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Episode 1937 Transcript:

00;00;01;14 - 00;00;05;18

Announcer

And now America's Healthcare Advocate, Cary Hall.

00;00;05;24 - 00;00;43;28

Cary Hall

Hello, America. Welcome to America's Healthcare Advocate show broadcasting coast to coast across the USA. Our producer today, Mr. Darren Wilhite. I'm your host, Cary Hall. Thank you for joining us and making us one of the most listened to talk shows throughout the United States. I want to give a little shout out today to all folks up in Washington, Pasco, Washington, KONA 610AM and KGTK 920AM and 101FM in Seattle, Tacoma, Washington. We appreciate all of you up there. That's where my daughter lives up in Pasco. So I'm definitely going to give a little shout out to her today. Hope you all enjoy listening to the show. Also, as you know, we are on 14 podcast platforms.

00;00;43;28 - 00;01;10;29

Cary Hall

I'm going to roll through them rather quickly. Spotify, SoundCloud, RSS, Overcast, Rumble, Stitcher. TuneIn. Pandora Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts Spreaker, Amazon, Google, Audacy, And we're also on YouTube. So we've expanded this broadcast. Now, this is about the last year that we just started doing this, and it's remarkable the response we've got. We have 225,140 few views so far this year on YouTube.

00;01;10;29 - 00;01;32;06

Cary Hall

We've got about 9000. If you're a month downloading this show on podcast platforms and we even had one down, one downloaded in Turkey and one of our clients went in to the meeting in Turkey and there he was up on the podcast platform. They were watching the show. So we greatly appreciate all of you out there. They're doing this on podcast and YouTube and obviously all of you listening on AM FM radio around the country.

00;01;32;06 - 00;01;54;25

Cary Hall

So thank you for joining us. Also, if you are chronologically challenged and you are looking for Medicare, whether wherever you are in the country, you can get a hold of the good folks over at RPS Benefits by Design. Joyce Thompson and Carolee Steele are Medicare experts. I don't care where you are if you're in Phoenix, if you're in Pasco, Washington, if you're in Kansas, wherever you may be, they are happy to help you.

00;01;54;25 - 00;02;21;02

Cary Hall

877 385 2224 Open enrollment is right around the corner. Now is the time to call them. Don't wait until everything starts becoming crunch time and then you're trying to get in and it's hard to get time with somebody or go through the plan to see what's going to make the most sense. Also, if you're an employer looking for group health insurance, Maria Ahlers at RPS Benefits by Design is happy to help you.

00;02;21;08 - 00;02;32;15

Cary Hall

All right. We have a somewhat unusual show today. Joining us in studio today, John Massey, Danny Spencer and Mak Booher, all from Zuzu’s Petals.

00;02;32;20 - 00;02;34;26

John Massey

Welcome, guys. Thank you. Thank you for having us.

00;02;34;26 - 00;03;00;21

Cary Hall

I say so before we even get started. They don't make bicycle pedals. Okay. So if you all start going to Google and look for these guys, it's this is not about bicycle pedals, all right? What they actually do is they're a 501(3)(c) that does a wonderful thing at Christmas. They provide Christmas actual Christmas for families that don't have the ability, don't have the money and the resources to put Christmas together for their children, for themselves.

00;03;00;21 - 00;03;20;08

Cary Hall

And that's what we're going to do today. We're going to talk about that. You've heard their commercials running. We've got their commercials running around Kansas City now and you've heard them. But we're going to do a whole show on this today and just kind of get you to understand, you know, what can you do, you know, for folks that are in need and they're going to they're going to tell us about their story, their mission, how they all came together.

00;03;20;12 - 00;03;31;26

Cary Hall

So let's start with you, John. Why don't you just give us a little background on how the three of you all got involved in this and then how it morphed out into becoming It's on 501(3)(c). You've been doing it for some time now.

00;03;32;00 - 00;03;40;08

John Massey

Yes, sir. So this is probably our third year actually working on it. So as the audience can probably tell, I am not from Kansas City, Missouri.

00;03;40;09 - 00;03;43;20

Cary Hall

No, and he's not from Pasco. Washington either.

00;03;43;23 - 00;03;45;07

John Massey

I can’t say I am.

00;03;45;09 - 00;03;46;18

Cary Hall

That's an Australian accent.

00;03;46;18 - 00;04;14;05

John Massey

Yes sire, loud and proud. So my mom is actually from Kansas City, Missouri, though, which is how I ended up here about six years ago. That's when I mean, I met them before that. But I, I mean, you're on the other side of the world, so I really didn't know you that well. And we just happened to bond over our mutual love of Christmas specifically is just we're both we've both been Christmas buffs our whole lives growing up.

00;04;14;07 - 00;04;28;11

John Massey

And we were like, Oh, you too, Right? This is this is super cool. And so over the last few years, we started just, you know, throwing out ideas of different ways that maybe we could make it a little more of an external celebration, rather than just, you know, how much fun we can have.

00;04;28;14 - 00;04;33;24

Cary Hall

Doing something for other people. In other words, the actual-what we're really supposed to be doing at Christmas.

00;04;33;24 - 00;04;53;06

John Massey

Exactly is probably not thinking about numero uno. Yeah. Yeah. And so what was it? One year I wasn't able to go back home to Australia for Christmas, which was a little bit rough. Honestly. But Dan and I sat down and we just decided to deliver meals to the homeless. That was four years ago, four years ago or thereabouts.

00;04;53;10 - 00;04;57;15

John Massey

So on Christmas Eve we cook some chicken. Make some mashed potatoes.

00;04;57;15 - 00;04;58;28

Cary Hall

You guys did this yourselves? Yeah.

