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Jeep Giveaway Leaves the Duck Race in 2026 · Jeep Talk Show

• 0:00
  Hello Jeepers, it's time for another Jeep
• 0:02
  Talk Show interview
• 0:03
  episode. We're going to have
• 0:05
  Mary Walker back with us today. Mary's
• 0:07
  been with us, I think I
• 0:09
  looked it up, since 2022. I think
• 0:11
  2022 was the first year that you had
• 0:14
  joined us. Give people the
• 0:15
  rundown on who you are and
• 0:17
  what you're here to talk to us about
• 0:19
  today. Okay. My name is
• 0:22
  Mary Walker. I am the executive
• 0:24
  director of a nonprofit organization
• 0:27
  called Grace Clinic in
• 0:29
  Rockwall, Texas. And we partner
• 0:32
  every year with the Boys and Girls Clubs
• 0:34
  of Northeast Texas to
• 0:36
  hold what we call the best
• 0:38
  Jeep Festival ever, the Rubber Duck,
• 0:41
  Brigada and Jeep Festival.
• 0:44
  The Boys and Girls Clubs of
• 0:46
  Northeast Texas have been doing that
• 0:48
  organization since 2012. We jumped in,
• 0:51
  Grace Clinic jumped in
• 0:53
  2022. And that's when we started giving
• 0:56
  away a Jeep as part of the
• 0:59
  big duck race that everyone
• 1:01
  participates in by adopting ducks. And
• 1:04
  then the first place prize
• 1:05
  for the number one duck was a
• 1:08
  Jeep Wrangler. Yeah. And correct me on
• 1:12
  this was the Jeep Talk Show
• 1:15
  community member. Was he the
• 1:17
  one that won the first Jeep in 2022? Yes.
• 1:21
  Andrew Prather won that
• 1:24
  first year, our very first Jeep
• 1:26
  giveaway. He sure did. So as I recall,
• 1:30
  when we talked five years
• 1:33
  ago now, around that time,
• 1:34
  five years, that you guys had been doing
• 1:37
  this and somebody approached you and
• 1:40
  said, "Hey, if you're
• 1:40
  floating ducks down a little manmade
• 1:43
  river there, you might want to think
• 1:45
  about throwing some Jeep
• 1:47
  in there because they put ducks on
• 1:49
  Jeeps." And I think you were
• 1:52
  a little, as most people are,
• 1:53
  were a little surprised by that. I mean,
• 1:55
  the idea of putting a duck
• 1:56
  on a Jeep, I mean, what's the
• 1:57
  connection, you know, a Jeep and a duck?
• 2:00
  That was part of this
• 2:04
  partnership that we had when we came
• 2:07
  in. And I had a couple friends that were
• 2:12
  putting rubber ducks on
• 2:13
  their Jeeps. And I thought, "What
• 2:15
  in the world are they doing?" And
• 2:19
  realized, "Oh, this is
• 2:20
  actually a thing." And people started
• 2:22
  talking to us about it. And we realized,
• 2:24
  "Oh, it makes a lot of
• 2:25
  sense to partner this Jeep world
• 2:29
  with this rubber duck race that had been
• 2:32
  going on for 10 years
• 2:33
  already." Yeah. So how long has
• 2:35
  it been since they last threw it in your
• 2:38
  face that it was
• 2:39
  their idea and why it's...
• 2:42
  while you're successful now because of
• 2:43
  them? I think every year.
• 2:49
  Of course. Of course. They wouldn't be
• 2:52
  friends if they did
• 2:53
  otherwise. Right. Exactly.
• 2:57
  All right. So I'm assuming it did do a
• 3:00
  big deal for you. I think,
• 3:01
  you know, we've talked about
• 3:02
  it before, so maybe I'm just assuming,
• 3:04
  but it was a significant difference for
• 3:06
  you when you brought
• 3:07
  the Jeepers in, right? Oh, it was a
• 3:10
  really, really big
• 3:11
  difference. The race itself,
• 3:15
  the rubber duck race itself, had been a
• 3:19
  community favorite for a really long
• 3:21
  time. But as time goes
• 3:23
  on, the excitement about everything was
• 3:27
  kind of dying down. It was also right
• 3:29
  around COVID. And so
• 3:31
  things kind of shifted and we needed a
• 3:34
  change. We needed
• 3:35
  something, right, that was going to
• 3:37
  kind of breathe some fresh air into this.
• 3:40
  So it was really kind of
• 3:41
  perfect timing to shift things.
• 3:43
  It used to be that the prize was a trip.
• 3:47
  And then we said, "Okay, what
• 3:49
  if we did something crazy and
• 3:51
  we just connected a Jeep, an actual
• 3:53
  four-door Jeep to that prize instead?" So
• 3:58
  the way you guys gave
• 3:59
  Jeep was you did a raffle. I think they
• 4:01
  were, was it $10? You
• 4:04
  adopt the duck for $10?
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  Yes. So you would adopt a duck for $10
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  and then you wouldn't actually get a
• 4:13
  physical rubber duck.
• 4:14
  That duck would go into our safekeeping.
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  We would tell everyone
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  that their duck would go into
• 4:20
  training. And then on the day of the
• 4:23
  race, we would put their pre-numbered
• 4:25
  duck into the fountains
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  and all the ducks, thousands of ducks
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  would race. And the first
• 4:32
  place duck would get the Jeep.
• 4:36
  Right. And I think it was like, I don't
• 4:37
  know about the first year that you were
• 4:39
  doing the ducks. I'm
• 4:40
  sorry, the first year we were giving away
• 4:41
  a Jeep, but in later years,
• 4:43
  there was actually a first,
• 4:44
  second and third place for the ducks.
• 4:47
  Yes. So we always had a
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  second place prize was a $1,000
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  gift card, a Visa gift card. And then the
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  third place prize was
• 4:56
  a $500 gift card. So
• 4:59
  that was still part of it from the
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  get-go. That was what we did.
• 5:03
  Yeah. I'm just laying out what you used
• 5:05
  to do because we're going
• 5:06
  to talk about what you're
• 5:07
  doing now. And folks, don't panic. It's
• 5:10
  better. So I think we've
• 5:14
  talked about this before. How
• 5:15
  nervous were you and your group about
• 5:19
  giving that Jeep away?
• 5:19
  That's a big prize. It's very
• 5:23
  expensive. And it's not like you,
• 5:25
  somebody had a wad of cash
• 5:26
  and said, Hey, go buy a Jeep.
• 5:28
  You had to sell tickets. Right. When we
• 5:31
  rolled out the new
• 5:34
  process, it was 2022 and 2021.
• 5:38
  The number of ducks sold that year was
• 5:40
  only 750 and those ducks
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  were sold for $5. So we
• 5:45
  knew that in order to be right side up
• 5:47
  and giving away a $40,000
• 5:49
  Jeep was going to require us to
• 5:51
  increase the price of the duck from $5 to
• 5:54
  $10. But then we had to sell
• 5:57
  a lot. And we, it was a very,
• 6:01
  very large leap of faith, but we knew we
• 6:04
  could do it. And we ended up
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  selling just short of 10,000
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  rubber ducks that first year.
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  Good. And you guys are a
• 6:15
  501c charity. Is that correct?
• 6:17
  Yes. Both organizations
• 6:18
  are 501c3 organizations. Yes.
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  So you were getting money to do, I mean,
• 6:25
  to be a success with the event, of
• 6:27
  course, and pay for it.
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  But ultimately, what were you hoping to
• 6:30
  do with the, the additional
• 6:32
  money? If you, if you made
• 6:34
  any money on it, what were you looking to
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  do for the additional?
