Latest / The City of Frankfort Podcast / Ep 34: Frankfort CARES: Supporting Community Agencies

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Ep 34: Frankfort CARES: Supporting Community Agencies · The City of Frankfort Podcast

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All right, from Capitol Halls to Bourbon Balls, this is the City of Frankfurt
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podcast for the Frankfurtians. We're swapping stories, filling the tea,
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and celebrating the quirks that make Kentucky's capital the best hometown around.
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Welcome to the City of Frankfurt podcast. I'm your host, Scott.
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Today, I'm joined by Matt Johnson and Rachel Moore from the Frankfurt Cares Coalition.
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We're going to be chatting all about how the City of Frankfurt supports nonprofits
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in our community and why the CARES Coalition is such a unique organization from
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supporting many of our individual nonprofits.
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To supporting services for those in our community who need it the most.
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CARES has established itself as an important resource in Frankfort,
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and the city is glad to continue supporting its growth. Welcome, Matt and Rachel.
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Thank you. Thanks for having us. All right, y'all ready to get into it?
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Let's go. All right. So let's start.
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We'll start by getting to know you guys. Can you tell us what you're positioning?
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We'll start with you, Matt. Just tell us what your position is with CARES and
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how long you've been with an organization and what brought you to this.
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So I am the board chair.
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I have been the board chair since we had our first meeting in November of 2020.
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I like to start out each of our meetings by asking for a motion if anybody would
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like to take my position. But so far, nobody has taken me up on that.
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But really, I became involved with CARES in 2020. I got an email about joining
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this idea of what CARES was, and it really kind of spoke to it.
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My paying job is I'm the family resource coordinator at Westridge Elementary.
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And so we deal with homelessness from a student perspective and,
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and their families. And so that really became kind of the tipping point for
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me getting plugged in and involved. But so.
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In a non-officer role since 2020, when this was kind of an idea to us putting.
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Where the rubber meets the road and us starting officially in November 2022
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as me, board chair. Okay.
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Rachel? So, my name is Rachel Moore. I'm the executive director of CARES since April.
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And I've been involved with CARES for a few years in different roles that I've had in the community.
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But what drew me to this position was just the ability to collaborate with different non-profits.
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I really believe that the more we all work together, the more effective we can be.
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So I'm just thankful to be in this position and to be able to support other non-profits.
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I have a non-profit and we work with a lot of the local non-profits anyway.
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So I want to touch on also being able to highlight and advocate for nonprofits.
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We're working together and there are different issues and struggles that we
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all face. And so now I'm in a position to be able to assist with that as well.
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Yeah. Yeah. I don't think people understand like nonprofit literally means nonprofit.
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There is no profit there.
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No. Yeah. You know, so a lot of it is just it's the support of the community.
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You know, I'm part of the Vonna Joyce Robinson Foundation. And it just like
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without community support, a lot of these nonprofits, like they're just going to go by the wayside,
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which means that some of our most vulnerable communities are.
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Also go by the wayside. And I think that's a responsibility we have as a community,
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is to take care of those vulnerable individuals.
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You know, you may look at, well, you know, I just take care of my house.
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Well, but is that really what being a community is about?
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You know, it's not. And, you know, I get to see it through the lens of Juana J.
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But of course, I also get to see through the lens of, in my professional role as a police officer.
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And, you know, I've been with Fraudford Police Department now for 22 years.
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I've been with the city overall for over 25. So, you know, you see just the
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way that the community's in need.
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And, you know, and it takes all of us. We all have a responsibility to help.
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I mean, we, if you care about people, if you really do, if you believe in treating
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your neighbor as yourself, I mean, we have that responsibility.
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Yeah. And that's and that's really where Rachel's come in as our director and
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kind of where we're headed as CARES is trying to make sure that our nonprofits
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are sustainable and that we take care of our people.
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And by that, I mean, we take care of our community. Yeah, that's awesome.
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So one of the biggest misconceptions is that is that Frankfort CARES is just
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another nonprofit agency.
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It's actually something much different. And can you explain to us what exactly
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CARES is and how it functions?
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Yeah, so CARES essentially is a coalition or collective.
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I think the word that we've used just previously, community.
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We are a community of nonprofits.
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CARES itself is not a direct service agency. We are not the ones providing services for those in need.
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Our role as CARES is to support the organizations that do provide those direct services.
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And so we act as an umbrella organization. It allows us to be able to apply
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for larger grants than what we could on what each thing, what each nonprofit does on their own.
