Latest / Salem Podcast Network / That KEVIN Show - First Responders Children’s Foundation National First Responders Day Roll Call of Heroes

Transcript

That KEVIN Show - First Responders Children’s Foundation National First Responders Day Roll Call of Heroes · Salem Podcast Network

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: 10, 3, 2, 1.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Somewhere in the bowels of the city that never sleeps.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Kevin McCullough, radio host with Salem Media. Is a man
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: also not sleeping.
• 0:11
  Speaker 3: Syndicated radio talk show host, Kevin McCullough.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: And that guy would like a word with you. Many
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: of you know him.
• 0:18
  Speaker 4: Of course that Kevin show is going to be great.
• 0:21
  Speaker 5: The only thing that could be greater of course would
• 0:22
  Speaker 5: be that Donald show.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: We don't have that, so we have that Kevin show.
• 0:26
  Speaker 6: Featuring the music of Dick Tunney and the Dream in
• 0:30
  Speaker 6: Color Orchestra. Straight ahead, everything you need to know about
• 0:44
  Speaker 6: the top headlines of the day and a perspective that
• 0:47
  Speaker 6: will give you some eternity to it. Plus, practical tips
• 0:51
  Speaker 6: for family life, spiritual life, and good.
• 0:55
  Speaker 7: Old regular life.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: It's Kevin McCullough, Monday through Friday, on.
• 1:00
  Speaker 6: That Kevin Show. And now, from the Connors & Sullivan
• 1:10
  Speaker 6: Broadcast Studios, the man who is not what he wants
• 1:13
  Speaker 6: to be, but is way grateful that he's not who
• 1:17
  Speaker 6: he used to.
• 1:18
  Speaker 7: Be, here's.
• 1:25
  Speaker 8: All right, we are in the middle of Times Square.
• 1:27
  Speaker 8: It is an amazing day, great temperature. It was perfect
• 1:32
  Speaker 8: for our event just a couple of hours ago. It
• 1:35
  Speaker 8: is National First Responders Day. And here in Times Square,
• 1:38
  Speaker 8: we are doing something so special and so unique. And
• 1:42
  Speaker 8: I am so glad to have Jillian Crane and Craig
• 1:45
  Speaker 8: Martinez to kick off the.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: Show with us here.
• 1:47
  Speaker 8: Kevin McCullough, glad to have you here. Thatkevinshow.com for all
• 1:50
  Speaker 8: things you need. Jillian, president and CEO of First Responders
• 1:53
  Speaker 8: Children's Foundation, but also a well-known actress and just esteemed
• 1:57
  Speaker 8: in every way.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: This is the most meaningful thing.
• 1:59
  Speaker 8: You told me on my local show last Friday, this
• 2:01
  Speaker 8: is the most meaningful thing you've ever done.
• 2:03
  Speaker 5: Why?
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: Being the president and CEO of an organization like the
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: First Responders Children's Foundation means that I get up every
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: morning and I get to support and take care of
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: the children of first responders in every part of the
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: United States. And those are the people who have parents
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: running into danger for all of us.
• 2:23
  Speaker 8: Talk to me about the statistics of how many first
• 2:26
  Speaker 8: responders we lose each year and how that impacts these families.
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: Those statistics change from year to year, but Hundreds. And,
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: you know, suicide is also an issue right now for
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: first responders. There's a lot of uncertainty in the life
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: of a first responder.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: And they have children.
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: And that little boy or girl today and somewhere in
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: America is watching their mother or dad walk out the
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: door to protect someone that they have never met. And
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: that child is at the heart of everything we do
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: at First Responders Children's Foundation.
• 2:56
  Speaker 8: This started as a growth out of the response to 9-11, obviously,
• 3:01
  Speaker 8: because we lost a lot of first responders that day.
• 3:03
  Speaker 8: But it's been expanded since. Talk about the reach and
• 3:07
  Speaker 8: what you guys practically do.
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: Yes, we started after 9-11 when 800 children lost a
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: first responder parent. Now, 25 years later, we are in
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: every state with scholarships, with a mental health program, with
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: bereavement support if there's a line of duty death. We
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: pay bills for children and families of first responders. They
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: are facing financial hardship. And we have a lot of
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: community engagement. And we can't do it without our partners
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: like T-Mobile, who is here today with us, Craig Martinez,
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: and all of the people who support us.
• 3:39
  Speaker 8: Craig, let's talk about T-Mobile's desire to be part of this.
• 3:42
  Speaker 8: What does it mean to you as a public corporate
• 3:45
  Speaker 8: entity to take a very visible role in saying to
• 3:48
  Speaker 8: these kids, you're not forgotten?
• 3:50
  Speaker 9: Yeah, this is something that's personal for me. You know,
• 3:53
  Speaker 9: I was a first responder before coming to T-Mobile. I
• 3:55
  Speaker 9: spent nearly 30 years in the military and law enforcement serving.
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: Communities just like these folks. And, you know, when I
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: went to the academy in 1998 in.
• 4:04
  Speaker 9: Utah, one of my academy classmates just two years into
• 4:09
  Speaker 9: our careers was shot and killed in the line of duty.
• 4:12
  Speaker 9: He had a wife and a young son. And so
• 4:15
  Speaker 9: from then out, it just you could see what these
• 4:18
  Speaker 9: families were going through in the most difficult times in
• 4:20
  Speaker 9: their lives. And for what First Responders Children's Foundation is doing,
• 4:23
  Speaker 9: supporting those fallen officers and families in there, especially their children,
• 4:27
  Speaker 9: is so vitally important. I mean, I spent more than
• 4:29
  Speaker 9: a decade on an honor guard unit. where I've traveled
• 4:33
  Speaker 9: across the country attending officers' funerals and got to see
• 4:36
  Speaker 9: firsthand what their families were going through.
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: And so this is a personal thing for me.
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  Speaker 9: And the fact that I get to retire from a
• 4:42
  Speaker 9: law enforcement career and now still serve our first responders
• 4:45
  Speaker 9: and their families at a capacity.
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: With T-Mobile is a blessing, and I'm very happy to
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: be here.
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  Speaker 8: It's in a way a chance for us to say
• 4:52
  Speaker 8: thank you to the first responders that are still here
• 4:55
  Speaker 8: with us as well. And a lot of us have
• 4:58
  Speaker 8: family members who may have been police officers or fire
• 5:01
  Speaker 8: department members that didn't give their lives in the service
• 5:04
  Speaker 8: of their duty. But this is something I don't think
• 5:08
  Speaker 8: you have to be left, right, left. libertarian, politically independent, indifferent.
• 5:13
  Speaker 8: These are the people that keep us safe every day.
• 5:15
  Speaker 8: And our lives would just, we would just not live
• 5:18
  Speaker 8: with the confidence that we have.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: If they weren't there.
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: When you call 911, no one is asking, to your point, Kevin,
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: no one is saying, what political.
• 5:25
  Speaker 7: Affiliation are you? Where are you from?
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: What's your nationality? They just come to rescue you. And
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: I will say that our programs are for all children
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: of first responders, active duty, retired, line of duty, deaf families.
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: We have programs for fire, police, EMT, paramedic, and we
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: added 911 dispatcher families to our list of people we support.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: So talk to me about what those services look like.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: How many different ways do you touch the kids?
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: So we've touched 700,000 children over the 25 years that
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: we've been here, and we give them scholarships. We just
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: gave out a million dollars to 250 kids around the
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: country because of our partnerships. And also we have a
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: mental health program, which is counseling for children of first responders.
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: If they have a bill that they can't pay and
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: they're facing financial hardship, we pay them for them. Every
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: week we send out money and we pay these bills.
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: And then our other programs, like if there is a
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: line of duty death, we send a bereavement check.
• 6:19
  Speaker 7: So we are in.
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: This space every day, every week, looking out for these
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: children and families of first responders in all 50 states.
• 6:27
  Speaker 8: Craig, talk to me about I mean, you're with T-Mobile
• 6:31
  Speaker 8: now doing this, but let's talk about challenging other corporate entities. Like,
• 6:35
  Speaker 8: what do you want to see the rest of, you know,
• 6:38
  Speaker 8: Wall Street and beyond do by way of first responders' kids?
• 6:42
  Speaker 9: You know, what I would love to see is exactly
• 6:44
  Speaker 9: what T-Mobile and First Responder Children's Foundation are doing. They're
• 6:47
  Speaker 9: stepping up and, you know, helping these families that have
• 6:51
  Speaker 9: lost immense lives.
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: Things during their time.
• 6:54
  Speaker 9: As first responders even the ones that are still serving
• 6:57
  Speaker 9: right when i retired i could physically see a change
• 7:00
  Speaker 9: in my wife's demeanor like she just took this deep
• 7:03
  Speaker 9: breath of like finally you know i can go to
• 7:06
  Speaker 9: sleep tonight without those worries.
• 7:08
  Speaker 8: That was a stress that she wore every day when
• 7:10
  Speaker 8: you were leaving out the door in the morning.
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: Absolutely every day and And, you know, I always did things.
• 7:15
  Speaker 9: I was on the SWAT team. They probably made it
• 7:17
  Speaker 9: a little bit worse, right? But to me, I was
• 7:19
  Speaker 9: just doing what I love doing, which was serving others.
• 7:22
  Speaker 9: And to see what other companies are doing, not just T-Mobile,
• 7:25
  Speaker 9: stepping up and putting their money where their mouth is
• 7:29
  Speaker 9: and helping these.
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: First responder families is so, so important.
• 7:34
  Speaker 8: Jillian, you've got kind of a broad cross-section of people
• 7:37
  Speaker 8: that are here in support today. I mean, you've got
• 7:39
  Speaker 8: Salem Media, you've got KMC. You were on with me
• 7:43
  Speaker 8: and Christine last Friday. You've got Jon Stewart. You've got
• 7:46
  Speaker 8: people that normally wouldn't find themselves in the same room together,
• 7:49
  Speaker 8: and yet here we all are.
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: The point of this whole thing is to unite the
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: country in the idea that Children and families of first
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: responders need to be supported. And it's to Craig's point,
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: it'll give these first responders a little peace of mind
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: that the children they love most are taken care of.
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: What I love about this First Responders Children's Foundation and
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: our National First Responders Day event.
• 8:12
  Speaker 10: Today is that we're uniting everyone.
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: And we want this entire country to say thank you
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  Speaker 3: to a first responder today.
• 8:19
  Speaker 8: Well, congratulations on the vision, on the faithfulness for all
• 8:23
  Speaker 8: these years, on the ability to do this every single day,
• 8:27
  Speaker 8: helping children. If people are listening from Anchorage to Miami,
• 8:31
  Speaker 8: from New York to San Diego and everywhere.
