Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
This is Jack Fox. Get ready for three hours of whatever.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
This is the Toonian d White Show at eight forty whas.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
All right, welcome in Folks News Radio eight forty whas
Tony Benetti in Dwight's in Cabo, and boy, what a
difference in weather from Louisville, Kentucky and Cabo, Mexico. I
saw a video of him yesterday all in white, white sox,
white shoes, white shorts, white shirts, dancing with somebody that
works at the Cobo Place, and I said, he is
(00:41):
in his happy place, and.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
So are we.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Where a quills here on East Main Street, And we've
got a heck of a show planned today. Kyle Shepard
from the Louisville Who's gonna come by Her fireman calendar
is out, so she takes pictures of firemen and then
it goes to the fireman's widows and orphans fun So
that's great. We also will have a Genie from Paris
toown come in. But today is all about USA Cares.
(01:05):
On a Friday during the holidays, What a great time
to talk about USA Cares. They are partners with us
and always have been, and they've grown so much in
the last couple of years, and part of that success
has been Kevin Bratcher. When you were in Frankfort, good job.
I appreciate what you've done for USA Care.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Sir, Well, you know that this great organization, they didn't
understand that they could approach some government entities. And because
they do such a great job, and there's a lot
of interest in Frankfort and here in Louisville and the
Metro Council to help organizations that are helping people. I mean,
that's what it's all well.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
And I always people go, well, what do they do.
There's a ton of veteran programs, and I go, look,
the government's great, but a lot of times they're slow.
This is a stop gap between kids eating and mortgages
getting made and car payments and the heats being on
in food, between the check from the government getting there
or not getting there. And the difference is, Look, they
(02:04):
serve our country and they help protect us if they're
overseas or not, or if they come back and they're hurt,
we help them out with USA Cares. It really is
an amazing organization started in Kentucky and now in every
state in the country. That's gonna be proud.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah, and the headquarters is here, and you know, I
was really good friends with Trace Chess. He has now
since retired, and he took it a long way and
now Matt and the others are taking it further and
they're reaching out. And the thing I love about USA
Cares is that they keep they keep the expenses down
and they get the money to the veteran yeah, instead
(02:42):
of using it for.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
That's a theme of our show. If the money's going
to where it's supposed to go, we're in. We're partners
with you, And not to talk about any other charities,
but sometimes a lot of it is infrastructure and salaries,
Cruseaefer children percent you know USA Cares is right there.
So no, that's important. Now you left Frankford during Metro
(03:06):
Council and last night you all had a vote and
how did that go? Of course this is the vote
about the masks most look, you can put it under
whatever you want. It's targeted after the ice agents and
wearing the masks or not. How did it go? Did
he go yes or no?
Speaker 1 (03:23):
It failed? There was a movement.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
You know one of my colleagues, Jp Leneger, great bright
young man, but I oppose him almost every issue and
this was one of them, and he said that he
wants masks off all law enforcement officers in the city
of Louisville, which was misguided because you can't tell a
federal agent what he can and cannot wear. You can't really,
(03:47):
you know, you can't tell a state cop if he's
visiting Louisville, what's he having.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
But it failed, It barely failed, but it did fail.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
If this vote was five years ago, it probably passes, right.
I mean, I've seen that looting yourself. The South end
has gone Republican, right, those switch those seats, and that's
four total, I think, So what is the what's the
total now d's.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
And rs on the Metro there's thirteen Democrats, there's twelve
Republicans and one independent, Okay, and we had one Democrat
that came with us last night to defeat it. And
you know, it was a it was a debate that
was just going on and on and on, and you know,
and that's what it's meant, that's what it's all about,
debating and then voting. And that's what we did.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Yeah. So I don't even know if ice will ever
end up here, right, or are they here now? Do
we know that.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Well, yeah, there's there's reports they're here.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Well okay, okay, I got you. Yeah, you're wearing your
navy sweatshirt.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
What years were you in the Navy.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
I was in the late eighties and nineteen ninety and
I love every minute.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
You know. It was only five.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Years of my life and I right, sixty four now, okay,
but that five years meant so much, you know, and
and I learned so much really where I turned my
life around a lot. You know, the military can turn
a person's life around like that. Yeah, and you know
your son is really yeah great.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
You know. I think he learned that at Trinity because
he wrote a thing on why they wear a tie
because it's antiquated. Nobody asked them, Nobody asked you to
wear a tie anymore, and he wrote a paper on it.
Because it's the little things. It's details. It's having to
get up and tie the tie every single day. It's
not about wearing the tie. It's about the tie. So
I think that I think you're correct. It's the details.
It's amazing what they have to do and do it
(05:31):
perfect attention to detail.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
You know, before I went in, I didn't pay attention
to detail as a young man, and after I came out,
I pay attention to detail. And also I show up
fifteen minutes before I'm supposed to be somewhere instead of
fifteen minutes after.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yeah. Yeah, one thing I'll earned too.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Yeah, I was, I do Wednesday's Hero and I was
I was researching one story and the story of this
guy that when I think the Congressional Medal of Honor,
I can't remember which story it was, but he said,
they you know, how he got in the army. His
dad was tired of messing with him, so just drove
him to the recruiting office and like he didn't have
a choice, like he just goes. My dad drove throw
me down and I had to join the army. And
(06:11):
it was story, the story, and it just cracked me up.
All right, So USA cares? Where do we go from here?
Frankfort obviously all in uh with with USA cares? How
do you get involved? Besides that in the Metro, how
can the Metro Council help too?
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Well, you know we have and Frank would have a
budget every two years and in the Metro we have one.
We have a budget every year and last year Matt
and some of his friends came and and we we
put a uh put a bid in and received some money.
Jeff Hudson was really the leader on that. And uh,
(06:48):
you know, they do a good job. They get to
the point they don't spend a lot of money on
vacations like some organizations do. And they helped the veteran
And that's why I like it, and that's why it's
got such a good representation.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
I really kind of want to go back to the
Metro Council real quick. They uh, here's my vision. So
you had a dem that walked across yesterday. I hate
to call that brave, but I think when a Republican
walks over they call it brave. He was brave enough,
because is it, Uh, you all are adults, you're intelligent,
you're very successful. But is it like mean girls sometimes
(07:23):
of I'm not talking to you today or not?
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Am I wrong?
Speaker 2 (07:27):
You know, behind the scenes and Democrat both are besides
behind the scenes in politics, both parties. It's like kids
in a sandbox. I'd love to tell you we're all
statesmen and noble at all times, but it gets really
it can get really buried.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
My talka truck. Oh I'm sorry. I didn't see anything.
I think it's funny, I really do. And the personalities
on there, but I bet you those are long nice Sometimes.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah, it can be. You know, it's uh, you know,
in a lot of ways, you.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Could say that that boat last night doesn't belong in
the local metro.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
You know, this is federal issues.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yeah, you know, some people want to make a point politically,
and it's okay to have debates like that, and I'm
glad it failed.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
I do want to say something, Tony.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
If I could just Yeah, sure, I had a friend
that was in the Navy and he committed suicide last year, Yes, sir,
And I know that.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
USA Cares.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Works hard with folks trying to turn you know, suicide
situations around. I wish I had known that that's the
direction he was going. He kind of surprises and I
look back and think, wow, I wish I could have
connected him with Matt or Trace or somebody.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
It might have might have helped him. You know, there were.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Signs him going downhill, and uh, you know it's uh.
He was a veteran and he took his own life.
And that's one thing that USA Cares is is trying
to turn around.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
It's a problem with enlisted in all branches of the
forest right now. John and I had a long conversation
on leadership and what kind of leader he wanted to be,
because I said, John, you know, I said, I'm concerned
about that, and I said, how are you going to
treat your sailors? I think I think things have changed.
You have to be an advocate for your sailors, you know,
(09:19):
And because they're all struggling. They're all struggling, and it's
not after they it's also after they get out of
the service, but now it is creeped into the service.
And I think you're correct. And if you know anyone
that's listening right now, if you know anyone that's in
the service and you're kind of picking up on some clues,
you'll regret it if you don't say something and contact
(09:42):
USA Cares and see if they can see if they
can do something.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Yeah, it was a sad situation.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Well, on a good note, I think we got a
good football team Navies. Oh yeah, I think we're going
to take care of business and yeah, yeah, and then
we got the Army game. Yeah that's right. This is weekend, right, Yeah,
I believe it's this weekend.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
I've been following them.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
They disappointed me one time on that loss, and but
other than that they've been good.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
No, it's awesome. No, it's of course, it's hard to
recruit offensive linemen to the Annapolis because you've got to
fit them on a boat. So they got to know that.
