Welcome to another inspiring episode of Allen Fairview Insider, plus it's the debut of our new host, Kimbra Quinn. Today, Kimbra has a heartwarming conversation with LoLo Roberts. You’ll hear about LoLo's profound journey from a personal tragedy to...
Welcome to another inspiring episode of Allen Fairview Insider, plus it's the debut of our new host, Kimbra Quinn. Today, Kimbra has a heartwarming conversation with LoLo Roberts. You’ll hear about LoLo's profound journey from a personal tragedy to founding the nonprofit Grateful Gratitude, aimed at assisting victims of violent crimes, single mothers, the homeless, and food-insecure seniors.
You'll learn how a simple hand-carved heart sparked a movement of generosity and gratitude in her community. LoLo’s incredible story involves not just distributing "gratitude hearts," but also providing essential groceries for low-income seniors. From working closely with local police departments to touching the lives of seniors with monthly food deliveries, LoLo’s passion is boundless.
We’ll also hear about the unwavering support from volunteers like Carissa, who have significantly helped expand LoLo’s mission. Kimbra will prompt us to reflect on acts of kindness and the transformative power they hold, quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson to emphasize the impact we can all have.
To find out more about Grateful Gratitude, visit: https://gratefulgratitude.net/author/loloroberts/
Key Topics Discussed:
The inception and expansion of Grateful Gratitude, LoLo's nonprofit
Filing for nonprofit status during the 2018 government shutdown
Focus areas: victims of violent crimes, single mothers, homeless, and food-insecure senior
Partnerships with local police and community organizations
LoLo's call to start a gratitude blog, resulting in significant online engagement
Transition from corporate motivation to a ministry-focused path
Collaboration with Amazing Grace Food Pantry to assist seniors
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So I asked one of my friends who does social media, Aaron
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Pearson, who's with BitBranding, if you know him. I said, will
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you meet me for coffee? I'm gonna bring my computer. Can you tell me what
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this means? I don't I have no idea what it means. So
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we met a couple days later, and he said as he
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was looking at all these insights, I guess they're called,
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he said, wow. I don't normally see this.
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He said, I think God has a calling for you. And I said, what do
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you mean? He said, well, in your first post, you reached a
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104,000 people. 1100
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people interacted by liking it or, you know, loved
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it, whatever it was. And then 356 people have
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shared that post. He said Hello,
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and welcome to Cherry at Work, where we explore the power of
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giving right here in Allen and Fairview. I'm
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your host, Kimber Quinn, and I'll be guiding you through the impactful
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stories of local charities that are making a real
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difference in our community. Each episode, we'll meet the
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incredible people behind these organizations, worry about their
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missions and discover how you can get involved. Whether you're
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looking to volunteer, donate, or simply learn more,
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this is your platform to engage and inspire
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change. Welcome to the very first episode of
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Charity at Work, where we are going to talk to Lolo Roberts
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about the incredible things that she's doing in Allen and Fairview.
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Let's get started. Hi, and welcome to the
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Allen Fairview podcast, where today we are
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meeting with Lolo Roberts, and she is going to talk to
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us about grateful gratitude. So thank you, Lolo. We're
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so glad that you're with us today and can't wait to hear about your story.
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Oh, I'm so grateful for this opportunity. Anytime I can,
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get in front of someone and explain what's happening in our community, I
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absolutely think that's an amazing opportunity. Very good. Okay.
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So I have to start from the very beginning. Tell
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me about Lolo. Where did Lolo come
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from, and how does this play into who you are?
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Okay. I founded Grateful Gratitude,
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almost 7 years ago. And the year
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before founding it, our family went through a lot of
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tragedies and a lot of, ups and downs.
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So a year before founding it, my
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son-in-law graduated from OU. He
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retired from gymnastics. He,
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he and my daughter got married. They
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went on their honeymoon. And while they were on their honeymoon, we had a
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34 year old family member pass away of brain, cancer.
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Then she found out they found out they were pregnant, and
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then her father passed away a month later. But
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all those things happened within the 1st 6 weeks
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of May June of 2027. So, you know,
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normally, we have one life incident, which was either a
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marriage, a death, a move in their house, and they had
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all 7 in 1 year, believe it or not. And that
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caused my daughter to spiral with her OCD and
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anxiety, and we ended up in a really dark place.