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We support the boards of nonprofits. We are not trying to take over anything.
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We are simply here to support them and help them be sustainable.
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And that's the big thing for us. So under the umbrella of CARES,
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we have all sorts of different organizations.
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Rossum is a member, Access Food Pantry is a member, Senior Center is a member,
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and there's so many more that I think we've got 30-plus members of CARES at
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this point, which is we've grown quite a bit.
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And the whole point is we want to make sure that they are empowered to fulfill
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their missions, and it's our job to come and support their boards.
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We support financially.
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I think to date, since our meeting in 2022,
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where we were firmly established as an organization, and we had basically zero
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dollars to give out, we've given out over $100,000 in the last four years to
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nonprofits in this community.
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And so our job as CARES is to make sure that those who are providing direct
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services to the most vulnerable are sustainable so that those people don't fall by the wayside.
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I think an important part of what CARES does as well is.
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Collaboration. So with the William Joseph Crisis Nursery, if we're supporting
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a family and we're keeping the children, you know, while the parents are navigating
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different issues, that's only a piece of it.
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Rosam helps with rent and food boxes and those types of things,
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but we all need to be working together because if not, we'll be spinning on
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wheels because we all provide different services.
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And then we can also ensure that the money is being spent correctly and effectively
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so programs aren't being recreated.
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Yeah, we want dollars to be impactful.
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And so we want to make sure that every dollar that we spend, one, is accounted for,
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but two, also has the greatest impact on our community, that we're not wasting
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dollars on administrative type things, that we are proactive in meeting those
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needs and collaborating so that those dollars do go farther. Right.
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And really, I guess if somebody had a need or they knew somebody was in need,
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but they didn't know where to turn to, maybe exactly which nonprofit they should
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go to, really CARES could point down.
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Yeah, and we have. So on our Facebook page, we get messages often asking,
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I need this, I need this. And our response usually is, unfortunately,
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CARES is not a direct service agency, but let me connect you with one of our members.
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And so we try to make sure that that connection happens so that they can get
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the help that they need. Yeah.
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Yeah. One thing we've experienced in law enforcement, a lot of times when people
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don't know to call, they call the police.
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Yeah. But we don't all it. But it may not be a service that we provide,
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you know, so make it. And that's why we have, you know, social workers on staff.
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You know what I mean? So that they can point. Yeah.
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Those people to those resources you know what i mean and i know a lot of that
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starts with cares i know you guys work very closely uh with the police department
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with our social workers you know i don't miss miss,
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uh we just had one retirement but um but you know that will hopefully we'll,
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get that position filled soon,
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um but you know a lot of times people will call and we just need to point them
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in the right direction right you know yeah and it's because it's not always
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like you said cares doesn't provide any direct resources but we collaborate
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with all these people who do,
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you know so that's that's good to know i mean because a lot of people are just
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i don't know what to call call cares you know yeah uh so what what exactly what
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is the history of care i think we kind of went over this a little bit but on
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how it was established and uh.
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Can you tie it kind of just based on that? Yeah, so a little history.
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So this was kind of an idea that was birthed out of 2017 as a way for people
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in need to call and connect.
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And so it was originally a collaborative thing.
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It wasn't housed in one organization. As a matter of fact, I think emergency
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management was the one that kind of helped man the phone calls.
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And that, even that number, I think that still exists has changed organizations,
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which would answer the phone.
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And then COVID hit in 2020 and there was kind of a shift with,
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okay, this thing really needs to take off because we are seeing an abundance
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of need in our community.
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We opened up gyms during COVID for people to sleep in.
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We just saw a lot of changes with COVID. And that's when I got the email about meeting.
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And I remember us meeting outside at Juniper Hill so we could,
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you know, maintain our social distancing.
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And we all had the chart boards up and things like that. And so really from
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there, 2020, this thing kind of started launching. And the city,
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you know, brought in a couple of consultants and talking about direction and
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making some SMART goals.
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And then the McNary group came in and was able to,
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provide kind of a basic framework from that. And then I got an email from Blair
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with the city and she said, Hey, I need some people's names,
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uh, that would be able to sign on a dotted line so that we could get, get this ball rolling.
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Um, and I, I tried to wait a couple of weeks and then I finally emailed Blair
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back and I said, well, if you still need a name, uh, you can put my name down on the list.
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And so my name went on the list. And then shortly after that,
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it became, I was the board chair. I don't, that's what happens when you say yes, right?
