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LA Strong Foundation Helping Kids In Need Get Back to School · The iHeart SoCal Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Lisa Foxter, hello. This is the I Heart SoCal Show.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Driven by compassion, love, and kindness, the L.A. Strong Foundation
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  Speaker 1: is a 501c3 providing essential supplies to help families, Women, children,
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  Speaker 1: domestic violence survivors, foster, youth, and L.A. fire survivors rebuild
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: with dignity and hope. They are grassroots. They are boots
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: on the ground. They are first and fast responders and
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  Speaker 1: simplify the process of accessing urgent aid for those in
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  Speaker 1: crisis by giving direct assistance. The man has his phone
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: number on their website. He's crazy fast and getting back
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: to people right away. They're family owned and run organizations.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: by the Coven family, Rabbi Drew, his wife, Maxie, and son, Jordan.
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  Speaker 1: LASTrongFoundation.org for all the info. But first of all, hi, Drew.
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  Speaker 2: Yay. Hey. Hey, Lisa. How are you?
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  Speaker 1: I'm wonderful. Before we talk about your organization, I want
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  Speaker 1: to say thank you so much for coming with your family.
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  Speaker 1: Last Sunday, we did a bit of a massive volunteer
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  Speaker 1: takeover of the kitchen at Project Angel Food right there
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  Speaker 1: on Vine in Hollywood. And essentially brought like 25 people
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  Speaker 1: in for the boyfriend and I, our mutual birthdays. Thank
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  Speaker 1: you for being a part of it with your wife
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  Speaker 1: and your son. It was a whole bunch of our
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  Speaker 1: friends and their kids. And we're able to get in
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  Speaker 1: that kitchen and do the scooping, the chopping and preparing
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  Speaker 1: thousands of meals. It'll be delivered to super sick. Angela
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  Speaker 1: knows at some point this week, but just felt so
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  Speaker 1: good to get in there and spend, you know, several
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  Speaker 1: birthday party, a nice to come together and do good
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  Speaker 1: for a couple of hours. And we, we made so
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  Speaker 1: many meals. And it just felt so nice. So thank
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  Speaker 1: you for being a part of it, you and your
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  Speaker 1: sweet wife and son.
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  Speaker 2: We had the best time. Thank you so much.
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  Speaker 1: I was like, look at Drew. He's got no shame.
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  Speaker 1: He's like getting in there. He's scooping the rice, scooping
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  Speaker 1: the potatoes, scooping the fish, scooping the chicken, preparing those meals,
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  Speaker 1: put those labels on, getting all ready and doing it
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  Speaker 1: with a smile. You know, right. That's what you guys
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  Speaker 1: are all about. Your organization, LA Strong Foundation, is all
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  Speaker 1: about giving back with a smile and just doing good,
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  Speaker 1: helping others.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, it's really, as I say, Max, he says,
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  Speaker 2: our family, everybody can do something every day. And that's
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  Speaker 2: what we do. We really are looking for opportunities to
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  Speaker 2: help people who really need the help and benefit by it.
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  Speaker 2: And it's very visceral and we love it. And it's
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  Speaker 2: our life.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Drew, I first found you on social media yesterday.
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  Speaker 1: And had you on the radio show after the devastating
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  Speaker 1: LA wildfires, the fires that changed so many lives for forever.
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  Speaker 1: But you started this organization in response to the LA wildfires, right?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we started because of the fires. When we were
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  Speaker 2: originally impacted, we had to evacuate a couple of times.
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  Speaker 2: And we said, you know, this could be us. Nobody
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  Speaker 2: is immune. I mean, a natural disaster can happen to
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  Speaker 2: anyone at any time in any location. And when the
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  Speaker 2: fires broke out in the Palisades and Al-Fadina, Pasadena, Malibu,
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  Speaker 2: it was just Max is like, look, we've got to
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  Speaker 2: do something about this. And Ali Strong was born. Yeah, very,
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  Speaker 2: very quickly.
