June 22, 2023 • 7 mins
St. Jude is raising money for the kids visiting NFL stadiums all over the country including our very own NRG Stadium.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
At Christmas time we do our SaintJude Children's Research Hospital radiothon, But in
the summertime, this cool guy israising money for the kids visiting NFL stadiums
including NRG. He is a delightand he is a guest on My Dana
Tyson podcast. And thank you MattressMack for always sponsoring us. All right,
(00:21):
Tom, I mentioned you in myTell Me Something Good this week because
of something that you're doing for acause that's near and dear to my heart
and we normally are helping them outaround Christmas time, and you're helping our
precious kids at Saint Jude Children's ResearchHospital in the summer time. But you're
not doing a radio thon. Youare getting sweaty doing thirty and thirty.
(00:47):
Yeah, it's sweaty is a greatway to describe it. Also sleep deprived
and exhausted. But yes, no, we're here. You just got me
just in time. We just gotinto our hotel of Kansas City, and
thanks for having me. I appreciateit absolutely well. It's great to see
what you're doing for the kids atSaint Jude. You're visiting thirty NFL stadiums
in thirty days and you're in KansasCity. Now, have you made it
(01:11):
to Houston yet or is that oncoming up? We did. We actually
made it there a couple days ago. It was pretty great. That episode
is actually gonna be dropping tonight becausewe're doing on a two day delay.
So yeah, no, we gotto tour energy. It was really really
great, got to meet the people, got a cowboy hat, and yeah,
it was a lot of fun.And so you got out of the
shower and when you went outside,you felt like you went right back into
(01:33):
the shower. You were here duringour extreme heat, you know, I
kind of we went through this stretch, which you know, when we are
all done and we look back onit, it's gonna be like the sweaty
season part of the trip because wedid three days in Florida and then we
did Louisiana, New Orleans, whichwe hit us like a truck. Then
we go to Houston, then wego to Dallas. So we had a
(01:56):
good stretch there where it was nottom friendly weather, but you survived it
and it's all for the kids.Was this your idea? Did you have
a buddy who thought of this?Where did this come from? Now?
So this was an idea that Icame back up with in February, and
I was in the shower where allthe best ideas come from. Yes,
and I had thought about I docharacters for YouTube videos, like representing different
(02:17):
teams, and I was like,I always had that idea years ago.
I was like, man, it'dbe really funny for like that character to
go to the stadium and kind ofjust do a video, like some comedy
video. And I always thought aboutit. And then when I was in
the shower, it was on Valentine'sDay and I'm washing my hair, and
I was like, well, whatif I just go to all of them?
And I was like, okay,but people have done that, like
people have done it like throughout aseason, they've got to see a game
(02:38):
there, They've done that kind ofstuff. And I was like, well,
what if I just do it inthirty days? And so I picked
the June because that's the one monthout of the year the NFL has no
press coverage whatsoever, because it's afterthe draft, it's before training camp,
it's before preseason. And I waslike, you know what, a lot
of them might be available. They'renot shut down yet. July fourth July
weekend that's usually when bunch of teamstake off. So yeah, I spent
(03:01):
two and a half months planning beforeI could announce it. I announced it
on draft night, and here weare on day twenty four. You know,
I'm listening to you speak. I'mwatching your passion and your enthusiasm and
your storytelling. You're a teacher beforeyou did this, right, oh yeah,
six years is a high school socialstudies teacher. And I was doing
both of these, not traveling tothirty different stadiums, but I was doing
(03:23):
this and doing teaching as well atthe same time. So I always could
just do two jobs at once,because you can never just do one well.
You've got to squeeze as much ina day as you can, because
when you've got the talent that you'vegotten, the stories you've got to tell,
you got to do it. AndI'm just so happy that the cause
that you found and what was itabout? Saint Jude. I saw pictures
of you, and I know you'vevisited there. I was very afraid my
(03:46):
first time because it was right aroundThanksgiving and I was like, I don't
want to be depressed. But itwas the happiest place to go into Yeah,
I think there's a couple of things. So for the past few years
now, you mentioned doing stuff aroundChristmas. So the past two years,
I've done eight hour charity streams andwe raise a bunch of money for various
(04:08):
charities, a lot of like youknow, not well known charities but still
very very good charities, just forgood causes and kind of get their name
out there a little bit and youknow, raise it. Last year,
rais about one hundred and two thousanddollars for various charities throughout the year,
and we I literally just find randomones that I know are really good and
you know, not well known andwhat have you. And so when it
came to Saint Jude, you know, I know about Saint Jude. Just
about everybody knows about Saint Jude,and I wanted to work with them for
(04:30):
a while. But the best partabout it is I never tell my charities
that I'm raising money for them,So I didn't tell Saint Jude when I
startarted this. I just did it. So I set up a fundraiser link,
I set it up myself, andwe just started going and Saint Jude
found out about us because on daysix, I jumped through a table in
Buffalo when we hit fifty thousand dollarsraised for charity, and they found it
(04:53):
and they messaged me and we're like, who are you and what are you
doing? Because they just see thisrandom guy jumping through a table and then
we kind of got linked up andthe visit to Saint Jude was it was
a very sobering experience, and Ithink it just really helped put into perspective
you know what we were doing andwhat the money was going towards, because
you know, you vet all thecharities and you do your research. But
(05:16):
for me, you know, doingstuff on the internet, it's usually through
a screen, but to actually gothere and see it for yourself and be
like, oh no, this isand it's a massive endeavor too. It's
a massive operation. So it reallyjust kind of put things in perspective.