They got to find a jumb for him after they
play football. But Kevin Bratcher, thank you for joining me today,
and good luck with everything, and thank you for your service.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
For sure.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
We're going to talk to Matt Caster a little bit
here later a couple of minutes in the show here,
but I do want to have some news and notes.
The Light Up Louisville is happening this weekend. It is
tomorrow from three to nine. You can go to the
Metro site and find out where the details are. But
Santa is going to be here. They're going to light
(10:45):
the lights at eight o'clock and they'll have vendors and
food and stuff to give away. So it is just
a fun, fun night. I tend not to go down
to it when it's thirty below. So yesterday is playing
into our hands because the weather is going to be perfect.
And of course Mayor Greenberg was on the show earlier
this week and talked about it, and he's excited about it.
(11:06):
To light the lights and get the season on, I said,
I went to act and went to see Christmas Carol
and it got me. Now I'm in now, I'm in
the Christmas spirit or Gus? Are you? If Gus is
still in there, I don't know. Are you in now? Fully?
I'm also listening to the iHeart Classic Christmas. That has
(11:27):
a very good channel. I agree with you that is Oh,
it's a great channel. It's Perry Como and all those
old guys in Frank Sinatra. So I love those old tunes.
Burrow Lives is It's not Christmas until you hear Burrol
Lives sing about the snow Man. So are you in
fully now Christmas mode?
Speaker 4 (11:47):
Now?
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Well, I guess I have to.
Speaker 5 (11:50):
I still don't have some decorations up that need to
get up. I'm gonna do that tonight. I've been trying
last two or three nights that hadn't happened. So I
got to get that up, and then I'm gonna go shopping.
And typically I shopped right up to the last minute,
so I'm going to do that and then I'll be
in the mode of everything. I am listening to the
Christmas tunes though I'm in now, so maybe yeah, about
thinking about it's crazy.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
People do have their own way of shopping. My brother
in law and his dad they used to go to
dinner on Christmas Eve and they went out and they
did every single piece of their shopping for everyone on
Christmas Eve after dinner. And I always thought that was
absolutely crazy, but they did it every single year. I
think it's probably a pretty cool, but stressful.
Speaker 5 (12:33):
Well, I mean, gosh, they'd be closed on most places
closed early on Christmas Eve, don't they like six.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
No, No, I think they want to drag every dollar out.
I would assume that they would stay open a little
bit later on Christmas Eve. They want to get every sale.
And again it's Black Friday was the biggest online sales
every year, but it is always every year because it
just that that number is going to go up anyway.
So I think it was eleven billion dollars in one
(12:59):
day online only. But I'm doing shopping later this afternoon
after we get done with the show, and and I'm
definitely gonna knock out some folks. I've got about five
nephews I've got a knockout today because I've had my
orders get that done today. I just do what the
boss tells me and keep quiet.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
Uh huh okay, So, by the way, what was that term?
What was that that? That uh huh thing?
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Aren't there?
Speaker 5 (13:24):
You just do what the boss says. It depends on
which boss is that, Jackie or me?
Speaker 3 (13:29):
So yeah, yeah, she trumps you all day long. So
don't even if you would like to call her gus
feel free.
Speaker 5 (13:40):
That's all right, that's okay, I'll let her. She's got
the Trump card. She can go right ahead and do whatever.
There was a term that I saw. It was called
I'm looking it up, but I can't find a mannic
Tuesday or something like that.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Have you heard of this or no?
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Tell me?
Speaker 5 (13:57):
Apparently that is next week we've heard of, or maybe
it's it's something you coined this phrase, and it's the
day that everybody is like, I've got to stop and
order my stuff because it's the last day when it
larritied to get there.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
If they order it from there, it's delivery and no promises.
This year, I think we have our issues obviously with
all of the delivery services. If you've ordered anything, you know.
I don't like to complain about it too much because
they do a great job. Some stuff you get same
day and others you're just like, it's been three weeks
and the worst thing you don't want to do because
I got this yesterday in the email we've lost your
(14:34):
package reordering. Uhhlybably, so no panic Tuesday. That definitely makes
sense because there is a cutoff day, just like there
was for Toys for Tots. I think that is today.
Is that today toys for Tots?
Speaker 5 (14:52):
It might be I know somebody that can tell us that.
We'll find out. Yeah, oh we.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Do, we do, all right, man, We're gonna take a
short break, come back where it. Quills Coffee Shop on
East Main Street in the New lou area. USA Cares
is our sponsor today. We just talked to Kevin Bratcher,
Mattcasters coming in to talk about what they do. The
numbers are coming up next. And don't forget the money
that you use mostly almost all goes to the veterans
(15:17):
and their families, So please do that. Unlimited landscapes. If
you're looking for a pool this spring, let's do it now,
unveil it at Christmas. So if you get the designers
and you go, Okay, this is what the pool's going
to look like. They'll put together a rendering and then
you can unveil it at Christmas. Would be an awesome idea.
So go to Unlimited Landscapes dot com. Talk to Steve Butler.
(15:39):
He's the owner of known him sincel as a teenager.
He's been doing this for thirty years. He's got the
architects to make the pool of your dreams. All right,
back after this News Radio eight forty WHA. I am
Tony Ferneeddie Dwights and com oh Gus back in the studio.
That's a broadcast live from Quills. Here it's coffee shop
on East Main Street in New lou Come by and
(15:59):
see you today. It's all part of USA Cares, our
partners for the last couple of years. We're going to
talk numbers and stories next about how the money is
used and how it goes to the veterans and the
veterans' families. Some of these veterans, including the enlisted, don't
make a lot of money and if you start a
(16:21):
family it can be difficult. And then they're part of
it is that the stop gap between the government and
pay some bills, plus injured veterans. They cannot be in
the service anymore. They want to be what they can't.
They help them out too. It's really a great organization.
We love them. We found them five six years ago
and we've been with them ever since. USA Cares is
(16:44):
in every state in the country, and they started right
here in the Commonwealth. The first office was right here
in Kentucky, which makes us all all proud. So we'll
talk about Dad. Plus I will have Marty on. Marty
Book is going to come on and give us the
odds and what's he going to do. He left two
days early for Indianapolis. He is so excited about Ohio
(17:06):
State and the Hoosiers are playing in the Big Ten
Championship and this is legitimate, gonna be a war. These
are two teams that are loaded, well coached, and it
is going to be fun to watch. I can't remember
the last time I was this excited about watching a
Big Ten Championship or an SEC championship. I cannot wait
(17:26):
for this and I'm I'm I'm picking the Hoosiers. I
think the Hoosiers are gonna shock everybody and and take
down Ohio State. Now that doesn't mean that the team
that loses doesn't that doesn't spur them on to because
they're both undefeated. You know, the whole thought of pattern
Gus is do you need a loss to get you through?
(17:48):
Remember Rick did that with They lost to Mississippi State
in the SEC championship game and he claims that was
on purpose to motivate them to make the run through
the tournament. So you know, Ohio State, they lost the
Big Ten championship last year and then won the national title.
Speaker 5 (18:02):
Indeed, indeed, and it kind of kicks you in the
pants a little bit and go, Okay, now I'm mad.
We got a loss behind this. Now we're ready to
go you know, right, it's sound like you got to
maintain it.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
And then when you get beat, you're like, oh, oh,
we got beat. Why do we do that?
Speaker 5 (18:16):
Now we got to go back and start over here
and get ourselves kind of you know, it just focuses
you in a little bit.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
The Big Ten the last couple of years has really
I think taken the top spot on conferences. I mean,
they'll be one and two and after this game they'll
be one and two unless there's a complete blowout, which
I don't think because they're both legitimately in the trenches
be able to handle whatever the guy's got blowouts are.
(18:43):
Thank you so much, Maddie. She brought me some green tea. Gus,
do you have someone bringing you green tea? You do
not have anybody bringing me green tea here.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
So I'd like to put an order in and you
in door dash that, oh cover, bring that I will.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
I'm wearing a turtleneck, a scarf and sipping green tea.
Speaker 5 (18:57):
Well you are what the you're a bet you're a
beat nick, a beatnick. That's what that was in the sixties, right,
Just put your on and turning your man card and
your set.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Fella.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Then I have a ridiculous mustache that I can't.