00;04;59;00 - 00;05;17;28

John Massey

Yeah, yeah. Just before we'd met Mak. Yeah. I mean, it sounds nice, but it was honestly probably some selfish intentions in there. Honestly, I was just sick of thinking about how upset I was. And so we just said, let's, let's, you know, try and have some fun with it. And so we did that for two or three more years after that.

00;05;18;01 - 00;05;39;06

John Massey

And then I was actually sitting in an interview with a mentor of mine, Case Dorman, who was the owner of Jack Stack Barbecue, and he asked me what I was passionate about in terms of where I wanted to go with my career. I had jumped around to a couple of different jobs and hadn't really landed on anything. And he said, Well, what are you passionate about?

00;05;39;08 - 00;05;56;27

John Massey

And in the back of my head I was like, Well, I can't really answer that honestly, because you'll probably think I'm a goofball because my answer at the time was 100% Christmas. That is what I could think about it and look at it all day and never get sick of it. And I know Dan was the same way.

00;05;56;27 - 00;05;58;25

John Massey

And so I was like, Well.

00;05;58;27 - 00;06;00;29

Cary Hall

And you guys kidnaped Mak, right.

00;06;00;29 - 00;06;15;19

John Massey

Right, right. We build our website. Exactly. Exactly. And so we were like, well, what if, if both of our dreams job ideally what like to be Santa Claus, let's say, how could we make that happen in Zuzu’s is what we came up with.

00;06;15;21 - 00;06;22;11

Cary Hall

It's amazing. And so the name, like I said, not if you go Google it, you're going to see a bunch of bicycle pedals, pet.

00;06;22;11 - 00;06;23;21

John Massey

Tools, not pet dogs.

00;06;23;21 - 00;06;34;22

Cary Hall

Yeah, okay. Yeah, it's petals, not pedals. So. So that's what it's a little confusing. So it's a kind of a cool story. How did you come up with Zuzu's Petals?

00;06;34;25 - 00;06;37;17

John Massey

You wouldn't take them. Oh, okay. Yeah.

00;06;37;18 - 00;06;38;29

Danny Spencer

So you came up with.

00;06;39;01 - 00;07;01;04

John Massey

Yes, So we were actually I was over at Dan's on a Saturday afternoon while you were working on your RV. Do you remember that you were refurbishing it and we'd already started talking about it. We'd started working on our website on Wix, which that's going to be where Mak comes into the fold here in a little bit. And we just started throwing out names.

00;07;01;04 - 00;07;13;06

John Massey

The original name was what was it, the Kris Kringle Foundation or something, I believe. Yeah. And then shock, horror, someone already had that. And then I also realized that we didn't qualify as a foundation, so we couldn't really do that.

00;07;13;09 - 00;07;16;00

Cary Hall

You do your 501(3)(c) Yeah.

00;07;16;02 - 00;07;36;28

John Massey

And so then we just started throwing out different names, different iconic names from Christmas movies and we just it's A Wonderful Life is a big family favorite in our extended family. And then we were like, Well, what about, what about Zuzu’s Petals? And then Danny's wife, Monica, and she was like, Well, that's super cute. And then we were like, Well, let's roll with it.

00;07;37;02 - 00;07;39;15

John Massey

And so that's how we and that's how we got the name.

00;07;39;17 - 00;07;42;14

Cary Hall

At that point. Mak you created the website.

00;07;42;17 - 00;08;02;01

Mak Booher

Yeah. So I mean, that kind of, that kind of played in with one day at the office. John He knew that I build websites. We haven't really talked much at that point. Is he having come into his office and he's like, Hey, what do you think of this? And I kind of wish the Wix website, the original, I was like, Oh, I mean, it's it's nice.

00;08;02;07 - 00;08;03;29

John Massey

It's nice.

00;08;04;02 - 00;08;06;07

Cary Hall

He thought it.

00;08;06;10 - 00;08;06;15

John Massey

Was.

00;08;06;22 - 00;08;07;19

Cary Hall

All right. Okay.

00;08;07;21 - 00;08;20;04

Mak Booher

You guys want some? I want some help with making a new website. I was I'd be happy to help. And then so at that point, John, Dan and I started getting together during pre-season a couple of years ago, just.

00;08;20;06 - 00;08;20;25

John Massey

Pre football.

00;08;20;25 - 00;08;22;14

Mak Booher

Pre football season and just kind of.

00;08;22;15 - 00;08;23;15

Cary Hall

Got it was you know.

00;08;23;18 - 00;08;31;25

Mak Booher

Just kind of shooting the shot, you know. And then out of nowhere we started building the website and that's how I got roped into it all.

00;08;31;28 - 00;08;41;18

Cary Hall

Yeah, it's really quite amazing. I think it's wonderful. You know, it's it's good to see guys your age. I'm 74 years old, so

00;08;41;20 - 00;08;42;06

John Massey

You don’t look it.

00;08;42;09 - 00;08;59;21

Cary Hall

I appreciate the complement, they'll be back for another show now. But it's great to see people your age this involved in the community and motivated to start something on your own and get out there and do something that's going to make a difference. And and and we're going to talk a lot about that in the next couple of segments.

00;08;59;22 - 00;09;15;13

Cary Hall

When we come back from the break we're going to get into that. If you want to reach out to them, you can do it. Now, here's the deal to keep this easy so everybody doesn't have trouble finding the website. They've got a website. kcchristmas.org That's it, right? I didn't screw it up. Gee, that.

00;09;15;15 - 00;09;30;09

Cary Hall

There you have it. Okay, so if you want to reach out you want to connect with them, We're going to tell you what they need when we come back from the break we're going to get into some of that. But they're looking for a lot of different things. One of them is obviously money, but there are other things that you can do that would be very helpful to them.

