Full Circle with The Christi Reece Group

Biff Messenger - Full Circle With The Christi Reece Group

October 19, 2022 Biff Messinger Season 2 Episode 9
Full Circle with The Christi Reece Group
Biff Messenger - Full Circle With The Christi Reece Group
Show Notes Transcript

Do you think retirement will be boring? Listen to this interview with man-about-town, Biff Messinger, and he will tell you all the ways to keep retirement exciting and meaningful in this entertaining episode of the Full Circle Podcast! If you know Biff, you know he is a storyteller, and he did not disappoint as our October podcast guest.

Biff talks about a lot of wonderful organizations he has been involved with over the years.  Here are some links to check them out:

RiversEdge West  https://riversedgewest.org/
Community Food Bank  https://www.foodbankgj.org/
Grand Valley Resettlement Program  https://www.jdainternational.org/
The Cycle Effect  https://www.thecycleeffect.org/
Vitalant Blood Donation  https://vitalant.org/locations/grand-junction
Horizon Sunrise Rotary  https://rotary5470.org/clubinfo/grand-jct-horizon-sunrise

If you prefer to watch your podcasts, head over to our YouTube page!
https://www.youtube.com/christireecegroup

Speaker 1:

The Full Circle podcast, compelling interviews and incredible tales from Colorado's Western Slope, from the mountains to the desert. Christie Reese and her team here from the Movers Shakers, and characters of the Grand Valley and surrounding mountain towns that make the Western slope the place we all love. You'll learn, you'll laugh, you'll love with the full circle. Hello everyone, It's Christie Reese, and it's time again for our Full Circle podcast. And I'm really excited today to introduce to you man about town, Biff Messinger. Welcome, Biff. Thank

Speaker 2:

You, Christie. It's great to be here.

Speaker 1:

We're, we're really excited to host you today. And, um, you know, one of the things that we say in our podcast intro is that, uh, we, we like to interview community leaders and, uh, just interesting people on the Western slope. And I think you fit both of those categories.

Speaker 2:

Well, I, I kind of consider myself a follower cuz I have so many great leaders in everything I do. Uh, but I'm very, very blessed in that regard. I, I have fun doing what I do.

Speaker 1:

Well, I know a lot of people in town know who you are. Uh, but let's start with a little, well talk about, um, cuz usually when I'm introducing somebody that's a, you know, the mayor or the CMU president, we talk about that you have a lot of roles in town right now. What are your current board, um, positions and, and what's your current roles in, in the different organizations in town right now?

Speaker 2:

Right. Well, I'm, uh, I'm currently on the, um, the board of Directors for Rivers Edge West, formerly known as the TAs Coalition. And as you probably all know, also, um, we protect the, uh, riparian and ecosystem of our western rivers. It's a, it's a huge undertaking. Very important.

Speaker 1:

Mm-hmm.<affirmative> and, and any other boards that you're

Speaker 2:

Currently on? Uh, well I was on the, uh, uh, as you know, the Community Food Bank board for eight years. Yes. Uh, I was a volunteer and then I was on the board of directors for eight years. I was a president for four years, uh, one year over my term. An exciting time to be, uh, in the community food bank. It grew, uh, about triple the size, what it was when I first came on. Yeah. And that's, uh, that's a result of the world events that have come about.

Speaker 1:

Right. Well, we might as well talk about that right now. Uh, what a challenging time to be director of a food bank. Uh, when a lot of people were facing uncertain livelihoods in our community.

Speaker 2:

You're, you're correct. Uh, there's always been, um, uh, food insecurity, uh, in the valley as there is across the, the, the country. Uh, and we were trying to address that. And, and the, our food bank is a little unique in that, uh, the community of food bank, uh, likes to think of itself as a, as a emergency bridge, uh, for people, uh, not to be, uh, dependent on for a whole year, but rather get them through financial straights. Uh, a lot of, a lot of our, uh, clients are, are single moms who work two, three jobs and have children. It's awfully tough if their car breaks down and they have to come up with$800 to fix the car. And they have to make choices about do we do, do we turn off the heat? Do we get food? What do we do? And so the food bank is there for just such emergencies. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, Uh, we used to feed about 16,000 people a year when I first came onto the food bank. Uh,

Speaker 1:

And what year would did you first start with them?