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  Speaker 1: And total, you know, Red Cross shelter vibes. You guys
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  Speaker 1: were just up and running and helping to get people food, water, clothing,
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  Speaker 1: like all this stuff so, so fast. You were just
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  Speaker 1: making the phone calls. and getting people resources as thousands
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  Speaker 1: were displaced and evacuated after the fires.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so that's exactly what happened. The first partnership we
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  Speaker 2: had was with Chabad of Malibu on the PCH, right
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  Speaker 2: in like ground zero. And we set up a relief
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  Speaker 2: and recovery operation with the Kunin family. And then from that,
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  Speaker 2: we started making calls and people started donating. People from
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  Speaker 2: the community started bringing things over. We started calling. I
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  Speaker 2: had a career in corporate as an executive in consumer products.
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  Speaker 2: So I started calling people I knew in the house
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  Speaker 2: products business, people I knew in the toy industry, people
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  Speaker 2: that I knew who could get us all manner of products.
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  Speaker 2: And before we knew it, donations started coming in, in bulk.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, hundreds of towels, bedding, bedsheets, toys, clothing, water.
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  Speaker 2: And we just figured it out. And then the second
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  Speaker 2: operation was opened up with Safe Place for Youth in Venice,
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  Speaker 2: and the third and the fourth and the fifth. And
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  Speaker 2: we just we didn't know any better. So we just
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  Speaker 2: very in a very entrepreneurial way. We are just like, oh,
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  Speaker 2: let's give it a shot. And before you knew it,
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  Speaker 2: thousands of people later and several hundred thousand products distributed,
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  Speaker 2: unbelievable collaborators.
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  Speaker 1: So great.
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  Speaker 2: It just took off because it's what came from. It
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  Speaker 2: comes from the right place. I mean, it's all godly inspired,
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  Speaker 2: you know, doing do for others. But it's just it
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  Speaker 2: keeps growing and growing and growing.
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  Speaker 1: And so great. Like you said, you mentioned like, you know,
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  Speaker 1: this person you're calling this person. I mean, the power
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  Speaker 1: of connections. Right. And reaching out to people who are like, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I'll help. I want to help fire victims. And then
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  Speaker 1: expanded from there. I mean, how do you find how
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  Speaker 1: do you know who is in crisis aside from when
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  Speaker 1: it's obvious and we see it on the news? How
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  Speaker 1: do you know who's in crisis and which neighborhoods to
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  Speaker 1: go to as you're now doing doing back to school
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  Speaker 1: events and helping other people in so many other ways?
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  Speaker 1: Like I mentioned in the beginning, you know. Women, children,
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  Speaker 1: domestic violence survivors, foster, youth, so many people are in need.
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  Speaker 1: How do you know where to find them?
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  Speaker 2: People are finding us. Well, it's two-way street. So like, again,
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  Speaker 2: for instance, going to your event, your party, we start
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  Speaker 2: meeting people. And what's happened over the last almost two
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  Speaker 2: years is people start reaching out to us. They learn
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  Speaker 2: about us on social media. A news report comes out
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  Speaker 2: and features us. somebody happens to know somebody. And obviously,
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  Speaker 2: as you mentioned, my mobile number is very... His number
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  Speaker 2: is on.
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  Speaker 1: The website, people. This guy is not joking around. I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to give it out in a little bit. But yeah.
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  Speaker 2: People call and we take the calls and we just
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  Speaker 2: wear boots on the ground. We jump into action quickly.
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  Speaker 2: And it's all been through word of mouth. And now
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  Speaker 2: we support, I think it's 40 or 50 different organizations
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  Speaker 2: throughout Los Angeles and SoCal. And You know, it just
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  Speaker 2: it takes on a life of its own. It really does.
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  Speaker 1: And, you know, Drew, one of our most favorite mutual friends,
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  Speaker 1: Eden Alpert, my dear friend Eden, who owns Ramones Vibrato,
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  Speaker 1: the big jazz club up in Bel Air. She is
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  Speaker 1: one of the most philanthropic people I know. She knows everybody,
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  Speaker 1: but she's also like we're talking about. And she was
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  Speaker 1: there on Sunday at Project Angel Food as well. But
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  Speaker 1: she's all about connecting people the same in the same
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  Speaker 1: way that you do. She's like, oh, Drew needs to
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  Speaker 1: meet JR, the CEO of the Boys and Girls Club
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  Speaker 1: of West San Gabriel Valley in Eastside, who's also here.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe they could help each other with things that they
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  Speaker 1: both need or definitely meet Richard, the CEO of Project
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  Speaker 1: Angel Food. Maybe they could help each other. You know,
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  Speaker 1: connecting organizations with people and you've got goods and services.