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Her being pregnant, she decided not to take her antianxiety
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medication, which was kinda what started
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that spiral down. So we had about a 8
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week journey of healing her and, getting
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her back, to a place of confidence and,
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being able to function. And she asked me at that time, she
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said, what's your grandma name gonna be?
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And I said Lolo, and she didn't say another
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thing about it. But I just knew at that point that's what my grandma
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name was gonna be. That was in September. And
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then in January, our little Levi was born healthy
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and happy. And I just said at that time,
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I am going to start blogging and
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doing things as Lolo because it will pay homage to
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god and the walk he brought us through. So even though
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many, many people know me as Laurie, when I hear Lolo,
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it just kinda humbles me for a moment and realize how blessed I
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was. Well, that already brings tears to my eyes to
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hear your story. I I love that. I love that, and I
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can only imagine when people call you Lolo what what that
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means to you. So thank you for sharing that. And I know
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you mentioned so that all happened in 2017. Is
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that right? So I know when I was reading your bio,
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you said in 2018, you really felt a
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calling from God. And so so tell me, I think I would imagine
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everything you just shared with us led you to that, but
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tell me about that experience. Tell me about what you felt and
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the whispers that you heard that brought you to where you
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are. Take us back to 2018. So it was,
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March 12, 2018. And at
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the time, I was selling promotional products. I was working full time,
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and I was sitting right here at this desk. And it was about 138,
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11:38. I can't really remember. Midday. And I just couldn't even
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write the order I was writing. It was like I was at a dead
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stop, and I just felt filled with
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the urge from God to write a blog about gratitude.
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And I just felt so strongly that he was saying,
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you live in Allen, Texas, which is a wealthy
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community, Fairview around Dallas. I'm
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surrounding you and all your friends and the people you come in contact
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with every day with blessings, and
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nobody's recognized them. I want you to write a blog about
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gratitude and how to practice gratitude. Well, I
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kinda sat there, and I thought, you know, you're just overwhelmed, and you know this
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is a task that you have to do. So all I had
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ever heard about was WordPress. I'd never read a blog. I
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went I wrote the blog, just very simply, and
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it's still up. You can still see it. And
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after I wrote it, I pushed publish, and
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I'm like, oh my gosh. There's no way to pull this back in. It's out
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there. I'm so vulnerable, and you know how we kinda feel. Then I
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thought, well, who's gonna read this? Nobody's gonna know how to find this. So I
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started a Facebook page called Grateful Gratitude.
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And one of the very first posts was, may god use me to change lives.
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And I started asking all my chamber friends and everybody, please go like
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this page. You know, maybe read the blog. I don't know why, but you have
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to. Well, within about 7 days' time, I
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got, an email from Facebook saying
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something about algorithms and things I did not understand.
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So I asked one of my friends who does social media, Aaron
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Pearson, who's with BitBranding, if you know him. I said, will you
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meet me for coffee? I'm gonna bring my computer. Can you tell me what this
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means? I don't I have no idea what it means. So we
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met a couple days later, and he said as he
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was looking at all these insights, I guess they're called,
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he said, wow. I don't normally see this.
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He said, I think God has a calling for you. And I said, what do
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you mean? He said, well, in your first post, you reached a
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104,000 people. 1100
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people interacted by liking it or, you know, loved
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it, whatever it was. And then 356 people
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have shared that post. He said, you just don't see this.
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So I thought to myself, I'm like, okay. I did the blog.
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God's gonna support it. Where do I go from here? And
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within a month's time, you know, I really thought I was gonna be a
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motivational speaker and speak corporately to places
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about how to have better gratitude with customer
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service, employee relations, and make it a
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new career. Well, of course, god had a totally different idea.
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And, within a month's time, I
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had an advocate from the Allen Police Department, chance
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meeting at a chamber meeting, come up to me and said,
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you know, I'm not allowed to pray pray over
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victims of violent crime. I can't bring god into it.
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Would you bring your tray of hearts, which we can talk about the gratitude hearts?
