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Designing and Building the Midwest the Community Segment powered by Sips Coffee Co: Featuring Project Third Day and Squirrel Bowl · Designing and Building the Midwest One Community at a Time

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_08: Hey, welcome to designing and building the Midwest one community at a time.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_08: I'm Chris Hartsuch with Big Dog Construction, your local window depot.
• 0:07
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• 0:08
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• 0:13
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• 0:15
  SPEAKER_08: Hey, every week, our main focus is bringing you the best advice on home improvement, remodeling, and how to take care of your biggest investment.
• 0:22
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• 0:24
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• 0:29
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• 0:35
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• 0:42
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• 0:45
  SPEAKER_03: Let's get into today's episode.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_04: Big dog! Hi, it's Lindy with Sip's Coffee Co.
• 0:51
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• 0:56
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• 1:01
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• 1:11
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• 1:13
  SPEAKER_04: Enjoy this week's community segment of designing and building the Midwest one community at a time.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_08: Hey, welcome back to Design and Building the Midwest one community at a time.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_08: I am Chris Artok with Big Dog Construction, your local window depot as your host.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_08: And as usual, we have our lovely Caitlin Borgini as our co-host.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_08: Hello.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_08: Hello.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_08: So, hey, as always, I want to give a massive shout out today to our 10x partners, Ryan and Lindy Kleeman, our official drink sponsor with Sips Coffee, all three of their locations in Gillespie, Carloville, and Virgin.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_08: Make sure you go out there, grab a drink, listen to this podcast, and let's get going.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_08: Hey, today we are talking about two things that at first glance you might not think have much in common: a nonprofit dedicated for helping local kids and an event called the Squirrel Bowl.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_08: Squirrel Bowl.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_08: Sounds nutty to me, but hey.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_09: Good job, Craig.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_08: In 2014, these two completely different stories collided, turning a fun winter hangout into a massive mission for kids and veterans.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_08: Yes, I said veterans, and we love them.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_08: We are joined today by Tanya Kessinger and Jared Cottingham to break it all down.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_08: And we love that.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_08: And Tanya is going to be talking about Project Third Day, and Jared's gonna be talking about Squirrel Bowl.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_08: And I bet Tanya will talk about Squirrel Bowl also, right?
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_08: Because Tania is all knowing.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_03: It's Tanya's world.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_08: It is Tanya's world, and we're just we're just lucky to have the air.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_08: To be near it, yes.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_08: That's what Jared said.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_08: So I guess that's what Jason told me to say.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_08: Yep.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_08: Jason to be her husband.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_08: So shout out to Jason, right?
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, good job, buddy.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_11: You really married up.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_08: That's right.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_08: That's right.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_08: Well, hey, let's talk about the beginnings, right?
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_08: Because it's been a while, right?
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_08: And so, Jared, let's go back to the beginning.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_08: How exactly did the squirrel bowl get started and what was it originally about?
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_08: So it's a it's a long story, but I'll try to keep it short.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_08: But we got all the time in the world.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_08: You guys are off today.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_08: What the hell?
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_08: Let's go.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_03: And honestly, I don't even know this story, so I'm buckled in.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_08: Well then she doesn't pay attention, does she?
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_08: It's squirrel bowl again.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_07: So before it was actually called Squirrel Bowl, uh, I started just having a a squirrel home with all my buddies.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_07: And that was that was back in what did we decide, like 11 or so?
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_02: 10, 2010, 2011.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_07: 11 a week.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_07: And we did it for three years, and it was just you know, a group of like 50 guys, and we got together and something to do in the winter time just to have a just it was just competition, something fun to do in the winter, because these winters are long, and yeah, and so we go shoot something.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, so we we had a little competition, we had fun, we had food and drinks, and we had a good time, and then you did it like on your property, right?
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, I did it, yeah.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_07: We that's where we had that's where we hosted the party, and then we everybody went and hunted wherever.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_07: But after that, then I quit, and then two or three years later, everybody kept asking, When are we gonna do that again?
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_07: When we gonna do it again?
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, and I'm like, I guess we can do it, but I wanted a reason to do it again, and then I remember feeling that I I was being um I was at Lake Reneker when I was becoming a member at their and I was looking around at the grounds there, going, we could host something here.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_07: I wonder if we could do a fundraiser.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_07: And so that's how it actually started.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_07: I'd say that was around 2015 or so with the idea 14 or 15 or something like the idea of doing it as a fundraiser started.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_07: So and then you just didn't have a purpose.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_07: I didn't have a purpose, so it was so you didn't have fun, yeah.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_03: It wasn't the veterans yet, the fundraiser.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_07: You didn't know what the money was gonna go to and no, I had no idea.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_09: Okay, third day.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_07: I mean, we did when we so I I had a cabin at Reneker and I had all my yeah best friends in the room, and we just I I pitched this idea to him.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_07: It's like I want to do the squirrel hunt again, but I want to do it for a a a cause.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_09: Right.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_07: So we went around a room and started talking about different different, you know, 51c3s or something that we could possibly do it.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_07: And that's where you come in really well here because I'll be honest with you, like at that moment, I almost forgot that I I forgot to mention, like I just learned about this Project Third Day thing.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_07: But and then so we were just about to decide on a a certain a certain group, and then I pitched that idea of what Project Third Day does, and then it was unanimous in that room with all my buddies, like we're we're gonna help kids.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_07: Hell yeah, we're in.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, we'll see.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, hell yeah.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_07: But she tells a better, a better story.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_08: Well, that's a nice segue, Jared, and I appreciate that.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_08: So Tanya, take us back to 2012, right?
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_08: And what's that look like with this whole beginnings?
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_08: I love this story, by the way.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so uh core group of best friends.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_02: We were in Bible study together, really just did life together, raised our kids together.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we're still we still're still the best of friends.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_02: And uh we were in, you know, our small group at that time, and we were really talking about we want to do something with our faith for others and let's you know move beyond talking about it to doing something.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_02: And so Ryan Tosh, who's you know, in our core group, had just been to a conference that was that talked about kids, I think it was in Arkansas, that when kids in that area were not in school, they were going without a meal.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_02: And he brought that topic up.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_02: And we were all sitting together in a room and it got us talking, huh?
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I wonder if this is a thing in Carlinville.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_02: At that time, all of us had small kids.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, all were in grade school.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_02: Grade school, yeah, yeah, they would have been in grade school at that time.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_02: And so I said, Well, you know what we should do?