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: Actually, we've got an affiliate in Hawaii, too. Wherever they're listening.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: We have special recipients in Hawaii.
• 8:39
  Speaker 11: Okay.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: How can they send a donation today?
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much for, and anyone, no donation is
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: too small. They go to our website, go to one,
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: the number one, strcf.org.
• 8:51
  Speaker 8: I see what you did there. First, one, st, first responders, okay, rcf.org. First, rcf.org, one, st,
• 9:02
  Speaker 8: rcf.org if you want to make a contribution. Jillian Crane
• 9:05
  Speaker 8: and Craig Martinez, thank you so much for what you're doing.
• 9:07
  Speaker 8: Thanks for coming over here and saying hi to us.
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: We are so honored to be here. Thank you for
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: being here today, Kevin. Your show is fabulous.
• 9:13
  Speaker 12: Absolutely.
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: Kevin, if I could end just on one thing.
• 9:16
  Speaker 9: You and I and Jillian, we measure the impact we
• 9:19
  Speaker 9: have at our current roles in weeks, sometimes months.
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: These first responders are measured in seconds. Think about that. Seconds.
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: And a lot of these honorees are.
• 9:28
  Speaker 9: Making split-second decisions or helping people in split-second times.
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: Within seconds, they could possibly save their lives. How impactful
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: is that? Well.
• 9:38
  Speaker 8: So you're just preaching to me now, okay, it takes
• 9:41
  Speaker 8: seconds to go to firstrcf.org to give a gift. If
• 9:45
  Speaker 8: we're measuring it in seconds, let's go give back in seconds.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: Okay, let's do that. All right, we're just getting started.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: A big two-hour show still ahead.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: It's back, Kevin. Hey. Here he is from New York.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: That Kevin.
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: Kevin McCullough. That Kevin.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: Thank you, everyone.
• 10:38
  Speaker 13: John, come on, you got to go.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: Right here.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: John McCullough, thank you for being here. You've been fighting
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: this fight for a long time.
• 10:50
  Speaker 8: You and I may not agree on anything politically, but
• 10:52
  Speaker 8: when you went before Congress in 2019, you fought for
• 10:55
  Speaker 8: the extension. I think you spoke for all Americans. How
• 10:58
  Speaker 8: important is First Responders Appreciation Day? How important is the
• 11:01
  Speaker 8: foundation for the children?
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: What are we doing here today?
• 11:04
  Speaker 5: I mean, it's... The thing is, it shouldn't even be
• 11:07
  Speaker 5: a day.
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: It should be every day.
• 11:08
  Speaker 5: But what's so important is, you know, these are the
• 11:11
  Speaker 5: guys that are the fabric that sort of hold us
• 11:14
  Speaker 5: together in a way that I think people don't realize.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: It's something that you don't realize until it's gone.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 11:20
  Speaker 5: And so 9-11 was one of those examples where you
• 11:25
  Speaker 5: got a real sense of, oh, this is. The kind
• 11:29
  Speaker 5: of sinew that's holding us together and providing that stability
• 11:34
  Speaker 5: that can be lost at any moment. And it's important
• 11:37
  Speaker 5: to recognize the part of it that. is also hard
• 11:41
  Speaker 5: to realize is the sacrifice that their families make.
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: Like on a daily mental basis.
• 11:46
  Speaker 5: Absolutely, because these guys leave.
• 11:48
  Speaker 12: Look, nobody knew on 9-11.
• 11:50
  Speaker 5: It was a beautiful day.
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: It's similar today. It's a sunny day.
• 11:53
  Speaker 5: Everybody's just walking out like nothing's going on. And you
• 11:56
  Speaker 5: turn around and 343 firefighters' families lost their patriarch, their father,
• 12:04
  Speaker 5: their brother, their son, their sister, you know, This is
• 12:08
  Speaker 5: the stress that they live with on a day-to-day basis.
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: So to be.
• 12:12
  Speaker 5: Able to remind them that we have their backs as well.
• 12:17
  Speaker 8: Talk to me about your legislative efforts. Where are we
• 12:20
  Speaker 8: at with the extension of making the benefits permanent and
• 12:24
  Speaker 8: the ongoing work?
• 12:25
  Speaker 5: So the Zadroga and PACT, are you talking about the
• 12:28
  Speaker 5: PACT Act?
• 12:29
  Speaker 14: Yes.
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: So the funding is always an issue.
• 12:33
  Speaker 5: And so year to year in Congress, they're always revisiting
• 12:37
  Speaker 5: the commitments that they made. So our job is to
• 12:40
  Speaker 5: make sure you even see now like with the Camp
• 12:43
  Speaker 5: Lejeune bill. So they've been fighting the toxic exposure issue
• 12:49
  Speaker 5: from Camp Lejeune since the 50s. Devastating in terms of
• 12:53
  Speaker 5: the cancers, the birth defects, things like that.
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: They finally passed.
• 12:58
  Speaker 5: PACT Act covered some of them in presumptions, but they
• 13:01
  Speaker 5: also passed the Camp Lejeune Act. But those claims still
• 13:05
  Speaker 5: have to be adjudicated.
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: And Congress is.
• 13:08
  Speaker 5: Often dragging their feet or they're making these folks that
• 13:12
  Speaker 5: are sick and dying be their own lawyers and advocates
• 13:17
  Speaker 5: and everything else. So it's our job to keep the
• 13:20
  Speaker 5: pressure off, to make sure that those are adjudicated because
• 13:24
  Speaker 5: these families are. You have no idea what they're giving
• 13:26
  Speaker 5: up day to day to try and keep these men
• 13:30
  Speaker 5: and women alive. So that's that's ultimately that's what we're
• 13:34
  Speaker 5: trying to keep on.
• 13:35
  Speaker 7: Last question.
• 13:35
  Speaker 8: This will air on 400 stations from Anchorage to Miami
• 13:39
  Speaker 8: today at two o'clock in the afternoon.
• 13:40
  Speaker 14: All right.
• 13:41
  Speaker 8: What do you want my listeners to do by way
• 13:43
  Speaker 8: of the Children's Foundation?
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: Listen, give them your heart.
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: I mean, the big thing is that they need our
• 13:49
  Speaker 5: support financially financially. But also emotionally, you know, they face
• 13:56
  Speaker 5: unimaginable things on a day to day basis that we
• 13:58
  Speaker 5: can't even imagine. And they do it as a matter
• 14:01
  Speaker 5: of routine.
• 14:02
  Speaker 7: Think of the things that you do.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: At your job every day that you don't even think about.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: These guys are walking through fire every.
• 14:08
  Speaker 5: Day through the most difficult things, meeting people on their
• 14:13
  Speaker 5: worst day and giving them a hand up. So the
• 14:17
  Speaker 5: thing I would say to people is make sure that
• 14:20
  Speaker 5: you extend your hand to them to make sure that
• 14:24
  Speaker 5: they understand that we have their backs.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: You can't say thank you in the airport enough times.
• 14:29
  Speaker 5: Dap him up, say thank you, but also open your heart.
• 14:33
  Speaker 5: And if you can, whatever you can give.
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: Write a check.
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: They need that as well.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: Jon Stewart, thank you.
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: Thank you, brother.
• 14:43
  Speaker 8: Hey, continuing from continuing from Times Square, someone who needs
• 14:47
  Speaker 8: no introduction to me is Times Square's own Tom Harris
• 14:51
  Speaker 8: and Tom. Big day for the for the NYPD. Big
• 14:55
  Speaker 8: day for Times Square. Big day for New York and
• 14:56
  Speaker 8: for first responders everywhere. You're a board member of the
• 14:59
  Speaker 8: First Responders Children's Foundation. What does this day represent to you?
• 15:03
  Speaker 14: So as a former first responder and a parent of
• 15:06
  Speaker 14: a first responder, it means a lot knowing that there
• 15:11
  Speaker 14: are people who care about.
• 15:12
  Speaker 7: Us even after we're gone.
• 15:14
  Speaker 14: And the First Responders Children's Foundation has been there for
• 15:17
  Speaker 14: the children and for the families of first responders who.
• 15:21
  Speaker 7: Didn't come home at the end of their shift.
• 15:23
  Speaker 14: So I'm on a lot of boards. Really, I can
• 15:28
  Speaker 14: say that none mean as much to me as this
• 15:30
  Speaker 14: because it's personal.
• 15:33
  Speaker 8: You've got people here from literally like Missoula, Montana to
• 15:36
  Speaker 8: Hawaii to Florida. The people that will be receiving awards today,
• 15:41
  Speaker 8: some of them very far from anything related to 9-11.
• 15:44
  Speaker 8: This is truly a national event now.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: How important is that?
• 15:48
  Speaker 14: So it's so great that it's a national event because
• 15:51
  Speaker 14: if you ask me, we should be honoring our first
• 15:54
  Speaker 14: responders 365 days a year.
• 15:57
  Speaker 12: But it's nice that.
• 15:57
  Speaker 14: Today that the First Responders Children's Foundation brings everyone from
• 16:02
  Speaker 14: all across the country together together to Times Square, to
• 16:06
  Speaker 14: really America's town square, to celebrate First Responders Children's Day.
• 16:11
  Speaker 8: What types of things is the foundation doing for the
• 16:14
  Speaker 8: children that are requesting assistance from it?
• 16:18
  Speaker 14: So they do a lot of mental health. They do
• 16:21
  Speaker 14: support for the families. They're there when the parents can't
• 16:26
  Speaker 14: be there.
• 16:26
  Speaker 12: Any longer, and they stay there. They've been with.
• 16:29
  Speaker 14: Families since September 11th, and it was started after September 11th.
• 16:34
  Speaker 14: I remember right after September 11th getting a call from
• 16:38
  Speaker 14: Chief Esposito, the former chief of department, who, by the way,
• 16:41
  Speaker 14: died of 9-11 injuries, saying that this guy, Al Khan,
• 16:46
  Speaker 14: was going to bring all the children together at the
• 16:49
  Speaker 14: ESPN zone in Times Square to watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade.
• 16:53
  Speaker 14: And I remember thinking, wow, how great is that, that
• 16:57
  Speaker 14: someone is coming together to give them a little bit
• 17:00
  Speaker 14: of joy when they've been through so much pain.
• 17:02
  Speaker 15: Okay.
• 17:03
  Speaker 8: Who qualifies as a first responder? What all groups are
• 17:07
  Speaker 8: we dealing with today?