• 6:37
  The, the money that we would bring in, so
• 6:40
  we brought in money
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  through the ducks that people
• 6:43
  were adopting, but then we also had
• 6:45
  sponsorships like group one and the, the
• 6:50
  Rockwall Jeep dealership
• 6:52
  and the city of Rockwall and four whole
• 6:54
  parts. We had a bunch of different
• 6:55
  sponsors that came in
• 6:56
  that also helped us cover a lot of the
• 6:59
  cost. And so by the end, the
• 7:02
  money that both organizations,
• 7:04
  we had a 50 50 split and both
• 7:07
  organizations were able to find different
• 7:10
  programs that they were
• 7:11
  doing. And so grace clinic provides
• 7:15
  medical care to families that are
• 7:17
  struggling to make ends meet.
• 7:19
  We charitably subsidize that medical care
• 7:22
  and we do, you know, mental
• 7:24
  health and cancer screenings
• 7:26
  and pediatric care and all types of
• 7:29
  things. And then the boys and girls
• 7:31
  clubs, Northeast Texas do
• 7:34
  their educational programming. They, you
• 7:37
  know, they run these
• 7:38
  large afterschool programs and
• 7:40
  afterschool camps, and then they run
• 7:42
  summer camps as well. So it was allowing
• 7:45
  both organizations to
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  really, you know, push some funding into
• 7:49
  those to, to make them work
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  for the, for each year that
• 7:53
  we've done it. All right. So 2022 first
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  Jeep given away. Did you do anything
• 8:00
  different in 2023? Or
• 8:02
  was it the same basic formula in 2023? It
• 8:06
  was pretty much the same
• 8:08
  formula in 2024. We decided,
• 8:12
  wouldn't it be cool if we modified it.
• 8:17
  And so we partnered with
• 8:19
  Mike Ethington with platinum
• 8:21
  off-road and he helped us modify it. He
• 8:25
  was putting a TerraFlex
• 8:29
  lift. I have to remember.
• 8:31
  Right.
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  Yeah. The lift. And then we had 35 inch
• 8:35
  tires and, you know, the shocks and the
• 8:39
  wheels and the tires
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  and all that. I think he had some
• 8:41
  graphics, uh, put it on as well. Right.
• 8:43
  From Janet, our former,
• 8:47
  Chick chat. Yes. Yes. We, she would put,
• 8:51
  uh, graciously, she
• 8:53
  would put all of the logos of
• 8:56
  the supporting sponsors were on the
• 8:59
  sides. We kind of looked
• 9:00
  like a little NASCAR kind of
• 9:02
  giveaway. We had all the different logos
• 9:05
  of our top sponsors and,
• 9:07
  uh, yes. And she would put
• 9:09
  rubber duck regatta across the top of the
• 9:11
  Jeep. Uh, so she was a
• 9:13
  huge help on that side. Yes.
• 9:14
  Yeah. That's really good. Good work over
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  there. Um, okay. So,
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  um, was it, I'm, I'm,
• 9:21
  it had some success, so I'm sure making
• 9:23
  modification. And I
• 9:25
  think I was really happy
• 9:27
  whenever you told me about the last, when
• 9:29
  we did that interview for
• 9:30
  that year, I was really happy
• 9:31
  that you guys were modifying the Jeep. I
• 9:33
  mean, a stock Jeep is, is a
• 9:35
  hell of a prize, but if you
• 9:36
  can get it ready to go on the trail, and
• 9:39
  even if you don't take it on
• 9:39
  the trail, it shows that you,
• 9:42
  Hey, I'm ready to go. That type of thing.
• 9:44
  So that's, that's a big
• 9:45
  plus. It, it helped, uh,
• 9:48
  it helped the Jeep community kind of buy
• 9:50
  in a little bit more
• 9:51
  also to it because that was,
• 9:54
  um, kind of an added perk for them,
• 9:56
  especially because they were
• 9:58
  going out on the trails and
• 9:59
  they wanted to be able to, uh, win
• 10:02
  something that was good to
• 10:03
  go right away. Yeah. Yeah.
• 10:05
  Absolutely. Um, so, uh, that was really
• 10:09
  good. And I think that
• 10:10
  was an easy, easy way to go,
• 10:11
  but it's always a challenge, isn't it?
• 10:13
  You never know, uh, the economy, uh,
• 10:16
  people's attitude about
• 10:17
  things, you know, if, uh, if they're
• 10:19
  concerned about, uh, getting
• 10:21
  food on the table, this is,
• 10:22
  uh, this is kind of a good, a good
• 10:24
  escape, but it makes it difficult even
• 10:26
  when it's a charity and,
• 10:27
  and promoting things for people in the
• 10:30
  community. Every year, uh, we
• 10:34
  have those moments of stress
• 10:35
  where we, we think, okay, when you think
• 10:38
  about it and go, this isn't going to
• 10:40
  work. It's all a bit of
• 10:41
  work. Is this year going to work? And
• 10:45
  every year, uh, every year we end up, we
• 10:48
  end up, okay. And we
• 10:50
  end up both organizations make money and
• 10:53
  we're able to, you know, fund the
• 10:55
  different things that
• 10:56
  we're trying to do. And so every year it
• 10:58
  works out. Yeah, that's
• 11:00
  good. That glad that it does.
• 11:02
  All right. So, uh, oh, I found this when
• 11:05
  I was doing some
• 11:06
  research, uh, voted best community
• 11:08
  event in Rockwell County, two years
• 11:11
  running. Yes. So the
• 11:14
  Rockwell County is right on Lake
• 11:18
  Ray Hubbard. The festival that we hold is
• 11:20
  actually right at the Harbor
• 11:22
  and it's on the Lake. So it's
• 11:24
  gorgeous and it's a lot of fun. We have
• 11:27
  thousands of people who come
• 11:29
  out and we do all kinds of fun
• 11:31
  things. And so for 2024 and 2025, we were
• 11:37
  rated best community event
• 11:38
  for Rockwell County and we're
• 11:40
  up for it again for 2026. So we're, we're
• 11:44
  hoping we get that too. So,
• 11:47
  um, I was going to ask you,
• 11:50
  oh, so I'm just kind of brushing over
• 11:53
  this and I think that, that
• 11:54
  I've never asked you, can you
• 11:56
  describe the man-made river? Because I
• 12:00
  don't even have a good
• 12:00
  idea about what this thing is.
• 12:03
  Like, you know, is it a 50 foot duck
• 12:05
  race? But I know it's not,
• 12:07
  but you know what I'm saying?
• 12:08
  People, people don't understand that this
• 12:10
  is, this is a big
• 12:11
  deal in Rockwell. It's a,
• 12:13
  it's a fancy thing that's longer than a,
• 12:16
  you know, a couple of feet.