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_02: We should just go talk to the school.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_02: So Ryan and I went that week and met with a Cromwell School principal at that time and just said, we want to talk to you about an idea we have.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_02: And so we told her what we were thinking.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_02: We want to do something for kids in need, if that's a need here.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_02: But if it's not, let us know.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_02: And so she was like, you know, kind of about fell out of her chair.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_02: And she's like, you know, we are almost to the tipping point of 50% of our kids in Carlomville schools being eligible for free and reduced lunch.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_09: Wow.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_09: Wow.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_02: And now everybody's there.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_03: Now it was in 2012.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: That was in 2012.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_02: Now it is 2012.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_02: Now it is.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_02: So she's like, tell me what you're thinking.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_02: We just got our little group together again and we're like, okay, what do we think we could do?
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_02: We could put food in a bag and we'll get it to kids.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's what we're gonna do.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we're gonna pool our money and we're gonna figure out like how we can fund this, just self-do it.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_02: We're just gonna do it with our families.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_02: And so we kind of did a little, you know, like cardboard box math, you know, a little scratch pad.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, everybody I'll kick in this much, and we think we can do like we'll take care of 35 kids that are at Carambo primary school.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_02: And so that was just And it wouldn't take care of all of them, it's just gonna take 30 minutes.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_02: And she's like, Oh, 35, that'd make a that made a big difference.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like that'd be great.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_02: And and so then we were like, What are we gonna name this?
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_02: And so there was lots of discussion around that.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, this is kind of happening over the course of weeks, so I'm condensing a bit, but uh, we landed on project third day because that third day when kids are away from school on a long weekend, they're going without food.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_09: Right.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, my kids, your kids, everybody's kids are excited when they're out of school.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_09: Oh, yeah.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but kids who are going without a meal aren't excited when they're out of school, and so that was kind of the the thing of third day, and we're all Christian people that know there is significance to Jesus in the third day, and we felt like this is a good way to explain what we're doing.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_02: So Project Third Day came to be.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_08: Great name.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah, I'm over here crying.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I want to say, like, I was a teacher, okay, and I did not even know that this was you, but I remember putting the bags in certain students' backpacks and in their little covenants.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_03: All the kids, they they wanted them, okay.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_03: You know, right, and that was good stuff you gave these kids.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_03: They were healthy, but there was also some fun stuff that allowed them to be snacks and stuff, like that it meant so much, but just seeing it in person, and now I know like I'm I gotta stop.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_03: This ain't waterproof mascara.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_08: And I was like, Lord knows we don't want her to be, don't be getting your makeup on.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_02: Early that first year, I did go and talk to the hospital at that point.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I've worked at the hospital 20 years as well.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I asked if they would let us buy food at cost.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we were trying to think of how we can so that was the first conversation.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_02: And actually, you know, administration came back.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_02: I wasn't in administration at that point.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_02: Now we are, but yeah, yeah, which is funny to think about that.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_02: But they said, hey, we'll do it one step further.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: We're actually gonna buy some of the food for you.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_02: And still today, the hospital is our biggest supporter.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: To the tune of now in 2026, about 16 grand a year.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_08: They they provide food.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_02: So it's it's a big chunk of and now you're you're not just in Carnival.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_02: I saw you at Northwestern.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_02: Where is it all?
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so we have part of our mission several years in, and that's really after the squirrel bowl effect, is what we kind of call it.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_02: I jumped forward.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_08: So the worlds collide, right?
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_08: We've got Project Third Day, great mission, great cause, and we've got Squirrel Bowl, a bunch, not even Squirrel Bowl yet, right?
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, it's a group of guys that enjoy let's do something, and your worlds collide.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_08: Let's talk about how uh this kismic thing just blew up.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, I'll let you tell them.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_10: This is a this is a Gary, do you get to talk too some of them?
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_08: I don't really think it's oh he will, he will storyline.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's a funny moment to go back to because um, so the early days of us doing Project Third Day, we didn't have a building, we didn't have we would do it in our kitchen, somebody's garage, and we we were doing enough food at this point a couple years in that uh we would use the hospital cafeteria at night to set up our food line and pack our bags, like after everybody went home.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, I had I had clearance where we could just kind of do that in private because we kind of outgrown all of our kitchen.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_03: God bless the hospital.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_02: So we were in there with our kids, all lined up with our little assembly line.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_02: It's exactly how you picture it.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody's got a sack and we grab the food and we go assembly line style.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_02: And we're there doing our thing at like probably six o'clock, something like that in the evening.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_02: I must have been working late like normal.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_02: And in walks this guy and says, What are you guys doing?
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_02: And that's exactly how this got started.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_08: That was it.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_02: What is we got caught, you know, doing what we were doing.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_02: We were doing all of our stuff in private.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_02: Like no one, no one other than like a few people.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_03: And you can't tell me that's not God for him to come in like that divine appointment because he was getting ready to start this.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_08: And that's one thing I want to say is too that I know you, Tanya, that Project Third Day isn't about recognition.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_08: Oh no, oh no, it's about serving and that's really service above self.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_02: A big part of this story is is uh, you know, he caught us and it was like this moment of oh my gosh, we've been caught.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_02: You're you know, truly I'm standing on the phone.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_08: He's proud of my zoom in, I'd zoom in on his face right now.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe we really like posted.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_02: What are you doing?
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_02: And where are these going?
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we had to give him like the the you know two-minute synopsis.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, he was well, you jumped in line, and he just started packing bags with us.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, yeah, that's that's where the light bulb went off for me.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_07: So you're like, this is this is it.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_07: I gotta talk to my buddies.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, this is cool.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_02: And he didn't say anything like that at that moment.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_07: At that moment, then I then we had that meeting in my cabin, and that's that's where we decided on it.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_07: And um, that's where we came up with the name Squirrel Bowl too, because it was always the weekend before Squirrel Bowl or uh Super Bowl.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_07: Yep, but uh that's that's why we named it that.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, um yeah, that's it.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, he he then called and because at that time our offices were near each other or whatever at the hospital, and he's like, Hey, I got an idea, I need to run by you and your group.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_07: Well, I want to know more about it, and then like how do you guys fund this?
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_07: And she's well, the hospital, and she goes, rest of it's out of our pockets.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_07: And I was like, Well, I want to help out.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_07: And she's like, Well, we're we're we're kind of discreet with this.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_08: Yes, you guys.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_08: Were you a 501c3 then?
