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From Retirement to Purpose: Tony Rosati’s Mission to Serve Others · It's A Grand Life

0:08
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to It's a Grand Life, where our mission is to be a voice for grandfamilies and kinship caregivers everywhere.
0:16
SPEAKER_00: Did you know that in the United States alone, there are 2.3 million grandparents raising their grandchildren?
0:24
SPEAKER_00: 2.3 million.
0:26
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0:30
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0:35
SPEAKER_00: The Grand Fund, which is a 501c3 which was launched in June of 2024, provides financial assistance to grand families, including shelter, food, clothing, and household needs.
0:49
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0:57
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1:03
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1:07
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1:13
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1:18
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1:24
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to another episode of It's a Grand Life.
1:28
SPEAKER_00: Hello, this is Craig Nash.
1:29
SPEAKER_00: I'd like to welcome you to another It's a Grand Life.
1:33
SPEAKER_00: And we are interviewing a gentleman today who is living the Grand Life.
1:37
SPEAKER_00: He is Tony Rosotto Rosati, and he has founded an organization called St.
1:42
SPEAKER_00: Joseph's Helpers, located in Taylor, Michigan, which is in southeast Michigan.
1:47
SPEAKER_00: And they also have a branch down in northern Kentucky.
1:50
SPEAKER_00: And we are going to talk to Tony because he's one of the partners of It's a Grand Life.
1:54
SPEAKER_00: And he and Raina and all the folks they have in this wonderful organization, they are identifying grandparents that are raising grandkids and helping them, and we're coming alongside them as well.
2:06
SPEAKER_00: And I know you're just going to enjoy our time with Tony.
2:08
SPEAKER_00: So, Tony, welcome to It's a Grand Life.
2:11
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for joining us today.
2:12
SPEAKER_00: And and uh um tell us a little bit about what was life like before St.
2:19
SPEAKER_00: Joseph's Helpers and what led you to start St.
2:22
SPEAKER_00: Joseph's Helpers.
2:23
SPEAKER_01: Okay, well, good morning, uh Craig, and thanks for having me.
2:27
SPEAKER_01: It's certainly an honor and uh privilege to be here this morning.
2:30
SPEAKER_01: So thanks again.
2:32
SPEAKER_01: So, like everyone, um you reach a point where in your life uh you do what you have to do, you raise your family, you get married, you have kids, you do all those great things.
2:48
SPEAKER_01: And then sooner or later, one morning you wake up and you say, Okay, um, what's next?
2:56
SPEAKER_01: So, like everyone else, as I said, I was pretty fortunate in my life.
3:01
SPEAKER_01: Uh I was able to build a good career.
3:04
SPEAKER_01: Um basically building a successful life, and by most measures, I think I was.
3:11
SPEAKER_01: Um then, like you say, one day my kids grew up, uh and with no warning of fanfare, they left.
3:17
SPEAKER_01: Uh so, like many people of fate, you know, there comes that moment, okay, Lord, what's next?
3:23
SPEAKER_01: And I realized I had a choice, uh continue chasing success or start to pursue a significant life of some sort.
3:32
SPEAKER_01: And it was great to have options, um, but I had no idea what those options would be.
3:38
SPEAKER_01: So after some serious reflection, uh, I was convinced God was calling me uh to be a deacon.
3:45
SPEAKER_01: So at 50, instead of slowing down, I went back to school.
3:49
SPEAKER_01: Uh I entered Sacred Heart uh Major Seminary in 2003.
3:54
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
3:54
SPEAKER_01: I graduated with my pastoral minister's degree in 2007, and after that I began the discernment process, which was uh a little over three years.
4:05
SPEAKER_01: And uh I believe that was it.
4:08
SPEAKER_01: God's plan for me.
4:09
SPEAKER_01: I uh I thought my path was decided.
4:12
SPEAKER_01: But in 2009, the Archdiocese of Detroit came to a slightly different conclusion.
4:17
SPEAKER_01: Uh turned out it may have been my plan, but it wasn't theirs.
4:21
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
4:22
SPEAKER_01: So started to question whether it was really God's plan or not.
4:27
SPEAKER_01: Um the Yogibera quote, when you come to a fork in the road, take it.
4:33
SPEAKER_01: Uh unfortunately, I took that fork and it led me to a dead end.