Speaker 5 (19:12):
You gonna you've officially you've officially given up.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Yeah what I mean giving up? Uh, but I keep
looking at it, going ridiculous.
Speaker 5 (19:21):
This is the man of the house here, I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Yeah, the man car he's done. Yeah, that's all right.
Never never argue that Jackie wasn't the man of the house.
Trust me. Uh, just do what the lady says and
nobody gets hurt, all right, So short break, we'll come back.
News all of the news is coming up here in
about three minutes. Uh, and then we'll come back and
we'll talk to some nice ladies about where this money goes.
With USA Cares, trust me, you're gonna want to hear
(19:46):
these stories, So stick around on news radio eight forty
w h A s okay, thank you for broadcasting live
from Quills on UH on Main Street, East Main Street.
They have a couple of locations, fantastic place. I'm drinking
my hot green tea right now in my turtle neck
and mustache and trying to fit in all right when
in Rome do that thing. We're here, of course with
(20:07):
USA Cares. A little bit later on the show, we'll
talk to Matt Caster. I have Kyle Shepard from the
Louisville Zoo, but you know she's a photographer and she's
done a Fireman calendar that goes to the Fireman and
the widows and orphans, fun sort of thing. We'll talk
to her. Genie from Paris Town is gonna come down
and talk about what they have this weekend. I think
we've got a gay Austin. I'm gonna need you because
(20:30):
I think we have a broom ball game on the
ice rink and I'm talk the Mayor's office into playing us.
Okay you yeah, Terry Miners you. I have Paron Johnson's
on the staff. Now I want to get parent. He
used to play basketball for u of L, so he's
an athlete. It's gonna be fun. But right now, let's
talk some stories. Angela and Maddie, how are you right?
(20:53):
Can you hear everything? Pull those mics as close as
you can to your mouth there so because it is
a loud place. Uh yeah, there you go there you goo? Uh. Maddie,
how are you?
Speaker 6 (21:02):
I'm great?
Speaker 3 (21:03):
I think my mind from during the break that you
were in the service. I was.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
Yes, I'd served four years in the Navy as a
Master at arms, like the navy's a Cleveland seed and
military police.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Oh, military police, all right? Yeah. Did you ever have
to rough up some sailors?
Speaker 4 (21:17):
I did?
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Yeah, yeah I did.
Speaker 6 (21:19):
That was a main part of my job description.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
They probably said things to you when they were drunk
that they probably apologized for later.
Speaker 4 (21:26):
Absolutely, sometimes sometimes.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
That's fantastic. Okay, and Angela, how are you?
Speaker 6 (21:36):
I'm great?
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Great? You guys sort of know where the money goes,
is that right?
Speaker 6 (21:42):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (21:42):
Angela, you're sort of the numbers person.
Speaker 7 (21:44):
Right, Well, I'm the program's manager, so I've been with
us he here's for about eighteen years.
Speaker 6 (21:49):
Sound. We both work in the assistance.
Speaker 7 (21:52):
Program, so we're the ones who deal directly with the
veterans that need.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Assist Okay, so let's start. Either one of you can
answer this. We talk about all the time. Well, they're
a stop gap and they and they helped you know,
families maybe pay make a bill for this, and that
there's veterans that you know, have been injured in the
service and can't work anymore on YadA YadA. So let's
let's Mattie, you start. Tell me how where's this money go?
(22:19):
Give me a situation. It makes sense to people that
are driving around right now.
Speaker 6 (22:23):
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
So majority of the time, I feel like a lot
of the cases that we see deal with the medical
hardship side of things. If you have veterans that had
a full time job and unfortunately due to their service
connected issues, whether it be like a flare up or
something happened that heightened whatever their previous injury was, gotcha,
(22:46):
that has affected their appointment now and so when they
have a loss of income if they had to you know,
be out of work for two weeks and they didn't
receive a paycheck. We can step in and help them
that way. That's just like a general case that we
see a lot, but a lot of the time too,
we have really compelling cases that require our attention immediately,
(23:06):
we have to work them a little faster.
Speaker 6 (23:09):
A couple of weeks.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
Ago, I had a gentleman that was out of work.
He was receiving treatment at an inpatient treatment program, and
so he obviously had to take off work to be
committed to that program. And once he graduated the program,
he thought he was going to have some time to
get his affairs in order pay up his bills, while
(23:30):
his girlfriend was pregnant at the time, and the baby
came early and so he did not have as much
time to pay the bills as he thought. So he
reached out to us, told me what was going on.
I told him, you know, how we would work his case,
what I would need to get him approved and hopefully
be able to pay his electric and gas bill for him.
(23:50):
He got me exactly what I needed, and literally a
couple of days after the baby was born because it
was a premature baby, so he kept the baby in
the hospital for a life little bit.
Speaker 6 (24:00):
While the baby was in the hospital. We were able to.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
Get in a throop and they brought the baby home
with lights on, with the heat going and they were ready.
Speaker 6 (24:08):
We also helped them.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
With some gift cards so they could buy some formula
and diapers, and we get those kind of cases a lot, unfortunately,
but luckily they found us and we were able to
help and didn't.
Speaker 7 (24:21):
That case, if I recall, they didn't have power and
they need the power that we turned back on for
the baby.
Speaker 6 (24:29):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 4 (24:29):
A requirement, like they weren't allowed to leave the hospital
until the staff knew that.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
You know, attached to these stores.
Speaker 4 (24:38):
I don't know if you can tell some like it's
hard for me to to get attached. You don't know
what they look like half the time, but up like
you hear it in.
Speaker 6 (24:47):
Their voice, you know.
Speaker 7 (24:49):
And a lot of times you have these stoic veterans
that do not want to ask for help. You know,
they've they've been told during their service that that is weakness.
So when they come to you and their diar need
and they're like, I don't want to do this, I
don't want to ask for help. But they're in tears
and their families in crisis. It brings a lot of
(25:10):
you know, emotion as well and being able to help
them and just if we call them and tell them
that they're approved and they're just crying, it's just very emotional.
Speaker 6 (25:22):
It's very emotional.
Speaker 7 (25:24):
And you know, they've told us, you've saved my life,
You've saved my family situation.
Speaker 6 (25:29):
So it's it's a very emotional job.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
But here's the stark reality of the whole thing is
you all help a lot of people, but you can't
help everybody. And that's why we're on the conversation right
now and on this phone. How do people give? Because
people just hear that story. Those are great stories, but
we can't get to everybody. There are people you hang
the phone up and go, I wish how do I
help this person?
Speaker 1 (25:52):
But we can't.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
You can't help everybody. How do they give? How do
they give them money?
Speaker 6 (25:57):
They can go to our website at USA Cares at org.
Speaker 7 (26:00):
There's a donation tab and basically they can go on
venmo as well.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
What is the venmo? Uh? What's the venmo for USA Cares?
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Do you know?
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Where's Mac Caster? Matt Caster, Matt Caster what's the Venmo address?
What's the Venmo address for USA CARES. He's looking it
up right now. Huh USA CARES one. There you go. Okay,
so let's talk about the numbers. Where are you now?
Because we've got some money from Frankfurt people are helping out.
(26:33):
So where are we at?
Speaker 7 (26:33):
You talked numbers with you, right, So, just to give
you a perspective, last year is when we started getting
the state funding. Before last year we never got state funding, right.
It was only private donations and corporate donations and was
limiteding on how we can assess a veteran. But now,
as of this year, we have helped almost three million.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
Dollars in just oh my gosh.
Speaker 7 (27:00):
Okay, so we've reached two zero point nine million dollars
and that's probably going to reach three million by the
end of this year because we're not even done with
December yet. And to be honest, a third of that
is just for Kentucky.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Veterans, just for Kentucky. Yes, do you know how many
calls you get a week?
Speaker 6 (27:20):
And fifty?
Speaker 3 (27:21):
Yeah, two d and fifty calls a week?
Speaker 6 (27:24):
Yes? Yeah, yes?
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Why is the need so much? Is it crazy? Look
and look and it dovetails to every single story. There
are injuries you don't see in servicemen, which are the
emotional ones. And you spoke on it of we've all
I'm from that generation. You don't complain. You know that's
weakness and I'll punch through.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
But at some.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
Point Betty has put so much shame around asking for help,
and then I think it takes a lot of courage,
in my opinion, to ask for help.
Speaker 6 (27:54):
I have another story.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
If you don't, yes, I love it.
