Tim Virgilio of Signatures for Soldiers "Hobby Helping for Good" E361

Tim Virgilio does yeomans work for the hobby charity "Signatures for Soldiers", it's been double digit years and he's shattered his own goals for the organization which helps wounded and disabled veterans. 

Check them out at:
https://share.google/BVOtY4ovV...

Follow us on Social Media: 


Website:


https://www.sportscardnationpo....com 


https://linktr.ee/Sportscardna...


Merch shop:


https://sports-card-nation.pri...


 


To eliminate pre & post-roll ads


https://www.spreaker.com/podca...

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sports Guardations, Hobbies, the People, Wheely News and Interviews. It's
your number one song, Sportscarnations hobby is the People, Sports Garnation.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
What is up? Everybody? Welcome to episode three sixty one.
Sports Carnation back again. Have a alumnus guest returning today.
But it's been a bit since he's been on, and
guy's doing big things for great deserving people. If you
haven't figured out who I might be talking about, talking

(00:42):
about none other than Tim Virgilio of Signatures for Soldiers again,
been on multiple times, right, But what he's doing we
can't talk about enough. This is a guy that started
this organization double digit years ago and you know what
a goal to raise five hundre buck and he's at

(01:02):
half a million almost and that's uh, that's crazy. One
hundred percent goes to the charity which helps injured and
disabled vets with things they may need, whether that's paying
some bills, keeping them housed, the wheelchair ramp, whatever it
may be. And you know, he's gotten a lot of

(01:25):
pro athletes involved now that are are willing to help
out and donate some memorabilia and signed things, and it's
become a year round thing. It's not as it's not
as nine to five job, but takes up some of
his time after his nine the five job, if you will.
That's dedication, and really really appreciate him and what he

(01:50):
does and how he cares. And I've often told him
like he has pretty much carte blanche. Anytime you want
to come on the show, something going on, you need
to talk about an event or whatever the case may be.
I reached out to him in this case and thought, man,
we haven't had him on in a while, it's time
to have mine. He just relocated from Florida to the

(02:12):
Texas as well, so we'll talk about that to boot.
So enough with that, let's take a quick break and
then bring Tim on. Always happy to have this next

(02:34):
gentleman on the Sports Cardination guest line. He is a
veteran alumnus of the show, if you will. We've done
it in this fashion through video, we've even done in
person at the show, specifically the National and I'm talking
none other than Timbergilio Signatures for Soldiers. Welcome back as always, Tim.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
Thanks John, great to see as all.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
Yeah, and listen, you know you know I love what
you're doing. I do a lot of people. You know,
how long has it been? Now I'm losing track myself,
but there'd be a time I could tell you, And.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
Now I think i'm losing track as well, my friends. No,
it's actually next month, November will be eleven years.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
Wow, God bless you and all the great work while
you're doing, which we're obviously going to talk about. Speaking
of November, that'll be seven years of this show. And
you know, just easy, we're both at the teeth.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
Yeah, I was gonna say, quite the impressive intro there.
I need to need to talk to your graphics guy.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
Yeah, yeah, that's not me. That was that was freelanced out.
I'm not going to take any credit.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
I can't try.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
It's like your tim so I'm sure not doing stuff
like that. But that guy, his people who know what
they're doing, they can they can fill in those gaps.
And you know, speaking and knowing what you're doing, you're
you know, eleven years and obviously you're further ahead today
than when you know, like we've talked before, when you

(04:16):
first started the organization, you had a goal raising five
hundred dollars. Obviously you're you're well past that now into
the six figure last time I knew. I mean just
obviously when you start with a smaller goal like that
and then where you are now. I mean, just talk
about sort of the evolution, Like did you imagine that

(04:38):
you'd be where you are today with with signatures for soldiers?

