ravingabout it, which was awesome and
like a boost to my ego a littlebit.
But my wife in the back, I waskind of like stop spending all
this money on ingredients, justlike to just give it all away.
Why don't you try to sell it?
And so I just started anInstagram page where people
(08:03):
could.
I had just like a Google formwhere they could order.
It was kind of a cottagekitchen situation which here in
Kentucky you know, if you canmake things out of your house,
you got to follow the cottagelaws, but that's really how it
started and then just kind ofgrew from there.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Yeah, wow, wow.
And I'm interested in thiswhole thing because a lot of
small businesses they start offselling through social media.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
But okay, which came first?
Your brick and mortar camebefore TikTok, but my other
social accounts came muchearlier than everything else.
I was on Instagram and Facebookselling that way for a year and
a half two years, before I everhad the brick and mortar.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Okay, and then so you grew this business making and
selling fudge to the point whereyou could get a brick and
mortar store.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
I mean, that's, that's pretty cool, it's
honestly, it was kind of theperfect storm, a perfect set of
circumstances for me, because Ithink when people see my shop
through the lens of their phonescreen and what my social
accounts are and me dancingaround and this, and that I
think people have a differentidea of what my shop is, and I
(09:30):
can assure you that I can almosttouch all the walls with my
arms.
It's 300 square feet.
It actually started as a pieshop right next to a restaurant
and I was to the point where Iwas doing farmer's markets and
vendor events and selling onlineand it was 100% on the side.
(09:54):
I was still in sales and I waspicking up my daughter from
school one day and my wifeactually sent it to me but there
was a for rent sign in thewindow and she was like, hey,
this might be kind of theperfect thing Because I don't
need a big storefront, I don'tneed tables, I don't need table
service, I don't need a bunch ofsquare footage.
It's 300 square feet of me,with an electric stove, an
(10:18):
electric range like you'd havein your house, a glass case with
it and a three-compartment sinkto clean everything up.
So it's always been a grab andgo concept and I think that for
me it was and frankly for mylandlords too like a perfect fit
for just to have me in thereand have the concept fit so well
.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Yeah, for sure, and you were right.
Watching your videos, whetherit's on Instagram or TikTok or
wherever, it does seem likethere's a lot of space in there,
and maybe that's because youutilize different areas of it
and it gives the impression thatit's a huge space.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah, I think most of the time my phone is up against
a wall somewhere, so you'reseeing it all the way from one
side of the shop.
But I think when the firemarshal came in to do my
inspection he was just kind of,like you know, your capacity in
here is probably like fourpeople.
If you happen to get seven oreight, good for you.
Like you know, it's not the endof the world, but that's
(11:21):
probably pushing it.
So it's a lot smaller thanpeople think.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
Yeah, that's probably pushing it.
So it is.
It's a lot smaller than peoplethink.
Yeah, that's so cool.
Um, so now, so you're makingfudge what kind of process goes
into, because you're alwaystrying new flavors and new
recipes, right?
What kind of process goes intothat?
Speaker 2 (11:42):
For me at least, when I was starting doing this, I
kind of had the same mindsetthat you did and a lot of people
do that Fudge is a holidaytreat Okay, so that's November.
It's brown Right is a holidaytreat Okay, so that's you know,
November, just brown Right.
And so for me I was kind oflike, okay, if I'm going to make
this a full time thing, or atthe time it was okay, I'm going
(12:03):
to be selling at the farmer'smarket in 90 degree heat.
You know, nobody's thinkingabout getting a melty piece of
chocolate fudge at that time.
So how do I get it to whereit's July and people want a
piece of my fudge?
And that's where it became okay.
I've got to come up withdifferent flavors to match the
seasonality for how things aregoing.
(12:24):
So in the summertime I'm doingthings like key lime pie, orange
creamsicle, banana pudding, ohwow.
And in the wintertime, atChristmas you know it's still
the classics, but it'speppermint bark, maple, walnut,
you know, valentine's Day,salted caramel, chocolate, like
it's just.
It's got to match theseasonality to try to create
demand at a time that it's notnormally demanding.
