Latest / The Bill Handel Show / Hurricane Marie Rainfall Hits SoCal | Union Rescue Mission's 'Over the Edge'

Transcript

Hurricane Marie Rainfall Hits SoCal | Union Rescue Mission's 'Over the Edge' · The Bill Handel Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM 640, The Bill Handel Show
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: On Demand on the iHeartRadio app.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: You are listening to The Bill Handel Show. Here's Neil Saavedra.
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: September 8th.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: We do the cell phones now. KFI AM 640. Everywhere
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: on the iHeartRadio app. Neil Saavedra and the morning crew
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: here handle as the day off. Happy Labor Day to you. Amy,
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: I didn't say you were racist today, did I?
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: I don't think you.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: No, we were talking about like local.
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: Warsh. Yeah. Woof.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: And things like that. I don't know. Someone says, Amy's
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: not racist. I didn't say so. Last time I pointed
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: out anything like that was when Amy went to that
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: Klan meeting. I think I said something. Did the talkback
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: say you said it? What does it say? Or does
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: it just say, yeah, she's not racist. Hey, by the way.
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: Hey, Neil.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Hey, Amy. You know, there's a lot of racism going
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: on over there at the factory. I don't know what
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: that means. But not you. Oh, maybe... Factory? Oh, KFI? Amy,
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: that you're, that you are Amy, not a racist, Neil,
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: so you settle down. Thanks, Doc. I don't know.
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: Dr.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: Prescott there said that, but no, Amy's not racist.
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: Thank you for acknowledging that.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah. That would be, I don't know anybody here that's racist. No,
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: just at the factory. Yeah. The factory. Oh, maybe he's
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: at a factory?
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: There's a restaurant called The Factory.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: Not anymore. Oh, maybe because they're racist.
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: No.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: If I remember, oh, maybe I'm thinking of The Foundry. No,
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: The Factory is different. The Foundry is no longer around.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: And it was owned and run by a Jew. So,
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: not racist. Now people are going to freak out.
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: Are you kidding? All right.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: Anyway, so it's raining. It is raining. We had some
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: real rain yesterday. Finally, some rain that felt like rain.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: Did they rain in the IE? So much. So much.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: But also very hot, humid. Yeah, it was. When you
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: said your son wanted a fire, I was like, what?
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: It was so hot. I will tell you this. When
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: I told my wife that, who was sitting on our.
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: Porch- Oh, I love sitting on the porch in the rain.
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: Oh, my gosh.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: Great. So great. We do have a fire pit out
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: there on the front as well. But obviously, like Kono
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: just pointed out, it was not a super cold day.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: I just think Little Max was like, yeah, let's do it.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: So it wasn't too bad. I think we probably had
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: the air conditioner on, too. That's going to make someone upset. Oh, yeah.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: We were running all the faucets with water in. chopping
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: down trees. But it was one of those things that
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: just you have that response like, hey, let's, you know,
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: let's have a winter day. We're all waiting for fall.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: My wife cooked banana bread and she made cream cheese,
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: homemade cream cheese yesterday. And, you know, those fun things
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: to go, you know what, I've been wanting to try this.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: I'm going to try this. And And it was just
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: one of those kind of nice, fun, relaxing days because
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: you couldn't really do anything. It was enough rain where
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: I almost went out and washed my truck in the
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: natural water because I know that sun's coming, right? We
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: were supposed to have some more rain coming up this weekend,
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: but that looks like that's not happening, right, Amy?
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: There's a slight chance, but this week it's going to
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: be hot.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, right.
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  Speaker 3: Don't we go?
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: What's it supposed to be today?
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: Today it's going to be 80s to low 90s for
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: most areas. Low 80s at the beaches, so it's not
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: going to be cool anywhere.
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  Speaker 2: So it's going to be a little, it's not going to,
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  Speaker 2: it's like when you get out of the shower on
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  Speaker 2: a hot day and you just beat up.
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  Speaker 4: It may still be a little humid, too, because of
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  Speaker 4: the recent rain. It's going to be gorgeous. The skies
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  Speaker 4: are going to be gorgeous.
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  Speaker 2: Really?
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  Speaker 3: Yes.
