September 30, 2025 • 32 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's that time time, time, time, luck and load. So
Michael Very Show is on the air. Got an email
(00:41):
from a fellow last week and then Ryan here's a
frequent emailer. I think he's an inspiring comedian because he
has a day job, but he clearly works at structuring
jokes in how he writes to me and often leaves
me laughing out loud. Pretty good. But this was a
(01:04):
serious note, and the serious note was that a house
had burned in his neighborhood and on the spot they
started to GoFundMe and they had raised I don't know,
several thousand dollars within within an hour for the residence.
(01:27):
And he's kept me updated and I think as of
yesterday it was twenty thousand dollars to get the people
back on their feet. It's just kind of one of
those uplifting stories that you need to hear more of
because there's so much good being done that doesn't get reported,
(01:48):
doesn't get heard about, and I think it's important for
us to hear these things. It gives us strength to
carry on. It makes us better people, it makes us happy,
it's good to smile, it's good to be makes us
better husbands and wives and sons and daughters and bosses
and parents and on and on on. So I gotta
(02:12):
I get an email every day from David Maulsby at
Camp Hope of who today's Camp Hope hero is, and
it's somebody who did something yesterday or the day before
for Camp Hope, and sometimes it's writing a big check.
He told me that the budget is five hundred thousand
under the Today's the last day of the fiscal year,
(02:34):
as it will be for a number of you on
a September thirty fiscal year. And I said, do we
meet our number? And he said, no, we're five hundred
thousand short. But don't worry because my immediate answer is
always cut expenses, cut expenses, cut expenses. But I've also
in the past, you know you will remember Mac and
I raised a million bucks on the spot in one
(02:59):
morning when Camp Hope was in financial peril after everything
that happened with COVID. One of the things that doesn't
get discussed is how charities were hit so hard by COVID.
Giving philanthropy went way down after that. So he said,
(03:19):
don't worry, Michael, We'll get back on pace and we're
going to be fine. And we'll make the cuts we
need to and we'll get there. But every day he
sends me something, whether it's a financial donation somebody, a
lot of things weather for you know, they do the
their annual fundraise. It does us. For ten years now,
(03:40):
they've raised over a million dollars to weather Ford employees
for Camp Hope. It's incredible veterans helping veterans survive and
thrive because twenty two veterans a day committing suicide is
something we can do something about immediately in our own community.
And people come from all over the country to come
to Pope right here in Houston and this facility. That's
(04:03):
something to be proud of. So he sent me a
message that there's a group called Young Men's Service League
the Oaks, that's the location, and they were out and
his young kids, Hispanic, black, white. Look they look very young.
I mean, I say very young, yet very young. To me,
they looked I don't know, twelve thirteen, fourteen, But I'm
(04:23):
at an age where I can't tell. I can't tell
how old people are. And they were doing projects there
and that you know how that touched the veterans. It's
these young people were coming and supporting them and showing
love to them. And that's not lost. You know, you're
in the program for six months and it's a long haul.
You were suicidal when you walked in the door. You
(04:44):
need something to make you to lift your spirits. And
so the woman who was leading the charge is a
woman named Shanna Quinn. I assumed she worked for Young
Men's Service League, that was her job. Turns out I
think that's her volunteer work. I asked her to come
on and share about this organization because it looks like
(05:06):
they're doing some pretty cool stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Shanna, Hi, good morning.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
What is your role with the Young Men's Service League?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
My role for this year is Ultimate Gift Chair And
so what does that?
Speaker 1 (05:23):
What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (05:25):
So? The Young Men's Service League is a national organization
with local chapters. So our chapter, the Oaks is based
in like South Montgomery County. So most of our kids
go to Grand Oaks High School, Oak Ridge High School,
and some private schools you know here and there dotted in.
But we are high school aged young men and moms
(05:49):
and their moms and we do service together. That's the premise.
And so our chapter is only three years old. This
is our third year as a chapter. The first year,
I was on the founding board as VP Philanthropy, so
I was tasked with partnering with philanthropies in our community
(06:11):
that needed service. We're not a fundraising group, We're only
a service group, so we just go out and help
help these organizations where they need it. And I feel
like we've done a good job of building strong partnerships.
And one of the fellas that I met when I
(06:32):
was procuring these philanthropies for our chapter to serve, one
of the philanthropies was Abundon Harvest and at that time
I met the guy who was the development guy there,
and his name was Chris Fahey and he was a
graduate of Camp Hope, so he, you know, also shared
(06:52):
with me about Camp Hope and it just kind of,
you know how things go, like, oh and then that happened,
and then that happened, and that's how I learned about
Camp Hope, went out there how to tour, met Spencer
and I said, okay, how can we get involved here?
You know? And then we had this Ultimate Gift Project,
(07:16):
which is basically a very large scale project that the
entire chapter serves on the same thing. So you're talking
four hundred man hours, right, because we have about two
hundred members and everybody has to serve a minimum of
two hours, and so it has to be a large
scale project. And I've been out to Camp Hope and
(07:39):
I told Spencer, I said, do you have a wish
list of things that you'd like to be done around here?
I know, like writing checks. But we're not a writing
checks group, right, We're a let's do stuff group. And
he said, well, yeah, we do have a wish list.
And he sends me the wish list and I looked
it over and I said, okay, we'll do those things.
(07:59):
He said, wait things, I said all of them. He
was like, okay, let's blow your role there, babe. You know.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
I love this story so much. Hold on just a moment.