00;09;30;09 - 00;09;48;29

Cary Hall

So if you go up to the website, kcchristmas.org, they're beginning their campaign now. Okay, here we are in the beginning of October. They're beginning their campaign now and they're you know, they've got a certain amount of time here, but time moves quickly and they need help to get these things done. When we come back and talk about what they do and how they do it.

00;09;49;01 - 00;10;00;16

Cary Hall

You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting here on the HIA Radio Network, coast to Coast across the USA. Stay tuned. We've got more right here on America's Healthcare Advocate.

00;10;00;18 - 00;10;33;24

Steve Kuker

The golden rule. Treat others as you want to be treated. I'm Steve Kuker and this is one of the founding principles of my firm, senior care consulting. Since 2002, our value statement has included honor our mother and father, respect our elders, care for those in need, and treat your family as our own. We've been honored to help hundreds of families make one of the most difficult decisions they could ever make, serving them in their greatest time of need.

00;10;33;26 - 00;11;01;18

Steve Kuker

If you're looking for someone who can provide, you experienced an objective guidance when searching for a senior care community. Reach out today and discover the services of Senior Care Consulting at 913945 2800 9139452 800. Know your options and choose with care at seniorcareconsulting.com

00;11;01;20 - 00;11;21;14

Cary Hall

Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate show, broadcasting coast to coast across USA here on the HIA Radio Network. If you want to know more about us or you have a question or comment for me, I get emails all the time from people that need help with something. Feel free to reach out. America's Healthcare Advocate dot com.

00;11;21;20 - 00;11;47;12

Cary Hall

That's the website. Send me an email. I'll get it. I'll get back to you. I'm happy to help you do anything I can. Wherever you may be in the country, go to the website also. As I mentioned earlier in the show. These shows are all posted, all 14 podcast platforms and YouTube. So maybe you're listening this year. Think you know, I'd like to get my church involved in this or I'd like to get my civic group involved this or we don't really have anybody we're doing anything with as far as Christmas is concerned.

00;11;47;15 - 00;12;04;22

Cary Hall

Well, the show is posted up on the website. It's also posted up on the podcast platforms. You can send them the podcast link. They can listen to the show and say, hey, you know, let's get behind these guys. We've got three young guys here that are really doing something special, trying to help people that cannot afford to put Christmas together.

00;12;04;26 - 00;12;28;21

Cary Hall

We're talking about the kids and the parents. So it all comes together, what they're doing. It's called Zuzu’s Petals, P E T A L S. That's the name of their organization is a 501(3)(c), But the website is kcchristmas.org. If you want to get involved, if you want to donate, if you want to become a they've got a lot of volunteers, they probably can always ask for one or two more.

00;12;28;28 - 00;12;47;03

Cary Hall

If you want to help out. They'd be happy to have you do that. You can go to the website again. kcchristmas.org. They're happy to have your donations. So looking for money, obviously, they're also looking for certain gifts. We'll talk about that in the third segment. But I'll give you an idea if you've got two or three bicycle sitting in the garage, your kids are gone.

00;12;47;03 - 00;13;01;24

Cary Hall

They're in college. You're not riding a bicycle anymore. They'd love to have them. Okay. That's just to give you an example. You've got Christmas decorations, you've got wreaths, you've got any of that stuff you want to get rid of, they'd love to have it. So go to the website, reach out to them. kcchristmas.org. All right.

00;13;01;24 - 00;13;14;12

Cary Hall

So let's just talk a little bit about, you know how when it's pretty how do you know what to get these Let's start with the kids. How do you know what the kids want? I mean, kids have a wide variety of.

00;13;14;12 - 00;13;15;04

John Massey

They do indeed.

00;13;15;04 - 00;13;26;13

Cary Hall

And they want what are it may be a Barbie doll or it may be a fire truck. So how do you know what they want? How do you put this together so you're not giving them something? Oh, yeah. Great. I didn't want that. Why did I get that? Okay.

00;13;26;13 - 00;13;32;20

John Massey

Yeah, absolutely. So essentially how the process works is that parents will apply on our website.

00;13;32;20 - 00;13;37;28

Cary Hall

I saw that on the website so they can apply. So if somebody needs help, they can apply. Okay. And then.

00;13;37;28 - 00;14;01;25

John Massey

Yep, So they'll go through, fill out the application, get specific about, you know, what that kid's like, what they're into, what their interests are, what sort of kid they are, you know, whether they're, you know, happy or melancholy, that sort of thing. And then what they actually want. Right? So and this is not to pooh pooh any other organizations like I know Toys for Tots.

00;14;01;25 - 00;14;02;15

John Massey

They do great.

00;14;02;15 - 00;14;04;29

Cary Hall

A great job, but they get a huge variety is right.

00;14;04;29 - 00;14;20;10

John Massey

There. And then a kid essentially gets to go in and pick what we what our goal is, is to look at the families that are in tough times and say, you know, essentially what do you really want for Christmas? And I mean, yeah, did you have anything to expand on that.

00;14;20;10 - 00;14;28;16

Danny Spencer

Important part of what we're doing that makes us a little bit different than some other organizations that as far as the kids know, we're never in the picture.

00;14;28;16 - 00;14;29;24

Cary Hall

They don't even know you guys exist.

00;14;29;24 - 00;14;46;03

Danny Spencer

They don't know we exist. And that's that's what we intend. Yeah. So, so hopefully the parent can apply, a parent can pick up the gift and they can do you know, Santa can give the gifts to the kids. The parents can whatever they choose to do, they don't know exist. So that's that's the big goal.