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Will you bring your hearts into the police station, offer them
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to one of our victims, and then pray over them so that
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we really kinda complete the cycle of healing for them? So at
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that point, I kinda knew that God was gonna make this a ministry instead
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of a career. So there you go. I have chill bumps.
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I first of all, I think we're I think we're soul sisters. I
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love your thoughts around customer service and serving
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others and gratitude. That is what I have a heart for as well. So this,
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I don't think, is a chance meeting either. So thank
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thank you for sharing that. I actually have my
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gratitude heart. I attended a
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chamber banquet a couple of years ago. I lose
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track of time sometimes, and these were at the tables.
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And we we actually collected some that were left and
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have been able to share those along the way, and this this
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one actually lives in our guest room next to next to the bed on
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the tray. I just think it's always a reminder for the people that come and
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stay with us, but also that we're grateful for those friendships.
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So so perfect lead in for your heart. Do you
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wanna talk about those for a second? Absolutely.
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Again, it's another god story.
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Because after I did the blog, 2 weeks later, I walked
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into, my church, and I go to Chase Oaks
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Church at Legacy in 75, and they were doing a fair
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trade market. And there's a little store in
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McKinney called Fair and Square, and you may have been there. But they were
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there that day selling coffee and, you
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know, little dolls that have been made in Ghana and different things. And then
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I saw the hearts, and the hearts are hand
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carved in Kenya. And they had some that were an aqua blue,
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which is really a very calming, endearing color to me, and
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it said gratitude on it. And I said, okay. I need to
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buy some of these. So I bought 5 of them because they were
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$5 a piece, and I'm like, you know, I don't wanna go too deep into
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this. And I said, I'm just gonna start handing these out to people
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that I'm grateful for. And I proceeded into
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church. And that day, Blake Bergstrom was
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our teaching pastor, and he his whole sermon was, you
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know, what is your purpose and why did god even bring you here
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today? And, again, you know, it just all rolls together.
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So the the hearts that are hand carved in Kenya take
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about 3 to 4 hours apiece. They really are a
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work of art because they come from a block of soapstone,
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and they're hit with a machete. Believe it or not, one of those huge knives
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because they don't have all the processing tools that we do and manufacturing
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tools that we have in the US, and they hit it until it it comes
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into a heart shape. And then they
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sand it. They use natural dyes on it, and then
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they either carve words into it or they'll carve designs.
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And so, of course, I was going to McKinney pretty
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often buying these little stones, and the owners were
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giving me a discount. They were selling them for 375, but, really,
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I couldn't do I can't make any money to do anything. I couldn't
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fundraise. So I went straight to the importer,
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because at this time, I was buying about a 100 at a time.
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Went straight to the importer, and I now buy them directly. And
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there's a village of 20 artisans that these
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hearts come from that, are just beautiful people,
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and then I buy them. My grandson, when
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he was 2, started opening them all with me. We
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pray over them, and then we just put them out in the community.
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And I have purchased, sold, or
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gifted over 65100 in that time.
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So we get big huge boxes of rocks in now. So it's
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just everything just aligned with god's plan. And,
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luckily, I was faithfully trying to be obedient in his work.
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Well, in what an incredible way. Some something that is is
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so small, but that continues to have a ripple
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effect that that you've passed it probably in areas that you
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don't even know that people have continued to pass them down and
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just have reminders of being grateful for the things we have and
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people that come into our lives. Yeah. So so tell me even if
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I take you back, we did the we did the blog,
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and you felt the continued calling. And
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so how did your grateful gratitude
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foundation come about? So starting with the blog, kind of
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carry us forward with that. So that was in
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March, and I realized when I was
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going, assisting more and more advocates with their
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clients that it wasn't about the money. And
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so I don't know if you remember, but in the fall of
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2018, the government actually shut down for a while. And
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that's when I thought, oh, yeah. I I think I wanna be a nonprofit because
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I wanna quit my job. I wanna focus truly on this. And,
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of course, my husband gave me his blessing and said, yeah. You know, this is
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I thought was a hobby, but I see it's a ministry. So, you know,
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do what's gonna make you happy. So I filed
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for the nonprofit, and it said on there, you know,
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you do it online, and then you also submit some paperwork. And it
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said, you know, the government's closed right now, which was kinda to me
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saying nonprofits are not our priority. Please don't
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reach out to us for at least 60 days for us to have time
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to process this. So, that was
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December 18th, and I thought, well, it's a wing and a prayer. I'm gonna send
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it out, sent my check and everything, and I put on my calendar
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a little reminder to, hey. February, we need to follow-up, see
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where we're at on this because I wanted to be able
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to sell the hearts and be able to have people,
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claim it as a donation. So anyhow, long and short of
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it is February 18th walked to the
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mailbox, and there was my nonprofit. And the IRS
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had approved it, and it was like, okay. You know, this is
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where I've gotta go. So for the 1st 2 years, I worked
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directly and only with victims of violent crime and single
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moms, assisting them when they were in crisis. I then moved
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to helping the homeless. I set up a fruit stand
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every week for the homeless to have fresh fruit at Hope restored
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mission. And then God, last October a year ago,
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brought me to a beautiful group of senior citizens that were food
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insecure. And so that's where we stand today.