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  Speaker 1: People need your goods and services. How do we connect
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  Speaker 1: the dots to just help everybody faster and more efficiently,
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  Speaker 1: you know, get the goods right in people's hands who
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  Speaker 1: need it.
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  Speaker 2: You hear it on the head. Our philosophy is what's
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  Speaker 2: ours is yours, what's yours is yours. So if we
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  Speaker 2: have it, it's available to you, whether it's Boys and
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  Speaker 2: Girls Club, whether it's Sisters of Watts. Frontline Relief, you know,
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  Speaker 2: any number of organizations. It could be SheReady. If we've
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  Speaker 2: got it and we have shoes and clothing and bedding
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  Speaker 2: and laundry detergents, it's meant to quickly be given to
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  Speaker 2: those in need. And that's our philosophy. Like we share everything.
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  Speaker 2: We don't hold on to stuff. You don't need to
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  Speaker 2: know somebody to know somebody to know us. You can
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  Speaker 2: get to us right away. And the network has grown
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  Speaker 2: very quickly in terms of like another group refers somebody.
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  Speaker 2: to us. And like, these are good people, Drew and Maxie. Hey,
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  Speaker 2: would you meet with them? Just like Eden, you know,
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  Speaker 2: we came to your party the other day and you
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  Speaker 2: and Eden were making introductions. And yes, we will do
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  Speaker 2: things not only for those groups and those that they're helping,
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  Speaker 2: but something else that we do is a lot of
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  Speaker 2: these organizations that are nonprofit, they have employees that work there.
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  Speaker 2: And these employees, they get paid reasonably well, but everybody's,
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  Speaker 2: you know, the economy is tough. So we often say,
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  Speaker 2: do your employees need anything? In addition to you serving
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  Speaker 2: meals and doing things for your recipient, how about the
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  Speaker 2: people that work for you? How about those people? Hey,
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  Speaker 2: do they need bedding? Do they need mattresses? And that's
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  Speaker 2: a big part of how we're just expanding. It's not
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  Speaker 2: just The person you would think of, it's also the
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  Speaker 2: person that works for the nonprofit organization that's putting their
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  Speaker 2: heart and soul every day, that has families, may need
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  Speaker 2: Christmas gifts and Hanukkah gifts, that has back-to-school needs. So
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  Speaker 2: that's what we do.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, that's so great because, you know, a lot of
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  Speaker 1: people volunteer at nonprofits, but people who work there, a
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  Speaker 1: lot of people who work there are making minimum wage,
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  Speaker 1: and that's great. Hard to support a family, hard to
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  Speaker 1: pay for your apartment or your home wherever you live.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, that keeps you on a tight budget. So
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  Speaker 1: how would a person like that, would they reach out
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  Speaker 1: to you separately or that's all through the organization if
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  Speaker 1: they're hearing this on the radio? That's so nice to do.
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  Speaker 2: The organizations reach out to us.
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  Speaker 1: Mm-hmm.
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  Speaker 2: They can call. I mean, the way that we like
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  Speaker 2: to operate is we like to provide things in large
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  Speaker 2: quantity to an organization that's doing an event because it's efficient.
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  Speaker 2: If I had 300 people outside of my warehouse, it
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  Speaker 2: would be very complicated because we're supporting so many different groups.
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  Speaker 2: But we like the organizations to reach out to us
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  Speaker 2: or an individual who knows of an organization in their area.
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  Speaker 2: We've had that happen before. where they'll say, oh, you
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  Speaker 2: should reach out to LA Strong. Maybe they can give
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  Speaker 2: you products. A great example is this group called Soul
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  Speaker 2: Support that fits a bunch of high school kids. Amazing.
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  Speaker 2: And they're collecting new and slightly used shoes. And Jordan's
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  Speaker 2: here in the warehouse with me right now, stacking shoes. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: my son Jordan's here stacking shoes and arranging them. So
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  Speaker 2: that any manner of products are available. But again, Soul Support,
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  Speaker 2: we met through an event. And now we've become very close.
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  Speaker 2: They're an amazing family. The kids are awesome. So great.
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  Speaker 2: We promote our partners. I mean, we want people to
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  Speaker 2: know that we're just a piece of this larger collaborative effort.