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_08: No, you guys are just doing out of the goodness of your heart, yeah, getting the money together, doing this, making it happen with our kids, guys.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sorry, what does that mean?
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_03: That means that you're an official organization when you're a 500.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_08: What is it for 501c3?
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_08: There's different one.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, that's what I thought, but I just wanted to make sure.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yep, yeah, so that's some listeners.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_08: Literally, we were just we like to explain to our listeners about stuff.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_08: Thank you, Cameron.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_02: No, that's that's you're very welcome.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, thank you.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_08: Very good.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_08: Adult of you, thank you.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_02: Just doing it, came up with a plan with the school, but even in the school, like only a few people knew who we were because we were even delivering food at night to the school when no one was there.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_02: So Melissa Williams is a teacher, so she would let us in, drop the bag.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_02: Shout out to Melissa.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_02: I thought it was Mrs.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_02: Ryer my whole life.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_02: Well, Mrs.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_02: Ryer was a connection for us, but Melissa's on it.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, we love her.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_08: So so when you decided to partner up, and that's truly it's it's it's a partnership.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_08: Did either of you have any idea what this collaboration would eventually lead to?
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_08: No.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_08: Zero, not even a little bit.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I thought like oh, it's like gonna be a cool thing we'll do once, and that'll be neat, but we don't even know what to and and they were a little hesitant just because they they kind of like that that that being discreet.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, and and right behind the scenes, you know.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_07: She knows how I am.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_07: I I like to blow things up, but I go big.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_07: I go big.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_07: I mean, dude, that's just about everything.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I would say I didn't know that at that time.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_08: Did you really know Jared much other than he's a fellow employee?
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we I mean we worked together on a few projects, but nothing like you know, wasn't it?
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: At the time, you're physician therapist.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I was an OT in the therapy department.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_02: And um And you're an IT, yeah, yeah.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_02: So like we knew of each other and stuff like that, but not like no, you know, really personally.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_02: But I did have to bring to the group that he was wanting to do this, which would then expose the whole thing, right?
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_02: And one of our tenets was to be very private and to not have draw attention to what we were doing.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_02: We don't want people to think that we were doing it for recognition.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_02: And we had a full meeting about it.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_08: Like what oh my god, we got caught.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_02: I love this story.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I mean, it was it was like should we do it?
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_07: And I wanted to, you know, and I and I wanted to shout it to the mountain.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he wanted yeah, like to put it on the billboard kind of.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_02: That's me, dude.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_07: That's like me, Jared.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_07: Go big, right?
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_07: Go big, stay home.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_07: This is this is a big deal.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_07: This is uh this is something to get behind.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_08: So, so Tanya, what started as a mission of gathering has become something that literally supports children right here in our own backyard.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_08: How have you seen the community embrace this mission over the years?
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I mean, that's exactly what Squirrel Bowl did is it it, you know, lifted the veil off of what we are doing.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, we talk about this all the time now that, you know, had we not said sure to that, we might still be helping 35 kids.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe and maybe not.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: And now there are thousands of kids we're helping across the three county area through all of our project third day chapters, yeah, and helping other not-for-profits that have similar missions.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_02: So thousands and thousands of people are being helped because he blew this out of the water.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_02: He 10x'd it is what he did.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_08: Well, he did.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_08: We got to 10x everything.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_08: So pretty wild.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_08: So, Jared, I know the Squirrel Bowl does a lot of veterans now, too, right?
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_08: So, how did that begin and how does that connect with the overall event?
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_08: Bringing the veterans into this.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_07: So basically, it just it it blew up so fast.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_07: Like our first year, we raised$1,400.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, and our group was like, what are we gonna do with$1,400?
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_02: I love you guys.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I love you all.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah,$1400.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_07: That's a lot of that's a lot of food.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, we had about 50 people there, and that was it.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_07: And four, we and and we were so proud of that.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_07: I remember that picture you showed.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_07: And I remember that's so$400 of that we ended up giving to the to the Frankfurt family that was when Gray got sick.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_07: And uh, and I remember that night, I was like, that felt so good to be able to give to something, you know.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_07: I was like, I want to do this forever.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_07: And then and then the next year it like, you know, then you're like it just grew and it grew and it grew.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_02: Then we had to get a venue, and yeah, yeah.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_07: And really we were we start about year five, four or five, I'd say, we started raising so much money, it was literally at that time, it was more money than they needed.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_07: Right.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_02: Because we we weren't planning on having multiple chapters, and we'd always talked about wouldn't it be cool if other people did this too?
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_07: Pick up the channel, but you didn't like that's something it wasn't really our plan.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_07: We could do the you guys could do this in other places, you can do this, and she's and that's where my brain was going.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_07: I was like, and then it just it just kept growing.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_07: Well, we were raising so much money that I you know, I didn't knew the people that supported it would also support the veterans, you know, and so 100%.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_07: The first thing we did was uh invited uh Landa Blinken honor flight.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah to the we started to help them for a couple years because I took my dad to the on the on the honor flight.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_03: Uh-huh.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_03: Uh-huh.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_07: And then we met Huah, which is another story in itself that's another God thing where I was like, I want to help other veteran groups.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_07: And she's like, Well, I know of one.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_07: There's something, you know, she went to college with.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_02: I we hadn't seen each other in years and years, but I'd seen somehow he's connected to Chad and Tammy Easter Day.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_02: It's just like my brain is always thinking about how are people connected.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_02: And right, right, right.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, Well, I hadn't talked to him, but I it seems like he's involved in something.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_02: So I just cold called him and said, Hey, hope you remember me.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_02: We worked at Pioneer Seed together and give me a call.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_02: I have some questions.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, call right back.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_07: We called them, we called them together.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we were, yeah, we were stayed at work and said, Here's what we do.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_02: And he was like, What?