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  Speaker 2: They still are pretty cloudy out here in the Burr Bank.
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  Speaker 4: I know, but that's gorgeous.
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  Speaker 2: Yes. Oh, no, I'm not arguing. I'm just looking behind
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: me and saying that.
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  Speaker 3: Crisp and clear.
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  Speaker 2: No fear. Yeah, I do love the rain. I love
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: the smell afterwards. That fresh rain and everything.
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  Speaker 4: The smell at the beginning is a little iffy.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: Oh, well, because it's L.A. and you've got to clean
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: through all the poop and the human feces and the
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: pee and all that stuff. You've got to get the
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: first layer of funk off.
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: And I feed.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: I feed the crows, and so, yeah, okay. I guess
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: I'm associated with a murder, if that's the way you
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: want to look at it. But I do love feeding
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: the crows, and they came out in the rain, and
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: they don't normally do that that I'm aware of. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: they line up on the power lines or the phone
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: lines or whatever in front of the house, and I
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: feed them unsalted peanuts. And they love breaking them open
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: with their beak and getting all that stuff. And I
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: was surprised to see them. And they respond. I do
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  Speaker 2: a certain call. And I thought they're not going to
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: be able to hear me in the rain and everything.
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  Speaker 2: They do. They line up and they come and they
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: get their food.
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  Speaker 3: I love it.
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  Speaker 2: I feel like I have friends. All right. So you've
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: got Yoda. You've got Frida Kahlo. Two of my favorites,
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: George Lucas and his $ 1 billion museum. I keep getting
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: people going, are you going? Are you going? Have you gone?
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: Have you gone?
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: Are you going? Listen, I will be going. I actually
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: am probably going to become a member because I think
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: narrative arts are important. And it's not just the Star
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: Wars stuff. There is Star Wars stuff there, of course.
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  Speaker 2: Some of it I've already seen. Some of it I
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  Speaker 2: have not. But I will tell you, don't get caught
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  Speaker 2: up in the mis-marketing of this, of being a Star
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  Speaker 2: Wars museum. There is other fabulous, beautiful works of art
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  Speaker 2: in there. And obviously... Conversations to be had about other films.
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  Speaker 2: Of course, you have the University of Southern California, USC there.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: That is the alma mater of George Lucas. And being
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: a filmmaker and coming out of the filmmaking classes there,
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: I have a nephew who went there and graduated film
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: school there at USC. Didn't go into film, strangely enough.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: But a talented kid, very, very talented kid. He's older now.
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  Speaker 2: But it's going to be a radical change from the
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: type of museum you may expect. And I think that
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: this very futuristic vision and building and the glass, and
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: it looks almost like something landing in the middle of
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: the city, is.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: Is going to take you away from the norm. And
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  Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to that. I'm looking forward to all
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: those things. I'm not looking forward to crowds that are,
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: you know, the influencers and all that kind of want
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: to get that out of their system. I just got
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: invited to dinner there by my buddy, Simon Majumdar, hit
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: me up and said, hey, do you want to go
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: to the Skywalker Grill? I think is the name of
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: it with me. And I'm like, hey, being able to
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: sit across from Simon and have a conversation about anything, food, history,
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  Speaker 2: stuff like that is a treasure. I would go to
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: any greasy spoon with him, let alone trying a place
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: like that. So I'm looking forward to that and other
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: things that are going on there. But it's in addition to,
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: you know, all the things in there, the architecture is stunning.
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  Speaker 2: And right now, the opening of Star Wars in Motion,
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  Speaker 2: that's the exhibit that's going on now. You get to
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  Speaker 2: see an opportunity to pose and have an opportunity to
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  Speaker 2: pose with things like Luke Skywalker's land speeder, the pod racer, Anakin,
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: young Anakin's pod racer. But it's much bigger than that.
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  Speaker 2: And it's much grander to me from what I've been
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: looking at than just George Lucas going– You know, we
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: got to clean out the garage, a lot of stuff
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: in the garage. That's my George Lucas. Got to clean
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: the garage, get Yoda, get the space pods out. You know,
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: it's not just him throwing stuff in a museum. Frida
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  Speaker 2: Kahlo is an amazing artist and an artist that was
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: very introspective about her own pain and life and culture.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: And things, there's going to be so much more there.
