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Community DC Glenda Fu Smith So Kids Soar · Community D.C.

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Good morning, and welcome to another edition of Community d C.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: I'm your host Tennis Glasgow. This morning, we welcome back
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: to the program Glenda foo Smith. She is the executive
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  Speaker 1: director for So Kids Sore, a DMV nonprofit that provides free, adaptive, athletic,
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  Speaker 1: recreational and career readiness programs for children and young adults
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  Speaker 1: ages four to thirty with physical and developmental disabilities. Here's
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  Speaker 1: my conversation with Glenda. I hope you enjoyed it as
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: much as I did. Good morning, Glenda.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Dennis. How are you.
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  Speaker 3: I'm great.
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  Speaker 1: It's great to have you back on Community DC. Glenda
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  Speaker 1: and so kidsre is one of our regulars, and we
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: have Glenda on every couple of years, which is always
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: great to catch up with you.
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  Speaker 3: But I do want to do this because I know
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  Speaker 3: a lot of our listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Glenda are well acquainted with so Kid Sore and all
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  Speaker 1: the amazing things you've done over the handful of years
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: that you've been on our program. But I do want
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  Speaker 1: to educate maybe some of our listeners that don't know
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  Speaker 1: much about SO Kids Source. So can you give us
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  Speaker 1: a brief history about when everything started and where it
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  Speaker 1: is today?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, definitely.
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  Speaker 4: We started in about twenty nine twenty ten, and I
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  Speaker 4: actually took over in twenty eleven, and at that point
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  Speaker 4: we were known as Dreams for Kids DC. Our focus
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  Speaker 4: was really just to provide programming for all youth that
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  Speaker 4: were at risk, but as we grew into the DC community,
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  Speaker 4: we realized that there was really a need for just
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  Speaker 4: adaptive targeted programming for youth the disabilities. Our flagship program
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  Speaker 4: are our Adaptive Clinics, which are held every month. We
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  Speaker 4: have activities that are sports related or therapeutic.
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  Speaker 2: We just held our annual.
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  Speaker 4: Water sports Clinics clinic last or two weeks ago, and
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  Speaker 4: we had adaptive kayaking, adaptive water skiing, adaptive tubing. So
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  Speaker 4: every month it's a different activity from art to cooking
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  Speaker 4: to baseball. And then we have a holiday program where
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  Speaker 4: our participants give back to the community just to show
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  Speaker 4: them the rip full effects of their own doing and
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  Speaker 4: really encouraging them to still make a difference in their
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  Speaker 4: community no matter what ability level. And finally, we have
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  Speaker 4: a career building program that I created with my board
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  Speaker 4: in twenty seventeen and that program has really taken off
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  Speaker 4: and I think, you know, our mission has empowered you
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  Speaker 4: with the physcal and developmental disabilities to realize their potential
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  Speaker 4: and to soore strive own achieven realize their potential. But
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  Speaker 4: I think what we've really created is a safe support
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  Speaker 4: system this community that really supports the kids from age
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  Speaker 4: four to.
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  Speaker 2: Thirty to beyond that.
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  Speaker 4: And I think that's one thing that really came out
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  Speaker 4: of our career building program is that these kids that
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  Speaker 4: have grown up with us, they feel a safe space
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  Speaker 4: with us, and we want to continue helping them out
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  Speaker 4: no matter what age they are.
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  Speaker 3: Well, we have a lot to talk about.
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  Speaker 1: We're going to go a little bit more in depth
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  Speaker 1: on some of the programs you offer, how to volunteer,
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  Speaker 1: how to donate, how you can be a financial partner
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  Speaker 1: with so kids sore. I do want to do this
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  Speaker 1: because you kind of mentioned the criteria a little bit
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  Speaker 1: of the age range, but we've probably got the attention
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  Speaker 1: of a lot of parents now that might have a
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  Speaker 1: disabled child or a young adult. And with that said,
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  Speaker 1: if they're interested in doing some of the programs, and
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  Speaker 1: we'll get into that about what they want to do,
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  Speaker 1: how do they first kind of reach out to you
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  Speaker 1: and find out a little bit more, including the website
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  Speaker 1: about all the cool things that you do offer.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great question.