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But yeah, so we officially launched on November 29th of 2022.
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So we were coming up on our four-year anniversary as an organization.
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And then shortly after we were established as an organization with our bylaws
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and all that kind of stuff, we became a 501c3. So we had to get some things
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done so that we could apply for our 501c3.
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But since that time, we just have been kind of trying to rock and roll as much
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as we can, building up our membership, providing supports for our members,
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and looking at what comes next. Right, right, right. All right.
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So tell us more about how Carriors is set up.
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Is there a board? How did you meet? Are there members? things like that?
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Yeah. So we do have a board.
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As I mentioned, I'm the chair. We have a secretary. We have a vice chair.
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We have a treasurer. And then we have an at-large board member who kind of handles
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a lot of our committees and things like that because we do have committees as well.
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So we have our board and then we have different types of memberships that are available.
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But probably our biggest success and our biggest hire has been Rachel as our
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executive director and kind of helps piece all of this together.
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So she's kind of the link between the board and our members and the board and our community.
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Even though we're all still engaged and involved. And so as board members.
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We meet with Rachel, communicate with Rachel, and then we have our meetings
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that usually happen every other month, just depending on need.
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So we are flexible enough that we can meet at the drop of a hat if there's an
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issue. And the example that I'll give is flood, right?
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So every year we schedule a CARES work day. And when flooding happened,
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immediately that agenda for the Workday for CARES got put on the back burner
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and said, okay, this is what we need to focus on and do flooding.
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So, but our members come together and the different levels of membership that
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we have, we have active members.
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Those are member organizations like Simon House Access that request funding
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from us, that can apply for grant funding.
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From larger dollars. And so we call those kind of mini grants is how we give those out.
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So they apply for funding for CARES. Then we have our partner members.
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They don't apply for funding. They are eligible once a year for what we call
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micro grants. And these are, you know, $250 that we give out.
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We give out $250 to each of our warming and cooling centers,
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depending on the season as well. But we also...
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Make available micro grants for some of our partner members.
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And the reason why we did that is because every year, Bondurant hosts Turning
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Bare Feet into Learning Feet, where we give out shoes to every kid that lives
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in the confines of Franklin County.
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And sometimes kids who don't live in Franklin County, but come to this event.
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And so that was a way for CARES to be able to get plugged into that event and
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provide money so that they could buy shoes, socks, whatever they needed for that thing.
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So we have active members, we have partner members, and then we do have community
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members as well. Community members don't apply for funding, any of those kinds
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of things, but we invite the community to come and be a part of our meetings
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to find out what's going on.
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At our meetings every month, Rachel gives a report on the things that she's
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been doing and what's going on.
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We hear from our different members on what they've been doing,
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what's going on. There's always a financial update, but we are board-run,
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but we are very thankful to have an executive director.
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Yeah, yeah, I understand that completely.
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Can you give us an example of what collaboration looks like under the CARES Coalition?
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So, I'll talk about situation table. We're very involved.
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Matt and Charlie and I are almost always at the meeting every Tuesday at the
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police department that is led by Tricia Hamilton, the community policing advocate.
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But what we will do is identify a need. We'll identify a family or individual
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that is at risk, and then we will collaborate on how we can all support them.
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So with us maintaining that level of engagement,
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it helps so much with CARES because it's also accountability.
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So if someone is receiving funding for this specific program that they request, we know whether
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they're actually doing that or not because we can send our families to them
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and see if they access the resources or not.
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But we're all different. I've been involved in different communities recently
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in Hazard and Louisville and what we keep hearing from outsiders and what I'm
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noticing, Frankfurt is different.
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And I think a lot of that has been the culture that's been created through CARES.
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We go above and beyond to support our families a lot more than other communities
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do, but the biggest piece of that is our collaboration and how much we care about each other.
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We all know that we work really hard and the work that we do is difficult,
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but we support each other and I think it's on a whole new level.
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And it's exciting to be a part of it.
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I know the situation, I'm very familiar with it, which I don't,
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you know, come to many meetings, but I do stop in from time to time to see how they're going.
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But I know that that model is...
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I mean, it's being copied. You know, we had the, I think one of the meetings
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I went to, we had some organizations from another state,
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you know, they kind of zoomed in just to see how that model's working and that,
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collaboration is working because people understand like you have to do that.
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You have to do that because there's so many needs out there and not every nonprofit,
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or agencies that are involved are going to be able to hit all those individual things.
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But when you work together, you can. Yeah. And we're seeing lives changing from this.