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Howdy, friends. Super Dave Quinn here. Thinking about expanding or
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relocating your business in Collin County? Come discover Fairview,
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Tune in to the Getting Neighborly podcast to meet your future neighbors and hear
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your life. Visit us today at Fairview
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texasebc.com. Thanks.
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00:16:12,895 --> 00:16:16,735
Make it a great day. Okay. So are you still focusing all in
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on all of those areas? The the homeless, single
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moms, victims of violent crimes, and
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now seniors who are food
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insecure. So I will help anyone
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in crisis. And, you know, it's kinda funny. My advisory board is like,
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you need to hang down. You gotta narrow it down. You you got too
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many people you help. And I said, but that's where I'm called. If
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someone says I need something like, I do still work with the Allen Police
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Department, helping them. Matter of fact, the other day, they needed
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assistance for an autistic child to have a
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basketball hoop and, you know, an outdoor one. And it was, like,
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a $100. So being a small nonprofit, we're able to
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do that. You know, you probably saw on Facebook
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recently, we had a single mom with 3 kids that
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needed a washer, and they, she had gone for over a
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year without that washer, and I just happened to have someone bring that need
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to me. I always put it out there, and god provides the right
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people. And so my main focus really is the food
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insecure. But if Hope restored mission calls and has a need, I'll
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be there for them as well as any of the advocates. I
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love that. And I'm thank you for talking about your partnerships also. You know, sometimes
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we don't hear how people like our police departments see
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needs and reach out to people in the community that
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are serving and have contacts that can
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help help build needs that we may not know about. So thanks for sharing
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that too. So let's talk about your
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project with the seniors. Tell us more about that.
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Okay. So in Plano, there is a community
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of 240 apartments, and it is a tax credit
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building, which means low income. And
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most of the people I help get less
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than $2,000 a month all the way down to I have one person who
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gets $700 a month in Social Security benefits,
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which is nothing, really. I mean, when when we think
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about that, and then there's SNAP benefits, which
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are their food stamps. I have one lady that gives $16 a
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month, and the most I see anybody I work with get is
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$74 a month. And that's, you know, like a family
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of 2, a man and a wife. The demographic
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is 70 to 98 years old,
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all ethnicities. And, you know,
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the thing is, I am currently helping a 133
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of them every month with bringing extra groceries
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to them. But that's still if we do the math, there's a lot
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of apartments there that I haven't been able to come in
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contact with and and meet people face to face to see if they need help.
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So I really envision, since it's been a year since I've been doing this,
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we started at 34 residents that needed help. And now being a
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133, every month, it goes up and up.
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And I'll briefly tell you how I help them. The biggest thing
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that I do is once a month, I partner with Amazing Grace Food Pantry in
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Wiley. Mike and Karen Ellis have been amazing
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to help me provide £4,000 of food.
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So they bring their food truck, which
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is a huge, huge truck to the property. They'll drop
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the pallets, and then I usually have 8 to 10 volunteers be there with
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me. We set up tables, and we will set up a mini
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on-site grocery store. And, Kimber, we were talking about this a
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little bit before we started recording. And to
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me, the biggest thing is to allow these seniors
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to have dignity and to make this a
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normal thing just like they're going to the grocery store.