• 17:08
  Speaker 14: So it's huge, and I don't want to miss any,
• 17:10
  Speaker 14: but it's the cops, it's the firemen, it's the volunteer firemen,
• 17:13
  Speaker 14: it's the 9-11 operators, it's the sheriffs, it's anyone who
• 17:19
  Speaker 14: puts their life on the line to protect others.
• 17:23
  Speaker 8: I know that on 9-11 you lost a lot of colleagues,
• 17:26
  Speaker 8: and there are some award winners here today that have
• 17:28
  Speaker 8: never lost any of their colleagues in the line of duty.
• 17:32
  Speaker 8: Talk to me about whether you have or haven't, how
• 17:36
  Speaker 8: that still impacts you.
• 17:37
  Speaker 14: So I think that the law enforcement first responders are
• 17:41
  Speaker 14: a family. Whether it's the EMT or the cop or
• 17:44
  Speaker 14: the firefighter, they all come together on the street to
• 17:48
  Speaker 14: help people.
• 17:49
  Speaker 12: And it means so much when you just know that.
• 17:54
  Speaker 14: And it's really hard for someone to not have experienced
• 17:58
  Speaker 14: that loss, whether it not be a friend or a
• 18:01
  Speaker 14: friend of a friend. And we all come together to
• 18:04
  Speaker 14: support that.
• 18:05
  Speaker 12: Those families.
• 18:06
  Speaker 7: There's a slogan, never forget.
• 18:08
  Speaker 14: This is proof of that slogan today by the First
• 18:11
  Speaker 14: Responders Children's Foundation.
• 18:14
  Speaker 8: We get up and we go about our lives and
• 18:17
  Speaker 8: we never think about it, but a first responder gets up,
• 18:19
  Speaker 8: puts a uniform on, and walks out the door and
• 18:21
  Speaker 8: sometimes doesn't come home. We didn't even know the term
• 18:26
  Speaker 8: in much of the country. We didn't use the term
• 18:28
  Speaker 8: first responder before 9-11. Have we slipped into any danger
• 18:32
  Speaker 8: at all of kind of moving back to that forgetful
• 18:35
  Speaker 8: stage of where we were pre-9-11?
• 18:37
  Speaker 7: I hope not.
• 18:37
  Speaker 14: When we have organizations like the First Responders Children's Foundation
• 18:42
  Speaker 14: and really communities that come together that stand up for
• 18:46
  Speaker 14: their cops, that say we need to refund our first responders,
• 18:52
  Speaker 14: not take money away from them. All of us, I
• 18:55
  Speaker 14: like to say public safety.
• 18:57
  Speaker 12: Is a team sport.
• 18:59
  Speaker 14: And we all need to be, if we're not on
• 19:00
  Speaker 14: the field helping, we need to be in the stands
• 19:04
  Speaker 14: cheering for.
• 19:04
  Speaker 7: Those first responders.
• 19:06
  Speaker 14: And organizations like the First Responders Children's Foundation does that,
• 19:10
  Speaker 14: and they are a reason why we will not slip
• 19:13
  Speaker 14: back to pre-9-11.
• 19:16
  Speaker 8: I was speaking with Jon Stewart earlier, and he was
• 19:19
  Speaker 8: talking about the progress of the legislation that's still protecting
• 19:23
  Speaker 8: 9-11 families. But it has been disturbing for me to
• 19:28
  Speaker 8: see that in some political circles, defunding some aspects of
• 19:32
  Speaker 8: first responders work like police often gets kicked around like
• 19:36
  Speaker 8: a volleyball. And like, I wonder if they have an
• 19:40
  Speaker 8: understanding of what that type of rhetoric does to the
• 19:43
  Speaker 8: safety of a community and to the families that, you know,
• 19:47
  Speaker 8: put their lives.
• 19:47
  Speaker 7: On the line.
• 19:48
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: And that's a shame.
• 19:50
  Speaker 14: It's a shame that politicians prey on people's feelings about
• 19:55
  Speaker 14: first responders. But I can tell you this, when someone
• 19:57
  Speaker 14: needs help and they pick up the phone and they
• 20:00
  Speaker 14: call 911, they are happy that a first responder showed up.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: Tom Harris, thanks for all you're doing. Thank you very much.
• 20:47
  Speaker 15: Stick around for more of That Kevin next.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: Here he is from New York.
• 21:11
  Speaker 7: That Kevin. Kevin McCullough.
• 21:16
  Speaker 8: That Kevin Show, thatkevinshow.com from beautiful Times Square. All the
• 21:21
  Speaker 8: lights are lit up, but it's a gorgeous day, perfect
• 21:23
  Speaker 8: day to honor the first responders of America. It is
• 21:27
  Speaker 8: First Responders Appreciation Day, and we can't do anything more
• 21:32
  Speaker 8: important than help their children. First Responders Children's Foundation is
• 21:37
  Speaker 8: the reason why we are gathered in Times Square. And
• 21:40
  Speaker 8: my next guest received earlier today a.
• 21:44
  Speaker 8: T-Mobile T-Priority Leadership Award for some of his work this
• 21:49
  Speaker 8: last year. Chad Huff is his name, and he joins
• 21:53
  Speaker 8: us here at the broadcast table in Times Square.
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: Chad, welcome to New York. I'm glad you're with us.
• 21:57
  Speaker 10: Thank you for having me. It's an honor.
• 22:01
  Speaker 8: You were nominated, and what I was told was out
• 22:04
  Speaker 8: of the 200 or so nominations that people sent in,
• 22:07
  Speaker 8: it was really hard for them to figure out who
• 22:10
  Speaker 8: to honor because every one of you that got nominated
• 22:14
  Speaker 8: did amazing things. So congratulations to you and the entire
• 22:17
  Speaker 8: class of nominees. But why did they honor you today?
• 22:20
  Speaker 8: What was it that you did this last year that
• 22:22
  Speaker 8: they deemed especially important?
• 22:24
  Speaker 16: I think it had a lot to do with starting
• 22:26
  Speaker 16: the blood program in our area. We were able to
• 22:29
  Speaker 16: get it accomplished in about a three-month period. It doesn't
• 22:32
  Speaker 16: just help our county, but it truly helps the counties
• 22:36
  Speaker 16: all above us in northern Georgia as well coming down
• 22:39
  Speaker 16: through our county.
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: It sounds like that's a complicated thing. What is a
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: blood program?
• 22:44
  Speaker 16: Being able to give blood in the pre-hospital environment is
• 22:47
  Speaker 16: something that we haven't been able to do in my
• 22:49
  Speaker 16: 20-year career. So this is pretty much a new thing
• 22:54
  Speaker 16: for the pre-hospital setting to have it on trucks so
• 22:57
  Speaker 16: that we can give it in the field prior to
• 22:58
  Speaker 16: them getting to the hospital.
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: Now, would that consist of.
• 23:03
  Speaker 8: Like the disaster happens, people show up, they show up
• 23:06
  Speaker 8: to the truck to donate the blood?
• 23:08
  Speaker 16: No, we actually do four blood drives a year in
• 23:11
  Speaker 16: order to do some community outreach in order to get
• 23:14
  Speaker 16: blood products because we have so many of them that
• 23:16
  Speaker 16: are trying to start these programs right now. In order
• 23:19
  Speaker 16: for everybody, hospital systems and EMS systems, to have blood products,
• 23:23
  Speaker 16: people are.
• 23:24
  Speaker 10: Going to have to donate. We can't make this in
• 23:25
  Speaker 10: a factory.
• 23:26
  Speaker 15: Right.
• 23:26
  Speaker 16: So it's definitely a logistical challenge for us right now,
• 23:30
  Speaker 16: and I encourage anybody that can to donate any blood
• 23:33
  Speaker 16: products that they can.
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 23:35
  Speaker 8: What were the challenges, particularly there in North Georgia?
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: Why hadn't it been done before?
• 23:40
  Speaker 16: It's just nationwide. It wasn't one of the things that
• 23:43
  Speaker 16: had always been out there. We've always given just normal
• 23:46
  Speaker 16: saline and stuff like that whenever we go out to
• 23:48
  Speaker 16: these events. And over time and research studies, they found
• 23:51
  Speaker 16: that giving blood products early was life-saving, and not just
• 23:57
  Speaker 16: for trauma but for medical calls as well. And it's
• 24:00
  Speaker 16: been a huge advancement in the pre-hospital setting over the
• 24:02
  Speaker 16: past year.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: So are you part of a paramedic team, a fire department?
• 24:09
  Speaker 16: So I work for Cherokee County Fire and Emergency Services.
• 24:12
  Speaker 16: I'm the director of EMS operations there. So I oversee.
• 24:16
  Speaker 4: I'm both.
• 24:17
  Speaker 10: I do both.
• 24:18
  Speaker 16: But a passion for advancement in EMS and advancement in
• 24:23
  Speaker 16: the youth in our organization, trying to get everybody engaged
• 24:26
  Speaker 16: to continue to be part of this profession.
• 24:29
  Speaker 10: And that's the hard part right now.
• 24:30
  Speaker 8: Well, so you've got 400 radio stations from Anchorage, Alaska,
• 24:34
  Speaker 8: to Miami, Florida, and San Diego to New York listening
• 24:37
  Speaker 8: right now. Why should kids consider this in terms of
• 24:42
  Speaker 8: their vocation?
• 24:43
  Speaker 16: It's just something that you truly, it's a selfless profession.
• 24:48
  Speaker 16: We go out there and we help others all the time.
• 24:50
  Speaker 16: And it's truly, your heart, you don't realize how good
• 24:57
  Speaker 16: it makes you feel by going out there and truly practicing.
• 25:00
  Speaker 10: Giving to others nonstop.
• 25:02
  Speaker 16: It's one of those things that I've never looked at
• 25:04
  Speaker 16: it as anything other than helping people that can't help
• 25:07
  Speaker 16: themselves at the time, seeing people at their worst.
• 25:09
  Speaker 10: It's fighting battles here in the U.S.
• 25:11
  Speaker 16: Is what we're doing, is helping the citizens of the U.S.,
• 25:15
  Speaker 16: whether it be law enforcement or fire, is we're here
• 25:18
  Speaker 16: to respond to them at their worst times.
• 25:21
  Speaker 10: And that's truly something that.
• 25:23
  Speaker 16: Nobody can ever take away from me and knowing the
• 25:25
  Speaker 16: things that I've gone out there and been able to
• 25:26
  Speaker 16: do and see and how many lives I've been able
• 25:29
  Speaker 16: to save just by being there in those times of need.
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: Well, let's talk a little bit about that.
• 25:34
  Speaker 8: Obviously, we're honoring all first responders today, but there are
• 25:40
  Speaker 8: those in your profession who kiss their wife goodbye in
• 25:42
  Speaker 8: the morning and never come home that night.