4:39
SPEAKER_01: So not exactly the outcome I had in mind.
4:42
SPEAKER_00: So were you thinking that with your seminary training you were gonna go right into what more of a uh uh church-related ministry at that point?
4:52
SPEAKER_00: Did you think as a deacon?
4:54
SPEAKER_00: And um, or with and that door kind of closed, or how did you have this wake up?
5:01
SPEAKER_01: Once I didn't get into the deaconym program, uh certainly struggled between was I giving up too easily, or was this really not the direction God was taking me in?
5:13
SPEAKER_01: Uh to be fair, those years weren't wasted.
5:16
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I grew in my faith, uh, but ultimately still had to answer the question, what's next?
5:22
SPEAKER_01: Um, fast forward to 2015, uh I started to plan my exit from um my construction company.
5:32
SPEAKER_01: So we sold the company and I retired in 2017.
5:36
SPEAKER_01: And um, so again, I thought, okay, I've arrived.
5:41
SPEAKER_01: At first, retirement looked pretty good.
5:43
SPEAKER_01: I stayed busy, I consulted, I was on some boards, volunteered, traveled, just kind of relaxing.
5:50
SPEAKER_01: Um, I was doing all those things the world had convinced me that I earned in retirement.
5:56
SPEAKER_00: There you go.
5:57
SPEAKER_01: I was happy, but something was missing, and that's joy.
6:01
SPEAKER_01: Uh, that deep joy rooted in faith and a relationship with God.
6:06
SPEAKER_01: Um, it's I had activity without purpose, and something just didn't feel right.
6:13
SPEAKER_01: So I came to the conclusion that you can't retire from a purposeful life.
6:19
SPEAKER_01: God doesn't say, great job, you're done.
6:22
SPEAKER_01: Um, as you well know, your mission continues regardless of age.
6:26
SPEAKER_01: And I knew God still had something in mind for me.
6:30
SPEAKER_00: Well, he absolutely did, and he absolutely does.
6:33
SPEAKER_00: And uh and the joy, uh Tony, I'm sure you would agree, is serving others.
6:37
SPEAKER_00: And and uh and that's what St.
6:40
SPEAKER_00: Joseph's Helpers is all about.
6:42
SPEAKER_00: And uh um, so how so you you you you you're trying to live open-handedly, you want to go where God is leading you.
6:49
SPEAKER_00: Um, how did you know it was time to start Saint Joseph's Helpers?
6:53
SPEAKER_00: And how did you come up with that name?
6:58
SPEAKER_01: Um I really didn't at first.
7:03
SPEAKER_01: Um, so again, I started over again.
7:06
SPEAKER_01: Um, and I really took time away.
7:09
SPEAKER_01: Well, I actually took a trip out to Wyoming on my motorcycle, figuring maybe a little bit of time away and reflection would help.
7:16
SPEAKER_01: Um truth be told, it was really more fun than reflective, but that's a story, that's a different story.
7:23
SPEAKER_01: Um But this time I did take a different approach to it.
7:27
SPEAKER_01: Uh I I less there was less talk, there was more listening, less planning, and just more trusting in what God had in mind for me.
7:36
SPEAKER_01: Uh turned to prayer and uh took time every morning to read scripture, and it is unbelievable um how God speaks to us through uh scripture.
7:50
SPEAKER_00: Exactly right.
7:51
SPEAKER_00: Through his word.
7:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
7:52
SPEAKER_01: One verse for me is uh uh Corinthians chapter 15, verse 10.
7:58
SPEAKER_01: But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace towards me was not in vain.
8:03
SPEAKER_01: Um simple but powerful for me.
8:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so you know, I looked at my skill set, my experience, um the people God put around me, and God does answer your prayers through other people, and in this case, he did.
8:19
SPEAKER_01: And it only took another five years, but we finally got there.
8:22
SPEAKER_01: So at some point I wondered, is God teaching me or just waiting me out in this case?
8:29
SPEAKER_01: So at 68, um I got there, and you know, there's another Bible verse that I absolutely love.
8:37
SPEAKER_01: Um you know, I found comfort in the parable of the workers at the vineyard.
8:41
SPEAKER_01: Uh, it doesn't matter when you show up, just as long as you show up.