Speaker 6 (27:56):
I love to hear it, especially in the holiday spirit.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
Maddie and Angelo. The way with USA care is go ahead.
Speaker 4 (28:02):
I had a case about a couple of weeks ago
of a service member that was being forced out of
their home due to no fault of their own because
new management came bought out the apartment complex and of
course had a different vision in behind for the type
of people that they wanted there. And so when it
(28:22):
came time to reapply to hopefully be able to stay
in their home, their application was rejected and so they
qualified for the Kentucky Program assistance because they were being
displaced from.
Speaker 6 (28:34):
Their home due to no fault of their own.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
And I had been working with the veteran's spouse for
a very long time because the veteran just wasn't able
to really communicate well, and he gave permission.
Speaker 6 (28:47):
To speak with her.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
So I worked through the wife the whole time I
got you, and there was a lot of back and forth.
Speaker 6 (28:53):
She had a really.
Speaker 4 (28:53):
Difficult time finding a new place. Well, she eventually found
a new home and we were able to help her
get the deposit.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
Yeah first, yeah, and last, Yeah, oh, first and last.
Speaker 4 (29:04):
And she told me, you know, it would be a
miracle if you got me in in the first of January.
I would be grateful for that. Well, you were able
to get her in before the holidays. Bank.
Speaker 6 (29:18):
She told me, it's.
Speaker 4 (29:19):
Going to be so weird, Like I'm happy that I
got this assistance, but I felt like I've talked to
you so long and like you know me, and you know,
it's like it's weird being done with this and not
getting to talk to you anything.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Okay, that's a great point. That's a great talking point too,
of you create these relationships with all these people, you
connect with them, you know them intimately, really emotionally, and
and then you don't talk to a little bit.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
That's it.
Speaker 6 (29:43):
Yeah, I'm like, well you can you know.
Speaker 4 (29:48):
What you did with the play, like I have a
hard time letting go.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
Uh, you got to be glad you found USA Cares
after your service On me.
Speaker 4 (29:57):
Too, I always felt like I wanted to be of service.
Speaker 6 (30:01):
That was like my main motivation for joining.
Speaker 4 (30:04):
Once I realized that I was just going to do
the four and you know, pay for my college education
that way, my degree debt free. They're grateful for that,
but I knew that career wise, like, I still wanted
to be of service, and I eventually found USA Cares,
which is obviously something very near and dear to my heart.
(30:26):
I wish I would have known about it when I
was getting out, and now I get to give that
back to my brothers and sisters.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
You know, how was that conversation with your parents when
you said I'm gonna I'm gonna go in the service
to pay for college.
Speaker 4 (30:38):
Well it was the very last minute decision because I
thought I was going to go out of state.
Speaker 6 (30:42):
For school and I looked at the bill.
Speaker 4 (30:44):
Of what it was going to be and I'm like,
no way, because my college debt was going to be mine.
Speaker 6 (30:48):
My parents very you know.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
Hard working, but they couldn't afford to send it on
their own dime. And it was like a month before
high school graduation. My dad sat me down and he
was like, hey, if there's something I wish I would
have done, It was follow in his dad's footsteps, my
Grandpap Miller and joined the military. And he's like, you
can do it, like you're.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
All that is awesome.
Speaker 4 (31:10):
Yeah, and I'm like, well, it's my dad believes in
me and he thinks I can.
Speaker 6 (31:13):
I was terrified.
Speaker 4 (31:14):
I was absolutely terrified would but you know, my dad
told me I could do it. And I remember the
first phone call I got when I got to boot
camp and they finally let.
Speaker 6 (31:25):
Us call home. I got to talk to my mom.
It's like, come pick me up, come get me. And
then my dad got on the phone. He's like, you
got this, you got this. You're stronger than you think.
And and I did it.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
Cry, I did it. I did it.
Speaker 6 (31:38):
I'm telling you, yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
Yeah, I've had that phone call with my son before.
Speaker 6 (31:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
You know, it's it's hard, it's not easy, and not
everybody can pull it off.
Speaker 6 (31:48):
Absolutely not.
Speaker 4 (31:49):
But my dad got to come to my A school
graduation when I finished, like the specialty school when I
got to become like a military police and he pinned
my badge on.
Speaker 6 (31:58):
That was like the proudest moment. You know, I'm like,
we did it, we made it.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
You know what a great story and you're continuing to give,
which is fantastic at Angela. What do we need, uh,
you know through the holidays, twenty bucks from everybody they
get online and whatever it is, right.
Speaker 7 (32:12):
Ever, five dollars, ten dollars, twenty dollars to add up game.
Speaker 6 (32:16):
We are getting a lot of.
Speaker 7 (32:17):
Veterans that apply that are having Christmas crisis because they've
you know, been laid off from work. You know, sometime
this year the government shutdown was a huge.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
Impact, right, oh right, veterans and.
Speaker 7 (32:31):
A lot of them never got to return to work,
you know after the government shut down, their job was
completely furloughed. So now they're unemployed.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Oh boys.
Speaker 7 (32:39):
So we've had a lot of different type of situations
that we've assisted through the year. It could be a
natural disaster like the floods that happened earlier this year
that was a huge impact on our Kentucky families. We've
had layoffs, we've had people with the government shut down.
Speaker 6 (32:55):
Like I said, We've.
Speaker 7 (32:56):
Also had people where they were bought out from their
rental home and they just didn't have their means.
Speaker 6 (33:02):
To move on their own.
Speaker 7 (33:04):
Natural disasters like fires, as well, medical issues, whether it's
the spouse, the children, or the service member or veteran.
Speaker 6 (33:13):
So anything is going on right now. You don't think
about it.
Speaker 4 (33:17):
You domestic violence cases, Oh, yes, domestic violence places, and
we make sure that the applicant is not the one
causing that domestic violence of course, but we have a
lot of times where you.
Speaker 7 (33:28):
Know, the applicant is assaulted.
Speaker 6 (33:31):
And they have to leave their home in an emergency with.
Speaker 3 (33:33):
Their What a crazy job you all have, Yeah, we've
had trying to navigate this whole thing.
Speaker 6 (33:38):
Yeah, and no call.
Speaker 7 (33:39):
It is the same, you know, a plethora of hardships
and people always think, you know, veterans are taken care of,
and yes there is the VA system, you know, and
a lot of people have their own views about the
veteran affairs. But they can only do what they can do,
and there's there's limitations on what they can do as well.
Speaker 4 (34:01):
So and like you said, not about not being able
to help everybody, I think it's important too, Like when
we aren't able to assist.
Speaker 6 (34:10):
We at least try to point them in.
Speaker 4 (34:12):
The right direction of another organization that can because a
lot of these resources, like yes, people do think that
veterans are taking care of, but a lot of those
resources aren't advertised. They don't know about all of the
things that they have access.
Speaker 6 (34:25):
Yeah, we're not advertised.
Speaker 7 (34:26):
We don't pay for advertising, so a lot of people
don't know about us unless they're referred to us by
other local nonprofits sort of be it.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
USA Cares, USA Cares. I wish I could. I wish
I could clone you too and give about twenty more
of you for this world. You guys are awesome, really,
Matt you're you got me going today and I'm an
emotional cyborg, so you got you got me good? Uh,
Maddie and Angela, thank you for what you do at
USA Cares. And these are great stories. And let's get
some money to USA Cares. If you go to Venmo,
(34:57):
it's just simple USA Cares one, number one and just
pop us twenty bucks, forty bucks. Whatever you think is good.
Thank you, ladies, Thank for sure. All right, folks, we
are rolling through our show. Our one is already in
the books. I think I'm gonna have Kyle Shepherd, and
I think John Ramsey is here from the Mayor's office.
We'll talk to him in just a couple of minutes.
(35:19):
But I want to remind you about Elan and Edland.
We talked about housing prices earlier in the show. All
I'm sorry, earlier in the week. They're up forty percent
pretty much across the board in the market. So what
you've got to do. You're selling your house, get the
deal with one percent commission rate in the sale, no
surprise charges on the back end. Interest rates are down.
(35:40):
What you got to do is go with Edland and
Edland real Estate brokerage for forty six years one percent
commission rate five nine to nine. Twenty eight hundred is
the phone number. That's the cell phone of the owner.