Speaker 3 (04:42):
Nah? Absolutely not. I mean you know this, We've talked
about this time and time again. You know, we started
in November of twenty fourteen and kind of starting to
take my passion, you know, of collecting autographs and merging
it with my passion to help veterans and reaching out
to athletes ask them if they would sign a couple

(05:04):
of cards. You know, I'd sell the cards for a
couple of dollars apiece, and then the money would go
to a charity to help homeless and disabled veterans. You know.
The goal, like you said, the goal was five hundred dollars.
You know at that time, I mean I didn't even
have a name to it. I didn't have a logo
to it. You know, it was just one of these things.
Let me just raise the five hundred dollars donated to

(05:26):
charity and call it a day. And you know, I
figured it would take a little while to do, you know,
because I was only selling you know, two, three, four
or five dollars autographs. I mean, it wasn't a huge
and my god, you know, eleven years later, this thing
is just taken off, you know, and now kind of
kind of all bringed it up. You know, got the name,

(05:49):
got the logo, got T shirts, got hats, you know,
get get invited to the nationals. And every year since
twenty eighteen, so what this year was, what year five
as COVID COVID year was was canceled. So yeah, it's
it's been. The evolution is just it's been more than

(06:13):
I can ever ever have imagined. It's has been very
grassroots effort. A lot of people in the hobby have
gotten behind it, you know, collectors, dealers, companies. It's just amazing.
It's it's absolutely amazing. And I think the thing that
I'm really I'm most proud of, and my wife and

(06:34):
I talk about this is the Signatures per Soldiers has
become more than just a vehicle to generate money to
help homeless and disabled veterans. It's become a community. And
you know, there's there's people I've become extra like yourself
that I've become extremely good friends with that, I probably
would never have crossed paths with if I wasn't doing this.

(06:57):
And you know, my wife and I genuinely that people
to help. They just sometimes what I think, there's two
things that stop them from helping. One is they don't
think that what they can give will really make a difference,
so they don't give. And then the other is they
just don't know how to help. And I think Signatures

(07:18):
for Soldiers has become a vehicle for both. You know,
right now we're sitting at since I started this, we're
sitting at over four hundred and fifty thousand dollars raised.
And that's literally been I mean you've seen it firsthand.
It's literally been you know, two, four or five dollars
at a time, and it adds up really quickly. You know,

(07:40):
it's amazing. Yeah, I'm just speechless. I mean, the evolution
has just been it's been very organic, very grassroots. It's
been I'm just I'm blessed. I'm blessed. I'm overwhelmed. I'm amazed.

Speaker 2 (07:59):
Well, and the hobby's blessed to have you, the organization
and the veterans that get they get help to buy
the money raised. Right are are blessed as well. And
and like you said, it is a community, right, And
we hear all the bad stories in the hobby, right
guys or people, you know, whether it's robin or scamming,

(08:22):
or trimming or altering. The list goes on and on, right,
And those are real stories, unfortunately, and they need to
be talked about, right. But for every one of those
bad stories, right, there's ten good ones. And sometimes I
don't think and I try not to be guilty of this,
but sometimes I don't think we highlight those good stories enough,

(08:43):
especially when they do outnumber the bad. You know, It's
it's like when you turn on the news, right, they
always lean with all the negative stuff, Christ because that's
it's train wreck mentality people for whatever reason, that's just
human nature, good or bad. You know, we flowed down
at a wreck and try to see and but you know,

(09:05):
there's so many good we I don't think across it's
not even just a hobvy thing, I just across society.
I don't think we cover all the positive story enough.
But you were gonna say something, No, yeah, I was.

Speaker 3 (09:17):
Gonna say exactly the same thing. I mean, you watch
half an hour of the news and you know, twenty
five minutes of it is what's wrong, what's you know,
what's been bad going on? And then there's a two
to three minute segment of oh hey, here's a little
feel good story. Okay, onto the next thing. But yeah, yeah, no,
I think for me, you know, doing this has has

(09:41):
really renewed my faith in humanity in terms of just
all the great people that I've met who just give
very selflessly and and basically they want no recognition in return,
just like, hey, I just want to be a part
of something that's truly making a difference in somebody's life.