(12:46):
But I will say one of mysecrets is I found when I'm
baking this stuff if you useextracts for flavoring, because
the sugar is boiling andextracts are alcohol based.
So when you put those intoboiling sugar it reacts
violently and you boil out a lotof the flavor.
Alternatively, there'ssomething called baking
(13:07):
emulsions, which are water based, so you put those into boiling
sugar, the water boils out, butthe flavor stays behind, and
that's really kind of my secretweapon.
It's just you and me talking.
There's no, you know.
Yeah, devote any secrets here.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
This.
This will be listened to bydozens of people.
Um, so okay, that's, that's socool.
Now you have a really goodreputation there in in Lexington
, um, and you have a lot ofcommunity with a lot of the
other businesses.
I know you did.
(13:43):
Would we call it acollaboration Mm-hmm?
With a couple of businessesthere when it comes to your
fudge flavors?
Can you talk about that alittle bit?
Speaker 2 (13:55):
when it comes to your fudge flavors.
Can you talk about that alittle bit?
Yeah, it's something that thelocal business community in
Lexington is awesome.
It's something that I'm sureexists everywhere else.
But just how we all uplift eachother, we're checking in
constantly.
(14:17):
You can connect with just randompeople that you wouldn't
normally connect with, fromdifferent backgrounds, that just
have all these amazing shopshere in Lexington, and so it
became actually the first onewas they reached out to me is a
bakery here in Lexington calledFutile Bakery.
They have the best cinnamonrolls and we've kind of gone
back and forth Like I've gottensome of their stuff.
(14:37):
They came in and they got anadvent calendar a couple of a
couple of years ago, which issomething that I do with the
holidays.
It's a fun, it's fantastic.
Uh, but they got one and theywere like hey, would you ever
think of, like, would you everbe interested in in doing a
collaboration where somethingwith our cinnamon rolls and I
said, send them over, I'll getin the lab, We'll figure this
out.
And that was really honestly,my first kind of quote, unquote
(15:02):
viral moment, if you will.
It's the first video on TikTokthat I had that went over
200,000 views, which I never hadbefore.
I was doing you know a couplehundred here and there was just
putting the cinnamon rolls intomy fudge and figuring out how
that worked and it isunbelievable.
The cinnamon rolls do the heavylifting there but that sparked a
(15:27):
bunch of other people reachingout.
I had a pit master at one ofthe breweries here that was kind
of like, hey, how can we collab?
And I was like how are we goingto put you know, pulled pork in
the fudge?
We did a maple bacon.
He smoked a pork belly.
That was fantastic, it wasunbelievable.
And I've done everything fromthat to I've done a Kentucky
bourbon caramel popcorn.
(15:47):
There's some stuff possiblywith like cocktails and bourbon
that we're going to be doingcoming up.
So it's, it's cool.
Like I mean, the social aspectof it is a little bit of an
outreach for other smallbusinesses to want to partner up
and see what kind of fun stuffwe can do.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Yeah, the creativity that goes into that on your end
is just mind-boggling.
You're like, okay, now how do Iget pulled pork into it?
Step into the lab, I like thatyeah that would, uh, the pool.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
I'm glad that he was like you know what, I'll smoke a
pork belly and we could dosomething with bacon, because if
we were having pork, I don'tknow that would have really I
would have been pulling out allthe stops to figure that one out
.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
I have crumbled bacon into a chocolate chip cookie
recipe.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
That was awesome that's the way to go.
The saltiness always yes, salty, sweet.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Can't, can't, can't deny the the awesomeness of that
um.
So okay, now something thatthat you talk.
You talk pretty openly aboutyour relationship with your dad,
um, and he's kind of aninspiring figure as far as
(17:11):
because he went through a roughpatch there but then he turned
himself around.
He went through a rough patchthere but then he turned himself
around and, um, and I love yousaid something that he always
said was spread the message, notthe mess.
I love that story.
Can you tell that story for us?
Speaker 2 (17:31):
yeah, absolutely.
Um, so my dad uh passed in 2020.
So a lot of you know kind ofwhat I've done the last few
years has been kind of inspired.