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  Speaker 2: So I hope that it doesn't get drowned in that
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: concept of, you know, it's a Star Wars museum. Not
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: that that's not great. Not that that's not cool. But
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: there's also an early Van Gogh. I'm not going to
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: do that weird pronunciation. People go, no, you got to
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: say Van Gogh. Van Gogh. Van Gogh to us. Okay,
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: Van Gogh. We'll be fine with that. There's a Picasso sketch,
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: Charles Schultz, of course, an original Peanuts illustration. So Frazetta,
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: Frank Frazetta, if you remember, gosh, Frank Frazetta in the 70s,
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: early 80s. the paintings, you know, think Conan the Barbarian
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: and those types of very powerful images of muscular men
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: and women and things like that. There's going to be
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: a lot there and it's going to be a cool
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: place to gather, to hang out, to connect with some
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: of these pieces. And it's going to be a gem.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: It's going to be something really cool to have here
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: in Los Angeles. Of course, it'll be opening to the
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: public on the 22nd of this month. It sits on
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: 13 acres, surrounded by gardens dotted with sculptures. You know,
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: a lot of them are nods to George himself. Yoda
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: overlooking the water fountain, a bronze recreation of Princess Leia.
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: I thought it said bathing. It said battling Jabba. So
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: she's in her what is called Slave Leia outfit. It's
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: the space bikini that she's got that she was wearing
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: when she killed Jabba the Hutt. And a lot of
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: people say, oh, that's offensive to women. She's in this bikini.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: She killed Jabba the Hutt. She killed her oppressor. Nobody
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: talks about that with a chain, the very chain she
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: was oppressed by. That's a strong woman. Was she a
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: smoke show too?
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: You could have both. A little something for everybody. So
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: I'm excited. I'm looking forward to it, Amy. I'm assuming
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: you're excited to get out there. Yeah, that'll be cool.
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: You know, there's also a huge Norman Rockwell exhibit.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: Yes, I didn't mention that. And I'm a big fan
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: of Rockwell and Leyendecker, who a lot of people don't
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: know about Leyendecker. My brother taught me about another artist
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: who worked along the same time, just happened to be
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: gay and didn't get the same recognition in the same way.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: But yeah, big fan of Rockwell and was in my house.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: We had a big, massive book of Norman Rockwell. My
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: dad was a huge fan as well. So I would
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: thumb through that as a kid and just his illustrations
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: are fantastic. So it's going to be filled with a
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: lot of neat things.
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: September 22nd.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So I'm probably going to end up becoming a
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: member because I like supporting the arts when I can.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: And you can go find out about membership. I think
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: the lowest starts at about $ 147 or something like that
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: and goes up to $ 600, depending on that. And that
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: lasts until opening, I think. And then they close them.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: Happy Labor Day. Neil Saavedra and the Morning Crew here.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: Handle has the day off. I want to remind you,
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: your official home for Dodgers baseball is AM570 LA Sports
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: this afternoon. Your back-to-back world champion, Dodgers... Take on the
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: Reds with first pitch at 6. Listen on AM 570
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: LA Sports and stream on the iHeartRadio app live from
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: the Galpin Ford broadcast booth. All right. So a buddy
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: of mine that Amy and I met three years ago
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: or so. This is going to be our third year
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: going over the edge at the Hilton Hotel here in
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: Universal City. And I wanted to introduce him to you.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: You've heard him on with Amy on, uh, wake up call, uh,
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: Mark hood with union rescue mission. Welcome to the handle show.
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: Good morning, Neil. How are you doing? And creative music
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: coming back in a second.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Kono always, uh, going over the edge. Uh, And
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: Amy's here with us. Amy, feel free to jump in
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: at any time as well.
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: Jump in.
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: Jump over, jump out. So basically, we're going to be
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: doing what we've done in the past couple of years,
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: and that is going over the edge of a 25,
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: 26-story building, the Hilton, right off the 101 freeway. And
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: it is to not only bring awareness, but to raise funds,
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: very important funds to For homeless folks that want to
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: get better. It's a dry house, right? A dry facility, correct, Mark?