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And so a good portion of
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that food is actually home delivered to our homebound
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residents, and then the others come and shop. I
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love that. So, again, you're serving them where they are and,
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finding their needs and help helping. So so
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tell us, how can we help you as a community?
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Is it donation? Is it volunteering? How can we
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help you reach your mission and the goals that you
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have? Always number 1 is,
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volunteers. I always feel like, when people have
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seen my work and know my work, they tend to
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donate. But standing next to
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me and really understanding what
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what grateful gratitude does. I had so many of these
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seniors say, I don't drive anymore. I'm qualified for food, but
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I can't get there. Or someone who says, you know,
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they give me a £100 of food. They can put it in my car, but
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I can't get it out because I live on the 4th floor of this building.
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I think the most important thing is being aware and
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knowing what services are out there, whether it's grateful gratitude,
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whether it's ACO, whether it's Bell and Sparrow, whatever. Get to know a
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nonprofit. Because when you get to know a nonprofit, it
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indirectly does help me because of the ripple effect that we all
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create. Donations, when people
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will do a monthly donation and commit for a
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year, even if it's $10, $20, or $50,
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having that steady stream come in kinda helps me sleep a little
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better at night. And a lot of times, what I'll just say is, you
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know, if you're a Starbucks fiend and, you know,
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I went and picked up Starbucks, for my daughter and it had oat milk in
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it, it was $7. And I thought, you know, I could
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have given snack packs to 10 of my residents for that
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same amount of money. So when we start to correlate where we kinda
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just blow money or we could maybe have a little bit of a sacrifice for
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someone in need, I think that's that's huge. So that's the money.
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But volunteering, Also, if you have a business where you
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could collect an item for me, like pocket Kleenexes,
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those tiny little Kleenexes that my seniors are always carrying
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with them or, you know, something special. Believe it or
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not, soda is a huge treat for them. Soda is very
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expensive. So when we bring soda, it's like bringing
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$100 bills sometimes. And then always, you know, we can be very
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creative if you have an idea. I'm open to hear anything.
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Well, and I I love I mean, you're talking about volunteering. That's
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when you see the joy that you're bringing to other people. So
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money is always good. Money and items are always
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good, but as individuals, being able to really see the difference
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you're making is so important. I have a just a couple
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of more questions for you. One of the things that came to mind when you
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were talking about listening and hearing when
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God was speaking to you, do you have any advice
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for others out there that might be thinking they're receiving
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a calling of some sort or that they're being led in a
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certain direction? That can be scary, really
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scary. So talk about when you said
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yes and what other people
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how could you encourage other people that might be in that same situation?
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Well, for me, it was truly sitting silent. I
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mean, there were some really obvious things, of course. I always say God says
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she's blonde. I need to slap her in the head a little more. But the
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first thing was just to learn to trust God. And the way that I
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learned to trust him was to go back into my past
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and where was he present. My first husband and I
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you know, we're relatively new, Kimberly, to meeting each other, but I do
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tell people my first marriage, my husband was a
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workaholic that became an alcoholic
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meth addict when my daughter was very young. And God
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brought me through that so much better by relocating me here at
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to Dallas. You know, my dad had bladder cancer,
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and, you know, he came through that. My mom had melanoma. She came
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through that. I met my husband, got married, and then
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I realized that's all what God
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does. So I need to trust him. And, you know,
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if somebody is one that just can't fully throw
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themselves into their faith a 110% like I do,
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Just small things, a small prayer, and see if that prayer gets
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answered. But, really, my testimony
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is a surrender of 333 huge things before
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I really did the foundation, and my mom was diagnosed with
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melanoma. I had a family member who was going going to go through a
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divorce, and, I was $41,000
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in credit card debt that my husband didn't know about. And
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when you were sitting there with those three things, I just surrendered it, and I
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said, god, I don't know what to do. And I felt him in my heart
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say, my child, everything will be fine. So since I've had that
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little surrender and conversation, I've never
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ever had to worry about moving forward. And
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I I guess that's that may be complicated from from some people,
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but I would just say just start trusting God because he knows the plan for
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us and what will be best. Thank you. Thank you for
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sharing all that. I one of the things that I want to
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leave you with is a thought. This is an a Ralph
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Waldo Emerson quote, and I would imagine I've
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never worked in nonprofits. I but I would imagine there
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are constant struggles and worries, and you're
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worried about the people. You're worried about meeting the
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needs that you see and that are brought to you. So just
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wanted to share this with you. To know even one life has
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breathed easier because you have lived is to have succeeded.