00;14;46;07 - 00;15;06;24

Cary Hall

So you actually found this this this little girl wants a Barbie doll and you're able to get them a Barbie doll or this little guy wants a wants a fire engine or this or this pre-teen teenager would like a bicycle. Okay. Hence, yes, for bicycles. That's why we asked you for the bicycles, people. Actually, somebody actually did that last year and that's what gave them the idea to start doing it.

00;15;06;24 - 00;15;18;18

Cary Hall

So. So you you said the parents can pick it up. If the parents can't pick it up. You guys have partnered with Rockhurst College. That's for. And they're going to help you deliver the food, the whole nine yards to the families.

00;15;18;21 - 00;15;20;18

John Massey

So shout out Rob McCarthy and.

00;15;20;18 - 00;15;21;15

Cary Hall

you’re not cooking chicken in this year. Okay?

00;15;21;16 - 00;15;41;29

John Massey

No, no, that's good because that's dangerous. We don't want the World Health Organization to come knocking on my door. Yeah, Yeah. But yeah. So I work with McCarthy and he's the coach of the Rockhurst lacrosse team, and they were generous enough to donate some of that time. And they're going to help us deliver all these all the Christmas gifts.

00;15;41;29 - 00;15;55;06

Cary Hall

So if you don't have a car or you think, well, how are they going to get it if they don't have a car you don't have to worry about, they're going to actually deliver it for folks. So let's talk about, you know, what does that look like monetarily? What does it look like for family? Because you've got a pretty good breakdown here.

00;15;55;06 - 00;16;05;26

Cary Hall

So let's just say you've got a mom, a single mom and one kid. Yeah. So what are we looking at? What's the average cost for you to put together what their Christmas is going to look like?

00;16;05;26 - 00;16;09;12

John Massey

So Dan's the treasurer, so am I. Deferred, you know, And then.

00;16;09;12 - 00;16;31;22

Danny Spencer

So is the according to last year we had about $90 per kid. Okay. In a single mom that’d be we have, we also look to provide Christmas dinner as well as a Christmas wreath. So depend depending on the kid in the situation. We'll have about $90 for the kids gift, $50 for Christmas dinner and another $30 for for a wreath for their door.

00;16;31;25 - 00;16;46;09

Cary Hall

Okay. So so let's go back to that a minute. So the $90 for gifts is pretty good. I mean, that's a significant amount of money depending on where they go. You go to Walmart, you can do quite a bit with that. You go to Costco, you can do quite a bit with that. How do you get the food to them?

00;16;46;09 - 00;16;48;27

Cary Hall

Do you guys actually deliver a meal to them or how does that work?

00;16;48;27 - 00;17;04;13

Danny Spencer

Yeah, so everyone has a different type of Christmas dinner so that we we basically allow these families to pick it for themselves or give them a gift card and they can go to the store and pick up whatever they'd like to have to make it their own, make it their own Christmas standard.

00;17;04;13 - 00;17;11;24

Cary Hall

That's pretty cool. So, so, you know, if they want to have ham and sweet potatoes for Christmas or they want turkey, you can do whatever.

00;17;11;25 - 00;17;30;13

John Massey

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And I think that was one of the initial battles is our family. And so for those of you that don't know Danny and I are cousins, we've got a very traditionally minded Christmas family. So we're like, you know, turkey, cranberry and sweet potato pie, all that good stuff. But that's not necessarily what everyone else is into.

00;17;30;13 - 00;17;53;15

John Massey

So, you know, we had to, you know, tear that inner a tradition out a little bit and just essentially let people get what they actually want for Christmas, not what we want them to have. And then just going back, just one minor point to make with the $90 a child. Yeah, that will essentially span. I mean, we had kids that, you know, wanted things that were ten bucks, which is like nothing.

00;17;53;15 - 00;17;57;29

John Massey

And then we had kids that, you know, in their wildest dreams wanted something. Right? Exactly. Wanted a.

00;17;58;06 - 00;17;58;29

Cary Hall

PlayStation.

00;17;58;29 - 00;18;12;19

John Massey

Right. A PlayStation and that sort of thing. So we do we do have an internal cap, you know, just in terms of being responsible that we won't go over. But, yeah, I mean, it averages out all in all to be around about 90 bucks a kid.

00;18;12;24 - 00;18;30;07

Cary Hall

So and that actually that's like I said, if you take that money and go to Walmart with it, take that money, go to Costco or someplace like that, that can be a significant amount of money. I know that because I shop for my grandchildren at Wal Mart and Costco. So I'm just telling you, you can spend some money and you can you can do a lot with that depending on how you want to do it.

00;18;30;07 - 00;18;33;23

Cary Hall

So. So you served how many families last year?

00;18;33;25 - 00;18;36;23

Danny Spencer

We did 21 families and 52 kids.

00;18;36;29 - 00;18;43;10

Cary Hall

That's pretty amazing. I mean, you know, when you guys just start out with this, that's 21 families you made a big difference for. So. Yeah.

00;18;43;10 - 00;18;48;04

John Massey

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that was that was kind of a shock, I think, to all of us.

00;18;48;06 - 00;18;51;16

Mak Booher

Like helping ten kids. The right goal was last year.

00;18;51;16 - 00;18;56;02

John Massey

And I mean, all this was supposed to be was like a hobby, really. And we were thinking like, you know, if.

00;18;56;02 - 00;18;59;10

Cary Hall

We go, that's how it was supposed to be. And then it takes on a life of its own.

00;18;59;10 - 00;19;17;04

John Massey

Exactly. I mean, we go I think our initial goal was, you know, if we get ten kids, then it's worth doing again. And what a day after Thanksgiving last year, we had about 60 applications, and then three days after that we had 130 applications and we were kind of like, Oh, we shoot.