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: And I'm just wondering, have you had.
• 25:47
  Speaker 8: An experience with crewmates or any other extensions where You've
• 25:52
  Speaker 8: seen that happen, and how important is today's day of recognition?
• 25:57
  Speaker 16: I have not personally had that, and I'm thankful for that.
• 26:01
  Speaker 16: I'm blessed that I haven't had to deal with those challenges,
• 26:04
  Speaker 16: but a lot of people have, and that's why this organization,
• 26:06
  Speaker 16: the Children's First Responders Foundation, is so huge to me.
• 26:10
  Speaker 16: And being here on the 25th anniversary of 9-11 and
• 26:12
  Speaker 16: knowing how many public safety families were affected that day.
• 26:17
  Speaker 10: It's truly— it gives.
• 26:18
  Speaker 16: Me chills just thinking about— how many people were affected.
• 26:22
  Speaker 16: And there wasn't too many people out there that were
• 26:24
  Speaker 16: willing to come in and help them out.
• 26:27
  Speaker 10: But you have foundations like this now.
• 26:29
  Speaker 16: That truly put themselves out there and look at the
• 26:33
  Speaker 16: families that were left behind.
• 26:35
  Speaker 10: And that is huge.
• 26:36
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 26:37
  Speaker 8: We've been telling everybody on the show today, friends, if
• 26:39
  Speaker 8: you're listening and you want to do something that makes
• 26:41
  Speaker 8: a difference, the First Responders Children's Foundation's website is 1strcf.
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: Org. 1strcf. org.
• 26:51
  Speaker 8: For FirstST, 1ST First, RCF, First Responders Children's Foundation, firstrcf.org.
• 27:00
  Speaker 8: You can go there, be as generous as you can.
• 27:02
  Speaker 8: It's going to make a difference. You're going to be
• 27:04
  Speaker 8: helping kids whose mothers and fathers get up every day,
• 27:07
  Speaker 8: put on a uniform, walk out the door, and there's
• 27:11
  Speaker 8: always the possibility that they may not return home that night.
• 27:15
  Speaker 8: And that's why we're here today, to say thank you
• 27:16
  Speaker 8: to those of you that do wear the uniform. And
• 27:18
  Speaker 8: if you're listening anywhere in those 400 stations today, Thank you.
• 27:21
  Speaker 8: We're honoring you as well. It's not just the people
• 27:23
  Speaker 8: that are here in New York, but we recognize what
• 27:26
  Speaker 8: an incredible need this is. And for people like Chad
• 27:30
  Speaker 8: Huff who are out there and not just saving the
• 27:33
  Speaker 8: lives in the dangerous situations, but prethinking. I love I
• 27:36
  Speaker 8: love people who say we could have a problem. Let's
• 27:39
  Speaker 8: solve it in advance. so that we don't get caught
• 27:41
  Speaker 8: by surprise on the backside. So congrats on the award,
• 27:44
  Speaker 8: and thanks for spending some time with us.
• 27:45
  Speaker 10: Thank you, sir, for having me.
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: You got it.
• 27:47
  Speaker 8: All right, Kevin McCullough coming back from That Kevin Show
• 27:50
  Speaker 8: in Times Square.
• 28:08
  Speaker 15: Here he is, from New York, that Kevin, Kevin McCullough.
• 28:15
  Speaker 8: Welcome back to Times Square, literally in the middle of
• 28:18
  Speaker 8: Times Square.
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: I say we're.
• 28:19
  Speaker 8: Always coming to you from Times Square, but we're in
• 28:21
  Speaker 8: the studio. Today, we are literally in the middle of
• 28:23
  Speaker 8: Times Square.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: Gorgeous day.
• 28:25
  Speaker 8: Earlier this morning, a huge ceremony honoring first responders. It
• 28:29
  Speaker 8: is National First Responders Day, and we are here on
• 28:33
  Speaker 8: the behest of the First Responders Children's Foundation. trying to
• 28:37
  Speaker 8: help them raise awareness for how we can help children
• 28:40
  Speaker 8: of first responders that have been definitively impacted by the
• 28:45
  Speaker 8: first responders in their lives, their mothers, their fathers, leaving
• 28:48
  Speaker 8: in the morning and sometimes not coming home at night.
• 28:51
  Speaker 8: Joining me now is John Feal. He is one of
• 28:53
  Speaker 8: the recipients of today's awards. And in fact, he is
• 28:59
  Speaker 8: a first responder. And let's get into his story a
• 29:01
  Speaker 8: little bit. John, how did you come to be associated
• 29:05
  Speaker 8: with today's day?
• 29:07
  Speaker 12: Well, one, thank you for having me.
• 29:09
  Speaker 13: National First Responders Day should be every day, like Mother's Day.
• 29:14
  Speaker 12: It should be every day.
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: I have a rule with my kids.
• 29:17
  Speaker 8: If we're walking through the airport and we see a
• 29:19
  Speaker 8: uniformed military person, if we see someone in a security
• 29:24
  Speaker 8: apparatus that's just obviously keeping the peace, we do as
• 29:28
  Speaker 8: best we can to go over and say thank you
• 29:31
  Speaker 8: for serving, thank you for what you're doing, as many
• 29:33
  Speaker 8: times as we can. Can't always get everybody. I can
• 29:36
  Speaker 8: Times Square and spend the whole day today just thanking
• 29:38
  Speaker 8: all the NYPD.
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: But to your point, we need to have that gratitude.
• 29:42
  Speaker 12: Oh, absolutely.
• 29:42
  Speaker 13: And I think we can go further than saying thank
• 29:44
  Speaker 13: you for your service. It should be thank you for
• 29:46
  Speaker 13: your service. How can I help you? What can I
• 29:48
  Speaker 13: do to help you transition back into society?
• 29:53
  Speaker 12: What can I do to help you?
• 29:54
  Speaker 13: You know, in 2022, Jon Stewart and I held past
• 29:57
  Speaker 13: the PACT Act. And it was for veterans who were
• 30:00
  Speaker 13: affected by the burn pits around the world who protect
• 30:03
  Speaker 13: us 24-7. And that was a $ 300 billion health care
• 30:06
  Speaker 13: bill for veterans who had the same cancers as those
• 30:09
  Speaker 13: in the 9-11 community.
• 30:11
  Speaker 4: Right, right.
• 30:11
  Speaker 13: And we took it that step further and say, thank
• 30:14
  Speaker 13: you for your service. How can we help you? Let
• 30:16
  Speaker 13: us get legislation passed. And to get involved with Jillian's organization,
• 30:21
  Speaker 13: the First Responders Children's Foundation, last year.
• 30:25
  Speaker 12: And this year I get to co-chair this event.
• 30:27
  Speaker 13: And ensure that they met their goal of going over
• 30:30
  Speaker 13: a million dollars has been humbling. And while Jillian is crazy,
• 30:36
  Speaker 13: she is passionate and driven about helping the children of
• 30:38
  Speaker 13: first responders. And, you know, the 9-11 responder community left
• 30:44
  Speaker 13: behind more children than anyone across this country. On that
• 30:48
  Speaker 13: horrific Tuesday morning, many kids became parentless.
• 30:52
  Speaker 12: Or motherless or fatherless.
• 30:54
  Speaker 13: And over the last 25 years, because of their illnesses,
• 30:57
  Speaker 13: these children have lost their parents, who were cops, firefighters, EMS,
• 31:01
  Speaker 13: and heroes. And my organization has been helping them for
• 31:05
  Speaker 13: the last two decades. And to team up with Jillian today,
• 31:08
  Speaker 13: this is gratifying.
• 31:11
  Speaker 12: And this is special today.
• 31:14
  Speaker 8: Talk to me about the first responders' connection in your
• 31:18
  Speaker 8: own life.
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: Have you served as a first responder?
• 31:21
  Speaker 4: What's your.
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: What's your history?
• 31:22
  Speaker 12: I was a first responder to 9-11.
• 31:24
  Speaker 13: And on September 17th, 8,000 pounds of steel crushed my
• 31:28
  Speaker 13: left foot. And I spent 11 weeks in the hospital
• 31:31
  Speaker 13: with gangrene and sepsis. I almost died. And I got
• 31:34
  Speaker 13: hurt before everybody got sick. And I didn't have John Field.
• 31:37
  Speaker 12: To help me. I had to learn the hard way
• 31:40
  Speaker 12: on how to do it.
• 31:41
  Speaker 13: And since 2005... We have helped pass 20 pieces of
• 31:46
  Speaker 13: legislation in Albany, New Jersey, D.C., Michigan, and we donated
• 31:50
  Speaker 13: $ 10 million. I even donated a kidney to a complete
• 31:53
  Speaker 13: stranger in Connecticut. And the true spirit of the human
• 31:57
  Speaker 13: being is to give of yourself. And I truly believe
• 32:00
  Speaker 13: that we can all give of ourselves, especially our time,
• 32:04
  Speaker 13: which is the most expensive commodity that we have, because
• 32:07
  Speaker 13: donating your time is literally giving a piece of yourself
• 32:11
  Speaker 13: that you're never getting back.
• 32:12
  Speaker 8: Talk about what it's been like to work with Jon
• 32:15
  Speaker 8: Stewart over the years. This is a guy that I
• 32:18
  Speaker 8: have nothing but respect for, especially on this issue. He
• 32:20
  Speaker 8: and I probably don't agree on anything politically, but when
• 32:23
  Speaker 8: it comes to fighting for first responders, we are like
• 32:25
  Speaker 8: blood brothers. And I think that what he's done, sometimes
• 32:29
  Speaker 8: being the only voice from the media or from celebrity-dom
• 32:35
  Speaker 8: to be out there talking about it, he's really made
• 32:38
  Speaker 8: a difference in that way.
• 32:39
  Speaker 13: Yeah, you know, for the last 16 years, our relationship
• 32:43
  Speaker 13: has evolved. And he's a dear friend. And he's a
• 32:47
  Speaker 13: partner in crime. And I've never witnessed anybody give so
• 32:53
  Speaker 13: much of their time and lend his voice and.
• 32:58
  Speaker 12: Ask for nothing in return. He truly is.
• 33:01
  Speaker 13: Is a remarkable human being whose vocabulary dwarfs mine. And,
• 33:08
  Speaker 13: you know, you know, like any friend, we argue about
• 33:12
  Speaker 13: everything in life, but he makes you feel.
• 33:14
  Speaker 12: Right when you know you're wrong. And he's got a
• 33:17
  Speaker 12: gift of giving.
• 33:20
  Speaker 13: And I've never witnessed another human being more generous than myself.
