Latest / Brian Thomas / The Help Squad - 501c3 Charity

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The Help Squad - 501c3 Charity · Brian Thomas

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Seven six on a Friday. And my name is Brian Thomas,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: host to the fifty five Ksey Morning Show. And I've
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: said in many, many years, and I'll be this is
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: my nineteenth year coming. It'll be twenty years in December.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: And I've always pointed out that I love being in
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: my position for no other reason that I get to
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: bring people and introduce them to the world, like Brian Ibold,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: who is in studio who started the Help Squad, which
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: you can find the Help Help Squad since he with
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: a y dot com. And Brian's been on the program
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: quite a bit over the years, and you know, as
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: part of his Christian mission and his faith and his
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: efforts to help people truly in need in society, he
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: started the Help Squad and the idea was that there's
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: nothing on the West Side, or at least he perceived
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: there was a huge need on the West Side for
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: an organization that can help people get over these hurdles
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: that we can never anticipate. Folks that are already living
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: on life's margins, who run into a temporary situation like
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: I can't make the rent this month, I need a
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: little help this month. And they do a great job
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: vetting people. These are not just people making up stories,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: and so they do a wonderful job of vetting. They
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: get them the assistance they need on a temporary basis,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: and that helps them over that hurdle and it helps
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: them to continue to work and thrive and live in
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: the community. So that's the basis for it. And Brian Ebold,
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: I want to thank you for all the work that
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: you've done. You've been on and you've had some really
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: heartwarming stories about the the payoff for your efforts. I
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: know that brings a great smile on your face and
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: I know those that you have helped. It just keeps
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: you going every single day, I imagine Brian Ibold, welcome
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: back to the show Man.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you so much. And I appreciate you explaining
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: what the Help Squad is.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: I hope I did an adequate job. You did. You
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: did a very good job.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: I would only add that you know, this Help Squad
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: is a little bit unique and we do go above
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: and beyond the basics of most nonprofits where we actually
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: assist people with utility bills to avoid shutoffs or get
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: utilities turned back on. We help families like you mentioned
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: with pass do rent payments to avoid eviction, free car repairs.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: We've given away about a dozen vehicles to those in
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: destiny of transportation.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: Uh.
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  Speaker 2: You know, basically we are just a one stop shop
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  Speaker 2: for struggling families.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: And I have on my rundown and I know what
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: it is because you told me about it before we
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: open the mic. You mentioned automobiles. You help people. You know,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: a dozen or so automobiles you've got now so people
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  Speaker 1: can actually get back and forth and have a job.
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  Speaker 1: Amazing concept that, But there are a lot of people
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: out there struggling financially. That that right there on that line,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: and you read stories all the time about it. You know,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: most Americans don't even have five hundred dollars to meet
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: an emergency situation. We don't want those people to not
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: be able to go to work and their in comes.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: The therein lies a challenge. If you need an auto repair,
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: I just got through one the other life. I was
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: telling you, I just it was outrageous. I got rear
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: brakes put in my car and I couldn't believe how
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: much I had to pay for it. But automobile repairs
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  Speaker 1: are really expensive, and you know anything's going to cost you,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: like five hundred bucks these days, I mean a new
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: set of tires. Tires are outrageously expensive. But if your
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: alternator goes out, your car is dead and you cannot
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: go to work. You are doing a beautiful thing with
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: this new program you got together to Brian Ibold, let
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: my listeners know all about it, because we're going to
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: get more people to help out. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: So myself and our vice president, Sam Jasper been working
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: really closely with the president of Hamblin County's strategy to
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  Speaker 2: end homelessness. His name is Kevin Finn.
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  Speaker 1: Real good dude.
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  Speaker 2: During our meetings, we learned that there are basically two
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  Speaker 2: people or two ways to fall into homelessness. The first one,
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: you're already homeless, You're already down there. The second reason
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  Speaker 2: is you run into a financial crisis that you cannot overcome,
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  Speaker 2: get behind on your bills, get evicted and become homelessness
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: or become homeless. So i'd ask Kevin. I said, what
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  Speaker 2: is the biggest reason people get behind on the bills
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  Speaker 2: in the first place, which leads them to become homeless?
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  Speaker 2: And Kevin said, car repairs. Now, just think about that.
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  Speaker 2: For a second, car repairs, we can prevent a family
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  Speaker 2: from becoming homeless with something simple as a car repair.
