Latest / Aired Out / Freezing Fun For Families Winter Softball Tournament - Wendell Morse

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Freezing Fun For Families Winter Softball Tournament - Wendell Morse · Aired Out

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Speaker 1: much for tuning in this morning. Birthdays Kathy Chase on
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Speaker 1: Wendy Lee Armstrong. And of course we always at least
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Speaker 1: I try to save the best for last. It's Gee's
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Speaker 1: birthday today, and I don't think he would really mind
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Speaker 1: if I said what his age is, But I'll let
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Speaker 1: him do that next Thursday when he's in here. Listen.
4:29
Speaker 1: We were gonna connect with g who may or may
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Speaker 1: not be basking in the sun down on South Beach
4:38
Speaker 1: in Miami. But he's he has aborted the broadcast this morning,
4:49
Speaker 1: so which, frankly, if I were in his shoes, if
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Speaker 1: I was down in Florida in the sun, I'd be like, yeah, man,
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Speaker 1: too busy, not going on the air. Enjoy it up there.
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Speaker 1: We're going to give you the forecast here in a second.
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Speaker 1: And before I even get into it, I want to
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Speaker 1: tell you that there's a lot of reports from Vtrans
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Speaker 1: about what's going on north of Burlington on the Interstate. There.
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Speaker 1: They've actually closed the southbound side just below Exit nineteen
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Speaker 1: Saint Albans area because of multiple cars that are off
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Speaker 1: the road up there. I'm not sure about the details
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Speaker 1: of those crashes, if there's any injuries and whatnot, but
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Speaker 1: multiple cars, I'm guessing that there's probably going to be
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Speaker 1: some possible injuries, so please be careful. Apparently the icing
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Speaker 1: up there is really significant. Today is an interesting national day,
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Speaker 1: National Retro Day today, back to the days before cell
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Speaker 1: phones and the internet, remembering the the good times of
6:03
Speaker 1: the past, well remaining present, which I try to do.
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Speaker 1: And I know you've you've heard me many times complain
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Speaker 1: about the present times and how good that the good
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Speaker 1: old days were. But what's the one thing about today
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Speaker 1: that you wish was a little bit like yesterday? For me,
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Speaker 1: it's it's probably the face to face time or maybe
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Speaker 1: you know, using our imagination to play to play outdoors,
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Speaker 1: set around the table as a family and actually talking
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Speaker 1: to one another. But man, it's like back in the
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Speaker 1: day when you watched TV and if you wanted to
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Speaker 1: watch Gilligan's Island you had to wait for it to
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Speaker 1: come on. If you wanted to watch Rudolph the Red
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Speaker 1: Nose Reindeer on CBS at eight o'clock on that one
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Speaker 1: Sunday night when it was playing, you had to wait
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Speaker 1: for it. And if you missed it, you missed it.
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Speaker 1: I know I've said this before National Retro Day Today,
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Speaker 1: Infecto Holmes, one of our presenting sponsors, has got this
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Speaker 1: pretty cool post with the old couch, the old TV
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Speaker 1: with rabbit ears. I love that stuff. It's on their
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Speaker 1: Facebook page today. I was just in a diner not
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Speaker 1: too long ago. Love diners sitting there. You know, the
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Speaker 1: whole everything's metal, the outside of the building, the doors, everything.
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Speaker 1: The diners could be hit by hurricanes. They're not going
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Speaker 1: to go anywhere. They're gonna be there forever, sitting there
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Speaker 1: drinking my diner coffee, which is also so good, with
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Speaker 1: the big thick mug that weighs about ten pounds. And
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Speaker 1: we're sitting there and I'm waiting for my corn beef
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Speaker 1: hash and eggs and toast, and they got the little
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Speaker 1: juke box over in the corner and Neil Diamond as
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Speaker 1: a playing and I'm just sitting there. I'm like, I
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Speaker 1: need to talk about this on retro Day. It just
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Speaker 1: took me back. I don't know. Weather forecast nine oh nine,
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Speaker 1: by the way, and just about well just below freezing
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Speaker 1: for many towns today right now about twenty seven here
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Speaker 1: in the Granite City, my NBC five is saying snow
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Speaker 1: showers changing to mixed precipitation late morning, with highs today
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Speaker 1: around forty so mild, but some funk, some frozen stuff
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Speaker 1: aloft that's coming down and creating some hazardous roads, all right,
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Speaker 1: so please be careful today, headlights on slow the hell
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Speaker 1: down tonight and twenty six Tomorrow, Friday thirty four high
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Speaker 1: with snow showers, and then Saturday and Sunday forty two
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Speaker 1: on Saturday with snow showers mixing with rain, and then
9:18
Speaker 1: things are going to turn sharply colder on Sunday for
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Speaker 1: a daytime high Sunday of only round fourteen degrees. Keep
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Speaker 1: watch of the Facebook page today. We're going to be
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Speaker 1: posting up some more stuff that's going on this weekend.
9:37
Speaker 1: And as we inch closer and closer to March on
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Speaker 1: the calendar, watch out for March seventeenth, Saint Patti's Day.
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Speaker 1: Kim Bulldock's going to be honored through the Central Vermont
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Speaker 1: Chamber of Commerce annual Saint Patti's Day breakfast over at
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Speaker 1: the I've drawn a blank here. Wow elm Street, My God.
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Speaker 1: It's gonna be a great breakfast and I hope you'll
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Speaker 1: be there. I'll be there as well. It's gonna be
10:14
Speaker 1: a fantastic day. And what better person to honor than
10:21
Speaker 1: Kim Bulldock. Granted City Mma Also, one of our presenting sponsors,
10:26
Speaker 1: was hanging out there at the gym a little bit
10:28
Speaker 1: last night. No, I didn't grapple with anyone, threatened a
10:33
Speaker 1: few people, but that didn't go well. Shout out this
10:37
Speaker 1: morning to Optical Expressions, also one of our presenting sponsors,
10:43
Speaker 1: and without these glasses that I'm wearing right now from
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Speaker 1: Optical expressions. I would be pushing all kinds of buttons
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Speaker 1: the wrong way. Guaranteed we love them. Fourth floor of
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Speaker 1: the Blanchard Block and walk in park out Metroway, you
11:02
Speaker 1: hit four and the elevator bang, the doors open up.
11:04
Speaker 1: You're right there. They're going to help you out with
11:07
Speaker 1: anything you got, whether it's maybe some new frames, maybe
11:10
Speaker 1: you need an eye exam. Get on the schedule. At
11:13
Speaker 1: the very least, get in touch with them and get
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Speaker 1: into the queue because they are so so busy optical
11:20
Speaker 1: expressions right here in Barry in the Blanchard Block. Let's
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Speaker 1: see some of the top trending headlines this week, and
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Speaker 1: then we're going to jump in and talk all things
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Speaker 1: freezing fun for families with Wendell, who's with me here
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Speaker 1: in the studio. But let's see what do we have
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Speaker 1: national headlines this morning? President Donald Trump now offering a
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Speaker 1: path to citizenship, but only to those who can afford
11:48
Speaker 1: to pay a hefty price. In about two weeks, the
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Speaker 1: United States is going to be selling gold cards. That's
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Speaker 1: what they're called gold cards, and they're going to be
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Speaker 1: selling them to wealthy foreigners, giving them a right to
12:04
Speaker 1: live and work in the United States. In exchange for
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Speaker 1: a fee. Brice tagged on the gold cards five million bucks.