00;19;17;04 - 00;19;19;07

Cary Hall

So we got to do right.

00;19;19;10 - 00;19;34;02

Danny Spencer

Within a week of turning on the the application process. We had to turn it off because we're like, we're not going to be able to serve all these families. So that gave us a lot of motive to go into this year. And we're looking to hit 300 kids this year.

00;19;34;05 - 00;19;52;11

Cary Hall

There you go. That's pretty ambitious. The website, if you want to help out kcchristmas.org. When we come back from the break, we'll talk about the specific things that they need that you can do. So stay tuned. We'll be right back after the break. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting here on the HIA Radio Network.

00;19;52;14 - 00;20;19;22

Cary Hall

Coast to coast across the USA. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back. Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocates broadcasting coast to coast across the fruited plain. Here on the radio network, you can learn more about us by going to the website America's Healthcare Advocate dot com. You've got a question. Send me an email. I'll be happy to answer them.

00;20;19;29 - 00;20;45;06

Cary Hall

My producer, the always perfect Mr. Darren Wilhite. I'm your host Kari Hall. Behind the camera, Dave Thiessen, the man who puts all this together and gets set up on all 14 of those podcast platforms and YouTube. So like I said earlier, you know, maybe you've got a group, maybe you've got a men's group, or maybe you've got a women's group, or maybe maybe your, you know, an assisted living facility and you all are getting together and trying to figure out what could we do for Christmas besides our own grandkids and all the rest of it.

00;20;45;12 - 00;21;04;02

Cary Hall

Well, go to the website, Casey Christmas dot org. These guys have got some pretty ambitious plans for this year. The websites Casey Christmas dot org, you've heard what they're doing. I think it's pretty amazing. These three young guys came together, put all this together on their own. They're taking their time, effort and money to do it. They're trying to do 300 kids this year.

00;21;04;05 - 00;21;21;01

Cary Hall

That's pretty ambitious. But they're going to need money. They're going to need resources. They're probably going to need some help. So go up to the website, take a look at it. Casey Christmas dot org. They had to cut off the apps last year because they couldn't take care of all the people. There's a lot of need out there.

00;21;21;03 - 00;21;36;26

Cary Hall

Okay. You know, we have a lot of need right now. There are a lot of people that are having a very difficult time of right now. This is a great way to get involved and do something, you know, literally make a difference in and affect somebody's life in a personal way. Something a little different going to a big organization.

00;21;37;00 - 00;21;53;04

Cary Hall

There's nothing wrong with that. But I'm just saying this is kind of a more personal way to do this. And these guys have figured out a pretty good path forward. I think they're trying to do 300 kids this year. It's Casey Christmas dot org, Casey Christmas dot org. So we talked about cost. We threw out this thing about bicycles.

00;21;53;04 - 00;22;11;23

Cary Hall

I thought that was kind of interesting. So talk about some of the things that you would you know, people you've got a lot of people that, you know, empty nesters, etc., have got garages, the storage rooms full of stuff that there was their kids or whatever the case may be, Christmas decorations, you know, what kind of stuff and how did they get it to you guys?

00;22;11;25 - 00;22;17;06

John Massey

Yeah. So if it's local, we would be happy to come pick it up. Okay. You know, absolutely.

00;22;17;09 - 00;22;20;15

Cary Hall

We'll take anything around the KC Metro, you guys. I'll go get.

00;22;20;15 - 00;22;36;00

John Massey

It. So we're all somewhat centrally located. We all live in and around the plaza, so it's very, very convenient in terms of travel. Money is obviously going to be, you know, a a big part of this. But we'll take donations in any form. You know, whatever.

00;22;36;06 - 00;22;52;11

Cary Hall

Money they go to the website, they can donate online. Right. Okay. And I went up there today. I saw it. So you can donate online. Okay. So what if they have maybe they've got a staff, a gift cards that somebody gave them or they've got good even use and they can can you can you accept those and do something with them?

00;22;52;13 - 00;22;52;22

Cary Hall

Yeah.

00;22;52;22 - 00;23;04;08

Mak Booher

Yeah, we can. And if they think that they have to donate, they can obviously just go to the contact page and fill out the form, send us a message and we'll get it and then respond. Offer them that day or the day after.

00;23;04;10 - 00;23;21;00

Cary Hall

Okay. So if they have if they don't know, would you guys like this, they can go up there, say, hey, I've got, you know, three cycles or I've got or I've got, you know, five Barbies that are still in the box that my kids never opened or whatever. Obstetrics cetera. You guys are happy to pick that stuff up and then put it together.

00;23;21;00 - 00;23;22;11

John Massey

Yeah, I'm in this message.

00;23;22;11 - 00;23;24;11

Mak Booher

Well, yeah, let's see what we can do.

00;23;24;12 - 00;23;42;28

John Massey

Absolutely. And I mean, we'll see value in just about anything, even if it's not something that a kid or kid directly asks for. I mean, it's something, you know, we can turn it into cash and make sure that the kid does get what it wants. So if you're if it's something that, you know, you don't necessarily think a kid will do, I mean, we'll take anything we'll take any help that people are willing to give us, we'd be very grateful.

00;23;43;02 - 00;24;04;25

Cary Hall

Yeah. You know, again, they're looking for help. Their goal is 300. It's pretty aggressive. 300 kids this year. So. So let's let's talk about, you know, give me give me an example of somebody last year we did that. We chat about this briefly in the break there before we went back on the air of somebody last year that you guys reached out and made a difference for.