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  Speaker 4: You can visit our website, so kidsore dot org, which
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  Speaker 4: is s O K I D S s O A
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  Speaker 4: R dot org, and on there you can review all
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  Speaker 4: the programs we have, watch some videos media that we
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  Speaker 4: have some great interviews I've had in the pass of
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  Speaker 4: View Dennis. But if you ever have any other questions,
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  Speaker 4: I'm always available to answer them. So I always tell
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  Speaker 4: new families.
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  Speaker 2: I just had a call.
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  Speaker 4: Last week actually with a new mom to just touch
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  Speaker 4: face with me and I will hop on a call
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  Speaker 4: with you for fifteen minutes to talk through all of
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  Speaker 4: our programs, you know, the impact that we've personally seen,
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  Speaker 4: but also some of the programs that we think would
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  Speaker 4: be best fit for their child or their young adult.
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  Speaker 1: Well, let's do this. Let's talk about the programs. It
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  Speaker 1: is on the website. You've got your clinics, and you
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  Speaker 1: mentioned the holiday celebration and your past and success. Can
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  Speaker 1: you go through a little bit of each one of
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  Speaker 1: them for us, Yes, definitely.
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  Speaker 4: So the adaptive clinics are held once or twice a month.
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  Speaker 4: We have them both in person and online. And what's
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  Speaker 4: been great is some of the online workshops and our
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  Speaker 4: in person cooking clinic every year are actually instructed by
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  Speaker 4: our graduates of the career building program, so we try
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  Speaker 4: to get our graduates involved even in the adaptive clinics.
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  Speaker 4: But outside of that, they are therapeutic, they're recreational. They
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  Speaker 4: are athletic workshops that we hold once a month for
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  Speaker 4: about two to three hours. We try to provide every
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  Speaker 4: participant and volunteer with a healthy meal at them, and
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  Speaker 4: it's really just a way to get the participants to
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  Speaker 4: try new activities if they've never tried them before with
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  Speaker 4: you know, some of these activities such as water skiing,
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  Speaker 4: like I mentioned, have high barriers to entry, so we
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  Speaker 4: provide them completely.
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  Speaker 2: Free of charge.
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  Speaker 4: Our holiday program at the end of every year, it's
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  Speaker 4: really a celebration and a great time to get together
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  Speaker 4: to reflect on the year. We give out awards to
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  Speaker 4: Participants of the Year and Volunteers of the Year. At
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  Speaker 4: the events, we also have different performances from local community
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  Speaker 4: organizations occurring while the participants are doing their give back activities.
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  Speaker 4: And these give back activities range from wrapping presents for
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  Speaker 4: homeless and fostered youth or writing cards for veterans to
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  Speaker 4: making these amazing I guess you would call them kind
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  Speaker 4: of English Japanese flash cards so that our partner, nonprofit
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  Speaker 4: hands On Tokyo, their young adults with disabilities, can learn
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  Speaker 4: some English words. And so that's I love that. Yeah,
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  Speaker 4: for them to know that, oh my gosh, someone in
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  Speaker 4: Japan is going to open this and see my work,
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  Speaker 4: it really means a lot to them. And then finally,
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  Speaker 4: we have the Career Building Program, which started in twenty seventeen,
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  Speaker 4: and it's a eleven to twelve week curriculum. We meet
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  Speaker 4: every week, but they are given at least two to
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  Speaker 4: three at least two, if not three mentors who are
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  Speaker 4: just senior volunteers of ours who help coach them through
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  Speaker 4: the three months they teach them.
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  Speaker 2: We all teach them together, simple.