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So I just wanna leave that thought with you. I know, I mean,
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you've touched many more lives than just one, and
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sometimes that success when we're working in, nonprofits and serving
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others, Sometimes it's hard to see it, so just
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know that. I also want to just remind you, you know, what you
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do is powerful. The lives that you're touching are powerful.
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Thank you for sharing your story. Thank you for telling us
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about, grateful gratitude and your mission.
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I do wanna I wanted you to answer one final question.
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And in thinking about
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ripple effect and thinking about the struggles that
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you've had personally or with grateful gratitude,
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I wanna give you a chance to recognize one person
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that has served you, that brought you
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joy, or that when you were feeling, I can't do this
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anymore? Who's the one person that
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stood in the place of you for that slight second to
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help give you fulfillment and know that you can continue
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00:27:31,070 --> 00:27:34,910
forward? Well, I don't think she'd want me to give
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her full name, so I'm just I'll just give her first name as Carissa.
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After starting grateful gratitude, my dad was diagnosed
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with pancreatic cancer, and he wanted to give
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away he had some new luggage, and he said, find a nonprofit
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or find somebody who can use this luggage. And I heard about
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Families to Freedom where they actually go and rescue women
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and children, in the middle of the night and bring them to the this
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area. And I reached out to them. It was during COVID.
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And I said, I have this beautiful luggage I need to
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donate. Well, the volunteer they sent was somebody who
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I didn't know. Her name was Carissa, and I had a
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grateful gratitude T shirt on when she came to get the suitcase.
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And, she said, what's grateful gratitude? And I told
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her. And that was on a Thursday evening,
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and Monday, she texted me and said, I put a little something in your mailbox
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for grateful gratitude. And that was the $500 check, which was
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huge. And once a year, whenever
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I'd have a big project, I'd send an email to Carissa, never really
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matter again face to face, and she'd always provide that check.
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And when I started feeding the food insecure senior citizens this year,
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I sent a note saying this project's
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gonna cost x amount. And she said, not only will I fund
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that, I will stand with you. And there have been times
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that I have been exhausted with this project, and she will
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be right there and say, I got this with you, girl. We're doing
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this together. And another another person, God put
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in my path, that she is helping me make that small
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ripple a huge ripple and never asking
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for anything in return. So it's to Carissa.
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Thank you, and thank you, Carissa, for stepping in
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for the rest of us. I do want to before
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we leave, tell us your website again. Tell us how people can find
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you. Okay. So it's grateful gratitude
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11.com, and there is a
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button if you'd like to make a donation or you'd like to see the artisans,
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the hearts, or the projects that I do. Do, all that information is
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there. Thank you, Lolo, and thank you to all of our
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listeners. I do just want you all as listeners to
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think about that walk Ralph Waldo Emerson quote.
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Think about the lives that you touch every day, whether it's big or
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small. I want you to think about that
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ordinary acts of kindness, whether it's donations, volunteering,
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even just a smile, a conversation that you can have to give someone
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hope is how we can make a difference in our community.
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So let's all work together as a chamber, as a
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community to support those around us and those in need.
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So, again, thank you so much, Lolo, for joining us,
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and we, can't wait to watch all of the lives that you continue to
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change and impact with grateful gratitude. Thanks. Thank
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you. Thank you for joining us on Charity at Work. It was wonderful
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to share today's journey of giving and caring with you. If
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today's stories touched your heart and you wanna make a difference, remember to
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visit our show notes for more information on how to help. Don't forget
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to subscribe to our podcast on your favorite platform to stay updated
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on all the ways you can contribute to the well-being of Allen and
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00:31:02,445 --> 00:31:06,285
Fairview. Like and share this episode to spread the word and grow
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our community of givers. I'm Kimbra Quinn, and until next
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time, keep giving, keep supporting, and keep making our
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community a better place.