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Speaker 1: Maybe some of that money will go to the roads
12:19
Speaker 1: up here in fromont I don't know. Department of Homeland
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Speaker 1: Security said Tuesday that certain undocumented migrants are going to
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Speaker 1: be facing criminal penalties if they don't register themselves in
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Speaker 1: a new federal database. Their registry appears to target people
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Speaker 1: who are not already on the government's radar. Meanwhile, Immigration
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Speaker 1: and Customs Enforcement announced that one hundred and eighteen people
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Speaker 1: were arrested on Tuesday in a Latino neighborhood near Houston
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Speaker 1: during a multi agency enforcement operation. This occurred on the
12:54
Speaker 1: heels of another well publicized enforcement action that happened in
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Speaker 1: this past weekend. And I don't know if you saw that,
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Speaker 1: but it was pretty wild. Officials are moving to and
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Speaker 1: I don't know if you caught this yesterday. If you didn't,
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Speaker 1: you're gonna catch it right now, because I'm gonna tell
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Speaker 1: you I'm moving to privatize the US Postal Service. What
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Speaker 1: does that mean? It means at the bottom line is
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Speaker 1: that if this happens and I'm watching it and I'm
13:28
Speaker 1: paying attention to the story, believe me, I am, and
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Speaker 1: if I see anything, I'm gonna let you know about
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Speaker 1: it right away. If this happens, this is going to
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Speaker 1: mean that the US Postal Service will not be able
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Speaker 1: to guarantee mail service to every American address. This is it.
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Speaker 1: And I was just talking about yesterday about how great
13:53
Speaker 1: it is go to the mailbox and get a card
13:55
Speaker 1: or a letter or something from someone. Amazing. Elon Musk
14:05
Speaker 1: has lost fifty two billion dollars in net worth this
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Speaker 1: year fifty did I say billion? Fifty two billion dollars
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Speaker 1: in net worth. But he's still the richest person on
14:22
Speaker 1: the planet, and he is by a long shot according
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Speaker 1: to Bloomberg. Anyway, can you imagine saying, oh, wow, this
14:33
Speaker 1: has been a really rough couple of weeks. I just
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Speaker 1: lost fifty two billion dollars, but I'm still the richest
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Speaker 1: guy in the world. Amazing. I'm gonna shift gears right
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Speaker 1: now and bring this fella on. I am so honored
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Speaker 1: to meet you, Wendell. Wendell Moore's good morning, Good morning,
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Speaker 1: how are you man? It's what a nice coat you
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Speaker 1: got on there? Freezing fun for families? You are who? Now?
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Speaker 1: You born and raised where Berlin? Okay, yep, you're you're
15:10
Speaker 1: es Central from up boy, I am yep okay.
15:13
Speaker 2: Graduated you three two ninety one, and then left Vermont,
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Speaker 2: joined the army for a little while.
15:18
Speaker 1: Okay, then what came back? Lived in Virgins for a.
15:22
Speaker 2: Little while, and then uh, sometime around twenty twenty one,
15:27
Speaker 2: decided to sell my house and become a nomad. And
15:31
Speaker 2: now we live full time on the road in our
15:32
Speaker 2: RV and what yep yep, and now here I am
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Speaker 2: back in Vermont for a few weeks.
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Speaker 1: My god living in Florida, drove back up Saturday, and
15:41
Speaker 1: guy here Monday. I am so jealous, so jealous. Damn
15:47
Speaker 1: look at you, you're all tanned up. So where are
15:50
Speaker 1: you down in Florida? I'm on a town name named Lakeport.
15:54
Speaker 1: It's on the west side of Lake Okachobee. Okay, yep, wow,
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Speaker 1: about three hours south of Orlando. At what point did
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Speaker 1: you get involved with freezing fun for families?
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Speaker 2: I guess it's back in two thousand and three, coming
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Speaker 2: around there. Two thousand and two, two and three, how'd
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Speaker 2: that happen? Met my current wife, Judy, and she was
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Speaker 2: part of a couple of co eds co ed softball leagues,
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Speaker 2: summer leagues, and she told me about this winter softball tournament.
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Speaker 1: Never heard of it.
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Speaker 2: Of course, it was about the time I was still
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Speaker 2: gone nineteen ninety nine when it started. Yeah, so, uh yeah,
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Speaker 2: we started it, and I was at that time, I
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Speaker 2: was in the Vermont National Guard full time, and we
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Speaker 2: put together a couple of teams for probably three to
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Speaker 2: six or seven something like that.
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Speaker 1: That's when I started. I remember doing the morning show
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Speaker 1: on Froggy one hundred point nine and cast Free set
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Speaker 1: coming up there and saying, hey, uh, we're doing this
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Speaker 1: winter softball tournament and we're just gonna goof around and
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Speaker 1: play some softball in the snow and try to raise
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Speaker 1: some money. And I can't remember who it was for
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Speaker 1: the at the time that first year, so.
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Speaker 2: I think the first year they raised money for their league.
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Speaker 2: It was a way to kind of raise some money
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Speaker 2: for their league. Nine nineteen ninety nine, and then two thousand,
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Speaker 2: two thousand was another family I forget the names.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: Again, I wasn't part of it then, but yep. And
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Speaker 2: then two thousand and one is when they really started
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Speaker 2: with the pick that Cause of pediatric cancer and Vermont
17:40
Speaker 2: families that are battling that war.
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Speaker 1: Sure, you know, you think of Freezing Fund for Families,
17:48
Speaker 1: and you think of Bikers for Beth. These were things
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Speaker 1: that Cass and Shelley tried to start as one in
18:00
Speaker 1: Ton right, and look at this man twenty five.
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Speaker 2: Years later, twenty five never missed a year. Nope, not
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Speaker 2: even during COVID.
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Speaker 1: Yeppe. The state allowed us to do. I think believe
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Speaker 1: we had eighteen eight teams.
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Speaker 2: Allowed us to play up there, and they put some
18:20
Speaker 2: heavy restrictions on us, but we still we still drove
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Speaker 2: on and had the tournament.
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Speaker 1: And you know, cancer didn't stop, so we weren't gonna stop. Wow,
18:30
Speaker 1: well said yep. And it's not like you guys have
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Speaker 1: ever said, hey, uh we're getting We're gonna get a
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Speaker 1: big snowstorm. Uh, We're gonna have to postpone the Freezing
18:47
Speaker 1: Fund for Families winner co ed softball tournament.
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Speaker 2: Right, No, we big snowstorm. We we looked forward to those.
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Speaker 2: It was the rain or the wind or the mud.
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Speaker 2: Those are the ones we didn't look forward to. But
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Speaker 2: snow we welcome that.
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Speaker 1: Yeah. Have you guys been up there in a couple blizzards?
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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I remember one year.
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Speaker 2: I couldn't tell you the of the year, but boy,
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Speaker 2: the snow was horizontal because of course the wind blows
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Speaker 2: about one hundred miles an hour up there on top
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Speaker 2: of that hill, and h yeah, snow horizontal. And that
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Speaker 2: was back in the day when we would stay out
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Speaker 2: till eleven, twelve and twelve in the morning playing games
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Speaker 2: at Saturday night.
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Speaker 1: I remember that, yep, you know. And I also remember
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Speaker 1: I met some folks I can't remember where they were from,
19:35
Speaker 1: but they were up here skiing or something, tourists and
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Speaker 1: they're like, are you are you part of this these
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Speaker 1: crazy ass softball players that are that are what? What
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Speaker 1: are you guys doing during the winter here playing softball?
