September 4, 2023 • 27 mins
It’s LPGA Time in Texas
Ericka English, Communications Director of the Volunteers of America Texas and Kathy O’Neal, President of Club, Resort and Hospitality Consulting, join the podcast to talk LPGA Golf, Kathy Whitworth, Judy Ranking, First Responders Golf tournament and many fun events (including Socktober) benefiting the Volunteers of America programs supporting more than 1.5 million adults and teens.
Ericka English, Communications Director of the Volunteers of America Texas and Kathy O’Neal, President of Club, Resort and Hospitality Consulting, join the podcast to talk LPGA Golf, Kathy Whitworth, Judy Ranking, First Responders Golf tournament and many fun events (including Socktober) benefiting the Volunteers of America programs supporting more than 1.5 million adults and teens.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:08):
Welcome back to Advocacy in Motion.I'm your host, Tommy Finn, and
we are here every week to givea vision and a voice to nonprofit organizations
and individuals making a impact in ourcommunity. But before I introduce my guests
today, I want to say thankyou to Niagara Conservation. Niagara Conservation is
a leading manufacturer and distributor of watersaving money saving plumbing products, and we're
(00:33):
especially proud of their work with theaffordable housing projects, especially the Oaks Project
VOA Oaks Project in oak Cliffe's districtof Dallas. But the good news is
that these products are now available toevery homeowner. And here's my partner,
Trisha Golwaukee to tell you all aboutit. Thanks Tommy, and thanks Niagara
for your continuing support of nonprofit organizations. If you want to get the ultimate
(00:57):
experience and cleanliness and comfort without breakingthe BA and transform your bathrooms with Niagara
from toilets to today's Niagara has theperfect solution for any bathroom project. Niagara's
award winning products not only outperformed competitors, but they also out design them.
Thanks to innovations like stealth technology,Niagara's products can use half as much water
(01:18):
as the competitors, providing you witha solution that will help with the environment
and save you money. Shopnail onAmazon or at home deepot dot com.
My guests today are Erica English.She's the director of Marketing and Communications for
Volunteers of America Texas. Welcome,thank you, and Kathy one Or,
she is the president of Club Resortand Hospitality Consulting here in Dallas. Thank
(01:40):
you both. Good to be here. Tommy, thank you for having We're
going to talk about a lot offun things of Volunteers of America and things
are doing on the various events.But first of all, Erica, tell
us about Volunteers of America and yourmission and what you guys in your role
in it. Well, thank youfor this opportunity. Volunteers of America Texas
in particular has been around since nineteenseventeen and we are a ministry of service
(02:00):
dedicated to helping the most vulnerable populationsin our community. We're all throughout Texas,
Central Texas, South Texas, NorthTexas, of course, East Texas
and all the way down to theValley. And my role is the senior
director of Marketing and Communications, andI've been with the OA for nine years,
(02:21):
all right, And Kathy, Iknow you are the person that introduced
me to Volunteers of America and theLPGA tournament ten years ago, eleven years
ago. Absolutely, I've introduced tothe tournament. You've been phenomenal and that's
been great, and we've messed somany wonderful people both with Volunteers America and
with the LPGA, and we're sohappy to help the ascendant LPGA benefiting Volunteers
(02:46):
America's supremiery event coming up this fall. As I said, it's been here
for about ten years in supporting tellus how that benefits VOA and your involvement
with the with the tournament itself.Let you answer that. So, Volunteers
of America, the relationship kind ofstarted as we were the only nonprofit sponsor,
(03:07):
and this relationship has kind of nowtransition to what it is now with
the Ascendant taken over, and it'sbeen a huge blessing to us. It's
introduced so many more partners to ushere in Texas and also connected us with
the golf community. And we havetwo events now that I'll speak more about
(03:27):
a little bit later that we're ableto establish here in Texas to get those
conversations going and get more local peopleconnected to our mission. I know that's
the center of the uh the eventshere, but Kathy, there's so many
other events with this and one ofthem that's been going on up for a
while and that you're certainly involved with. There's a women employed lunch and tell
us about that. Yes, Ihosted that first luncheon about four years ago.
(03:51):
And obviously a very prominent individual inthe game of golf. Kathy Witworth,
if that's the word, the winningestpro if you will, barnun men
or women in the history of golf. She's won eighty eight tournaments. And
Kathy, it's an ideal individual forVolunteers of America to honor because her whole
life was spent honoring others that arein the game of golf and helping you
(04:15):
young golfers pursue their passion as acareer. She established the Kathy Witworth Foundation,
and it was her passion to bringthis tournament back to Dallas. It
had been twenty five years since theLPGA had had a tour stop in Texas,
and Kathy Witworth thought that was fartoo long, so partnering with folks
like Mike King, the CEO ofVolunteers of Americans, says, we need
(04:36):
to do something about that. SoVolunteers of America stepped up and to help
create awareness of the good work thatthey do in the community and the good
work that Kathy Witworth does as well. They brought it back to Texas and
this year will be October two throughthe eighth at the clubs of the tribute.
But we also during the course ofthat decided that we needed to honor
(04:56):
Kathy Witworth and other women like herwho are very much a out advocacy and
the things that you talk about onyour program here, Tommy. Kathy Whitworth
was it was her eightieth birthday andwe started our very first Women in Play
luncheon to honor her, and assubsequently, we honored Nancy Lieberman, who
obviously has got her own foundation andworks with boys and girls that are talented
(05:16):
in basketball. Last year honore withSint Marshall, Dynamite Lady there, the
CEO of the Dallas Mavericks. Shetold a great story about diversity. She's
very talented in what she's brought tothe sports teams, et cetera about diversity,
and this year we're honoring Judy Rankinagain, one of the most famous
broadcasters who retired last year. Shetells quite a story of all the years
(05:40):
she's been first of all playing inthe LPGA, then as a broadcaster she
could give the players perspective as shedid an incredible job broadcasting for so many
years. So we'll be honoring andtalking to Judy Rankin this year. As
far as the honore goes, Now, where is the luncheon? How can
people get The luncheon is going tobe at Glen Eagles Country Club. They're
in Plano. We would love tohave them join us when we America come
(06:01):
and please bring friends. There's awebsite, you know, the Volunteers of
America website that will show you onthe screen because it's going to be a
dynamite lunch. And get a chanceto meet Judy and shake her hand here
about her life as a broadcaster again, talk about golf and hear a lot
about Volunteers of America and the incrediblework they do. And meet some of
(06:21):
the wonderful people that they've helped ina variety of means to better their lives.