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  Speaker 2: And we we don't need the credit. Like we we
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  Speaker 2: just want everybody who's doing their thing to partner. And
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  Speaker 2: then we just want to make as many opportunities available
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  Speaker 2: to as many people that are in need. That's it. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: It's like your family organization. You've got huge hearts. And
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  Speaker 1: all the connections, you're just making a lot happen for
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  Speaker 1: a lot of people, a lot of individuals, a lot
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  Speaker 1: of these organizations. And are you able to deliver the
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  Speaker 1: goods to them? Are they coming by to get it
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  Speaker 1: from you before these events?
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  Speaker 2: They're coming to us. This week, we'll have like 15,
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  Speaker 2: 20 organizations come to our warehouse and pick things up
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  Speaker 2: for their events. Yeah, it's deficient because then they can
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  Speaker 2: pick from what we have. Certain organizations say, well, I
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  Speaker 2: have enough backpacks, but I don't have enough crayons. So
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  Speaker 2: we make it like almost like a buffet. You kind
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  Speaker 2: of pick and say, oh, we need shoes or, oh,
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  Speaker 2: we need a bedding or, oh, we need this product.
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  Speaker 2: We need toys, puzzles versus here. So we set it
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  Speaker 2: up in a way that you come and you look
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  Speaker 2: at all the things that we have. And then, you know,
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  Speaker 2: you take an allocation based upon what you expect for
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  Speaker 2: your event or what your ongoing need is. You have
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  Speaker 2: people coming daily, weekly, monthly.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I feel like based on this conversation, as
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  Speaker 1: you know, Marama that drew his organization is LA Strong Foundation.
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  Speaker 1: I feel like as we've been discussing all that you
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  Speaker 1: want to provide and help charities with local charities, I
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  Speaker 1: feel like if a charity were to request some items
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  Speaker 1: from you. If you didn't have them, you're going to
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  Speaker 1: find a way. They're going to pick up the phone
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  Speaker 1: and say, no, no, we don't have that, but we
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  Speaker 1: will get it. We'll get it for you. We're going
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  Speaker 1: to make it happen. I'm going to make some calls
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  Speaker 1: and make it happen.
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  Speaker 2: That's it. One call. And then we reach out to,
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  Speaker 2: you know, partners that have product partners that it could be.
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  Speaker 2: There are other groups like us. There's, you know, that
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  Speaker 2: get products from great groups like Baby to Baby and
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  Speaker 2: COPE and a number of other organizations. And we'd share.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, that's the whole thing is collaboration, sharing. And
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  Speaker 2: that's what makes a model. I may have tons of shoes.
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  Speaker 2: Another one of our partners may have tons of diapers. Okay.
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  Speaker 2: And I will say, go over to this organization. They
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  Speaker 2: have plenty of diapers for you. We don't, each individual
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  Speaker 2: group doesn't.
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  Speaker 1: Need to have a little bit of everything.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. But we have this partnership between ourselves, and
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: it's growing, and we're kind of turning the model of
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  Speaker 2: philanthropy upside down on its head because there's no bureaucracy.
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  Speaker 2: It's not like I've got to get approval from another
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  Speaker 2: person for approval. Our process is very, very quick. Hey,
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  Speaker 2: you need it? When's your event? Can you come over today?
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  Speaker 2: Or go over and see my buddy Tito or Jose
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  Speaker 2: or go see Jamie. He's waiting for you. When can
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  Speaker 2: you get over there? How much do you need? We
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  Speaker 2: work very quickly.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, I love that. And I know you're also very
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  Speaker 1: passionate about especially since the fires, you continue to do
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  Speaker 1: these back-to-school events. Talk about the importance of that. And gosh,
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  Speaker 1: the school supplies and all the stuff you provide, it's
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  Speaker 1: so needed. And you're continuing to do these events for
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  Speaker 1: schools and organizations all over Southern California.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. So we're doing a lot of, we'll probably do
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  Speaker 2: 15 to 20 back-to-school events.