• 33:24
  Speaker 8: When, when the, uh, when the nine 11 bill was
• 33:27
  Speaker 8: about to, um, he elapsed and run out. I remember
• 33:32
  Speaker 8: he went to DC and he sat there and it
• 33:35
  Speaker 8: didn't matter if it was a Democrat or Republican sitting
• 33:38
  Speaker 8: across the dais, he, he lit them up. And I
• 33:41
  Speaker 8: remember thinking if only everybody felt as strongly about the,
• 33:46
  Speaker 8: the truly unifying good things in our country as he
• 33:49
  Speaker 8: did that day, it was, it was, it was an inspired.
• 33:51
  Speaker 4: Uh, yeah.
• 33:52
  Speaker 13: Um, you know, listen, I, I orchestrated that event, um,
• 33:56
  Speaker 13: when he testified and, uh, The week prior to that event,
• 33:59
  Speaker 13: he wrote a speech when he was going to testify.
• 34:03
  Speaker 12: And I wanted Jon Stewart raw.
• 34:05
  Speaker 13: I wanted Jon Stewart to do the Daily Show, tap
• 34:09
  Speaker 13: the pen, something comes out of his mouth, really articulate
• 34:13
  Speaker 13: Jon Stewart, and I got my way. And Jon never
• 34:16
  Speaker 13: read from that speech, and what Jon did— was chastise
• 34:19
  Speaker 13: the body of work, shine light to America, what we're
• 34:22
  Speaker 13: going through, and let everybody know the pain and suffering
• 34:26
  Speaker 13: that we've dealt with at that time, 19 years, and
• 34:30
  Speaker 13: it really helped move the needle.
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: Where does the legislation stand now in terms of that issue?
• 34:35
  Speaker 13: Well, the James DeJoga Health and Compensation Act, John testified
• 34:38
  Speaker 13: on the compensation part.
• 34:40
  Speaker 12: We just got the health care part.
• 34:42
  Speaker 13: Extended again in April of this year when we got
• 34:45
  Speaker 13: attached to the Homeland Security bill. We're always fighting. You know,
• 34:49
  Speaker 13: we used to have to go around these obstacles. Now
• 34:52
  Speaker 13: we go through them. We used to be that little
• 34:54
  Speaker 13: engine that could. Now we're that big engine that did.
• 34:57
  Speaker 13: And we have zero tolerance for any elected official who
• 34:59
  Speaker 13: wants to hurt and put first responders and survivors in
• 35:03
  Speaker 13: harm's way. First responders always run into harm's way. But
• 35:07
  Speaker 13: there will be another terrorist attack or Mother Nature or man-made,
• 35:11
  Speaker 13: a disaster, a disaster of a magnitude that.
• 35:14
  Speaker 12: You don't see on an everyday basis.
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: And you know who's going to show up.
• 35:16
  Speaker 13: And first responders are going to do their job. But
• 35:19
  Speaker 13: the American people are going to join them. And when
• 35:21
  Speaker 13: that disaster happens, two things happen. Conspiracy theories or advocacy?
• 35:25
  Speaker 11: No.
• 35:26
  Speaker 13: And I hope the advocates question the leadership of our
• 35:29
  Speaker 13: federal government, question their ability to think under pressure, and
• 35:33
  Speaker 13: question their empathy in the humanity.
• 35:35
  Speaker 8: Well, hopefully we'll just respond well, and then we don't
• 35:37
  Speaker 8: have to do any of the rest of that.
• 35:38
  Speaker 7: You would think.
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: John Field, thank you for being with us. We appreciate
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: you coming by.
• 35:42
  Speaker 7: I appreciate it.
• 35:43
  Speaker 12: Thank you for having me.
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: Kevin McCullough continues That Kevin Show from Times Square.
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: Don't go away.
• 35:47
  Speaker 12: Stick around for more of That Kevin.
• 35:54
  Speaker 8: The only thing that could be greater, of course, would
• 36:03
  Speaker 8: be that Donald show.
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: We don't have that, so we have that Kevin show.
• 36:23
  Speaker 6: Featuring the music of Dick Tunney and the Dream in
• 36:27
  Speaker 6: Color Orchestra. Straight ahead, everything you need to know about
• 36:41
  Speaker 6: the top headlines of the day and a perspective that
• 36:44
  Speaker 6: will give you some eternity to it, plus practical tips
• 36:48
  Speaker 6: for family life, spiritual life, and good.
• 36:52
  Speaker 8: Old regular life.
• 36:54
  Speaker 6: It's Kevin McCullough, Monday through Friday, on That Kevin Show.
• 37:05
  Speaker 6: And now, from the Connors & Sullivan Broadcast Studios, the
• 37:09
  Speaker 6: man who is not what he wants to be, but
• 37:12
  Speaker 6: is way grateful that he's not who he used to be, here's.
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: All right, welcome back.
• 37:25
  Speaker 8: Kevin McCullough broadcasting live, and again, just a splendid day.
• 37:29
  Speaker 8: Earlier today, several nominees were awarded special awards.
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: For their service as first responders.
• 37:37
  Speaker 8: It is National First Responders Day, and we are here
• 37:40
  Speaker 8: specifically in the services of the First Responders Children's Foundation,
• 37:46
  Speaker 8: and we are very honored to be here. It's the
• 37:48
  Speaker 8: first time this show has been asked to be part
• 37:51
  Speaker 8: of it, and that's why I'm very proud to be
• 37:54
  Speaker 8: here because I feel like if I have a platform
• 37:56
  Speaker 8: that reaches from Anchorage, Alaska to Miami, Florida and New
• 37:59
  Speaker 8: York City to San Diego, we should be doing the
• 38:03
  Speaker 8: best that we can with it. And speaking of doing
• 38:05
  Speaker 8: the best that he can with what he's given, Al
• 38:07
  Speaker 8: Kahn now joins us at the table. He's the founder
• 38:10
  Speaker 8: and chairman of the First Responders Children's Foundation. Al, it's
• 38:13
  Speaker 8: great to see you. Thank you for having us.
• 38:15
  Speaker 11: Well, thank you so much for being here.
• 38:17
  Speaker 17: Yeah.
• 38:17
  Speaker 12: Yeah, it's wonderful to see you.
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: It's a joy.
• 38:19
  Speaker 8: You're the founder of this foundation. And we know thus
• 38:24
  Speaker 8: far that it came out of 9-11 and the whole
• 38:28
  Speaker 8: nation responding to what happened that day. But why you personally?
• 38:32
  Speaker 8: What was it about this cause and these kids and
• 38:35
  Speaker 8: this situation that you said, I've got to get involved?
• 38:38
  Speaker 11: Well, thank you for that. First of all, I've been
• 38:40
  Speaker 11: in the kids' business my whole life in terms of
• 38:43
  Speaker 11: developing programs, television, and licensing for children. I've done that forever.
• 38:49
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 38:50
  Speaker 11: My first one was Cabbage Patch Kids. I've done Pokemon.
• 38:53
  Speaker 11: I've done Yu-Gi-Oh. I've done about 40 of these things,
• 38:56
  Speaker 11: which are basically directed at children.
• 38:58
  Speaker 14: Right.
• 38:59
  Speaker 11: So the morning of 9-11, I had gotten word that
• 39:04
  Speaker 11: the attack was not an attack. It was an accident initially.
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: That's what we all thought. That's right.
• 39:10
  Speaker 11: And then I was called down there by the DEA
• 39:12
  Speaker 11: to see if I wanted to come down and take
• 39:13
  Speaker 11: a look at it. And I said, sure. And as
• 39:16
  Speaker 11: we were driving down, obviously the plane hit the second tower.
• 39:20
  Speaker 11: And then we were called back and found out that
• 39:22
  Speaker 11: the whole thing was an attack. And I found out
• 39:25
  Speaker 11: a couple of days later that 800 children had lost
• 39:27
  Speaker 11: the first repounded parent that morning. And I had lost
• 39:30
  Speaker 11: my father when I was young. And I knew what
• 39:33
  Speaker 11: a major upheaval that was. But more or less, this
• 39:36
  Speaker 11: was like out of left field. They went to work
• 39:39
  Speaker 11: and never came back. And I said, this is horrible.
• 39:43
  Speaker 11: And what can we do? What could I do in
• 39:45
  Speaker 11: the short term to try and make these kids a
• 39:48
  Speaker 11: little bit better? I don't know what to say. Maybe
• 39:51
  Speaker 11: not happy, but maybe a little bit less horrible.
• 39:54
  Speaker 15: Yeah.
• 39:54
  Speaker 11: And I thought about Thanksgiving coming up because we were in, obviously,
• 40:00
  Speaker 11: in September.
• 40:01
  Speaker 12: And I took.
• 40:02
  Speaker 11: My car down the parade route, and I saw that
• 40:05
  Speaker 11: there was a place called the ESPN Zone right on
• 40:08
  Speaker 11: the parade route.
• 40:09
  Speaker 15: Yeah.
• 40:09
  Speaker 11: And I called them, and I said, what do you
• 40:10
  Speaker 11: do on Thanksgiving morning? And they said, we're closed because
• 40:13
  Speaker 11: the parade comes past.
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: And I went, uh-huh.
• 40:16
  Speaker 11: How many people could you hold for brunch or for lunch?
• 40:19
  Speaker 11: And they go, we can hold 1,200, 1,500, hold that.
• 40:22
  Speaker 11: And I called the mayor's office. I knew no one
• 40:24
  Speaker 11: at the mayor's office. And I said, I have an idea.
• 40:27
  Speaker 11: I said, what if we invited all the families, first
• 40:30
  Speaker 11: responder families, who lost a parent, all those kids, and
• 40:35
  Speaker 11: the rest of the family, to the ESPN zone on
• 40:38
  Speaker 11: Thanksgiving morning, have a brunch or a lunch, have a...
• 40:44
  Speaker 11: Give them a great amount of toys because I'm in
• 40:46
  Speaker 11: the kids' business. And also, I want you to cordon
• 40:48
  Speaker 11: off seven blocks so they can sit on the curb
• 40:50
  Speaker 11: and watch the parade. And I thought, that'll never happen.
• 40:54
  Speaker 11: I got a call back. They wanted to do it.
• 40:55
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 40:56
  Speaker 11: And so we then put together our first Thanksgiving day.
• 41:01
  Speaker 11: And then we realized, I realized, this is not a one-off,
• 41:05
  Speaker 11: that these kids are going to need help on a
• 41:07
  Speaker 11: number of issues going forward. So we started the foundation
• 41:10
  Speaker 11: right after that. And then now here we are 25
• 41:15
  Speaker 11: years later as the largest foundation in the country that
• 41:19
  Speaker 11: services children of first responders.