Speaker 2:

Uh, 2014. Okay. 2014. And, and, uh, at first I was packing boxes and working in the back and loving every minute of it. Yeah. Uh, as a matter of fact, I'm no longer on the board. After eight years, I'm back to doing what I started out doing. I, I deliver, I, I take my truck and I deliver food, uh, to shut-ins who can't make it to the food bank. A lot of the same people that get meals on Wheels.

Speaker 1:

Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. That's wonderful. So, um, talk a little bit about the challenges that you had during the pandemic and,

Speaker 2:

And that's a, that's a very interesting subject. First of all, our challenges were the same as, as everybody else. We had to change our business model completely. Uh, people, you can't come to the food bank now, uh, and, uh, can't

Speaker 1:

Come

Speaker 2:

Inside. You can't come inside. So we, we started up a drive through and, uh, we had to change what we did. Uh, we had to change our, our, uh, interview process. Um, and it was, it was difficult. But I, I was fortunate in, in, I didn't know her at the time, but I hired a new, um, uh, executive director, uh, uh, young. And, uh, she came from, uh, the front range and had experience in, in, uh, in a, in a lot of non-profits. And most of all, she was techn, technologically savvy, which we never had before. What? You weren't? No. I'm afraid

Speaker 1:

Not.<laugh> still aren't,

Speaker 2:

I'm still not. You can ask my daughter about that. I, I, I, I call her every, all the time in including a lot of her staff members. They all do my, all my, uh, spreadsheets and everything else. So if you're, if you're ever walking around and over by the university or down in g e, they're still doing my stuff.<laugh>. Uh, I'm fortunate in that regard too, but no, uh, our challenge, main challenge was having to change our business model and how do we get people through? And there was a huge increase in need. Yeah. Uh, for food. Uh, and, but the, but the other thing that happened, uh, a lot of people were outta jobs. Well, that resulted in, of course, food insecurity, but it also resulted in people looking for something to do. And so we got a lot of volunteers

Speaker 1:

And, and the community really stepped up with their giving, didn't they?

Speaker 2:

Uh, it was, it was crazy how much, Yeah. Every they, people saw that the, the ABC news piece on, on the Dallas Food Bank, and there was a, there was a real vivid picture and a portrayal of, of five cars wide and two miles back, thousands and thousands of people lined up trying to get food and they were doing their best to, to accommodate them. But people saw that, and in, in through inter interpolation, they realized that probably is is happening right here. And it was. So they came forward and we started getting, uh, the people that usually give us a hundred dollars gave us$500. The people who gave us$500 gave us$1,500. And that's the way it worked. We got government grants, we got food, uh, we got help from the, the county and from the state. And we built up our, our, our budget to the point where we could, we could not only feed all the extra people that came in, but we had, we had money spare. For the past 10 years, we've been looking at a, our dream was to have a permanent location, a permanent

Speaker 1:

Mm-hmm. Because you were renting for

Speaker 2:

Years. Always renting. Uh, we used to be in the, in the county building, which was a pretty good deal. They gave it, they gave us a, a, we had a very, very low rent. We had a lot of space there. We had walk-in freezer and refrigerator, but they repurposed that area and we had to get out. Uh, then we were challenged with finding a place that we could afford, and we were living from hand to mouth at that time. We were fortunate enough to get enough to make it through that time because of the, the, this community would not let us fall behind. Uh, very generous. But because of Covid and because of, because of all that money that was coming in, we were able to buy a, a new building. And we're in it now, um, just past the VA hospital on, on 28 and a half road. And if you ever get a chance to go down there, please do. We give tours? I

Speaker 1:

Have not been to the,

Speaker 2:

Well, you need to get down there, Christie, cuz it's your, it's, it's your cup of tea in the first place. You do everything in the community. And I know how you guys feel about that.

Speaker 1:

Well, when I toured your last facility, I mean, it brought me to tears. Yeah. Um, everything that you all do and, and all the volunteers that were there helping out and how well organized and how run it was, was really impressive.