And for me, honestly, itjust made me more motivated to just raise
as much money as possible for them. I shaved my head for the kids
(05:39):
at Saint Jude when we did ourvery first radio thought, I loved it
so much. How can we helpyou raise more money for such a great
cause. So I mean, weare filming so we have six days left
to filming, so it's it's comingdown to the end here. But yeah,
so if you just look up TomGrassi Grossi on YouTube or on any
social media, you can find linksto that. If you want to do
(06:00):
it anonymously, you could do iton any of the thirty and thirty videos
we put out last night, likeone thirty in the morning we put out
our New Orleans video where we dida ghost tour, so that was really
fun. And there's direct links aswell. And as an incentive to the
top donator, at the end ofall of this, when it's all over,
I will be buying them to homeopening tickets to the team of their
choice, so kind of an additionalincentive to kind of just raise some more
(06:25):
money for kids. And you know, we've raised about two hundred and seventy
seven thousand dollars about right now,so you know, we're doing pretty well.
I'm pretty happy with that. Butwe got some more time and people
just sharing it. It helps.I love it. And you know,
Tom, I have no problem thatyou're not wearing a Texans jersey because my
daughter just moved to Milwaukee, SoI'm okay with what you're wearing today's Yeah,
(06:46):
I mean, listen, I'm aPackers fan, so I had to
go to Minnesota, so it wasit was a time for me, but
as you said, it's for thekids. It's for the kids, and
God bless you. Thank you forI know this is a quite an exhaust
of endeavor, but you are.You're a special guy, and I know
you use your platform wisely, sothank you for doing that. We appreciate
(07:06):
you. I appreciate you. Thankyou again for having me
At Christmas time we do our SaintJude Children's Research Hospital radiothon, But in
the summertime, this cool guy israising money for the kids visiting NFL stadiums
including NRG. He is a delightand he is a guest on My Dana
Tyson podcast. And thank you MattressMack for always sponsoring us. All right,
(00:21):
Tom, I mentioned you in myTell Me Something Good this week because
of something that you're doing for acause that's near and dear to my heart
and we normally are helping them outaround Christmas time, and you're helping our
precious kids at Saint Jude Children's ResearchHospital in the summer time. But you're
not doing a radio thon. Youare getting sweaty doing thirty and thirty.
(00:47):
Yeah, it's sweaty is a greatway to describe it. Also sleep deprived
and exhausted. But yes, no, we're here. You just got me
just in time. We just gotinto our hotel of Kansas City, and
thanks for having me. I appreciateit absolutely well. It's great to see
what you're doing for the kids atSaint Jude. You're visiting thirty NFL stadiums
in thirty days and you're in KansasCity. Now, have you made it
(01:11):
to Houston yet or is that oncoming up? We did. We actually
made it there a couple days ago. It was pretty great. That episode
is actually gonna be dropping tonight becausewe're doing on a two day delay.
So yeah, no, we gotto tour energy. It was really really
great, got to meet the people, got a cowboy hat, and yeah,
it was a lot of fun.And so you got out of the
shower and when you went outside,you felt like you went right back into
(01:33):
the shower. You were here duringour extreme heat, you know, I
kind of we went through this stretch, which you know, when we are
all done and we look back onit, it's gonna be like the sweaty
season part of the trip because wedid three days in Florida and then we
did Louisiana, New Orleans, whichwe hit us like a truck. Then
we go to Houston, then wego to Dallas. So we had a
(01:56):
good stretch there where it was nottom friendly weather, but you survived it
and it's all for the kids.Was this your idea? Did you have
a buddy who thought of this?Where did this come from? Now?
So this was an idea that Icame back up with in February, and
I was in the shower where allthe best ideas come from. Yes,
and I had thought about I docharacters for YouTube videos, like representing different
(02:17):
teams, and I was like,I always had that idea years ago.
I was like, man, it'dbe really funny for like that character to
go to the stadium and kind ofjust do a video, like some comedy
video. And I always thought aboutit. And then when I was in
the shower, it was on Valentine'sDay and I'm washing my hair, and
I was like, well, whatif I just go to all of them?