The organization is called Young Men's Service League at the
location is The Oaks. Her name is Shanna Quinn. With
her comment maybe audibly laugh when I tell a joke
like that, So I know you thought it was funny.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Michael Berry, Oh no, I won't do that.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
It's too much a moment. She won't go that far.
That was so funny. You know who wasn't who said
whether you think you can or you can't. You're right.
So much of life is attitude and what attitude you choose.
I'm amazing. I'm amazed how often I will say to people,
(08:47):
you know, hey, you and I have talked twenty times
in last year, and all twenty times you're really wound
up about something, and that person will say, as if
they have no control over it, just fell from sky. Well, yeah,
because is it right? No, No, no, you're choosing that. Well,
Charlie Kirk was assassinated. They're attacking Trump, the Muslims are
(09:12):
doing this, or the legals are doing this, or this
group is doing this. And I say, yes, there are
things with which you disagree, but there has to be
balance in your life. Find some happiness. Go find it.
It's out there. You got to go find it. It
doesn't come knocking on your door. It doesn't say hey,
I'm happiness, Go find it. That's what I love about
(09:33):
this story, about this organization, about what this woman is doing,
about the effect that it had at Camp Hope. Shanna Quinn,
what is your day job? Did I see you work
for title company?
Speaker 2 (09:46):
I do? I sell title insurance.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
For you are the first You are the first title
agent I have ever known to say it in those terms.
I had a real estate company in the late nineties,
and there was always a really cute girl who worked
for the title company who would come pick up your back.
This was this was back when the title companies could
bring you gift cards, they could take you to lunch,
they could do something. I think now you're limited, like
(10:09):
a pen or something.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
We can still go have lunch, but yeah, if you
can't TDI. You know they have their hands in it. It's regulated,
very heavily regulated by TDI.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
So well, I don't know how long you've been in
the business, but I'm telling you, in the late nineties,
when a title when a title agent would come to
the door, it was the one person who would come
who was selling something that you would be happy to back.
Then I was just happy to get a free lunch,
but you would be happy they were there because they
(10:43):
would come bearing gifts. And then all of a sudden, boom,
yeah changed.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Yeah, it was like the what I have. I had
a friend who was a drug rep in the early
two thousands, and boy they had a good time too. Well,
yeah things are different now. Well, so back to why
I myself, I liked what you were saying when you
were kind of bringing the show back about you know, yes,
(11:11):
there's bad things happening all around you. You don't have
control over any of that. But the only thing you
can control is how you show up, how you respond,
how your attitude is about it. Right. So, I think
if you shut down that noise of what's happening in
the world around you and you get out there and
start looking, you know, it doesn't take long to find
(11:33):
somebody that needs a little bit of help, right, So
just get to service. And I think that's where you
kind of start to feel closest to God too, is
when you're in service of others.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
It sounded like in your description of young Men's Service
League that these are fatherless homes. Is that right, like us.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
With our kids?
Speaker 1 (12:01):
No, no, no, I mean the young men who are
part of this group, it sounds like they do not
have a father in the home.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
No incorrect, No, no, no, It's just that we, like
the moms and sons in the family, are going and
serving together. But it has nothing to do with not
dad's okay, all right, yeah, I would say actually, I
would say, actually the opposite might be more true. For
why I myself because it tends I feel like the
chapters tend to be in more upper middle class areas.
(12:34):
Middle class, upper middle class areas that tend to have
both parents at home and hired, you know, income demographic.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
So I mean, yeah, I love it on multiple levels.
I love the mother son together doing something so you
get a sense of accomplishment and bonding and challenges and service.
I think service is an important element to our Christian faith,
and I think that's important. It's an action, not just
(13:08):
a faith. And I love the idea that people who
are the beneficiaries of this see this. It's got to
put a smile on your face and know that other
people took time out of their day. And I love
that it is action. I love looking at the photos
you sent several folk, or you posted several photos and
seeing the photos of the young men in action getting
(13:28):
in there with the mulch and the willburrow and stuff
like that. I don't know how many of those kids
do that on the regular, but I'm guessing probably not
that often. And it looked like they were having one
heck of a good time doing manual labor.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
They were. I always say, because where our chapter is,
it's South Montgomery County. So I don't know how familiar
you are, but ninety nine east of forty five, right,
So I call it the bubble of privilege that our
kids live in because they've gone to school, you know,
their whole lives in the same little area, like you know,
(14:04):
their theater schools, the same neighborhoods. They've grown up with
the same kids, their whole lives and have kind of
a little idyllic childhood. And so when we're going out
and serving and they are leaving their bubble, I call
it it's good. It's good for them to see that.
And they are never once have I ever been at
(14:26):
any of our service events where any of these you know,
privileged kids have balked at getting their hands dirty. You know,
they get right in there, they get to work, they
don't complain. They're really remarkable young men. And I say,
we say young men, they're not boys at this age, right,
(14:47):
Like we're raising young men. We want them to go
into the community and be leaders. And that's and that's
exactly what they're going to do.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
I love this. How does somebody who wants to get
involved get involved with you? How to they reach you
through this organization or whoever at the organization would be
the contact.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
So YMSL dot org is the national website and you
can search for a local chapter. In eighth grade is
when they kind of you join, so because they start
in ninth grade, so spring of your eighth grade year,
like summer before your freshman year of high school. But
they they do kind of like membership drives that you know,
(15:29):
late winter, early spring. So I would say if you
have a son in eighth grade, but that it would
be time to kind of start looking into that and applying.
I mean, there is a membership dues component to it.