So come on, let's do it. Let's sell the house
and let's move on and make some money. Back after this,
Live on the road at Quills on East Main Street
(36:01):
in the New Low area. Back after this, I am
Tony Venetti on use Radio eight forty whas
This is Jack Fox. Get ready for three hours of whatever.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
This is the Toonian d White Show at eight forty whas.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
All right, welcome in Folks News Radio eight forty whas
Tony Benetti in Dwight's in Cabo, and boy, what a
difference in weather from Louisville, Kentucky and Cabo, Mexico. I
saw a video of him yesterday all in white, white sox,
white shoes, white shorts, white shirts, dancing with somebody that
works at the Cobo Place, and I said, he is
(00:41):
in his happy place, and.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
So are we.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Where a quills here on East Main Street, And we've
got a heck of a show planned today. Kyle Shepard
from the Louisville Who's gonna come by Her fireman calendar
is out, so she takes pictures of firemen and then
it goes to the fireman's widows and orphans fun So
that's great. We also will have a Genie from Paris
toown come in. But today is all about USA Cares.
(01:05):
On a Friday during the holidays, What a great time
to talk about USA Cares. They are partners with us
and always have been, and they've grown so much in
the last couple of years, and part of that success
has been Kevin Bratcher. When you were in Frankfort, good job.
I appreciate what you've done for USA Care.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Sir, Well, you know that this great organization, they didn't
understand that they could approach some government entities. And because
they do such a great job, and there's a lot
of interest in Frankfort and here in Louisville and the
Metro Council to help organizations that are helping people. I mean,
that's what it's all well.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
And I always people go, well, what do they do.
There's a ton of veteran programs, and I go, look,
the government's great, but a lot of times they're slow.
This is a stop gap between kids eating and mortgages
getting made and car payments and the heats being on
in food, between the check from the government getting there
or not getting there. And the difference is, Look, they
(02:04):
serve our country and they help protect us if they're
overseas or not, or if they come back and they're hurt,
we help them out with USA Cares. It really is
an amazing organization started in Kentucky and now in every
state in the country. That's gonna be proud.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah, and the headquarters is here, and you know, I
was really good friends with Trace Chess. He has now
since retired, and he took it a long way and
now Matt and the others are taking it further and
they're reaching out. And the thing I love about USA
Cares is that they keep they keep the expenses down
and they get the money to the veteran yeah, instead
(02:42):
of using it for.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
That's a theme of our show. If the money's going
to where it's supposed to go, we're in. We're partners
with you, And not to talk about any other charities,
but sometimes a lot of it is infrastructure and salaries,
Cruseaefer children percent you know USA Cares is right there.
So no, that's important. Now you left Frankford during Metro
(03:06):
Council and last night you all had a vote and
how did that go? Of course this is the vote
about the masks most look, you can put it under
whatever you want. It's targeted after the ice agents and
wearing the masks or not. How did it go? Did
he go yes or no?
Speaker 1 (03:23):
It failed? There was a movement.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
You know one of my colleagues, Jp Leneger, great bright
young man, but I oppose him almost every issue and
this was one of them, and he said that he
wants masks off all law enforcement officers in the city
of Louisville, which was misguided because you can't tell a
federal agent what he can and cannot wear. You can't really,
(03:47):
you know, you can't tell a state cop if he's
visiting Louisville, what's he having.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
But it failed, It barely failed, but it did fail.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
If this vote was five years ago, it probably passes, right.
I mean, I've seen that looting yourself. The South end
has gone Republican, right, those switch those seats, and that's
four total, I think, So what is the what's the
total now d's.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
And rs on the Metro there's thirteen Democrats, there's twelve
Republicans and one independent, Okay, and we had one Democrat
that came with us last night to defeat it. And
you know, it was a it was a debate that
was just going on and on and on, and you know,
and that's what it's meant, that's what it's all about,
debating and then voting. And that's what we did.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Yeah. So I don't even know if ice will ever
end up here, right, or are they here now? Do
we know that.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Well, yeah, there's there's reports they're here.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Well okay, okay, I got you. Yeah, you're wearing your
navy sweatshirt.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
What years were you in the Navy.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
I was in the late eighties and nineteen ninety and
I love every minute.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
You know. It was only five.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Years of my life and I right, sixty four now, okay,
but that five years meant so much, you know, and
and I learned so much really where I turned my
life around a lot. You know, the military can turn
a person's life around like that. Yeah, and you know
your son is really yeah great.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
You know. I think he learned that at Trinity because
he wrote a thing on why they wear a tie
because it's antiquated. Nobody asked them, Nobody asked you to
wear a tie anymore, and he wrote a paper on it.
Because it's the little things. It's details. It's having to
get up and tie the tie every single day. It's
not about wearing the tie. It's about the tie. So
I think that I think you're correct. It's the details.
It's amazing what they have to do and do it
(05:31):
perfect attention to detail.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
You know, before I went in, I didn't pay attention
to detail as a young man, and after I came out,
I pay attention to detail. And also I show up
fifteen minutes before I'm supposed to be somewhere instead of
fifteen minutes after.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yeah. Yeah, one thing I'll earned too.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Yeah, I was, I do Wednesday's Hero and I was
I was researching one story and the story of this
guy that when I think the Congressional Medal of Honor,
I can't remember which story it was, but he said,
they you know, how he got in the army. His
dad was tired of messing with him, so just drove
him to the recruiting office and like he didn't have
a choice, like he just goes. My dad drove throw
me down and I had to join the army. And
(06:11):
it was story, the story, and it just cracked me up.
All right, So USA cares? Where do we go from here?
Frankfort obviously all in uh with with USA cares? How
do you get involved? Besides that in the Metro, how
can the Metro Council help too?
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Well, you know we have and Frank would have a
budget every two years and in the Metro we have one.
We have a budget every year and last year Matt
and some of his friends came and and we we
put a uh put a bid in and received some money.
Jeff Hudson was really the leader on that. And uh,
(06:48):
you know, they do a good job. They get to
the point they don't spend a lot of money on
vacations like some organizations do. And they helped the veteran
And that's why I like it, and that's why it's
got such a good representation.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
I really kind of want to go back to the
Metro Council real quick. They uh, here's my vision. So
you had a dem that walked across yesterday. I hate
to call that brave, but I think when a Republican
walks over they call it brave. He was brave enough,
because is it, Uh, you all are adults, you're intelligent,
you're very successful. But is it like mean girls sometimes
(07:23):
of I'm not talking to you today or not?
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Am I wrong?
Speaker 2 (07:27):
You know, behind the scenes and Democrat both are besides
behind the scenes in politics, both parties. It's like kids
in a sandbox. I'd love to tell you we're all
statesmen and noble at all times, but it gets really
it can get really buried.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
My talka truck. Oh I'm sorry. I didn't see anything.
I think it's funny, I really do. And the personalities
on there, but I bet you those are long nice Sometimes.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah, it can be. You know, it's uh, you know,
in a lot of ways, you.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Could say that that boat last night doesn't belong in
the local metro.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
You know, this is federal issues.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yeah, you know, some people want to make a point politically,
and it's okay to have debates like that, and I'm
glad it failed.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
I do want to say something, Tony.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
If I could just Yeah, sure, I had a friend
that was in the Navy and he committed suicide last year, Yes, sir,
And I know that.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
USA Cares.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Works hard with folks trying to turn you know, suicide
situations around. I wish I had known that that's the
direction he was going. He kind of surprises and I
look back and think, wow, I wish I could have
connected him with Matt or Trace or somebody.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
It might have might have helped him. You know, there were.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Signs him going downhill, and uh, you know it's uh.
He was a veteran and he took his own life.
And that's one thing that USA Cares is is trying
to turn around.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
It's a problem with enlisted in all branches of the
forest right now. John and I had a long conversation
on leadership and what kind of leader he wanted to be,
because I said, John, you know, I said, I'm concerned
about that, and I said, how are you going to
treat your sailors? I think I think things have changed.
You have to be an advocate for your sailors, you know,
(09:19):
And because they're all struggling. They're all struggling, and it's
not after they it's also after they get out of
the service, but now it is creeped into the service.
And I think you're correct. And if you know anyone
that's listening right now, if you know anyone that's in
the service and you're kind of picking up on some clues,
you'll regret it if you don't say something and contact
(09:42):
USA Cares and see if they can see if they
can do something.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Yeah, it was a sad situation.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Well, on a good note, I think we got a
good football team Navies. Oh yeah, I think we're going
to take care of business and yeah, yeah, and then
we got the Army game. Yeah that's right. This is weekend, right, Yeah,
I believe it's this weekend.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
I've been following them.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
They disappointed me one time on that loss, and but
other than that they've been good.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
No, it's awesome. No, it's of course, it's hard to
recruit offensive linemen to the Annapolis because you've got to
fit them on a boat. So they got to know that.