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  Speaker 1: Just in August? Just in August?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Wow.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. We've already started. We're supporting that. We're dropping stuff off,
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: everything from working with the Jared Vance Foundation, We Impact LA,
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  Speaker 2: amazing group. You know, Kobe's got a big event. May
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: he rest in peace. We're working with Hood Santa, who
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  Speaker 2: has an amazing organization. They're doing big back-to-school events, Frontline Relief,
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  Speaker 2: Sisters of Watts, as I mentioned, Wins and Lessons out
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  Speaker 2: of Compton. These groups are all doing stuff, and there'll
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: be a line on NALA distribution and They'll all be
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: here coming to pick up stuff. And then we'll talk about, hey,
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  Speaker 2: what else do you have? Some of these groups like
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: Altadena Farmers Market, they have produce, fresh foods. So we'll then,
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: as they're coming to see us, we'll brainstorm and be like, hey,
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  Speaker 2: you know, Tito came earlier today and he was mentioning
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: that he needs fresh produce. Oh, I've got it. Put
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: him in touch with me. And so this is going
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: to be an exciting week this week of people coming
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: by to the organization to pick stuff up. And if
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: the energy is on high and we're just really pumped.
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  Speaker 1: I love it. And then talk about the items that
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  Speaker 1: you're doing for these back to school charity events.
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  Speaker 2: Right.
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  Speaker 1: Backpacks packed with notebooks, pens, pencils, post-its, all the stuff.
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  Speaker 2: We've got I mean, we've got that. Let me walk down.
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  Speaker 2: Let me walk down the aisle. We've got backpacks. We've
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: got plushies. We've got puzzles. We have pen and pencil holders.
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  Speaker 2: We have memo pads. We have mirrors for your locker.
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  Speaker 2: We have notebooks. glue. Also, we have pencil sharpeners. We
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: have puzzles. We have bracelet design kits. We have Lego sets.
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  Speaker 2: We have things that adults need for back to school.
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  Speaker 2: We have bath towels and things when the kids freshen
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  Speaker 2: up your bathrooms, knapsacks, of course, or backpacks. We have rulers,
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  Speaker 2: any manner of stuff. We also have food. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: snack foods and things of that nature. We have puzzles.
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  Speaker 2: So it really depends on, you know, shoes. I mean,
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: we have all these shoes that have come in. So
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: we try to cover as much as we can. And
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: as we talked about before, at least if we don't
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  Speaker 2: have it, we'll make a call to one of our partners.
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  Speaker 2: They may very well have it or they can source it.
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  Speaker 1: Yes. And our folks, if they're hearing this saying, gosh,
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: we need help with back-to-school items, again, they're just able
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: to go to elliestrongfoundation.org, and it's that easy. Or call you.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: Should I give out your number already?
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: You can give out my number. Have them call, or
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: they can text me. And if they have an organization,
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: and they need help. If we've got it or we
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: can find it, we'll help.
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  Speaker 1: This guy is crazy. The phone number is on the
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: website as the contact phone number. When you go to lastrongfoundation.org,
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: the phone number, the contact number is Drew Coven's phone number, 617-312-7068.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: They're not calling you like three o'clock in the morning, though, right?
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: Are people being respectful?
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: No, they do. Oh, no.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: Keep it on silent, though.
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: Oh, no, no. That's the thing. I rarely put it
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: on silent because... Here's the thing. Like we'll get so
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: many calls the day of an event or like the
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: day before an event being like someone didn't come through.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: And for a thousand and one reasons that, you know,
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: the truck didn't make it from Arizona to Los Angeles
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: that had 200 family UPS didn't deliver theirs. So we
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: get calls day of night before day before that.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: Are you lucky your wife gets it? Your wife gets it.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: I mean, you're not your wife. Maxie's not the one
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: that's going to be like, oh, my gosh, honey, don't
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: answer it. We have to get some sleep. She's in
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: on it. So she's all supportive. And, you know, you
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: guys are all in as a family running this thing.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: So I love that Maxie would be like, oh, I
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: can take that call on here. She'd be right there.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: To help you. Family is the key thing because my
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: immediate family, my two sons, Jeremy and Jordan, my wife, Maxie,
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: who's the president of the board of the foundation, and
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: then the extended family, like I said, Keevan from Wins
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: and Lessons and Tito from Santa Claus. And Jose from
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: Frontline and Robin and, you know, the sole support team,
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: the people at Baby to Baby. I mean, there's so
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: many groups. I could list off 40 or 50 names,
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: but I'll probably leave somebody out and somebody will complain.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: Why did you? shouldn't be. The family is, and Eden
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: is awesome. The family keeps growing because everybody aligns to
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: doing God's work. It's, it's more inspired than like, there's
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: no transaction here. It's all relationship driven and people who
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: are doing this, the way we're doing it, like grassroots
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: really in their communities are, it's like unspoken. We understand
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: one another.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: And it feels good. It feels good helping and making
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: a difference. 617-617-312-7068 is Drew's cell phone number.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: 617-312-7068.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: And then, of course, the website is The Wealth of
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: Information at LASTrongFoundation.org if you want to request help in
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: any way. They also post a ton on their social
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: media just at LASTrongFoundation on Instagram mostly or is it
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: also Facebook and TikTok or, you know, I follow you
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: guys on all this stuff, but mostly Instagram.
