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TOPIC: Tim Toy, Executive Director and Co-Founder of the We Serve First Foundation · Pittsburgh Sunday Morning

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: And welcome in. This is a public affairs program shedding
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the light on the interests, issues, and concerns of the
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: greater Pittsburgh area. Good morning. My name is Johnny Hartwell.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: We have a couple guests in studio. First of all,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: let's say hello to Tim Toy of We Serve First.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Good morning and nice to meet you. How are you?
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: I'm good, Johnny. Thanks for having us in.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: And Jim Joyce of the Mycenia Gravis Association of Western PA.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: But you're not talking about your charity. You're just helping
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: your buddy out here.
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  Speaker 3: That's right. I'm here to support Tim today.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: All right. So the We Serve First Foundation is a
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Pittsburgh-area nonprofit organization founded in 2015 by Tim and Ellen
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Toy to help youth and high school volleyball players overcome
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: financial hardships. That's interesting. Okay. Tell me about volleyball players
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: overcoming financial hardships. What is that all about?
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: Well, we're here to help young kids who can't afford
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: club volleyball or a camp experience. So right now, the
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: way things are in the economy, everything's more expensive and
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: things are a little tight for parents to get their
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: kids involved. And that's what we're here to do. We're
• 1:11
  Speaker 4: here to help kids that can't afford club volleyball and
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: make their experience possible.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: All right. And you have a special event coming up
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: at Kiske High. Tell us about all the information we
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: need to know about that.
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: Our event is called the We Serve First All-Star Classic.
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: It is held on Saturday, December 5th. Before that, we
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: bring our 44 players into the gym and have them
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: try out. And the coaches will, we have four coaches
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: that come in and they pick teams in a draft.
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: And then we go from there and play a tournament
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: on the 5th. And it's really a lot of fun.
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: It's nice to get the kids in the gym, meet them.
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: and have them introduced to We Serve First.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: All right, so how do you two know each other?
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: So Tim and I both live in the Westmoreland County
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: area near Vandergrift, Pennsylvania. That's where Tim grew up. That's
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: where my kids went to school. Both of my children
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: played volleyball, and whenever they were getting into high school years,
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: there's another event that's more of a basketball tournament called
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: the Cager Classic, and it's been around for over 30
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: years at this point. And Tim and I knew each other,
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: you know, sort of on the periphery from different volleyball activities.
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: And one day I just reached out to him and
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: I said, Hey, Tim, what do you think about putting
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: together a volleyball all-star game? Volleyball is really increasing in
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: popularity in Western Pennsylvania. There's tons of opportunities for kids
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: to play. But we really wanted to put a program
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: together where we were highlighting senior players. Probably some of
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: them may be their last chance to play volleyball. So
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: we came up with this idea, started five years ago,
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: and has grown every year since then.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: You know, let me talk to Jim. Make sure he
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: isn't listening. It's just between you and me, Tim. Jim
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: is so creative when it comes to these events. His
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: little organization, My Steamy Gravis, is a small organization. They
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: have some great ideas. So he brought the idea to you,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: and you took off with it.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: Jim had this idea, and we kind of collaborated on it.
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: And I think that the draft aspect of it made
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: it extra interesting. It's not something that they do at
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: the Cager Classics. But we thought that that made it
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: a lot of fun for the coaches to make it
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: almost like fantasy football. Come into the room after they
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: watch these kids practice and then start to craft a
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: team and then try to figure out where the pieces go.
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: And that's the aspect, I think, that makes our little
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: event really special.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: So tell us, I mentioned that it was founded in 2015.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: How did this start and why did you start this foundation?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a long story. But I'll try to make
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: it as concise as possible. My first wife, Ellen, was
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: diagnosed with gastric cancer in 2009. So immediately, the first
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: thing we thought was, how can we turn this into
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  Speaker 4: something good? And so we started out with a Relay
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  Speaker 4: for Life team, and we were able to raise about $ 30, 000
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: for the Relay for Life in a three-year span. And
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  Speaker 4: during that time, Ellen's assistant coach, Jamie Moran, she was
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: the first person who Ellen talked to after she was diagnosed.