• 12:18
  Yes. Uh, so at the Harbor,
• 12:22
  the festival is held. There are, there's
• 12:24
  about an acre worth of fountains that
• 12:28
  are, they start up on a
• 12:30
  up high and then they, they graduate down
• 12:34
  into, uh, where the lake
• 12:36
  area is. And it's in front of
• 12:38
  the Cinemark movie theater and it's just
• 12:41
  this huge set of
• 12:42
  fountains. And so the ducks aren't
• 12:45
  racing, you know, racing down just a, a
• 12:50
  small little path. They
• 12:51
  are literally having to,
• 12:53
  there's, there's waterfalls they have to
• 12:55
  go over and then there's
• 12:57
  graduated steps, things that they
• 12:59
  have to go down as they make their way
• 13:01
  down each of the levels of
• 13:02
  the fountain down to the area
• 13:05
  where the winner's tube is. So it's,
• 13:07
  they, they've got quite the, quite the
• 13:09
  race they have to do to
• 13:10
  there. All right. Now I've got a Jeep
• 13:13
  talk show, million dollar idea for you
• 13:15
  and it probably would
• 13:16
  cost you a million dollars. Um, you need
• 13:19
  to add tracking cheats
• 13:20
  chips to the ducks. Oh,
• 13:23
  you've heard this one. Yeah. And then,
• 13:25
  and then you bring in a British, uh,
• 13:27
  sports, uh, announcer
• 13:30
  and a little names come up, you know, who
• 13:33
  adopted the duck and
• 13:35
  it's, it's like a horse race,
• 13:37
  but it's a duck race and you get a very
• 13:39
  excited announcer and make
• 13:40
  it a big deal out of it. And
• 13:42
  also too, you can find all the missing
• 13:44
  ducks when the race is over. We try to
• 13:48
  make sure we hold on
• 13:49
  to every duck cause we use the same ducks
• 13:51
  every year. So we would,
• 13:53
  that would actually be really
• 13:54
  helpful. And we've, we've had people ask
• 13:56
  us to do that and then they
• 13:57
  can have an app and they can
• 13:58
  track where they're going. Yeah, no, it
• 14:00
  would be really cool. But
• 14:02
  ideas are easy. Yeah. It would
• 14:06
  be great if we had that ability to do
• 14:08
  that. Yes. At this point we're, we're
• 14:10
  still kind of old school.
• 14:11
  They just float. Yeah, of course. Well,
• 14:14
  there's so many, how many, how
• 14:15
  many ducks are there? Is it a
• 14:17
  duck per person or yeah, I guess, I guess
• 14:19
  that's the way you have to
• 14:20
  do it. Right. The way that we
• 14:22
  have done it in the past is that you
• 14:24
  could purchase as many ducks as you
• 14:26
  wanted. Um, each duck has a
• 14:29
  number on it and that duck allowed you to
• 14:32
  have, you know, one entry into the race
• 14:34
  and you could buy as
• 14:35
  you wanted into the race. And, but I
• 14:39
  mean, you're not
• 14:39
  dumping 50,000 ducks in there
• 14:42
  because then you could have a bunch of
• 14:44
  winners that didn't weren't adopted. So
• 14:46
  you, you do a one to
• 14:48
  one. Correct. So though the way that we
• 14:51
  have worked at is we would
• 14:52
  have, uh, like last year we had 10
• 14:55
  over 10,000 ducks. And so there are, um,
• 15:00
  you know, we, we jump as
• 15:02
  many ducks as we, you know,
• 15:04
  we have them in these pre-numbered bags.
• 15:06
  And so we would dump a
• 15:08
  bunch of ducks in that match the
• 15:10
  numbers and then let them run, let them
• 15:13
  run. Yeah. That's gotta be a
• 15:15
  nightmare. Um, just keeping up
• 15:17
  with all that stuff. Well, number one,
• 15:20
  just keeping this, getting the right
• 15:22
  number of ducks for the
• 15:23
  number of entries and then having all
• 15:26
  those things assigned. I mean, you can
• 15:27
  kind of do a, uh, I guess
• 15:29
  a random number generator to pick who
• 15:31
  gets what duck. It doesn't
• 15:33
  really matter. Uh, one duck's not
• 15:35
  faster than the other. And I'm sure all
• 15:36
  the ducks are the same. Uh,
• 15:38
  no unfair advantages. Yes. We
• 15:41
  tried really hard. Um, that was one of
• 15:44
  the complaints that people
• 15:45
  had was that in order to keep it
• 15:48
  random and not have it, not have it
• 15:51
  affect how we put the ducks in the
• 15:55
  fountain. So if we, if we put
• 15:56
  you know, ducks one through 1000 in
• 15:59
  first, then that in theory would give
• 16:02
  those people who purchase
• 16:03
  early an advantage. So we waited till the
• 16:07
  duck race entries closed
• 16:09
  and then we would compile
• 16:10
  all the entries and, and ran into a
• 16:13
  randomizer at that point. And then we
• 16:15
  would send bulk email out
• 16:18
  to everyone with the breakdown of here's
• 16:21
  what your duck number is. Uh,
• 16:23
  what we ran into as we had more
• 16:26
  people jumping in to this was that, um,
• 16:30
  the emails we were sending
• 16:32
  out, some were going into spam,
• 16:34
  some were junk and some were just never
• 16:39
  even delivered. They got
• 16:41
  stopped at the platform,
• 16:42
  uh, as, as, as suspected spam and never
• 16:46
  even made it into the, to
• 16:47
  the person's account at all. So
• 16:49
  that was, that was a logistics issue that
• 16:51
  we struggled with for
• 16:52
  sure. Would there be a, a
• 16:55
  downside to putting a like a first name,
• 16:59
  last initial, uh, on your
• 17:01
  website and the duck number
• 17:03
  so that people could actually go to the
• 17:04
  site and, you know, because people,
• 17:07
  people don't even read their email
• 17:08
  anymore because it's so much
• 17:09
  spam. Right. Um, at the time,
• 17:13
  yes, we, we probably could. And, and at
• 17:18
  the time that we're doing it,
• 17:19
  we have one hour and we are,
• 17:22
  we're very small team and we're trying to
• 17:26
  compile everything. I
• 17:27
  can't see the logistics of this
• 17:29
  thing working out. I really can't. That's
• 17:31
  10,000 ducks. It was
• 17:34
  tricky, uh, just making sure,
• 17:37
  just trying to get the batch emails out
• 17:39
  and then also running the
• 17:41
  duck race. Cause there's only
• 17:42
  three to four of us that are out there
• 17:45
  and we're having to
• 17:45
  actually live stream the race.
• 17:47
  We're also having to, um, you know, deal
• 17:51
  with the ducks themselves,
• 17:52
  making sure they're getting
• 17:53
  going. And so it's it, it, we needed to
• 17:58
  make a change. I make
• 17:59
  it, I'm making you stressed
• 18:01
  just by talking about all that stuff.
• 18:03
  Making you live through it.
• 18:06
  Well, anyway, it worked out, but I, I, I
• 18:09
  like the idea of people
• 18:10
  understanding this isn't like,
• 18:12
  uh, I always make this joke. Nobody gets
• 18:15
  it from old movies. Uh, uh,
• 18:17
  Mickey Rooney and these movies.
• 18:18
  Hey, my dad's got a bar and let's put on
• 18:20
  a show. It's more complex
• 18:23
  than just a idea that you're
• 18:26
  going to do this stuff. I mean, just the
• 18:28
  idea of the prizes is, is a
• 18:30
  difficult thing. And I'm sure
• 18:31
  you run across people that are providing
• 18:34
  the prizes and sponsors
• 18:35
  and vendors and stuff. They,
• 18:37
  they want their thing for being a part of
• 18:40
  this. And you have to, uh,
• 18:42
  you have to either tell them
• 18:44
  no or appease them in some way. So this
• 18:47
  is a big deal. It's, it's,
• 18:48
  it's a lot of work. I mean,
• 18:50
  it sounds like it's a lot of fun. Um, oh,
• 18:52
  I remember what I was
• 18:53
  going to ask you. So the,
• 18:54
  the fountain system, how long does it
• 18:56
  take a duck from start to finish?
• 18:59
  So typically the race is about 20 minutes
• 19:03
  from start to finish. Yeah. They have
• 19:07
  to go down, I think three different, uh,
• 19:11
  three different levels.
• 19:12
  And it takes them a bit to do
• 19:13
  that. And then the more and more and more
• 19:15
  ducks that we were putting in the
• 19:17
  fountain, the harder
• 19:19
  it was for those ducks to keep moving.
• 19:21
  Oh, it was getting real private. Yeah.