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Speaker 1: I had to explain to him, you know, what it was,
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Speaker 1: and they just thought it was just a bunch of
19:54
Speaker 1: people just getting together playing softball.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, you have to keep keep the practic this going,
20:00
Speaker 2: get be ready for the summer. Right, That's right, that's right. Uh,
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Speaker 2: we had we had some great people in here. Mark
20:10
Speaker 2: and Anchi yep, just a little while ago. And I
20:13
Speaker 2: want to thank you for setting that up. I don't
20:17
Speaker 2: know if you had a chance to hear that podcast,
20:19
Speaker 2: but what a story about those two I did, and
20:22
Speaker 2: those guys have been go to for us for years.
20:27
Speaker 1: You know.
20:28
Speaker 2: I know they told you the story, you know how
20:30
Speaker 2: they started it and everything, and told you about their
20:32
Speaker 2: guy that plays in shorts and yeah, but no Mark
20:36
Speaker 2: and and are awesome. They are, you know, conquered New Hampshire, right,
20:41
Speaker 2: I mean, not even from Vermont, and they're so dedicated
20:45
Speaker 2: to helping Vermont families and this causes hit them in
20:49
Speaker 2: their hearts so deep. But you know, they have a
20:52
Speaker 2: two to two and a half hour drive one way,
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Speaker 2: so on a Sunday after a weekend of playing softball,
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Speaker 2: those two would stay there and help us grab corners
21:01
Speaker 2: of picnic tables and put them away, you know. And
21:05
Speaker 2: they didn't have to, you know, most a lot of
21:07
Speaker 2: people up and leave when it was over. But no
21:09
Speaker 2: marketing in state. And they're definitive of what we are
21:14
Speaker 2: and we are family.
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Speaker 1: Yeah. And that's been kind of the hashtag the sloping
21:20
Speaker 1: for a long time, yep, a long time. And I
21:23
Speaker 1: don't know who coined that. I don't know if it
21:25
Speaker 1: was Corey or cast or who, but that's yeah, that's.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I wouldn't even know. It's a kind of stag
21:32
Speaker 2: it sure is. When does it officially start tomorrow? Well,
21:37
Speaker 2: so this year we have twelve teams. So Corey and
21:41
Speaker 2: I we sat down and built the the brackets and
21:47
Speaker 2: we're able to actually not have to play any Friday
21:50
Speaker 2: night games this year. So we start at nine o'clock
21:53
Speaker 2: on Saturday morning, and we're going to get use two
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Speaker 2: fields this year, all right, and we should be done
22:01
Speaker 2: by last game I believe starts around five to fifteen,
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Speaker 2: So we should be done up there around six six thirty, okay,
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Speaker 2: and then against Sunday at round ten is the first game.
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Speaker 1: All right, and that'll go how long on Sunday?
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Speaker 2: If the loser bracket team beats the winning bracket team,
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Speaker 2: we have to play a second game because it's double elimination.
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Speaker 1: We should be done up there one Okay. Who's this
22:28
Speaker 1: sicko that's wearing shorts playing softball and snow. I don't
22:35
Speaker 1: know him.
22:35
Speaker 2: I've seen him ye up there for years and years. Heck,
22:39
Speaker 2: one year we had another guy up there and he
22:42
Speaker 2: wore t or tank top and stuff. But uh no,
22:45
Speaker 2: I've seen him for years. Count on him seeing him
22:49
Speaker 2: there every year.
22:50
Speaker 1: Has he read the forecast for this for Sunday?
22:53
Speaker 2: Well, that's still warm. He's been up there colder, so
22:57
Speaker 2: he's probably looking forward to teens. He's probably I'm sure
23:00
Speaker 2: he's seen negatives.
23:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's supposed to be. Yeah, like you just said,
23:07
Speaker 1: I think it's supposed to be like fourteen for the
23:10
Speaker 1: high on high Yeah on Sunday. Of course the wind
23:14
Speaker 1: will bring that down a little bit. Yeah. Yeah, then
23:17
Speaker 1: throw some snow all over your body. It's got to
23:21
Speaker 1: gotta be rather than a lobster peace.
23:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's but again, you know, when we think about
23:30
Speaker 2: why we're doing it. Yeah, you know, we can be
23:32
Speaker 2: up there in our feet are cold, and we can
23:35
Speaker 2: complain about how we can't feel our fingers.
23:39
Speaker 1: Why we're doing it.
23:40
Speaker 2: Those families, those families they can't complain, you know, whatever
23:47
Speaker 2: pains they are experiencing, sure, there's nothing they can do
23:50
Speaker 2: about it. They can't complain about They just move on.
23:52
Speaker 2: So that's kind of been the attitude that myself and
23:55
Speaker 2: all of our volunteers have taken, is it doesn't matter
23:59
Speaker 2: that we're cold.
24:00
Speaker 1: We can warm up, you know, but we need.
24:03
Speaker 2: To be focused on why we're doing it and who
24:05
Speaker 2: we're doing it for and make sure it happens without
24:09
Speaker 2: a hitch.
24:10
Speaker 1: Some of the families, some of the recipients, some of
24:14
Speaker 1: the kids suffering and fighting such a vicious fight against
24:25
Speaker 1: pediatric cancer, have been up to the field many half
24:29
Speaker 1: over the last twenty five years and seen firsthand and
24:35
Speaker 1: maybe even participated with what's going on up there. Sure
24:39
Speaker 1: have back.
24:43
Speaker 2: I'll use COVID as kind of our line in the sand.
24:45
Speaker 2: Back before that, we had a lot of families would
24:48
Speaker 2: try to get up there and do what they could,
24:53
Speaker 2: and if the child couldn't be there, sometimes the parents
24:56
Speaker 2: or the family members would. Obviously, once COVID happened, it
25:01
Speaker 2: was very important for these kids not to be exposed
25:04
Speaker 2: to anything that could put them into more danger sure
25:08
Speaker 2: health wise. So since then we haven't had as many,
25:14
Speaker 2: but that's okay too. I know a lot of the
25:17
Speaker 2: teams love to see the recipients or recipient families. A
25:20
Speaker 2: lot of teams have given their the trophies if they win,
25:23
Speaker 2: they give the trophies to the families get pictures with them,
25:27
Speaker 2: And I know that's important to the teams, but the
25:30
Speaker 2: teams also understand that it's more important for that family
25:34
Speaker 2: to keep that child healthy right and not have them
25:38
Speaker 2: exposed to anything.
25:40
Speaker 1: Sure, And it's not just it's the whole their whole
25:46
Speaker 1: families too, that get up there and watch and experience everything.
25:51
Speaker 1: What I love is the fact that local families will
26:00
Speaker 1: bring their families and bring their children up there and
26:03
Speaker 1: show them what's going on and and yes, of course,
26:07
Speaker 1: you know, have some laughs and have some fun with it,
26:10
Speaker 1: but show them what this is all about, and that
26:15
Speaker 1: this is a fundraiser and what that is, what that
26:18
Speaker 1: concept is of being a fundraiser. That is something that
26:24
Speaker 1: I just love. For sure.
26:26
Speaker 2: It definitely helps that we are family when local families
26:30
Speaker 2: are up there for one single cause.
26:33
Speaker 1: Yep, let's talk about numbers, Let's talk about and of course,
26:42
Speaker 1: just like I did with Mark and Anchi, we're gonna,
26:45
Speaker 1: you know, talk briefly about where this money is going
26:49
Speaker 1: and how it's being spent. But first of all, this
26:53
Speaker 1: is an event that garnered the attention of the Guinness
26:57
Speaker 1: Book of World's Records and made it into the Guinness Book.
27:02
Speaker 1: It's the largest winter softball tournament on the planet. Yep.
27:06
Speaker 1: How remarkable is that? For sure?