All of this is goes to benefitVolunteers America Erica tell us about some
of the programs of Volunteers America.I know there are many, and I
know they're very reached deep into thecommunities. What are some of the things
that you guys are focusing on now, I'll start with our programs for women
(06:43):
because the women in play lunch andhelps benefit our programs for women. We
have a program inside the Dallas CountyJail cart Wrestinlana, and it's where female
inmates they voluntarily go through sort ofa rehabilitation process. They get down to
the root cause of whatever trauma hasimpacted their decisions in life. We are
also highlighting our MINT program that's theMother's and Infants Nurturing Together program. VOA
(07:09):
Texas is one of five of thoseprograms in the United States where we help
women who are incarcerated be able tocome into our program at seven months pregnant
and then after they have their babies, they're able to spend three months bonding
with their babies. So it's givingthe babies kind of like a head start
in life, or being able tostart at the same measure, if you
(07:33):
will, as other babies. Andthat program has been very beneficial for mom
and baby. We do parenting classeswith them as well, and then we
also help prepare the child to betaken care of by a family member if
mom has to go back to finishher prison sentence. In a lot of
cases, we're able to get themom to be able to be released and
(07:56):
she's able to go home with thebaby. So that is a little bit
about our women's programs. We havea robust reentry residential reentry programming here in
the Fort Worth area and also inHutchings. We have substance use treatment programming
in Houston and also in Fort Worth. And we also have people with intellectual
(08:16):
and developmental disabilities are able to liveinside our group homes which are throughout North
Texas as well and down in Houston. We are very known for our workforce
development programming. We help people withdisabilities be able to get job training so
that they can live independently and havea better quality of life. And also
(08:37):
those low income families or anyone withthe employment barriers can be able to have
a better quality of life and earna higher wage living. And we'll come
back and there's many, many times, but tell us how people can get
in touch, website, helplines,whatever. Sure they can get in touch
with us at voatx dot org.They can also email info at boat x
(09:01):
dot org. And I'd be REMISSIif I didn't mention our affordable housing program
because that's the heartbeat of what wedo at VOA. Nationally, we're known
as one of the largest providers ofaffordable housing throughout the country. I mentioned
in our opening about Niagara Conservation.I know they're very involved in helping with
the projects, including the Oaks projecthere in Dallas, and they're very proud
(09:22):
of that, and we are too. We're glad to see that happening that
they can get involved and we're savingwater costs and affordable housing. That money
goes to better spent and then payingthe water bill. So we're always so
proud of a Niagara, our presentingsponsor, for their work with Boa and
what they're doing with you. Wetalked about a couple of the other golf
(09:46):
turns, but you've got another specialone coming up called for a Second Chance
for First Responders. Tell us aboutthat tournament. We're in our seventh year
of this tournament, and time reallydoes supply when you're having fun because this
tournament is it's one that we lookforward to every year. This year it
happens to fall on September eleventh,and so we thought that we would highlight
(10:11):
our first responders who give to ourcommunity and sacrifice every single day. So
we're hoping to have some of ourfirst responders from the Irving area present there.
And we're also going to highlight ourVOA REST program and that's Resilience of
Strength training for first responders. Andthat's where first responders, we're talking police,
(10:31):
firefighters, e nts. They cancall in and get free online peer
support from anywhere in the country andit's completely anonymous. That is that's true,
and that's it lost Coleeners, correct, right, The golf tournament is
September eleventh, that lost Coleens CountryClub and Irving And of course we go
to the website. Yeah, howabsolutely voatx dot org. Okay, let
(10:54):
me take a bright here from oneof our other sponsors, and when we
come back, we want to talkmore about Kathy Witworth and her contributions and
some of the other programs that VOAare doing. But I want to thank
Paranihn Energy Wellness and Gifts for theSoul in downtown Richardson. We mentioned the
many gifts and for the soul there, but he wellness is a very important
of life today. You can takeadvantage of the health by committing to the
(11:16):
practice of relaxation and rejuvenation. Healingenergy has proven to improve stress and anxiety
levels, reduced physical pain, facilitateclearing and healing of emotional pain and blockages,
promote self healing, and improve thequality of sleep. Sessions are by
appointment only with raking Master Terry Finn. Contact Terry tri I at paranahn dot
(11:41):
com to schedule your individual healing session. We were talking about Kathy Whitworth,
so much importance to the community hereand what she has done with Volatistma Canny.
Tell us about Kathy Whitworth and allwe're doing there. You know,
it's interesting he I first met KathyWitworth, then involved with this tournament.