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  Speaker 4: And it was fortunate because Jamie was a two-time survivor
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: of AOL leukemia. So, Jamie was Ellen's assistant coach.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: So, Ellen, your first wife, was a volleyball coach?
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: Yes.
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  Speaker 4: She coached for 27 years in the Kiske Valley area.
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  Speaker 4: Started with Plum, then went to Leachburg where she taught,
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  Speaker 4: and then came back to Kiske where we went to school.
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  Speaker 1: So it started with Relay for Life for the benefits
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: of the American Cancer Society.
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  Speaker 2: Correct, yeah.
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  Speaker 4: And when we saw how well we did with Relay
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  Speaker 4: for Life, we thought that once, well, let's go back.
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  Speaker 4: Jamie relapsed in that period of time, and so her
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  Speaker 4: leukemia came back. And we saw how well we did
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: with Relay for Life, and we thought, why wouldn't we
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: do something volleyball-oriented to try to help Jamie with her
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: expenses during her treatment? And so we turned the Fluorescent Angels,
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: who is our Relay for Life team, into something we
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: call Jam the Gym. And it was normally the first
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: match of the season at Kiski Area, and we tried
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: to get as many people to come out to the
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: gym and support it, and it went really well. And
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  Speaker 4: so we did that for five years. And it went
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: very well. During that period of time, unfortunately, Jamie passed away.
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: And so we turned our focus on a fund to
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: help Jamie get a scholarship fund going at Kiski Area. That, unfortunately,
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  Speaker 4: Ellen relapsed at that time. And so, yeah.
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  Speaker 3: So.
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  Speaker 4: we decided that we would turn what was Jam the
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  Speaker 4: Gym into We Serve First. Ellen's life was built around volleyball,
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: and she really loved the sport, and we wanted to
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  Speaker 4: find a way to support athletes who may have a
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: hard time affording some of those things, club volleyball and camps.
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  Speaker 1: Did she survive long enough to find out what you
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: guys were putting?
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: She did.
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  Speaker 4: Fortunately... After we decided that this was going to be
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  Speaker 4: how we remembered her, because we did know that there
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: was going to be a date where she wasn't going
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: to be around, she was here to see her first
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: athlete actually get a scholarship at a college in eastern Kentucky.
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: So she did get to see the success of the foundation,
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  Speaker 4: and that was really a blessing because She passed away
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: in February of 2016.
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  Speaker 1: Okay. And so that first, you started with Jam the Gym,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: which is still your website, right?
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: It is still the website, yeah.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: And then it turned into We Serve First. Correct. Now,
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: kind of explain, I understand the volleyball connection, but why
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: did you name your organization We Serve First?
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: Well, We Serve First was actually a catchphrase we used
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: on one of the Jam the Gym t-shirts. And what
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  Speaker 4: we wanted to say was, in volleyball, when you flip
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: the coin at the beginning of the game and you
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: win the toss, we want.
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  Speaker 2: To serve first.
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  Speaker 4: And so we just thought that that catchphrase worked really well.
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  Speaker 4: And we thought when we decided that we were going
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: to have a volleyball-centric foundation, that that was going to
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: be what we would call it. Because What we want
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: to do is think about serving people, even though things
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: weren't going great for us.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: Now, we're talking with Jim Joyce, who's a friend of Tim.
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  Speaker 1: So were you part of that first We Serve First
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  Speaker 1: volleyball game?
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  Speaker 3: We attended to watch the games, but we're not involved
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: at the foundation level in terms of planning or anything
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: at that point. As I said, my kids grew up
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: playing volleyball in Kiskei. So we would go to all
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: the high school games when they were in elementary and
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: junior high, but became more involved with the foundation as
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: they grew older.
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  Speaker 1: And with your creativity, you thought, hey, this could really
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: turn into something.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. And again, like I said, volleyball in Western Pennsylvania
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: over the last decade, has really grown, you know, not
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: only from the collegiate level with Pitt and Penn State,
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: but also, you know, trickling down to the high school level.
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  Speaker 3: So many high school kids now.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, even from Spectator. I mean, you see it on
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: the sports channels.