Speaker 2:

Well, I, I, uh, brought some of my, uh, some of my military perspective into the running of that food bank. And, uh, we, we were, we, we were efficient, but we had a lot of fun doing what we did. And boy, we helped a lot of people. And, and that's what it's all about really. And, uh, the new, the new location is fantastic. And of course, now that the pandemic is basically over in the sense of how we operate, we've found out that we don't need to go back to exactly the way we did it before the pandemic. We can still have walk-ins and we can do drive, drive through, and, and I do, What I do is not the drive through. I do the deliveries and along with about seven other truck driver volunteers and we deliver. And I do it every Friday. And, um, it's, it, it reminds me of how fortunate that we are.

Speaker 1:

For sure. Well, you mentioned your military career, so let's, let's go back, I mean, way, the way back machine, way back. Tell us, tell us about your childhood and where you grew up and, and, uh, what experience you had with military. Sure. Well,

Speaker 2:

I was born in San Jose Costa Rica in, uh, in 1948.

Speaker 1:

Were you really? Yeah. I didn't know that about you. Yep.

Speaker 2:

I I was born there. My, my father was on active duty in the Army. He was down there training, um, um, uh, gorillas, uh, because at the time the communists were, were running that country to Costa Rica. And, uh, the people wanted to overthrow the government. And my dad was down there with a special ops group, uh, doing that. Um, we've been doing that kind of stuff for about 200 years, I think. At any rate, um, um, my, my mother was pregnant and unfortunately, the pediatrician who's gonna deliver me was a communist. And he had to run for the woods and hide out. So my dad had to deliver me. Oh my gosh. In our, in our, in our house there in, in San Jose, uh, we made it through and, um, uh, all as well. And, uh, I ended up, uh, leaving. We, we left a year and a half later and went to Tacoma, Washington for about eight months. And then we went to Sendai, Japan, and we lived in Japan. And then from then, I, I don't wanna go into all the places, but typical military family

Speaker 1:

Might, typical military move every couple of years.

Speaker 2:

Yep. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. Yep. Exactly. They

Speaker 1:

Don't want you get attached<laugh>.

Speaker 2:

No, they didn't. And, uh, you know, but growing up in that environment was, uh, you see everything, you see all cultures, and it's, it's a lot of fun. I look back on, I don't have any regrets. Some people say, Gee, I missed so much. I don't feel like I missed anything at all. Um, and, and I, I, I look back on my childhood. Uh, now I will say this, uh, because my father was so busy, he probably didn't have all the time he needed to, to, uh, make sure I was on the straight and narrow. And I was a, I was a bad eighth grader. You ever hear of a bad eighth grade grader?

Speaker 1:

Oh, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Are you doing something there?

Speaker 1:

Uh, you know what, I forgot to start my timer. And I think you and I could talk for a couple hours, so I just gotta keep us honest,

Speaker 2:

Considering we're on chapter one

Speaker 1:

Here.

Speaker 2:

Um, yeah. So I was, um, my dad had given me a, a final, uh, a final decree. He said, uh, uh, he said, Beth, you had to straighten up or we're sending you back to the states, the military school. Well, my mother wouldn't let'em do that. I knew that. And, uh, but I was a, I was a knucklehead, nothing really bad. I was just a knucklehead. Uh, I spoke Turks, so I ran around the, the, the on of Turkey with my, my good buddy. And, uh, we had a lot of fun. But finally, um, I got kicked off the school bus and I wasn't allowed to ride the school buses anymore for something I don't want to discuss, because it, it, it, it, um, some people might find it, uh,

Speaker 1:

Off color.

Speaker 2:

It had to do with astronomy.

Speaker 1:

Hmm. Okay. Okay.

Speaker 2:

Anyway,

Speaker 1:

Certain, certain planet that shall remain nameless,

Speaker 2:

Well, uh, satellite, really. Okay. Anyway, uh, I wasn't allowed to ride the school bus anymore, and my dad said, that's the final straw. So he, he, uh, we got on an airplane. He, he, uh, we went back to the states. He drove me to military school and dropped me off at the school a day early. So nobody was there. Put my foot locker on the, on the ground, said, Well, Beth, I hope you grow up and do well. And off he drove. And I was there alone and cried my way through the first three nights. And then the other cadets came and they were mean to me. And I cried my way through another three nights. And, and I was there for four years. And it's the best thing that ever happened