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There are so many examples of, you know, people getting higher paying jobs, sustainable housing.
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Their whole family's in a better place than when they first met with us.
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And it's because of the collaborative support that we've got.
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Yeah. And we get to celebrate. You know, we celebrate somebody moving into an
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apartment that used to be living in their car right now.
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A couple other examples of a collaboration that I think of, you know,
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when I bring back the flood, the flood relief. CARES has distributed,
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I think, what is it, over $200,000 in flood relief funds.
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We helped sponsor the South Frankfort Neighborhood Association Survivor Flood Party. I was part of it.
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When SNAP benefits were looking at getting cut, Rachel stepped up and we've
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got the Frankfurt feeds. And so we've distributed money to the emergency food
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pantry, to the senior center, to locals to continue to provide food boxes for our families.
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And all that money has flowed through CARES and, again, has accounted for big
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on accountability when it comes to finances and transparency.
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But all that money has been accounted for and has been distributed out because
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it doesn't do any good if it just sits somewhere we wanted to make sure it got
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out and so between us and rosam and,
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That was flood relief. And Frankfurt Feeds, we are continuing to give funds still for those things.
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And so that has been a big piece of the collaboration is us just getting funds
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out to the people that need it so that their needs can be met.
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So you're kind of touching on this now, but let's dive in a little bit deeper here.
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I know a lot of people think cares, they think homelessness,
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you know, but what other parts are you all touching? And what other needs are
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you guys addressing outside of just that?
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Oh, I mean, like Matt said, there's over 30 nonprofits under CARE.
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So we provide services to families and children. Wanda Joyce provides,
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you know, different mentorships.
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And those are super important. So people have a positive adult in their life.
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We can help with the issue with affordable housing, utility bills.
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We, diapers, wipes, I mean, whatever the need is, if it's missing,
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that's the beauty of this.
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If there's a gap, we can work together to create a committee to fill that gap.
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So we try to make sure that everybody's able to have their needs met.
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Yeah, it's like every organization is one piece of the puzzle.
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And then when we can work together and put those pieces together,
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it provides a better picture and provides an easier map to, ways that we can help.
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Yeah, for sure. So for the community, members of our community out there that,
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want to be involved in CARES or follow your guys' work, how would they do that?
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So probably the easiest way is follow us on Facebook. Every Monday,
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there's a post on what's going on in Frankfurt that is mostly what our nonprofits
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are doing in and around Franklin County.
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If they want to be more involved, they can send us a message there.
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They can go to our website, frankfortcares.org.
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There's an application on there
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if their organization wants to become a member that they can fill out.
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And it's pretty simple. It's not a difficult application.
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It's, you know, it's just a Google form, basically collecting information and
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finding out what services they provide. Because, again, as Rachel said,
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if we're missing a piece of puzzle, we may be able to plug them in fairly quickly.
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And then the other thing is, is our next meeting is on August the 20th.
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Time you know like there's not enough hours in the day you know what i mean but.
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I blow 20 bucks a month on things that i don't even you know if i look down
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my bank account i'm like oh man i spent 20 here spent 10 here you know so it's
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it's not that big a deal and they say you know what i can give 20 a month but
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i don't really know who to give to or where to give it,
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you know is that something that people can do through cares is is it something
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like well maybe i don't know exactly which organization I want to give to.
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Maybe I could just give it to them and they could distribute it.
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Is there something like a way that they could financially support Gangers?
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Yeah, we would be very appreciative of that support.
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And so probably the easiest thing to do would be to get in touch with us,
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send us a message through Facebook. You can email Rachel. Your email is rmore
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at frankfurtcares.org.
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And we can get you connected to our treasurer and figure out the best way to be able to do that.
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Yeah, I think that people don't realize how far a dollar will go,
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you know, and all nonprofits, I don't know any nonprofits, it's just rolling
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in the dough right now, you know.
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You know, like I said, it's nonprofit. So, you know, we're always,
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you know, nonprofits are always looking for funding, you know,
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and the more funding that they can bring in, the more that they can give in
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the community, you know, because there's always a need out there.
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I mean, I don't know a day that goes by that there's not a need.
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And something that I really like about CARE is that every meeting,
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Charlie goes over the budget.
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He goes over what's been spent, where it's gone, who's receiving the money, and for what.
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And so that transparency is accountability.
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And I just really like that about it.
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Yeah. Yeah, the IRS, they're touchy on nonprofits. Oh, yeah.