It's not very much for if you think about an
activity for a whole year, it's not much at all.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Well, I got to say, you mentioned early on that
this is a service lead, not a fundraising and I
think that's important because a lot of charities devolved into that.
Shanna Quin, God bless you for it. You're doing Young
Men's Service League. Her organization is location is the Oaks.
If you want to get him home all together, now
(16:11):
it's not gay. If we all do it here we go.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Keep coming.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
I love the thought of a bunch of rednecks driving
along forty five going into Huntsville. There's Marcus the trail,
coma coma come right, and people looking over. You've got
frogman tattoos up and down his arm, barking at everybody.
But all of a sudden he starts singing. Turn back up,
(16:51):
all of a sudden, and there's some woman pulls up
the side of him. That's a man right there. What
is he listening on? He's singing the boy George, Oh
here we go, Here we go.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
He's still together.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
It's not gay if everybody does at the same time.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
You sing me, you come in, you come and go
record and greed redcord and every day you're my line.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Boy George wouldn't even stand out now, But back then
that was some freak stuff, and we just acted like
it was normal. I guess because he wasn't hiding it.
Oh here we go, like this music introlude. I mean,
I think back now, why didn't that bother us? That
(17:59):
was weird. You know, you're right, because they weren't shoving
it down our face. That's true. I remember being told
Elton John was gay, and I was like, no, it's
(18:20):
about a year ago.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
Look at me. You come and.
Speaker 5 (18:28):
You come and it's hard to imagine if you didn't
live through it.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
But there was a minute that boy George was everywhere.
I mean, you heard boy George everywhere. So some of
you will remember this story. This is just a reminder
of how evil the left is, how lives get destroyed.
You know, I'm amazed. Over the years, I would reach
(19:06):
out to Joe Horn. You remember Joe Horn. He's the
one that had to put down like a rabbit animal
of the thugs that were breaking into the home next
door of the Vietnamese family. They were a small business owner,
and these thugs would had a crime ring going and
they would break into Vietnamese family homes during the day
while the family was all at work, because they knew
(19:28):
there would be a lot of cash in there, and
they knew that those people were less likely to go
to the cops. And he put them down. And you
remember the black Panthers went and protested in front of
his house, and then our guys went over and reaved
their their Harley's and during the middle of the press conference,
these hogs were just loud as they could be and
(19:49):
they couldn't do the press conference. It was awesome anyway.
So over the years I would email Joe Horn, Hey,
you know it's been five years, been ten years, let's
have you back on And he would say, I go,
that devastated my life. I appreciate you, but I'd rather not.
And you don't realize the effects of things like that
(20:10):
on a person's life. They lose a sense of normalcy. Well,
there was a guy who was a photographer, a very
well known and well respected photographer within professional sports, and
as in every industry, it's very competitive and there are
people who rise to the top the cream, and this
(20:32):
guy lost his job because of a mean he posted
on his personal social media account. I actually learned about it.
It was a news story, but I actually learned about
it when Rush talked about him. Here's what he said.
Speaker 6 (20:48):
I have two stories about Kamala Harris. One's from the
Spectator and one is it's a one of the one
of the odd ball sports websites. The NBA has fired
a freelance photographer because he insulted Kamala Harris. His name
(21:10):
is Bill Baptiste. He's an independent contractor had the deal
terminated by the league after he posted a sexist Facebook
post referencing Kamala Harris. He posted an image that read
Joe and the Hoe. Hoe. Now, what do you think
(21:35):
that's about Joe and the whoe? Well, that takes me
to the second story they got rid of him. By
the way, it's no secret but public knowledge that Kamala
Harris slapped her way up into California political life by
being a very public escort and mattress for California Democrat
(21:57):
kingmaker Willie Brown. Now, some people read this story, didn't
he mean mistress? No, I think they meant mattress here.
I think Dove Fisher is the author of the story.
So we have two different stories here that are trading
off the known fact that she was Willie Brown's mattress.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
That is where that story came to be. Willy Brown,
who was the mayor, went on to be the Speaker
of the California House, powerful broker, insider, deal maker, very corrupt,
and his mistress side piece was Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris's
(22:44):
relationship as a hoe, as the term is frequently used,
was very very well known, very well known. So it's
not like you're criticizing the PRIs the image of mother Teresa,
God forbid. I just had a visual that photo journalist
(23:10):
photographer who Rush is talking about. His name is Bill Baptist,
and he lost the job that was his dream. He
was pat Can you imagine if you were a sports
nut and you're the photographer down there in all the
angles catching the when you get a front row seat
to everything better than a front row seat. Bill Baptist
(23:31):
is our guest. Welcome to the program.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Good sir, good morning.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
I believe it's welcome back because I think you came
on shortly after that.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Yes, I did.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
And that's been what five years now?
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Yes? Actually yes?
Speaker 1 (23:51):
And does it feel like it's been that long? Is it.
Speaker 4 (23:57):
Now?
Speaker 3 (23:57):
It kind of feels like it was, you know, maybe
a couple of years ago, but yeah, five years has
been a long time.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
How did it feel listening to Rush tell your story?
Speaker 3 (24:14):
That kind of brings back some bad memories.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Yeah, it's a pretty terrible thing. I remember at the
time having a sick feeling in my gut that this guy,
it's not that your life is ruined, but it's certainly affected.
Hold on, Bill Baptist, I guess almost god Hop's back.