Else so honored because you know,here is this this woman that you've heard
(12:03):
so much about. First of allher incredible LPGA accomplishments, but then also
her giving back helping so many othersin terms of her foundation be able to
play golf. And it's interesting asshe told stories about her life you realize
that she came from very modest beginnings. She could identify with a lot of
the folks that Volunteers of America helpwith. And she had told the story,
(12:26):
you know, so many people whenthey get into golf these days,
they had these incredible club fittings.Well not Kathy. Kathy, when she
first got involved, she didn't havea set of clubs. And her mother
started saving the SNH Green stamps,which a lot of your audience may not
know what those are, Tommy,but saved those SNH Green stamps every time
they bought groceries, and they hadthat set of clubs at the catalog that
(12:48):
they were going to go get withthe S ANDH green stamps, and so
she did. That was the veryfirst club and whatever said it was,
you know for men or women,that was going to be her first set
of clubs that she started playing golfwith. And the rest of the story
was that as she became a professionalon the LPGA Tour, one of the
first tournaments she won, the titlesponsor was SNAH Green Stamps, and low
(13:09):
and behold, her mother was thereto cheer her on and not only did
she get the trophy, but theygave her S ANDH Green stamps, and
so Kathy was able to pay hermother back for the golf club she had
bought so many years ago. Atthe same time, Kathy was a champion
for all, for diversity, forthose from low income groups, for the
for women of color. Renee Paletold a beautiful story at the luncheon that
(13:35):
we had for Kathy, talking aboutagain the tour as it first began,
there wasn't a lot of money.There weren't a lot of folks that could
afford airplanes and things of that sort, so they would play a lot of
the small golf courses or the golfcourses in smaller towns, and Renee very
vividly remembered again being one of thefirst women of collar to play on the
LPGA tour. She vividly remembered thetime that they were in one of these
(13:58):
small towns and stepped up to theregistration desk at the little hotel to check
in for her room, and thegentleman there took a look at Renee and
said, I'm sorry, we don'thave your reservation, and Kathy, realizing
what was going on, stepped upto the desk and said, please understand,
I hope you find that reservation becausewe either all of us stay here
(14:18):
tonight or none of us stay heretonight. And Renee said it meant so
much to her to realize that shehad the incredible support and she had such
admiration for Kathy and her humility inthe way that she was with so many
people, and she is a wonderfulperson to emulate. As golf grows,
it interests as so many more,hopefully women and juniors get involved in the
(14:41):
game. She's a great role modelbecause again she established her foundation to help
those who couldn't afford a lot,because golf is an expensive sport and if
indeed you wished a career to pursuethat passion for a career, it's going
to take scholarships. And Kathy wasdetermined that as fortunate as she was,
she had some families back in herhometown that helped fund her when she began
(15:05):
her career. She wants to helpothers as well. And one of the
events that's coming up here in Dallasalso is one of the first years to
host it here at the Trophy Clubon the Kathy Wittworth Course that they've dedicated
out there is the Kathy Wittworth Championship. It's for the WAPT, the Women's
All Professional Tour and Tommy. Thisis a group of women that are college
(15:26):
graduates who played on their college teams, very talented women, but not yet
ready for the EPSOM Tour, whichis the next step or ultimately for the
LPGA. So this is a tournamentthat Kathy Wittworth is named for her,
and we have ballmarkers with a specialKathy Wittworth eighty eight on them that we're
going to dedicate the sale of thoseto help scholarships for these women who want
(15:50):
to work their way onto the LPGAtour. Many of these tournaments provide the
exemptions and allow them to play insome of the LPGA tournaments, which is
their so very fitting and very appropriatethat Kathey Witworth, who championed so many
people pursuing their passion, that wename the first tournament coming to the Trophy
Club the WAPT after Kathy Whitworth.It is terrific And again we can go
(16:14):
to the website so we can findthe information exactly the days of September twenty
seventh through October one. It's agreat month of activities. You start with
the luncheon there with the Volunteers ofAmerica and then go over and watch the
up and coming golfers at Trophy Clubon September the twenty ninth playing there,
and then the LPGA event which benefitsVolunteers of America. These are the best
(16:38):
women golfers in the world that youcan go up close and personal and watch
them teeing off and watch them makethose incredible puts. Very inexpensive, and
again the websites for both the KathyWittworth Championship that's for the WAPT Tour,
and then after that is the LPGATour, which is going to be there
(17:00):
at the clubs at the at thetribute. So a great month for honoring
women in golf, for getting yourkids, especially your young juniors, involved
in the game of golf, orjust go watch some great golf or hear
from an incredible broadcaster like Judy Rankin. They're at Glen Eagles Country Club and
have lunch with all of us.The LPGA tournament, there's still opportunities available
(17:22):
for people to play in the proAm. That's really unique because your team
plays with two LPGA professionals and there'sa lot of fun. There's a pro
am dinner parents party in the nightbefore, so if you can go to
the websites there and check that out, you can still play in the pro
am. Certainly buy tickets hospitalities.There's some great events out there. There's
(17:45):
a kid's zone, so it's areal family event. It's on the shores
of Lake Louisville. It's beautiful outthere, and it's in October. Hey,
it could be a cooler in October. We don't. We're hope and
Tommy, we're hoping. We're planningon its out there. There's a Kathy
Whitworth VF dinner. Can you tellus a little bit about that. Yes.
Again, in order to really preserveand honor Kathy, we choose a
(18:08):
special evening during the tournament week totake a time out to hear and previously
was to hear from Kathy yourself.We were so honored to have her there.
And of course Judy Rankin would comewith a lot of the kids that
play. They actually have spots inthe LPGA Pro Am for the juniors who
play in that and that event honorsKathy and is hosted by Volunteers of America
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because they believe that Kathy's that Kathy'sefforts exemplify the incredible efforts they have within
Volunteers of America, helping women nationwideand serving as an example of giving back
to others. So this year againis going to be on that Wednesday night
of the its October the third,and the beauty of it is is that
we're honoring Kathy this time. Wewish she were going to be with us,
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but of course we'll be with usin spirit as always, and we'll
be telling stories about Kathy. JudyRankin will join us with her golfers,
and so many folks from the LPGAand from the tournament itself will join us
as well. You know, Kathy'sa support of young golfers and stuff.
The unique feature of the original Texasshoot Out and be Able to Texas shoot
Out was that young golfers had achance to play and qualify and manage.
(19:19):
Zurich was one of the qualifiers.Samantha Wagner was one of the qualifiers.