(10:03):
I mean, I've had you know, I think one of
my favorite memories from from the National. It was the
first National that we did in twenty eighteen in Cleveland,
and we were kind of tucked back in a corner,
nobody really knew us, you know, that type of thing,
and you know, going into it, I think I agree
it is at that point, like thirty two hundred dollars
and we did almost four thousand that weekend, which I

(10:26):
was thrilled with, you know, and you know, I remember this,
this young boy comes up to me with his grandmother,
and you know, the kid who's probably seven, eight years old,
you know, and and he reaches in his pocket and
he says, here, this is this is for the soldiers.
I hope this helps. And he hands me one dollar,

(10:47):
and you know, it just brew me. It literally brought
tears to my eye. I'm kind of getting emotional now
talking about it. But it's just such a cool experience.
You here's this, you know, eight ten year old kid
just going you know what, this is what I can give,
and I want to I just want to do something. Yeah,

(11:07):
it was just it was real.

Speaker 2 (11:10):
Yeah, very cool. And and again you know with that
and and and deservedly so that's just uh, you know,
no matter how old you are, right or whether and
then everyone has or has had at least one family member,
if not more, right serve in the military or maybe unfortunately,
you know, make the ultimate sacrifice as well with some

(11:31):
of the early wars. And and you know, I come
from a military family, so uh, it hits close to
the home for me. And we forget, you know, we
we think I think sometimes we're guilty. Not so much me,
but I think some people are guilty of like they
you know, they think, well, if you don't get killed

(11:52):
in action, which obviously we hope never happens. Then there's
then you just come home and everything's you're okay, right,
we don't realize that there's injuries besides, uh, you know,
casual where people will lose you know, unfortunately uh you know,
limbs and and and things like that, where mobility becomes

(12:15):
uh an issue and and obviously you know what you
do can can maybe build a ramp or make someone's
house successible uh to their disability. Uh. And you know,
so the ultimate sacrifice isn't always a light, but you
lose uh, you know, some of your abilities to maybe

(12:37):
walk and do certain other things. I think sometimes we
forget about that, uh you know, aspect of military service
and so besides, you know, besides the monetary and helping
to get some of these things that these folks need.
I think it also sheds light like a sacrifice is
not just losing your life, but in other forms as well.

(13:01):
And I think that's important to know, right. I think
I think sometimes we lose the in between, right, You're like,
everyone thinks it's just either get killed, serve in your
country or you don't. And it's not as it's not
as black and white as there's other things. Uh, you
know that happened in between that money raise goes to

(13:23):
to do to do some of that stuff, whether it
be a wheelchair rem kind of talk about, you know,
where some of these moneys go. And think about this,
Tim and and I know ramming on here, but it's important.
Right from that five hundred dollars to almost you're almost
up to half a million bucks.

Speaker 3 (13:43):
I was thinking about that today and I just just
to even say that out loud is ridiculous. Yeah, you know,
you're talking about you know, we were talking earlier about
kind of the news cycle, you know, and uh, you
know military you know, military veterans. You know, it's not
not really in the news cycle right now. So it's

(14:04):
kind of out of sight, out of mind type thing.
And you know it's I think, you know, people think, oh, well,
you know, they serve in the military, they come out
and have a pension or the federal government care of
them or something like that, and that's not always the case.
And you know, I think what the other thing that's

(14:25):
been really cool for me and even my life has
talked about this is how many veterans are in the
hobby collected. And you know, you and you touched on
it that you know, Signatures for Soldiers has kind of
become this platform that allows us, you know, and and
I use that term very broadly because you know, anybody

(14:48):
that's involved. That allows us to really talk about what
the veteran issues are, you know, and keep them at
the forefront. And you know, it's amazing. You know, we'll
be at a show and you know, a veteran will
come up and oh, you know, I served in the Army,
the Marines, whatever, and then they'll just start to openly
kind of talk about either their military experience or maybe

(15:11):
some of the struggles that they've had coming back and
just generally adjusting to non military life, which you know,
which which is which can be very difficult. But yeah,
you know, as far as the money we've raised, my god,
do we have enough time to even talk about how
we've used the money? Just just this week, let's start

(15:37):
with just this week, it's fresh in my head. We
have paid let's see, we've paid a security deposit for
housing and electric for veteran who has been homeless and
is now getting into affordable housing. So obviously he didn't
have they for the security deposit for the electric or

(16:00):
or the apartment. So we paid that literally just the
other day. So now literally this weekend he's going to
be the housed for the first time over a let's
see what else. Oh, we've had two female veterans who
fell behind on their rent, so we've brought that current,