(24:49):
I wanted to see if I could still fit into
my Marie and Francoise, your beau tapered at the bottom,
black breches. That's all. At that same time, that's when
people were doing X. Did you ever do X? I
remember we came from Houston to a nightclub here, Chad
(25:11):
Prowse and I and they offered us X. I didn't
know what it was. I scared the death of it.
I knew whatever it was, my mama didn't want me
doing that. I needed to stay very far away from that.
Bill Baptist is our guess. Do you say Baptist or Baptiste.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Baptiste?
Speaker 4 (25:29):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (25:29):
I like Baptiste better way? Is there an e on
the end?
Speaker 3 (25:33):
No, it's not buscoon ass.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Yeah. So I got an email from a fellow named
Kevin Baston said, worked with Bill when I was at
the Texans one to nine. He's first class. You had
sent me an email about Joe Duggart to get back
guy with the oilers, and you said Pastor asked Pastorini
about him, he'll he'll remember him. And so I called
Pastorini during the break and he said, oh yeah, and
he remembered you and the whole deal. How did you
(25:58):
get involved in sports photography?
Speaker 3 (26:04):
I worked at the Summit in the maintenance department and
for some reason, I got interested in taking pictures, and
so I would take pictures of like the concerts that
came in and you know, the Rockets and stuff like that,
just for fun. And the team photographer for the Rockets
(26:30):
was Lou Witt, and Lou had been there, in fact,
he was He started with the Oilers day one, so
he had been around for a long long time, a
good photographer. He was just getting a little old. And
the guy that was kind of running the media at
(26:51):
the Rockets, he asked me if I wanted to shoot
for him, and I said yes. I was a little
hesitant because I didn't want to take a loose job
from him, but he said that, you know, that was okay.
I said okay, And so that's where I started, and
then my name kind of got wrong, got around, worked
(27:15):
for the Astros for a little while, worked for Rice
University for a long time, started with the Oilers and
then the Texas. So mhmm, kind of did everybody at
one time?
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Was there any money to be made in it?
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Yeah? I did good. Uh it was a lot of work,
you know, back then you didn't get a lot of money,
but it was It's fine. I was single and you know,
did well, did you.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
Ever come across an oilers photographer named Mark Burns? Oh yeah,
marsa buddy of mine. He went.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
He burned out on photography and got into wine really big,
and he was repping boutique small batch French wines and
then rose to kind of the top of that field,
and then he got hardcore. But then he went back
to photography. But now he started doing nature stuff. And
(28:20):
his big break was President Bush and Jim McGrath, president
Bush's speech writer, commissioned him on a big national project.
I think it was through the Bush Library to go
photograph every National park Ramon. You don't know how many
national parks we have. There's a lot of national parks.
And he did an exhibit that was just mind blowingly gorgeous.
(28:44):
It's just the natural beauty of these parks in the winter,
in the spring when the leaves would change, and in
the summer the wildlife. It just an incredible project. And
then he got into movies and he's the one that
made this movie about the Phillips Boys. So it was
Bum and then Bum's son of Bum, Wade, and then
(29:06):
Wade's son Wes, who's still in the league today and
I think it won something at south By Southwest. The
movie's just kind of making its way bubbling up. Right now,
let's talk about what happened. So you posted a meme
Joe and the Hoe, and how did you find out
(29:27):
that had caught some attention.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
I was in Florida shooting in the bubble for the NBA,
and so after that that game, I think I had
posted that before the game or halftime or something. I
think it was before the game. I was waiting for
the second game to start, and so I posted it.
(29:52):
And then when I got out of the arena once
that second game was over, my phone was just blowing up.
And uh, That's that's when I knew something was That
was probably not not a good sign. But they the
(30:14):
NBA called me that next morning, uh and said that
they want to talk about, uh, the game last night
kind of go over something. I knew something was up.
So when they called they, uh, they kind of basically
said that we know that that you have freedom of speech,
(30:38):
but the players are talking and so uh, you you know,
we have an airfare ticket for you to go back
to Houston.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
And that was it.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
So so somebody could have posted that you know, Donald
a picture of Kathy Griffin cutting Donald Trump's head off
and holding it uh dee decapitated. They could, you know,
cheer for his assassination. But you you post a meme
of something that is widely regarded as true about the
(31:11):
sainted Kamala Harris, and you lose your livelihood. Wow. Free
speech is not guaranteed, only that Congress does not make
laws prohibiting it. So you don't technically have a free
speech right to say what you want. But culturally, our
our political tradition is that we believe in free speech
even if we don't like it. And that's that is tawdry.
(31:33):
That is that is awful. It still bothers me. Five
years later you retired after.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
That, Yes I did, And you live in living.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
On Livingston.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
Right outside of the living cton I'm parted about twelve miles.
It's actually uh north of on Alaska. Oh miles north
of on Alaska. It's called hog Heaven Subdivision.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
Oh I like that?
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Do you go eat at that fried Chicken place the
old Black Lady owns?
Speaker 3 (32:06):
You know what? I went by there after you said
something about that a while back, And no, I haven't
gone over there. But it's still there.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
It is supposed to be I can't. I think it's
fried catfish. It is supposed to be amazing. Ramon you
and I need to go up there. Yeah, you have
never seen how much fried catfish I can eat it.
I don't brag about a lot of things about myself.
Maybe I do, but my fried catfish put down on capacity.
(32:33):
I mean, it really is. It's something even I sometimes
look back and as if I'm another person to say, wow, guy,
you're amazing. Billy Baptiste, it is a pleasure to talk
to you and catch up with you. One of many
casualties of the culture war, but you seem like one
of the coolest people ever, and we appreciate you spending
time with us.