8:45
SPEAKER_01: So um I got together with a couple of other gentlemen, um, one who had just retired recently from being the president of the Crystal Ray High School Network.
8:56
SPEAKER_01: And uh him and I got together with another individual, Howard Margolis, and the three of us started down the path of starting St.
9:06
SPEAKER_01: Joseph Helpers.
9:07
SPEAKER_01: Um in the fall of 22, we incorporated as a 501c3, and in January, um, we opened the doors to St.
9:21
SPEAKER_01: Joseph Helpers.
9:25
SPEAKER_00: And can you just crystallize what St.
9:27
SPEAKER_00: Joseph Helpers is all about for folks that haven't heard of that before?
9:32
SPEAKER_01: Um, St.
9:33
SPEAKER_01: Joseph Helpers is an organization founded on Christian values, uh, made up of a lot of volunteer men and women who support our organization by volunteering their time and talent to help those in need to feel safe and secure in their homes.
9:48
SPEAKER_01: We do that through basic home repairs and maintenance.
9:52
SPEAKER_01: We do it through a companionship component.
9:55
SPEAKER_01: Uh we have a prayer request uh button on our website, and we actually, in some cases, our volunteers have prayed with the homeowners.
10:05
SPEAKER_01: And then most recently, we added a fourth component to that, and that's Julie's List.
10:12
SPEAKER_00: And tell us about Julie's List.
10:15
SPEAKER_01: So, Julie's List, uh, we have a uh woman that works here, she's our assistant executive director, and she started a research, information and research website back in 2011 called Julie's List.
10:31
SPEAKER_01: And what it is, is opportunities for people to find different things they need, everything from food to health equipment to transportation.
10:44
SPEAKER_01: There's 10 different categories that uh Julie focused on.
10:49
SPEAKER_01: And um, we had a situation, there was a uh little girl in Detroit, uh 17, on her way to school, got shot by a stray bullet and severed her spinal cord.
11:01
SPEAKER_01: Uh her mother was um unable to afford a handicap ramp for her, it was about$7,500.
11:08
SPEAKER_01: So she called us to see if anything we could do.
11:11
SPEAKER_01: We couldn't afford that.
11:12
SPEAKER_01: So Julie came to me and she says, Let me check something out.
11:17
SPEAKER_01: So she went to her list, and there was a resource in the state of Michigan that provides uh funding for adolescents who have disabilities.
11:28
SPEAKER_01: So the state of Michigan paid$6,000 of the$7,500 for the ramp.
11:33
SPEAKER_01: Uh we got the ramp, we put it in for her.
11:37
SPEAKER_01: And that's when it hit me, there's a lot of things that we will not be able to help people with just because of the financial costs, and we don't have the expertise.
11:49
SPEAKER_01: But this list that Julie put together uh opens up great opportunities for us to service and serve other people.
11:58
SPEAKER_01: So, long story short, we um Julie gave us the website.
12:03
SPEAKER_01: We redeveloped it, put it on our St.
12:06
SPEAKER_01: Joseph Helpers website, and we now have people that are doing nothing but finding additional new resources to put on the site.
12:15
SPEAKER_01: We're now at over 3,000 resources and we're in 43 states.
12:21
SPEAKER_00: That's that's amazing.
12:22
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and that's all since uh two uh what 2022 that that that the 22.
12:30
SPEAKER_01: We didn't take over Julie's List until actually January of this year.
12:34
SPEAKER_00: Oh this year, 26.
12:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
12:36
SPEAKER_01: 26.
12:37
SPEAKER_01: We did the ramp for this uh little girl in Detroit in the end of 24, and that's when we first started to look at Julie's list as being a great opportunity to expand our outreach into helping those in need.
12:53
SPEAKER_00: And and that just it's it's a huge networking organization you have.
12:58
SPEAKER_00: In addition to to uh doing all these home repairs, and we you know we I talk to grandparents all the time, they do not have their the the cash to get doors repaired or windows looked at.
13:09
SPEAKER_00: And and and you've got the main thing that when I toured your office a couple weeks ago, what really blew me away, Tony, was the I saw all these folks plugged in at their their cubicles.