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  Speaker 1: That alternator or yes, those tires breaks, whatever happens to be,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: that's the one thing that results in homelessness. That's kind
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: of a weird thing to like to understand or comprehend.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah sure, well we take heaving transportation for granted. But
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: let me give you this example really quickly. So if
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: you have a single mom with three kids, working two
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  Speaker 2: jobs and she's making ends meet, all is good, rhymes,
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  Speaker 2: we have my mom. That's exactly what my mother did.
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  Speaker 2: All is good. The next day her water pump goes
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  Speaker 2: out in her car and it costs five hundred dollars,
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  Speaker 2: like you mentioned to fix. Well, I can tell you
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  Speaker 2: right now she doesn't have the five hundred dollars laying
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  Speaker 2: around in order to her circle of friends, and a
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  Speaker 2: lot of the clients we deal with have affected credit,
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  Speaker 2: so using a credit card is not an option.
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  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, right.
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  Speaker 2: So now the single mom can't get to work, doesn't
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  Speaker 2: get paid, can't pay her bills, and now her and
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  Speaker 2: her three children are living in Section eight housing where
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: she receives food vouchers, health insurance, paid utilities, and much more.
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  Speaker 2: So let's just say conservatively, it costs the taxpayers twenty
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: five thousand dollars a year to house this family who
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  Speaker 2: never wanted to be on government assistance to begin with. Right,
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  Speaker 2: if we just would have paid the five hundred dollars
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  Speaker 2: to fix her water pump to begin with, we would
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  Speaker 2: have saved the taxpayer twenty four five hundred dollars. And
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  Speaker 2: if you multiply that times the hundreds of times this
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  Speaker 2: situation where something similar is happening every day, we are
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  Speaker 2: talking millions of dollars that does not need to be spent. Basically,
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  Speaker 2: give us two million, we'll save you ten.
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  Speaker 1: And this does not involve creating a brand new government
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  Speaker 1: program with a lot of bureaucracy. It just involves individuals
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  Speaker 1: like you who believe they have a mission to help
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  Speaker 1: their fellow man and appreciate the overall economic benefit to
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: the entire society by preventing that thing from happening. What
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: do we need to do, Brian Eyebold? What have other
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: people done to help solve this problem? Because I know
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: you already have some partners in this, and I want
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  Speaker 1: to give a huge shout out to every single one
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  Speaker 1: of them.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, So, really, this isn't an interview Brian, this is
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  Speaker 2: more of a call to action. You know, I've said
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  Speaker 2: we need all your listeners, we need politicians, we need
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  Speaker 2: social media influence, we need sports figures, celebrities and every
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  Speaker 2: one of your listeners. Since vehicle repairs is what is
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: needed the most to prevent family from becoming a homeless statistic,
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  Speaker 2: this is a call to action to every service station,
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  Speaker 2: every auto repair shop, every tow truck company, and every
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  Speaker 2: audio parts store and every mechanic to join our list
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  Speaker 2: of supporters who will give X amount of dollars in
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  Speaker 2: free tax deductible car repairs. And as to date, right
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  Speaker 2: now we have four service stations on board, totaling up
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  Speaker 2: to about twenty five thousand dollars in free car repairs.
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  Speaker 2: We're going to have four people who are on the
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  Speaker 2: verge of becoming homeless and real quick. Those four service
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  Speaker 2: stations are Matt Brogan, a broken Folds oil on the
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  Speaker 2: West Side, Mark Duber of Duber's Automotive Dudever, he's a
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: good dude.
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  Speaker 1: You're all good dudes.
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  Speaker 2: Andrew Schneider of Bear Car Care over there in White Oak,
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  Speaker 2: and finally Mike Brogan a broken oil on Glennay Avenue,
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  Speaker 2: price Sell. Me and Mike. We're since any police officers together.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: We are in the riots together. And you should have
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: seen that guy in action. So we have these four
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  Speaker 2: service stations right now. We have a couple still that
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  Speaker 2: are coming aboard, but it's right now. Just with these four,
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  Speaker 2: we have twenty five thousand dollars in free car repairs.
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  Speaker 1: If we could get.
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  Speaker 2: Ten, fifteen, twenty more of these service stations, we could
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  Speaker 2: put a huge dent in the homelessness problem. We can
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  Speaker 2: do this. I mean we're talking ten twenty thirty percent
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  Speaker 2: we could avoid of becoming homeless.
