Cathy Bailey talks Operation Open Arms and the upcoming Silks Bash

Cathy Bailey, one of the Operation Opens Arms founders and a member of the Board of Directors, talks about the organization's mission to help the children of imprisoned mothers and how you can have a great time at the Silks Bash and help support them at the same time...

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Well, there are lots of Derbyevents of course, and raise money for
very very strong causes, nothing moreimportant than Operation Open Arms. They have
the Silks Bash coming up on Fridaynight on Derby Eve, very important and
so why don't we just bring inthe founder of Operation Open Arms. She

(00:21):
and her husband put it together manyyears ago. That is Kathy Bailey.
Welcome to the show, Ambassador.Thank you, Terry. Great to have
your voice. Here's your voice tohave me on and talk about you know
if annual fundraiser WeDo and be ableto talk a little bit about Operation to
Open Arms. And you know,it's interesting that we have the Silks Bash

(00:43):
on Derby Eve because the concept fortaking care of children of incarcerated mothers happened
Derby weekend back in two thousand.One of our guests was the Attorney General
at the time under John Ashcroft,going up to Dog to resume large responsibility
and he said, look, hesaid, we've got a big problem across

(01:03):
this country that I want to personallytake on and try and tackle. We've
got over one hundred thousand kids acrossthe America who have either a mom or
a dad behind bars. So youknow, R and I looked at each
other and we said absolutely, signus up. But here we are twenty
two years later, having close toseventy kids go through our program and it's

(01:23):
been great. But this Derby Weekis very special and very meaningful. Touch.
Well, it's so great of youand Herve to put that together.
I've known you guys a long timeand it's just a it's a really important
component of the safety net of society. So thanks for doing that. Yeah,
we really see that. We youknow, not in a large part,

(01:44):
we hope to think that we takea little bit of the burden off
the state foster care program that wehave in our state. These children have
gone on to either be adopted orare still placed within the home of our
foster families and any body that isinterested, because we're always in the process
of recruiting foster families to come inand be part of the Operation Open Arms

(02:07):
Family and they can go to ourwebsite at oparms dot org to find out
more about it. Most of ourchildren are young when they are brought into
our care, so this really setsthem off at a very young vulnerable age
into a stable home in a safeand secure environment. Indeed, yeah,
I was reading about the integrity missionstatement on your website just a moment ago

(02:29):
Operation Open Arms and again that siteis oparms dot org for information on that.
Let's talk about the party that helpsraise money so that you can keep
this program rolling. Silts Bash,tell me about this event. Yeah,
well again, you can go onour website to get all the information oparms
dot org and they you quick thelink and I take your right to where

(02:50):
to get tickets. It's held athistoric Locust Grove, which is I think
so fitting into the tradition of whatwe do over the Derby week and you've
got Churchill Downs, which were Ialso want to say was very pleased as
one of our sponsors, So itjust fits into the ambiance in the tradition
of the weekend. In fact,we get thank you notes at the end
of this party from the guests thathave come through the years, thanking us

(03:12):
to be on fifty five acres inthe middle of Jefferson County, so it
really sets the stage for a funevening. A live band, Twelve Pies
live band comes in from Los Angeles. Great food, high energy, great
experience. Thanks to Brown Woman fortheir sponsorship. So yeah, go to
oparmas dot org and you can learnall about two hundred dollars. I also
want to point that out for generaladmission, we think we're at a great

(03:34):
price point. Yeah, so's itcould be an expensive weekend over the course
of several days go to the trackat getting cloths and babysitters and everything else.
So well, especially if you makea lot of bad picks on Wednesday
and Thursday and Friday after end,then it's like, yeah, this is
a great price point. Some ofthese derby events I've just gotten outrageous.

(03:55):
But this sounds like a good time. And what a venue that is Locust
Grove. Yeah, we're we're we'relooking for a really good evening. The
tickets are going fast, I willsay that. And that's not a personal
plug of any kind. I meanit really picks up here this last week
and we just want everybody to comeout and I have a good time and

(04:15):
learn more about what Operation Open Arms. Does. You know where my wife
and I had a good time asRiga in Lafia. We got off a
ship there and weren't you the ambassadorto that area? That's right, that's
right back from two thousand and fivethrough two thousand and eight. We ate
some great food in that city.That was That was an interesting place,
but U and then then we wentup to Saint Petersburg and Russia and I

(04:40):
did not enjoy that fair as much. So you were in the rights.
Yeah, well, you know,having served in the Baltics and being so
close to Ukraine, UM, yeah, you know it was. I visited
Ukraine on a number of occasions,and I have to say, as the
resistance to the Russian invasion by thepeople of Ukraine isn't heroic, I don't
know what is. You know,the people there, Ukrainian people are tough,

(05:04):
they're resistant, resilient, and allthey want to do is take care
of themselves and take care of theirfamilies and live in a free and independent,
sovereign Ukraine. So let's let's saya prayer continue prayer for all of
them, because we're not through thisinvasion yet. This war is not over.
Their high stakes and it's critically importantthey win. They're going to need

(05:27):
help long beyond whenever it stops too. It's just there's so much destruction there.
It's horrific. Yea at least,yes, well, Kathy Bailey,
I appreciate your work on many fronts, but especially in this Operation Open Arms
and the Silks Bashes this Friday night, so I hope the party goes perfectly
for him. We'll send people tothe website for tickets. Thank you so

(05:47):
much, Terry, appreciate it.Thank you again, great talking to you.
That's Ambassador Kathy Bailey. She wasEmbassador to Latvia in two thousand and
five to eight. I think shejust said, so there you go,
and the Silks Bash is Friday nightat Locust Grove. You can find more
ticket information at the website of thebeneficiary, and that's Open Arms, which

(06:10):
is op arms dot org.