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 41:22
  Speaker 4: And I'm I am.
• 41:24
  Speaker 11: Awestruck by this. I never fathomed. Everything I've ever done,
• 41:27
  Speaker 11: I never thought they were going to be good. Cabbage
• 41:31
  Speaker 11: Patch Kids, everybody told me I was crazy. When I
• 41:33
  Speaker 11: did Pokemon, everybody told me I was crazy. So I've
• 41:35
  Speaker 11: always been crazy, and I also felt that sometimes they
• 41:38
  Speaker 11: work out pretty well. So this one has gotten unbelievably
• 41:42
  Speaker 11: crazy for a good cause.
• 41:43
  Speaker 8: Let me ask you a couple of questions. In the
• 41:45
  Speaker 8: 25 years since 9-11, what's your assessment of how the
• 41:50
  Speaker 8: country has embraced First responders. I mean, I remember appreciating
• 41:55
  Speaker 8: police and fire office, the fire departments and everybody before 9-11.
• 42:00
  Speaker 8: But it seemed like 9-11 flipped a switch that all
• 42:03
  Speaker 8: of a sudden we became much more aware. And that
• 42:08
  Speaker 8: term first responders started like just being used all the
• 42:10
  Speaker 8: time everywhere. Have we maintained that appreciation for our first responders,
• 42:15
  Speaker 8: or do you think it's lessened at all?
• 42:17
  Speaker 11: I think it cuts two ways. I think there's been,
• 42:20
  Speaker 11: at some level, there was some angst about police. We've
• 42:23
  Speaker 11: seen that movie. But I think what people got to
• 42:26
  Speaker 11: realize is that these people that do this have families.
• 42:30
  Speaker 11: When there's a problem, they're there. If it's a disaster,
• 42:32
  Speaker 11: they're there. And I also realized that who takes care
• 42:36
  Speaker 11: of them? Especially, yes, they have insurance sometimes, but in
• 42:40
  Speaker 11: some cases they don't. But I always felt that we
• 42:43
  Speaker 11: as a country have an obligation to help these people.
• 42:48
  Speaker 11: And also, we do something called the Toy Express every year,
• 42:52
  Speaker 11: where we have police and firemen give out hundreds of
• 42:55
  Speaker 11: thousands of toys to people in their areas who can't
• 42:59
  Speaker 11: afford them. So the idea is to create a bond
• 43:01
  Speaker 11: between the population and the first responders. So, you know,
• 43:05
  Speaker 11: it's an incredible thing. amazing thing. And the more I
• 43:09
  Speaker 11: meet these people and the more I spend time with them,
• 43:12
  Speaker 11: the more I realize how extraordinary they are.
• 43:15
  Speaker 8: Al, let's talk a little bit about the future of
• 43:18
  Speaker 8: what FRCF wants to accomplish yet. What are your goals?
• 43:22
  Speaker 8: What's next on your calendar? What do you want to
• 43:25
  Speaker 8: see this develop into?
• 43:26
  Speaker 11: I think one of the issues we have, we have
• 43:28
  Speaker 11: emergency grants we issue. We also have scholarships we issue.
• 43:32
  Speaker 11: We never have enough money The number of people that apply,
• 43:37
  Speaker 11: emergency grants are so sad. We hear about first responders
• 43:42
  Speaker 11: who are being evicted or losing their homes because they
• 43:46
  Speaker 11: got injured and they can't pay their mortgages. So what
• 43:49
  Speaker 11: we wish is that every one application that comes in,
• 43:54
  Speaker 11: we could service. Right now, we can't.
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: So, therefore, it's a terrible situation to have to.
• 43:59
  Speaker 11: Make a decision about which ones you can do and
• 44:02
  Speaker 11: which ones you can't do.
• 44:03
  Speaker 15: Sure.
• 44:04
  Speaker 11: So, I would want to get, my goal is to
• 44:06
  Speaker 11: hope that every time we get one of those requests,
• 44:09
  Speaker 11: whether it be an emergency grant or whatever it might be,
• 44:12
  Speaker 11: or scholarship, that if they meet the criteria, we should
• 44:15
  Speaker 11: be able to support them.
• 44:16
  Speaker 8: Well, let me give you, friends, those of you listening,
• 44:18
  Speaker 8: let me give you the website where you can just
• 44:20
  Speaker 8: do what Al just said, just contribute to the cause.
• 44:23
  Speaker 8: It's 1ST, so first... 1-S-T-R-C-F-dot-org. 1-S-T-R-C-F-dot-org. 1-S-T-First-R-C-F-dot-O-R-G. And you can
• 44:37
  Speaker 8: give right there on the homepage, and then you're good
• 44:39
  Speaker 8: to go. And, Al, we are grateful to be part
• 44:43
  Speaker 8: of it today. Thank you for having us. Keep up
• 44:45
  Speaker 8: the good work. These are special kids. Their parents are
• 44:48
  Speaker 8: made out of extraordinary people. fabric and we we need
• 44:51
  Speaker 8: to thank them and we need to keep them encouraged
• 44:53
  Speaker 8: i'm i'm reminded even as we're having this interview at
• 44:55
  Speaker 8: the number of nypd just giving us security today and
• 44:58
  Speaker 8: looking at all the emergency vehicles that are parked around
• 45:01
  Speaker 8: the time square it's just it's really it's it's really
• 45:03
  Speaker 8: uh touching to the core thank you.
• 45:05
  Speaker 11: For all they made one point that since we started
• 45:08
  Speaker 11: this is interesting we have we have served over 700
• 45:10
  Speaker 11: 000 first responders And over 1.6 million children across America.
• 45:15
  Speaker 14: Yeah.
• 45:16
  Speaker 11: That's not enough. You think about it. There are about
• 45:19
  Speaker 11: 4 million first responders. Each one probably has about two children.
• 45:22
  Speaker 11: So that's a lot more than we've been able to service.
• 45:25
  Speaker 11: So we have to get the continuing service. What happened
• 45:28
  Speaker 11: before 9-11? What happens after 9-11? So thank you so much.
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: Thank you. I appreciate you being here.
• 45:34
  Speaker 11: And I hope that the next 25 years are as
• 45:39
  Speaker 11: powerful as the first one has been.
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: Couldn't agree with you more. Alcon, thank you. It's Kevin McCullough,
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: That Kevin Show, thatkevinshow.com.
• 45:45
  Speaker 7: Coming right back.
• 46:04
  Speaker 15: Here he is from New York, that Kevin, Kevin McCullough.
• 46:10
  Speaker 8: All right, we are in the middle of Times Square.
• 46:13
  Speaker 8: It is an amazing day, great temperature. It was perfect
• 46:17
  Speaker 8: for our event just a couple of hours ago. It
• 46:20
  Speaker 8: is National First Responders Day. And here in Times Square,
• 46:24
  Speaker 8: we are doing something so special and so unique. And
• 46:28
  Speaker 8: I am so glad to have Jillian Crane and Craig
• 46:31
  Speaker 8: Martinez to kick off the show with us here. Kevin McCullough,
• 46:33
  Speaker 8: glad to have you here. Thatkevinshow.com for all things you need. Jillian,
• 46:37
  Speaker 8: president and CEO of First Responders Children's Foundation, but also
• 46:40
  Speaker 8: a well-known actress and just esteemed in every way.
• 46:44
  Speaker 2: This is the most meaningful thing.
• 46:45
  Speaker 8: You told me on my local show last Friday, this
• 46:47
  Speaker 8: is the most meaningful thing you've ever done.
• 46:49
  Speaker 14: Why?
• 46:50
  Speaker 3: Being the president and CEO of an organization like the
• 46:53
  Speaker 3: First Responders Children's Foundation means that I get up every
• 46:56
  Speaker 3: morning and I get to support and take care of
• 46:59
  Speaker 3: the children of first responders in every part of the
• 47:02
  Speaker 3: United States. And those are the people who have parents
• 47:05
  Speaker 3: running into danger for all of us.
• 47:07
  Speaker 8: Talk to me about the statistics of how many first
• 47:11
  Speaker 8: responders we lose each year and how that.
• 47:13
  Speaker 2: Impacts these families.
• 47:16
  Speaker 3: Those statistics change from year to year, but Hundreds. And,
• 47:19
  Speaker 3: you know, suicide is also an issue right now for
• 47:22
  Speaker 3: first responders. There's a lot of uncertainty in the life
• 47:25
  Speaker 3: of a first responder.
• 47:26
  Speaker 7: And they have children.
• 47:28
  Speaker 3: And that little boy or girl today and somewhere in
• 47:30
  Speaker 3: America is watching their mother or dad walk out the
• 47:33
  Speaker 3: door to protect someone that they have never met. And
• 47:36
  Speaker 3: that child is at the heart of everything we do
• 47:38
  Speaker 3: at First Responders Children's Foundation.
• 47:40
  Speaker 8: This started as a growth out of the response to 9-11, obviously,
• 47:45
  Speaker 8: because we lost a lot of first responders that day.
• 47:48
  Speaker 8: But it's been expanded since. Talk about the reach and
• 47:51
  Speaker 8: what you guys practically do.
• 47:54
  Speaker 3: Yes, we started after 9-11 when 800 children lost a
• 47:57
  Speaker 3: first responder parent. Now, 25 years later, we are in
• 48:00
  Speaker 3: every state with scholarships, with a mental health program, with
• 48:04
  Speaker 3: bereavement support if there's a line of duty death. We
• 48:07
  Speaker 3: pay bills for children and families of first responders if
• 48:10
  Speaker 3: they are facing financial hardship. And we have a lot
• 48:13
  Speaker 3: of community engagement. And we can't do it without our
• 48:15
  Speaker 3: partners like T-Mobile, who is here today with us, Craig Martinez,
• 48:20
  Speaker 3: and all of the people who support us.
• 48:23
  Speaker 8: Craig, let's talk about T-Mobile's desire to be part of this.
• 48:26
  Speaker 8: What does it mean to you as a public corporate
• 48:29
  Speaker 8: entity to take a very visible role in saying to
• 48:33
  Speaker 8: these kids, you're not forgotten?
• 48:35
  Speaker 9: Yeah, this is something that's personal for me. I was
• 48:38
  Speaker 9: a first responder before coming to T-Mobile.
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: I spent.
• 48:41
  Speaker 9: Nearly 30 years in the military and law enforcement, serving.
• 48:44
  Speaker 4: Communities just like these folks.
• 48:46
  Speaker 9: And, you know, when I went to the academy in
• 48:48
  Speaker 9: 1998 in Utah, one of my academy classmates just two
• 48:53
  Speaker 9: years into our careers was shot.