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_02: You know, well, we want you guys to come down as hoo-aw and you know, let us kind of bring some awareness to your organization, let us raise you some money because they take um wounded veterans on outdoor excursions, get them back into the outdoors and and things.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_02: Phenomenal phenomenon.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_02: So just an awesome group of people.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_07: But you know, mainly mainly what they do is they have a they have a week-long crossbow hunt for to take 10 or 11 guys and and girls every every year.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_07: It's up by Bloomington, is where they do that.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_07: Um, but they've come down, they've become our dear friends, and then that's where the South Eagle Hall Memorial years later, that's where that spawned.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_07: So I started that with Joe Gaither from Hua.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_07: It's a Hoo-A-sanctioned event, but I kind of run it.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_07: Right.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_07: And uh, you know, Caitlin was there this year.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_07: You guys got to witness that and stuff.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_07: So very powerful.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_07: They are they are our absolute dear friends.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_07: They come hang out with us.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_07: We we we try to get together as much as we can, and it's just an amazing organization.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_07: It really is.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_07: I've got to go be a guide at their camp, and it's just it's what they do.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_07: It's just so cool to see your money being, I mean, just truly being used.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_07: Direct.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_07: It's direct.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_07: And yeah, you know, what's that scorable nine, I think it was, when they uh their um uh handicapped equipped was stolen.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_07: Was stolen.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, I remember stolen and and and totaled.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_07: And that's what they used to get.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_07: Wasn't that the special cause that year we did?
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_07: We raised money that year on the spot.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_07: But we uh we put our heads together and we're like, we can buy them a UTV store.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_02: We could do that.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_07: That'll be our we rolled in a U TV for them.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_07: Yes, I think that was like yeah, I so it's it holds like six guys.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, because they really couldn't do their mission without having a UTV.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, I think that's what Scorable Project Third Day, you know, we kind of coined the phrase see a need, meet a need.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_02: And we didn't coin that phrase, we use that phrase.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_09: There you go.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, really, there's needs all around you.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_02: And sometimes it's basic, sometimes it's really intense.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_02: And figuring out, man, if we could meet this need, then the benefit is really great.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's what Squirrel Ball has become, you know?
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_08: Well, when you strip away the fun of the squirrel ball, right?
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_08: And it is fun, to be able to come together like that for great causes, plural, and all the heavy work involved in organizing the project third day.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_08: What really keeps you both coming back to do this year after year?
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_08: You've touched on a little bit, Terry, but what what's your why?
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_07: For me, it's for me, it's it's I don't know a better word to say, but it's become an addiction for me just to help others.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_07: I've met so many incredible people on this journey, you know, that I that are near and dear to me when I we also brought in the Sal.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_07: So we start uh supporting the Sal group, special operations went to Warriors.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, I've got so many dear friends through that now, too.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_07: And we're that hunt's coming up, and we've been planning for it.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_07: And it it's to me, it's just like the connections of people that have been spawned from what we do is just you can't explain it.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_07: I mean, when you really look back and think about it, we've done that before.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_02: We think about we kind of drew almost relate a relationship map of these people.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh, I love that.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_07: Six degrees from Kevin Bates.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_07: It's just like wild.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, it's just like that.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_07: Like we yeah, it's it's weird to say, but it all came from Squirrel Bowl.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_07: All these connections.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_07: Each year there's something, somebody else we bring other people in, and this and that, and it's just we're not in control of this, right?
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_07: It's just it's happening organically, and you know it's.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_07: Like God things and yeah.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_07: It's not a chicken and the egg thing either.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_07: Right.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_08: No.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_08: They both were happening simultaneously, independently of each other.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_08: And then, you know, I'm I'm a firm believer that that God has a path.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_08: I do too.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_08: It's an invisible string theory.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_08: And and a plan.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_08: And every once in a while people's paths will cross.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_08: Hey, nice to and and then like in college, pioneer seeds, right?
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_08: Right.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_08: Other times paths come together and they form this massive wide highway.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_08: Right.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_08: For people to just get involved on it and stuff.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_08: And that is what we that I feel here, right?
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_08: And sometimes then paths go off, paths end, unfortunately, which we've had happen.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_08: And that's the power of it.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_08: And that's what I feel.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_08: When I'm there, the first year I went to Squirrel Bowl, because at first I'm like, what's a squirrel bowl thing?
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_08: I literally did that.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_08: I'm like, what's a squirrel bowl?
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_08: So that's you know, when someone asks, hey, do you want to get involved and sponsor and all that?
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_08: And then I'm like, I'm I went there the first time and I'm like, holy shit, it's this room is packed and blown away too.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_02: Energy, generosity.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_02: You know, everybody's so happy.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and just keep happy.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_08: I'll say that because the first year I invited my wife to come out and say, I'm gonna be out here, blah, blah, blah.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_08: Come on out.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_08: And she walked in, she's like, she's like, I can't stay, I gotta go.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_08: Why?
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_08: The hunt, the hunters, the this you're in a roof, yeah.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_08: They've been out hunting all morning, yeah.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_08: And they come in, yeah, and you know, I don't know when squirrel hunting versus deer hunting, if they're putting scent stuff on or not to cover the scent, but you know, you just had the BO and the hunting odor.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_03: I'm probably no spine.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_07: In there, you just you're in it, right?
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_07: You're in it, you're creating it.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_07: But the event has become so much more than just a squirrel hunt.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_02: It's almost become it's almost a side note, it's almost become secondary.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_07: Well, that's what I mean.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_07: I mean, as a matter of fact, we're seeing the the number of hunters go down and the number of attendees going up.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_07: And that's all.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_07: I don't hunt squirrels, and I'm there.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, sure.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_03: And that's probably three-fourths of the room or more.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, the base building was compact wall to wall, plus the the two tents you guys had.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_07: We had we had a great addition.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_07: 4500 years.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_03: We already have a little plan for her tent.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_03: Is it on our script?
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know about how much they raised last year.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_08: Well, we're gonna talk about it.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_08: Okay, that's a big deal.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_08: I wanna I want to know life raised because I know we talked about that last year because you guys hit a milestone.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_08: So where are we at, Jared?
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, so last year, last year, actually before the event, because we do a lot of pre-raffles and stuff leading up to give it a few.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_07: So there's a lot of expense that goes into hosting it.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, he's a right.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_08: Well, he is.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_08: Live events.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_08: I'm everyone, Jared is waiting for you in the live.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_08: I'm like, okay, let's go.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_09: I always see it too.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_08: Pop someone in Jared's live.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_08: Let's go.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_08: Let's yeah.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_08: Did I get in on that?