13:22
SPEAKER_00: It looked like you have a uh quite an administrative genius in Reina who's really got her hands on all these things, and and you you you're you're now pulling folks all over, not only all over Michigan, but you've you've launched this new entity in northern Kentucky, and I think you're talking to a couple other states as well.
13:40
SPEAKER_00: Uh tell us about that.
13:42
SPEAKER_01: We're hoping to hook up with a couple of other states, but uh real quick on Julie's list.
13:47
SPEAKER_01: So with the new website we developed, we're now getting analytics to how many hits we're getting on our website.
13:54
SPEAKER_01: So in the month of April, and that's the first month we tracked since we moved it to our website in January, we had 130,000 hits in the month of April.
14:07
SPEAKER_01: So there's always that 10% that are spammed.
14:11
SPEAKER_01: So we figured we had somewhere around 118,000 people looking at Julie's List for resources.
14:18
SPEAKER_01: Some of them are institutional, but there's also an awful lot of individuals that are looking on their own.
14:26
SPEAKER_01: But what's nice about the institutional uh hits is we're partnering with a lot of other organizations that have asked to put Julie's list on their website so that they can use that as a resource to help people.
14:40
SPEAKER_00: That is so great.
14:41
SPEAKER_01: Yes, it is.
14:43
SPEAKER_01: Uh, if all 130,000 of those were individual hits and they were calling us, we'd be in trouble.
14:52
SPEAKER_01: We're so glad uh to be able to have partnered with so many more institutions, and this will do nothing but grow exponentially over the next couple of years.
15:01
SPEAKER_00: But uh the but your core business is growing as well, and that is the you know, helping folks live secure in their home, and and and how did that vision begin to take shape to go beyond Michigan to other states?
15:15
SPEAKER_01: There was a gentleman down in Kentucky who saw an article in a magazine of all places, um and he called up.
15:25
SPEAKER_01: I talked to him at length.
15:26
SPEAKER_01: He says, Is this something I can do down in Kentucky?
15:29
SPEAKER_01: And we had looked at several models, our board, of how could we expand, uh, knowing that we were limited in resources, not only financially, but from a human resources perspective.
15:42
SPEAKER_01: So, anyways, long story short, I went down to Kentucky, met with uh this gentleman, his name is Marty Brown, and uh he retired in from teaching in uh 2024, and um has really done a great job of expanding it.
16:00
SPEAKER_01: So him and I have written a I call it a playbook, uh, that if anyone is interested in being a regional director, there's the whole handbook manual of what that entails and what we ask our regional directors to do.
16:19
SPEAKER_01: And uh since then we've had three other people, one in Lansing area, one in Minnesota, one in Syracuse, New York, have uh all shown interest and we're in the process of maybe getting them set up in those areas over the next several months.
16:36
SPEAKER_00: And and Tony, they would be regional directors.
16:39
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they would they would manage their all of Minnesota, for example, or maybe Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois.
16:45
SPEAKER_01: No, we're looking at roughly a 50-mile, 60-mile radius at best.
16:53
SPEAKER_01: Um, that's a lot of traveling, a lot of advocating.
16:56
SPEAKER_01: So, for example, the gentleman out in Lansing, that's our second regional director in Michigan.
17:03
unknown: Okay.
17:04
SPEAKER_01: But looking at the state of Michigan, I think we would use or need at least 15.
17:10
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
17:12
SPEAKER_01: If we're really gonna section this off to where someone can cover that area, advocate in the churches in the area or businesses or organizations, it's it's a lot of traveling.
17:24
SPEAKER_01: So we're looking for uh a large growth in regional directors, and then all of the uh ordering of materials, the processing of the client cases, that's still all done out of our corporate office or central office here in Taylor.
17:42
SPEAKER_01: So maybe it's helpful to explain a little bit how this works.
17:46
SPEAKER_01: So, our website, if you're a volunteer, you go online, you you sign up, we get you registered as a volunteer, we do a background check, you become a volunteer.
17:58
SPEAKER_01: You get a username and password, and you can then go on to the website, look at all of the login, look at all of the open cases that we have, click on that case, and claim it.
18:12
SPEAKER_01: Uh you put two days and times that you're available.
18:15
SPEAKER_01: That sends an email here to the to the tailor office, and then the people here will process, get the material ordered.
18:24
SPEAKER_01: We have contracts with Lowe's, Home Depot, Menarge, and Great Lakes Ace.