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  Speaker 4: Some of the things such as just using a computer,
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  Speaker 4: digital communication skills, to verbal communication skills. Two more dedicated
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  Speaker 4: workshops where they're building their resume or they are are
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  Speaker 4: working on networking, and it's all in an effort to
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  Speaker 4: prepare them for a job or just to be more independent.
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  Speaker 4: We've had some mentees or participants of that program come
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  Speaker 4: back and repeat the program because they love it so
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  Speaker 4: much and just to brush up on some of their skills.
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  Speaker 4: But we have in the I guess ten years that
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  Speaker 4: we've been doing it, we have yielded I think about
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  Speaker 4: fifty percent of the graduates have found work within one
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  Speaker 4: year of graduating the program, so full time or part
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  Speaker 4: time paid work. And we have about fifty graduates of
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  Speaker 4: the program because we take about five on each year.
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  Speaker 1: You know, one of the things I want you to
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  Speaker 1: talk about if you could speak to the parents out
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  Speaker 1: there that are listening right now that might have a
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  Speaker 1: disabled verbal, non verbal child or young adult, what you
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  Speaker 1: do with all your programs is all the things that
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  Speaker 1: you and I take for granted, you know, using a computer,
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  Speaker 1: doing a job, attion, maybe playing some sports, maybe just
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  Speaker 1: an activity where there's other people around. And I imagine
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  Speaker 1: there are a lot of parents that you've met that
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  Speaker 1: are complete despair for whatever reason they're going through, and
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  Speaker 1: how hearted every day with their child, with a young
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  Speaker 1: adult that's disabled, and they're not thinking that there could
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  Speaker 1: be more for them than once again you and I
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  Speaker 1: take for granted, and you open that door and allow
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  Speaker 1: them to come through and see that there are things
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  Speaker 1: and there is growth potential out there. Could you talk
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  Speaker 1: about that for parents out there.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely.
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  Speaker 4: I think I think a lot of parents have some
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  Speaker 4: trepidation around you know, how will my participant react to
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  Speaker 4: certain transitions. And that's something we really focus on with
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  Speaker 4: that one to one care They want to one volunteer
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  Speaker 4: to participant or mentor to mentee, if not two to one,
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  Speaker 4: I guess we, including my staff, we really try to
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  Speaker 4: work with each individual and really listen to their needs.
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  Speaker 4: We don't just give them a blanket template and you know,
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  Speaker 4: say go on and do this. We really try to
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  Speaker 4: hear them out and say, okay, what works best with you?
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  Speaker 4: You know, is it certain you know, positive reinforcement or
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  Speaker 4: is it breaking it down? Is it using a fidget
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  Speaker 4: to help you get through things? So I think one
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  Speaker 4: thing we do well also when I say listening, is
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  Speaker 4: we try to really more for our programs and involve
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  Speaker 4: them every year given the feedback that our parents and
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  Speaker 4: participants give. So when I mentioned the fidget toys, that's
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  Speaker 4: something we started using this past year in our programming.
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  Speaker 4: We noticed that it really helps calm their nerves, especially
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  Speaker 4: when we're going through a lot of material in the
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  Speaker 4: career building program. So I would say, you know, when
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  Speaker 4: we've created like I mentioned, this really safe space and
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  Speaker 4: we really value being that community where parents feel like
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  Speaker 4: they can go to that they have a lot of resources,
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  Speaker 4: or they know our staff and our boards so well,
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  Speaker 4: and that we are friends of theirs and that we
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  Speaker 4: are always looking out for the best the nets for
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  Speaker 4: their children.
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  Speaker 1: And if you need a little evidence of how cool
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  Speaker 1: everything is, you should also follow SO Kids Sore on socials.
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  Speaker 1: Glenn and our team do a great job of it.