But also, you know, when I wasa kid he was not in our lives.
(17:59):
He was.
He was an alcoholic but he was,thank thank God, sober for
almost 30 years, up a little bitin the AA community, just
because when we would come visithim, you know we might hit an
AA meeting on a Friday nightbefore we go to his house for
(18:19):
the weekend.
Or when I would live with himfor a couple of years, you know
he was always hitting a meetingor you know, anytime I call him
he'd be at the 430 holding court.
But a lot of that culture iskind of some of these sayings
and motivation and I never fullygot the grasp if the spread the
message, not the mess, was anAA thing or if that was him.
(18:43):
His ability to turn a phrase,his intuition, his wit and his
sense of humor were alwayssomething that really could
rally a crowd around him.
But that's something he wouldsay a lot to the newcomers that
would come to his centers is.
You know, we're here to spreadthe message, not the mess.
Everybody's got mess and theworld has enough mess.
(19:05):
We don't need any more mess.
Let's focus on spreading themessage, whatever that is and to
me, as I've grown this businessthat's kind of become a mission
statement for me of just howcan I take what I've got, spread
goodness, whatever that is.
For some people it's simply thefudge.
For others it's the message ofa smile when you come into my
(19:30):
shop.
It's kindness in the community,it's being a safe place to come
if you need a safe place.
It's being a safe place to comeif you need a safe place.
That, to me, is somethingthat's so important in what I'm
trying to do with this businessis be more than just fudge,
because you know fudge you canget a lot of different fudge
everywhere.
I want to be the best fudge,but ultimately I want to be
(19:54):
known for more than just thechocolate.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Sure, sure.
And to that end, you have takenthe power of TikTok shall we
say and you've utilized that tospread some good message in your
community that to spread somegood message in your community.
(20:21):
When did you decide to startusing TikTok, the creator fund,
to start paying off lunch debt?
Speaker 2 (20:26):
So this came about really about eight weeks ago.
It's been quite a whirlwind of afew weeks for me.
Yeah, it's super recent, but I,you know, probably at the
beginning of January maybe, Ihad like 1500 followers, full
transparency.
I kind of made a post that saidhey, there's a lot going on in
the world right now.
(20:47):
This is what I believe, this iswhat my business is about.
And that got me to a pointwhere enough people supported me
to put me over 10,000 followers.
And at that point TikTok issaying hey, you can monetize
this if you want.
I saw a couple other creatorsdoing it.
There's a guy in North Carolina.
His TikTok account is Lomax theLorax.
(21:08):
He got to the same point wherehe was like, hey, I'm going to
take all this money and I'mgoing to donate it to student
lunch debt in my community.
And he got inspired fromanother account.
Uh, she's a teacher in Utah.
Uh, her account is Mrs Cactusvibes.
She kind of does similar thingswhere she's kind of dancing
around to some music for aminute and, um, you know,
(21:31):
they've got an almost $3 milliondebt in Utah for for lunches.
So, oh my gosh, um, and Iimmediately connected with that,
as I've got two, you know,elementary age kids and I was
like the thought of theirfriends.
Not being able to afford lunchlike just devastates me, and
again, I'm less than a blockfrom their school.
(21:52):
So that's kind of how itstarted.
And then, once I kind of didsome digging and realized how
big the debt is for us here, itwas kind of like, okay, it's my
mission now.
It's $36,000 as of February 7th, just for nine schools in our
district.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Everybody else is Title I, so it's my mission now,
before the end of the schoolyear, to get that paid off yeah,
because you were doing a wholeseries there and you were kind
of like leading up to the revealof how much is owed out there
and I remember watching thatvideo and you, I, I was just
(22:32):
like deflated, I'm like oh mygod, it's that much still.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
And it's.
It's crazy.
I you know I don't thinkfeeding children is a polarizing
topic at all.
Um, much like everything else,you know the the nuts and bolts
of some of those things arepolitical, but at the end of the
day, it's like you know what.
Whatever that takes to makesure that the families are taken
(22:58):
care of, that need to be takencare of, I'll do it, I got to do
it.