(16:20):
so we've kept those two ladies from being evicted. That's
a veteran needed some help with paying or a car
for car repairs. That that's just this week. That's just
this week. My god, We've we've done so many other things.
We've we've written out we've written out checks to other

(16:43):
small nonprofits that help homeless and disabled veterans that align
with us so they can do their great work. You know, again,
we're getting a lot of requests from paying over the
rent or security deposits. Just the two weeks to three
weeks ago, we paid the security deposit veteran who is

(17:04):
homeless and getting in safe affordable housing. So literally, as
of two weeks ago, he's safely housed for the first
time in twenty years. So this guy's been homeless, you know,
I mean, I know for me, and I take this
for granted, I've never had to worry about where I'm
my head or gonna have. You know, I've been extremely blessed,

(17:27):
So just to think about something like that, it's like,
oh my god, I can't even fathom. We've had a
veteran was paralyzed basically on tree trimmingsiness fell out of
a tree and basically is paralyzed from chest down. And
in order to keep the business, he has to have

(17:48):
a specialized off wheelchair so he can needed to supervise
his cruise. So we paid This was a couple of
years ago. We paid the brand new specialized wheelchair for
so he could keep his business and continue to provide
for his family. We've purchased furniture for formerly homeless veterans

(18:09):
who've gotten into safe and affordable housing, because you know,
you take somebody who's homeless, put them into a one
bedroom apartment and all they've really got clothes on their
back and carry. So so we've purchased bed, purchased couches,
you know, pots and pans, gift cards to go food shopping.

(18:30):
It's just what we're trying to do is you know,
where one nonprofit and as far as their services and
where another one begins, there's typically a gap in there,
and we're trying to fill those gaps. I'm not I'm
not looking to reinvent the wheel of what's already being
just to fill the gaps, to bridge them from one
to the next. And you know, the like I said that,

(18:54):
everybody wants to thank me for the work that I'm
I just keep saying, it's not me, it's all of you.
You know you havn't on a show to talk about
this and reach one more person who doesn't know about us.
It's huge, you know, this.

Speaker 2 (19:07):
Is I appreciate that about you, Tim, You're very like
you like to spread debt credit around. I think that's
a testament to the person you are.

Speaker 3 (19:19):
Time to hear from one of our great sponsors.

Speaker 1 (19:21):
But Sports Gardination will be right back after that.

Speaker 4 (19:26):
For nearly fifty years, Sports Collector's Digest has been the
voice of the hobby, bringing you comprehensive coverage of the
sports collectible industry from industry news, auction results, market analysis,
and in depth stories about collectors and their collections. Sports
Collectors Digest has everything you need to know about the hobby.

(19:46):
SCD is also your leading source for listings of sports
collectible dealers, card shops, card shows, and the latest from
the industry's top companies. To check out all the latest news,
or to subscribe to the hobby's Old This magazine, visit
Sports collectors Digest dot com or call one eight hundred
eight two nine fifty five sixty one.

Speaker 5 (20:11):
Let's go. You are listening to the Sports cond Nation podcasts.

Speaker 2 (20:17):
You're doing a lot of a majority of not all
like the logistics and the heavy lifting, right, And I
know you don't like to pat yourself on your back,
so that's where I'll come in and do it.

Speaker 3 (20:31):
Boy, this is where you're gonna interrupt me.

Speaker 6 (20:35):
Yeah, this is I've gotten better at this, but I'm
gonna make an exception except here because I know you're
you're just sort of being the John Stock auditioning out
credit here.

Speaker 2 (20:47):
But again, this was your this was your launching right
And I know there's you mentioned some other organizations, right,
but we're at this point we're talking about singers soldiers.
This is what you've built over the past eleven years.

Speaker 5 (21:01):
Right.