• 19:25
  They were being lazy and, uh,
• 19:27
  congregating around the water
• 19:28
  cooler. Um, so, um, the, uh,
• 19:32
  I feel like I've asked this in the past,
• 19:34
  but it, it, it concerns
• 19:36
  me. How do you keep the kids?
• 19:38
  Cause this is a big event that you guys
• 19:39
  have. So people can come and
• 19:41
  be part of the duck race and,
• 19:43
  and, uh, see the vendors that are there,
• 19:45
  eat the food, enjoy
• 19:46
  Rockwall, uh, Rockwall, Texas.
• 19:49
  And, um, but how do you keep the kids
• 19:52
  from grabbing the ducks?
• 19:53
  So it, that has been a challenge in the
• 19:56
  past. We do have
• 19:57
  signage everywhere that, that.
• 19:59
  But no, your, your signs.
• 20:02
  It, it, it has proven to be, uh, one of
• 20:06
  those things where we have
• 20:08
  the MCs announce it. We're,
• 20:10
  uh, sending emails out, making sure
• 20:13
  people know these are ducks
• 20:15
  that we reuse every year. And so
• 20:16
  we need to make sure that we keep them
• 20:18
  all. We have volunteers that are.
• 20:20
  What do you guys, who cares if you, if
• 20:22
  you lose a duck, I'm talking
• 20:23
  about the person that adopted
• 20:24
  that duck and now has been ducknapped.
• 20:27
  It's not going to complete the race.
• 20:30
  That was one of the risks as well. Uh,
• 20:33
  and, and why, one of the
• 20:36
  many reasons why we may,
• 20:37
  we decided to kind of
• 20:38
  flip things around for 2026.
• 20:41
  Okay. Let's get into that. Now you guys
• 20:43
  have some made some
• 20:44
  changes. Uh, and you just said,
• 20:46
  this is one of the reasons why you made
• 20:47
  the changes. Uh,
• 20:49
  actually let's hit that first.
• 20:50
  What were the downsides that you were
• 20:53
  having and this has made a
• 20:55
  correction to the downsides
• 20:57
  that you were having. What did you do? So
• 21:00
  there were a couple of downsides, the,
• 21:04
  the duck race numbers and the amount of
• 21:06
  numbers that were going into
• 21:07
  spam where that was causing
• 21:09
  a lot of frustration. And that was
• 21:13
  something that at the
• 21:14
  moment that it was occurring, we,
• 21:16
  there was nothing we could do. We knew
• 21:18
  that their number was in
• 21:20
  the race. We knew that,
• 21:22
  that we had their number, but then making
• 21:24
  sure that we went back
• 21:25
  after we were spending days
• 21:29
  trying to get back to people and letting
• 21:31
  them know what their
• 21:32
  race numbers were, uh,
• 21:35
  and trying to get their emails to them.
• 21:37
  And so it, it was just a
• 21:39
  poll, a really large poll on our
• 21:41
  experiences. And it was creating that
• 21:43
  frustration for the user experience as
• 21:45
  well. And then one of
• 21:49
  the things about, um, Texas and the
• 21:52
  charitable raffle laws, or
• 21:54
  there are limits to how much
• 21:57
  you can give away and, and really, so you
• 22:03
  cannot give away more than
• 22:06
  $75,000 of purchased prize
• 22:11
  and you could not give away money. Um,
• 22:14
  and we wanted to be able to
• 22:17
  give away money and so that
• 22:19
  people could pay for the tax, the title,
• 22:21
  the license, you know,
• 22:22
  all the aspects of, um,
• 22:25
  winning a prize that becomes hard for
• 22:28
  some people. And so that
• 22:31
  those two things alone,
• 22:33
  plus the, the size of the, the number of
• 22:36
  ducks and the logics, the
• 22:38
  logistics of managing all of
• 22:40
  those ducks and making sure that we got
• 22:42
  them all back every year.
• 22:43
  It just became a point where
• 22:46
  this is, there's gotta be a better way.
• 22:48
  There's gotta be a better way.
• 22:50
  Um, so did you guys have, uh, did the
• 22:53
  state of Texas come to you or did you,
• 22:55
  did somebody, uh, alert you to this? No,
• 23:00
  we, no one alerted us to
• 23:02
  it. It was one of those things
• 23:04
  where there were enough frustrations
• 23:06
  after last year's event that we went out
• 23:10
  on our own and began
• 23:12
  researching and learning and saying,
• 23:15
  okay, there is, there's
• 23:16
  another way that we can do this,
• 23:17
  which will actually open us up to a lot
• 23:20
  more freedom as well.
• 23:22
  And, and so that we,
• 23:24
  we spent quite a bit of time trying to
• 23:26
  make sure we, we learned
• 23:27
  exactly what we needed to do to be
• 23:29
  able to make it even more fun, a better
• 23:32
  prize, um, and still do the duck race,
• 23:35
  but do the duck race,
• 23:38
  and go back to the roots of just family,
• 23:41
  fun, friendly, less stress because the,
• 23:46
  the duck race for the Jeep was creating a
• 23:48
  bit of stress for people.
• 23:50
  And so we wanted to just
• 23:52
  remove all of that. Okay. So, um, I'll
• 23:56
  just remind everybody
• 23:57
  that gets pissed off whenever
• 23:59
  you don't win something or you call into
• 24:01
  question a bunch of, a bunch
• 24:02
  of things. This is a charity
• 24:04
  vote. The idea is for you to give money
• 24:06
  to a charity. So if you
• 24:09
  give money to a charity,
• 24:11
  that's the main part, the good part, the
• 24:13
  thing you should focus on,
• 24:15
  not that you didn't win a Jeep.
• 24:17
  All right. So I think people may be
• 24:19
  hearing, what, there's no
• 24:21
  Jeep giveaway this year. I'm
• 24:22
  never going to win it, but I still want
• 24:23
  to have the opportunity. So
• 24:26
  let's get into it now. What
• 24:27
  has changed? And I'm glad that I asked
• 24:30
  you about why you changed it
• 24:31
  because it makes sense. Now,
• 24:33
  I had no idea there was limits. I mean,
• 24:36
  there's a limit on how
• 24:37
  much money you can give away,
• 24:38
  how many prizes you gave away. I mean,
• 24:40
  this is, that's
• 24:41
  ridiculous. That's anti-American.
• 24:43
  I'm right. And you know, every state's
• 24:47
  laws are different and we,
• 24:50
  you know, we just took some
• 24:52
  time to make sure that what we were
• 24:53
  doing, uh, and what we were trying to do
• 24:56
  was going to fall in
• 24:57
  line. And, and so this new process is,
• 25:01
  uh, we're just switching
• 25:02
  from a raffle to a sweepstakes
• 25:05
  and the sweepstakes gives us quite a bit
• 25:07
  more freedom to give away
• 25:10
  larger prizes and, and not
• 25:13
  things directly to a duck in the race. So
• 25:16
  if your duck, as you say,
• 25:18
  got ducked, napped and someone
• 25:20
  had taken it, uh, you don't have to worry
• 25:23
  about that in this
• 25:24
  situation. Everything is, is still
• 25:26
  in the, it's in, it's in the drawing no
• 25:30
  matter what. All right.
• 25:32
  Let's talk about the sweepstakes.
• 25:33
  What, what, what has changed as far as
• 25:35
  how your, what are you, what
• 25:37
  are you, can you still call it
• 25:38
  a giveaway or what are the prizes in the
• 25:41
  sweepstakes? I guess it would be the
• 25:42
  proper way of saying that.
• 25:44
  So typically we were, we were giving away
• 25:47
  a four door Jeep
• 25:49
  Wrangler for that year. So
• 25:51
  this year there is still a 2026 four door
• 25:56
  Jeep Wrangler. It's a
• 25:58
  Mojito green. It's bright green.