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_08: I don't think it's a good idea.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's Jared's world.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_02: We're all just living in it.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_02: I think you're right.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_07: So when we when we so we we ourselves also became 51c3 ourselves.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_09: Okay, fine.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_07: And because of that, so now we try to raise money throughout the year because we'll see a meet and see a need and meet a need as the as the year goes on.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_07: And we have other events now too, but it's not just Squirrel Bowl.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_07: So that's why I'm always doing these little mini fundraisers to keep some money in the in there so we can just, you know, do like I just I just went and bought six rifles for our for our six sow hunters and stuff like that.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_07: So I mean, that's what that money is is used for.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_02: But and truly, it's direct.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I think what maybe your listeners need to know is Project Third Days never had a paid, you know, right.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_02: We're all regular working people.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_02: Well, yeah, you work at the hospital.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_08: And I did want to touch base on that too, because this is totally different than your no-shade united ways.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_08: Right.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_08: Because you can have a 501c3 where there's paid salaries to just a shout out, right?
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_08: If you're donating money to someone, make sure you know how much money is staying with and going to the end recipients of that.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's a very good thing to bring up, Chris, because a lot of I'm gonna donate a bunch to you.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_08: I'm not gonna spend on them to I just know that very little goes to Yeah, the direct mission.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, and there's several percent we have expenses for the event insurance that we have to pay for, and fundraising expenses.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_02: And the rest is all going straight to kids, family.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_08: Now is you guys were putting out of pocket.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_08: You when you guys were together, you just threw in like that.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_08: Now it's like you you need to spend money to make money.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_08: Oh, yeah.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_08: Create on a venue event for people to come to and spend more money.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_03: Feeding them, okay, feeding them delicious meals with music, music band, or opportunities because magician raffles.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_03: But another thing I want to say is just the simple fact we never heard a dollar amount either.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_03: You're raising all this money, but you're also providing all of these family-friendly activities for people.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_03: We want kid family to be together.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_03: You want to see, you want the kids to see, look what they're doing.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean when adults come together for good.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I've always felt like that.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_02: We we carve out a section of our ceremony where we bring kids up.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yep, and that is amazing.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's just like giving them a little something.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_02: And now I we try to do almost like a little sermonette, like choose to do good when you're at school.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_07: We see those kids want to help.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_08: Like we and that's what you know, they like I want to get involved leading the next generation into doing good.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, or seeing it need meet a need.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I uh we always have a couple moments where some little families will pull us off to the side, maybe after the ceremony or something.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I was thinking about the Turpin girls.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_02: Last year they came up and you know, tapped my shoe on the stage, and I said, Oh, it came right down.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, they out of their pocket pulled their allowance money out and wanted that to go direct to kids and because they they come and they hear what we're doing and they go and have conversation with their parents, and they're teaching, you know, we want families to teach their kids that not everybody has enough.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and but there's something you can do about it, you know, whether it's give$10 or granola bars or see the little kid down the street that doesn't have a tire on his bike.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_02: We can all do that kind of stuff.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_02: So he's giving us a lot of things.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_03: I do want to tell you, you know, Luca, he's 13.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_03: That's when you're real cool.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_03: I just want you guys, you know that, Taylor.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_03: But Squirrel Bowl is the cool thing with those kids, they're ready to come out.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_03: They want to wear the shirts.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_03: Uh-huh.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, to those boys, I want to just offer like, which you might not know this, but like that is a very manly, cool guy organization in their eyes.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, because they're seeing it's hunters, it's a group of guys, there's guns out there being raffled off, like but the girls are doing it too.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_08: Yep.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_03: Now, if I was a girl, I'd be like, Yeah, I'm going out there to look at all the cute boys.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_03: Back then, back then, when I'm younger, you know, sorry, Chris.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, he's the star.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_03: I talk to Chris all the time.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_08: I lived on the mic, I talked to him all the time.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_08: Poor Chris.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_03: But no, I'm just saying, yeah, it it is cool to every single person.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's become its own little ecosystem.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's I mean, we call it Squirrel Bowl Nation, you know, whatever.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_02: Love it, love it.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I I was telling him six months ago I was somewhere, and this guy was like sitting off to my left, and I felt like he was looking at me, and I you know what I'm saying.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sure he was.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, are you are you the lady from Squirrel Bowl?
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_02: You know, are you the lady that's on the stage?
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, Oh, yeah, I had a hat on.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_02: And he goes, I thought that was you.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_02: I actually I I recognized your voice.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_02: It's like the lady from Squirrel Bowl.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's like we're and you're such a great speaker, and both of you are a neat ecosystem of people that, you know, and then they go on to talk to whoever they're sitting beside.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, this cool thing, you should go.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_07: And it's spreading the world.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, it really is.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_07: And I I try to you hardly ever see me out besides work without a squirrel, you know, and people ask you, no matter where you go, yeah, what is it?
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_07: It's not an easy story to tell.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_07: It's got it's it's a long story to tell, but if they're willing to listen, we we tell that story.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_07: And and and then I just noticed like here in the last few years too, like really seeing these shirts like around the community and stuff.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_07: People I mean, you talk about a good feeling, you know.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_03: It's like and that's well, we have our stickers on our Chris has his on his vehicle, and he got asked at in Jacksonville, he works at the prison, what is it?
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_03: So he told all about it and they started following the page and everything.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_03: So because they're veterans too.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_03: So I mean that's awesome.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, yeah, and that is, and and that's great.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_08: So do we want to share a number?
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_08: We haven't had a number yet.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_08: I know what was announced.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_07: So yeah, so yeah, before last year we we hit a million dollars.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_07: So in 10 years, so basically in 10 years, we went from 1400 to the first year and to a million dollars 10 years later.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_07: Right.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_07: And then um we raised over 250,000 last year, and we and we've raised since we're about 1.4, I'd say, right now.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_07: So a quarter million in one day, one event.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_02: Any kind of a one weekend.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_08: Think about it being uh two-day event.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, and and and that is just mind-blowing packed the the ripple effect.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_08: And and those that don't know Grant Cardone and the whole 10X thing, right?
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_08: Uh huh.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_08: Grant talks about everyone talks about dropping a pebble in the water and watching the ripple effect.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_08: He's like, you want to take and throw boulders, you want to hit it with mortar rounds.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_08: That's that's you guys.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_08: That's you.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_02: That's him.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_02: That's him.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_11: Grant Cardone Jr.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_08: That water and and that water is is reaching further because of the size of boulders and mortar rounds you're throwing in there.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_08: That's what just is it just blows me away.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_08: So if someone had told you back in 2012, 2014-ish that we'd still be sitting here talking about this all these years later, what do you think you would have said then?