18:28
SPEAKER_01: So we ship the materials that are needed for that project either to the volunteer or to the home directly.
18:34
SPEAKER_01: So it really doesn't matter if this is in Kentucky, Lansing, Wyoming, doesn't matter.
18:40
SPEAKER_01: Everything is processed out of this one corporate office.
18:45
SPEAKER_00: That's absolutely fantastic.
18:47
SPEAKER_00: It's uh uh so you're really poised to if you had the regional directors, you could really go anywhere.
18:55
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
18:56
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
18:56
SPEAKER_00: And the regional.
18:58
SPEAKER_01: I think um it will be relatively easy to find them.
19:03
SPEAKER_01: We we as a board in January said, okay, we'll we'll do four regional directors this year, one a quarter.
19:10
SPEAKER_01: Um we're already there.
19:14
SPEAKER_01: So I think we want to take it a little bit slower um and just see how this develops.
19:23
SPEAKER_01: Marty has done a great job in proving to me that it it certainly is scalable.
19:29
SPEAKER_01: Uh how scalable?
19:32
SPEAKER_01: That's hard to say at this point.
19:34
SPEAKER_01: So I still consider us a startup.
19:36
SPEAKER_01: We're three and a half years into this.
19:38
SPEAKER_01: Um so there's a lot of learning curve for us as we go through this um growth.
19:47
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, but it's uh you can really see God's hand on it.
19:50
SPEAKER_00: It just it looks like it's just really starting to take off, and and you you've done a lot of the behind-the-scenes organizational work to to now you can tell these regional guys this is what a region looks like.
20:02
SPEAKER_00: You're not going thousand miles, you're going 50 to 60 miles, and you're going to be able to manage this territory.
20:08
SPEAKER_00: And and they they also have to do some work with some the faith community, right?
20:12
SPEAKER_00: They interface, interface with the the churches in the area and try to uh um uh have volunteers come alongside them to actually do the work because the the regional guys aren't they're not going to fix Mrs.
20:26
SPEAKER_00: Jones' house necessarily.
20:28
SPEAKER_01: No, they they just coordinate again, going to the different churches or different organizations and trying to find volunteers and to get the word out to people that are in that are in need.
20:41
SPEAKER_01: Um my pastor told me this.
20:44
SPEAKER_01: Uh we were having breakfast one morning.
20:46
SPEAKER_01: He says, Do you realize how many people you're able to help?
20:49
SPEAKER_01: I said, Yes.
20:50
SPEAKER_01: I said, we had over so many clients.
20:52
SPEAKER_01: He says, No, no, not the clients.
20:54
SPEAKER_01: He said, the volunteers.
20:55
SPEAKER_01: He says, you're giving people an avenue to live the Christian life, to serve others.
21:02
SPEAKER_01: And the more I thought about it and talking to some of our volunteers, and we're up over 350 right now in Michigan, it's it's an opportunity for them to serve on their own time.
21:17
SPEAKER_01: They get to pick when they want to do it, how often they want to do it, and what they want to do.
21:22
SPEAKER_01: Um I tell this story.
21:24
SPEAKER_01: Um so I'm advocating in a church, and uh this wife brings her husband to the back of the church after mass, and she says, My husband would like to sign up.
21:35
SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking, really?
21:38
SPEAKER_01: Um so he signed up and uh he said, Really, I only have to do this an hour or two a month.
21:43
SPEAKER_01: I said, You can do it as often as you want or as little as you want.
21:48
SPEAKER_01: So a month or so later, he signed up for a case to do a grab bar for a woman in her 80s.
21:54
SPEAKER_01: Uh this woman couldn't get in and out of her shower without having her daughter come over, strip.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: Her down and how embarrassing, humiliating that was for her.
22:03
SPEAKER_00: Right.
22:04
SPEAKER_01: Put in this grab bar, and this woman wouldn't stop crying and hugging him in gratitude.
22:09
SPEAKER_01: So we asked the volunteer to call our office, give the story of what happened, how did it go, and he's in tears.
22:16
SPEAKER_01: So he now claims one or two cases a week.
22:21
SPEAKER_01: He got hooked emotionally.
22:23
SPEAKER_01: Um tugged in his heartstrings, and he's doing this uh a lot more often.