They are both now on the LPGATour and will be playing in the tournament
this year, and both are doingvery well. Just on this week,
they both made the cut in atournament and so the young golfers that came
up through that program and played forthe and played in the LPGA tournament qualifying
(19:40):
years ago are now LPJA professionals,And I think that kind of speaks well
to the whole program and how it'sworking very well. Oh it does.
And Tommy, as you mentioned,it's just a fun time to come out,
and places like the clubs of theTribute there in the colony easy to
park day tickets are very inexpensive foradults and they're free for kids under seven,
So you get a chance to comeand bring the family and have some
(20:03):
lunch and watch the great golfers andjust have some fun at something like that.
And you hope that again your childrenwould get interested in the game of
golf. You know, a lotof the girls' scholarships through the years have
gone wanting for lack of application,So you're hoping that many more girls and
women will play golf these days,you know, as golf becomes more and
more popular, we're talking a lotabout golf and all the volunteers of America
(20:26):
as you do with golf, butyou're so much more than that as well.
I know you've got quite a fewevents coming up that, Uh,
maybe you can tell us about likeNorth Texas Giving Days here pretty soon.
Yes, this father, there's noshortage of ways to get involved with VOA
Well North Texas Giving Day. It'sa regional brand, awareness and giving campaign
for nonprofits in North Texas and VOATexas participates every single year. So people
(20:52):
are able to visit our donation pageor nord Texas Giving Day donation page and
all the proceeds go directly to ourprogram right here in North Texas. And
that is happening September twenty first,but people can start giving online September one.
You can reserve your gift just incase you don't. You don't such
a reminder for September twenty first.You can give from September one through September
(21:15):
twenty first. Oh, that's great. One of my favorite here in October
October yet, so October it's asoft drive in October they'll play on the
words a little bit. And thatis a time where people can host donation
drives or they can shop our Amazonwish lists for socks for our clients.
(21:36):
We have people in our senior livingcenters and also people in our intellectual developmental
disabilities group homes who they spend alot of time at home, and then
those socks with the grippers. Youknow, it's time for them to get
cozy and warm. And who doesn'tlike a pair of nice, fuzzy thoughts,
I know I feel so we'd we'dhave a few dedicated donors who every
(21:59):
year a host to drive for us, and we're always open to more.
And it's really easy to get involved. You just click on the wish list
on our website and the socks aresent directly to us. There's no manpower
or lifting involved. I know,as we talked about your support of first
responders in the golf tournament, butI see hydration stations for first responders,
et cetera, which you tell usabout, right, that's something new that
(22:22):
we are doing this year. Theheat has been very disrespectful. Yeah,
as you can imagine exactly. Weget these excessive heat advisories on our phones,
which for me, it's been afirst, and so I've we've heard
also of stories of postal workers havingincidents on the job because they're delivering mail
out in the heat. And ourfirst responders who are out there serving our
(22:45):
communities, and so we have alot of different housing sites all across Texas,
and what better way to show themthat we care by providing a place
for them to drink up and cooldown, as I'd like to say.
So they can stop in at anyone of our housing sites throughout North Texas,
Southeast Texas, Central Texas and getfree hydration, whether it be water.
(23:07):
Sometimes we'll have tea at some ofthe locations. And it's for first
responders, that's police, fire EMT, also postal workers, mail deliverers and
delivery drivers. Let's not forget them. Because the people who deliver our Amazon
packages that will get all the time. They can also drop in the brand
(23:29):
drink up and cool down exactly.Okay, Well it's a great out,
yeah, and something you know,very worthwhile, especially right now going forward,
Hope for the holidays, Hope forthe holidays, gifts hope back to
some of the people that we servewho are not able to get out and
buy things of their own on theirown. This particularly refers to clients and
(23:52):
our intellectual developmental disabilities programs who liveinside of our group homes. And what
happens is we will post list andthese are requests that come from the people
that we serve, and it's kindof part we're warming to look at some
of these lists because it'll have likea pack of coke, you know,
things that we take for granted.This is what they want for Christmas,
(24:14):
and it's an opportunity for people toget involved and they can go through the
list, purchase an item on thelist for one of our clients and we'll
make sure they have a gift underthe tree for Christmas. That is terrific.
What a mess, Kathy. We'vetalked about the Women in Play luncheon,
we talked about the golf tourmans Sosomething else you'd like for the for
our listeners and you wish to knowabout, Just invite them to come out
(24:38):
as weather cools off and it becomesreally pretty and a good time to be
out. Bring your kids, bringyour friends, bring your neighbors, come
out and watch some great golf andenjoy our wonderful lunch. And the more
you hear Erica speak to all theincredible good that Volunteers of America does with
the money that is generated from theluncheon and ultimately benefiting from the A Send
(25:00):
a tournament, it's a good timeto come out and do something great for
someone and really have fun as well. And again the Kathy Witworth devoting that
to the championship at Trophy Club,that's another opportunity to come and men buy
a ball marker, and admission tothat is absolutely free. These are the
up and coming golfers and we'd loveto have as many participants out there for
(25:25):
just coming to view the tournament,cheering them on and buying a ballmarker.
And it's a beautiful ballmark it's it'sKathy swinging and it's got eighty eight commemorating
the number of again the winds,which is just amazing. So it's really
innocent inspiration to hear her story andit's obvious that again VOA and Kathy Witwork
had worked beautifully through the years interms of helping others. So please come
(25:48):
join us. Well, Erica,what about miss What would you like to
tell people that we haven't really talkedabout or that you want to emphasize.
I would like to emphasize that VOAwe're so much more than our name.
The word violent here it meant somethingdifferent when VOA started nationally in eighteen ninety
six and now we've transformed into amore of a human service organization. While
we do still have volunteers who comein and work inside of our programs,
(26:12):
it's certainly not where our service ends. And we're all about building better and
stronger communities and helping families just tobe the best that they can be and
have a better quality of life.I know that. Make go to your
website. There's so many services forseniors, for teens, for drug of
years, moral injury, and forfootball housing. It's just a whole list.