Speaker 2 (21:02):
Again, you you've we've talked about this, right. All charity
is good, right, but some of the times, not all
the funds go where you think it's going. That's not
the case here, as you've stated on this show before. Right,
you're not taking a paycheck. You have a job. So
one hundred percent of what people do give and donate

(21:27):
goes to the effort and the cause. And that's you know,
that's not common in most charities to be blunt honest,
and yet it is with signatures. And again that's uh,
that's you know, hats off to you, uh for for
doing that. And it's also you know, you're giving of

(21:50):
your time, right, it is a lot of work. You
may not always say it or advertise that. I know,
you know just from knowing you, uh, you know you
don't do it half assed. Pardon my language, you know,
you know that's a grind, right, Just I just do
shows as a dealer, and it's a grind. So you're

(22:11):
doing that when you set up at these shows with
the signatures for soldiers, inventory to travel, just getting organized
when you get stuff sent to you just to kind
of put it where it needs to be going to
ship out in those cases. Right, So there's just so
many different things you have to do. It's not like

(22:33):
someone just donates fifty bucks and it just goes in
the bank account, which is that's great too, but it's not.
It's it's way more than that, as you well now
when certain other people probably do as well, you do
that because you want to, because you care, and I
think that needs to be you know mentioned. And I

(22:55):
know again you don't always give yourself a lot of credit,
and you're very generous in giving others uh kudos. But
it's there is no signature, you know, let's let's put
it this way. Signatures for soldiers wouldn't exist without Timberrgilli.
And I know, I know that probably makes you squip
because you don't want to, but it is a fact,

(23:17):
you know, like it or not.

Speaker 7 (23:19):
It is it's where you are eleven Yes, I agree
with you, but eleven years in, like you know, things
don't even a lot of things don't even last.

Speaker 2 (23:31):
Eleven good and bad. And so again that's a testament,
uh to perseverance and fortitude and dedication and all those
great words that probably uh don't even just you know,
maybe not even strong enough for for what you're doing.
And you know, it's it's you know again, whether you

(23:54):
you know what whatever, whatever political affiliate, and this isn't
a political thing, right We've all very few families don't
have someone that's served in the military to defend our
country and our freedoms, and so there's no reason. You know,
I think one of the reasons people get behind it
is because we can all relate to it, whether it's

(24:15):
we served, someone served themselves, or family member, and just
the importance of our military to our nation's history, if
you will.

Speaker 3 (24:26):
And if you're in the hobby, I was gonna say,
and if you're into the hobby, you know, you get
some really cool items from us too.

Speaker 2 (24:33):
So yeah, well, well let's you know, that's a good
segue's let's let's you know, let me ask you this
before we get into some of the athletes that have
sort of jumped on board more now than for eleven years. Then,
you know, has it got easier harder? Like where would
you know?

Speaker 3 (24:52):
You know I answer that my answer would be, yes,
it's gotten easier and it's gotten harder.

Speaker 2 (25:02):
You know.

Speaker 3 (25:03):
Obviously there's certain day to day things, you know, you
know how it is. You just you get into a
rhythm of doing it, and you know that part's you know,
I think the challenge that I've had is being able
to offer new stuff and not just the same kind
of recycled stuff. You know that, like you know, if

(25:24):
I've had a player who's been signing stuff for me
for ten years, that you know, I don't just have
that athlete stuff, but I have other stuff as well,
you know, So so that's kind of that's been some
of the challenge. You know, Honestly, probably the hardest part
for me is the number of requests for assistance that

(25:45):
we get and trying to meet all of the leads
with the limited funds that we have. I mean there's
been times where I've I've had to say, now, you know,
I can't help, and you know that that's been hard.
So you know it's it's you know, so has it
gotten easier, yes? Has it gotten harder? Yes, you know

(26:08):
a little bit of both. You know. The more that
people find out about what Signatures for Soldiers is about,
you know, they they want us to you know, come
to this show or to come to that show. And
I would love to travel the country and do that,
but you know, like you said, I've got a full
time job that you have Monday through Friday, you know,
eight to four thirty, I'm working, you know, and I

(26:29):
can only take off so much from work. So you know,
I've got to be thoughtful about what shows I can
go to and don't go to, you know, because again,
you know, there's the expense in all of it. But
you know, as far as kind of reaching more and
more athletes, that's become a little because now, you know,

(26:51):
it's like anything else. You know, if you came to
me and you're like, hey, Tim, I vouch for this
guy because of my relationship with you, I'd go, oh, okay, John.
You know, Billy is a good guy because John says
he is. You know that. And it's kind of the
same thing with the athlete. You know, I've had the
athletes who have vouched for us, you know, yeah, signatures

(27:11):
for soldiers, legitimate thing. You know, We've had people that
have jumped on board just simply because of that.