00;24;04;28 - 00;24;26;12

John Massey

Yeah, I mean, I think we've actually gotten three pretty good cases. Okay. So on our on our first day of deliveries last year, so last year we were scrambling. We all it was just us doing the deliveries. So Christmas was pretty busy last year. But I've been in touch with a lady on the Missouri side in Kansas City.

00;24;26;14 - 00;24;45;12

John Massey

And it's funny, like as they submit their applications, you can kind of get a feel or at least you think you can for the person that you're dealing with. And she was very polite. I can't remember exactly what they asked. I think they asked it for a madden 24. Yeah. Yeah. Fair. One of their boys.

00;24;45;13 - 00;24;45;28

Cary Hall

Right.

00;24;46;00 - 00;25;02;12

John Massey

And so we get there and I called when we were on our way saying, Hey, we're about to come by with your gifts. So, you know, try and make sure that your kid's on in the room and we go up and knock on the door. And one of the boys actually comes in, opens the door. I'm like, Well, this isn't really what we were going for, but whatever.

00;25;02;12 - 00;25;23;24

John Massey

And we walk in and that lady was in home hospice. So she was lying in the bed in the living room. And yeah, she unfortunately didn't have very long to live. And so we went in there and that I think, kind of threw us all for a little bit of a loop. Like that's not at all what we were expecting, I'm sure.

00;25;23;26 - 00;25;45;01

John Massey

And so, you know, we would just tried to be as nice as we could. We made the delivery, gave her a hug. I went over and shook the shook the boy's hands and just said, you know, Merry Christmas. Wish you guys all the best. And the boys from memory one was 15 and the other was nine. Okay. And I shook the hand of the nine year old boy and he wouldn't let go of my hand.

00;25;45;04 - 00;26;05;03

John Massey

And I was looking at him and I was like, Buddy, you better let go. Otherwise I'm going to have some water. Will actually get me like, Oh my goodness. But yeah, I think that was that was where I think we all kind of agreed that Yeah, I mean, this is this is worth it. You've got kids at one financially are coming from absolutely to do anything.

00;26;05;03 - 00;26;06;02

Cary Hall

She's in hospice in.

00;26;06;02 - 00;26;07;01

John Massey

Your bed and in.

00;26;07;01 - 00;26;21;19

Cary Hall

Her living room. I can only imagine the conditions that they were living under. So not not just, you know, gifts for the kids. She couldn't even go get them. Yeah. Secondly, the food issue. So you guys were able to help with that. So she could she could, you know, order that food from the grocery store and have it delivered.

00;26;21;26 - 00;26;37;01

Cary Hall

But the point is, you physically took that stuff over there and got to see the impact that you had on that family, that if you hadn't done that, what were they going to do? What? Who who was going to come in and fill that gap if you guys weren't there? Yeah. So obviously you made a huge difference. Dani, what's your story?

00;26;37;02 - 00;26;37;28

Cary Hall

Well.

00;26;38;01 - 00;26;58;21

Danny Spencer

This lady reached out last year pretty lane. It was well after we had closed the application process and she said, Hey, I know I'm late. I know you guys aren't taking any more applications, but I've really got a need. I'm about to get kicked out of my house. My husband lost his job. She's like, I have three kids and I'd like to give them something for Christmas.

00;26;58;22 - 00;27;25;18

Danny Spencer

And so we said, okay, well, let's see if we can get you get you in the list of the people that we're looking to take care of. So I did this delivery with with John's little brother, and we got out of the car with the gifts. She was in tears. And it's emotional just to talk about it and to remember it because she didn't think this was real, Like she thought that this was a scam or something like that.

00;27;25;21 - 00;27;26;02

Cary Hall

Yeah.

00;27;26;03 - 00;27;27;04

Danny Spencer

And so.

00;27;27;06 - 00;27;38;27

Cary Hall

Yeah, that's unfortunate because there's a lot of that crap out there. But obviously what you guys are doing is your is legit. You didn't you win an award for transparency and all the research. Oh yeah.

00;27;38;27 - 00;27;41;10

John Massey

Yeah. Candid ones. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00;27;41;13 - 00;27;48;21

Cary Hall

How about that other website people know the real deal. Anyway, you got there. She got it. She came out of the house and she was in tears. Of what? You guys here.

00;27;48;24 - 00;28;11;18

Danny Spencer

Delivered the gifts and she. I've never seen more relief and surprise. And in someone's face, it was. It was it was an awesome moment. It made me realize what we're doing is is really, really important. And, you know, we both got back in the car and broke down into tears just because of the situation, you know, in that we were able to help someone a little bit.

00;28;11;20 - 00;28;31;21

Cary Hall

That's more than a little bit. Okay. I mean, you know, you you realize some people in this country, 70%, 80% of the people live paycheck to paycheck. Okay. Husband loses job. You know, single mom loses her job. What are they going to do? Okay. They're barely able to make beans ends meet. We've got runaway inflation in this country right now.

00;28;31;21 - 00;28;43;00

Cary Hall

We've got a lot of other issues to deal with. So in a situation like this that save their Christmas, there would have been a Christmas if you guys hadn't shown up. So they got the gifts, they got the food. Did you take them a wreath and all the rest of it?

00;28;43;00 - 00;28;53;04

Danny Spencer

We did. We did. And you know, the goal event, you know, obviously, we wish we could have helped a lot more, but the goal of it was just to give them another another day, another days relief without having to worry.

00;28;53;04 - 00;28;54;18

Cary Hall

So yeah, so they had.

00;28;54;19 - 00;28;56;02

Danny Spencer

A holiday, they had Christmas.

00;28;56;02 - 00;29;14;08

Cary Hall

So it's, you know, there is an old convert about reach out and touch someone and I can't remember what the company was, It ran that commercial but it would be okay. There you go. So, so that's really what you guys are doing. You're reaching out specifically. That's what I think is so unique about this. And, you know, there's a lot of great charities out there.