• 26:02
  And then behind it, there's also a Yamaha
• 26:07
  VX deluxe wave runner. And
• 26:10
  that comes with a trailer
• 26:12
  and a cover and then also $10,000. So
• 26:16
  it's, it, it's up to our, our prize. And,
• 26:21
  and we're here for it.
• 26:23
  Really excited about it. So let me ask
• 26:25
  you about this. There's rumor that
• 26:27
  whoever wins the Yamaha,
• 26:30
  God, what'd you just, you just said it.
• 26:32
  What's it called? The wave
• 26:33
  runner. Yeah. The wave runner.
• 26:35
  Whoever wins the wave runner actually
• 26:37
  gets to take it down the
• 26:39
  track or where the ducks went
• 26:41
  down the fountains. So is, is, is that
• 26:45
  true? Cause that would be pretty good.
• 26:46
  That's some good video
• 26:47
  for next year. It's unfortunately the
• 26:50
  drawing will not be done at
• 26:52
  the same time as the regatta or
• 26:53
  maybe fortunately, uh, the new
• 26:58
  sweepstakes. It's a jet ski,
• 27:00
  right? The wave runners. Yeah.
• 27:02
  It's just a two person or three person
• 27:04
  actually. Uh, they call those wave
• 27:09
  runners. Uh, but yes,
• 27:11
  it's, uh, so the sweepstakes actually
• 27:14
  kicks off on September 30th
• 27:15
  and it'll go through March 23rd.
• 27:19
  And then we'll do the drawing. The way I
• 27:21
  see a sweepstakes works
• 27:22
  is that you have to do the
• 27:23
  drawing, um, five to seven days after. So
• 27:28
  that's one of the
• 27:29
  requirements that we have to make sure
• 27:30
  that we stick with. So we'll do the
• 27:33
  lawmakers screwing things up.
• 27:35
  We're just trying to have fun.
• 27:36
  You people just shut the, um, so, so you
• 27:40
  don't adopt a duck this
• 27:41
  year. Is that correct? So we
• 27:44
  shifted and we knew that making that
• 27:46
  shift could come with, um, you know,
• 27:50
  people sad to not have
• 27:51
  that duck race. And so we decided that it
• 27:54
  would be crazy to not have
• 27:55
  that duck race. That is a big
• 27:57
  part of our community. It's gotta be just
• 28:00
  a visual delight, especially
• 28:02
  for the kids and the adults
• 28:03
  want to admit it, but for them as well.
• 28:05
  Yes. It's, it's a lot of fun and it
• 28:08
  brings out a lot of people
• 28:09
  and we want it to continue to do that. So
• 28:11
  we decided that we would
• 28:13
  purchase several of the prizes
• 28:15
  this year, but let's make the ducks free.
• 28:18
  So now you can still enter
• 28:21
  the duck race and you can enter
• 28:22
  the duck race for free. And we have, um,
• 28:26
  and then on the day of the event, so
• 28:28
  everyone gets one free
• 28:30
  duck if they fill out the form and I can
• 28:32
  send the form over. And then
• 28:35
  if you come to the event on
• 28:38
  October 10th at the Harbor, the actual
• 28:40
  rubber duck regatta and Jeep festival,
• 28:42
  then you can get a lot
• 28:44
  more free ducks that day. So you can end
• 28:48
  up with tons of free ducks
• 28:50
  in the race and the prizes are
• 28:53
  more family focused and family adventure,
• 28:56
  uh, that you can win a trip
• 28:59
  for four to safari in and, uh,
• 29:03
  stay in a hotel on their property and
• 29:06
  it's, uh, giraffes, you
• 29:08
  know, it's all types of fun stuff
• 29:09
  that you can do there. And then there's
• 29:12
  a, uh, backyard patio
• 29:16
  where we are giving away, um,
• 29:17
  Adirondack chairs and barbecue, excuse
• 29:21
  me, a fire pit and s'mores makings and
• 29:24
  just all that fun stuff.
• 29:26
  And then the third place duck will get,
• 29:30
  um, a family adventure
• 29:32
  day with go-kart riding and,
• 29:35
  uh, restaurant and just all kinds of
• 29:38
  family fun bowling, all of
• 29:39
  that. So it's, it's kind of, uh,
• 29:42
  putting the focus back on, you know, the,
• 29:46
  the family and doing fun
• 29:47
  adventures that way it's
• 29:49
  free to enter the race. The rubber duck
• 29:52
  regatta and Jeep festival itself will
• 29:53
  still have a Jeep show.
• 29:55
  There's still a huge kid zone. There's
• 29:57
  still live music. There's vendors,
• 30:00
  there's games, uh, there's
• 30:02
  all types of fun things to do that day.
• 30:05
  Great food, food trucks. Um, so, you
• 30:09
  know, it's still going to
• 30:09
  be the same fun that it was and we'll
• 30:12
  actually have the, the Jeep
• 30:15
  and the wave runner out that
• 30:17
  day so people can come and look at it and
• 30:19
  see what they can win.
• 30:20
  And then they can enter the
• 30:21
  sweepstakes if they want, uh, at that
• 30:24
  time. So a little trick, you can, uh,
• 30:27
  hook up the, uh, the
• 30:29
  way runner trailer to the Jeep and people
• 30:32
  will think that that's the
• 30:33
  price. Oh, I'm going to have
• 30:34
  that. That's a great combo. Oh, no, no,
• 30:36
  no, no, no. I see your
• 30:37
  confusion. Um, so let me make sure I
• 30:42
  understand this. So every, anyone can get
• 30:44
  a free duck. Uh, and
• 30:47
  there's, I'm sure there's a limit
• 30:49
  on it because you could have a hundred
• 30:50
  thousand people wanting a
• 30:51
  free duck. Yes. So we have in our
• 30:54
  storage, 25,000 ducks. So we cut it off
• 30:57
  at 25. So first come first
• 31:00
  serve, you get a free duck
• 31:01
  and, and you still win. There's a race
• 31:04
  and you still win. This is
• 31:05
  not these huge prizes that were
• 31:08
  there before. Cause that's part of the
• 31:09
  sweepstakes. Yes. But there, there, but
• 31:12
  there still are prizes
• 31:13
  for the race. So it's not just cheering
• 31:15
  on a, a duck. You're
• 31:16
  actually cheering it on and you may
• 31:18
  get something. That's cool. That's really
• 31:21
  cool. So, so how does the
• 31:23
  sweepstakes work? I mean,
• 31:25
  it's not connected to the ducks at all.
• 31:27
  It sounds like, no. Um,
• 31:29
  although we have decided that anyone
• 31:32
  who does when the duck race will, will
• 31:34
  actually give them entries into the
• 31:36
  sweepstakes as well,
• 31:38
  grow in a couple of entries into the
• 31:40
  school stakes for that. But, um, we, we
• 31:43
  have, because it's two
• 31:45
  organizations that have partnered and the
• 31:48
  name of that, the name of
• 31:50
  our partnership is Driving for
• 31:52
  Good. And so it will be
• 31:53
  drivingforgood.org. That's where you
• 31:56
  would go to learn more about the
• 31:58
  sweepstakes, learn more about the two
• 32:00
  nonprofit organizations and see the
• 32:03
  prize. And you would
• 32:05
  enter there. And then through the six
• 32:08
  months that the, the sweepstakes is
• 32:11
  running, we will have flash
• 32:13
  nails, um, where you can get extra
• 32:17
  entries into the sweepstakes or, you
• 32:20
  know, some other really
• 32:21
  cool thing that we've partnered with a
• 32:23
  sponsor on. Um, and, and, you know, so
• 32:27
  those are all kind of
• 32:28
  things that you can watch and enjoy along
• 32:30
  the way over the next six
• 32:31
  months. So we're, we're taking
• 32:33
  what was, uh, an event in October and
• 32:35
  we're, we're now pushing our fun from now
• 32:38
  until the end of March.