• 48:55
  Speaker 4: And killed in a line of duty. He had a
• 48:57
  Speaker 4: wife and a young son.
• 48:59
  Speaker 9: And so from then out, you could see what these
• 49:02
  Speaker 9: families were going through and the most difficult times in
• 49:04
  Speaker 9: their lives. And for what First Responders Children's Foundation is doing,
• 49:08
  Speaker 9: supporting those fallen officers and families in there, especially their.
• 49:11
  Speaker 4: Children, is so vitally important.
• 49:13
  Speaker 9: I mean, I spent more than a decade on an
• 49:15
  Speaker 9: Honor Guard unit where I've traveled across the country attending officers' funeral.
• 49:20
  Speaker 9: and got to see firsthand what their families were going through.
• 49:23
  Speaker 9: And so this is a personal thing for me. And
• 49:25
  Speaker 9: the fact that I get to retire from a law
• 49:26
  Speaker 9: enforcement career and now still serve our first responders and
• 49:29
  Speaker 9: their families at a capacity with T-Mobile is a blessing.
• 49:32
  Speaker 4: And I'm, and I'm very happy to be here.
• 49:34
  Speaker 8: Now, a little bit earlier today, um, By the time
• 49:37
  Speaker 8: we have this conversation on air, you will have honored
• 49:40
  Speaker 8: 15 or so specific first responders. Give us a little
• 49:44
  Speaker 8: kind of thumbnail of who they are.
• 49:46
  Speaker 2: And where they're from.
• 49:47
  Speaker 3: They are amazing heroes, and I will have to say
• 49:49
  Speaker 3: a big shout-out to T-Mobile because we took this nationally.
• 49:52
  Speaker 3: We were able to have nominations from all over the
• 49:54
  Speaker 3: country because T-Mobile helped us launch a national campaign.
• 49:58
  Speaker 2: How many entries total do you think you had?
• 50:01
  Speaker 3: We had about 200 entries. We've picked, we have 19
• 50:05
  Speaker 3: heroes being on it.
• 50:06
  Speaker 2: How do you pick?
• 50:07
  Speaker 8: Like, it's got to be the toughest thing in the
• 50:09
  Speaker 8: world to figure out who is the most important or
• 50:12
  Speaker 8: most significant contribution.
• 50:14
  Speaker 3: You're absolutely right, Kevin. I mean, everyone's important and everyone serves.
• 50:18
  Speaker 7: And there were so many.
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: We picked people.
• 50:20
  Speaker 3: And the one thing to say is that they all
• 50:21
  Speaker 3: are heroes.
• 50:23
  Speaker 7: And whoever is selected stands.
• 50:24
  Speaker 3: For their entire profession. So we have people here from Oklahoma,
• 50:29
  Speaker 3: West Virginia, Florida, California, New York, Ohio, Texas. These are
• 50:36
  Speaker 3: first responders. One firefighter saved three children from drowning under
• 50:40
  Speaker 3: a boat. One officer saved three teenagers from inside a
• 50:44
  Speaker 3: car that was on fire. A law enforcement officer chased
• 50:48
  Speaker 3: down someone who had shot someone in a store who
• 50:50
  Speaker 3: went into someone's apartment with children missing. He went in
• 50:54
  Speaker 3: knowing that that suspect had a gun, and he went
• 50:56
  Speaker 3: in anyway to save this family. He risked his.
• 50:59
  Speaker 10: Life for these people.
• 51:01
  Speaker 8: Are any of today's honorees being honored post-mortem?
• 51:06
  Speaker 2: Are they all here to accept their recognition?
• 51:08
  Speaker 3: Everyone is alive, yes.
• 51:10
  Speaker 8: I would imagine that that would also be tough to do,
• 51:12
  Speaker 8: but again, that's why you exist, so here we are. Well,
• 51:16
  Speaker 8: congratulations on the vision, on the faithfulness for all these years,
• 51:20
  Speaker 8: on the ability to do this. every single day helping children.
• 51:24
  Speaker 8: If people are listening from Anchorage to Miami, from New
• 51:28
  Speaker 8: York to San Diego and everywhere. Actually, we've got an
• 51:30
  Speaker 8: affiliate in Hawaii, too.
• 51:31
  Speaker 2: Wherever they're listening.
• 51:32
  Speaker 10: We have special recipients in Hawaii.
• 51:34
  Speaker 17: Okay.
• 51:35
  Speaker 2: How can they send a donation today?
• 51:37
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much. And anyone, no donation is too small.
• 51:41
  Speaker 3: They go to our website. Go to 1, the number 1, strcf.org.
• 51:47
  Speaker 2: I see what you did there.
• 51:48
  Speaker 8: First1st, first responders, okay, rcf.org, firstrcf.org, 1strcf. org if you want
• 51:58
  Speaker 8: to make a contribution. Jillian Crane and Craig Martinez, thank
• 52:01
  Speaker 8: you so much for what you're doing. Thanks for coming
• 52:03
  Speaker 8: over here and saying.
• 52:03
  Speaker 2: Hi to us.
• 52:04
  Speaker 3: We are so honored to be here. Thank you for
• 52:06
  Speaker 3: being here today, Kevin. Your show is fabulous.
• 52:08
  Speaker 4: Absolutely. Kevin, if I could end just on one thing.
• 52:10
  Speaker 9: You and I and Jillian, we measure the impact we
• 52:13
  Speaker 9: have at our current roles today. In weeks, sometimes months.
• 52:17
  Speaker 9: These first responders are measured in seconds.
• 52:19
  Speaker 4: Think about that. Seconds. And a lot of these honorees are.
• 52:23
  Speaker 9: Making split-second decisions or helping people in split-second times. Within seconds,
• 52:28
  Speaker 9: they could possibly save their lives. How impactful is that?
• 52:32
  Speaker 8: So you're just preaching to me now, okay, it takes
• 52:35
  Speaker 8: seconds to go to firstrcf.org to give a gift. If
• 52:39
  Speaker 8: we're measuring it in seconds, let's go give back in seconds.
• 52:42
  Speaker 2: Okay, let's do that.
• 52:43
  Speaker 8: All right, we're just getting started. A big two-hour show
• 52:46
  Speaker 8: still ahead.
• 52:46
  Speaker 2: It's That Cabin Show.
• 53:03
  Speaker 15: Here he is from New York, That Kevin, Kevin McCullough.
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: All right, welcome back.
• 53:13
  Speaker 8: It's That Kevin Show, still in Times Square. Beautiful ceremony
• 53:17
  Speaker 8: this morning where a lot of awards were given out
• 53:19
  Speaker 8: to first responders. And I'm seated now with three of
• 53:23
  Speaker 8: those recipients who received the Natural Disaster Response Award. This
• 53:29
  Speaker 8: is sponsored by ServPro, one of the sponsors for the day.
• 53:33
  Speaker 8: And there's lots to talk about with Don Malone.
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  Speaker 7: Don, welcome.
• 53:38
  Speaker 2: Glad to have you here. Tom Williams.
• 53:40
  Speaker 4: Good morning.
• 53:41
  Speaker 2: And John Knowles.
• 53:43
  Speaker 8: And for some reason, somebody thought it would be really
• 53:44
  Speaker 8: fun for me to have Don, Tom, and John all
• 53:46
  Speaker 8: in the same interview. So if I call your name,
• 53:50
  Speaker 8: just answer the question, and we'll just go from there.
• 53:54
  Speaker 8: First of all, welcome to New York. Thank you for
• 53:56
  Speaker 8: being here. Is this your first time to be around
• 54:01
  Speaker 8: the First Responders Appreciation Day? What are your thoughts as
• 54:04
  Speaker 8: you've kind of progressed through the goings-ons today?
• 54:08
  Speaker 17: Yeah, this has been incredible. It's definitely my first time.
• 54:11
  Speaker 17: When we got the call, actually, I kind of had
• 54:13
  Speaker 17: to Google it and look it up because we just
• 54:15
  Speaker 17: hadn't heard of it. And we all spent, as a group,
• 54:18
  Speaker 17: some time talking about it. And what the program does
• 54:21
  Speaker 17: is amazing, so we're excited to be here and to
• 54:24
  Speaker 17: be recognized.
• 54:24
  Speaker 2: Spokane is a long way from New York.
• 54:26
  Speaker 17: It's a little bit, yeah.
• 54:30
  Speaker 8: So talk to me about the Natural Disaster Response Award.
• 54:33
  Speaker 8: What were you guys honored for? What did you do,
• 54:36
  Speaker 8: and what brought you here?
• 54:39
  Speaker 18: I think the big thing that we're being honored for, first,
• 54:42
  Speaker 18: is very humbling. However, for the Spokane Complex fire that
• 54:46
  Speaker 18: happened on August 1st, where we had three major fires
• 54:49
  Speaker 18: going all at once, and I think the piece was
• 54:54
  Speaker 18: we all worked very well together. And I think that's
• 54:57
  Speaker 18: why we're all here is because everything.
• 54:59
  Speaker 4: Worked pretty well.
• 55:00
  Speaker 8: So talk to me about what you were up against
• 55:02
  Speaker 8: in that series of fires.
• 55:06
  Speaker 19: So I will say, speaking to how well we worked together,
• 55:10
  Speaker 19: this is not the first wildfire disasters we've had in
• 55:14
  Speaker 19: the Spokane region. But what we faced that day was really,
• 55:19
  Speaker 19: really low humidity, really low moisture levels in our rural
• 55:24
  Speaker 19: areas and in our urban areas. 60-plus mile-an-hour winds coming in.
• 55:29
  Speaker 7: Arson has started the initial fire.
• 55:31
  Speaker 8: So talk to us about that don't fight fires. Like
• 55:35
  Speaker 8: what level do winds get dangerous at?
• 55:36
  Speaker 2: Because we see them on.
• 55:37
  Speaker 8: Our TVs, especially on the West Coast, where if you
• 55:41
  Speaker 8: guys just like depopulated some of your forests every now
• 55:44
  Speaker 8: and then, I would think it would help. But, you know,
• 55:47
  Speaker 8: that's a governor's problem. But talk to me about how
• 55:50
  Speaker 8: wind plays that factor. And 60-mile-per-hour wind is pretty intense.
• 55:54
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 55:55
  Speaker 18: Yeah, I think there are several factors that come into
• 55:57
  Speaker 18: that for us, and all those factors lined up on
• 55:59
  Speaker 18: that low humidity, high wind, lack of snowpack the year before.
• 56:04
  Speaker 18: So all of our fuels were so dry, they were
• 56:08
  Speaker 18: really primed for a fire that was created that day.