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  Speaker 1: That's huge, I'm telling you that huge. Yeah, and the
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  Speaker 1: return on investment. Again, it's nice that it is a
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  Speaker 1: tax deductible donation. There's an incentive to join in the
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  Speaker 1: fund anyway. But just the idea that you know, each one,
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  Speaker 1: let's say, committing ten thousand dollars in repairs for a
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: complete calendar year. Yeah, probably not a whole lot of skin.
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  Speaker 1: I maybe assuming a lot. I don't know what it's
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: like to have to run an automobile repair business, but
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  Speaker 1: you know, it's not a tremendous amount overall. But if
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  Speaker 1: we get if the more people, the more stations and
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  Speaker 1: individuals who are in a position to repair cars get involved. Man,
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  Speaker 1: that could be a profound, profound change. Oh yeah, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: keeping people we can and people employed. Well, that's what
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  Speaker 1: we're hoping. We're hoping that you can go to our website. Heck,
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: I give you my telephone number of the over the
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: radio here. It doesn't matter.
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  Speaker 2: We just need people to join our cause and help us,
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  Speaker 2: you know, put a dent in homelessness.
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  Speaker 1: And I know you've got a couple of heartwarming stories
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  Speaker 1: you can pass along about the work that the Help
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  Speaker 1: Squad has been doing over the last several well since
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: we probably last talked the Help Squad Sincy with a
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: y dot com you can you can donate right there
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  Speaker 1: if if you're not in a position to be able
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  Speaker 1: to repair a car, at least make a donation or contribution. Again,
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: this organization focuses more on the West Side, but this
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  Speaker 1: call to action, you're asking for autobile or repair folks
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  Speaker 1: all across the Greaters or the Tri State area to
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  Speaker 1: get right right.
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  Speaker 2: This isn't just a West Side thing. When you work
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  Speaker 2: with Strategies dn homelessness, it's for the entire Hamilton County
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  Speaker 2: City of Cincinnati. So this isn't just specifically on the
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  Speaker 2: West side. This is Hamilondon County as a whole.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: All right. So the individual that needs this assistance, do
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: they get in touch with the Help Squad through that organization?
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  Speaker 1: I know, they just don't go directly, No, not at all.
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  Speaker 2: They're gonna be They're gonna come from the Strategies and Homelessness.
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: So they're going to their people, are going to find
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  Speaker 2: these families that are on the verge of becoming homeless,
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  Speaker 2: and then they're going to contact us. We will facilitate
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: the date and time of the car repair, so the
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  Speaker 2: service shop manager or owner does not have to deal
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  Speaker 2: with every single client. We have will be the liaison
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  Speaker 2: and we will facilitate all repairs.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: And you'll also do that vetting that we talked about.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: Oh of course. Let me tell you something.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: If you can be vetted through Strategies and Homelessness and
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: the Help Squad, you're pretty needy.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: You're in need, no question about that. We'll continue with
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: Brian Ibel or they have the bottom the eyre of
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: the return of Brigham account our energy expert from the
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: Hudson Institute. We got an hour with Brigham all kinds
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: of Warner and see the talk station twenty one to
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: think about Kersee talk station Habby Friday, we're gonna talking
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: energy policies. Bring McCowan for an hour after the segment.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: I'm doing here with Brian Ibel from the Help Squad,
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: and I love having the Help Squad and I spread
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: the word about the love that they're passing along to
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: those in need. And of course what a brilliant concept
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: getting folks automobile repairs who truly need it so they
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: can continue to work. I still am reeling over the
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: fact that an automobile repair is the number one cause
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  Speaker 1: and leading a reason that someone ends up in a
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  Speaker 1: homeless situation. Brian, that's just a real shocker. So the
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: Help Squad since you with awy dot com where you
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: can help out by way of donation. If you are
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: someone with the skills audibile repair, you own your automobile
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: repair shop, you want to get involved anywhere in the
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: general Tri state area. You can be a part of
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: this ever growing team of folks providing those needed repairs.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Just some donation of time and parts. It's tax deductible
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: and you're going to all help yourself by doing that.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: As Brian illustrated. I understand, Brian Ibold. You got a
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: fundraiser coming up, Yeah, we do. That's actually a really
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: cool one.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: So on Sinko to Mile that's May fifth. If you
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: don't speak Spanish, sink Of to Mile. We have a
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: huge fundraiser at the Sign Museum. Yeah, I mean, how
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: much cooler can it?