It's that time time, time, time, luck and load. So
Michael Very Show is on the air. Got an email
(00:41):
from a fellow last week and then Ryan here's a
frequent emailer. I think he's an inspiring comedian because he
has a day job, but he clearly works at structuring
jokes in how he writes to me and often leaves
me laughing out loud. Pretty good. But this was a
(01:04):
serious note, and the serious note was that a house
had burned in his neighborhood and on the spot they
started to GoFundMe and they had raised I don't know,
several thousand dollars within within an hour for the residence.
(01:27):
And he's kept me updated and I think as of
yesterday it was twenty thousand dollars to get the people
back on their feet. It's just kind of one of
those uplifting stories that you need to hear more of
because there's so much good being done that doesn't get reported,
(01:48):
doesn't get heard about, and I think it's important for
us to hear these things. It gives us strength to
carry on. It makes us better people, it makes us happy,
it's good to smile, it's good to be makes us
better husbands and wives and sons and daughters and bosses
and parents and on and on on. So I gotta
(02:12):
I get an email every day from David Maulsby at
Camp Hope of who today's Camp Hope hero is, and
it's somebody who did something yesterday or the day before
for Camp Hope, and sometimes it's writing a big check.
He told me that the budget is five hundred thousand
under the Today's the last day of the fiscal year,
(02:34):
as it will be for a number of you on
a September thirty fiscal year. And I said, do we
meet our number? And he said, no, we're five hundred
thousand short. But don't worry because my immediate answer is
always cut expenses, cut expenses, cut expenses. But I've also
in the past, you know you will remember Mac and
I raised a million bucks on the spot in one
(02:59):
morning when Camp Hope was in financial peril after everything
that happened with COVID. One of the things that doesn't
get discussed is how charities were hit so hard by COVID.
Giving philanthropy went way down after that. So he said,
(03:19):
don't worry, Michael, We'll get back on pace and we're
going to be fine. And we'll make the cuts we
need to and we'll get there. But every day he
sends me something, whether it's a financial donation somebody, a
lot of things weather for you know, they do the
their annual fundraise. It does us. For ten years now,
(03:40):
they've raised over a million dollars to weather Ford employees
for Camp Hope. It's incredible veterans helping veterans survive and
thrive because twenty two veterans a day committing suicide is
something we can do something about immediately in our own community.
And people come from all over the country to come
to Pope right here in Houston and this facility. That's
(04:03):
something to be proud of. So he sent me a
message that there's a group called Young Men's Service League
the Oaks, that's the location, and they were out and
his young kids, Hispanic, black, white. Look they look very young.
I mean, I say very young, yet very young. To me,
they looked I don't know, twelve thirteen, fourteen, But I'm
(04:23):
at an age where I can't tell. I can't tell
how old people are. And they were doing projects there
and that you know how that touched the veterans. It's
these young people were coming and supporting them and showing
love to them. And that's not lost. You know, you're
in the program for six months and it's a long haul.
You were suicidal when you walked in the door. You
(04:44):
need something to make you to lift your spirits. And
so the woman who was leading the charge is a
woman named Shanna Quinn. I assumed she worked for Young
Men's Service League, that was her job. Turns out I
think that's her volunteer work. I asked her to come
on and share about this organization because it looks like
(05:06):
they're doing some pretty cool stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Shanna, Hi, good morning.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
What is your role with the Young Men's Service League?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
My role for this year is Ultimate Gift Chair And
so what does that?
Speaker 1 (05:23):
What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (05:25):
So? The Young Men's Service League is a national organization
with local chapters. So our chapter, the Oaks is based
in like South Montgomery County. So most of our kids
go to Grand Oaks High School, Oak Ridge High School,
and some private schools you know here and there dotted in.
But we are high school aged young men and moms
(05:49):
and their moms and we do service together. That's the premise.
And so our chapter is only three years old. This
is our third year as a chapter. The first year,
I was on the founding board as VP Philanthropy, so
I was tasked with partnering with philanthropies in our community
(06:11):
that needed service. We're not a fundraising group, We're only
a service group, so we just go out and help
help these organizations where they need it. And I feel
like we've done a good job of building strong partnerships.
And one of the fellas that I met when I
(06:32):
was procuring these philanthropies for our chapter to serve, one
of the philanthropies was Abundon Harvest and at that time
I met the guy who was the development guy there,
and his name was Chris Fahey and he was a
graduate of Camp Hope, so he, you know, also shared
(06:52):
with me about Camp Hope and it just kind of,
you know how things go, like, oh and then that happened,
and then that happened, and that's how I learned about
Camp Hope, went out there how to tour, met Spencer
and I said, okay, how can we get involved here?
You know? And then we had this Ultimate Gift Project,
(07:16):
which is basically a very large scale project that the
entire chapter serves on the same thing. So you're talking
four hundred man hours, right, because we have about two
hundred members and everybody has to serve a minimum of
two hours, and so it has to be a large
scale project. And I've been out to Camp Hope and
(07:39):
I told Spencer, I said, do you have a wish
list of things that you'd like to be done around here?
I know, like writing checks. But we're not a writing
checks group, right, We're a let's do stuff group. And
he said, well, yeah, we do have a wish list.
And he sends me the wish list and I looked
it over and I said, okay, we'll do those things.
(07:59):
He said, wait things, I said all of them. He
was like, okay, let's blow your role there, babe. You know.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
I love this story so much. Hold on just a moment.