And the TikTok is going to giveme some extra money and it's
ballooned beyond just the TikTok.
You know, people are cominginto my shop making cash
donations, people are Venmoingme online and now it's kind of
snowballed a little bit into OK,we're setting up a nonprofit
(23:18):
fund to get this taken care of.
You're going to be able tosponsor us for 5Ks coming up
throughout the year.
So, like I said, it's reallybecome my mission to pay this
off and make sure that ourcommunity doesn't have this debt
at all.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Yeah, and you know I think some people I mean I did a
post the other day about whatwhat did your lunchbox look like
when you were in grade school?
And I don't know why I rememberthis right.
I'm like I can barely rememberwhat I had for dinner two nights
(23:53):
ago, but I remember vividlythere was a TV show in the
sixties called the rat patroland I had a rat patrol lunchbox,
right, and I looked online andit's like those are selling for
like hundreds of dollars.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
If only you'd have had the close time to save it.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
But yeah, I know, right, I think I didn't even
think it was a year old before Ihad one of the old thermoses
and it had the glass inside andI think I dropped the lunchbox
and the thermos broke and thatwas the end of that.
But yeah, a lot of people saidyou know, well, I had a paper
bag.
I don't and I can't.
(24:43):
I'm having a hard time wrappingmy head around the richest
country in the history of theworld and kids can't afford to
eat lunch and there's somethingwrong with that fundamentally
and morally and on several otherlevels, but but this is, this
is amazing what you're doing,and I realize it's not just you,
but you're the person that Ifound, and I don't know if it's
(25:03):
the algorithm, but now, everytime I open up TikTok, all I'm
seeing are ladies schoolteachers dancing for nice twerk,
by the way.
And you guys are going to haveto go to his page and watch it.
I'm not going to go into anymore detail than that, but so
you're kind of supporting aspecific 5K coming up here,
(25:25):
aren't you?
Speaker 2 (25:26):
I am.
So part of this has been wherenow people are starting to reach
out and say, hey, we've gotthis going on or I'm learning a
lot of information about kind ofhow a lot of this process works
.
But I live in Fayette County,so the FCPS I think it's
Association for Nutrition iswhat their official title is
it's the Lunch Ladies.
(25:46):
But they sent me information ona 5K that they do in May.
It's called the Lunch LadyHustle 5K and that raises money
for scholarships for employeesand for students.
So they've invited me toparticipate as kind of a vendor.
So we're going to set up abooth there, give away some
(26:07):
fudge samples and some stickersand stuff.
But I also like doing 5k.
So I signed up for the race andI thought you know what?
This is probably a greatopportunity to fundraise beyond
just the TikTok money, beyondjust, you know, people coming in
and giving me cash.
What I'm going to do and I'mstill working out the details on
this, but I've created the dollwho's fudge team on this race.
(26:29):
You can sign up virtually aswell.
You don't have to be here inlexington.
You can sign up virtually.
If you join my team, you get adiscount on your registration,
um, and if you sign up for myteam or if you make a donation
online, you will get a Feed theKids t-shirt.
And what I wanted out of this,in addition to the donations,
(26:50):
was really just to form acommunity here of this Feed the
Kids kind of army.
I want the whole race to befilled with t-shirts of Feed the
Kids.
I want Lexington and all acrossthe country to be filled with
(27:11):
t-shirts that feed the kids andreally show kind of the strength
and the community of this iswhat we can do when we're
together and we put our mindstowards something and we can
again set aside a lot of themess of this world and really
just push out a message of unity, kindness, like community and
really taking care of those inthe community that need it the
most yeah, for sure, and so nowwe'll have, and I just realized
(27:32):
that this whole conversation Ihaven't mentioned the name of
your fudge shop.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Once it's doll who's fudge?
Yes, sir, for pete's sake, wewill have a have a link to your
website in the show notes andI'll have Instagram and TikTok
links as well, if somebody'slistening and they go.
(27:56):
Hey, I want to support that.
They could do that through yourwebsite, right?
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Yeah, absolutely so.