00;29;14;14 - 00;29;33;15

Cary Hall

There's a lot going on. But this is something it's very, very personal. You know, they're finding people that have a need, you know, a woman in a hospice situation. Okay. This other woman whose husband lost her job and they were going to get kicked out of their house, which means clearly there wasn't going to be any Christmas. And these boys, these guys, young men, were able to go in there and do something.

00;29;33;15 - 00;29;50;24

Cary Hall

It made a huge difference for them and literally gave them a Christmas that they wouldn't have had. So if you want to do something, you want to get involved them. The website is KC Christmas dot org, KC Christmas dot org. You go up to the website, all of their information is up there. So you know, they're looking for almost anything.

00;29;50;24 - 00;30;14;04

Cary Hall

You heard him say that basically you're taking everything, right? Absolutely. Really? Really? Yeah, It's pretty clear. Absolutely. Okay. So whether it's whether it's Christmas gifts or maybe it's stuff, you know, maybe or you got a bicycle sitting in the garage or maybe you've got, you know, a Gameboy or some other, you know, toy like that that you're kids were there and you're not using it or it hasn't been used or it's still in the box, whatever the case may be, they'd be happy to get it.

00;30;14;04 - 00;30;37;25

Cary Hall

Also, if you just want to go make a donation, they do need money. I want to point it out. Okay. So they do need money. Go to the website, make a donation and help these folks out. You know, if you're looking, think about it. Okay. $90 takes care of one child. Okay. $50 for a mother with one child for food, $75 for a family with two kids and $100 for a family with three kids.

00;30;37;25 - 00;30;57;06

Cary Hall

That's a grocery side and $90 per child for food. So think about it. Do you want to do you want to do you know one one child and and and single mom? Okay. It's $90 plus 50 bucks. So you look at $140, you can do something that makes a big difference directly help those people. So go to the website once again, Christmas.

00;30;57;08 - 00;31;10;13

Cary Hall

Casey Christmas dot org. Casey Christmas, dot org. We'll be right back after the break. Stay tuned. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate here on the HIA Radio Network.

00;31;10;15 - 00;31;35;22

Cary Hall

Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocates Show broadcasting coast to coast across the U.S. Hear on the HIA Radio Network. All right. So you listening to this? You know, we could do something. We can get you up to the website. Okay. KC Christmas, dawg. KC Christmas, dawg. If you've got a maybe you've got a men's Bible study group at your church or or maybe it's a women's club or an altar society or whatever the case may be.

00;31;35;24 - 00;31;53;10

Cary Hall

Okay, this is a chance to do something that directly impacts a family. I mean, that's pretty significant. You heard the two stories. I'm going to ask Mack to tell them. One here in the middle. But what amazing story. This woman who had her husband lost his job. They're being kicked out of their house. They weren't going to have any Christmas.

00;31;53;17 - 00;32;11;25

Cary Hall

That was for sure. They changed that. And then, you know, John goes out to a woman's house intent to deliver Christmas, and she's in hospice with a in a hospital bed, a 15 year old, a nine year old child sitting in the house. What kind of Christmas are they going to have? I mean, you could literally make a difference in somebody's life by helping these folks out.

00;32;12;01 - 00;32;44;11

Cary Hall

You know, look, it's 100 bucks, 50 bucks, whatever you can donate, They are happy to get. You can go to the website Casey Christmas dot org and do that. Also, if you've got bicycles, if you've got toys, if you've got Christmas ornaments, Christmas, they're happy to pick that stuff up and and give that out to the folks in need They even said they'd take if you've got, you know, you've got a beta car sitting, sitting, sitting in the driveway or whatever the case be you want to get rid of, they'll pick it up, they'll come get it, they'll sell it and take that money and turn around and do some good with it.

00;32;44;11 - 00;32;48;05

Cary Hall

So once again the website Casey Christmas dot org. All right, Mac, let's hear your story.

00;32;48;09 - 00;33;08;07

Mak Booher

Yeah. So I had a really pretty young couple like early twenties. Both of them had just also recently lost their jobs. I had two kids and they're really struggling hard times with that. And so when I was going to meet them, we just met at a gas station, so that way it was just the parents there and not the kids around.

00;33;08;07 - 00;33;08;20

Mak Booher

You didn't.

00;33;08;20 - 00;33;09;02

Cary Hall

See it.

00;33;09;03 - 00;33;27;06

Mak Booher

Right? And so they were expecting when I when the wife came out in the car, she was expecting maybe like one gift from us. But at this point, it was $100 worth of gas and it was a good amount of gas. I think we had about six or seven plus gifts for these two kids. And so she just was thrown back and immediately started kind of like tearing up a little bit.

00;33;27;08 - 00;33;42;18

Mak Booher

And then the husband was also just kind of shocked to sit and ruin what to say, just kind of constantly shake my hands and Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And then we're she sat there and talked to me about for about ten or 15 minutes is how like the travels that they were going through and the hard time.

00;33;42;20 - 00;33;44;05

Mak Booher

And it said.

00;33;44;08 - 00;33;44;23

John Massey

You know.

00;33;44;23 - 00;34;02;15

Cary Hall

I don't think we realize, you know, because, you know, we all we all we all have our jobs. We all have our homes or apartments where we live. You know, our lives are pretty settled. But there's so many people out there that they're this close to being homeless or not having anything. And that's exactly what you were experiencing, right?

00;34;02;18 - 00;34;08;14

Cary Hall

20 some years old. You sleep, you think? Yeah, but that's what I mean.