(26:33):
And you serve or a million fivepeople every year nationally and locally eleven
thousand people in Texas along Credit Day, and that's just that's wonderful. Well,
I want to thank you both forbeing here and sharing the story and
hope we can get you know,people involved, and go to the website
one more time boatx dot org allright and you'll learn everything about that.
(26:56):
So thank you so much. Weappreciate they we'll see at the golf course
lunch and absolutely very s
Welcome back to Advocacy in Motion.I'm your host, Tommy Finn, and
we are here every week to givea vision and a voice to nonprofit organizations
and individuals making a impact in ourcommunity. But before I introduce my guests
today, I want to say thankyou to Niagara Conservation. Niagara Conservation is
a leading manufacturer and distributor of watersaving money saving plumbing products, and we're
(00:33):
especially proud of their work with theaffordable housing projects, especially the Oaks Project
VOA Oaks Project in oak Cliffe's districtof Dallas. But the good news is
that these products are now available toevery homeowner. And here's my partner,
Trisha Golwaukee to tell you all aboutit. Thanks Tommy, and thanks Niagara
for your continuing support of nonprofit organizations. If you want to get the ultimate
(00:57):
experience and cleanliness and comfort without breakingthe BA and transform your bathrooms with Niagara
from toilets to today's Niagara has theperfect solution for any bathroom project. Niagara's
award winning products not only outperformed competitors, but they also out design them.
Thanks to innovations like stealth technology,Niagara's products can use half as much water
(01:18):
as the competitors, providing you witha solution that will help with the environment
and save you money. Shopnail onAmazon or at home deepot dot com.
My guests today are Erica English.She's the director of Marketing and Communications for
Volunteers of America Texas. Welcome,thank you, and Kathy one Or,
she is the president of Club Resortand Hospitality Consulting here in Dallas. Thank
(01:40):
you both. Good to be here. Tommy, thank you for having We're
going to talk about a lot offun things of Volunteers of America and things
are doing on the various events.But first of all, Erica, tell
us about Volunteers of America and yourmission and what you guys in your role
in it. Well, thank youfor this opportunity. Volunteers of America Texas
in particular has been around since nineteenseventeen and we are a ministry of service
(02:00):
dedicated to helping the most vulnerable populationsin our community. We're all throughout Texas,
Central Texas, South Texas, NorthTexas, of course, East Texas
and all the way down to theValley. And my role is the senior
director of Marketing and Communications, andI've been with the OA for nine years,
(02:21):
all right, And Kathy, Iknow you are the person that introduced
me to Volunteers of America and theLPGA tournament ten years ago, eleven years
ago. Absolutely, I've introduced tothe tournament. You've been phenomenal and that's
been great, and we've messed somany wonderful people both with Volunteers America and
with the LPGA, and we're sohappy to help the ascendant LPGA benefiting Volunteers
(02:46):
America's supremiery event coming up this fall. As I said, it's been here
for about ten years in supporting tellus how that benefits VOA and your involvement
with the with the tournament itself.Let you answer that. So, Volunteers
of America, the relationship kind ofstarted as we were the only nonprofit sponsor,
(03:07):
and this relationship has kind of nowtransition to what it is now with
the Ascendant taken over, and it'sbeen a huge blessing to us. It's
introduced so many more partners to ushere in Texas and also connected us with
the golf community. And we havetwo events now that I'll speak more about
(03:27):
a little bit later that we're ableto establish here in Texas to get those
conversations going and get more local peopleconnected to our mission. I know that's
the center of the uh the eventshere, but Kathy, there's so many
other events with this and one ofthem that's been going on up for a
while and that you're certainly involved with. There's a women employed lunch and tell
us about that. Yes, Ihosted that first luncheon about four years ago.
(03:51):
And obviously a very prominent individual inthe game of golf. Kathy Witworth,
if that's the word, the winningestpro if you will, barnun men
or women in the history of golf. She's won eighty eight tournaments. And
Kathy, it's an ideal individual forVolunteers of America to honor because her whole
life was spent honoring others that arein the game of golf and helping you
(04:15):
young golfers pursue their passion as acareer. She established the Kathy Witworth Foundation,
and it was her passion to bringthis tournament back to Dallas. It
had been twenty five years since theLPGA had had a tour stop in Texas,
and Kathy Witworth thought that was fartoo long, so partnering with folks
like Mike King, the CEO ofVolunteers of Americans, says, we need
(04:36):
to do something about that. SoVolunteers of America stepped up and to help
create awareness of the good work thatthey do in the community and the good
work that Kathy Witworth does as well. They brought it back to Texas and
this year will be October two throughthe eighth at the clubs of the tribute.
But we also during the course ofthat decided that we needed to honor
(04:56):
Kathy Witworth and other women like herwho are very much a out advocacy and
the things that you talk about onyour program here, Tommy. Kathy Whitworth
was it was her eightieth birthday andwe started our very first Women in Play
luncheon to honor her, and assubsequently, we honored Nancy Lieberman, who
obviously has got her own foundation andworks with boys and girls that are talented
(05:16):
in basketball. Last year honore withSint Marshall, Dynamite Lady there, the
CEO of the Dallas Mavericks. Shetold a great story about diversity. She's
very talented in what she's brought tothe sports teams, et cetera about diversity,
and this year we're honoring Judy Rankinagain, one of the most famous
broadcasters who retired last year. Shetells quite a story of all the years
(05:40):
she's been first of all playing inthe LPGA, then as a broadcaster she
could give the players perspective as shedid an incredible job broadcasting for so many
years. So we'll be honoring andtalking to Judy Rankin this year. As
far as the honore goes, Now, where is the luncheon? How can
people get The luncheon is going tobe at Glen Eagles Country Club. They're
in Plano. We would love tohave them join us when we America come
(06:01):
and please bring friends. There's awebsite, you know, the Volunteers of
America website that will show you onthe screen because it's going to be a
dynamite lunch. And get a chanceto meet Judy and shake her hand here
about her life as a broadcaster again, talk about golf and hear a lot
about Volunteers of America and the incrediblework they do. And meet some of
(06:21):
the wonderful people that they've helped ina variety of means to better their lives.