Speaker 1:

To me. And where is that school

Speaker 2:

For King Military Academy At, For King in Virginia. And we have produced two Heisman Trophy winners, 47 NFL football players. Wow. 16 NBA players. Uh, couple, three Star Generals. Uh, it's a, it's a, it's a fabulous school. It's a, it's an all male military boarding school. And it's Baptist. You go to, we went to church every day. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, uh, it's a, it's quite a unique experience. And you, you push back on it and you say, This is crazy. And you say, I can't wait to get outta here. I ended up being the president of my class in the highest ranking cadet and all that kind of stuff. I was a captain of the, of the track team, and I played all sports and I, I was like the, the, the perfect cadet when I got out of there.

Speaker 1:

Sounds like it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Yeah. But, but, uh, I was glad to get out of there, but I look back on that so fondly now, it, it, it did everything my dad wanted to do. Unfortunately, he passed away my sophomore year and never got to see me graduate. So I went to the Stateville from there in Charleston, South Carolina. Have you been to Charleston?

Speaker 1:

Not been to Charleston.

Speaker 2:

Christie, you gotta get out more. Let's,

Speaker 1:

No, I've been to the East.

Speaker 2:

I got cameras often. Let's, let's get going because

Speaker 1:

Let's make our travel plans

Speaker 2:

Okay. With Charleston. That's a great place to go to school. And I loved it. My, my son followed me and he went there as well, 30 years later. Anyway, so that's, that's that. I went into the Army. I spent a career in the Army. I, I just like my dad, nothing changed. Now I'm hauling my, my children Robin and, and John around with us. And we lived in Germany. And my, my daughter Robin, um, she went to Montessori school and she's, and they only spoke French and German in the Montessori school. Oh, wow. And so she, when we go shopping, she was little, little tiny taught. She'd do all the interpreting for us. But now that she lost it when she got back in the States,

Speaker 1:

I was gonna say, I didn't know Robin spoke other languages.

Speaker 2:

She doesn't now she doesn't know. She speaks cmu<laugh>. Well,

Speaker 1:

She's doing a good job of it too.<laugh>, uh, for those of you that don't know, uh, BFF's daughter is Robin Brown, who is the, um, foundation director at cmu.

Speaker 2:

Correct.

Speaker 1:

And past, uh, g e director. That's correct.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. But I still can't get free football tickets, so I don't know what that's all

Speaker 1:

About. What the, Come on. No, really. No, I know President Marshall, I'll put in a good word for you.

Speaker 2:

I know him too.<laugh>, do you know the story? You know a funny story about President Marshall.

Speaker 1:

Oh, please

Speaker 2:

Tell. Okay. I'm over there, uh, visiting him and we're in his office. Uh, my brother-in-law, uh, and myself and and Robin were in there talking to him. And all these workers are running around, like busy bees in his office. And this is like the, the, the second week he was in the, in there. And, uh, they're, they're got meas, they're tape measures and they're measuring and they're, I said, What's going on? He says, Well, all the doors, they're, they're raising the doors cuz he's hitting his head on the doors. He's about eight feet tall, you know. Yeah, yeah. So they, they had to do that. So that's what they were doing at the time,<laugh>. I thought that was pretty funny.

Speaker 1:

Well, good then. You know, they do, they shorten the doors for Robin's area.<laugh>.

Speaker 2:

That's very good. Sorry. I hope you're watching Robin. That's, uh, that's,

Speaker 1:

I think we're about the same height, so, Yeah. So, um, so how did you get to Grand Junction?

Speaker 2:

So, um, uh, retired from the military. Actually, I, my last posting in the military was at the United States Military Academy at West Point where I had a great job. I was chief of operations of the Core Cadets at Wonderful. And my, my kids took full advantage of living in Camelot. Uh, it was wonderful. Uh, Robin did everything at school. John did everything. They were super good kids. Never had any problems with them at all. They were, they were

Speaker 1:

Great. You didn't have to send them to military academy.