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: Get? The Sign Museum right on as you can get exactly.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: And what's also is really neat is that we're going
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: to have Schari Palo and my Dartis are going to
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: be the MC for that event. So we're very grateful
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: for for them. Tickets are on sale right now. It's
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: seventy five dollars a pop. You get you know, food, entertainment,
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: and then again you have the Sign Museum as well.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: Plus you'll get to hear me make a speech. Right,
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: That's right, that's worth the price emission right there.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: Indeed, going back, I I just was suggesting maybe you
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: can put a little human element, maybe pass along an
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: illustration of something that you have, some person or family
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: you helped out in the community by virtue of your
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: efforts at the help Squad. Just give people an idea
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: of what you're encountering in throughout the year.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, sure, I'll leave you with this. So we had
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: a lady calls not too long ago, and we were
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: the sixteenth agency that she has contacted for help. And
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: what she needed was rental assistance. She was a she
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: worked two jobs. She made money, made enough money to
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: make it, I mean, she made ends meet. She had
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: two children, and she had her dying mother living in
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: a hospital bed in their living room under hospice care.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: And because of some of the costs associated with that,
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: she missed a rent payment and was going to be evicted.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: Now do you under can you picture that wheeling? I mean,
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: what is going on here living? Yes, like when we
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: live in a society that would allow that. So sixteen agencies,
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: we were the sixteenth fifteen fifteen of the agencies where
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: government ran, agencies that put you on hold, don't call
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: you back, or rude to you if they do answer,
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: don't have the money, always an excuse not to help, okay.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: And we were the sixteenth day and she she called
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: me on a Wednesday, she was going to have the
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: eviction notice on a Friday. On Thursday, we paid the
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: rent totality and there is no eviction that's amazing. Okay,
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: So what would have happened, Seriously, what would have happened
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: if we weren't here? I mean, what happens to families
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: like that? And that's what I mean. It's not just
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: on the West Side people that need help, it's everywhere.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: I mean, every community should be a help squad community.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: I mean, I feel like I'm banging my head against
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: a car door to try to get people to understand this.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: And let me just double down of the idea that
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: this is your Christian mission. You know, always bothers me
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: when I find out that the person leading any church
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: service the priest. I'm momm even anybody else telling you
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: that a government program is the solution, that is offloading
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: your mission. That is a human mission, Your gob obligation
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: is a Christian is to do it yourself, not hand
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: over the keys of someone else. Because look what happens.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: Sixteen other organizations were supposed to be in a position
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: to help her. It's the number sixteen doing it on
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: their own, not government run, not expecting anything, not making
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: a profit. And the organization that this isn't paying salaries.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: You're just doing it because you want to help. Yeah,
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: we're all volunteer. Real help comes, Yes, sir, we're all volunteers.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: Nobody gets paid, and we're all privately funded. We have
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: no grants, we have grant writers. We've never gotten a grant.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: I mean. So, And to my submariner friend Mike who
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: suggested maybe you should tap into the apparently infinite supply
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: of n g O money that the City of Cincinnati
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: is handing out, I would recommend no, because then you
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: get stuck having to work with those clowns.
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, you've got to be careful of, you know,
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: getting in bed with the government and agencies like that.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: But like I said, all of our up to for
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: the last five years have all been privately funded, all
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: just donations from friends and people that actually have a
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: concern for their fellow.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: Brother and sister and proven results. That's it.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: Definitely, that's why this is working because we have proven
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: two p people this works. They see where their money's
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: going and it works.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like Matthew twenty five. You give them a buck,
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: a buck's going to where it's needed.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: Right, one hundred percent of every donation goes to help somebody.
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: Not a lot of agencies can say that.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: There's a link on my blog page thanks to Joe
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: Streger who put it up there. That helps Glad SENSEI
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: with y dot com. I also put the I had
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: him put the UH Strategies to End Homelessness dot org
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: website up as well, since they're coordinating with you on
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: these automobile repair needs. God bless you, Brian Ibolt, and
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: I hope that you and I'm sure you did, serve
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: as an inspiration to someone out there who said, you
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: know what, I'm going to get involved