The organization is called Young Men's Service League at the
location is The Oaks. Her name is Shanna Quinn. With
her comment maybe audibly laugh when I tell a joke
like that, So I know you thought it was funny.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Michael Berry, Oh no, I won't do that.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
It's too much a moment. She won't go that far.
That was so funny. You know who wasn't who said
whether you think you can or you can't. You're right.
So much of life is attitude and what attitude you choose.
I'm amazing. I'm amazed how often I will say to people,
(08:47):
you know, hey, you and I have talked twenty times
in last year, and all twenty times you're really wound
up about something, and that person will say, as if
they have no control over it, just fell from sky. Well, yeah,
because is it right? No, No, no, you're choosing that. Well,
Charlie Kirk was assassinated. They're attacking Trump, the Muslims are
(09:12):
doing this, or the legals are doing this, or this
group is doing this. And I say, yes, there are
things with which you disagree, but there has to be
balance in your life. Find some happiness. Go find it.
It's out there. You got to go find it. It
doesn't come knocking on your door. It doesn't say hey,
I'm happiness, Go find it. That's what I love about
(09:33):
this story, about this organization, about what this woman is doing,
about the effect that it had at Camp Hope. Shanna Quinn,
what is your day job? Did I see you work
for title company?
Speaker 2 (09:46):
I do? I sell title insurance.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
For you are the first You are the first title
agent I have ever known to say it in those terms.
I had a real estate company in the late nineties,
and there was always a really cute girl who worked
for the title company who would come pick up your back.
This was this was back when the title companies could
bring you gift cards, they could take you to lunch,
they could do something. I think now you're limited, like
(10:09):
a pen or something.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
We can still go have lunch, but yeah, if you
can't TDI. You know they have their hands in it. It's regulated,
very heavily regulated by TDI.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
So well, I don't know how long you've been in
the business, but I'm telling you, in the late nineties,
when a title when a title agent would come to
the door, it was the one person who would come
who was selling something that you would be happy to back.
Then I was just happy to get a free lunch,
but you would be happy they were there because they
(10:43):
would come bearing gifts. And then all of a sudden, boom,
yeah changed.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Yeah, it was like the what I have. I had
a friend who was a drug rep in the early
two thousands, and boy they had a good time too. Well,
yeah things are different now. Well, so back to why
I myself, I liked what you were saying when you
were kind of bringing the show back about you know, yes,
(11:11):
there's bad things happening all around you. You don't have
control over any of that. But the only thing you
can control is how you show up, how you respond,
how your attitude is about it. Right. So, I think
if you shut down that noise of what's happening in
the world around you and you get out there and
start looking, you know, it doesn't take long to find
(11:33):
somebody that needs a little bit of help, right, So
just get to service. And I think that's where you
kind of start to feel closest to God too, is
when you're in service of others.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
It sounded like in your description of young Men's Service
League that these are fatherless homes. Is that right, like us.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
With our kids?
Speaker 1 (12:01):
No, no, no, I mean the young men who are
part of this group, it sounds like they do not
have a father in the home.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
No incorrect, No, no, no, It's just that we, like
the moms and sons in the family, are going and
serving together. But it has nothing to do with not
dad's okay, all right, yeah, I would say actually, I
would say, actually the opposite might be more true. For
why I myself because it tends I feel like the
chapters tend to be in more upper middle class areas.
(12:34):
Middle class, upper middle class areas that tend to have
both parents at home and hired, you know, income demographic.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
So I mean, yeah, I love it on multiple levels.
I love the mother son together doing something so you
get a sense of accomplishment and bonding and challenges and service.
I think service is an important element to our Christian faith,
and I think that's important. It's an action, not just
(13:08):
a faith. And I love the idea that people who
are the beneficiaries of this see this. It's got to
put a smile on your face and know that other
people took time out of their day. And I love
that it is action. I love looking at the photos
you sent several folk, or you posted several photos and
seeing the photos of the young men in action getting
(13:28):
in there with the mulch and the willburrow and stuff
like that. I don't know how many of those kids
do that on the regular, but I'm guessing probably not
that often. And it looked like they were having one
heck of a good time doing manual labor.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
They were. I always say, because where our chapter is,
it's South Montgomery County. So I don't know how familiar
you are, but ninety nine east of forty five, right,
So I call it the bubble of privilege that our
kids live in because they've gone to school, you know,
their whole lives in the same little area, like you know,
(14:04):
their theater schools, the same neighborhoods. They've grown up with
the same kids, their whole lives and have kind of
a little idyllic childhood. And so when we're going out
and serving and they are leaving their bubble, I call
it it's good. It's good for them to see that.
And they are never once have I ever been at
(14:26):
any of our service events where any of these you know,
privileged kids have balked at getting their hands dirty. You know,
they get right in there, they get to work, they
don't complain. They're really remarkable young men. And I say,
we say young men, they're not boys at this age, right,
(14:47):
Like we're raising young men. We want them to go
into the community and be leaders. And that's and that's
exactly what they're going to do.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
I love this. How does somebody who wants to get
involved get involved with you? How to they reach you
through this organization or whoever at the organization would be
the contact.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
So YMSL dot org is the national website and you
can search for a local chapter. In eighth grade is
when they kind of you join, so because they start
in ninth grade, so spring of your eighth grade year,
like summer before your freshman year of high school. But
they they do kind of like membership drives that you know,
(15:29):
late winter, early spring. So I would say if you
have a son in eighth grade, but that it would
be time to kind of start looking into that and applying.
I mean, there is a membership dues component to it.