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  Speaker 1: I know every event that you go to, which is
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  Speaker 1: a lot you put on social media, what are your
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  Speaker 1: handles so people can check it out? Because the reason
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  Speaker 1: why I say that is not only I think it's
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  Speaker 1: cool that you do that and it's a great extension
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  Speaker 1: of SO Kids Sore, but people get to actually when
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  Speaker 1: you when you're able to see something, how it's activated,
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  Speaker 1: and the fun that you're having there. I think that's
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  Speaker 1: the cool factor saying oh okay, now I get it.
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  Speaker 1: I can see how it's going to go down, This
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  Speaker 1: looks this looks pretty cool. Can you give the handles
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  Speaker 1: for everybody?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, definitely.
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  Speaker 4: We are at SO kidsre s A s OK I
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  Speaker 4: D S s O A R on Twitter or x
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  Speaker 4: on Instagram. Our YouTube is also at so Kidsore and
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  Speaker 4: then Facebook also at Facebook dot com, backslash, so Kids.
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  Speaker 1: Sore outstanding, and I think it'd be a great time
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  Speaker 1: to also talk about the podcast when you told me,
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  Speaker 1: I think, is it coming on a two year anniversary?
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  Speaker 3: Is it close to that?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, it is, Janney, it's funny.
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  Speaker 1: So obviously on my side, we do it for a living,
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  Speaker 1: and it's you and I agreed it's a great extension,
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  Speaker 1: and so kids started doing it and then integrating all
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  Speaker 1: the people that are in the program of who's got
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  Speaker 1: the aptitude to do it, who wants to do it,
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  Speaker 1: and you've done that. So two years later, I don't
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  Speaker 1: know if you thought it would be everything it is now,
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  Speaker 1: which is absolutely incredible. It's a great listen, it's fun,
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  Speaker 1: it's interactive. Tell us a little bit about the podcast
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  Speaker 1: and the latest stuff you're working on.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, Dennis.
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  Speaker 4: So the podcast, like you mentioned, really came out of
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: us once again listening to our participants and Michael, who
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: you know, he had the brainchild for the podcast. He
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: always told me he wanted to be a storyteller, and
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: so we thought, you know, let's try you out with
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: podtechts our partner and board members company and see how
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: you do there. And after two or three summers of
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: turning there, who said you want to start the So
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  Speaker 4: Good Sore podcast? And so January twenty twenty five we launched.
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  Speaker 4: He's been really excited to just learn more about our
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  Speaker 4: community too. And I think for Michael, hearing from not
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: only other participants, other parents, but some of our sponsors, partners,
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: even senior volunteers, it allows for him to get this
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  Speaker 4: whole comedies picture of what So Good Sore is, which
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  Speaker 4: is great for his storytelling as well. And since we
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: started it, obviously we've had other graduates interested in getting
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: involved with the podcast, and therefore this past year we
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  Speaker 4: decided what if we made this a curriculum and had
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  Speaker 4: Michael are your past success graduate, not only manage our podcast,
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  Speaker 4: but teach this curriculum. And so our goal is to
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  Speaker 4: launch it next January with two graduates, and it's another
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  Speaker 4: partnership between Aspen Spark and ourselves, and we are all
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: going to take different roles in the instruction. So Michael
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  Speaker 4: will be pretty much the lead instructor, but we ask
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  Speaker 4: some of our staff and Bore just focus on interviewing skills,
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  Speaker 4: you know, scripting. So it's really once again a great
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: community effort, but allows Michael to become even more of
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  Speaker 4: a leader in that respect. And our goal not only
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: is to do this podcasting apprenticeship, but we've also decided
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  Speaker 4: because we've heard from some of our other graduates that
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: they love theater, so we are now working with Adventure
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: Theater Academy on a theater extension that will start hopefully
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: next year as well. This past year we worked with
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: Flagstar Football on a sports Marketing business sports curriculum that
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  Speaker 4: they completely led and we just kind of gave them
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  Speaker 4: a few of our graduates to work with. So we're
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  Speaker 4: really excited to see our keep growing and keep reaching
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: for the stars. And I think that's one another way,
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  Speaker 4: you know, that shows we provide the safe space in
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: this community because I think they come to our programs
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  Speaker 4: and they realize they have all these friendships here, all
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  Speaker 4: these mentors, and so for us, we don't necessarily want
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: to just kind of drop them off a cliff.