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We got our 990s all filled out. We're good. They're touchy on nonprofits.
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You know, so I understand that if I if he's asking me to sign my name on something,
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we're going to make sure that. Yeah, absolutely.
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So one of the reasons CARES was established was to combine forces when it comes
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to grant writing and funding.
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So tell us a little bit how that works for the member agencies.
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So what I want to start doing, and I have a little bit, whenever a funding opportunity
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becomes available, I will notify different nonprofits.
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And I was kind of doing that anyway before I even stepped into this role.
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I would be like, hey, this opportunity is available because I finally believe
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that I can't do what I do if another organization over here isn't doing what they do.
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And we all need the funding. But I think when we can apply for grants together,
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we're much more likely to receive the money on a state and federal level.
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So we do have a grants committee that works together to apply for grants.
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We've contracted grant writers in the past.
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We received a Healthy for Kentucky grant for $50,000, and we hired an individual
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to be able to look at the impact of...
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Substance abuse and opioid abuse as it relates to homelessness,
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but specifically to the BIPOC population.
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And so that data is available for all of our members so that they can better,
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address the needs of individuals. And so we collaborate often.
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I know we're using that word a lot, but we collaborate often to be able to apply for these grants.
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We may not always be successful, and that's okay.
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It would be nice to be successful all the time when you come to grants.
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But we do make an effort to apply for those bigger dollars so that those dollars
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can go further in our own community. Yeah.
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And it's good to have somebody that's out there searching for grants all the
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time. Because there's tons of grants out there. I mean,
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we look regularly for grants for law enforcement. You know, what grants are
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out there for police agencies, whether it's body armor grants or,
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you know, different things of that nature.
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But sometimes it's hard to keep up with them all, you know, and find ones that are applicable to you.
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Sometimes the organization has to be a certain size or the community has to
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be a certain size. You know, like there was a great grant to come out for law
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enforcement this year, but you had to service like a minimum,
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I think, like 250,000 people in your community.
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Well, we didn't even touch that. You know what I mean? So, you know, so.
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And we've run into that. Yeah. You know, some of it is because we haven't been
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on organization for 10 years or whatever
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it is. And those are some of the requirements that they get. Yeah.
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You know, what we found is we're going to throw a lot of stuff at the wall and
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see what sticks when it comes to grant writing.
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And so that's what we've that's what we've done and tried to get the most dollars,
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so that our organizations can be sustainable. Yeah.
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And a lot of people don't understand that sometimes these grants, they're good for a year.
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Right. You know what I mean? And then you have to reapply. Well,
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what if you don't get it next time?
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Yeah. You know, or maybe you get it, but it's not as much, you know.
27:26
So, you know, so sometimes being like so, you know, a lot of nonprofits are
27:32
so heavily dependent upon these grants. It can get scary at times because you're
27:37
thinking, oh, my gosh, we got a month left on this grant.
27:41
We don't even know if we're getting renewed yet. Like what happens when this
27:44
money is gone? Right. You know, it's scary. It's scary, especially when in some
27:49
of your some grants provide staff.
27:52
What happens when that staff member is gone? Because they're carrying such a
27:55
heavy load. Like, it is scary.
27:59
And I think that that's why I would love for the Frankfort community to come
28:03
together even more and help with funding some of these nonprofits, you know.
28:10
Well, all of our board members. Yeah, all of our board members,
28:12
we work full time jobs other places, as many organizations do.
28:16
We don't take anything. Right. So we're not asking for anything from CARES either.
28:21
And so everything we're holding now is with open hands going, look, it's not ours.
28:25
It's getting, it may pass through us, but we're not hanging on to it.
28:29
Well, you know, we pay our executive director and then everything else goes
28:33
into our community. Right.
28:36
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Big responsibility.
28:41
So the city supports our community nonprofit organizations every year through a subsidy program.
28:47
CARES has received funding in the past from this.
28:51
Tell us about how the city support has helped your mission and your work in the community.
28:59
Well, the city is the reason why CARES exists.
29:03
I mean, they put the money up front for getting groups together,
29:08
for bringing in consultants, for the McNary group, and even providing funding
29:13
last year that we were able to hire Rachel with.
29:16
Um, and so that the city has laid out for us, uh, to be successful,
29:23
uh, to, to help accomplish our, our mission of,
29:28
figuring out this issue of homelessness and all the things that are added into it, whether it's, um.
29:33
Kids, whether it's adults, whether it's substance abuse, all these different things.