Speaker 2 (27:17):
Yeah, And you've had I mean I don't probably too
many even the name of them all, but you as
you've built momentum, as this train's gotten rolling to an analogy,
I mean, you can take correct me if I'm wrong.
I think you're you're getting more athletes involved, and I
think some of that probably comes from the athletes seeing
some of their athletes that they know kind of getting well,

(27:40):
I'm like Hey, what can I do or how do
I get al so you get some of that momentum.
Would you agree with that?

Speaker 3 (27:47):
Oh? Absolutely absolutely. You know, now more than ever, we
have more active current athletes in the professional ranks who
are on board than we've ever had. And a lot
of that has been because, you know, they'll see the
athlete doing something or maybe wearing one of our hats

(28:08):
or one of our shirts, and hey, what's that about?
You know, exam. You know, I think the one example
that really just comes to mind, we've talked about this
guy before, Mitch Hanninger, who played for the Mariner not
this past season, but the season before. You know, he
he had said to me, He's like, oh, you know, hey,

(28:29):
I have a box. You know, it was like every
at the end of every off season or every season,
he would send us a box of his game used
cleats that we sell and go to help homeless and
disabled veteran you know, he told me, he's like, yeah,
He's like, you know, I've got a box in my
locker that I'm putting some cleats in. And he's like,
I'll get it out to you. And so he sends

(28:51):
it to me and I open it up. And not
only are there cleats from him, but there's cleats from
several of his several of his his teammates at the time,
And I asked him about and he said, yeah, he said,
you know, guys saw the box in my locker, walking by,
asked me what that was about, told him what I
was doing, and next day they coming by and dropping
their own cleats and there, so you know, so you

(29:13):
definitely so again, you know, that's I think that's a
great example of you know, somebody vouching for signatures for
sould and just seeing that snowball. So it's it's been,
it's been really amazing. You know, I use the word
humbling a lot because it is. It's humbling. You know,

(29:34):
I'm just the guy. I'm not really that special, but
here people that are just getting behind this. It's awesome.
It's I become speechless.

Speaker 2 (29:45):
When yeah, and we all, you know, we all just people, right,
but you chose to take this on and not only
did do it right, but to do it in the
fash you're doing it, and you know, we've we've seen
some hobby entities get behind it, whether it's a podcast,
the national like you said, allowing you set up. I

(30:08):
know you were the official charity of the Nashville more
than once, I think two or three times, and i'd
like to see. It's easy for me to say to you,
I say it right, I'd like to see I think
there's more like there's more meat on that bone, hobby wise, right,
just like a lot of athletes are getting involved, and

(30:30):
like in Mitch Haniker's in case you like, even as
teammates say hey, let me add to your your box
that you're going to send. Right, we'll do it for
part one of our conversation with Tim Virgilio. Signatures or soldiers.
We'll obviously be back next Friday with part two. But
check signatures if you don't know about them, or you
don't know a lot about them, check signatures for soldiers out.

(30:54):
I'll have that stuff in the show notes, the links,
and and doing great things for people who you know,
did a lot for this country and need our help now.
And I think it's very important. It's something I feel
very strongly about, and Tim is you know again, one
hundred percent of all proceeds go to the charity. Tim

(31:16):
does not take any pay or salary. He does it
out of the kindness of his heart. We'll talk more
about that too on part two next Friday. So we're
gonna hear from our Hobby is the People Announcer and
then wrap up this week's episode.

Speaker 5 (31:34):
Time for our Hobby is the People Announcer of the Week.

Speaker 3 (31:41):
This is Mike, This Baseball card Life, and remember the
Hobby is the People.

Speaker 5 (31:47):
If you'd like to be the Hobby is the People
Announcer of the Week, to have one or MP three
file and send it to Sports cod Nation DC at
gmail dot com.