00;34;08;18 - 00;34;29;16

Mak Booher

Yeah. And then after we give them the gifts I finally gave, gave the wife the card from us for us from groceries. And we just said, this is a gift from us. And then she sent the open at the point. And so at that point, we're saying our goodbyes. And she left. They left in front of me, and I could tell she was opening up the gift card.

00;34;29;16 - 00;34;43;01

Mak Booher

And immediately, instead of like turning left to get on the highways, they, like, went straight and went into the grocery store. And I got a phone call from them saying, Thank you so much. They were we're getting our dinner now for everything. And getting ready.

00;34;43;03 - 00;35;04;07

Cary Hall

It's remarkable, isn't it? I mean, really, seriously, you know, there's a lot of work. You're not done these kind of programs before. I mean, I've worked, you know, programs with with other charities and actually been out there and, you know, help put these kinds of things together. This is a lot of work. But the reward is just that, you know, when you saw Danny, what you're seeing, Mac, the same thing when you saw John, right?

00;35;04;07 - 00;35;23;09

John Massey

Yeah, Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, to anyone out there that may be, you know, on the fence, we know that you want to be sure where your dollars are going. I just want to reinforce with you that we are not getting paid for this. You know, we do not take any of everything that gets goes towards our mission.

00;35;23;09 - 00;35;30;16

John Massey

We're not skimming off the top. Anything. Everything you donate, you can be 100% positive. You've got directly you've.

00;35;30;16 - 00;35;50;23

Cary Hall

Got the award you won right on the front page of your website. So, I mean, you guys obviously, you know, you know, you're 5013 see that you're doing it the right way. You're you're volunteering your time and your effort to make this happen. And you're not looking for any kind of reimbursement for anything else. And that's one of the reasons why I think you've been so successful.

00;35;50;25 - 00;36;05;16

Cary Hall

Your heart and soul is in this thing. If you weren't, you wouldn't be sitting here doing this. Okay? And we need more of that. We don't need less of that. Okay. And like I said, you know, I'm sitting here at 74 years old and I look at you three guys. I think, you know what this is? This is damn good to see.

00;36;05;18 - 00;36;20;18

Cary Hall

Thank you. Really. Thank you very much. We need more of that in this country and less is some of this other crap that's going on. Okay. And more people who are willing to step up and make a difference. That's really what you're doing. Okay. That you know, that that's the thing that that I think is most impressive about this.

00;36;20;25 - 00;36;38;28

Cary Hall

You guys started this. You know, it's funny. It was supposed to be a hobby. Let me tell you something. In about another year, we'll see where you guys are at. Okay. This, this, this has got to keep growing because what you're doing is working, okay? And not only is it working, you know, you're you're able to deliver something personally.

00;36;38;28 - 00;37;01;21

Cary Hall

These people that literally changes that holiday season form from being total despair and having nothing. Okay. To turning that around and being able to put on Christmas for their kids. And, you know, it's it it just makes a big difference. I really think it's amazing what you guys are doing. Thank you. Thank you. God, It's it's nice to see now who else is working?

00;37;01;21 - 00;37;12;01

Cary Hall

Just the three. You guys are there other people helping out? Your wives are obviously helping out, etc.. But who who is it just you three guys? Are there other people in your company helping out or other volunteers?

00;37;12;01 - 00;37;37;13

John Massey

Yeah. So we've got, what is it, seven people that are on our team. Okay, so there's me. There's Dan, Danny's wife, Monica. She's our secretary. Okay, then we've got Mac, who's the vice president. So I'm president and treasurer. Mac's vice president. Then we've got Mary Jamison. She helps with our fundraisers. She also works at Bank, which is where Dan and Mac and I work.

00;37;37;16 - 00;37;46;20

John Massey

Then we've got our will Ben Sims, who works with Danny out at Net Smart, and he's got a lot of experience with business relations, so he's helping us coordinate.

00;37;46;20 - 00;38;05;00

Cary Hall

So if you are a business, because I completely forgot about this, you want to do something, okay, You want to get involved? Maybe you're. Yeah, Every year when when I had benefits by design, we literally would take up collection, We would get food and get gifts, and we would identify a family that needed help. We did it every year.

00;38;05;00 - 00;38;20;14

Cary Hall

We did like we did two or three families, and certain charities would identify them for us and we would go out and we would do the same thing they're doing. If you're a company, you want to do something in your company. This is the way to do it, and these guys have already built it. Okay? You don't have to reinvent the wheel.

00;38;20;18 - 00;38;37;20

Cary Hall

Just reach out to them. You want to spend some money, Maybe you want to get everybody together, you know, make a donation. Maybe your folks in your company can bring the gifts together, whatever the case may be. The website is KC Christmas, dawg. KC Christmas dot org. So it's an opportunity. Thanks again for coming up here and doing this.

00;38;37;20 - 00;38;38;22

John Massey

Thank you. Thank you.

00;38;38;28 - 00;38;55;06

Cary Hall

Goal 300 300 kids this year. That's a that's a big goal. They need help. The website Casey Christmas story. Go up and take a look at it. Go on the podcast platform. If you want to tell somebody about this, listen to it and then they'll get involved that your company tell your boss, have them listen to the show.

00;38;55;06 - 00;39;17;14

Cary Hall

It's there on the website. So once again, Casey Christmas dot org And now I leave you with this thought from Dr. Martin Luther King. Americans must learn to live together as brothers and sisters. Are. We are surely going to perish together as fools. Truer words were never spoken, especially in today's time. Thank you for listening to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting here on the HIA Radio Network.

00;39;17;16 - 00;39;21;03

Cary Hall

Coast to coast across the USA, Goodbye, America.