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah. A lot of Instagram. That's the easiest way to
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: access and see who we're supporting, what we're doing, our website.
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: We have a page of all the groups that we
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: work with and we sponsor so we can keep track because,
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: you know, our team looks at our website, our internal
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: team and says, Drew, we just got a call from XYZ.
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: Do we know who these people are? And I'll be like, well,
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: look at our website because we put our logo up
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: under who we support and who supports us. Sure. Because
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: it's easy to lose track. Because there's so many. Yeah,
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: and the list is growing. So it's the one place
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: that everybody can go to our website, and we're constantly
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: updating it to be like, yeah, they're good with us.
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: I know them. They're good, Carly. Carly has had the
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: outreach for us. They're cool with us. So we just
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: keep updating it, and that's the one place. Really easy
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: way for us to keep track of everything.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: And all the events you have coming up are always
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: like you've got great flyers on your Instagram page. And also,
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: you're always needing more volunteers to help with all this stuff, right?
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: We need more bodies. So people want to volunteer. They
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: can reach out to you and offer some help as well. Yeah.
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: And what we'll do is let's say we know what
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: organization and a big initiative we're working on over the
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: next couple of months is to have like this centralized
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: volunteer database like volunteer. if you want to volunteer, these
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: are the groups that we support. And then we'll link
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: them to all these groups because the groups that we
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: work very closely with, they are physically, you know, at
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: their events, doing the events. We go to some of
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: the events, but they oftentimes, they either need product, they
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: need volunteers, or they need funding of some sort. There's
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: in-kind funding, and there's financial funding. So our job at L.A.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: Strong is to say, okay, you need volunteers. We've got
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: people reaching out. How can we push volunteers to your
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: event next weekend? Oh, you need funding. You're an event.
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: Your organization focuses on this community. We know somebody who
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: wants to fund in your community. We may not. It's
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: to share it. It doesn't need to be like everybody else.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: Money has to go to L.A. Strong. If it's better
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: served going into Altadena, I'd rather an Altadena partner get
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: the money because that's where that funder wants to have
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: the impact. We're here to curate. We're not here to covet.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: Amen to that. Thank you so much for all that
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: you're doing. You're a sweet family. You're a hardworking, big-hearted
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: family doing so much for Altadena. the Southern California area,
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: lastrongfoundation.org for more. And of course, their Instagram for upcoming events.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: If you need help or want to reach out and
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: you have more questions, you can ask their family. They're
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: on it. They're on top of all of it. And then,
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: of course, his phone number is on the website to call. Drew,
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: if you've got direct questions or you're so excited now,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: you just can't wait. You can call them on the cell.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: So Drew, thank you so much for all that you
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: guys are doing. And Before we say goodbye, I think
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: you wanted to put your friend Tito Rodriguez on the
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: phone from the Local Hearts Foundation, right?
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: Tito, I would love to have Tito jump on for
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: just a couple of minutes. And then what he's doing
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: is like ridiculous. Hello?
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: Tito Rodriguez?
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Hi there.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: This is me. Lisa Fox, iHeartRadio. I've been hearing all.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: Hi, Lisa.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: All about you from your number one fan, Rabbi Drew
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: Coven of LA Strong Foundation. We've been talking all about
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: how important collaborations are and how just working together directly
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: with people who want to give and make a difference,
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: it's just easier to help more people. So tell me
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: about this new collaboration with your organization, Local Hearts Foundation
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: and LA Strong. And then we'll mention that the back
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: to school event you're doing August 22nd in Long Beach.