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  Speaker 2: After they go through our program. We want to see
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  Speaker 2: how else.
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  Speaker 4: We can keep it, you know, engage in their lives
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  Speaker 4: and for them to know that they can always come
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: to us that they need anything.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that you do that I imagine parents,
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: are you here from the follow up that you have
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: is always really a key and important how you can
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: get better and you're growing with all these new things
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: out there. If you could speaking to parents again, I'd
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  Speaker 1: love for you to maybe tell a story, because I
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  Speaker 1: know you've got handfuls of stories.
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  Speaker 3: Even though what you do.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: Is very hard and there's a lot of work behind
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: the scenes with you your partners and your fundraisers. And we're
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: going to talk about donations and volunteering in just a
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: second with Glendham, but I do want you to talk
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: about that because I think that you know, it's really
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: amazing about where you started and where you are today
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: and the growth. You know, it could be easy just
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: to do you know, several programs and leave it as is,
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: but you've grown, you've expanded, and you know the podcasting
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: is one thing which is truly epic to do. Anybody
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: thinks podcasting is easy, it's not.
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: It's tech. It's and Glenn to.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: Find out, it's technical, it's timing, it's getting guessed and
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: there is a lot to put behind it. But I
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: would like to maybe just have you share a story
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: or two because we have time for this about maybe
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: something because I know you see miracles every day and
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: I know, but but once again I want to re
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: I know you see hard things every day. But with
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: that said, can you maybe share a story or two
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  Speaker 1: of us. It's something that really said, you know, this
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: is why we get up every day. This was a
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: pretty cool thing that happened to this family.
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I would love to share the start
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: of Patrick, who has and this is a great seguay,
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: but Patrick with a twenty twenty graduate, he had been
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: in our programs before he come to water sports, cooking.
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: You know, after going through our Your Paths to Success program,
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: the career building program, we saw that he really had
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: a passion for not just teaching, but like leading his peers,
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: and so we asked him what were some of his passions.
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  Speaker 4: He loved cooking, so, you know, at the height of
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: COVID when he went through the program, a lot of
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: this was virtual, so what was also difficult, you know,
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: and his mom and I were on many calls we
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: chat about what were the best ways for him to
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: engage and we started with just virtual cooking clinics with
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: him because everyone was still a quarantine. And then once
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: he had about six or seven of those under his
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: you know glove, he started we started chatting about doing
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: an in person clinic. So I believe his first in
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: person cooking clinic might have been twenty twenty two, but
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: every year.
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  Speaker 2: He has done that clinic.
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  Speaker 4: So he just did his fifth one with his call Milan,
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: another another graduate.
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  Speaker 2: From twenty twenty one. Uh.
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  Speaker 4: And in the past two years, we've also seen how
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: he has such a giving heart, but he realizes that
• 17:13
  Speaker 4: he can really use that to also make ripples in
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: his community. So one thing his mom had actually mentioned
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: to me that I think it was two years ago,
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: there was a huge house fire in Fairfax and they
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: heard about it and Patrick instantly said he wanted to
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: use his earnings to buy all of the firefighters some
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: Chick fil A trays.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, basically trays of chicken nuckets. And that was I mean,
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: he did that on his own.
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  Speaker 4: So just to hear how proactive he was in that compassion,
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: it really touched my heart.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: And then more.
• 17:48
  Speaker 4: Recently, you know, he he has been having some difficulty
• 17:52
  Speaker 4: finding just regular work, and so we decided, let's make
• 17:58
  Speaker 4: you position and we've gone back and forth with his
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: mom about.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: This too, but I said, you know, we need this.