It's not very much for if you think about an
activity for a whole year, it's not much at all.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Well, I got to say, you mentioned early on that
this is a service lead, not a fundraising and I
think that's important because a lot of charities devolved into that.
Shanna Quin, God bless you for it. You're doing Young
Men's Service League. Her organization is location is the Oaks.
If you want to get him home all together, now
(16:11):
it's not gay. If we all do it here we go.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Keep coming.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
I love the thought of a bunch of rednecks driving
along forty five going into Huntsville. There's Marcus the trail,
coma coma come right, and people looking over. You've got
frogman tattoos up and down his arm, barking at everybody.
But all of a sudden he starts singing. Turn back up,
(16:51):
all of a sudden, and there's some woman pulls up
the side of him. That's a man right there. What
is he listening on? He's singing the boy George, Oh
here we go, Here we go.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
He's still together.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
It's not gay if everybody does at the same time.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
You sing me, you come in, you come and go
record and greed redcord and every day you're my line.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Boy George wouldn't even stand out now, But back then
that was some freak stuff, and we just acted like
it was normal. I guess because he wasn't hiding it.
Oh here we go, like this music introlude. I mean,
I think back now, why didn't that bother us? That
(17:59):
was weird. You know, you're right, because they weren't shoving
it down our face. That's true. I remember being told
Elton John was gay, and I was like, no, it's
(18:20):
about a year ago.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
Look at me. You come and.
Speaker 5 (18:28):
You come and it's hard to imagine if you didn't
live through it.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
But there was a minute that boy George was everywhere.
I mean, you heard boy George everywhere. So some of
you will remember this story. This is just a reminder
of how evil the left is, how lives get destroyed.
You know, I'm amazed. Over the years, I would reach
(19:06):
out to Joe Horn. You remember Joe Horn. He's the
one that had to put down like a rabbit animal
of the thugs that were breaking into the home next
door of the Vietnamese family. They were a small business owner,
and these thugs would had a crime ring going and
they would break into Vietnamese family homes during the day
while the family was all at work, because they knew
(19:28):
there would be a lot of cash in there, and
they knew that those people were less likely to go
to the cops. And he put them down. And you
remember the black Panthers went and protested in front of
his house, and then our guys went over and reaved
their their Harley's and during the middle of the press conference,
these hogs were just loud as they could be and
(19:49):
they couldn't do the press conference. It was awesome anyway.
So over the years I would email Joe Horn, Hey,
you know it's been five years, been ten years, let's
have you back on And he would say, I go,
that devastated my life. I appreciate you, but I'd rather not.
And you don't realize the effects of things like that
(20:10):
on a person's life. They lose a sense of normalcy. Well,
there was a guy who was a photographer, a very
well known and well respected photographer within professional sports, and
as in every industry, it's very competitive and there are
people who rise to the top the cream, and this
(20:32):
guy lost his job because of a mean he posted
on his personal social media account. I actually learned about it.
It was a news story, but I actually learned about
it when Rush talked about him. Here's what he said.
Speaker 6 (20:48):
I have two stories about Kamala Harris. One's from the
Spectator and one is it's a one of the one
of the odd ball sports websites. The NBA has fired
a freelance photographer because he insulted Kamala Harris. His name
(21:10):
is Bill Baptiste. He's an independent contractor had the deal
terminated by the league after he posted a sexist Facebook
post referencing Kamala Harris. He posted an image that read
Joe and the Hoe. Hoe. Now, what do you think
(21:35):
that's about Joe and the whoe? Well, that takes me
to the second story they got rid of him. By
the way, it's no secret but public knowledge that Kamala
Harris slapped her way up into California political life by
being a very public escort and mattress for California Democrat
(21:57):
kingmaker Willie Brown. Now, some people read this story, didn't
he mean mistress? No, I think they meant mattress here.
I think Dove Fisher is the author of the story.
So we have two different stories here that are trading
off the known fact that she was Willie Brown's mattress.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
That is where that story came to be. Willy Brown,
who was the mayor, went on to be the Speaker
of the California House, powerful broker, insider, deal maker, very corrupt,
and his mistress side piece was Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris's
(22:44):
relationship as a hoe, as the term is frequently used,
was very very well known, very well known. So it's
not like you're criticizing the PRIs the image of mother Teresa,
God forbid. I just had a visual that photo journalist
(23:10):
photographer who Rush is talking about. His name is Bill Baptist,
and he lost the job that was his dream. He
was pat Can you imagine if you were a sports
nut and you're the photographer down there in all the
angles catching the when you get a front row seat
to everything better than a front row seat. Bill Baptist
(23:31):
is our guest. Welcome to the program.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Good sir, good morning.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
I believe it's welcome back because I think you came
on shortly after that.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Yes, I did.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
And that's been what five years now?
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Yes? Actually yes?
Speaker 1 (23:51):
And does it feel like it's been that long? Is it.
Speaker 4 (23:57):
Now?
Speaker 3 (23:57):
It kind of feels like it was, you know, maybe
a couple of years ago, but yeah, five years has
been a long time.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
How did it feel listening to Rush tell your story?
Speaker 3 (24:14):
That kind of brings back some bad memories.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Yeah, it's a pretty terrible thing. I remember at the
time having a sick feeling in my gut that this guy,
it's not that your life is ruined, but it's certainly affected.
Hold on, Bill Baptist, I guess almost god Hop's back.
(24:49):
I wanted to see if I could still fit into
my Marie and Francoise, your beau tapered at the bottom,
black breches. That's all. At that same time, that's when
people were doing X. Did you ever do X? I
remember we came from Houston to a nightclub here, Chad
(25:11):
Prowse and I and they offered us X. I didn't
know what it was. I scared the death of it.