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, L.A. Strong is clutch.
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: They reached out.
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: Through a buddy of ours, Concrete, connected us with Rabbi Drew.
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: And here we are now. We're at actually their warehouse
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: picking up donations now. So, yeah, you know, everybody does
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: these back to school events. They're pretty big. But, you know,
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: sometimes it's hard to get certain items or people can't
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: help out for whatever reason. Money's funny. Change is strange
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: at times. And then you've got, you know, people that
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: want to be a part of what, you know, others
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: are trying to do in the community. And that's where
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: Rabbi Drew comes in and says, hey, I want to
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: help out. What do you need? Well, we need backpacks
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: or we need school supplies or socks or, you know,
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: things kids need, right?
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: So, yeah, it's coming together and being collaborative, working with
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: one another. It's always going to be better. And so
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: knowing that that's the same– outlook on all of it
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: from his side and our side, it just comes, you know,
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: works better.
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: It makes it, it makes it so much easier, so
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: much better. It's way, way, way, way easier when we
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: do it together.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: Tito, I know you're in Long Beach, you're based in
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: Long Beach, but tell us who, for folks who don't know,
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: tell us about your Local Hearts Foundation and Who do
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: you help?
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure. So Local Hearts Foundation was founded 2018.
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: It became an official organization. Hood Santa has been around.
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: For 16 years.
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: So Hitsana started off, my father killed himself when I
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: was a kid. I was six years old. My dad
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: committed suicide in front of us on Christmas Eve. So,
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: you know, we grew up pretty rough and tough, you know,
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: not having much. So that was always something that stayed
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: in the back of my mind. I never went back
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: to school shopping. I hardly ever had Christmas stuff. you know,
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: the stuff that, you know, kids wish they had. So
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: as I got older, I thought about all that stuff
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: and said, hey, man, this is something that, you know,
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: still heavy on my heart. I didn't even know I
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: was poor until I became an adult, right? You start
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: thinking about your childhood. So I said, hey, there's plenty
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: of kids, tons of kids still that were like me
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: and like my family. So how do I get involved
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: and start helping them? So to be honest, God put
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: it on my heart to go back out and start
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: looking for families that needed help. And so we started
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: feeding families. We started doing these back-to-school events called Education
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: is Power. We're now on our 12th, 13th year. And
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: also we do a massive... Christmas event, which is about
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: 15 years now. It's called For the Children Diamond Christmas,
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: where we do a big concert in downtown L.A. at
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: the Belasco with my buddy who owns SOS Booking. He
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: books all the bands and they collect books. thousands of toys.
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: We're talking 30, 20, 30, 40,000, uh, toys. And, uh,
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: we're able to distribute them on, uh, on the Saturday
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: before the holiday. So, uh, you know, the 24th is
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: on a Thursday. It's a Saturday before then.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: And, uh, We're able to not just do Long Beach,
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: but we're able to raise enough where surrounding areas can come.
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: So we got people spending the night, Lisa, from Palmdale. So,
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: you know, the need is huge and kids need stuff
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: and kids want to feel loved. So that's something that we,
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: you know, take pride in and being able to provide
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: these kids with, you know, these kind of, you know,
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: these kind of things, you know, some of the educational materials, right?
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: We know the kids that go to school with the
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: right stuff, they thrive, they do better than the kids
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: that don't. How do I know? Because I was one
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: of those kids that sucked at school, but I didn't
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: have anything.
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: Not that I'm blaming that.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: No, but doesn't it feel, but Tito, doesn't it feel
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: not only good to give, but you know, these kids
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: feel the love and that touches their heart, right? That
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: somebody cares, somebody cares.
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. Somebody cares for them and that's us. So,
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: you know, teaming up with Rabbi Drew, it makes it easier, right? Because,
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: you know, we can help each other. There's things that
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: I can help him with. There's things that he can
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: help us with. So collectively, we can change more lives
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: and help more children and more families, you know, impact.
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: That is what this is about.
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: I'll just hop in because I know we're, Tito and
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: I now have to start sorting to make sure each
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: of us have what each of us can offer one another.