22:28
SPEAKER_01: And this type of an organization uh does give that hands-on uh human contact.
22:36
SPEAKER_01: And I think that ties a little bit to why I started this.
22:41
SPEAKER_01: I remember as a kid growing up, uh, Donna Monroe.
22:45
SPEAKER_01: My grandparents, my parents were great influences on me in that respect.
22:50
SPEAKER_01: Uh my grandmother would bake, seem like all day long.
22:53
SPEAKER_01: Take this down to this person, take this down to this person whose husband may have passed away.
22:59
SPEAKER_01: I remember cutting Mrs.
23:00
SPEAKER_01: Carducci's grass for 10 cents.
23:03
SPEAKER_01: Um that doesn't seem like a lot, but I could buy two packs of baseball cards with that time back in those days.
23:09
SPEAKER_01: But um you learned at a very young, early age how to serve others in your neighborhood.
23:17
SPEAKER_00: Uh that's just absolutely so good.
23:24
SPEAKER_00: But the uh um when we were in your office, you said something I thought was really profound.
23:29
SPEAKER_00: You know, you that if if if it was when you and I were growing up many years ago and and you thought of uh starting St.
23:36
SPEAKER_00: Joseph's Helpers, there wouldn't be a need for it.
23:39
SPEAKER_00: Because as a culture, we did look after our neighbors and they looked after us, and and uh but but um that's pretty much changed, hasn't it?
23:48
SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's it totally changed.
23:50
SPEAKER_01: When um when the neighbor was sick, again, I'll go back to my grandmother, take this down to so-and-so.
23:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, she's not gonna be able to make food or whatever.
23:59
SPEAKER_01: You went into that person's house when they were sick.
24:01
SPEAKER_01: Now you hear someone sick with COVID, oh my gosh.
24:06
SPEAKER_01: Right uh Bobwire fence around their property.
24:10
SPEAKER_01: It's changed.
24:10
SPEAKER_01: The cell phone has changed.
24:13
SPEAKER_01: When you went outside and you played, or you went outside and you walked three or four blocks, you saw people, you said hello.
24:19
SPEAKER_01: Now your face is buried in that little box.
24:23
SPEAKER_01: Things have changed, and unfortunately, not in a good way.
24:27
SPEAKER_01: There was a Pew report I read uh back in 24.
24:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was 24.
24:34
SPEAKER_01: Anyways, it said 57% of people surveyed admitted they couldn't name their neighbor on either side of them or across the street.
24:44
SPEAKER_00: 57%.
24:45
SPEAKER_01: 57% couldn't name three neighbors, let alone that they would go out and help those neighbors.
24:50
SPEAKER_01: They couldn't even uh they didn't even know their names.
24:56
SPEAKER_00: I believe that, and that's uh that's pretty pathetic.
24:58
SPEAKER_01: Uh that yes it is.
25:00
SPEAKER_00: But the the other thing is is uh when you think about it, how many folks do uh or how many articles have you read about folks being lonely and and and not having a purpose?
25:11
SPEAKER_00: And everyone's thinking about oh, I can't wait till I retire, and then they get to retirement.
25:15
SPEAKER_00: It's like, how many times can you play golf and and uh and all the other things till it just loses its its uh its excitement?
25:23
SPEAKER_00: But what what you have developed here is the opportunity to serve your neighbors when you're available as many times as you want.
25:31
SPEAKER_00: There's there's no minimum or anything, but and the case study you just mentioned of the gentleman from church who signed up thought he'd do maybe one a month, and he's doing a couple of them a week.
25:43
SPEAKER_00: I mean, this this could really be a phenomenal solution for folks that want to make an impact when they think maybe the the opportunity to to make a difference is passed them by, and that's not true.
25:55
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, uh Craig, our mission statement originally was to help those in need with basic home repairs and maintenance.
26:02
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
26:03
SPEAKER_01: It was very uh pragmatic, you know, it's just fixing some things around the house.
26:08
SPEAKER_01: And what we learned very quickly in 2023 was there was a component of companionship that was needed.
26:17
SPEAKER_01: Uh so we asked our volunteers to talk with these clients as we do work there.
26:24
SPEAKER_01: In a lot of cases, in one of my first cases I did, I had done a small repair for this woman.