They got to find a jumb for him after they
play football. But Kevin Bratcher, thank you for joining me today,
and good luck with everything, and thank you for your service.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
For sure.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
We're going to talk to Matt Caster a little bit
here later a couple of minutes in the show here,
but I do want to have some news and notes.
The Light Up Louisville is happening this weekend. It is
tomorrow from three to nine. You can go to the
Metro site and find out where the details are. But
Santa is going to be here. They're going to light
(10:45):
the lights at eight o'clock and they'll have vendors and
food and stuff to give away. So it is just
a fun, fun night. I tend not to go down
to it when it's thirty below. So yesterday is playing
into our hands because the weather is going to be perfect.
And of course Mayor Greenberg was on the show earlier
this week and talked about it, and he's excited about it.
(11:06):
To light the lights and get the season on, I said,
I went to act and went to see Christmas Carol
and it got me. Now I'm in now, I'm in
the Christmas spirit or Gus? Are you? If Gus is
still in there, I don't know. Are you in now? Fully?
I'm also listening to the iHeart Classic Christmas. That has
(11:27):
a very good channel. I agree with you that is Oh,
it's a great channel. It's Perry Como and all those
old guys in Frank Sinatra. So I love those old tunes.
Burrow Lives is It's not Christmas until you hear Burrol
Lives sing about the snow Man. So are you in
fully now Christmas mode?
Speaker 4 (11:47):
Now?
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Well, I guess I have to.
Speaker 5 (11:50):
I still don't have some decorations up that need to
get up. I'm gonna do that tonight. I've been trying
last two or three nights that hadn't happened. So I
got to get that up, and then I'm gonna go shopping.
And typically I shopped right up to the last minute,
so I'm going to do that and then I'll be
in the mode of everything. I am listening to the
Christmas tunes though I'm in now, so maybe yeah, about
thinking about it's crazy.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
People do have their own way of shopping. My brother
in law and his dad they used to go to
dinner on Christmas Eve and they went out and they
did every single piece of their shopping for everyone on
Christmas Eve after dinner. And I always thought that was
absolutely crazy, but they did it every single year. I
think it's probably a pretty cool, but stressful.
Speaker 5 (12:33):
Well, I mean, gosh, they'd be closed on most places
closed early on Christmas Eve, don't they like six.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
No, No, I think they want to drag every dollar out.
I would assume that they would stay open a little
bit later on Christmas Eve. They want to get every sale.
And again it's Black Friday was the biggest online sales
every year, but it is always every year because it
just that that number is going to go up anyway.
So I think it was eleven billion dollars in one
(12:59):
day online only. But I'm doing shopping later this afternoon
after we get done with the show, and and I'm
definitely gonna knock out some folks. I've got about five
nephews I've got a knockout today because I've had my
orders get that done today. I just do what the
boss tells me and keep quiet.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
Uh huh okay, So, by the way, what was that term?
What was that that? That uh huh thing?
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Aren't there?
Speaker 5 (13:24):
You just do what the boss says. It depends on
which boss is that, Jackie or me?
Speaker 3 (13:29):
So yeah, yeah, she trumps you all day long. So
don't even if you would like to call her gus
feel free.
Speaker 5 (13:40):
That's all right, that's okay, I'll let her. She's got
the Trump card. She can go right ahead and do whatever.
There was a term that I saw. It was called
I'm looking it up, but I can't find a mannic
Tuesday or something like that.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Have you heard of this or no?
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Tell me?
Speaker 5 (13:57):
Apparently that is next week we've heard of, or maybe
it's it's something you coined this phrase, and it's the
day that everybody is like, I've got to stop and
order my stuff because it's the last day when it
larritied to get there.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
If they order it from there, it's delivery and no promises.
This year, I think we have our issues obviously with
all of the delivery services. If you've ordered anything, you know.
I don't like to complain about it too much because
they do a great job. Some stuff you get same
day and others you're just like, it's been three weeks
and the worst thing you don't want to do because
I got this yesterday in the email we've lost your
(14:34):
package reordering. Uhhlybably, so no panic Tuesday. That definitely makes
sense because there is a cutoff day, just like there
was for Toys for Tots. I think that is today.
Is that today toys for Tots?
Speaker 5 (14:52):
It might be I know somebody that can tell us that.
We'll find out. Yeah, oh we.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Do, we do, all right, man, We're gonna take a
short break, come back where it. Quills Coffee Shop on
East Main Street in the New lou area. USA Cares
is our sponsor today. We just talked to Kevin Bratcher,
Mattcasters coming in to talk about what they do. The
numbers are coming up next. And don't forget the money
that you use mostly almost all goes to the veterans
(15:17):
and their families, So please do that. Unlimited landscapes. If
you're looking for a pool this spring, let's do it now,
unveil it at Christmas. So if you get the designers
and you go, Okay, this is what the pool's going
to look like. They'll put together a rendering and then
you can unveil it at Christmas. Would be an awesome idea.
So go to Unlimited Landscapes dot com. Talk to Steve Butler.
(15:39):
He's the owner of known him sincel as a teenager.
He's been doing this for thirty years. He's got the
architects to make the pool of your dreams. All right,
back after this News Radio eight forty WHA. I am
Tony Ferneeddie Dwights and com oh Gus back in the studio.
That's a broadcast live from Quills. Here it's coffee shop
on East Main Street in New lou Come by and
(15:59):
see you today. It's all part of USA Cares, our
partners for the last couple of years. We're going to
talk numbers and stories next about how the money is
used and how it goes to the veterans and the
veterans' families. Some of these veterans, including the enlisted, don't
make a lot of money and if you start a
(16:21):
family it can be difficult. And then they're part of
it is that the stop gap between the government and
pay some bills, plus injured veterans. They cannot be in
the service anymore. They want to be what they can't.
They help them out too. It's really a great organization.
We love them. We found them five six years ago
and we've been with them ever since. USA Cares is
(16:44):
in every state in the country, and they started right
here in the Commonwealth. The first office was right here
in Kentucky, which makes us all all proud. So we'll
talk about Dad. Plus I will have Marty on. Marty
Book is going to come on and give us the
odds and what's he going to do. He left two
days early for Indianapolis. He is so excited about Ohio
(17:06):
State and the Hoosiers are playing in the Big Ten
Championship and this is legitimate, gonna be a war. These
are two teams that are loaded, well coached, and it
is going to be fun to watch. I can't remember
the last time I was this excited about watching a
Big Ten Championship or an SEC championship. I cannot wait
(17:26):
for this and I'm I'm I'm picking the Hoosiers. I
think the Hoosiers are gonna shock everybody and and take
down Ohio State. Now that doesn't mean that the team
that loses doesn't that doesn't spur them on to because
they're both undefeated. You know, the whole thought of pattern
Gus is do you need a loss to get you through?
(17:48):
Remember Rick did that with They lost to Mississippi State
in the SEC championship game and he claims that was
on purpose to motivate them to make the run through
the tournament. So you know, Ohio State, they lost the
Big Ten championship last year and then won the national title.
Speaker 5 (18:02):
Indeed, indeed, and it kind of kicks you in the
pants a little bit and go, Okay, now I'm mad.
We got a loss behind this. Now we're ready to
go you know, right, it's sound like you got to
maintain it.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
And then when you get beat, you're like, oh, oh,
we got beat. Why do we do that?
Speaker 5 (18:16):
Now we got to go back and start over here
and get ourselves kind of you know, it just focuses
you in a little bit.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
The Big Ten the last couple of years has really
I think taken the top spot on conferences. I mean,
they'll be one and two and after this game they'll
be one and two unless there's a complete blowout, which
I don't think because they're both legitimately in the trenches
be able to handle whatever the guy's got blowouts are.
(18:43):
Thank you so much, Maddie. She brought me some green tea. Gus,
do you have someone bringing you green tea? You do
not have anybody bringing me green tea here.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
So I'd like to put an order in and you
in door dash that, oh cover, bring that I will.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
I'm wearing a turtleneck, a scarf and sipping green tea.
Speaker 5 (18:57):
Well you are what the you're a bet you're a
beat nick, a beatnick. That's what that was in the sixties, right,
Just put your on and turning your man card and
your set.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Fella.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Then I have a ridiculous mustache that I can't.