I knew whatever it was, my mama didn't want me
doing that. I needed to stay very far away from that.
Bill Baptist is our guess. Do you say Baptist or Baptiste.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Baptiste?
Speaker 4 (25:29):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (25:29):
I like Baptiste better way? Is there an e on
the end?
Speaker 3 (25:33):
No, it's not buscoon ass.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Yeah. So I got an email from a fellow named
Kevin Baston said, worked with Bill when I was at
the Texans one to nine. He's first class. You had
sent me an email about Joe Duggart to get back
guy with the oilers, and you said Pastor asked Pastorini
about him, he'll he'll remember him. And so I called
Pastorini during the break and he said, oh yeah, and
he remembered you and the whole deal. How did you
(25:58):
get involved in sports photography?
Speaker 3 (26:04):
I worked at the Summit in the maintenance department and
for some reason, I got interested in taking pictures, and
so I would take pictures of like the concerts that
came in and you know, the Rockets and stuff like that,
just for fun. And the team photographer for the Rockets
(26:30):
was Lou Witt, and Lou had been there, in fact,
he was He started with the Oilers day one, so
he had been around for a long long time, a
good photographer. He was just getting a little old. And
the guy that was kind of running the media at
(26:51):
the Rockets, he asked me if I wanted to shoot
for him, and I said yes. I was a little
hesitant because I didn't want to take a loose job
from him, but he said that, you know, that was okay.
I said okay, And so that's where I started, and
then my name kind of got wrong, got around, worked
(27:15):
for the Astros for a little while, worked for Rice
University for a long time, started with the Oilers and
then the Texas. So mhmm, kind of did everybody at
one time?
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Was there any money to be made in it?
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Yeah? I did good. Uh it was a lot of work,
you know, back then you didn't get a lot of money,
but it was It's fine. I was single and you know,
did well, did you.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
Ever come across an oilers photographer named Mark Burns? Oh yeah,
marsa buddy of mine. He went.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
He burned out on photography and got into wine really big,
and he was repping boutique small batch French wines and
then rose to kind of the top of that field,
and then he got hardcore. But then he went back
to photography. But now he started doing nature stuff. And
(28:20):
his big break was President Bush and Jim McGrath, president
Bush's speech writer, commissioned him on a big national project.
I think it was through the Bush Library to go
photograph every National park Ramon. You don't know how many
national parks we have. There's a lot of national parks.
And he did an exhibit that was just mind blowingly gorgeous.
(28:44):
It's just the natural beauty of these parks in the winter,
in the spring when the leaves would change, and in
the summer the wildlife. It just an incredible project. And
then he got into movies and he's the one that
made this movie about the Phillips Boys. So it was
Bum and then Bum's son of Bum, Wade, and then
(29:06):
Wade's son Wes, who's still in the league today and
I think it won something at south By Southwest. The
movie's just kind of making its way bubbling up. Right now,
let's talk about what happened. So you posted a meme
Joe and the Hoe, and how did you find out
(29:27):
that had caught some attention.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
I was in Florida shooting in the bubble for the NBA,
and so after that that game, I think I had
posted that before the game or halftime or something. I
think it was before the game. I was waiting for
the second game to start, and so I posted it.
(29:52):
And then when I got out of the arena once
that second game was over, my phone was just blowing up.
And uh, That's that's when I knew something was That
was probably not not a good sign. But they the
(30:14):
NBA called me that next morning, uh and said that
they want to talk about, uh, the game last night
kind of go over something. I knew something was up.
So when they called they, uh, they kind of basically
said that we know that that you have freedom of speech,
(30:38):
but the players are talking and so uh, you you know,
we have an airfare ticket for you to go back
to Houston.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
And that was it.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
So so somebody could have posted that you know, Donald
a picture of Kathy Griffin cutting Donald Trump's head off
and holding it uh dee decapitated. They could, you know,
cheer for his assassination. But you you post a meme
of something that is widely regarded as true about the
(31:11):
sainted Kamala Harris, and you lose your livelihood. Wow. Free
speech is not guaranteed, only that Congress does not make
laws prohibiting it. So you don't technically have a free
speech right to say what you want. But culturally, our
our political tradition is that we believe in free speech
even if we don't like it. And that's that is tawdry.
(31:33):
That is that is awful. It still bothers me. Five
years later you retired after.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
That, Yes I did, And you live in living.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
On Livingston.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
Right outside of the living cton I'm parted about twelve miles.
It's actually uh north of on Alaska. Oh miles north
of on Alaska. It's called hog Heaven Subdivision.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
Oh I like that?
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Do you go eat at that fried Chicken place the
old Black Lady owns?
Speaker 3 (32:06):
You know what? I went by there after you said
something about that a while back, And no, I haven't
gone over there. But it's still there.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
It is supposed to be I can't. I think it's
fried catfish. It is supposed to be amazing. Ramon you
and I need to go up there. Yeah, you have
never seen how much fried catfish I can eat it.
I don't brag about a lot of things about myself.
Maybe I do, but my fried catfish put down on capacity.
(32:33):
I mean, it really is. It's something even I sometimes
look back and as if I'm another person to say, wow, guy,
you're amazing. Billy Baptiste, it is a pleasure to talk
to you and catch up with you. One of many
casualties of the culture war, but you seem like one
of the coolest people ever, and we appreciate you spending
time with us.
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.