All of this is goes to benefitVolunteers America Erica tell us about some
of the programs of Volunteers America.I know there are many, and I
know they're very reached deep into thecommunities. What are some of the things
that you guys are focusing on now, I'll start with our programs for women
(06:43):
because the women in play lunch andhelps benefit our programs for women. We
have a program inside the Dallas CountyJail cart Wrestinlana, and it's where female
inmates they voluntarily go through sort ofa rehabilitation process. They get down to
the root cause of whatever trauma hasimpacted their decisions in life. We are
also highlighting our MINT program that's theMother's and Infants Nurturing Together program. VOA
(07:09):
Texas is one of five of thoseprograms in the United States where we help
women who are incarcerated be able tocome into our program at seven months pregnant
and then after they have their babies, they're able to spend three months bonding
with their babies. So it's givingthe babies kind of like a head start
in life, or being able tostart at the same measure, if you
(07:33):
will, as other babies. Andthat program has been very beneficial for mom
and baby. We do parenting classeswith them as well, and then we
also help prepare the child to betaken care of by a family member if
mom has to go back to finishher prison sentence. In a lot of
cases, we're able to get themom to be able to be released and
(07:56):
she's able to go home with thebaby. So that is a little bit
about our women's programs. We havea robust reentry residential reentry programming here in
the Fort Worth area and also inHutchings. We have substance use treatment programming
in Houston and also in Fort Worth. And we also have people with intellectual
(08:16):
and developmental disabilities are able to liveinside our group homes which are throughout North
Texas as well and down in Houston. We are very known for our workforce
development programming. We help people withdisabilities be able to get job training so
that they can live independently and havea better quality of life. And also
(08:37):
those low income families or anyone withthe employment barriers can be able to have
a better quality of life and earna higher wage living. And we'll come
back and there's many, many times, but tell us how people can get
in touch, website, helplines,whatever. Sure they can get in touch
with us at voatx dot org.They can also email info at boat x
(09:01):
dot org. And I'd be REMISSIif I didn't mention our affordable housing program
because that's the heartbeat of what wedo at VOA. Nationally, we're known
as one of the largest providers ofaffordable housing throughout the country. I mentioned
in our opening about Niagara Conservation.I know they're very involved in helping with
the projects, including the Oaks projecthere in Dallas, and they're very proud
(09:22):
of that, and we are too. We're glad to see that happening that
they can get involved and we're savingwater costs and affordable housing. That money
goes to better spent and then payingthe water bill. So we're always so
proud of a Niagara, our presentingsponsor, for their work with Boa and
what they're doing with you. Wetalked about a couple of the other golf
(09:46):
turns, but you've got another specialone coming up called for a Second Chance
for First Responders. Tell us aboutthat tournament. We're in our seventh year
of this tournament, and time reallydoes supply when you're having fun because this
tournament is it's one that we lookforward to every year. This year it
happens to fall on September eleventh,and so we thought that we would highlight
(10:11):
our first responders who give to ourcommunity and sacrifice every single day. So
we're hoping to have some of ourfirst responders from the Irving area present there.
And we're also going to highlight ourVOA REST program and that's Resilience of
Strength training for first responders. Andthat's where first responders, we're talking police,
(10:31):
firefighters, e nts. They cancall in and get free online peer
support from anywhere in the country andit's completely anonymous. That is that's true,
and that's it lost Coleeners, correct, right, The golf tournament is
September eleventh, that lost Coleens CountryClub and Irving And of course we go
to the website. Yeah, howabsolutely voatx dot org. Okay, let
(10:54):
me take a bright here from oneof our other sponsors, and when we
come back, we want to talkmore about Kathy Witworth and her contributions and
some of the other programs that VOAare doing. But I want to thank
Paranihn Energy Wellness and Gifts for theSoul in downtown Richardson. We mentioned the
many gifts and for the soul there, but he wellness is a very important
of life today. You can takeadvantage of the health by committing to the
(11:16):
practice of relaxation and rejuvenation. Healingenergy has proven to improve stress and anxiety
levels, reduced physical pain, facilitateclearing and healing of emotional pain and blockages,
promote self healing, and improve thequality of sleep. Sessions are by
appointment only with raking Master Terry Finn. Contact Terry tri I at paranahn dot
(11:41):
com to schedule your individual healing session. We were talking about Kathy Whitworth,
so much importance to the community hereand what she has done with Volatistma Canny.
Tell us about Kathy Whitworth and allwe're doing there. You know,
it's interesting he I first met KathyWitworth, then involved with this tournament.