26:31
SPEAKER_01: Uh she had again lost her husband recently, and I went and cleaned out her dryer vent.
26:36
SPEAKER_01: She was afraid that her dryer was going to catch on fire.
26:39
SPEAKER_01: Anyways, it took me about 15 minutes.
26:42
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but afterwards she had made a pot of coffee, had a little coffee cake, and I sat there for about an hour and a half listening to her.
26:51
SPEAKER_01: You know, we had a conversation, I don't think I said 10 words, but uh she just needed someone to talk to.
26:57
SPEAKER_00: Right.
26:58
SPEAKER_01: Uh, no family in the area, and uh so we added that as another component.
27:04
SPEAKER_01: We asked our volunteers, spend a little extra time if you have it with this person.
27:09
SPEAKER_01: Um listen to their stories, and they have a lot of them.
27:15
SPEAKER_01: So the other component that we added in January of 24 was the prayer request.
27:22
SPEAKER_01: How many people really feel hopeless?
27:27
SPEAKER_01: Uh so we developed a homeowner's prayer that we send with a little packet to our clients uh on every case with this prayer, and in a lot of cases, the homeowner has asked our client or our uh volunteer to pray with them.
27:44
SPEAKER_01: So that's another component that we're adding to this feeling safe and secure in your home.
27:49
SPEAKER_01: Uh so that's just another resource that we um that we have, and we'll continue to look for ways of serving those people and trying to keep them in what for most of them is the house they bought with their spouse 50 years ago.
28:10
SPEAKER_00: Right.
28:11
SPEAKER_01: Just trying to stay in place.
28:15
SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, I know you started uh with a focus on pastoral ministry or supporting pastors, and uh now you've got 350 volunteers that are field pastors or deacons, whatever you want to call them, going into these uh uh the these situations where folks really need some a personal touch, and they're praying specifically for them, I'm I would imagine, about whatever's going on in the uh the the uh uh uh the person's life or their home or their family issues or what have you.
28:46
SPEAKER_00: It's it's it's an amazing ministry, Saint Joseph's Helpers.
28:50
SPEAKER_00: And and so um before we leave today, can you explain to our audience how can they get help if they want help from St.
28:58
SPEAKER_00: Joseph's Helpers?
28:59
SPEAKER_00: How do they do that?
29:00
SPEAKER_01: Three ways.
29:01
SPEAKER_01: Um first one is certainly log into our website.
29:05
SPEAKER_01: Uh there's a button to hit if you want to be a client.
29:10
SPEAKER_01: Uh there's a button if you want to be a volunteer.
29:13
SPEAKER_01: That's the first way.
29:14
SPEAKER_01: Second way is call our office.
29:17
SPEAKER_01: Um, we have people here that will help you through the process of either filling out the paperwork to become a client, or again, if you want to be a volunteer to fill out the paperwork.
29:31
SPEAKER_01: A lot of people are not very computer savvy these days.
29:34
SPEAKER_01: A lot of people don't have access to the internet.
29:37
SPEAKER_01: So we're finding we get a lot of phone calls for clients and or volunteers to sign up.
29:43
SPEAKER_01: And then the third way is through your through a lot of local churches that we've been to, through a lot of different agencies, Senior Alliance, uh ProMedica, those places, they'll refer clients to us.
29:58
SPEAKER_01: So if you're already connected with certain organizations, they may have uh information uh about St.
30:06
SPEAKER_01: Joseph Helpers.
30:09
SPEAKER_00: That's absolutely great.
30:10
SPEAKER_00: And of course, uh when our our interview today is is is uh published, you'll have all the uh St.
30:17
SPEAKER_00: Joseph's Helpers information on the bottom of the screen and with the web address and the phone number and what have you.
30:22
SPEAKER_00: And uh Tony, I just want to thank you so much for being our guest here on It's a Grand Life and telling us uh thank you for having us.
30:29
SPEAKER_00: Oh, my my pleasure, and and and I hope you'll come on again and and keep us posted on which new state you're opening up now.
30:35
SPEAKER_00: And could you probably have a couple open up by lunch today, I would imagine.
30:38
SPEAKER_00: But uh because it's it's really an amazing story.
30:42
SPEAKER_00: But uh thank you.