Speaker 2:

John went to Fork Union Uhhuh on his, he, he wanted to go. So anyway, he wasn't, he wasn't a punishment. No, it wasn't a punishment, unlike his dad. Um, so, uh, but I retired from the Army, uh, and I went, I was hired immediately by my alma mater for New military academy to come there and be the Commandant Cadets. So I was the commandant at the school I graduated from 30 years ago. Oh, neat. And you know, what's amazing is that seven of the teachers that taught me and coaches were still there 30 years later. Really? Wow. It's like, time hadn't moved at all. They all went, went the same. But now I get to call'em by their first name, which was, took a little while to get used to, but I had a great time there. Did that for three years. And then I went to work for U S A A and I ran the U S A A office at West Point. And, uh, great job. Easy job, because all I had to do was get cadets to become U S A A members. Well, you know, that's a, that's a no brainer. No brainer. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, they all wanted to do that. Yeah. I did a good job. And they moved me up to San Antonio to the headquarters after four years there. And I went there, and again, I, I had a, they gave me a jet and a team, and I went around the country, uh, selling U S A A, not selling the product, selling the, the idea of s a military financial management, taking care of soldiers and, and sailors and marines and Coast Guards and airmen. So that was a great job. I loved doing it. I did it, uh, to, to, for 11 years, retired from them. And I was gonna go fishing Uhhuh. I didn't work out in Colorado. No, I was, I was gonna go fishing in Texas. I I loved San Antonio. Um, that's where the headquarters was. But, um, I, um, uh, I got out of, uh, I was approached by a good friend of mine who was an army buddy of mine who was down in, uh, in Phoenix and went down there and he had it all set up. So, uh, we walked in and he introduced me to his boss, the CEO of Tri West Healthcare Alliance, uh, that had the military contract for all military healthcare in, in the 21 Western States, Hawaii and Alaska. And he offered me a job on the spot. He said, Beth, I'd like you to come work for us and do the same thing for us. You did for U S A A except instead of, uh, mil until instead of, uh, financial services, you'll be doing healthcare for For veterans. For veterans, Yep. And for their families. Okay. And I, I was still reluctant. And then he mentioned the, the salary. And I said, Okay, where's my office?<laugh> fishing Can wait. Fishing can wait. So I did that, and that was as good a job as you can imagine. It was fantastic. And I, and I, that's where I really got the, the, the fever for non-profit. Because one of the things that I had to do, um, the military doesn't cover everything, believe it or not, Back then, in, in, in, uh, in 2007, uh, there were a lot of things like hyperbaric chambers, uh, for, for people. You know, that's a common thing. Now we know the value of a hyperbaric chamber. Right. Um, but the military didn't cover it. So I had to go out and find bill payers that would help a, a service member get a hyperbaric chamber for his three year old son who has a heart problem and needs surgery. And I was able to do that. I had connections all over. And, um, th there are a lot of non-profits that target specific parts of the military. Marines, Forest recon, uh, Navy Seals, uh, every, every piece, every niche in the military, every service has someone who, who wants to take care of them. Uh, we all know the big ones. Uh, but, but, but I, I was able to go and get money to pay for these things, and it was such a gratifying experience. Yeah. And I did that right up until we, we lost the government contract, which is another story. We lost it. And to, to, uh, Humana I think it was. And, um, and so we closed up shop and I was out of a job, but it's okay cuz I was ready to go fishing again. Uhhuh<affirmative>. Well, during this, during my last couple years, it, we try west in Phoenix. I would come down to Grand Junction and visit my daughter and, and her husband and family who lived here. And every time we'd come down here, um, I, I couldn't help but to notice this is a wonderful place. Everything about it, everything. Um, the people, the pace, the, the, the people here are so compassionate. They're so fun. And there's music and there's fantastic downtown, great university. Everything I liked. So one day I said to Robin, after we were leaving after Thanksgiving, I said, um, you know, Robin, I think when we finally do retire, and we're gonna leave Phoenix and we're gonna move to Grand Junction. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, you know, and you never know how your daughter's gonna respond,<laugh>. Um, and she said, Okay. So I, I guess two months later, maybe a month later, we're we're doing, and the phone rings and it's Robinson dad, if you're serious about what you said before, the house next door just came up for sale. I bought it that day,<laugh>. And we unseen, we moved next door to the Browns mm-hmm.<affirmative>. Uh, and they lived, they were our next door neighbors for seven years. And Robin and Merley, excuse me, Hank and Merley were in our house. Your grandkids? My grandkids, as much as they were in their house. Fantastic. Again, it's so great. We're living the dream. Yeah. And, um, but I got here and it was great. It was fun. It was lots to do, but I needed something to do. Do

Speaker 1:

Well, when people started discovering how much energy you have and how much passion for non-profits, Whew. People got excited, Right? Like, Biff, come, come join us.