Speaker 5 (19:12):
You gonna you've officially you've officially given up.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Yeah what I mean giving up? Uh, but I keep
looking at it, going ridiculous.
Speaker 5 (19:21):
This is the man of the house here, I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Yeah, the man car he's done. Yeah, that's all right.
Never never argue that Jackie wasn't the man of the house.
Trust me. Uh, just do what the lady says and
nobody gets hurt, all right, So short break, we'll come back.
News all of the news is coming up here in
about three minutes. Uh, and then we'll come back and
we'll talk to some nice ladies about where this money goes.
With USA Cares, trust me, you're gonna want to hear
(19:46):
these stories, So stick around on news radio eight forty
w h A s okay, thank you for broadcasting live
from Quills on UH on Main Street, East Main Street.
They have a couple of locations, fantastic place. I'm drinking
my hot green tea right now in my turtle neck
and mustache and trying to fit in all right when
in Rome do that thing. We're here, of course with
(20:07):
USA Cares. A little bit later on the show, we'll
talk to Matt Caster. I have Kyle Shepard from the
Louisville Zoo, but you know she's a photographer and she's
done a Fireman calendar that goes to the Fireman and
the widows and orphans, fun sort of thing. We'll talk
to her. Genie from Paris Town is gonna come down
and talk about what they have this weekend. I think
we've got a gay Austin. I'm gonna need you because
(20:30):
I think we have a broom ball game on the
ice rink and I'm talk the Mayor's office into playing us.
Okay you yeah, Terry Miners you. I have Paron Johnson's
on the staff. Now I want to get parent. He
used to play basketball for u of L, so he's
an athlete. It's gonna be fun. But right now, let's
talk some stories. Angela and Maddie, how are you right?
(20:53):
Can you hear everything? Pull those mics as close as
you can to your mouth there so because it is
a loud place. Uh yeah, there you go there you goo? Uh. Maddie,
how are you?
Speaker 6 (21:02):
I'm great?
Speaker 3 (21:03):
I think my mind from during the break that you
were in the service. I was.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
Yes, I'd served four years in the Navy as a
Master at arms, like the navy's a Cleveland seed and
military police.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Oh, military police, all right? Yeah. Did you ever have
to rough up some sailors?
Speaker 4 (21:17):
I did?
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Yeah, yeah I did.
Speaker 6 (21:19):
That was a main part of my job description.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
They probably said things to you when they were drunk
that they probably apologized for later.
Speaker 4 (21:26):
Absolutely, sometimes sometimes.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
That's fantastic. Okay, and Angela, how are you?
Speaker 6 (21:36):
I'm great?
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Great? You guys sort of know where the money goes,
is that right?
Speaker 6 (21:42):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (21:42):
Angela, you're sort of the numbers person.
Speaker 7 (21:44):
Right, Well, I'm the program's manager, so I've been with
us he here's for about eighteen years.
Speaker 6 (21:49):
Sound. We both work in the assistance.
Speaker 7 (21:52):
Program, so we're the ones who deal directly with the
veterans that need.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Assist Okay, so let's start. Either one of you can
answer this. We talk about all the time. Well, they're
a stop gap and they and they helped you know,
families maybe pay make a bill for this, and that
there's veterans that you know, have been injured in the
service and can't work anymore on YadA YadA. So let's
let's Mattie, you start. Tell me how where's this money go?
(22:19):
Give me a situation. It makes sense to people that
are driving around right now.
Speaker 6 (22:23):
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
So majority of the time, I feel like a lot
of the cases that we see deal with the medical
hardship side of things. If you have veterans that had
a full time job and unfortunately due to their service
connected issues, whether it be like a flare up or
something happened that heightened whatever their previous injury was, gotcha,
(22:46):
that has affected their appointment now and so when they
have a loss of income if they had to you know,
be out of work for two weeks and they didn't
receive a paycheck. We can step in and help them
that way. That's just like a general case that we
see a lot, but a lot of the time too,
we have really compelling cases that require our attention immediately,
(23:06):
we have to work them a little faster.
Speaker 6 (23:09):
A couple of weeks.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
Ago, I had a gentleman that was out of work.
He was receiving treatment at an inpatient treatment program, and
so he obviously had to take off work to be
committed to that program. And once he graduated the program,
he thought he was going to have some time to
get his affairs in order pay up his bills, while
(23:30):
his girlfriend was pregnant at the time, and the baby
came early and so he did not have as much
time to pay the bills as he thought. So he
reached out to us, told me what was going on.
I told him, you know, how we would work his case,
what I would need to get him approved and hopefully
be able to pay his electric and gas bill for him.
(23:50):
He got me exactly what I needed, and literally a
couple of days after the baby was born because it
was a premature baby, so he kept the baby in
the hospital for a life little bit.
Speaker 6 (24:00):
While the baby was in the hospital. We were able to.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
Get in a throop and they brought the baby home
with lights on, with the heat going and they were ready.
Speaker 6 (24:08):
We also helped them.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
With some gift cards so they could buy some formula
and diapers, and we get those kind of cases a lot, unfortunately,
but luckily they found us and we were able to
help and didn't.
Speaker 7 (24:21):
That case, if I recall, they didn't have power and
they need the power that we turned back on for
the baby.
Speaker 6 (24:29):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 4 (24:29):
A requirement, like they weren't allowed to leave the hospital
until the staff knew that.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
You know, attached to these stores.
Speaker 4 (24:38):
I don't know if you can tell some like it's
hard for me to to get attached. You don't know
what they look like half the time, but up like
you hear it in.
Speaker 6 (24:47):
Their voice, you know.
Speaker 7 (24:49):
And a lot of times you have these stoic veterans
that do not want to ask for help. You know,
they've they've been told during their service that that is weakness.
So when they come to you and their diar need
and they're like, I don't want to do this, I
don't want to ask for help. But they're in tears
and their families in crisis. It brings a lot of
(25:10):
you know, emotion as well and being able to help
them and just if we call them and tell them
that they're approved and they're just crying, it's just very emotional.
Speaker 6 (25:22):
It's very emotional.
Speaker 7 (25:24):
And you know, they've told us, you've saved my life,
You've saved my family situation.
Speaker 6 (25:29):
So it's it's a very emotional job.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
But here's the stark reality of the whole thing is
you all help a lot of people, but you can't
help everybody. And that's why we're on the conversation right
now and on this phone. How do people give? Because
people just hear that story. Those are great stories, but
we can't get to everybody. There are people you hang
the phone up and go, I wish how do I
help this person?
Speaker 1 (25:52):
But we can't.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
You can't help everybody. How do they give? How do
they give them money?
Speaker 6 (25:57):
They can go to our website at USA Cares at org.
Speaker 7 (26:00):
There's a donation tab and basically they can go on
venmo as well.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
What is the venmo? Uh? What's the venmo for USA Cares?
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Do you know?
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Where's Mac Caster? Matt Caster, Matt Caster what's the Venmo address?
What's the Venmo address for USA CARES. He's looking it
up right now. Huh USA CARES one. There you go. Okay,
so let's talk about the numbers. Where are you now?
Because we've got some money from Frankfurt people are helping out.
(26:33):
So where are we at?
Speaker 7 (26:33):
You talked numbers with you, right, So, just to give
you a perspective, last year is when we started getting
the state funding. Before last year we never got state funding, right.
It was only private donations and corporate donations and was
limiteding on how we can assess a veteran. But now,
as of this year, we have helped almost three million.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
Dollars in just oh my gosh.
Speaker 7 (27:00):
Okay, so we've reached two zero point nine million dollars
and that's probably going to reach three million by the
end of this year because we're not even done with
December yet. And to be honest, a third of that
is just for Kentucky.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Veterans, just for Kentucky. Yes, do you know how many
calls you get a week?
Speaker 6 (27:20):
And fifty?
Speaker 3 (27:21):
Yeah, two d and fifty calls a week?
Speaker 6 (27:24):
Yes? Yeah, yes?
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Why is the need so much? Is it crazy? Look
and look and it dovetails to every single story. There
are injuries you don't see in servicemen, which are the
emotional ones. And you spoke on it of we've all
I'm from that generation. You don't complain. You know that's
weakness and I'll punch through.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
But at some.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
Point Betty has put so much shame around asking for help,
and then I think it takes a lot of courage,
in my opinion, to ask for help.
Speaker 6 (27:54):
I have another story.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
If you don't, yes, I love it.