27:09
Speaker 2: It's a It was so much work, you know, when
27:13
Speaker 2: they were up there, and what we had to do,
27:15
Speaker 2: how we had to prove it, take pictures of every
27:18
Speaker 2: individual and every individual's team and make sure we weren't
27:23
Speaker 2: counting somebody twice or not, you know, missing people.
27:26
Speaker 1: Yep.
27:27
Speaker 2: It was certainly an undertaking that year, one that we're
27:30
Speaker 2: probably not going to chase after again.
27:33
Speaker 1: Yeah right, yeah, yeah, I remember hearing so much about
27:37
Speaker 1: it that it was it was a lot of work.
27:38
Speaker 1: But numbers, how much money do you think? But maybe
27:46
Speaker 1: this is not a fair question. On average is raised
27:51
Speaker 1: for recipients each year? Sure, so that is kind of
27:57
Speaker 1: a tough question.
27:59
Speaker 2: We we used to raise a number and it could
28:05
Speaker 2: have been fifteen thousand, it could have been thirty thousand,
28:08
Speaker 2: and we used to give all that money out. Whatever
28:12
Speaker 2: we raised, we gave out immediately right way. And Corey
28:18
Speaker 2: realized that that doesn't equate to a sustainable program. Look
28:24
Speaker 2: at COVID year and we were told we were only
28:27
Speaker 2: able to have eight teams. If we had stuck to
28:32
Speaker 2: that business plan, if you will, it may have died.
28:37
Speaker 2: This may have died in twenty twenty, twenty twenty one.
28:41
Speaker 2: But Corey had a vision and said that we need
28:45
Speaker 2: to we need to invest money and pick a value
28:50
Speaker 2: and give that out to families. And I got to
28:52
Speaker 2: tell you, I'm sitting here right now. Corey and I
28:55
Speaker 2: had very heated discussions about this because I'm thick headed
29:01
Speaker 2: and I didn't understand it. I was like, Corey, this
29:04
Speaker 2: is wrong. People are raising money. We need to give
29:07
Speaker 2: it to the families, period the end. This is why
29:09
Speaker 2: we're doing it. And Corey stuck to his guns and
29:13
Speaker 2: he said, someday, Wendell, you're going to sit here and
29:15
Speaker 2: you're going to be.
29:18
Speaker 1: And it's going to come. And JD did it came.
29:21
Speaker 1: One day. I was sitting in a camper at the
29:23
Speaker 1: tournament and I said, Corey, you're right, I get it.
29:27
Speaker 1: I understand. And now here we are.
29:30
Speaker 2: We give out twenty five thousand dollars every year to families,
29:36
Speaker 2: and we have invested money and the goal is at
29:39
Speaker 2: the end of this year that investment will be self sustainable,
29:44
Speaker 2: that potentially the interest by itself will pay out twenty
29:48
Speaker 2: five thousand dollars and we would not have to raise
29:52
Speaker 2: money to give out that twenty five thousand.
29:55
Speaker 1: Wow.
29:56
Speaker 2: And and now we're looking at new programs after that.
30:00
Speaker 2: If we hit that mark, begin new programs. And we're
30:03
Speaker 2: working with Dartmouth and you u v a medical center.
30:07
Speaker 2: I say Dartmouth because Dartmouth does handle Vermont families. A
30:12
Speaker 2: lot of people from families from the South White River
30:14
Speaker 2: they go to Dartmouth. So we're working with them for
30:18
Speaker 2: potential new programs down the road that because they know
30:21
Speaker 2: best what these families are needing other than just cash.
30:27
Speaker 1: That is unreal. And you know, like Mark and Anchi
30:33
Speaker 1: and I were saying, he's you know, Corey has also,
30:37
Speaker 1: with the help of many others and volunteers, had the
30:43
Speaker 1: vision to spread this thing out. And you get a
30:45
Speaker 1: golf tournament now, I mean that, And that's been going
30:48
Speaker 1: on for a long time, sure has it. I don't
30:51
Speaker 1: know how many years, but it's a lot. I don't either.
30:53
Speaker 1: I'm not a golfer, yeah, but I And that's the
30:57
Speaker 1: other thing about this program is.
30:58
Speaker 2: Is we have a group of people that are very,
31:01
Speaker 2: very passionate about their golf and the golf tournament and
31:04
Speaker 2: I don't really get involved in that, and I'm passionate
31:08
Speaker 2: about the softball and a lot of the folks that
31:10
Speaker 2: are part of the golf tournament, sure don't get involved
31:12
Speaker 2: in this. And we coexist and we're making money for
31:15
Speaker 2: the exact same cause.
31:17
Speaker 1: You know what's amazing to me is you got out
31:21
Speaker 1: of Vermont? How long ago did you did you do this? Second?
31:23
Speaker 1: You talk twenty twenty two, twenty one, twenty twenty one.
31:27
Speaker 1: Here we are twenty twenty five, and you're still digging
31:34
Speaker 1: out your your winter gear, your hats, your gloves, whatever,
31:41
Speaker 1: and still schlepping back up here to you to your
31:46
Speaker 1: home to do this, and your your friends down in Florida.
31:55
Speaker 1: You're Floridian fanatics. You must be like, dude, are you
32:03
Speaker 1: are you serious? Right now you're gonna go back up
32:05
Speaker 1: to Vermont and play softball in the snow? Yep, you're
32:10
Speaker 1: absolutely right.
32:10
Speaker 2: And you know most of those people are from you know, Michigan,
32:14
Speaker 2: upstate New York. They're like, oh, no, no, no, we
32:17
Speaker 2: know that, we know what that's about. And but you know,
32:20
Speaker 2: I tell them the story and why, and then I'll
32:23
Speaker 2: even show them the our Facebook page. I'll show them
32:25
Speaker 2: pictures of the children in their stories, and they understand it.
32:30
Speaker 2: They're like, Okay, I get it, it's worth it. They're
32:33
Speaker 2: they're not going to do it, but right they understand.
32:36
Speaker 1: They understand for sure. Twenty fifth, here we are approaching.
32:44
Speaker 1: Is this true ballpark of a million bucks? I would
32:51
Speaker 1: say yes, definitely. Where are we at. It's got to
32:55
Speaker 1: be pretty close seven or eight.
32:59
Speaker 2: I would say it's probably eight or nine hundred thousand
33:02
Speaker 2: something of that nature.
33:04
Speaker 1: Corey, you'd have the better numbers.
33:06
Speaker 2: I've never good at math, so I stay away from
33:09
Speaker 2: the numbers the best I can.
33:11
Speaker 1: But yeah, we're probably pretty close to one.
33:13
Speaker 2: Hundred thousand that we've raised and distributed over the course
33:16
Speaker 2: of twenty five years.
33:19
Speaker 1: Two seventy five, Yes, is the goal for what that's.
33:24
Speaker 2: Our goal to be that self sustainable mark that we've
33:28
Speaker 2: kind of we've we've looked at and said that this
33:33
Speaker 2: is what we need to be at. And I think
33:35
Speaker 2: if you go on right now, I think we're around
33:37
Speaker 2: the two thirty three, two forty somewhere in there right
33:41
Speaker 2: now is what we are for this year. And we
33:43
Speaker 2: have a lot of teams haven't given us their money.
33:45
Speaker 1: They come.
33:47
Speaker 2: I actually met with a team last night at the
33:49
Speaker 2: VFW and he handed me envelopes of money. I checked
33:55
Speaker 2: him off and well, we need to add that into
33:57
Speaker 2: the pot now, but it'll come right in until even
34:01
Speaker 2: a couple of days after the event, So we won't
34:03
Speaker 2: truly know what we raised until a couple of days
34:05
Speaker 2: after at least.
34:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I say to Corey right now, if he's listening,
34:08
Speaker 1: and I'm saying to you, you guys better tell me
34:11
Speaker 1: man for sure, how much how much has come in?
34:13
Speaker 1: When when everything settles, I want to hear that number.
34:17
Speaker 1: I want to blast it all over the year.
34:19
Speaker 2: Last year, I think it came in at sixty five
34:22
Speaker 2: thousand is what it came in at for one year.
34:25
Speaker 1: And last year we had fourteen fourteen registered teams. Thirteen
34:28
Speaker 1: teams actually played all right, team registration is it cut
34:32
Speaker 1: off at this point? It is? Okay, it's closed. It is. See,
34:37
Speaker 1: you can't get up there and play as a as
34:40
Speaker 1: a registered team. However, if you come up there as
34:43
Speaker 1: a spectator or you know someone who's playing on a team,
34:47
Speaker 1: and something happens to somebody for whatever reason, they can't
34:50
Speaker 1: make it, the flu whatever, maybe you could, you guys,
34:54
Speaker 1: occasionally you're looking for some fill in players.
34:57
Speaker 2: Absolutely, absolutely, we always have teams that you know, a
35:01
Speaker 2: lot of team a lot of teams aren't as young
35:03
Speaker 2: as they once were either, you know, and people are like,
35:05
Speaker 2: you know, this is my third game today, I need
35:07
Speaker 2: a break. So absolutely, if you have aspiration to, you know,
35:11
Speaker 2: next year, put together a team grab your glove, come
35:14
Speaker 2: on up, walk around, see what it's like, see how
35:17
Speaker 2: much fun it is, And for sure.
35:19
Speaker 1: I wanna of course, we're gonna talk just very We're
35:25
Speaker 1: not gonna take a deep dive, but we'll mention the
35:28
Speaker 1: names of the recipients, might talk a little bit about
35:34
Speaker 1: LEVI I believe that's that's okay. We've been given the
35:38
Speaker 1: green light to do that. We're gonna do that a
35:40
Speaker 1: second here. I want to ask you, of course, about
35:45
Speaker 1: how the money that's raised is spent. But before we
35:50
Speaker 1: go there, let's give a shout out this morning to
35:55
Speaker 1: the volunteers that make this happen, the National Guard, the
36:00
Speaker 1: warming tents. You know, you need to take a break.
36:04
Speaker 1: You've been playing a couple of games. You need a
36:06
Speaker 1: hot cup of coffee or hot cocoa or whatever food.
36:10
Speaker 1: There's a lot of moving parts and a lot of
36:12
Speaker 1: stuff that's happening behind the scenes. That freezing fun for families,
36:16
Speaker 1: for sure.
36:17
Speaker 2: Definitely, if you don't mind, I have a list I'll
36:20
Speaker 2: put on my my These are why you're here, brother,
36:23
Speaker 2: These are my my glasses. I get him a dollar general,
36:26
Speaker 2: they understand, I understand. So uh yeah, I I didn't
36:31
Speaker 2: want to forget anybody. So I took him to put
36:33
Speaker 2: him down. So obviously I'm gonna start with my wife
36:34
Speaker 2: Judy as one of the key volunteers. Again, I told
36:38
Speaker 2: you that, you know, I probably wouldn't have been involved
36:39
Speaker 2: in this if if she didn't know about it. So uh,
36:43
Speaker 2: Wanda Huntley, Mary Ellen Copping, Sabrina Benjamin, Sarah Touchette, Chris Catat,
36:49
Speaker 2: Cheryl san Leoni and Seth King. Those those folks, to
36:55
Speaker 2: one degree or another, have been the the GREA says,
37:00
Speaker 2: kept this wheel going.
37:02
Speaker 1: They have.
37:05
Speaker 2: It doesn't matter if it's moving lights, it doesn't matter
37:08
Speaker 2: if it's selling clothes, fifty to fifty tickets, giving away
37:11
Speaker 2: cups at the gate, keeping the fires burning. Those those
37:15
Speaker 2: are the people that without them this event wouldn't happen.
37:19
Speaker 1: Set up teardown, all set.
37:20
Speaker 2: Up teardown, lighting, lighting heat. And of course we already
37:26
Speaker 2: mentioned Mark and Angie. Those two, to a different degree,
37:31
Speaker 2: they take they take part in the event as well
37:34
Speaker 2: as volunteer. So they're pretty much the only two that
37:38
Speaker 2: regularly do that. My wife and I and a few
37:41
Speaker 2: other have played, but we've we've retired from playing. Yeah,
37:46
Speaker 2: oh yeah, absolutely, you feel it for three days later.
37:49
Speaker 1: You know what I mean.
37:50
Speaker 2: So so, and besides I have to jump in the
37:55
Speaker 2: truck and head back to Florida. I don't want to
37:56
Speaker 2: be sore, so it's good for the inflammation though it's
37:59
Speaker 2: sure sure some other folks. I want to mention these
38:04
Speaker 2: people again. Without them, we never be able to function.
38:09
Speaker 2: Community National Bank and National Life Group. Those are the
38:14
Speaker 2: sponsors of our field right now. They give us money
38:16
Speaker 2: every year without question, so we have honored them by
38:21
Speaker 2: naming the field. So when the teams come up, what
38:24
Speaker 2: field am I going to? I'm going to the National
38:26
Speaker 2: Life Group field or the Community National Bank field. So
38:30
Speaker 2: thank you to them. They've been awesome. Wind River for portalettes,
38:35
Speaker 2: Casellas for their trash, the trash removal, Pike Industries and
38:39
Speaker 2: sun Belt Rentals together they're the ones that provide the
38:42
Speaker 2: lighting vasa from ATV Sportsman's. They bring up two side
38:48
Speaker 2: by sides every year and that helps us when families
38:51
Speaker 2: are there, we can actually put them in and buggy
38:56
Speaker 2: them around and see different things. Or it also helps
38:59
Speaker 2: us move our lights and that kind of thing. So
39:02
Speaker 2: they've helped out a lot. You mentioned the Vermont Army
39:05
Speaker 2: National Guard for the tents, Banoi Electric for running lights
39:10
Speaker 2: in our tents. Of course, the Berrytown Wreck Department, by
39:14
Speaker 2: the you know, they volunteered. They they donate the big
39:18
Speaker 2: lights so we don't have to pay for the power
39:20
Speaker 2: and we don't have to pay for rent. There Jeff
39:24
Speaker 2: at Tournament Designs and El Brown and Sons for making sweatshirts, jackets,
39:28
Speaker 2: trophy cups. And then last but not least, right across
39:34
Speaker 2: the road, the Quarry Kitchen and spirits. They have starting
39:40
Speaker 2: today Taste Thursday. Right starting today, visit them, buy an
39:45
Speaker 2: appetizer and they are going to donate two dollars for
39:49
Speaker 2: every appetizer they sell today, Tomorrow and Saturday. Two dollars
39:54
Speaker 2: for every appetizer that's sold they're going to donate to us.
39:57
Speaker 1: I love that. We are family, it's community based, right,
40:02
Speaker 1: so great? Wow? So today until how long are they
40:06
Speaker 1: going to do that?
40:07
Speaker 2: Uh, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and then Sunday they'll come up
40:11
Speaker 2: and present us a check with of however, many appetizers
40:16
Speaker 2: times two dollars, and they're.