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_08: You're crazy?
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_08: No, we're just humble little people in our just doing 35 kids.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_07: Well, I I will say that squirrels is only scorable because of Project Third Day.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_07: You you know, I I can put on a a good party.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_07: I like to throw a good party.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, heck yeah, let's an entertainer.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_07: But I would not be raising$250,000 for a party.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_07: It's all about the cause that's behind it.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_07: Exactly.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_07: And then when you add those other those other causes, the whoa, the sow, you know, clay buster, the South Eagle Hoff hunt, you add those things behind it and the people come.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_07: And then the people are willing to you know to give.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_07: And uh people come to me all the time, like, man, how did you do it?
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_07: Like, we didn't do it.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_07: The the cause did it.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_07: When you when you say you're helping over a thousand kids, you know, and and that number just goes up every single year.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_07: Well, unfortunately, yeah, it just keeps going up, but it will.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_07: When you're doing that, that's that's why School Bowl has become what it is.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_07: It's not just I'm that good at it at throwing a party.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, well, yeah, it is pretty good.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_07: It is pretty good party.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_07: You guys are both pretty good.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_08: So, Tanya, back to you.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_08: We touched on a little bit before how many now chapters of Project Third Day are there?
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, we have the Carlinville chapter, which and then when you think about a chapter, you have to go.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_02: OG, the go or the the OGs.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and that started in the primary school, but now we're in all of the schools.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_02: The alternative school, safe school here in town.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and we even helped the GED program.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_02: So you think about a chapter, some of our chapters look differently in the town.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_08: So, you know, we're in all of the OG is we're kind of the town, the community, right.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_02: And then, you know, we've got Panhandle District over in Raymond Lincolnwood, Farmersville area, Alton.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_02: Oh wow.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_02: And so Barb actually started that.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_02: Barb Anderson, it's kind of originally from here.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_02: She started it in her schools, in Godfrey, but now it's all there's a portion of it in about seven Alton schools.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, that's amazing.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_02: There, um, we've got Morrisonville, we've got Northwestern, where I'm from.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_02: I was gonna say, I remember doing that.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_02: And uh the Roxana area.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_08: You're down that with the Roxanna area.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_02: Most recently we have Gillespie as well.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_02: So um there's tail on it too.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_02: They are they're doing a great job, and so they're they're spearheaders.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_02: You always need somebody who can take the charge and figure out how you're gonna execute it.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of people are like, I want to help you pack bags, but they don't want to think about take over the whole thing and organize.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_03: The communication with the schools and all that stuff.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_02: How do you keep it discreet and all those things?
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, it's all of that.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_02: And so we're helping 1150 kids a year, but even that, it's hard to quantify because sometimes when the need just arises, you just take care of it.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, because it's not just food, it's not just I'm thank you for it.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_08: I was getting ready to segue that because there's more than just food you gotta provide.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_08: I mean clothes, blankets, pillows, sanitary.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, we just did our pillow and blanket delivery.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_02: We did washers and dryers.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I didn't know that.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we did washers and dryers at the school in Cromwell because we realized so many kids came to school dirty, their clothes were dirty.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_03: So we proved the washers and dryers at the school.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it became a school project, although we've bought washers and dryers for people too.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um, but we do try to stick with the basic mission stuff, and the somebody is taken from a home and grandma has them, but the kid has nothing.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_02: The school knows to just text us and say, I have a seven-year-old size this boy, and a minute, and that's all it is.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_02: And we take care of it within 24 hours, we deliver it to the school, it's a drive-by, and we leave.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and then we just make sure it happens.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_02: And so each chapter has different forms of that.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_02: Some are more food-centric, and others like we just kind of take care of a lot of variety pack of things if it's within our mission.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_08: And and the way the way we talk about in the 10x world is it's the four M's.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_08: It's the model, mimic, master, and multiply.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_08: And you guys are true truly doing that.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, you're modeling what you want done, right?
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_08: And but you weren't truly doing it modeling for other people to watch because you're doing it in secret until you were busted by Jared.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_11: Yep, right, one night.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_08: Thank goodness.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_08: The wind putting you guys together.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_08: Right.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_08: So I love every second of the story.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_08: Master it and multiply it.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_08: Oh, it's a great story.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_08: I mean, it's gonna continue to multiply.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and 100%.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_02: Most of our chapters that exist now, uh, I always call them our Project Third Day babies.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_02: You know, like we went and had little babies, little incubators.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um, most of them learned about Project Third Day from coming to Squirrel Bowl.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_02: I was that was gonna be my next question.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_08: How did they see light bulbs go off in the audience?
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_08: That's a lot of people.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_02: Right after, and they're like, I want to do this in my town.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_02: And that's because squirrel bowl has reached beyond.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_03: I'm surprised Litchfield doesn't do it.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_03: They need to, Lichfield.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_08: And all that.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_08: So is there wrapping up?
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_08: Is there a day when you see our current venue won't hold the swimming?
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_08: We've been there for three or four years.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we we feel like we need a loft in, you know, the base building is the way we'll see that.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_07: We had a we had a we we we asked attached a 40 by 100 tent last year.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_07: We had a meeting yesterday and I came up with another Jared idea, and they're like, we're gonna need a bigger tent.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_07: And it's like so yeah, so we're gonna go a little bigger each other.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_10: I just keep saying he needs to build a giant giant, giant, giant machine shed at whatever, but is there a stadium somewhere that's decommissioned that we need to do that?
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_07: We've had it, it went from it went from Renneker to Wild Pickens out to McClentox at the time.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_07: Right, yeah, and then I forgot about the Clentox.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_07: And I've always had my eyes on the base building, and I'm the fairgrounds is I kind of talked, I kind of talked to Fairboard into not making it a uh storage that's so they they've turned it into a nice but it's been a great partnership because we've been the catalyst to help them do that, and then we we all work together.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_11: They are we help them at the fair, they help us as far as it's gonna be.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_08: I was gonna say you guys do a lot of sponsoring at the fair.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, the concerts you do and the beer tickets and all that stuff.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_07: We've seen it.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, that's a give and take.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_07: They they do that, they yeah, they just bend over backwards for us, let us run it exactly how we want to do it.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_07: Uh-huh.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_03: And they're excited.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_03: They even advertise for you guys because they know it's a great mission.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_08: So, to our listeners and followers, right, that are hearing this, what can they do to get involved?