• 32:40
  Gotcha. So, uh, I don't think I have the
• 32:43
  right website, uh, that
• 32:45
  you guys have used where you
• 32:46
  go and buy, uh, or adopt a duck. Uh, is
• 32:50
  it a rock wall, uh, grace center.org or
• 32:54
  it's rock wall duck race dot. Yeah.
• 32:57
  That's what I was thinking. Right. All
• 32:59
  right. So can people,
• 33:01
  that's the one that people that have been
• 33:03
  here before know, nowhere to go to,
• 33:05
  and they go there and get, uh, there's
• 33:08
  there a link where you can
• 33:09
  go over to the sweepstakes.
• 33:10
  Yes. So you can go to the sweepstakes
• 33:13
  from rock wall duck race.org.
• 33:15
  There's a button there to get
• 33:16
  you to driving for good.org. And then
• 33:20
  there's also, um, a place
• 33:22
  on the site where you can get
• 33:23
  your free duck in the race. Perfect.
• 33:26
  Yeah. I figured that's what
• 33:27
  you, I figured that's what
• 33:28
  you guys did, but there was a panic.
• 33:30
  People are looking for a pencil. Oh, I
• 33:32
  gotta go here. Gotta
• 33:33
  no, no, just go to the same place that
• 33:35
  you've been before. If
• 33:36
  you've ever been there, just go
• 33:37
  to this place and then, uh, read and
• 33:39
  follow along and you'll,
• 33:40
  you'll be okay. So getting in the
• 33:42
  sweepstakes, what do you, is it, we're
• 33:45
  not adopting a duck. So is it
• 33:48
  still $10? Is it a different
• 33:50
  amount or is there no money whatsoever? I
• 33:54
  mean, uh, to enter the
• 33:56
  sweepstakes is, um, instead of
• 33:59
  one entry for $25, you get 18 entry,
• 34:03
  excuse me, one entry for
• 34:04
  $10, you get 18 entries for $25.
• 34:08
  And when we do, uh, when we have flash
• 34:11
  sales running that may,
• 34:13
  that may even increase that
• 34:14
  may double it, it just kind of depends,
• 34:16
  but it's, uh, yes. So the
• 34:19
  minimum entry is going to be now
• 34:21
  $25 and the prize value
• 34:26
  has gone up to over $82,000.
• 34:30
  Very cool. All right. So, uh, when you do
• 34:32
  these flash, uh, flash
• 34:34
  sales, I think you said,
• 34:36
  where would somebody know about that?
• 34:38
  Would they have to go to the
• 34:38
  website? Is it on social media?
• 34:40
  How do they monitor this? It's, it's
• 34:43
  going to be everywhere. So
• 34:44
  there's a drivingforgood.org
• 34:47
  website. Then there's the social media,
• 34:51
  the social media with
• 34:52
  the rubber duck regatta and
• 34:53
  Jeep festival will also continue to focus
• 34:57
  on, on that giveaway and
• 34:59
  when we're running prizes.
• 35:00
  And then also if we have your email
• 35:02
  address, we'll kind of shoot
• 35:04
  you a heads up. This is, uh,
• 35:06
  you know, a time for a flash sale.
• 35:09
  Gotcha. Um, so I hate to
• 35:12
  put you in this position.
• 35:14
  It's a little confusing for me. So I'm
• 35:16
  sure it's going to be
• 35:17
  confusing for the people out there,
• 35:18
  especially the, they, they've been used
• 35:20
  to it doing being
• 35:21
  really, really, very simple,
• 35:22
  adopt a doc and adopt a bunch of ducks
• 35:26
  and chances go up. So, um, you can still
• 35:30
  get a duck going and
• 35:31
  go through that process. And, and, and
• 35:33
  also to the, the time
• 35:34
  changes, because it used to be
• 35:36
  the event and then there was a winner and
• 35:38
  that's not the case anymore.
• 35:39
  I just, I didn't know about
• 35:41
  it until you just mentioned it. So can
• 35:43
  you go through the process
• 35:45
  so people understand what's
• 35:46
  going on? So the festival itself is still
• 35:51
  being held. It's on
• 35:52
  Saturday, October 10th at the harbor
• 35:55
  in Rockwall. It starts at 11 and it goes
• 35:58
  until four when the ducks
• 36:01
  kick off. And so the duck race
• 36:03
  is still happening. You can get your
• 36:05
  ducks for free and those
• 36:08
  ducks will race for different
• 36:10
  prizes than what we've done in over the
• 36:13
  past four years. So we will
• 36:14
  no longer be racing for a Jeep.
• 36:16
  And so, but on that day, if you come out,
• 36:19
  you will be able to see the
• 36:20
  Jeep with the wave runner.
• 36:22
  And that is now connected to the driving
• 36:26
  for good sweepstakes and the
• 36:28
  driving for good sweepstakes
• 36:30
  kicks off at the end of September on
• 36:32
  September 30th. And it'll go through
• 36:34
  March where people can
• 36:36
  go for over a six month timeframe. And
• 36:38
  then we'll give that huge
• 36:39
  prize away in September. I mean,
• 36:42
  so excuse me on March 30th. So, uh, 2027,
• 36:46
  uh, next year. Yeah. I
• 36:48
  mean, duh, but I mean,
• 36:49
  you gotta make it clear. Really? It
• 36:52
  already happened? No,
• 36:53
  no, no, no. Think about it.
• 36:57
  All right. So, uh, and you can go to the
• 36:59
  one website to do all this. What was the,
• 37:03
  what was it again? I don't want to say it
• 37:04
  wrong. So you can go to
• 37:06
  rockwall duck race.org and you
• 37:09
  can get a link to fill out a form for
• 37:13
  your free duck in the race.
• 37:14
  And you can also see a button
• 37:17
  there that'll bring you to the new
• 37:19
  driving for good sweepstakes
• 37:21
  and see the Jeep that we're
• 37:24
  giving away and the wave runner. And then
• 37:26
  of course the $10,000.
• 37:27
  So that's really cool. You
• 37:28
  got something, you have an event, you can
• 37:30
  go out there with your Jeep
• 37:32
  and the kids, uh, and, uh,
• 37:34
  have a good day. You guys are going to
• 37:35
  have, you got food vendors. Uh, Rockwall
• 37:37
  itself has restaurants,
• 37:39
  uh, that it's a beautiful city. Uh,
• 37:42
  there's going to be
• 37:42
  stuff going on there. Uh,
• 37:44
  do you have vendors? I can't remember if
• 37:45
  you have vendors like
• 37:47
  Jeep vendors and stuff. Yes.
• 37:49
  We have Jeep vendors. We have not Jeep
• 37:51
  vendors. We have, um, all,
• 37:53
  all kinds of fun, unique things.
• 37:56
  And, uh, there's live music. There's, uh,
• 38:00
  the kid's zone is huge. Uh, like I said,
• 38:03
  it's right at the harbor. So it's on,
• 38:05
  it's right on the banks of Lake Ray
• 38:06
  Hubbard. It's beautiful
• 38:08
  out there. Um, the city of Rockwall is
• 38:10
  just really a fun place to be and being
• 38:14
  right on the lake. And
• 38:14
  it's, it's just a great place in Texas to
• 38:17
  visit. Yeah. Um, all right.