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: We have this position for Patrick to also teach a
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: little bit more about accountability about self advocacy, My stat
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: and I just did this program where we learned it's
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: called My Voice, My Choice, But how can we teach
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: our participants to speak up for themselves? And so we
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: ask Patrick if he would like to go through this
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: training and then teach self advocacy to our mentees of
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: the career building program this fall.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: So every week that we meet, he'll.
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: Have ten minutes where he's just leading the session on
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: self advocacy. And so I think for Patrick it's a
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: great way for him to see himself as an instructor
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: in a different way instead of just teaching a direct
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: skill like cooking.
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: And I foresee him doing this every year.
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: So I think for him too, this creates some long
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: happy for him in his career.
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: So we're very excited about that.
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: And I think it's just neat to see our graduate
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: self actualize and do more than they even may have
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: thought for themselves.
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's really neat, and.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: Their parents too, And I appreciate you sharing Patrick's story
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: with his mom. You know, the one thing that I
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: wanted to circle back when because I had kind of
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: preface this the things that you and I take for
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: granted about doing everything and anything for ourselves or with
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: our partners, or our children or our families. This it's
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: a new set of challenges for these people that you
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: bring in that are different and that you offer them
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: all these things. I imagine, you know, Patrick's mom. I
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: don't want to presume anything about how she thought he
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: was going to do in it, but she's got to
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: be elated and just you know, thank God for some
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: kids sort of that these new doorways have opened up
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: for him, that he can have the opportunity to do things.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: And once again you and I take for granted, it's huge.
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's huge, And I I didn't get to touch
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: on just how amazing his mom, Kendra is as well.
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: She has been so invested and engaged in our community.
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: She helped and I think I mentioned it earlier this year,
• 20:12
  Speaker 4: but Lee started a parent support group that meets over
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: Zoom every month, and she was one of the first
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: people to let us know this would be a great idea.
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: But she now leads that with Lan's mom, Shlinda.
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: So we're so grateful to have her, and she's taught
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: me a lot too, and like you said, just speaks
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: volumes to these parents who are really the heroes they
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: You know, she has taught me all about how long
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: the process these can be for getting waivers for her
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: for her kids, how.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: You know, how difficult just.
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: Helping her son figure out his emotional boundaries and you know,
• 20:50
  Speaker 4: under it's I just can't even imagine how much she
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: does just to make sure Patrick is you know, that
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: he's set for the rest of his life. And and yeah,
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: just hearing from them the hardships, and it's like you said, Dennis, it's.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: Things that I never thought about.
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: We have our challenges being parents, but then it's a
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: whole nother layer when their specialty it's involved.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because I think we can all agree life is exhausting.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: It just is, you know, and glad he's got a family.
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: I do too.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: And then if you have a disabled young person or
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: a young adult in your family, just thinks it's times
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: a thousand. And that's where you and your team and
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: your volunteers come in. I think this is a good
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: segue to talk about volunteers and funding. I know that
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: is a big deal for you. And I'd love for
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: you to talk about maybe some of your sports partnerships,
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: because you have worked really hard to cultivate some wonderful
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: sports relationships and partners that are very giving and generous.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: Can we talk about all those things so people can
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: you know whether they want to volunteer, whether they want
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: to donate, or maybe even partner up with you in
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: certain things.
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: For sure, think if people know about us, one of
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: the reasons they know about us is because of our
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: amazing partnership with Monumental Sports and Entertainment. We've done this
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: adaptive ice hockey clinic with the Capitals for I mean
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: ten plus years, I think since twenty ten, and I
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: think that's the clinic that we're most well known for.