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  Speaker 3: Right, absolutely. Yeah, and so many kids from high school
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  Speaker 3: level are going on to play in college. So just
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: raising awareness, building more and more support.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: So when did you start getting involved?
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  Speaker 3: Like I said, this started about five years ago, so 2022. One,
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: I guess it would be.
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  Speaker 1: So from 2015 to when you teamed up with Jim,
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: what kind of funds were you raising, and how has
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: that jumped up with this We Serve First all-star event?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, it definitely made a difference. I like to say
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: that Jim put us in high gear, and it's true.
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  Speaker 4: That idea was what sparked our ability to do more
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  Speaker 4: for more kids. There was a time when we could
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  Speaker 4: maybe help one kid a year do something special. We
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: were concentrating on funding one kid completely for their club
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: volleyball season. And as of last year, we helped, I
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: think it was 16 kids and probably totaled about $ 16, 000 help.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: So how do you pick those individuals or how do
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: they apply for any kind of assistance?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what?
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  Speaker 4: The contacts in this community are amazing. And so it
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: doesn't take much for somebody to find out about us.
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  Speaker 4: And there's just, if I could tell you so many
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  Speaker 4: stories about how we've met people and how We've connected
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  Speaker 4: with them and how this has been able to help them.
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  Speaker 1: You were in the hallway for five seconds and somebody goes, hey,
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: I know you. That's Pittsburgh. And we said, I said,
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: it's a small town with big buildings. It really is
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  Speaker 1: such a, you know, it is a small town in
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: so many ways.
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  Speaker 4: And the volleyball community actually is, they're engaged with one another.
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  Speaker 2: And so.
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  Speaker 4: If we help a kid in Plumboro and that person,
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  Speaker 4: it's the ripples. It's the things that people find out
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  Speaker 4: about that we've done that's helped drive our success and
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  Speaker 4: help us find other kids that need our help.
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  Speaker 1: Before we talk more about the organization, let's remind everybody
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  Speaker 1: about the event that's coming up on December 5th. So
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: tell us everything we need to know.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: December 5th is the All-Star Classic. We bring 44 kids
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: in from currently 29 different high schools. We have them
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: come in on a Friday night and practice in front
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  Speaker 4: of the four coaches that we've selected to coach. We're
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: fortunate the past two years to have a really special
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: person run that practice, a good friend of mine named
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: Jenny McDowell, who was a very successful coach in the
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: collegiate level. She coached at Emory in Atlanta for a
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: very long time, was very successful, three national championships this year. December,
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: she'll be honored with the American Volleyball Coaches Association Hall
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  Speaker 4: of Fame. So, you know, big time. Nice having her
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: in our gym to help with the practice. After the practice,
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: the coaches will select their teams. We'll give them uniforms.
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: They'll take some pictures in return on Saturday to play
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: a tournament.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's fun.
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  Speaker 1: So, you know, you can't raise funds without participants, people watching,
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: or sponsors involved. So if somebody wants tickets, how do
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: they get them? I'm sure they're available at the door,
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: but is there a website that can help them out?
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: Yes. Actually, we'll be putting ticket sales up very soon
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: on our website, which is weservefirst.org, all spelled out, lowercase.
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: And they can also get them at the door.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: It's not a problem at all.
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: We usually have 300 to 400 attendees, which is great.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: We'd like more.
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: We'd like to fill that gym and really get it rocking. Um, but, uh,
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  Speaker 4: right now we're fortunate to raise most of our money
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: through scholarship or through sponsorships. And, uh, we've been fortunate
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: to have some great sponsors through the years. Um, one
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: of them is our presenting sponsor. He'll be our presenting
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: sponsor again this year. Uh, it's Dan, it's Dan Clare
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: at Clare insurance, insurance associates. Um, we've also been fortunate
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: to get team sponsors like Edgar Schneider, the Andrew Verostek Foundation,
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: Murraysville Sports Zone, and the Jamie Vick Moran Foundation, and
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: Cicero's Bar and Grill.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm sure it's not too late to become a
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: sponsor either.