40:17
Speaker 1: Open on Sundays. They are that's cool? Are now so cool? Yep? Wow,
40:23
Speaker 1: that's a long list, man, for sure. Frankly, Uh, we
40:29
Speaker 1: might be borderline screwed without that list that you just list.
40:38
Speaker 1: Absolutely absolutely, I don't know how we would do it.
40:41
Speaker 1: How we do it?
40:44
Speaker 2: You know, we we need trash at removal up there,
40:48
Speaker 2: you know, we we can't just leave the fields a mess,
40:50
Speaker 2: you know, we need all that stuff. And and this
40:54
Speaker 2: is all donated to us too. It's not a cost,
40:57
Speaker 2: so it's not coming out of the hopper, because that's
41:01
Speaker 2: the other thing. Usually we do an event like this
41:04
Speaker 2: and there's a cost, and every penny that we spend
41:07
Speaker 2: on something come doesn't go to a family or you know,
41:11
Speaker 2: doesn't support the cause.
41:13
Speaker 1: I mean, it supports it. But you know what I'm saying,
41:17
Speaker 1: when these folks.
41:17
Speaker 2: Step up and say, hey, listen, we got this, take it,
41:21
Speaker 2: run with it, it's amazing.
41:26
Speaker 1: It really is. And this is an event that has
41:33
Speaker 1: garnered some a lot of attention from other states who
41:37
Speaker 1: are watching seeing what I mean, it's not just the
41:41
Speaker 1: notoriety of the Guinness Book of World's Records. It's other states,
41:46
Speaker 1: not just New England either, that are watching what we're
41:50
Speaker 1: doing here in Vermont to fight cancer. And like I
41:54
Speaker 1: said to Barkinnanci, it's like cancer, just not like this event.
42:01
Speaker 1: This is a real thorn in its side.
42:07
Speaker 2: Absolutely, it's kicking ass for sure. And I know they
42:14
Speaker 2: talked about it when when we get an opportunity. I'm
42:17
Speaker 2: going to kind of segue into what you're saying is,
42:20
Speaker 2: once upon a time, we would get names of families,
42:23
Speaker 2: we'd get a group of them, and we used to
42:26
Speaker 2: have to say no, you know, and you know, how
42:29
Speaker 2: do you do that? But you got to, you know,
42:33
Speaker 2: because we didn't have the money to really support numerous families.
42:36
Speaker 1: But once upon a time, this year.
42:40
Speaker 2: We had we worked with the hospitals and they submitted
42:45
Speaker 2: names and we said yes to every one of them.
42:48
Speaker 2: Every one of the families got money from us. So
42:52
Speaker 2: that's helping us kick cancers. But right we didn't have
42:56
Speaker 2: say no to somebody. We were saying yes to every
43:00
Speaker 2: family that we can. And and nothing breaks your heart
43:04
Speaker 2: more than when you when you call somebody and say, hey, sorry,
43:07
Speaker 2: no we can't help you. Sure, it's just didn't make
43:10
Speaker 2: sense then and it certainly don't make sense now. And
43:13
Speaker 2: and our goals and never do that again.
43:16
Speaker 1: Listen if you can't, if you're not registered to be
43:21
Speaker 1: a player this year, at the absolute bare minimum, follow
43:27
Speaker 1: the Facebook page of Freezing Fun for Families. Just type
43:31
Speaker 1: in f f F it's gonna it's good. I left
43:37
Speaker 1: out at FY and it's gonna come right up. New
43:40
Speaker 1: Facebook page there is UH and I think a new website,
43:44
Speaker 1: but I'm not sure we're tweaking it. Tweaking it all right,
43:48
Speaker 1: But listen if if you can't get involved, I don't
43:52
Speaker 1: care where you're listening from. M hm. Maybe you're right
43:56
Speaker 1: here in Vermont, you can't be there. Maybe you're in
43:59
Speaker 1: UH Canada, can't be there, can't you can't be part
44:03
Speaker 1: of this. If you're watching and listening right now, go
44:06
Speaker 1: to the Facebook page because there's there's a uh A
44:10
Speaker 1: donation page where you can make a donation. Yep.
44:14
Speaker 2: Absolutely, And in anything, A lot of people are like,
44:18
Speaker 2: well yeah, exactly five bucks anything.
44:23
Speaker 1: I was joking.
44:24
Speaker 2: We're staying with our daughter and her boyfriend and Williams Town,
44:28
Speaker 2: and they have empty cans and bottles out back. I'm
44:32
Speaker 2: going to bring those back and I'm going to donate
44:34
Speaker 2: that money in their name. Sure it could be five
44:37
Speaker 2: bucks six bucks worth of bottles and cans back there,
44:40
Speaker 2: But how were in numbers man a Nickels and nickel course,
44:48
Speaker 2: the money that is raised, how it is spent is
44:54
Speaker 2: different for every family, every recipient, and Markin and Cheen
45:00
Speaker 2: I talked about this a little bit, that.
45:04
Speaker 1: Some families will use this to try to inject some
45:13
Speaker 1: positivity into their lives, some happiness, whether it's a vacation,
45:20
Speaker 1: about rental, whatever it may be, Disney whatever. Some people
45:31
Speaker 1: might use it for transportation, hotel costs, medical costs, medical bills,
45:37
Speaker 1: which are ridiculous. Absolutely, one of the most absurd things
45:45
Speaker 1: that I've ever tried to grasp is the price tag
45:51
Speaker 1: of cancer. I can't even fathom. I can't. I just
45:59
Speaker 1: can't even imagine it is.
46:01
Speaker 2: It's unreal. We've every family that we talk to and
46:07
Speaker 2: we tell them how much we're going to give them,
46:09
Speaker 2: whatever that number is. First thing we tell them is
46:13
Speaker 2: there's no hitch, there's no hits with this. We're going
46:15
Speaker 2: to write you a check, not alone, not alone. We're
46:18
Speaker 2: not gonna If this is our last communication with you, ever,
46:23
Speaker 2: that's fine. We are going to write you a check
46:27
Speaker 2: for this amount of money and is your money to
46:29
Speaker 2: use as you deem whatever needs, whatever need in your
46:33
Speaker 2: life to make that child comfortable, you you comfortable.
46:39
Speaker 1: I can't even.
46:40
Speaker 2: Imagine the stress. I know stress as a parent. I
46:43
Speaker 2: can't imagine that stress as I hope I never do.
46:48
Speaker 1: No for sure.
46:49
Speaker 2: Now I'm a grandparent, so it's even you know your grandchild, right,
46:55
Speaker 2: So we tell them use it for whatever you want.
47:00
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna lie to you. I've told them a
47:02
Speaker 2: couple of them. Your medical bills are always going to
47:05
Speaker 2: be there, and then dollar value of your medical bill
47:08
Speaker 2: is so astronomic that whatever we give you is probably
47:13
Speaker 2: a drop in the bucket.
47:14
Speaker 1: You just took the words out of my mouth, right
47:16
Speaker 1: the absolutely. So We've had families.
47:20
Speaker 2: One retrofitted their van so that it could be handicap accessible.
47:25
Speaker 2: One put a new pool up because their pool went
47:29
Speaker 2: out on them. One went out to the Mall of
47:34
Speaker 2: America to see Justin Bieber. Yep, that was what she wanted,
47:39
Speaker 2: and so she went and saw Justin Bieber out at
47:42
Speaker 2: All of America.
47:43
Speaker 1: Fantastic. So you.
47:47
Speaker 2: And again, I don't know what they're going through, and
47:49
Speaker 2: nor do I ever want to know what they're going through.