Else so honored because you know,here is this this woman that you've heard
(12:03):
so much about. First of allher incredible LPGA accomplishments, but then also
her giving back helping so many othersin terms of her foundation be able to
play golf. And it's interesting asshe told stories about her life you realize
that she came from very modest beginnings. She could identify with a lot of
the folks that Volunteers of America helpwith. And she had told the story,
(12:26):
you know, so many people whenthey get into golf these days,
they had these incredible club fittings.Well not Kathy. Kathy, when she
first got involved, she didn't havea set of clubs. And her mother
started saving the SNH Green stamps,which a lot of your audience may not
know what those are, Tommy,but saved those SNH Green stamps every time
they bought groceries, and they hadthat set of clubs at the catalog that
(12:48):
they were going to go get withthe S ANDH green stamps, and so
she did. That was the veryfirst club and whatever said it was,
you know for men or women,that was going to be her first set
of clubs that she started playing golfwith. And the rest of the story
was that as she became a professionalon the LPGA Tour, one of the
first tournaments she won, the titlesponsor was SNAH Green Stamps, and low
(13:09):
and behold, her mother was thereto cheer her on and not only did
she get the trophy, but theygave her S ANDH Green stamps, and
so Kathy was able to pay hermother back for the golf club she had
bought so many years ago. Atthe same time, Kathy was a champion
for all, for diversity, forthose from low income groups, for the
for women of color. Renee Paletold a beautiful story at the luncheon that
(13:35):
we had for Kathy, talking aboutagain the tour as it first began,
there wasn't a lot of money.There weren't a lot of folks that could
afford airplanes and things of that sort, so they would play a lot of
the small golf courses or the golfcourses in smaller towns, and Renee very
vividly remembered again being one of thefirst women of collar to play on the
LPGA tour. She vividly remembered thetime that they were in one of these
(13:58):
small towns and stepped up to theregistration desk at the little hotel to check
in for her room, and thegentleman there took a look at Renee and
said, I'm sorry, we don'thave your reservation, and Kathy, realizing
what was going on, stepped upto the desk and said, please understand,
I hope you find that reservation becausewe either all of us stay here
(14:18):
tonight or none of us stay heretonight. And Renee said it meant so
much to her to realize that shehad the incredible support and she had such
admiration for Kathy and her humility inthe way that she was with so many
people, and she is a wonderfulperson to emulate. As golf grows,
it interests as so many more,hopefully women and juniors get involved in the
(14:41):
game. She's a great role modelbecause again she established her foundation to help
those who couldn't afford a lot,because golf is an expensive sport and if
indeed you wished a career to pursuethat passion for a career, it's going
to take scholarships. And Kathy wasdetermined that as fortunate as she was,
she had some families back in herhometown that helped fund her when she began
(15:05):
her career. She wants to helpothers as well. And one of the
events that's coming up here in Dallasalso is one of the first years to
host it here at the Trophy Clubon the Kathy Wittworth Course that they've dedicated
out there is the Kathy Wittworth Championship. It's for the WAPT, the Women's
All Professional Tour and Tommy. Thisis a group of women that are college
(15:26):
graduates who played on their college teams, very talented women, but not yet
ready for the EPSOM Tour, whichis the next step or ultimately for the
LPGA. So this is a tournamentthat Kathy Wittworth is named for her,
and we have ballmarkers with a specialKathy Wittworth eighty eight on them that we're
going to dedicate the sale of thoseto help scholarships for these women who want
(15:50):
to work their way onto the LPGAtour. Many of these tournaments provide the
exemptions and allow them to play insome of the LPGA tournaments, which is
their so very fitting and very appropriatethat Kathey Witworth, who championed so many
people pursuing their passion, that wename the first tournament coming to the Trophy
Club the WAPT after Kathy Whitworth.It is terrific And again we can go
(16:14):
to the website so we can findthe information exactly the days of September twenty
seventh through October one. It's agreat month of activities. You start with
the luncheon there with the Volunteers ofAmerica and then go over and watch the
up and coming golfers at Trophy Clubon September the twenty ninth playing there,
and then the LPGA event which benefitsVolunteers of America. These are the best
(16:38):
women golfers in the world that youcan go up close and personal and watch
them teeing off and watch them makethose incredible puts. Very inexpensive, and
again the websites for both the KathyWittworth Championship that's for the WAPT Tour,
and then after that is the LPGATour, which is going to be there
(17:00):
at the clubs at the at thetribute. So a great month for honoring
women in golf, for getting yourkids, especially your young juniors, involved
in the game of golf, orjust go watch some great golf or hear
from an incredible broadcaster like Judy Rankin. They're at Glen Eagles Country Club and
have lunch with all of us.The LPGA tournament, there's still opportunities available
(17:22):
for people to play in the proAm. That's really unique because your team
plays with two LPGA professionals and there'sa lot of fun. There's a pro
am dinner parents party in the nightbefore, so if you can go to
the websites there and check that out, you can still play in the pro
am. Certainly buy tickets hospitalities.There's some great events out there. There's
(17:45):
a kid's zone, so it's areal family event. It's on the shores
of Lake Louisville. It's beautiful outthere, and it's in October. Hey,
it could be a cooler in October. We don't. We're hope and
Tommy, we're hoping. We're planningon its out there. There's a Kathy
Whitworth VF dinner. Can you tellus a little bit about that. Yes.
Again, in order to really preserveand honor Kathy, we choose a
(18:08):
special evening during the tournament week totake a time out to hear and previously
was to hear from Kathy yourself.We were so honored to have her there.
And of course Judy Rankin would comewith a lot of the kids that
play. They actually have spots inthe LPGA Pro Am for the juniors who
play in that and that event honorsKathy and is hosted by Volunteers of America
(18:32):
because they believe that Kathy's that Kathy'sefforts exemplify the incredible efforts they have within
Volunteers of America, helping women nationwideand serving as an example of giving back
to others. So this year againis going to be on that Wednesday night
of the its October the third,and the beauty of it is is that
we're honoring Kathy this time. Wewish she were going to be with us,
(18:55):
but of course we'll be with usin spirit as always, and we'll
be telling stories about Kathy. JudyRankin will join us with her golfers,
and so many folks from the LPGAand from the tournament itself will join us
as well. You know, Kathy'sa support of young golfers and stuff.
The unique feature of the original Texasshoot Out and be Able to Texas shoot
Out was that young golfers had achance to play and qualify and manage.
(19:19):
Zurich was one of the qualifiers.Samantha Wagner was one of the qualifiers.
They are both now on the LPGATour and will be playing in the tournament
this year, and both are doingvery well. Just on this week,
they both made the cut in atournament and so the young golfers that came
up through that program and played forthe and played in the LPGA tournament qualifying
(19:40):
years ago are now LPJA professionals,And I think that kind of speaks well
to the whole program and how it'sworking very well. Oh it does.
And Tommy, as you mentioned,it's just a fun time to come out,
and places like the clubs of theTribute there in the colony easy to
park day tickets are very inexpensive foradults and they're free for kids under seven,
So you get a chance to comeand bring the family and have some
(20:03):
lunch and watch the great golfers andjust have some fun at something like that.
