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Westchester, Explained 22: Faith In Westchester · This Week in Westchester: The Podcast

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_02: Hi Westchester.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Westchester County Government Communications Director Katherine Chaffee.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_02: And as an extension of This Week in Westchester, the podcast, we welcome you to Westchester Explained.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_02: In this episode, we sit down with Reverend Kimberly McNair, Westchester County's Director of Faith-Based Initiatives, to explore how faith communities and local government can work together to better serve residents across the county.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_02: We discussed her unique role in connecting congregations with county programs, resources, and services, while fostering collaboration across faith traditions and communities from northern to southern Westchester.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_02: We also examine the important role that local houses of worship play in supporting our families, addressing community needs, and strengthening neighborhoods through partnership and outreach.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_02: Join us as we explore how connection, collaboration, and compassion are helping build a stronger community here in Westchester County and why it matters to all residents.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: Because this is Westchester Explained.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: So let's begin.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_02: Oh gosh.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_02: Uh March 30th, I started.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_02: So I guess you're still new.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: I am still new.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: You're still new.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm learning so much.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I'm still new.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you're new, you're a new member of the ninth floor.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_02: We love having you.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_02: So welcome, welcome to the podcast.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, thank you, thank you.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_02: So let's start from the very beginning.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_02: What do you do here?
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_02: Oh gosh.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_02: So um for those people who don't know what your title, the director of faith-based initiatives, means, what does you what do you do?
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_02: What does your office do?
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm I'm gonna go back to the press release um that announced my arrival, where the county exec said, this is not about promoting religion, but it's really about supporting the people who are in congregations and connecting them with the county.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I I'm a I'm a community organizer.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: So my role is I I think of it in three different ways.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: There's the interfaith work, which I've been doing my entire life.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: There's the um the resources that people need.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: So the second day that I started, I checked, I and my email was a message from a church that needed help with their Con Ed bill.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: So connecting congregations with resources out in the community.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's also thinking about how we function as places of refuge for people who are experiencing oppression, who have been pushed to the margins outside of a church congregation, and how to help pastors and clergy and other folks navigate, help people navigate those waters.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: And then it's breaking across the 287 divide.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, this is a huge county.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I know there are clergy up in Bedford where I'm from who have never traveled below white planes.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: But they have so common, isn't it?
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: They have denominational counterparts who are in southern Westchester.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then it's the same for southern Westchester, bringing people to the north and making those connections.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that's what I'm trying to do.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_02: I love that you just called out the 287 line because it is what it is.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_02: It is true.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_02: There's truth there, right?
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_02: Very true.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_02: So um, so basically, what you do for for everyone listening is you do community relations.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_02: You just focus on one specific part of the community.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but you do essentially do what I do.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: You talk, you spread information, you get people uh to act.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um, how did you get involved in this work?
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_02: Hmm.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Oh gosh.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: How did I get involved as a clergy person?
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, let's start there.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: So well, let's start with the clergy.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I grew I grew up at um in Antioch Baptist Church in Bedford Hills.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: The pastor of my childhood was Rufus A.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: Sweather Jr.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: So you grew up in Bedford Hills.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: I grew up in uh Katona and then Bedford Hills.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I I would watch him go out into the community.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: He was an organizer.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think he would call himself that, but he was an organizer.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: He was always making connections, talking to people.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: He he also had a great sense of humor.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: So I learned that being a religious person didn't mean you had to be sour and somber all of the time.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: He used to say that he took the gospel very seriously, but he didn't take himself very seriously.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: He could crack jokes about himself.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so I watched him, and I don't know, I think somewhere along the way, seeds were being planted in me by church mothers, my own mother, my own history.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Next pastor was Paul Samuel Briggs, Reverend Dr.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: Paul Briggs, who is an amazing theramicist.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: And it was under his leadership that I was ordained.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it, you know, in in clergy dumb, we talk about our call and how they are aligned.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: We try to align them with the prophets and other characters in the Bible who are called or called out or or you know, tapped on the shoulder by God to do to go out into the world.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and for me, the the outside world is uh is is where I find my work, not within the walls of a church.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: There are some of us who are very at home being inside those four walls.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: My call is to be out in the world.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean that's that it could take three or four hours to really get into my call.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: No, but that's how it started.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's a great way for you to summarize your experience because prior to working here at the county, um, and I just want to highlight, I mean, we are still obviously separation of church and state, all those things, we still support that.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but again, you're dealing community relations with a very specific group within the county.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_02: But prior to coming to the county, um, you were working in the DV space.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_02: Can you talk a little bit about that?