29:38
So, so thank you to the city of Frankfurt. Thank you to the community of Frankfurt,
29:42
uh, for helping launch us.
29:43
Um, and then, you know, what we've done and taken from that is,
29:49
you know, we've tried to help make sure that our members are sustainable.
29:54
Um, and so, you know, without the city and, and their financial input, this is not possible.
30:03
And so, you know, we were the benefit of the Umbrella Project and Catfish Alley.
30:08
So we have those funds that still generate revenue for us to this day.
30:14
And that was a gift from the city as well. And so we were very thankful for
30:18
the city and the city subsidy.
30:21
And then we've in turn in our mission of putting that money to work.
30:26
So we're not sitting on that money. It's going to work.
30:29
And so we've distributed those funds to nonprofits over $100,000 over the last
30:33
four years for different grants for the cities, over $200,000 with our flood
30:40
relief and our Frankfurt feeds funds.
30:42
All those are going directly back into the community to support our mission,
30:47
to support the mission that the city has really said, hey, this is what you're intended to do.
30:54
That's what we're doing. The umbrella organization and all of these funds have
30:58
gone towards hotel saves for people that we collaborate with the police department with.
31:03
They've gone to trainings. We brought in implicit bias trainings for our members.
31:08
They've gone to grants and these micro grants and these mini grants that we get.
31:11
We've hired an executive director, flood relief efforts, flood relief celebration,
31:18
for things that far come, and then food, right?
31:21
And so, you know, all these things where grant funding has decreased nationally,
31:28
we have been able to help sustain because of what the city has helped us with
31:32
and because of what our community has helped us with.
31:35
And I can speak from my nonprofit, you know, right as we were getting started,
31:40
we were able to apply for a mini grant through CARES to help us get started.
31:44
And we're providing services that were a missing piece.
31:48
So when someone is just getting started, they can do that and they've helped
31:52
empower us to be where we are. So I really appreciate it. Yeah. Yeah.
31:57
So on the microgrants, why do you think it's beneficial to award the microgrants
32:05
through CARES rather than only awarding one individual grant directly to the city?
32:12
I think it takes off some of the responsibility of the city and puts that puts that on CARES.
32:17
And so when we launched CARES, everybody around the table knew the importance
32:24
of sustainability with our nonprofits and having an umbrella organization like CARES,
32:30
overseeing funds and giving out micro grants, mini grants.
32:34
Those enable us to have kind of some oversight that helps with sustainability.
32:40
You know, we can collect all this information from our members and we can go
32:46
through and go, okay, you know, how does this program fit with what you want to do?
32:52
And is it financially reasonable? Okay. If it is, let's do it.
32:57
Let's cut the check. Let's do it as fast as we can.
32:59
We can cut checks much faster than what the city can, right?
33:04
And so, and that's just kind of the nature of city government versus a nonprofit
33:12
organization. And so, you know, we're looking at sustainability.
33:16
We have the relationship with our members. You know, I can call up somebody
33:20
and go, hey, I know you're asking for this much money.
33:23
You know, really, what's your bottom dollar? You know, we can't give $25,000,
33:29
but we might be able to give $20,000.
33:31
Is that still doable for you? We want to make sure that this is a project that can happen, right?
33:39
And we oversight of those funds. So each of our recipients of grant funding
33:44
from CARES, they report to us
33:47
on how they use their funds and where that's headed and how that's doing.
33:51
And so we provide oversight there. The city doesn't have to have a person that
33:56
is trying to keep track of all those things.
33:58
That's what CARES does. And then we streamline the process.
34:02
You know, we apply once for city funding and then our community members and
34:08
our members here, they don't have to do that. They can, they can apply to us
34:12
and then we can turn on a right of a check. Mm-hmm.
34:15
What I like about the way the process works in our jobs and in our day-to-day
34:21
life, we're so involved anyway.
34:23
So when nonprofits are applying for this funding, we know what the biggest needs
34:29
are and where the money needs to be allocated because we're walking it and living
34:32
it day in and day out. Yeah.
34:36
Before we wrap this up, is there anything you all want to add on anything we've missed?
34:42
CARES is not an easy organization to run. It does. It's required a lot of work,
34:47
but it has been incredible. And Rachel touched on this earlier to see all of
34:52
our community come together to work together.
34:58
This is very unusual. You know, Frankfurt's different. And that's a good thing
35:02
is you have groups of people within these nonprofits now that ego is being left
35:07
at the door so that services can be better.