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_08: How can they get involved?
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_09: Sure.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_07: Like when I get asked that from a scoreboard standpoint, it's like just come.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_07: If you come to Scorp Bowl this this year's, it's it's February, it's the latest it's ever been, just because how the calendar falls February 5th and 6th.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_07: Okay.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_07: Friday and Saturday.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_07: At the Bates Building, the Bates Building, Carl.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_07: But I would just say, first, before you want to do something to help, come.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_07: And feel it.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_07: And you'll find a way to help when you're.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_07: I always say both because there's there it's two different events.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_07: Friday night's completely different than Saturday.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_07: Yep.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_07: But if you want to want to truly feel what or get to witness what we're doing, I would say come Saturday.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_07: And it's, you know, it's an emotional, it's an emotional event.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_07: Because they can it's very emotional.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_08: Yep.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_02: They can win raffles.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_08: Win raffles.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_08: They can donate during on the spot, right?
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_08: Buy beer and sodas, and that part of that pretty goes.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_08: Yep, yeah.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_08: All of that.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_02: And then you also get to just hear where the money's going.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_03: I loved watching the videos and listening to you guys speak.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_03: And there was there's videos of little kids up there.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_03: That was really so project third day.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_08: I mean because it's not just based around squirrel balls.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_02: Correct.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_02: Project Third Day happens all year round.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_02: So each other.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_02: They know who you are now.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_02: Depending on where people are, I always try to connect them up.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_02: We actually have a lot of support here in Carlonville now.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_02: 4-H groups come and help us pack food bags or whatever.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_02: Again, now that it's exposed, right, for the last few years, then people got involved with how can they help us?
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_02: Or sometimes businesses will do a um granola bar drive, you know, around this time, or they'll collect socks.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_02: And then we can funnel that to kids.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_02: Even it's things that seem small like that are big.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you're you're contributing in all those sorts of ways.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_02: So um I'm always happy to connect people up or to give you the contact of the project their day that's most local to you.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_02: But and certainly like if people can't attend or help, but they want to do things like that, we do sponsorships through Squirrel Bowl.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, for those who are just like maybe want to do financial donations, that's how Squirrel Bowl works is all of that money feeds into the event, which then feeds out to Project Third Day and helping it.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_07: The sponsors are huge.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_07: I mean, we couldn't be able to do what we do without the sponsors.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_03: So you're so good at making sure to shine a light on them.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_03: How many people do you have working volunteering with you?
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_07: I mean, I would say that when once we get closer to Scorable, our committee is around 40 people.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, there's like a core.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_02: We have a core.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_07: We have a board now, and then we also have a core group, and then we have the the bigger it is a pretty well-oiled machine.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_07: It is, and it's like the meetings are fun.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_07: Everybody wants to pitch in, everybody wants to do their part.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_07: And and uh it's just fun organizing that saying, we need this, I'll do that.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_07: You know, it's just everybody just wants to do their part.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_03: And I one thing I've noticed about you guys sometimes when you get in a group of adults that are very passionate, there could be arguing like everybody is just so on the same path and the same mission.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_03: And I just I I've never had more fun with like a group of people.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_07: He wants to strangle me a lot of time.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it there's some moments of heat, right?
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_07: Like where it's like it gets stressful, you know, there's a lot of things.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of people asking you to do things, and you know, something doesn't go right, or you know, gosh, one year, I mean it was like the ice storm, right?
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_02: And then you're trying to figure out how do you pivot.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_02: Well, guess what?
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_02: People just showed up in the ice anyway.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_02: And no, but it's always little things to do.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_07: And I come up with ideas at the last minute, just like asking you and your husband helped last year or the week before.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_07: She's like, This we don't have time.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_07: I said, Yes, we do.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_07: Watch.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I I deliberately got it.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_03: But I want to know just my last question like, what can we expect for Squirrel Bowl this year?
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_03: What can uh like people?
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_03: I know Friday night's kind of like the fun night, right?
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_03: You got a band out there, tons of raffles.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_03: Do we know the band yet?
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_07: Or yeah, it's Lick Creek again.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_07: This will be year four.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_07: Shout out Lick Creek.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_07: This will be year four, and every year I'm like, okay, we we need to do something different.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_07: And then they just nail it.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_07: They just nail it for the crown and then iconic.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_07: And then afterwards, um I I literally hire them on it.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_07: I'm like, put it on your calendar for like.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_03: And then what kind of food we got going?
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_07: Well, we can't.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_07: People don't know.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_07: We can't, yeah.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_07: Oh, but there will be food.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_02: But it'll be good.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_02: The whole event will be very themed out.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_07: This will be a completely themed event this year.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_02: We always have a theme and like a logo, but this is gonna be probably.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_07: If you're not releasing it yet, we're not, not yet.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_07: No, okay.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe teams or app this this is Squirrel Bowl.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_02: Twelve.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_02: Twelve.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_07: Right.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_07: And it's gonna be fun.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_07: It's always fun.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_07: I was gonna say it's like the whole idea is gonna be fun, and we have so many things that we have planned that's gonna happen.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_07: It's gonna be really good for even kids this year.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_07: The kids are gonna little kids.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, okay.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, it's gonna be a really I'm I'm feeling circus vibes.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_02: I'm feeling root 60 C is calling us clowns and monkeys, maybe.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not sure what's happening here.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_07: But I can't, I I would I would love to I would love to tell you, but we haven't told the rest of the committee yet.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, no, I know, but this is actually really good.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, because people are gonna be like constantly following you now because they're gonna be like, what's the theme gonna be?
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_08: We can you know put stuff over it.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_08: No, it's fine.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_08: It's gonna be fine.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_08: All right, so how do they reach out?
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_08: How Facebook, how can they contact Project Third Day?
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_08: How can they contact Scorpio?
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, why don't you start with well Scorpio?