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: surrounding ourselves with one another and other people. It's magnetic.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: And Lisa, like helping us get the word out is
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: great because we're going to be doing so much more
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: of this in the coming years.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: Now he's got his thing about Christmas. So we're going
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: to be doing a lot more around Christmas, too.
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: That's why we're here together today. We're back to school.
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: We'll be done in a few weeks. Tito and I
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: are already working together on Rabbi Drew and Hood Santa.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: Imagine that. Yeah. We can bring world peace at the
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: same time.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: Match made in heaven, right?
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: For sure.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: All right, Tito and Drew, before we wrap up, I
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: want to mention the details of this back-to-school event you
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: guys have come together to put on to offer so
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: many freebies for people in need. And Tito's organization, the
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: Local Hearts Foundation, offering these back-to-school backpack and school supply drives.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: They do a big Thanksgiving turkey and holiday meal distributions.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: They do a weekly community food pantry for those in need.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: Holiday toy drives that are massive. So many toys for
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: so many kids in need every Christmas and throughout the holidays.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: And they also offer emergency assistance for families in crisis.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: All that and their next big back to school backpack
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: and school supply drive is happening Saturday on August 22nd.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: MacArthur Park in Long Beach. 10 to 2 p.m. while
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: supplies last. So get there early and then bring your friends.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: Anyone who needs these supplies to get back to school,
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: they're going to have them for you. Backpacks packed with goodies,
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: tons of toys, lots of food, even haircuts, offering haircuts.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: That's so great. Local Hearts Foundation back to school event. Saturday,
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: August 22nd from 10 to 2 right there at MacArthur Park,
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: 1321 East Anaheim Street in Long Beach. The big back-to-school giveaway.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: All the info on the LA Strong Foundation Instagram and
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: website and the Local Hearts Foundation Instagram and website. And
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: Tito Rodriguez. from local hearts foundation. Uh, what is that
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: website by the way?
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: So the website is local hearts foundation.org. But if you
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: want to reach out to me, yeah, you can just.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: Uh, where's that cell number? Hey, Drew puts a cell
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: number on the website. Where's your, no, I'm kidding. You
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: don't have to get on your cell phone.
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: I was going to say five, six, four, two, two.
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: They wish they knew.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: Oh, there you go. Or they can call Drew's cell
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: number and they can connect you. Yeah.
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: Call Drew. I have Tito's. I won't give out Tito's number,
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: but I have his number. I'll call Tito for you.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: And you guys sound like besties already. You guys sound great.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: We are.
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: You guys, what a love fest. And thank you again
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: for all that you've been through in life and how
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: much you use that to fuel forward for so many
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: in need and just to shower people with that love
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: and items that they need and just that you care.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: And remember, if you're listening and you need some assistance
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: from these organizations, please reach out. And if you want
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: to volunteer, they always need volunteers to help out. And again,
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: being part of the whole giving back movement. It feels good.
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: It's a way of life and it feels so good.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: Please reach out to either Drew at the LA Strong Foundation, lastrongfoundation.org.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: His gosh darn cell number is on the website. Call
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: him anytime. He says, I prefer like during daytime hours,
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: not in the middle of night, unless it's an emergency.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: And Tita Rodriguez at the Local Hearts Foundation, localheartsfoundation.org for
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: all the info. You guys, thank you for the love
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: that you gave and all the hard work you provide
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: for so many. Thank you, Tita Rodriguez of Local Hearts
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: Foundation and my man, Rabbi Drew, LA Strong Foundation. la
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: strong foundation.org for all the info. God bless you guys.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you. And I will see you and
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: hopefully we'll get to work an event together soon. So
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: thank you guys. Thank you so much.
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: You got it. Bye-bye.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: And don't forget if you work with a nonprofit 501c3
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: nonprofit organization, a charitable organization, or you're doing good in
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: this world, we want to know about it. If you
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: want to be featured on the show, shoot me an
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: email and give me a little pitch. What are you about?
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: Who are you helping? How can we help? you do
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: what you're doing? We want to know all about it
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: and maybe be a part of it. Let me know
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: what's up. We'd love to have you love to give
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: you some radio time. If you were doing good in
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: this world and need some help doing it, you want
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: to spread that love. Let me know. Email me Lisa Fox,
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: L I S A F O X X at I
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: heart media.com. That's the I heart SoCal show.