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I I had worked for almost 16 years at my sister's place and I was an educator there.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, one of the things I actually wanted to do more of while I was there was do more outreach into congregations.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: There are survivors sitting in the pews on Friday night and Saturday and Sunday morning.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the things I know from my seminary experience is that we're not trained, for the most part, we're not trained on how to address issues of intimate partner violence or domestic violence or human trafficking.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I feel like my role at my sister's place was bringing both of those worlds together, the DB world and uh the faith world.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: I also come from a family of people who are very outspoken about gender-based violence.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a survivor of child sexual abuse.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know, this is something that we talk about in our family.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so it was no one goes into the DB world by mistake.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like that was part of the call to be in that space, to be um kind of a representative of a particular community that needs to have more of those conversations.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: I I wasn't able because, you know, separation of church and state, separation of church and um the nonprofit world.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: They don't mix, but I feel like that was also ministry for me, teaching people about how to end violence, about how to recognize the inherent worth and dignity of people.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: When I, whether as a at a hospital or college campus or even working with law enforcement, for me, it was all ministry.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, it's interesting because the DV world, I feel, you know, during my time um in law school, I did uh do an internship and a DV clinic.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_02: And even though it was a very long time ago, those experiences, I still think about them almost on a daily basis.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it really changes you.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_02: It changes how you view everything.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, how has changed you that experience?
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_02: And then how did you bring that experience here?
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, how has it changed me?
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's given me more of a I would say more of a voice.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so survivors are always survivors.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: No matter when I leave this earth, I will always I I will always be a survivor.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: It has actually made me a better preacher.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because I've I've been so involved in that world, it's actually helped me be a better preacher when I'm and and I preach about domestic violence, I preach about violence, I preach about all kinds of things.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: But when you're in that world and you're getting that education and you're giving that education and you're interacting with people, it it makes it made it easier for me to bring it into the pulpit, wherever that pulpit may be.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's also heightened for me an awareness that I need to work with my fellow clergy folks to help them also be that person that a survivor is going to come to.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: Because we don't get honest, it people are sometimes shocked, but we don't get trained on that in seminary unless you seek it out.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it's a very, it's very specific.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_02: And I think, you know, most people, like you read about it, you see it in the movies, but then to see it firsthand, to see somebody who's been um attacked, you know, what uh all of the things.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_02: To see it firsthand, to have them sitting in front of you to hear their story, to see what you see, it it to our point earlier, changes you in a way, it's an education in a way that you can't comprehend.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_02: You would ever you would ever have.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_02: So now here at the county, your work is a little bit different.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_02: Tell me what your day today is like.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_02: What are you doing?
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: I so um let me see.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: Well, uh a lot of meetings, meetings for clergy, which I mean it's fine.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I I uh I grew up in in Westchester.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: My dad was raised in Westchester.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: My grandfather bought a house back in I think early 1930s, maybe in Katona, that on a place that used to be farmland.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I am I am a Westchester girl, yeah, hometown girl.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: Love that.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I've known people uh, you know, all my life, clergy folks.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: This is a little different because now I am I'm so I'm reconnecting with some clergy that I've known, but I'm also meeting new people.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um you know, the the other thing is thinking about faith-based initiatives, for so long, when we talk about interfaith work, it's been Christians, Jews, and Muslims.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: And that's really inner group work because we all look to Father Abraham.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: But I am I am looking at like making connections with the Baha'i.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: So trying to find those leaders, connecting with more folks who are followers of Islam, connecting with Hindus, connecting.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's been partly meeting new clergy, um, having meetings with chaplains, uh crisscrossing this county, which I'm accustomed to from my sister's place, um, meeting with folks like, and you and I talked about my meeting with Brian Harper at the um New York Blood Center, with Marie Hargrove from the Alzheimer's Association, just trying to find the resources that people need and connect them with clergy, but also meeting clergy to let them know that I'm here.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: And that if they, you know, if there are some resources that they don't know about, I can find them for them.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: So helping them support their community.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: So on any given day, I could be, I think one day I was in Peakskill, then back down here.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'll be in Port Chester later this week.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm just out and about meeting folks.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: I call it a listening tour.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, it is.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_02: And it's great that you highlight that um the the county is so diverse.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_02: And and yes, when we think about the different religions, they're like the top three that pop up.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_02: But there's so many more.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_02: There's so many more.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_02: And their perspectives are important and their experiences are important.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_02: And I love that you're bringing them all together.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_02: I'm trying to.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_02: I'm trying to, yeah.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_02: Do you find after meeting all these people from different faiths that we're all kind of the same?