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_07: We do have a Facebook page, it is private.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_07: That was designed that way from the get-go.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_07: DNR, I work with DNR right off the bat.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_07: Sure.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_07: I want to do this thing, but I want to do it legally.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_07: We do everything 100% legal.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_07: And they just they gave us advice.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_07: I would keep the page itself private just because of the nature of who will come out with stuff.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah, the hunting aspect of just all you gotta do is do a search for Squirable.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_07: Okay, and and then we also have a separate web page now.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_07: That's where we do our online raffles and all the information from the Oxria site.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_08: So go to your computer and search Scribble or your smartphone.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_08: Yep.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_08: Yep.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_02: And then and really same for Project Third Day.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_02: So we have a web page, you'll see a green apple on it.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_02: That's kind of our logo.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I didn't explain that really.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_02: A way we kind of the school chooses kids who are in the most need that get the food bags.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_02: And we didn't want to have this, hey, little Johnny, come to the office and then call them out because we were really discreet.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_02: There they are.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_02: Discreet about it.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_02: So in some of the schools, the kids get like a little apple, like a laminated apple to take to the office because they're running an errand for.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_11: Yep.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_02: And that's how things work out.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_02: So the apple is food and it kind of became the little symbol.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_02: So Project Third Day Facebook page is a great, great way to contact us.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_02: And then each of the other chapters, most of them have their own Facebook page as well.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_02: Like Northwestern's is called Wildcat Way.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_02: So if you search Project Third Day and just you know, it's gonna pop messages and things like that.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yep, that's this phenomenal.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_08: This has been this has been amazing.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_08: I appreciate we both appreciate you coming in today.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_08: We appreciate your support all these years too.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_08: Well, Tanya Jared.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_08: Thank you both for joining us today and for reminding us what can happen when people take an idea, bring a community together, and turn it into something that truly matters.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_08: What started as a fun winter gathering and a mission to help local children has grown into something much bigger, bigger than what you guys can almost handle, right?
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_08: But but God puts the right people in place to keep that going.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_08: It's a tradition that supports kids, honors our veterans, and brings people together for a purpose beyond themselves.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_08: And I think that's what community is all about.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_08: It's not just the buildings we put up, the businesses we open or the events we attend.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_08: It's the people who show up to the needs we choose to meet and the lives we make better along the way.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_08: You don't have to be a big organization or have a lot of money to make a difference.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_08: Sometimes all it takes is one idea, a few people willing to get involved, and dammit the determination to keep showing up year after year.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_08: So to our listeners, we challenge you to find a way to get involved, support Project Thursday, and get behind the Squirrel Bowl, Squirrel Bowl 12 this year, right?
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_08: And support our local veterans and look for opportunities to make a difference right here in our own community.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_08: Because when we take care of our people, we build something that lasts far beyond any one of us.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_08: A huge thank you to our 10x partner, SIPS, uh, for being the official drink sponsor and allowing us to do these community podcasts like this, right?
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_08: And highlighting and bringing awareness to these things, right?
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_08: And remember, you're listening to Design and Building the Midwest one community at a time.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_08: We're not just building homes and businesses, we're building stronger communities, one conversation and one relationship at a time.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_08: Make sure you subscribe, share this episode with someone who believes in giving back, and join us next time as we continue to celebrate the people who make Midwest such a special place to live and raise a family.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_08: Until next time, keep designing, keep building, and keep making a difference one community at a time.
• 45:53
  unknown: Bye.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_01: In the military, there's no such thing as good enough.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_01: You either do the job the right way or you don't do it at all.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Blake Middleton of Elite Roofing Professionals and Exteriors.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a veteran and I brought the same mission first mindset back to Illinois.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_01: While others talk about the way it's always been done, my team focuses on the technical precision of how a roof should be built.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_01: We use the best materials, the best technology, and a level of communication you won't find anywhere else.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_01: Your home isn't just a job, it's a commitment.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_01: Elite roofing, high standards, zero compromise, clear communication.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_01: Give us a call today.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_00: Hey there.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Lisa Miller, managing broker and owner of First Choice Realty Pros.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_00: We don't just help you find a house, we help you discover home.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_00: My team and I are passionate about taking care of your needs, making the process smooth, and ensuring you get the personalized attention you deserve.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_00: Ready for the next step?
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_00: Call us at 217-825-3999.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_00: With First Choice Realty Pros, you've got a team that's got your back.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_08: Hey, listeners and followers, we have something big coming out that'll be launching January 1st, 2027.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_08: Yes, I said 2027, it is upon us already.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_08: We're almost done with the third quarter rolling into the fourth.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_08: But we are rolling out the Big Dog Home Guardian program.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_08: It's a residential service and maintenance agreement.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_08: You ever have those the annoying beeping smoke alarm that's like, oh crap, I forgot to replace the battery in that, or it's too high, I don't have a ladder, I can't get up there safely, or that furnace filter that you're like, oh, I forgot to change the furnace filter.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_08: Gutters need cleaning, it's just a mess, whatever that is.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_08: We are gonna have that in our home dog.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_08: Big dog.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_08: Home dog.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_08: What up, home dog?
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_08: The big dog home guardian program to where we can take care of those things.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_08: Or the little handyman stuff that you need taken care of, right?
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_08: The squeaking storm door, the squeaking bedroom door, squeaky loose floorboard, whatever that is, we can take care of you.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_08: We're gonna have three tiers of service low, middle, and high.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_08: Each one of those will have their own things that we offer.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_08: Obviously, the higher the tier, the quicker response time you'll get put on the schedule.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_08: Okay?
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_08: So stay tuned and be looking for more information on the Big Dog Home Guardian program.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_08: Until then, we'll catch you next time.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_06: Hey, it's Ryan Cleman.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_04: And Lindy.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_06: We are the community partners for the Big Dog Podcast.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_04: As the owners of SIPS Coffee Co.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_04: community is at the heart of everything we do.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_04: We want to support the people who make this area great.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_04: So if you are a local business or organization that would like to be featured right here on this podcast, or if you want to work together with us to make the Midwest the absolute best community it can be, please get a hold of us.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_06: Reach out today and let's build something great together.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_03: And that wraps up another episode of Designing and Building the Midwest, one community at a time.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much for tuning in and listening with us today.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_08: We hope you walked away with some valuable insights to use in your home or neighborhood.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_08: If you enjoyed what you heard, make sure you hit that subscribe button so you never miss a weekly episode.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_03: And be sure to follow us on Facebook and across all your favorite platforms to keep up with everything we're building.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_08: Until next time, I'm Chris.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm Caitlin.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for hanging out with us, and we'll see you next time.
• 49:41
  unknown: Big Dog.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_07: This episode was produced by Big Dog Media Group, delivering powerful creative for brands and creators everywhere.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_07: If you're looking to take your podcast to the next level or just get started, Big Dog Media Group has you covered.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_07: Thanks for listening.