35:11
So I want to thank the community of Frankfurt. I want to thank our nonprofits.
35:15
For having that kind of attitude and allowing us to kind of,
35:21
steer the ship in the way that, you know, it seems to be headed in the right
35:26
direction of community and collaboration?
35:29
So, if you're not involved in the community, if you're not giving back somehow,
35:35
I highly encourage that you do.
35:38
We are talking about how well we support families, but, and individuals,
35:43
however, those needs, we still
35:45
struggle to get funding and we still struggle to meet all these needs,
35:48
but really when you start giving back to your community and get involved I believe
35:53
that that's everything and it's very very important so if you don't know how to get involved,
35:59
please feel free to reach out to me and I can help you get plugged in yeah yeah
36:03
some people they're like oh I want to do something I just don't know what I
36:07
don't know maybe I don't know what I'm good at you know what I mean like you
36:10
know I don't I don't know what my niche is or you know and we can,
36:14
it that you all can help them find that yeah well i will make my shameless plug here,
36:21
uh frankfortians they're watching this listen to this is your community uh right
36:27
here what's going on in frankfurt and franklin county this is your home this is your community
36:32
and there are so many needs out there needs that you don't realize uh may even exist.
36:41
Cut back on two Starbucks lattes a month and give.
36:47
Give to find a nonprofit that lines up with something you'd like to give to.
36:53
And if you don't know, give to CARES.
36:56
They'll make sure that that money gets utilized and gets utilized properly and
37:00
it goes through the proper channels and that there is accountability.
37:04
So just give $20 a month. It's something you won't even know that it's gone.
37:10
But this is all of our community. It's all of our responsibility to serve and
37:16
to give and to fill the gap in the needs that are out there.
37:21
It's only going to make Frankfort and Franklin County better.
37:25
Just doing that little bit, I promise you, it's going to impact somebody in a positive way.
37:31
And eventually you may not see that turnaround, but I do believe that eventually
37:36
you'll see that reward come to fruition in your own life.
37:39
So that's my shameless pitch on it, man.
37:42
We appreciate it. We appreciate it. Thank you.
37:45
And if you can't support monetarily, you can always volunteer.
37:48
We all always need volunteers. Always need volunteers.
37:52
Always need volunteers, whether it's, you know, at the, I mean,
37:57
at the shelter serving food.
37:59
You know, that takes an hour, maybe two hours, you know, one Saturday a month.
38:06
You know what I mean? Just to go down and serve food.
38:08
You know people they they need those helpers you know and that it makes a difference,
38:14
it makes a difference you know and sometimes it's just,
38:17
the reward may only be seeing the smile on the face but you'll feel that reward
38:21
oh yeah you know what i mean you feel that reward uh like you were talking about
38:25
getting to celebrate on the wins.
38:28
You see that reward you know like i said my involvement with Wanda J,
38:33
like when I get a good report back of, hey, you know.
38:38
This child was missing school left and right. Their grades were falling apart.
38:44
And then, but this mentor has been plugged into their life.
38:48
And now all of a sudden they're making great passing grades and their neighbor
38:52
is in school. Like, you just, like, you hear that report. I mean,
38:56
like, and it's such a, I mean, I know it just, it touches me.
39:00
You know, it touches me when we get to see stuff like that. It makes it all worth it. Absolutely.
39:06
Well, Matt and Rachel, we want to thank you so much for joining us today and
39:09
for the important work that you guys are doing in the community.
39:12
We look forward to seeing what CARES does and continues to do in Frankfort.
39:19
We like to end each of our shows with Frankfort Rapid Fire.
39:25
This is my favorite part of the show.
39:29
So, as fellow Frank Fordians, we want to hear some of your takes on our town.
39:36
So, you say the first thing that comes to mind. No explanation needed.
39:40
Okay. Okay? Okay. That's right. Right.
39:45
It's not hard, I promise. I don't know. This may be the hardest question.
39:48
It's not hard. Okay. All right.
39:50
Kroger. West. East to either west. West. Really?
39:55
I'm on the west side but i'm on the west side i'm on the east side
40:01
when i walk into the west side store i'm like where is everything i can't even
40:05
find the milk but half the time they rearrange a kroger they actually did rearrange
40:09
the east side here lately and see so just wait another six months they'll rearrange it again yes,
40:14
you know every i feel like every time i go in the kroger if i'm without my wife
40:18
i have to call her and ask her where it is you know then they're all All right,
40:21
now this is a highly debatable, highly debatable question.