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: We're all so we're all trying to make um contact with the divine and how and try to bring that contact with the divine into our daily lives.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: There, there's something I'm working on for a conference that's coming up at Westchester Medical Center.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I it's um, I came up with a, I guess, uh, what is it, anagram?
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I it's so it's believe, right?
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's a I'm using it as a way to frame the conversation.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: And in believe, the first B is breath.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm using this to frame to help clergy work with people or sit with people as they're going through their medical appointments.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I was thinking about what do I have to do when I go to my doctor's office?
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: The first thing I do is breathe.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: So the first B in believe is breath or breathe.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so I was doing some research, and every single religion, faith, tradition has something about breath.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: We all, you know, in Judaism, there there's a word for it's uh ruach.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: In in um Christianity, it's uh now I'm losing all my words here.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: But just when I started doing that research, thinking about bee and breath, I was like, uh Islam has something about breathing, the Hindus say something about breathing.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone has this idea that breath is life.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: All these different traditions believe the same thing.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: And it shows up in so many other ways.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: The Unitarians, it it's it's just um meeting people who are just trying to live day to day to day to day and find some joy in their day to day to day to day and support each other.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: So we I mean, we are pretty much the same.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: We stay rooted in our traditions and our beliefs, but what comes out of those roots flourishes across denominations.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's yeah, it's pretty amazing.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: It is amazing.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: I love the way you explain that.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_02: That's really that's really that's great.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_02: It's perfect.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, all of these faiths and all of these people, um, you're connecting them with county services.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_02: That is ultimately that is what you're saying to them, right?
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_02: That we're here for your parishioners, we're here for your members, we're here for your followers.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, what do you find they are looking for the most as far as county services or county support?
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: It it varies because there are some churches that have food pantries, so they have very specific needs.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: There are some congregations are what we call graying congregations where the population is closer to seniorhood.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: So they need specific uh different needs.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Or, you know, some have uh fam, their families and young people, so they look for different things.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: Every congregation is completely different, and their needs are as different as they are, as as unique as our fingerprints, so are some of their needs.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: There's crossover with some, but um it it honestly it depends on it.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's a I'm just gonna say the same thing again.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's it it the needs vary.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I'm curious.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um you're obviously you're a woman, you're a minister.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um how how do certain how is that received in the community?
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_02: Because I think stereotypically people expect a man to show up.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_02: Can I say that?
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_02: You can say that.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_02: And you're clearly breaking those stereotypes.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_02: So how is that received?
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_02: Or have we arrived in 2026 and nobody bats an eye?
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um I would like to say nobody bats an eye.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: However, you know, this one thing about the church, and I'm using the church broadly, or one thing about religious institutions.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um sexism exists.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um homophobia still exists, you know, and those are some of the challenges.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's that that bucket of understanding how churches can be a place of refuge for people who are experiencing all those isms outside, but also the church, congregations, religious institutions also need to recognize that that exists inside as well.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if you're going to be a critical lover of the institution, you have to love it enough to you have to love it into being what it could be, what it should be.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: And it's I maybe I'm a little too free with my criticisms and my critique, but it's okay to critique your own institution.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, absolutely.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: How else is it going to get better?