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: It's never too late to become a sponsor because sponsorship
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: is what drives our ability to do this. We can
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: make only so much at the gate and only so
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: much at the concession stand and through our raffle sales
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: and the fun things that we do at the All-Star Classic,
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: but Sponsorship is what really makes this something we can
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: make money at and help more kids.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: Now, you lost your wife, Ellen, which kind of inspired
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: this whole thing. Do you think of her when you
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: do your events every single year?
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: I can't go into a gym and not think of her.
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: She's with us always. This is for her.
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think of her every time I go into
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: a gym. Every time I see the kids playing with joy,
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: just enjoying the game. Volleyball is a special game, and
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: it builds resilience in kids.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: You build a great legacy for Ellen.
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's true. For sure we have. I get to
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: keep her story alive. I get to keep her memory alive.
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: and I think that's a really special thing.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: Now, volleyball has exploded in popularity. What do you attribute it?
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: Why is that the case? What do you think?
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: Well, I mean, I think for sure the success of
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: the Pitt Volleyball Program has driven a lot of what
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: we're seeing here in Western Pennsylvania. I also think that
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: there's been a boom in women's sports throughout the country,
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: and that's such a great thing. There's a lot of
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: great storylines out there if you're paying attention to volleyball.
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: There's a lot of compelling people that are playing the game,
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: coaching the game. And I don't know, like I may
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: be unbiased, but I think that the volleyball people, the
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: people that are involved in this game are just special people.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: And I love every one of them.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: So you have the All-Star event, but do you have
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: any other fundraisers or events that occurs throughout the year?
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: We have another game that we play at the beginning
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: of the volleyball season. And what is that? We play
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: that in, that would be early September. Or, yeah, it
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: would be early September, sometimes late August, but early September generally.
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: And it is a outdoor game. And it's the only game,
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: I think, in the nation that's played on a grass surface.
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: So we have two high school teams. This year, we've
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: increased that to four high school teams that come into
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: the park, Kennedy Park and Vandergrift, where we built a
• 16:43
  Speaker 4: grass volleyball court. They come in and play a match
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: on the grass. We build them a stadium to come
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: play in.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: Really?
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: This year, we were a little concerned because it was
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: really hot that day.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: Generally, when we think of September, we think of cool weather.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: It just hasn't been the case.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: It didn't work. Yeah, it didn't work. But we were fortunate.
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: We always have food trucks available for people, and one
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: of them is Kona Ice. So that was, I'm sure,
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: a good day for Kona Ice.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: A boom for them.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 17:17
  Speaker 4: But that one's a gift to the volleyball community. That's
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: a little bit of a try to get people excited
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: for the season. for the girls' volleyball season.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: Well, it's a great way, because I'm sure it's a
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: family-friendly event. So you're introducing volleyball to kids that may
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: possibly grow up to become a participant at some point.
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: And that's already happened. That's already been something that's happened,
• 17:43
  Speaker 4: and that's really cool. It's really cool to see.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: And do you see participants that you started when you
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: first started the All-Star Game, that you see them grow and.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: For sure. For sure.
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: We have, well, Jim's daughter, Maddie, is playing at Fairleigh Dickinson,
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: and she was one of our participants. So I get
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: to watch Maddie play college volleyball, and I watch her
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: all the time, and it's so much fun. It's so
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: much fun to see these kids. And we have so
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: many kids that have played in the All-Star Classic that
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: are playing big-time volleyball somewhere. And actually, one of the
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: other cool things that happens occasionally is a kid gets
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: seen at our event, and then a coach finds them
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: because they played in our event, and they get to
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: continue their career somewhere else.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: We're talking with Tim Toy of We Serve First and
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: Jim Joyce of the Myasthenia Gravis Association of Western PA,
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: who's just supporting. He's here for moral support.
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: Just a cheerleader today, John.
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: Yeah, there's no just in that, though. Jim's... A mainstay here.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: Well, he mentioned your daughter. And so when did your
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: family get introduced to organized volleyball?
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: Oh, boy. So my wife actually played in college. So,
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's sort of lineage for a very long time.
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: Did you do the Dragon U with it? That's right.