40:26
Best Mexican restaurant, Frankfort? Maguadalajara. I would say Cal Ciglias, though.
40:33
That's need to up your name, okay?
40:37
What's yours? Garcia's. Oh, Garcia's is good. And Casa. Yes,
40:41
I was there last night. I was at Garcia's last night.
40:44
All right, favorite Frankfort event? Event? Oh.
40:51
Hmm.
40:54
I had two that came real quick. Okay. So I'm going to take a liberty here and
40:58
say two. But I love turning bare feet into learning feet, even though it is
41:02
all of Franklin County, but it impacts Frankfurt. And so I love that event.
41:06
We just got done with it last Saturday. And then Black Cat Chase is always a
41:11
fun activity. That is, yeah.
41:13
And y'all are out there directing traffic.
41:18
But it's just a fun event for the whole community to come out and be a part
41:21
of it. So this past year, it was definitely the sobriety festival that the William
41:26
Joseph Crisis Nursery did with Bridging the Gap and One of Us.
41:31
It was, we had a huge turnout. It wound up raining, but the recovery community,
41:36
it's just like a big celebration. And the energy was great. And it was a lot
41:40
of fun. You know, I don't know if I really have one.
41:43
Maybe bourbon on the banks, because I love bourbon. Yeah.
41:46
You know, so, but other than that, I don't know that I really have one.
41:51
Maybe being a police officer for so many years, I had to work all the events.
41:54
It made me a little. I don't know.
41:57
Y'all do coffee in the morning. Oh, coffee with the coffee. And Frankfort night
42:01
out. So I actually, we just had Frankfort PD night out.
42:05
But I actually missed it this year. I was out of the state. So I was really
42:09
sad that I missed it. But I did enjoy my trip out of the state. So, you know.
42:13
When's funny? You know, exactly. So, but it is, it's a fun event.
42:17
And it's it's a way for the anything that we can do in the community as a police
42:22
officer, anything we can do in the community that is just not our disenforcement.
42:28
I love that. You know what I mean? Like, I love that, you know,
42:31
because growing up here, you
42:34
know, and like I'm I'm a police officer by profession. That's my career.
42:40
It's not doesn't define who I am as a person. You know, there's so many things
42:44
that I am before I'm a police officer. Like, I'm a husband, I'm a father,
42:47
I'm a son, I'm a brother, you know, all these things.
42:51
So it's nice to be able to have FPD night out and just the interaction that
42:55
we get. Touch a truck is another good one.
42:58
Touch a truck, you know, it's just another way to just to interact with the
43:02
community that's outside of just, I pulled you over because you were speaking.
43:06
Let's just face it. Yeah. That's not the way that anybody wants to hang out
43:10
with me. It's not. It's not.
43:12
So and i get it i get it i'm not offended by it you know what i mean so okay
43:18
all right last one we kind of slowed down the rapid fire but on a saturday morning
43:23
frank saturday morning in frankfurt where can we find you.
43:29
Uh, well, honestly, I'm probably at home, but I'm watching Liverpool play in
43:35
the English Premier League.
43:37
Seriously? Seriously, yeah. Okay. We're big Premier League fans in our house,
43:42
and Liverpool is… You watch more of that?
43:44
Oh, absolutely. I didn't eat
43:46
dinner at my table for an entire month because we were glued to the TV.
43:51
So, I just started back to the gym at Guru Fitness. So, last Saturday,
43:55
I was there, and I'm making a commitment. so everybody can find me there Saturday mornings.
44:01
Where I would like to be is the farmer's market.
44:04
I took my kids and it's so cool the way that that has grown and it's an awesome
44:09
place. But if I'm not there, I'm probably at the crisis next year.
44:15
I'm in my recliners drinking coffee. There you go. Yeah.
44:19
My kids don't want to go anywhere in Frankfurt with me because they say I know
44:22
too many people. I hear that a lot.
44:26
So I'm at home. Yeah, I do like my Saturday mornings with my coffee.
44:30
Usually it's the gym after that, you know. But thanks for joining us this week,
44:35
fellow Frankfortians. We'll catch you again next week on the City of Frankfurt
44:38
podcast. Don't forget to follow the City of Frankfurt on all of our social media feeds.
44:43
And make sure you subscribe to our show feed on Podbean to get weekly episode notifications.
44:51
All right. Thanks, Matt, Rachel. Appreciate you guys. Thanks. Thank you.