I ship all over the countrydirectly from my shop website,
right?
Yeah, absolutely so.
I ship all over the countrydirectly from my shop so you can
order online.
That's kind of how I startedwas shipping out online and
doing these in-person events.
So I had the website for a longtime.
It was never meant to be aslarge a portion of my business
as it's become over these lasttwo months, but it is a big part
(28:22):
of the business now and wereally are shipping fudge all
over the country and some peopleare saying it's the best fudge
they've ever had, so I'm notgoing to argue with them.
I'm also too, humble.
I'm also happy to be second orthird.
If you know your mom orgrandma's got a better recipe,
that's totally fine with me.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Don't mess with me, Maz Fudge I would never dream of
that.
But yeah, and it just goes backto the creativity, and you're
putting out so much great stuffinto the world, adam, and I
really appreciate it.
I appreciate you, I appreciateyour fudge, I appreciate your
(29:04):
message and thank you so muchfor taking a few minutes to come
on and talk to me about this.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
Absolutely.
I really appreciate you havingme on.
Thank you so much.
This has been super fun.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Well, this episode is going to come out March 27th,
so hopefully there'll be time tomaybe get some more donations.
You said that the 5k was in May.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
The 5k is in May.
It is May 10th, so it'sMother's Day weekend, but by the
time this episode comes out, Iwill have probably a lot more
information on my socialaccounts.
I've got meetings set up in thenext week or so to get the
nonprofit fund finalized.
I should have t-shirts in handby the time this episode comes
out.
So there's there will be a lotof moving parts in the next few
weeks.
(29:48):
So definitely go check out thesocials, figure out if this is
something that you want tosupport us in doing.
You can absolutely do that in avariety of ways and there will
be plenty of information on howto do that.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Fantastic, I have to say before I go, I mean before
we wrap this up Fantastic, Ihave to say.
Before I go, I mean before wewrap this up, I also love your
shop and the shirts that youwear.
I love the fudge around andfind out.
I love Well, is it hashtag?
Feed the kids.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
Yeah, hashtag feed the kids is something that I
put've put on all the socialsthat I've done.
Again, it's kind of a way forthat community to just kind of
build.
I also do oh Fudge all the time.
I've got some shirts that sayget rich or die fudging, it's
all, just it's fudge.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
It's supposed to be fun, it is.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
My personality is a big smile goofing off.
You know I have plenty ofteachers, I'm sure growing up
called me the class clown ordidn't pay enough attention or
was trying to make people laughtoo often and not doing what
he's supposed to be doing.
So now here I am stillcontinuing to do that.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
It's all tongue-in-cheek and in good fun
and you're making a living andmaking a difference in the world
, doing it so fantastic.
Thanks so much, adam.
I appreciate your time and Iappreciate what you're doing.
Keep doing it and, yeah, we'llbe in touch.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
I really appreciate you, Mike.
I hope you have a great rest ofyour day, great rest of your
week.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
You too.
Bye-bye.
I really want to thank you fortaking this time to listen to
(31:39):
this episode.
Bye-bye.
If you experienced any of thosepositive feelings, please
consider sharing this podcastwith your friends, family, work
colleagues, complete strangers,whoever.
I'm always striving to offeryou a better podcast, so give me
some feedback, let me know howyou think I'm doing.
Email me, leave me a message onmy socials it would mean the
(32:03):
world.
Leave me a message on mysocials.
It would mean the world Alsofeel free to follow us on our
socials like Facebook, instagram, linkedin and TikTok.
This podcast is part of theMayday Media Network.
If you have an idea for apodcast and need some production
assistance, or have a podcastand are looking for a supportive
network to join, check outmaydaymedianetworkcom and check
(32:27):
out the many different shows,like Afrocentric Spoil, my Movie
Generation Mixtape In a PickleRadio Show, wake Up and Dream
with D Anthony Palin, stacks ofPacks and the Time Pals.
We'll be back again next weekwith a new episode and we would
be honored if you would join us.
(32:48):
You've been listening to theKindness Matters podcast.
I'm your host, Mike Rathman.
Have a fantastic week.
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