30:44
SPEAKER_01: You know, Craig, I was I was afraid you're gonna ask me the office phone number.
30:50
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
30:51
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna pull out the business card real quick here.
30:53
SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm thinking, oh geez, if you ask me, at least now I can see what the office number is.
31:00
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure our producer is gonna have your your your web address and your phone number and everything at the bottom of this.
31:05
SPEAKER_00: And and I I hope that this uh our interview today, Tony, that that uh that that we can identify some regional directors all over the country because uh I really think God's hand is on this, and uh um and there's nothing like loving your neighbor, and we really, really need it in this country to bring us all together.
31:24
SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, I I do want to say very quickly that your organization, um, it's a grand life, is a perfect opportunity for our two organizations to work together uh to help these again wonderful people that are serving God and serving uh their family uh by take raising their grandchildren.
31:49
SPEAKER_01: And uh your ministry is is absolutely wonderful.
31:53
SPEAKER_01: And if there's anything we can do to help support that, uh I'm looking forward to that in the future.
31:58
SPEAKER_00: Well, I know we'll be working together uh um uh Lord willing for years and years, and we and and and you guys have already connected us to other folks that are in the same space, like our my friend Paul Propson over at uh uh Catholic Charities.
32:13
SPEAKER_00: And and just um just and he said, Craig, you know, you your grandparents can, you know, we we have counseling at Catholic charities.
32:20
SPEAKER_00: They don't have to be in a parish to get counseling from us, they can just and and that's pretty much what the kingdom's about.
32:28
SPEAKER_00: It's uh you know loving your neighbor where they're at.
32:31
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and you know, but what the biggest challenge for grandparents raising grandkids is where can I get the psychological counseling to help me through this time for myself and my grandchild.
32:41
SPEAKER_00: And now, thanks to our affiliation with St.
32:44
SPEAKER_00: Joseph's Helpers, we're connected to Catholic charities, and and that's gonna be good for all of our grandparent organizations all over the country because Catholic charities is nationwide.
32:53
SPEAKER_01: So you know what I'm finding is again, you put your blinders on, you focus on your mission, so to speak, and that's what we did on when we first started.
33:03
SPEAKER_01: But what we're coming to the realization is that there is so many other needs than just a grab bar.
33:10
SPEAKER_01: Um, there was a woman that I had talked to, meals on wheels.
33:14
SPEAKER_00: Right.
33:15
SPEAKER_01: And she asked, she gave us some telltale signs that people are not eating properly, and asked our volunteers, look to see these signs that maybe they don't have enough food to eat, and give them a pamphlet on Meals on Wheels.
33:33
SPEAKER_01: Your organization, again, similarly, there's opportunities for all of us to look at the situations when we go into these homes and see if there's other ways that these other organizations can help these people in need.
33:50
SPEAKER_00: And and who would have ever imagined that Julie's list would be such a vital component to home repairs?
33:58
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's it's it's amazing how uh you know all this is coming together.
34:03
SPEAKER_00: And uh uh, but thanks so much for joining us today.
34:06
SPEAKER_00: We want to get you guys on again.
34:08
SPEAKER_00: Anything uh if you open up a new state, we've got to hear about it.
34:12
SPEAKER_00: And uh and uh but uh thanks for all you're doing.
34:15
SPEAKER_00: We appreciate your friendship and your partnership and serving those who need to be served.
34:20
SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for joining us on It's a Grand Life.
34:22
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Craig.
34:23
SPEAKER_01: God bless.
34:24
SPEAKER_00: God bless you and those of you at home, thank you so much for joining us.
34:28
SPEAKER_00: Look at the bottom of the screen.
34:29
SPEAKER_00: If you need a home repair, uh call our friends at St.
34:32
SPEAKER_00: Joseph's Helpers.
34:34
SPEAKER_00: That's why they're here.
34:35
SPEAKER_00: And I can tell you one thing, my friend Tony, he is living a grand life, and we want the same for you.
34:41
SPEAKER_00: Have a great day, and we'll see you next time on It's a Grand Life.
34:44
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining us today for It's a Grand Life.
34:47
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35:05
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35:10
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35:16
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35:19
SPEAKER_00: We are driven by hope while providing strength for today and hope for tomorrow.
35:25
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35:29
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35:33
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35:37
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