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: And it's funny. Probably if you would ask me 12
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: years ago, would I sit down and watch a volleyball
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: game that I didn't know anybody who was playing, my
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: answer would have been definitely not. Now pretty much every
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: night I'm searching for volleyball, no matter who's playing. So, yeah,
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: I mean, both my daughters attended camps from when they
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: were very little, played club volleyball, like Tim had mentioned,
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: played in junior high, played up through high school. And, yeah,
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: now Maddie, my youngest daughter, has the definite thrill of
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: playing on a collegiate level, which is really exciting. But
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: I just wanted to add on. You had mentioned, have
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: we seen kids sort of come up through? The other
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: thing is we always have a lot of volunteers, and
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: many of those volunteers are either 9th, 10th, 11th grade
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: girls who play volleyball, just want to be involved. And
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: then I think we've seen multiple kids that have volunteered
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: at the event also come up. and then play when
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: they're seniors, which is great.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about some of the people behind the scenes.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: It's important. There are coaches and volunteers and families and
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: community supporters that are able to make this event possible.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: You want to talk a little bit about that?
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: We've been very fortunate to have great help throughout the community.
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: I'll say in particular, my brother Carl and his wife Pam,
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: they take over the... the concession stand for us. And
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: they really do a great job. They whip up some
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: good stuff for the fans. And we have a good
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: time with that. And they've been so generous of their time. And,
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: you know, that would be the number one thing I'd
• 20:48
  Speaker 4: want to mention. Also, the janitorial staff at Kiss Gary
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: has been fantastic. The athletic director's always so kind to us.
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: He's kind of the person who's driven the outdoor game
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: because I thought it was going to be a one-off.
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: And they just won't have it. They want to do
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: it every year, and every year they find a way
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: to make it a little bit better. And also, the
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: Kiske Area Key Club, they come out every year in
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: force and help us with whatever it is we need.
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: If we need somebody to do line judging, they'll do it.
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: If we have somebody that needs to run the scoreboard,
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: they'll do it. So we've been fortunate with how the
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: community's responded.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: Is there a particular story involving a student athlete or
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: family that reminds you of why you organized We Serve First?
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: There's a lot. There's a lot.
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: The very first athlete, the one I talked about earlier,
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: who Ellen got to see succeed, she was literally homeless.
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: She was bouncing around from place to place in her community,
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: just trying to survive. Unfortunately, her mom was struggling with addiction,
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: and her father wasn't in the scene. And so we
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: helped her out. We got her a scholarship to play
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: at Westmoreland Elite Volleyball. She was a really good player,
• 22:28
  Speaker 4: but she was not going to play club volleyball. She
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: went to her tournaments and fortunately was seen and a
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: coach noticed her and wanted her at Eastern Kentucky University.
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: She went to Eastern Kentucky University, had a great career
• 22:46
  Speaker 4: at Eastern Kentucky, got her schooling for free, met her
• 22:51
  Speaker 4: husband at Eastern Kentucky. They now have two children. I mean,
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: I can't think of more success than having somebody that
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: might not have been put in that place and find
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: a way to get out of what was a dire situation.
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: And I know that volleyball is a game and that
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: maybe this seems.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: Trivial, but.
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: Even just that story would have been enough to get
• 23:27
  Speaker 4: me to continue to do this sort of thing. And
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: I can tell you Ten more of them just like that.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you go through
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: this emotional roller coaster.
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: This is an emotional story, and it's okay to be emotional,
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: and I don't mind it.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. I agree. Because that gives the gravitas to what
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: you guys are doing. It's true. Looking beyond the All-Star Classic,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: what's your vision for We Serve First? Are there opportunities
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: to expand your impact?
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: Always. Yeah. Always opportunities to expand.
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: And, you know, like we're always looking for ways to
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: better serve the volleyball community. And like I said earlier,
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: like the need has never been greater for what it
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: is we do. And even though, yeah, it's just getting
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: kids to play club volleyball and it doesn't seem like
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: a big deal. The last story I told says something different.
• 24:26
  Speaker 4: I've had seven. new applicants in the past week and
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: a half. And all those applicants deserve some help at
• 24:34
  Speaker 4: some level. And we're going to do that. And I
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: pride myself into the fact that we've never said no
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: to anyone. And last year, again, we took care of
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: 16 kids and helped them continue their volleyball careers. So yeah,
• 24:52
  Speaker 4: we always are looking for ways to expand it. And
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: what we hope is that the All-Star Classic becomes something
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: that kids want to do when they're seniors in high school.