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it's it's been interesting.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, people have been, I would say the majority of folks have been open and affirming and welcoming and all of those good things.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: And people are also people.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_02: No, they are.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_02: But I but you highlight a good point because I, you know, it's um, as you've heard me say before, I'm a card-carrying member of the Catholic faith.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_02: And uh went to Catholic school, went to Catholic college, and at Fordham, where I went, which changed my life as university ever.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_02: Sorry to offend others.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but they would teach us in religion class that we should question and we should push and we should strive to make it better.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_02: And it was wonderful.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_02: It's the best education, best advice ever.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um for Fordham listening.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_02: I hope you're proud.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_02: You also did you also went to Fordham.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: My mom went to Ford on social work, yeah.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, that's right.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_02: That's what we chatted about.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_02: But um, so getting back to your work here, you know, um what is your number one priority moving into the fall and the winter in 2027?
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_02: Oh gosh.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: The subject one of most of my emails is connections.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um just to keep making connections.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: I I I think there there are, and so it it is connections.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I think there are there are a lot of people out in the county who don't know and understand what the county does.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm and so I'm up here on the ninth floor, I'm still learning.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: I have a lot to learn, right?
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm on a learning edge here.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: But it's making those connections to help people understand what the county does, how we function, and how we can partner.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: I think when I go out and I say to people, you know, well, first my role.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: People are surprised that there this role even exists, even though I'm the third person in it.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but also just letting people know that, yeah, this service is available to you, and this grant opportunity is available to you because you're a faith community.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's it, making the connection to help people know that we're here for them and we want to be in partnership and collaboration with them.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's it's interesting because um, to your point, the county does so much.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_02: It is so, you know, it's it's a big organization.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_02: We have a lot of departments, we help many, many people, but we tend to intersect with people at the worst parts of their life.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_02: And if you don't thankfully ever reach that point, you might not know what we do.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_02: And and and but we should highlight, and I know you are, that there is so much more to us than just, you know, a jail.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_02: You know, there's so much more than the health department.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I and um during COVID, which seems like a long time ago now, it was these faith-based organizations that the county used to get our message out about testing, about vaccination.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_02: So they are critical to our infrastructure.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_02: And do you see that every day?
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: I do.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: I really do.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I see people in in terms of like getting the word out, I do see people.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: So when I when I when I share a resource with someone, they'll say, Oh my gosh, I had no idea.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: So yes, now tell your people at it.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I think people are happy to know.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: But there also, you know, there there was a time, at least when I was growing up, where the church was the place where so I'm a I'm a church kid.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: We would hang out, we'd be there on Saturdays, we'd be there on Sundays, we would hang out on Sundays, my pastor would bring in people to talk to us.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: There was a time when we would be the local place where candidates would come and do candidates talk, right?
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: Before, yeah.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um food drop-offs, all of these things.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so for me, the church was it was a fun place to be, but it was also where I got a lot of information.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like the center of your world.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that pastors and clergy are sometimes overwhelmed.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm hoping that something I can do can relieve some of that overwhelm.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: If I can share the information and make it easier for them to share it out, then that my job is done.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, well, I think you're doing a great job getting all getting all this information out there.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_02: If somebody's listening and they're a member of uh a church or a synagogue or another religious organization and they want to get involved, they want to learn more, they want to meet you.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_02: What should they do?
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_02: Email me.
• 22:04
  unknown: Okay.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_02: Just reach out.
• 22:06
  unknown: Yeah.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_02: What's your email?
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: Gosh, it's so long.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: So um K E M4 at Westchester Countyny.gov.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: And just read out to you.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's all they have to do.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly, I'm I'm just, yes.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: If I'm not out, I'm looking for people to let me know what they need.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: And invite them up to the ninth floor.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: Come meet me in my office and you know, see see what's happening here.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like see physically what's happening here.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then we can take it out into the street.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: Amazing.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: Anything else you want to share with us?
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, nothing.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: I, you know, I'm I'm actually enjoying myself.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_02: This is great.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_02: This is, yeah, this has been great.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, we are, I'm gonna put myself in the same category.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_02: We are very lucky.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_02: We're very fortunate with the work that we do and the place that we work and and the type of work that we do.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, I agree.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: I agree.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_02: I'm blessed.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_02: Wonderful.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for for joining us.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_02: I really appreciate it.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_02: And we will have you back very soon.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.