And I was like, okay,but people have done that, like
people have done it like throughout aseason, they've got to see a game
(02:38):
there, They've done that kind ofstuff. And I was like, well,
what if I just do it inthirty days? And so I picked
the June because that's the one monthout of the year the NFL has no
press coverage whatsoever, because it's afterthe draft, it's before training camp,
it's before preseason. And I waslike, you know what, a lot
of them might be available. They'renot shut down yet. July fourth July
weekend that's usually when bunch of teamstake off. So yeah, I spent
(03:01):
two and a half months planning beforeI could announce it. I announced it
on draft night, and here weare on day twenty four. You know,
I'm listening to you speak. I'mwatching your passion and your enthusiasm and
your storytelling. You're a teacher beforeyou did this, right, oh yeah,
six years is a high school socialstudies teacher. And I was doing
both of these, not traveling tothirty different stadiums, but I was doing
(03:23):
this and doing teaching as well atthe same time. So I always could
just do two jobs at once,because you can never just do one well.
You've got to squeeze as much ina day as you can, because
when you've got the talent that you'vegotten, the stories you've got to tell,
you got to do it. AndI'm just so happy that the cause
that you found and what was itabout? Saint Jude. I saw pictures
of you, and I know you'vevisited there. I was very afraid my
(03:46):
first time because it was right aroundThanksgiving and I was like, I don't
want to be depressed. But itwas the happiest place to go into Yeah,
I think there's a couple of things. So for the past few years
now, you mentioned doing stuff aroundChristmas. So the past two years,
I've done eight hour charity streams andwe raise a bunch of money for various
(04:08):
charities, a lot of like youknow, not well known charities but still
very very good charities, just forgood causes and kind of get their name
out there a little bit and youknow, raise it. Last year,
rais about one hundred and two thousanddollars for various charities throughout the year,
and we I literally just find randomones that I know are really good and
you know, not well known andwhat have you. And so when it
came to Saint Jude, you know, I know about Saint Jude. Just
about everybody knows about Saint Jude,and I wanted to work with them for
(04:30):
a while. But the best partabout it is I never tell my charities
that I'm raising money for them,So I didn't tell Saint Jude when I
startarted this. I just did it. So I set up a fundraiser link,
I set it up myself, andwe just started going and Saint Jude
found out about us because on daysix, I jumped through a table in
Buffalo when we hit fifty thousand dollarsraised for charity, and they found it
(04:53):
and they messaged me and we're like, who are you and what are you
doing? Because they just see thisrandom guy jumping through a table and then
we kind of got linked up andthe visit to Saint Jude was it was
a very sobering experience, and Ithink it just really helped put into perspective
you know what we were doing andwhat the money was going towards, because
you know, you vet all thecharities and you do your research. But
(05:16):
for me, you know, doingstuff on the internet, it's usually through
a screen, but to actually gothere and see it for yourself and be
like, oh no, this isand it's a massive endeavor too. It's
a massive operation. So it reallyjust kind of put things in perspective.
And for me, honestly, itjust made me more motivated to just raise
as much money as possible for them. I shaved my head for the kids
(05:39):
at Saint Jude when we did ourvery first radio thought, I loved it
so much. How can we helpyou raise more money for such a great
cause. So I mean, weare filming so we have six days left
to filming, so it's it's comingdown to the end here. But yeah,
so if you just look up TomGrassi Grossi on YouTube or on any
social media, you can find linksto that. If you want to do
(06:00):
it anonymously, you could do iton any of the thirty and thirty videos
we put out last night, likeone thirty in the morning we put out
our New Orleans video where we dida ghost tour, so that was really
fun. And there's direct links aswell. And as an incentive to the
top donator, at the end ofall of this, when it's all over,
I will be buying them to homeopening tickets to the team of their
choice, so kind of an additionalincentive to kind of just raise some more
(06:25):
money for kids. And you know, we've raised about two hundred and seventy
seven thousand dollars about right now,so you know, we're doing pretty well.
I'm pretty happy with that. Butwe got some more time and people
just sharing it. It helps.I love it. And you know,
Tom, I have no problem thatyou're not wearing a Texans jersey because my
daughter just moved to Milwaukee, SoI'm okay with what you're wearing today's Yeah,
(06:46):
I mean, listen, I'm aPackers fan, so I had to
go to Minnesota, so it wasit was a time for me, but
as you said, it's for thekids. It's for the kids, and
God bless you. Thank you forI know this is a quite an exhaust
of endeavor, but you are.You're a special guy, and I know
you use your platform wisely, sothank you for doing that. We appreciate
(07:06):
you. I appreciate you. Thankyou again for having me
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