47:51
Speaker 2: But I believe they're taking that money and they're doing
47:55
Speaker 2: the best they can with it, and they are going
47:57
Speaker 2: to do whatever they can to keep that child comfortable
48:01
Speaker 2: and and you know, and happy, happy, happy, happy, absolutely, and.
48:07
Speaker 1: And keep the keep the positive energy flowing. Yep. That's powerful,
48:16
Speaker 1: very powerful, yep. And some of these kids have come
48:24
Speaker 1: out on the backside as victors of cancer, certainly have.
48:32
Speaker 2: We have one she's up in Colchester. She's a mom now.
48:36
Speaker 2: I believe she has three kids. Yeah, I think she's
48:41
Speaker 2: got three kids now. And and you know, now now
48:44
Speaker 2: she's a mom. She was a child battling pediatric cancer
48:48
Speaker 2: that we were able to make an impact in her
48:50
Speaker 2: family's life, and now she is a a mom with
48:54
Speaker 2: her own family now. It is pretty amazing. A lot
48:58
Speaker 2: of a lot of families, a lot of families sadly
49:01
Speaker 2: that the children don't make it to certain degrees, they
49:04
Speaker 2: stay involved more. I know you've heard of the Connor
49:08
Speaker 2: Drury Fund. Yeah, Connor was a recipient.
49:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember when that was created.
49:14
Speaker 2: Sure, and to this day, we're still giving out money
49:19
Speaker 2: to families immediately once a new diagnosis happens, whether it's
49:24
Speaker 2: at Dartmouth or UVM, and it's a Vermont family, they
49:27
Speaker 2: felt the documentation, they email it to me, Corey and
49:32
Speaker 2: our treasurer and we get that check out in the
49:34
Speaker 2: mail the next day and that's all comes out of
49:36
Speaker 2: the Connor Drury Fund.
49:38
Speaker 1: Yep. So sustainability man for sure, huge yep. And that's
49:45
Speaker 1: the goal. Keep this sing role.
49:47
Speaker 2: In another twenty five years, we can be sitting right
49:49
Speaker 2: here talking about where we are.
49:53
Speaker 1: These little kids Niko, Elisha eleanor Carla Alistair Levi, those
50:03
Speaker 1: are the six recipients for this year. Am I right?
50:09
Speaker 1: That is correct? Okay? Levi is a little seven year
50:14
Speaker 1: old who I believe suffered a stroke yep, with a
50:22
Speaker 1: brain tumor and seven years old. My little girl was
50:30
Speaker 1: seven years old yesterday. I can't imagine having to deal
50:37
Speaker 1: with that, that surprise.
50:42
Speaker 2: I you know, maybe I'm naive. I didn't even know
50:45
Speaker 2: a seven year old could have a stroke, you know
50:48
Speaker 2: what I'm saying to me. A stroke is an adult thing,
50:51
Speaker 2: I guess, but yeah, and then have a brain tumor
50:57
Speaker 2: on top.
51:00
Speaker 1: It's just it breaks my heart.
51:02
Speaker 2: I don't understand how it can happen, especially to a
51:06
Speaker 2: child just so much ahead of them, and they're gonna
51:09
Speaker 2: be impacted for the rest of their lives based upon
51:12
Speaker 2: you know, what's happening to them right now at such
51:14
Speaker 2: a young age.
51:15
Speaker 1: This is you guys are injecting light right into evil.
51:21
Speaker 1: I mean, and you're just getting bigger and bigger and
51:26
Speaker 1: bigger and brighter and brighter. Twenty five years in This
51:31
Speaker 1: event is this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, but the Berrytown
51:36
Speaker 1: wreck Fields. I tell you, I just encourage you so
51:41
Speaker 1: much to come up and at the absolute least be
51:44
Speaker 1: a spectator. Buy a sweatshirt, buy a hat, buy some food,
51:48
Speaker 1: cheer on one of the teams, bring your kids up
51:50
Speaker 1: there and just look around and show them what's what
51:55
Speaker 1: this is all about.
51:58
Speaker 2: This year, we have new sweatshirts to to UH for
52:01
Speaker 2: our twenty fifth anniversary.
52:03
Speaker 1: We redid our logo. I think it's not maybe on
52:07
Speaker 1: your website as well. Yeah, we put a twenty fifth
52:10
Speaker 1: in there blue sweatshirts.
52:14
Speaker 2: They'll be for sale up there, So come on up
52:17
Speaker 2: and grab one of those before they're gone.
52:20
Speaker 1: Twenty five only happens once it does. Is there is
52:27
Speaker 1: there anyone else that we want to give a shout
52:31
Speaker 1: out to this morning that? I mean, I know there's
52:38
Speaker 1: there's so many unsung heroes. There's gotta be well, he
52:46
Speaker 1: put me on spot, I know, I know, I mean,
52:48
Speaker 1: and I know I'm gonna forget somebody.
52:51
Speaker 2: You know, the most important people right now in this
52:54
Speaker 2: event are the teams, right these twelve teams.
53:00
Speaker 1: We're gonna go. We're gonna.
53:03
Speaker 2: I'm hopeful that we're gonna have more money this year
53:06
Speaker 2: raised from twelve teams and we've had in a long time.
53:10
Speaker 2: I know one team is almost at ten thousand dollars.
53:14
Speaker 2: I know another team's almost at six thousand dollars. I
53:18
Speaker 2: know one team is is they're getting up there. Those
53:24
Speaker 2: are the people. It used to be three hundred dollars,
53:27
Speaker 2: actually used to be two hundred and fifty. But then
53:29
Speaker 2: we raise a rep the register team and come up
53:31
Speaker 2: to play softball, and you know, people played right, And
53:35
Speaker 2: so if we had thirty teams at three hundred dollars,
53:38
Speaker 2: you know, nine thousand bucks. Sure, you know we have
53:40
Speaker 2: a team right now, it's going to be by themselves
53:42
Speaker 2: raised more than that.
53:45
Speaker 1: So that's how we've evolved.
53:46
Speaker 2: So I think probably if I'm gonna give a shout out,
53:49
Speaker 2: it's it's to those people, those teams, and you mentioned it.
53:54
Speaker 2: We have the next generation. You know, Corey's sun Ridge,
53:58
Speaker 2: Herring and Ethan to Share and those folks they're running
54:04
Speaker 2: with a team now and they are the next generation.
54:06
Speaker 2: They're twenty twenty one, twenty two year old, see that right,
54:10
Speaker 2: tough for the nails. And I don't know about you,
54:12
Speaker 2: but when I was in the twenties, you know, I
54:15
Speaker 2: was doing a lot of things, and probably playing softball
54:17
Speaker 2: in the snow, weren't one of them, right, And raising
54:20
Speaker 2: money for a cause like this shows you.
54:23
Speaker 1: Ethan sounds like a top notch dude. He's been in
54:26
Speaker 1: touch with me. I'm hoping to get up there and
54:28
Speaker 1: throw a microphone in his face on Saturday. And what's
54:32
Speaker 1: happening at noon Saturday noon?
54:35
Speaker 2: Chris Catterat good friend of yours, and he's been on
54:39
Speaker 2: numerous times, several times. Yeah, so I've I've given him
54:44
Speaker 2: the task of doing the home run derby. And what
54:49
Speaker 2: we do is we tell all the teams ten dollars
54:52
Speaker 2: and you get ten balls and your own pitcher throws
54:55
Speaker 2: it to you, and whoever hit the most home runs
54:58
Speaker 2: we have a nice little trophy for them.