• 38:19
  So there's fun things to do,
• 38:21
  but the fun, uh, doesn't end whenever
• 38:24
  the, the duck race is over. Right. It
• 38:26
  continues on, uh, with,
• 38:28
  uh, hopes and dreams, uh, for the next
• 38:30
  six months. Yeah. And, and you may, you
• 38:34
  may want to Jeep now
• 38:35
  in past years, or I guess it was the last
• 38:39
  two years, correct me on
• 38:40
  this. You guys have actually
• 38:41
  modified the Jeep for off-road use. Uh, I
• 38:44
  mean, it's a Jeep it's
• 38:46
  off-road already, but you put the
• 38:48
  cool stuff that everybody loves to buy
• 38:50
  and add on there. Are you
• 38:52
  doing that with the Jeep this year?
• 38:53
  Or is there going to be a plane? It's
• 38:55
  already done. Yes. We have
• 38:57
  the Jeep. Uh, it has been, um,
• 39:01
  made off-road ready by Mike at platinum
• 39:05
  off-road again. And yes, it's gorgeous.
• 39:07
  Absolutely gorgeous.
• 39:09
  Did you have any problems, uh, getting
• 39:11
  Mike to answer his phone?
• 39:12
  He goes, Oh, I know why these
• 39:13
  people are calling. I know why they're
• 39:14
  calling every year. I
• 39:17
  pressure Mike to get it done.
• 39:18
  And he does it, you know, at no charge to
• 39:26
  us. That's, that's part of his
• 39:28
  sponsorship with us.
• 39:29
  And we're very, very grateful to have him
• 39:31
  and, and group one, of
• 39:34
  course, uh, the dealership.
• 39:35
  They're just, uh, they've been amazing.
• 39:38
  Easy to work with. We've
• 39:39
  had Mike on the show before.
• 39:41
  Uh, good guy. Uh, and, uh, he has a lot
• 39:44
  of fun, uh, building a
• 39:46
  Jeep. So he's, he's one of those
• 39:47
  fortunate people that gets to do
• 39:49
  something that's, uh,
• 39:50
  that it's fun. Uh, I'm sure,
• 39:53
  I'm sure there's challenges, but it
• 39:54
  wouldn't be work if
• 39:55
  there was no challenges.
• 39:56
  Right. I, I've always, uh, call Mike our
• 40:00
  first domino because he
• 40:01
  was, when we first started
• 40:03
  thinking about doing the, the Jeep aspect
• 40:08
  and giving away the
• 40:08
  Jeep, he was, uh, the first
• 40:11
  person that was recommended for us to
• 40:13
  talk to. And so we met with him one
• 40:16
  afternoon and we kind
• 40:17
  of pitched the idea to him and then he
• 40:19
  started connecting us to
• 40:20
  all these different people.
• 40:22
  And we, we couldn't have done it if we
• 40:24
  didn't have him and his
• 40:26
  buy-in and him working with us.
• 40:27
  So we've been really grateful to have
• 40:29
  Mike all these years.
• 40:31
  All right. So we've covered the money.
• 40:33
  We've covered the fund,
• 40:34
  the event, we've covered the
• 40:35
  sweepstake. Let's remind people what this
• 40:38
  really is all for. Tell
• 40:40
  people what the charity is again.
• 40:42
  Yes.
• 40:42
  Uh, what they're, what they're buying for
• 40:45
  their, their, uh,
• 40:46
  inclusion into this process.
• 40:48
  So both of our organizations, Grace
• 40:51
  Clinic is ours. We're in Rockwall County
• 40:55
  and we help families
• 40:56
  that are struggling because the, you
• 40:58
  know, the, the price of
• 40:59
  gas, the price of groceries,
• 41:01
  the price of everything has gone up and
• 41:03
  families are just very much
• 41:04
  feeling the squeeze and having
• 41:06
  to decide between medical care and paying
• 41:11
  their electricity bill.
• 41:12
  And so what we do is we,
• 41:15
  we don't want an illness to stop someone,
• 41:19
  you know, we don't want
• 41:19
  finances to stop someone
• 41:21
  from treating an illness. And so we will
• 41:23
  work with those families and we
• 41:24
  charitably subsidize
• 41:26
  the cost of the medical care. Um, in
• 41:28
  order to do that, we have to
• 41:29
  have support from the community
• 41:32
  through community events like this,
• 41:34
  because we still have to pay for our
• 41:36
  doctors and we still have
• 41:37
  to pay, uh, you know, all the costs
• 41:39
  associated with running a healthcare
• 41:42
  clinic. So these types
• 41:44
  of events help us to do that. And then
• 41:46
  the boys and girls clubs of Northeast
• 41:48
  Texas, it's the same
• 41:51
  thing. There's a huge amount of need in
• 41:54
  our community now for
• 41:56
  safe spaces for kids to play
• 41:59
  and to have educational programming and
• 42:03
  fun field trips and things
• 42:04
  like that. And that's what they're
• 42:06
  providing to, uh, Rockwell County and,
• 42:09
  and, and in other areas of
• 42:11
  Northeast Texas as well. So
• 42:13
  the, the donations that come in for this
• 42:16
  are focused on their Rockwell County, uh,
• 42:20
  clubs and then our Rockwell
• 42:22
  County, uh, health clinic.
• 42:25
  So I'll just mention this, uh, and you
• 42:27
  can correct me on this. Uh,
• 42:29
  but when you help a kid out,
• 42:32
  you may think, Oh good. They get to go to
• 42:34
  a trip. They get to do
• 42:35
  whatever, but it's a lot more than
• 42:38
  that. You don't know what the background,
• 42:42
  what the life of that
• 42:43
  child is. And this can be a
• 42:46
  confidence builder. This can make them
• 42:48
  feel like they are, um,
• 42:50
  worthy of being part of the society
• 42:53
  and they want to be a part of the society
• 42:56
  that is a positive part of
• 42:58
  the society. So helping these
• 43:01
  charities out that help kids out, uh, I
• 43:04
  think has long-term benefits. It's not a,
• 43:07
  it's not a guarantee,
• 43:09
  but it's actually you trying to do
• 43:10
  something to, uh, make it better for the
• 43:13
  community or wherever
• 43:15
  you're going to move to. So I think this
• 43:18
  is prizes are fun and you
• 43:21
  need that, uh, that little
• 43:22
  carrot on the end of the stick, uh,
• 43:24
  sometimes to do the right thing. Uh, so
• 43:27
  if you're thinking about
• 43:28
  doing this, go, Oh, I never win. Oh,
• 43:29
  there's no reason for me to
• 43:31
  do this. Yes, there is. And it
• 43:32
  has nothing to do with you, uh,
• 43:34
  indirectly it does because that kid may
• 43:37
  not mug you in the future
• 43:40
  because they feel, because they feel like
• 43:42
  they're worth more than
• 43:43
  somebody that has to, uh, be a,
• 43:46
  uh, off of a society's high. So, um,
• 43:50
  yeah, uh, do the right
• 43:52
  thing and, uh, maybe you'll,
• 43:53
  you'll get a bonus out of the process.
• 43:55
  Two bonuses. Yeah, you could, we have
• 43:58
  three great prizes to win
• 44:00
  for the duck race and it is completely
• 44:03
  free to enter that. And then the
• 44:05
  sweepstakes, the driving
• 44:06
  for good sweepstakes is over 82 grand in
• 44:11
  prize value. So it's, it's
• 44:13
  definitely, it's a, it's a
• 44:14
  chance that you're taking, but like what
• 44:16
  you said at the end of
• 44:17
  the day, if you don't win,
• 44:18
  you're still doing good. You're still a
• 44:20
  winner. So, uh, and I think
• 44:22
  it's great that, uh, it's a
• 44:24
  lot easier to just, just to do nothing or
• 44:27
  something a lot smaller.
• 44:28
  Uh, there's, uh, I mean, um,
• 44:32
  you're talking people into a people you
• 44:35
  work for or work with
• 44:36
  you. You're talking them into
• 44:38
  taking a chance. So thank you for doing
• 44:40
  this. I'm glad it's
• 44:41
  successful for you year after year.