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: That is correct. We're a safe and sober living facility.
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: There's a lot of reasons for that. But one of
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: the reasons is we're the only facility downtown that welcomes
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: in women and children and two-parent families. And we want
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: that to be a safe space. When you walk the
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: hallways of our mission, you're going to hear a lot
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: of children running and laughing and playing and families congregating
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: and enjoying themselves. And so we want to maintain a
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: very safe and fun environment for families.
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: So what separates? We'll get back to going over the
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: edge and what Amy and I will be doing. Of course,
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: you can go to URM, Union Rescue Mission, URM.org slash O-T-E,
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: over the edge. And you'll see the KFI button. You
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: can click on that. It doesn't matter if you give
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: money to Patrick or Amy or me. The key is
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: to donate if you would. But we each have our
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: own pages and stuff like that. And we'll get back
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: to that. But explain what sets Union Rescue Mission apart
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: when it comes to this very painful thorn in our
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: side here in Los Angeles, which is homelessness. And that's
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: not just us, but the people that are homeless and
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: need and want help, not the ones that, you know,
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: want free camping.
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: Well, I think the big difference in Union Rescue Mission is, one,
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: we've been doing what we've been doing for 135 years.
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: And the mission is just good at it. And we
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: are all about solutions and outcomes. We have no illusion
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: that all we want to do is shelter people. We
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: want people to come in and have a safe space
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: and make sure they're well fed and well clothed. But
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: then we want to start them on their journey to
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: a permanent home, and they're assigned a case manager, and
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: they have all the free medical, dental, legal, and mental
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: health care they need to get stable in their life.
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: We break addictions. We deal with people that have suffered
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: from domestic violence and abandonment. And then once you become
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: stable and we've addressed those traumas that caused homelessness in
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: that life to begin with, then we can really start
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: some fun stuff like let's get your GED, your high
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: school diploma, let's learn how to weld. And you can
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: leave Union Rescue Mission with tools for an independent life
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: out there. And our goal is to end homelessness. So
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: we don't look at ourselves as a shelter. We look
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: at ourselves as families. When you walk through that front door,
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: you're starting your journey to finding your way home. And
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: we put nearly 1,000 families in permanent housing last year.
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: We've seen people graduate with welding certificates. Our first College
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: of the Canyons class has graduated. So I think what
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: sets us apart is we really don't have a desire
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: to only be a shelter. We want to be a
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: solution in the middle of a city experiencing a homelessness
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: crisis that very much is in need of solutions.
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it's funny. I know we've switched words.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: A lot of politicians like to just switch words when
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: they can't do anything real. So homelessness has become the unhoused,
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: which I think completely eradicates the actual problem. And I
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: love that the the union rescue mission says you want
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: to get them home. You want to get them back
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: home because home is different than a house. House is
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: just shelter, but a home means you're actively working, you're connecting,
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: you have family, you have support, you have infrastructure. That's home.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: And you can't do that with just getting somebody a shelter.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: That's just a rug to brush it underneath. Talk about
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: some of those programs when we come back. I want
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: to hear about some of those programs, like you said,
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: about welding, about learning a skill so that it's not
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: just throwing somebody into a shelter, but also giving them
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: the structure to be able to build the system they're
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: going to need to live a happy life and a
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: productive life again. We're talking right now with Mark Hood
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: from the Union Rescue Mission. Um, they've been great partners.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: I will, uh, tell you that they are also one
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: of my monthly, I fell in love with them three
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: years ago. They are one of my monthly charities that
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: I give to, I believe in them. Um, Amy and
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: I both donate to them and, uh, we're not asking
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: you to do anything that we don't do as well.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: So union rescue mission, um, you mentioned welding and stuff.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: Talk about, uh, the programs themselves, the partners that you
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: have to teach people and get people back, not just
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: into housing, but into life again?
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: I'd be happy to. We actually started making moves about
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: a year ago. The mission traditionally has always had those
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: programs to help people with whatever the root cause that
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: caused homelessness for them. But we decided about a year
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: ago we need to do more. We need to be
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: able to put better tools in toolboxes and help people
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: get living waste out. And partners started coming to us
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: from all over the city. So an organization called Reignite
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: Hope now works with us. to provide welding certificates for
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: men and women. And we've had several men that have
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: gone through that program and are now working as welders.