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: And I think that Jim would agree, we've done that.
• 25:05
  Speaker 4: We've made it something that kids want to do.
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely. And I think from the first year, where
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: we were really searching for kids and trying to convince them,
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: not convince them to play, but, you know, we sort
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: of had to sell them a little bit.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: You had to educate them. It's a new program.
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: To now where, you know, at the beginning of the season,
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: kids are sending emails to Tim saying, hey, I really
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: want to play. It has really grown. Five years has
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: gone by quickly. very quickly, but it seems like it
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: just started yesterday.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: So we only have a couple minutes left. So let
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: me ask the question about what's the application process? If
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: somebody is looking for assistance, what do they need to do?
• 25:49
  Speaker 4: If they go to the website at weservefirst.org, there's an
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: application for financial aid, and we look at every one
• 25:58
  Speaker 4: of them. We have a system that we use to
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: try to figure out how much we can afford to
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: give each athlete. And, you know, they can also email
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: me at weserve1st at gmail.com and get my attention. And
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: we'll put that application in their hands.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: And once again, tell us everything we need to know
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: about the All-Star Game.
• 26:23
  Speaker 4: Yeah, All-Star Game is December 5th. We'd love to see
• 26:27
  Speaker 4: a gym full of people show up. It starts at
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: 3 o'clock in the afternoon. And we get things going
• 26:33
  Speaker 4: with introductions. And, you know, we put on a nice
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: show for the kids because, again, like Jim said, these
• 26:41
  Speaker 4: kids may not play. Some of these kids won't play
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: organized volleyball again after this. And so we want to
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: give them a send-off they deserve. So, yeah, on December 5th.
• 26:51
  Speaker 4: We'll be ready to do that.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: You did a great job today. I mean, Jim's an
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: old pro here. He comes in and he talks for
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: half an hour, no problem. You did great. I'm going
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: to give you 30 seconds about your organization. Tell us
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: everything you have coming up in 2027.
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: Sure.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: Thanks, Johnny.
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: Again, I am working with Tim today, but also I'm
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: the executive director for the Myasthenia Gravis Association of Western Pennsylvania.
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: We have a lot of programming coming up. Hopefully, maybe
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: we'll come back and talk to you about those things.
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: We're playing an MGA. Oh, I think I can pull
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: some strings. We have an MGA bingo coming up on
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: March 24th. And then we have our Purple Party, which
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: I know you attended last year. Yeah, it was fun.
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: hit of the party in your purple tuxedo. And that'll
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: take place somewhere sometime in April. We haven't set the
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: date yet, but we'd love to come back and talk
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: to you more about that if we have a chance.
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: We got about one minute left. Tell us, did we
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: leave anything out? Did we cover everything?
• 27:46
  Speaker 4: Oh, we could go on forever. We could go on forever,
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: but we don't have that kind of time. But what
• 27:50
  Speaker 4: we would like to see is that purple tuxedo in
• 27:52
  Speaker 4: the gym.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: On December 5th. No, you don't.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: That'd be awesome.
• 27:56
  Speaker 4: No, you don't.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: Come on.
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: We need somebody to serve the first ball for the tournament.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's funny. That's funny. Tim, it was a pleasure
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: meeting you. Thank you so much, and good luck.
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: Johnny, thank you so much for the time. Thank you
• 28:07
  Speaker 4: for allowing us to expand the story of We Serve First.
• 28:11
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Once again, the website?
• 28:14
  Speaker 4: Weservefirst.org, all lowercase, and.
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: That should do it.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: Okay. WeServeFirst.com or org? Org.org.
• 28:23
  Speaker 4: Okay, very good.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: All right, guys, thank you so much for stopping by.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your participation. All right, as always,
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: if you have any comments, a concern, or an idea
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: for a future program, please email us from this radio
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: station's website. I'm Johnny Hartwell. Thank you so much for listening.
• 28:50
  Speaker 5: When your car is making a strange noise, no matter
• 28:54
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