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: But we're super grateful to Monumental. They have been so
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: giving in not only venue and equipment, but also getting
• 22:28
  Speaker 4: their players involved with our kids. It's another level when
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: you have your purchasipants. These kids get to get on
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: the ice of some of their local sports heroes. And
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: two that we've worked with in the past year, Charlie
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: Lindgren and Nick Daud. They have been so involved with
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: not just being there at the clinic, but offering special
• 22:51
  Speaker 4: experiences to some of our families, so they'll come before games,
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: get to hang out with the Dowts or the Lingrens,
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: and then get to watch the whole game.
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: With tickets that they have provided.
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: Uh. And outside of that, they've also given us so
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: like a lot of grant money just to keep you know,
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: help us sustain our clinics. But yeah, that's I think
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: that has been one of the longest, most prominent partnerships
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: that we've had. The other one is with Aspen Spark
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: and Kimsey Foundation. They really just invested in especially our
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: career building program. But now the podcasting curriculum, like I mentioned,
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: they they really are excited to make that their own
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: as well and help our students in that curriculum create
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: their own podcasts. And we really see this flourishing in
• 23:45
  Speaker 4: the future as well. And some of the you know,
• 23:50
  Speaker 4: we we work with a lot of the wonderful local
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: organizations that help us just put on these clinics every year.
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: From On the Edge Children's Foundation, wonderful man named Bob Casper.
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: He's been running that foundation and he has a child
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: special needs as well, but he is the sole person
• 24:09
  Speaker 4: who brings out all these adaptive water skis. Every year
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: he recruits so many water skiing volunteers just for his portion,
• 24:17
  Speaker 4: and you know, this year he was really nervous that
• 24:20
  Speaker 4: he wasn't going to be able to find the funding
• 24:22
  Speaker 4: or the volunteers, and we were still able to do
• 24:26
  Speaker 4: with him. And I think that just speaks volumes of
• 24:28
  Speaker 4: the strength of our program, strengths of our partnerships, and
• 24:33
  Speaker 4: just how everything comes together if you have great intent, right,
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: honest intent.
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree with that.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about ways to give, because there are
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: many ways to donate and also to volunteer. And as
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: Glenna mentioned too, if you want to be a sponsor
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: or partner, if you're a small, medium, large business, or
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: just somebody that has some extra money or facility, Glennon
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: wants to hear from you.
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: So let's talk about that quickly.
• 24:56
  Speaker 4: Yes, please, do we You know, I always sometimes my
• 25:01
  Speaker 4: dreams are bigger than what we actually have budgeted for.
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: But you know, without those dreams, we can't continue growing.
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: But those three apprenticeship programs, we definitely are looking for
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: funding right now. And when I say funding, it's not
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: even it's really just paying for those graduates. I'm just
• 25:19
  Speaker 4: trying to give them full time jobs that they can
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: run those courses starting next year.
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: So yes, if you're a.
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: Medium sized company, small size company, we have different ways
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: in getting your brand out there, not just for those programs,
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: for the apprenticeship programs, but even our clinics, our baseball clinic,
• 25:39
  Speaker 4: we usually work with a couple of equipment sponsors, but
• 25:43
  Speaker 4: this past year the faces the Freeman Assistance Grant really
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: helped us with and they're local Montgomery County based company,
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: but they helped us put that on this year. So
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: there's so many ways to get involved, and we usually
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: curate a sponsor partnership package to what you can do
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: and what you can give and if you can't give money.
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: Like Dennis mentioned, we love volunteers. We've always made volunteers
• 26:10
  Speaker 4: are your Past to Success Career program is about to
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: kick off end of August, we could still use a
• 26:17
  Speaker 4: couple more mentors. So if you really want to watch
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: a young adult with a disability blossom over you know
• 26:25
  Speaker 4: the eleven weeks that we work with them and be
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: their mentor, please reach out. Volunteers are always always needed
• 26:34
  Speaker 4: and I might take a second to tell a.
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: Quick story, please do we had this.