Speaker 6 (27:56):
I love to hear it, especially in the holiday spirit.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
Maddie and Angelo. The way with USA care is go ahead.
Speaker 4 (28:02):
I had a case about a couple of weeks ago
of a service member that was being forced out of
their home due to no fault of their own because
new management came bought out the apartment complex and of
course had a different vision in behind for the type
of people that they wanted there. And so when it
(28:22):
came time to reapply to hopefully be able to stay
in their home, their application was rejected and so they
qualified for the Kentucky Program assistance because they were being
displaced from.
Speaker 6 (28:34):
Their home due to no fault of their own.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
And I had been working with the veteran's spouse for
a very long time because the veteran just wasn't able
to really communicate well, and he gave permission.
Speaker 6 (28:47):
To speak with her.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
So I worked through the wife the whole time I
got you, and there was a lot of back and forth.
Speaker 6 (28:53):
She had a really.
Speaker 4 (28:53):
Difficult time finding a new place. Well, she eventually found
a new home and we were able to help her
get the deposit.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
Yeah first, yeah, and last, Yeah, oh, first and last.
Speaker 4 (29:04):
And she told me, you know, it would be a
miracle if you got me in in the first of January.
I would be grateful for that. Well, you were able
to get her in before the holidays. Bank.
Speaker 6 (29:18):
She told me, it's.
Speaker 4 (29:19):
Going to be so weird, Like I'm happy that I
got this assistance, but I felt like I've talked to
you so long and like you know me, and you know,
it's like it's weird being done with this and not
getting to talk to you anything.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Okay, that's a great point. That's a great talking point too,
of you create these relationships with all these people, you
connect with them, you know them intimately, really emotionally, and
and then you don't talk to a little bit.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
That's it.
Speaker 6 (29:43):
Yeah, I'm like, well you can you know.
Speaker 4 (29:48):
What you did with the play, like I have a
hard time letting go.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
Uh, you got to be glad you found USA Cares
after your service On me.
Speaker 4 (29:57):
Too, I always felt like I wanted to be of service.
Speaker 6 (30:01):
That was like my main motivation for joining.
Speaker 4 (30:04):
Once I realized that I was just going to do
the four and you know, pay for my college education
that way, my degree debt free. They're grateful for that,
but I knew that career wise, like, I still wanted
to be of service, and I eventually found USA Cares,
which is obviously something very near and dear to my heart.
(30:26):
I wish I would have known about it when I
was getting out, and now I get to give that
back to my brothers and sisters.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
You know, how was that conversation with your parents when
you said I'm gonna I'm gonna go in the service
to pay for college.
Speaker 4 (30:38):
Well it was the very last minute decision because I
thought I was going to go out of state.
Speaker 6 (30:42):
For school and I looked at the bill.
Speaker 4 (30:44):
Of what it was going to be and I'm like,
no way, because my college debt was going to be mine.
Speaker 6 (30:48):
My parents very you know.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
Hard working, but they couldn't afford to send it on
their own dime. And it was like a month before
high school graduation. My dad sat me down and he
was like, hey, if there's something I wish I would
have done, It was follow in his dad's footsteps, my
Grandpap Miller and joined the military. And he's like, you
can do it, like you're.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
All that is awesome.
Speaker 4 (31:10):
Yeah, and I'm like, well, it's my dad believes in
me and he thinks I can.
Speaker 6 (31:13):
I was terrified.
Speaker 4 (31:14):
I was absolutely terrified would but you know, my dad
told me I could do it. And I remember the
first phone call I got when I got to boot
camp and they finally let.
Speaker 6 (31:25):
Us call home. I got to talk to my mom.
It's like, come pick me up, come get me. And
then my dad got on the phone. He's like, you
got this, you got this. You're stronger than you think.
And and I did it.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
Cry, I did it. I did it.
Speaker 6 (31:38):
I'm telling you, yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
Yeah, I've had that phone call with my son before.
Speaker 6 (31:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
You know, it's it's hard, it's not easy, and not
everybody can pull it off.
Speaker 6 (31:48):
Absolutely not.
Speaker 4 (31:49):
But my dad got to come to my A school
graduation when I finished, like the specialty school when I
got to become like a military police and he pinned
my badge on.
Speaker 6 (31:58):
That was like the proudest moment. You know, I'm like,
we did it, we made it.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
You know what a great story and you're continuing to give,
which is fantastic at Angela. What do we need, uh,
you know through the holidays, twenty bucks from everybody they
get online and whatever it is, right.
Speaker 7 (32:12):
Ever, five dollars, ten dollars, twenty dollars to add up game.
Speaker 6 (32:16):
We are getting a lot of.
Speaker 7 (32:17):
Veterans that apply that are having Christmas crisis because they've
you know, been laid off from work. You know, sometime
this year the government shutdown was a huge.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
Impact, right, oh right, veterans and.
Speaker 7 (32:31):
A lot of them never got to return to work,
you know after the government shut down, their job was
completely furloughed. So now they're unemployed.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Oh boys.
Speaker 7 (32:39):
So we've had a lot of different type of situations
that we've assisted through the year. It could be a
natural disaster like the floods that happened earlier this year
that was a huge impact on our Kentucky families. We've
had layoffs, we've had people with the government shut down.
Speaker 6 (32:55):
Like I said, We've.
Speaker 7 (32:56):
Also had people where they were bought out from their
rental home and they just didn't have their means.
Speaker 6 (33:02):
To move on their own.
Speaker 7 (33:04):
Natural disasters like fires, as well, medical issues, whether it's
the spouse, the children, or the service member or veteran.
Speaker 6 (33:13):
So anything is going on right now. You don't think
about it.
Speaker 4 (33:17):
You domestic violence cases, Oh, yes, domestic violence places, and
we make sure that the applicant is not the one
causing that domestic violence of course, but we have a
lot of times where you.
Speaker 7 (33:28):
Know, the applicant is assaulted.
Speaker 6 (33:31):
And they have to leave their home in an emergency with.
Speaker 3 (33:33):
Their What a crazy job you all have, Yeah, we've
had trying to navigate this whole thing.
Speaker 6 (33:38):
Yeah, and no call.
Speaker 7 (33:39):
It is the same, you know, a plethora of hardships
and people always think, you know, veterans are taken care of,
and yes there is the VA system, you know, and
a lot of people have their own views about the
veteran affairs. But they can only do what they can do,
and there's there's limitations on what they can do as well.
Speaker 4 (34:01):
So and like you said, not about not being able
to help everybody, I think it's important too, Like when
we aren't able to assist.
Speaker 6 (34:10):
We at least try to point them in.
Speaker 4 (34:12):
The right direction of another organization that can because a
lot of these resources, like yes, people do think that
veterans are taking care of, but a lot of those
resources aren't advertised. They don't know about all of the
things that they have access.
Speaker 6 (34:25):
Yeah, we're not advertised.
Speaker 7 (34:26):
We don't pay for advertising, so a lot of people
don't know about us unless they're referred to us by
other local nonprofits sort of be it.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
USA Cares, USA Cares. I wish I could. I wish
I could clone you too and give about twenty more
of you for this world. You guys are awesome, really,
Matt you're you got me going today and I'm an
emotional cyborg, so you got you got me good? Uh,
Maddie and Angela, thank you for what you do at
USA Cares. And these are great stories. And let's get
some money to USA Cares. If you go to Venmo,
(34:57):
it's just simple USA Cares one, number one and just
pop us twenty bucks, forty bucks. Whatever you think is good.
Thank you, ladies, Thank for sure. All right, folks, we
are rolling through our show. Our one is already in
the books. I think I'm gonna have Kyle Shepherd, and
I think John Ramsey is here from the Mayor's office.
We'll talk to him in just a couple of minutes.
(35:19):
But I want to remind you about Elan and Edland.
We talked about housing prices earlier in the show. All
I'm sorry, earlier in the week. They're up forty percent
pretty much across the board in the market. So what
you've got to do. You're selling your house, get the
deal with one percent commission rate in the sale, no
surprise charges on the back end. Interest rates are down.
(35:40):
What you got to do is go with Edland and
Edland real Estate brokerage for forty six years one percent
commission rate five nine to nine. Twenty eight hundred is
the phone number. That's the cell phone of the owner.
So come on, let's do it. Let's sell the house
and let's move on and make some money. Back after this,
Live on the road at Quills on East Main Street
(36:01):
in the New Low area. Back after this, I am
Tony Venetti on use Radio eight forty whas
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