• 56:11
  Speaker 8: Was it somebody out camping? Was it— My wife lives
• 56:17
  Speaker 8: in California, and she tells me all these stories all
• 56:18
  Speaker 8: the time, like every year some kid's up in the
• 56:20
  Speaker 8: mountain smoking cigarettes, and they throw a thing off, and
• 56:23
  Speaker 8: next thing you know, the whole mountain's on fire, and
• 56:25
  Speaker 8: then you've got like two towns that burn out.
• 56:27
  Speaker 19: Yeah, I will say all three of these fires were human-caused,
• 56:31
  Speaker 19: not meaning necessarily arson, although the largest fire, the Old
• 56:34
  Speaker 19: Trails fire, was started by an arsonist who we arrested
• 56:37
  Speaker 19: and is being prosecuted.
• 56:39
  Speaker 7: But, you know, they've moved so.
• 56:41
  Speaker 19: Quickly and went from an urban rural interface and the
• 56:46
  Speaker 19: wind blew it right into a significantly heavily populated area.
• 56:51
  Speaker 19: We ended up evacuating 65,000 people. in a matter of
• 56:55
  Speaker 19: a couple of hours out of one of.
• 56:57
  Speaker 8: Our more prominent neighborhoods. And this was just in the
• 56:58
  Speaker 8: last year. How many of them have been able to recover?
• 57:02
  Speaker 8: What's the process like for them?
• 57:03
  Speaker 19: So, yeah, we lost 650 homes, 1,000 structures.
• 57:07
  Speaker 7: Thankfully, no loss of life, which is incredible.
• 57:10
  Speaker 2: That's a miracle.
• 57:11
  Speaker 7: But this happened this last August.
• 57:13
  Speaker 19: So the rebuilding process and debris cleanup is very, very complicated.
• 57:17
  Speaker 19: And so I know we have some permits. Some people
• 57:19
  Speaker 19: have started to rebuild. But it's going to be a while.
• 57:22
  Speaker 17: Yeah.
• 57:23
  Speaker 8: Well, thank you for what you did and how you
• 57:25
  Speaker 8: just jumped in and got it done. Let me talk about,
• 57:28
  Speaker 8: let me ask you about National First Responders Day as
• 57:30
  Speaker 8: a whole. You guys, you kiss your wives goodbye every morning.
• 57:34
  Speaker 8: You hug your kids and you're praying the whole day.
• 57:37
  Speaker 8: Just let me get back home to see him tonight.
• 57:40
  Speaker 8: But what is it like wearing the uniform, putting your
• 57:44
  Speaker 8: life on the line, going into literally the line of
• 57:47
  Speaker 8: fire on a daily basis? What type of mental anguish
• 57:52
  Speaker 8: does that put on your on your families like how
• 57:56
  Speaker 8: how important is it that we applaud them and thank
• 57:59
  Speaker 8: them as much as we thank you guys.
• 58:01
  Speaker 17: Yeah i mean great great question i i think what
• 58:04
  Speaker 17: i'll i will do is i'll start with you know
• 58:06
  Speaker 17: when we do put the uniform on we're leaving one
• 58:08
  Speaker 17: family and and going to another and that's how we
• 58:11
  Speaker 17: we operate those you talk about the fears and going
• 58:15
  Speaker 17: in and other people coming out it's it's what we
• 58:17
  Speaker 17: do we're there together we know each other You always
• 58:20
  Speaker 17: have your family in the back of your mind, and
• 58:23
  Speaker 17: you know they're seeing the news and what's going on
• 58:25
  Speaker 17: and worrying about what you're doing, but that doesn't usually
• 58:27
  Speaker 17: impact what we're doing. Usually if there's an impact for us,
• 58:31
  Speaker 17: it's after we're done, and we're like, wow, what were
• 58:34
  Speaker 17: we doing right there, you know, and get it done.
• 58:37
  Speaker 2: How do you survive?
• 58:39
  Speaker 8: Because I have to imagine that a fire that intense
• 58:42
  Speaker 8: has to be very similar to a war zone for.
• 58:45
  Speaker 2: The Marines or the Rangers.
• 58:46
  Speaker 14: Right.
• 58:47
  Speaker 8: How do you decompress from that? Do you have resources
• 58:51
  Speaker 8: where you're able to go talk to people, or is
• 58:53
  Speaker 8: it just a band of brothers that kind of support
• 58:55
  Speaker 8: one another?
• 58:56
  Speaker 2: How do you cope?
• 58:57
  Speaker 18: And I think that's one of the biggest key factors,
• 58:59
  Speaker 18: especially over the last 10 years or so, is what
• 59:02
  Speaker 18: do we do after the incident?
• 59:03
  Speaker 4: How do we take care of each other?
• 59:05
  Speaker 18: And you talked about we have our band of brothers
• 59:07
  Speaker 18: that we'll go to first, but, you know, we only.
• 59:10
  Speaker 2: can only help so much.
• 59:11
  Speaker 18: So there's several other options for our members, fire, police,
• 59:16
  Speaker 18: that they can go to to talk with and basically
• 59:19
  Speaker 18: decompress and make sense of it all. Because really, I
• 59:22
  Speaker 18: think like Chief Williams said, in the moment... We're really
• 59:25
  Speaker 18: just not really thinking about it and getting it done.
• 59:27
  Speaker 18: It was after that we go, okay, what just happened there?
• 59:30
  Speaker 4: And then we move forward.
• 59:32
  Speaker 8: I think that one of the things that the FRCF,
• 59:35
  Speaker 8: the First Responders Children's Foundation, is doing is seeing to
• 59:38
  Speaker 8: it that kids get access to mental health help as well.
• 59:44
  Speaker 8: And I just think that we can't do too much
• 59:47
  Speaker 8: for these kids because... As much as you guys put
• 59:50
  Speaker 8: on the line, I mean, you kind of volunteered for it.
• 59:52
  Speaker 8: You kind of said, I know what I'm getting myself into.
• 59:55
  Speaker 8: Your kids didn't have any choice, it doesn't matter. And
• 59:58
  Speaker 8: I think that we can't do enough to love on
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 8: them strongly enough.
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I think it's important to offer those resources.
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 19: And for what this foundation does, it is probably one
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 19: of the most crucial things we can do for our
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 19: brothers and sisters that are in public safety. Because, you know,
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 19: if our first responder isn't there to take care of
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 19: their kids... They have to be able to depend on
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 19: us and this foundation to make sure that their needs
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 19: are met as best that we're able to do that.
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 8: Well, Don Malone, Tom Williams, John Knowles, I didn't once
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 8: trip over any of your names. Thank you for what
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 8: you do. Thank you for being here. We are so
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 8: grateful to have you. God bless you. God bless America.
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 7: Thank you very much.
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 2: Thank you. Kevin McCullough coming back from Times Square. Don't
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 2: go anywhere.
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 12: Stick around for more of That Kevin.
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 14: Next.
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 15: Serving it up with a no-drink Minnow Hot.
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 7: It's that Kevin Mack show.
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 2: Okay, we're back. Final few minutes of the first hour.
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 8: We're at the Hot Tix booth in Times Square.
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 2: And as we are here... You may still hear some
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 2: of the rumblings of.
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 8: The celebration of first responders that are going on behind me.
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 8: This is a full-day celebration.
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 2: It's nationwide.
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 8: And so if you're someone who serves in the fire
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 8: services in your area, in the police department of your area,
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 8: if you serve as an EMT.
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 2: If you're a 911 dispatcher, etc., This day is the
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 2: day that we.
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 8: Say thank you to you because you're on the line,
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 8: because you're there. When we dial that 911, when we
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 8: say to you, hey, we need help, you guys always respond.
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 8: And there's just not enough that we can do to
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 8: say thank you nearly.
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 2: Enough in that capacity.
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 8: And that's why when they said, Kev, would you be
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 8: interested in broadcasting live from the First Responders Children's Foundation website,
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 8: event here in Times Square today, we said absolutely. We
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 8: have to do this, friends, as a society, as a nation.
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 8: We can go through a lot of different trials. We
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 8: can have a lot of elections. We can go through
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 8: a lot of different things.
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 2: But when we are in.
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 8: Trouble, and it's interesting because this is the very most
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 8: important argument I feel like that we can make when
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 8: you hear a politician say, oh, let's defund the police.
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 2: Really?
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 8: The group that is on duty is at every minute
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 8: of every day to help keep you safe, you want
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 8: to take funding away from them and then you expect
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 8: the same level of safety in your city and in
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 8: your state and in your nation while.
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 2: You lay them off?
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 8: To me, it's just an utterly flabbergasting, stupid argument. And
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 8: I felt that way before being part of today's broadcast.
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 8: I felt that way before I sat down across from
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 8: first responders here on my show today. I wish everybody
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 8: could have been here to see it because you've got
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 8: literally first responder.
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 2: Units lining Times Square.
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 8: So there's ambulances and fire trucks and police cruisers and
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 8: EMTs and everything else.
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 2: They're all around us. But then there's just a sea.
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 8: Of people in uniform, fire officers, police officers, people that
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 8: are with their hospital and respective emergency units.
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 2: It was interesting.
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 8: During the ceremony itself, Jon Stewart's actually giving a speech,
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 8: and there's an ambulance that came down 7th Avenue right
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 8: next to where we were with its siren on doing what?
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 8: Responding to an emergency call. That was taking place. And
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 8: so even as we celebrate them, they are committing their
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 8: life to be on the line for us. So it's
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 8: really one of those things where I believe we can't
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 8: say thank you nearly enough. And it's one of the
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 8: reasons why, friends, I just think we have to do
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 8: everything we can. to make sure that we stand with them.
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 8: These children did not ask for the families that they
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 8: were born into. They did not ask for their parents
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 8: to be put at risk every single day of their life.
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 8: And that's why I think anything we can do to
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 8: assist them is really, really great. I want to say
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 8: thanks to Jillian Crane and Craig Martinez and Al Khan
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 8: and the.
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 2: Rest of everybody that invited us to be here.
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 8: Really, really special day hearing the stories of these heroes. And, friends,
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 8: I would encourage you, if you can do something, help
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 8: them out. The best thing you can do is just
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 8: to say thank you to them by going to 1strcf. org.
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 8: It's First Responders Children's Foundation. 1-S-T-R-C-F dot O-R-G. 1-S-T-R-C-F dot O-R-G.
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 8: When we continue our second hour of the goings-ons today
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 8: here in Times Square, a very special broadcast as we
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 8: continue to celebrate those who keep us safe on the
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 8: front lines every single day and portions of this show
• 1:05:09
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