And you hope that again your childrenwould get interested in the game of
golf. You know, a lotof the girls' scholarships through the years have
gone wanting for lack of application,So you're hoping that many more girls and
women will play golf these days,you know, as golf becomes more and
more popular, we're talking a lotabout golf and all the volunteers of America
(20:26):
as you do with golf, butyou're so much more than that as well.
I know you've got quite a fewevents coming up that, Uh,
maybe you can tell us about likeNorth Texas Giving Days here pretty soon.
Yes, this father, there's noshortage of ways to get involved with VOA
Well North Texas Giving Day. It'sa regional brand, awareness and giving campaign
for nonprofits in North Texas and VOATexas participates every single year. So people
(20:52):
are able to visit our donation pageor nord Texas Giving Day donation page and
all the proceeds go directly to ourprogram right here in North Texas. And
that is happening September twenty first,but people can start giving online September one.
You can reserve your gift just incase you don't. You don't such
a reminder for September twenty first.You can give from September one through September
(21:15):
twenty first. Oh, that's great. One of my favorite here in October
October yet, so October it's asoft drive in October they'll play on the
words a little bit. And thatis a time where people can host donation
drives or they can shop our Amazonwish lists for socks for our clients.
(21:36):
We have people in our senior livingcenters and also people in our intellectual developmental
disabilities group homes who they spend alot of time at home, and then
those socks with the grippers. Youknow, it's time for them to get
cozy and warm. And who doesn'tlike a pair of nice, fuzzy thoughts,
I know I feel so we'd we'dhave a few dedicated donors who every
(21:59):
year a host to drive for us, and we're always open to more.
And it's really easy to get involved. You just click on the wish list
on our website and the socks aresent directly to us. There's no manpower
or lifting involved. I know,as we talked about your support of first
responders in the golf tournament, butI see hydration stations for first responders,
et cetera, which you tell usabout, right, that's something new that
(22:22):
we are doing this year. Theheat has been very disrespectful. Yeah,
as you can imagine exactly. Weget these excessive heat advisories on our phones,
which for me, it's been afirst, and so I've we've heard
also of stories of postal workers havingincidents on the job because they're delivering mail
out in the heat. And ourfirst responders who are out there serving our
(22:45):
communities, and so we have alot of different housing sites all across Texas,
and what better way to show themthat we care by providing a place
for them to drink up and cooldown, as I'd like to say.
So they can stop in at anyone of our housing sites throughout North Texas,
Southeast Texas, Central Texas and getfree hydration, whether it be water.
(23:07):
Sometimes we'll have tea at some ofthe locations. And it's for first
responders, that's police, fire EMT, also postal workers, mail deliverers and
delivery drivers. Let's not forget them. Because the people who deliver our Amazon
packages that will get all the time. They can also drop in the brand
(23:29):
drink up and cool down exactly.Okay, Well it's a great out,
yeah, and something you know,very worthwhile, especially right now going forward,
Hope for the holidays, Hope forthe holidays, gifts hope back to
some of the people that we servewho are not able to get out and
buy things of their own on theirown. This particularly refers to clients and
(23:52):
our intellectual developmental disabilities programs who liveinside of our group homes. And what
happens is we will post list andthese are requests that come from the people
that we serve, and it's kindof part we're warming to look at some
of these lists because it'll have likea pack of coke, you know,
things that we take for granted.This is what they want for Christmas,
(24:14):
and it's an opportunity for people toget involved and they can go through the
list, purchase an item on thelist for one of our clients and we'll
make sure they have a gift underthe tree for Christmas. That is terrific.
What a mess, Kathy. We'vetalked about the Women in Play luncheon,
we talked about the golf tourmans Sosomething else you'd like for the for
our listeners and you wish to knowabout, Just invite them to come out
(24:38):
as weather cools off and it becomesreally pretty and a good time to be
out. Bring your kids, bringyour friends, bring your neighbors, come
out and watch some great golf andenjoy our wonderful lunch. And the more
you hear Erica speak to all theincredible good that Volunteers of America does with
the money that is generated from theluncheon and ultimately benefiting from the A Send
(25:00):
a tournament, it's a good timeto come out and do something great for
someone and really have fun as well. And again the Kathy Witworth devoting that
to the championship at Trophy Club,that's another opportunity to come and men buy
a ball marker, and admission tothat is absolutely free. These are the
up and coming golfers and we'd loveto have as many participants out there for
(25:25):
just coming to view the tournament,cheering them on and buying a ballmarker.
And it's a beautiful ballmark it's it'sKathy swinging and it's got eighty eight commemorating
the number of again the winds,which is just amazing. So it's really
innocent inspiration to hear her story andit's obvious that again VOA and Kathy Witwork
had worked beautifully through the years interms of helping others. So please come
(25:48):
join us. Well, Erica,what about miss What would you like to
tell people that we haven't really talkedabout or that you want to emphasize.
I would like to emphasize that VOAwe're so much more than our name.
The word violent here it meant somethingdifferent when VOA started nationally in eighteen ninety
six and now we've transformed into amore of a human service organization. While
we do still have volunteers who comein and work inside of our programs,
(26:12):
it's certainly not where our service ends. And we're all about building better and
stronger communities and helping families just tobe the best that they can be and
have a better quality of life.I know that. Make go to your
website. There's so many services forseniors, for teens, for drug of
years, moral injury, and forfootball housing. It's just a whole list.
(26:33):
And you serve or a million fivepeople every year nationally and locally eleven
thousand people in Texas along Credit Day, and that's just that's wonderful. Well,
I want to thank you both forbeing here and sharing the story and
hope we can get you know,people involved, and go to the website
one more time boatx dot org allright and you'll learn everything about that.
(26:56):
So thank you so much. Weappreciate they we'll see at the golf course
lunch and absolutely very s
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