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: Compton College. came to us and said, hey, we want
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: to participate and we want to give people the opportunity
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: to learn whatever trades we have here at the school.
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: And many of those programs are completely free of charge
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: to low-income individuals, which all of our people qualify for that.
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: And then College of the Canyons in Valencia, Santa Clarita,
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: came to us. They have a series of programs called
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: Fast Track. where you can get very meaningful skills certificates
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: in eight to 10 weeks. And we just had a
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: graduating class that got their machining certificates there after a
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: 10-week course. And these are all living waste jobs. And
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: what is great about their program Neil is on graduation day, uh,
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: companies from all over the community come to graduation day
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: and do interviews, uh, do assessments the day of graduation
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: and over half our class was offered, uh, living wage
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: jobs that day. And they continue to get interviews. And so, uh,
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: it really is a focus on once people get, uh,
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: stability back in their life. I mean, The journey before
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: you ever get the job is we want to get
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: people stable. We want to reconnect families. We want to
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: see that heart mended and restoration for people that had
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: been forgotten about. They thought their life was over. But
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: once they have that stability, you still need tools for
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: real life. And that's what we're offering now. We have
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: a learning center at all three of our campuses where
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: you can go back and get your GED if you
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: never got your high school diploma. And then we offer
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: an array of trades and skills. And we're partnering with
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: businesses all over the community that are hiring our graduates. So, again,
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: one of the reasons that we believe we're worthy of
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: people's support is we truly want to be a solution
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: in the middle of a crisis so that we're not
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: just a shelter, that we truly are ending homelessness for
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: folks and helping them find their way home.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: I love that. And knowing that you're not making money,
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: getting money from the feds or anything like that, because
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: the reality is a lot of that money won't go
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: to a place that's dry, that's safe and sober type situation.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: So you guys are really doing the real deal. Very quickly,
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: explain what Amy and I will be doing on the
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: 25th and 26th.
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: And 27th, rather. Well, the thing I love about you
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: and Amy is you lead by example. And you lead
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: by example with courage because I know neither one of
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: you are terribly excited about going over the edge. But
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: you do it anyway because you believe in the cause.
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: And this is our seventh year to do it. And
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: we repel off the 25th floor of the Universal Hilton
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: right there beside Universal City. We do it to raise awareness.
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: It's a lot of media coverage that day, especially with
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: you and Amy there, Neal. So it gets the word
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: out to the entire community about who we are and
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: what we're doing so that more people can come and support.
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: Because as you said, Neal, we are 98% supportive. supported
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: by private individuals. We do not receive any federal funding
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: and very, very little funding from the city. And so
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: we really need that support. So on top of awareness,
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: it's one of our biggest fundraisers of the year. Our
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: goal this year is to raise $ 2 million, and we
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: have a long ways to go. I think we're at 1.1, 1.2.
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: So we really need everyone's help right now. And we
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: have a generous gift of $ 500, 000 so that every gift
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: towards that is doubled right now. So now's the time
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: to give. And for $ 1, 000, a $ 1, 000 donation, you get
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: to go over the edge with us. And you can
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: go to urm.org slash O-T-E. And you can sign up
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: or sponsor someone. Neil and Amy both have a page
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: set up there so you can sponsor either one of them.
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: Or you can sponsor yourself and go over the edge
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: with us on Saturday the 25th or Friday the 25th
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: or Saturday the 26th. We'd love to have you there.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: O-T-E is where we'd love for you to go. We
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: are behind this year in raising. We just started us,
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: but as far as what we're raising. So we would
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: love anything that you could donate, whether it's to Amy,
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: to me, to any of the members of the KFI team.
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: It doesn't matter. It goes to the same place and
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: we appreciate it. Mark, thanks so much for coming on,
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: my friend. Get back to your Labor Day and keep
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: doing what the good Lord has you doing. And we
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: need you out there. Thank you, Neil.
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: Thank you, Amy. Appreciate you both very much.
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: All right, we'll be back with more on the morning show.
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: This is KFI Heard Everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: You've been listening to The Bill Handel Show. Catch my
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: show Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.