55:00
Speaker 1: And Chris gets up there and he he m sees
55:04
Speaker 1: the whole event, and he he got heckling. He does
55:07
Speaker 1: every now and again. He heckles, you know, gets some
55:10
Speaker 1: off their game.
55:12
Speaker 2: But it's it's an amazing It's what started as a
55:17
Speaker 2: break when we had a lot of teams in a
55:20
Speaker 2: lot of games playing. It started a break so we
55:22
Speaker 2: could get it back on track for games that ran
55:25
Speaker 2: over time. Sure has now become an annual event for us,
55:29
Speaker 2: and we make a fair amount of money. You know,
55:31
Speaker 2: we could get ten, fifteen, twenty people up there at
55:35
Speaker 2: ten dollars a person to hit ten balls and it
55:39
Speaker 2: goes back to any amount helps. He also has a
55:42
Speaker 2: department of corrections. I believe it is this year is
55:45
Speaker 2: going to come up with the Color Guard Wow answering
55:47
Speaker 2: the national anthem at the beginning of it.
55:50
Speaker 1: Noon on Saturday. Don't get there at noon, get there
55:54
Speaker 1: at the eleven thirty latest. Yep. If you'll want to
55:58
Speaker 1: be part of this for sure.
55:59
Speaker 2: To to really take a yeah, and you don't have
56:01
Speaker 2: to be part of the event, if you want to
56:03
Speaker 2: come up and just swing about at ten balls.
56:05
Speaker 1: And try for the home run derby, fantastic, yep, for sure.
56:11
Speaker 1: What happens when and I I already know the answer
56:15
Speaker 1: to this, but I want I want to hear your
56:17
Speaker 1: version when and Mark and and you were talking about this,
56:21
Speaker 1: are the balls? Are they spray painted like florescent yellow. Sure,
56:25
Speaker 1: so they're not tell me they're not white. No, No,
56:30
Speaker 1: once upon a.
56:31
Speaker 2: Time they were white. They were white, and we did
56:34
Speaker 2: spray paint them. Who would do they would do that? Sure, well,
56:38
Speaker 2: it's a it's an extra edge of the.
56:40
Speaker 1: Game, right.
56:40
Speaker 2: No, we would spray paint them orange and then after
56:43
Speaker 2: a time the orange of paint would flake off them.
56:46
Speaker 1: Yeah.
56:47
Speaker 2: But uh, I do believe Mark mentioned this. One of
56:51
Speaker 2: the best things that we did was we got away
56:54
Speaker 2: from that hard ball. We did get some injuries up
56:57
Speaker 2: there over the course of time. They're freezing, they are,
57:00
Speaker 2: and we would break bats because the baths would be
57:03
Speaker 2: stuck in the snow and you hit a hard ball
57:05
Speaker 2: and and people got hurt.
57:08
Speaker 1: So we went to this. It's like a little mushball
57:12
Speaker 1: and when you hit it, it's a yep. But but
57:16
Speaker 1: if you get hit by it, right, it's not going
57:19
Speaker 1: to break a bone.
57:20
Speaker 2: You know, it might leave leave a bruise, but it's
57:23
Speaker 2: not going to totally break your nose or you're ye.
57:26
Speaker 2: So and they are orange from the manufacturer, all right,
57:30
Speaker 2: but oh, for sure going on?
57:33
Speaker 1: For sure? I know I watched the show with Mark
57:36
Speaker 1: and he he may have led out his secret on
57:40
Speaker 1: pretending they couldn't find the ball.
57:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yep, but for sure, you know, and if
57:46
Speaker 2: there's say a four foot snow drift up there, which
57:49
Speaker 2: we have oftentimes had, and the ball goes in, you
57:52
Speaker 2: start sticking digging at the hole. Well, the ball has
57:56
Speaker 2: gone in at such an angle it could be two
57:57
Speaker 2: three feet away, and as you're and you just gotta
58:01
Speaker 2: keep digging.
58:02
Speaker 1: Till you find it.
58:03
Speaker 2: And we've seen home runs happen eight foot from the
58:07
Speaker 2: home from the plate. It'll go into the snow and
58:09
Speaker 2: people will be digging as while people are running the
58:12
Speaker 2: running the bases.
58:13
Speaker 1: And I was in the outfield. I'm just being honest
58:17
Speaker 1: with you. I might have a spare ball tucked into
58:21
Speaker 1: my eyes sweatshirt. I can't find it. I don't have
58:26
Speaker 1: any more time to dig for this thing. I don't
58:29
Speaker 1: know if that's ever happened or not. But yeah, now
58:32
Speaker 1: you're letting out some secrets. Yeah yeah, dude, Listen, I've
58:39
Speaker 1: just met you today, We've chatted on the phone a lot.
58:45
Speaker 1: I'm excited about our partnership. I love promoting this event.
58:51
Speaker 1: You know. I can't thank you enough for getting in here.
58:54
Speaker 1: For sure, and kudos to Corey and your whole board
58:58
Speaker 1: of directors, all of the volunteers and the players, and
59:04
Speaker 1: man first and foremost above all of this and everything
59:09
Speaker 1: are these six kids. For sure.
59:14
Speaker 2: If you don't mind, I'd like to read something to you.
59:19
Speaker 2: We actually got this reply from one of our recipient
59:22
Speaker 2: mother or her name is Carissa. It's Elijah's mom, okay,
59:25
Speaker 2: and she sent this message to us. So this kind
59:28
Speaker 2: of wrap this up to understand what it means these families.
59:33
Speaker 2: So her message, Hello, my name is Carissa, and a
59:37
Speaker 2: message in you guys in regards to a beautiful letter
59:39
Speaker 2: you sent our family, including a donation, and we want
59:42
Speaker 2: to thank you from the bottom of our hearts. As
59:44
Speaker 2: we try to come to terms with our reality and
59:46
Speaker 2: continue to push through this, I struggle regularly coming to
59:50
Speaker 2: terms with our new reality for so many reasons. This
59:53
Speaker 2: being said, I know you folks and your charity are
59:56
Speaker 2: not unfamiliar and have walked a pass similar to our own.
59:59
Speaker 2: Heart goes out to each of you, and though I
1:00:01
Speaker 2: know it isn't much, we have been wanting to reach
1:00:04
Speaker 2: out and thank you. I'll never cease to be amazed
1:00:06
Speaker 2: by the families that have gone through tragedies and choose
1:00:09
Speaker 2: to help the families that are coming after them if
1:00:12
Speaker 2: it is truly a selfless and amazing way to cope
1:00:15
Speaker 2: and carry on for their loved ones. I apologize for
1:00:19
Speaker 2: the late response and want to thank you again. Your
1:00:21
Speaker 2: donation has helped us to keep our little family afloat
1:00:24
Speaker 2: a bit longer. While I'm not able to provide much
1:00:27
Speaker 2: at the moment between appointments and my husband is our
1:00:30
Speaker 2: sole income, your kindness doesn't go unnoticed and you will
1:00:33
Speaker 2: not be forgotten.
1:00:34
Speaker 1: Thank you so very much.
1:00:36
Speaker 2: So that's straight from a family member's mouth that received
1:00:42
Speaker 2: some assistance from us this year.
1:00:45
Speaker 1: So thank you for reading that for sure. Thank you
1:00:51
Speaker 1: for coming in here.
1:00:52
Speaker 2: Well, thank you for having us, thank you for making
1:00:55
Speaker 2: time you know. And if you can get up there
1:00:57
Speaker 2: Saturday and plug this a little more, everything else, everything else,
1:01:04
Speaker 2: I'll be there for sure.
1:01:05
Speaker 1: Thank you. Thanks brother,