• 44:44
  Thank you for doing this. Cause there's
• 44:45
  much easier ways to, uh,
• 44:47
  go to work and just come
• 44:48
  home and, uh, you know, veg out. It's,
• 44:51
  it's, uh, it's a lot of fun.
• 44:52
  We, we both organizations work
• 44:55
  really well together. We're very blessed
• 44:57
  to have been doing this for,
• 45:00
  this is our fifth year that
• 45:01
  we've done this together and it's, it's a
• 45:04
  lot of fun. It is a lot of
• 45:05
  work. I will say that we had
• 45:07
  you on year one. That's really cool.
• 45:10
  Yeah. This is our fifth year of giving
• 45:13
  away a Jeep. Uh, and,
• 45:15
  and you know, we like to change things
• 45:17
  up. So now we're switching how we're
• 45:18
  doing it, but we're still
• 45:19
  keeping your, you're keeping, given the
• 45:21
  Jeep away. When we first got
• 45:23
  on here and started talking,
• 45:24
  I was like, Oh no, you're not giving away
• 45:26
  the Jeep. That sucks. Cause
• 45:27
  I'm sure people are excited
• 45:29
  every year. Cause they want to see,
• 45:31
  especially whenever it's a stock Jeep and
• 45:33
  then all of a sudden
• 45:34
  it's a modified Jeep. And I was, when I
• 45:37
  asked you that question
• 45:38
  about the issue, I was hoping you
• 45:39
  weren't going to say, Oh no, it's just
• 45:41
  going to be a plain Jeep. Oh no, it's
• 45:46
  already, it's already
• 45:47
  lifted. And anytime I have to drive it
• 45:49
  around to take video, I was
• 45:51
  going to ask if you've been
• 45:52
  driving it. Yeah. Yeah. It's a pretty
• 45:56
  high up there and it's got beautiful,
• 45:59
  beautiful tires that
• 46:01
  are just begging to go crawling. When are
• 46:03
  you going to get a Jeep?
• 46:05
  Oh gosh. You're going to see
• 46:08
  if you win this one first. You know, I
• 46:10
  tell people all the time, I
• 46:12
  drive a new Jeep every year for
• 46:14
  five months. And so it's really hard to
• 46:17
  think I'm going to get it's pretty nice.
• 46:21
  Yeah. Five months. I mean, it's not 12,
• 46:23
  but you know, five is pretty good.
• 46:26
  All right. So, you know, the kids love
• 46:28
  the social media. We've kind of given
• 46:30
  hints to this stuff. So
• 46:32
  where can people find the primary? Cause
• 46:36
  there's a couple of sites
• 46:36
  now. Where's the primary?
• 46:38
  We're going to try to
• 46:39
  keep it simple. Yes.
• 46:42
  The Facebook, Instagram, it's, it's the
• 46:46
  Rockwall duck race. So you
• 46:48
  can either, you can either
• 46:49
  search for Rockwall duck race, or you can
• 46:51
  search for rubber duck
• 46:52
  regatta and Jeep festival.
• 46:54
  And you'll, it'll get you there. And
• 46:57
  that's on tick tock. That's on, uh,
• 47:00
  YouTube. It's Facebook,
• 47:02
  Instagram, you know, all, all the
• 47:05
  platforms. So, and
• 47:07
  the, the website again is
• 47:09
  rockwall duck race.org. Okay. And on
• 47:13
  YouTube, if somebody wants to get a sense
• 47:15
  of the race and what
• 47:16
  to expect, they never been. Uh, do you
• 47:19
  have that on YouTube? You do don't you?
• 47:20
  Or Facebook or both?
• 47:21
  Right. All, all of them. So you can go to
• 47:25
  our YouTube channel and
• 47:26
  you can see videos there.
• 47:28
  You can go to our Facebook page at the at
• 47:33
  Rockwall duck race or
• 47:35
  Instagram pretty much anywhere. And
• 47:37
  you can see the videos and, and then I
• 47:40
  would recommend following
• 47:42
  driving for good also. And
• 47:45
  I will let you see more of the videos and
• 47:48
  content for this year's
• 47:50
  giveaway and the wave runner and
• 47:53
  all the additional pieces. All right,
• 47:56
  Mary. So what's changing for
• 47:57
  next year? Give us the inside
• 47:59
  scoop on what you're, what you're
• 48:00
  changing, what you're adding a second
• 48:03
  Jeep, uh, uh, his and hers,
• 48:06
  uh, uh, wave runners. Uh, what are you
• 48:08
  going to do? It's going
• 48:09
  to be bigger and better.
• 48:10
  I, I typically get struck with ideas
• 48:15
  about sometime right
• 48:17
  around New Year's day.
• 48:20
  What should we give away? Uh, we, we
• 48:23
  played around with a
• 48:24
  couple of ideas. Um, you know,
• 48:27
  an RV we've played, you know, pulling
• 48:29
  behind a Jeep. Uh, we've played around
• 48:32
  with, uh, a matching
• 48:33
  golf cart. Uh, we've, you know, pulling
• 48:37
  behind the Jeep, all kinds
• 48:38
  of fun things, but, you know,
• 48:40
  you know, it's always the right prize and
• 48:42
  always the right size, a
• 48:43
  nice big bar of gold. So I,
• 48:46
  I think that you would probably get a lot
• 48:48
  of press, uh, on that,
• 48:51
  uh, you could probably,
• 48:52
  you could probably even get it, uh,
• 48:53
  stamped Fort Knox, which I
• 48:55
  think would increase the value.
• 48:57
  Do you think? All right, Mary, there you
• 49:00
  go. All right, Mary will,
• 49:01
  uh, really appreciate you
• 49:03
  being here. Good luck. It sounds like you
• 49:04
  guys are doing a, don't
• 49:06
  need much luck for all the
• 49:07
  time and effort that you guys put into
• 49:08
  it. Uh, but, uh, we'll be,
• 49:10
  uh, we'll be watching and, uh,
• 49:11
  seeing how things turn out for you again
• 49:13
  this year. Yeah, that
• 49:14
  sounds great. And if you,
• 49:15
  if you come out on Saturday, October 10th
• 49:19
  to the Harbor, uh, I'll be
• 49:21
  out there. So come say hi.
• 49:23
  Do they, uh, do the people need to be
• 49:25
  there to win the prizes,
• 49:26
  not the sweep sake one,
• 49:27
  but the win the prizes for the, with the
• 49:29
  free duck? Nope. Nope. You
• 49:31
  do not have to be present
• 49:33
  when, so you can get your free deck from
• 49:35
  the form and on the
• 49:37
  website. And then you can just
• 49:40
  watch along on our social media and see
• 49:43
  if you win. So do you allow
• 49:44
  people to take pictures of,
• 49:47
  like in front of the Jeep, the giveaway
• 49:48
  Jeep? Oh yes. So I'm
• 49:50
  thinking that people are going to
• 49:52
  take a picture and say, I knew it was
• 49:54
  going to win it. And here's my proof. I
• 49:56
  took a picture. So go
• 49:57
  out there, go to the site, get a picture
• 49:59
  of the, uh, of the Jeep, the
• 50:00
  giveaway, and make sure you
• 50:02
  tag Jeep talk show or as I like to say a
• 50:04
  pound Jeep talk show. Yeah.
• 50:06
  All right, Mary, thank you
• 50:08
  very much. And I really appreciate being
• 50:10
  here year after year. Thank
• 50:12
  you so much. I appreciate it.
• 50:14
  You're my friend. You're my new friend.
• 50:17
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• 50:20
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• 50:22
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• 50:24
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• 50:30
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• 50:31
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