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: Wonderful young man named THEO who came and started volunteering
• 26:43
  Speaker 4: with us while he was in high school. And he
• 26:47
  Speaker 4: goes to Gosh Saint Althans right on Massachusetts Avenue, and
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: she did the program and think about four or five
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: years ago, but he still comes back and he records
• 26:59
  Speaker 4: the session, so he makes the video of the of
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: the program for us. But he really formed a tight
• 27:07
  Speaker 4: friendship with his mentee when he was a mentor, and
• 27:11
  Speaker 4: his name was Leonardo. And so Leonardo and I still
• 27:14
  Speaker 4: touch base every once in a while. But he told
• 27:17
  Speaker 4: me that him and THEO they talk like every eight week.
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: That's great, and that they just went to the Ariana
• 27:23
  Speaker 4: Grande concert just the two of them, the one in
• 27:25
  Speaker 4: Orlando a.
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: Few weeks ago.
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: Fantastic.
• 27:28
  Speaker 4: It made me so happy to hear that beyond the
• 27:30
  Speaker 4: program they still talk, but not only that, they're planning trips.
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: Together to see each other. So just I can't say
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: enough about THEO.
• 27:37
  Speaker 4: He's a wonderful young man, but Leonardo also, just the
• 27:41
  Speaker 4: friendship they formed, it's it's incredible to see.
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: That's nice. I'm glad you shared that.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: We just have a few minutes left and I do
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: want to remind everybody that we are going to give
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: the website one more time. But the sign ups and
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: the registration for upcoming clinics if you want to volunteer
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: for those, and the donations, the podcast link, all the
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: programs and everything about so kidsory is on the website,
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: So we'll give that one more time. But what I
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: wanted to do, we just have a couple minutes left,
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: just get some final thoughts from you, kind of recap
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: what we talked about.
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: Glinda, the floor is yours.
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I think for us, if you really
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: want to see the direct impact of your donation or
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: your volunteer time, I think working with us and volunteering
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: with us, it's proven to show that, you know, we
• 28:26
  Speaker 4: really are trying to make a difference for these youth
• 28:28
  Speaker 4: and young people with disabilities and no ideas to are.
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: Out there for us.
• 28:34
  Speaker 4: If you want to, even if you're volunteering, donating, sponsoring,
• 28:38
  Speaker 4: we are excited to work with you and hear about
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: your idea so that we can somehow work together and
• 28:43
  Speaker 4: make it a great fit within so kitsor.
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: So please reach out.
• 28:47
  Speaker 4: You can go to sokitsre dot org, s ok I
• 28:51
  Speaker 4: d S s O a r dot org or reach
• 28:53
  Speaker 4: out to me directly. I'm Glenda at sokitsor dot org
• 28:58
  Speaker 4: and I will respond to you.
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: Pretty much immediately.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: Standing well, listen, it's great to talk to you again.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: And you know, the cool thing about all that you're
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: doing is you keep on evolving and keep on growing,
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: which I don't know how you do, because when I
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: first met Glinda about three or four years ago, she
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: was a one woman band. And I know you have
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: a couple of staff members now right, Yeah.
• 29:17
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we have two full time and one is a
• 29:19
  Speaker 4: graduate of the program Luxury. Yeah, exactly, and we have
• 29:25
  Speaker 4: ten that are part time and they're all graduate.
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: That's great.
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: If anybody knows that listen to this series regularly, usually
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: executive directors.
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: Have them and that's it.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: Maybe one other person if they feel luxurious and there's
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: money to do that. It's just hard, and I'm glad
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: that your staff has grown and you're getting help out there,
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: but I know you're working tiresly to do some incredible
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: things out there.
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: So it's great to catch up with you.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: Please stay in touch. We'll probably talk to you maybe
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: around the holidays again and see what you're doing and
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: all the new things that are coming up, But thank
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: you so much for your time.
• 29:55
  Speaker 3: In joining us on Community DC. We really appreciate it. Glenda,
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: thank you so much.
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: Dennis Chatting