Speaker 2:

I, uh, I think so. Um, a a good, and again, a lot of times you live off your vicariously through your children. Well, Robin had had started. She hit the ground running when she got here. And she did all kinds of things. I don't know how many people know she was a te uh, she was doing Avalon replenishment and, and, um, raising money for them. Dda. We did that when she worked for the dda. Actually, I was her gopher<laugh>. I used to do all the, I used to do the, the lifting when, when she was down there. But, uh, but you're right. Uh, I a a friend of mine, and I, I'm sure, I'm sure you probably know her, uh, Jen Gro Heim Harris, you know Jen, Jen Goyim Harris. She's a, she's a gorgeous blonde like you. Uh, and, and, uh, she asked Robin to join her, her, uh, uh, Rotary Horizon, Sunrise Rotary. Robin said, I can't, I'm too busy. I, but you ought ask my dad. And, and so she fixed us up. We went out and had coffee, and I visited Horizon Sunrise, Rosies Rotary. And I said, This is for

Speaker 1:

Me. You haven't missed a meeting since. I

Speaker 2:

Haven't missed a meeting since, well, a couple, but not very many. They're all people like me. I mean, everybody's in step, everybody is a, is a, is a passionate servant of, of the community. And I, I love it. And so that also was a, I was at Horizon Sunrise Rotary when, um, the executive director for the community food bank came and gave a little pitch on the food bank. Oh,

Speaker 1:

How you got

Speaker 2:

Involved in that. I followed her down and, and volunteered that day for the food bank. And I've been volunteering ever since. Wow. So that's how, that's how we got here. I followed my, my, uh, my daughter and her family.

Speaker 1:

Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. And so, um, Food Bank Rotary. I know you're, you're heavily involved in that. You also have a lot to do with a blood drives. And I know you, um, like to come to our office and we like to help you out with, uh, donating blood. And Suzanne was an award winner for a while. She had a record for a while, but I think she got surpassed. Right. Oh, did you bring it? I,

Speaker 2:

I, I brought the records here. You Canand. Where is she on the second sheet? You can see what happened there. But yeah, I, uh, I've always been a blood donor. Uh, I started in the Army and it's, it's, for me, it's, it's just, it's a no-brainer. Again, it's in the ar of course, in the Army, they, they form up the platoons and you march in there and you give blood. Nobody volunteers. You just do it. And I think we did that at the Citadel as well. Everybody gives blood. Right. It's not, I, I think that'd be against the law today, but back in the good old days, that's what we did it. At any rate, I always thought, what an easy thing to do to save a life. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, you know, it, it really is. So I've always had a, I've always been passionate about that. And everywhere I've gone, I've donated blood. Uh, unfortunately, they've, the, the, the services, the blood services are all different. So you never know exactly how much you gave. I, I try to guess sometimes, but, uh, so I got here and I, I went and donated blood at St. Mary's Blood Center. Um, I told'em I'd like to help more. And they said, Well, do you ever think about being the coordinator? And I said, That's what I'm gonna be. So I go out to businesses like Christie Reese Group, who I know, uh, is, is a, is a community active group. And I say, I'm gonna bring the blood mobile. I'll park it right in front of your building, and I'll send you a link. You sign up and I, you have to do is walk out. Most of the time it, it takes 20 minutes or so. In the case of Suzanne, it only takes five minutes.

Speaker 1:

Um, four minutes and 40 seconds. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Crazy. Is she in second place

Speaker 1:

Now? Third. Third. Tide for third.

Speaker 2:

Oh, Tide for third.

Speaker 1:

Yes. Right. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. And I see you and Jen Gross Hiim Harris are on the list. That's probably because you donate so often, you just get faster every time. You

Speaker 2:

Gotta drink water.<laugh> Gas's. And she's a probe. Uhhuh<affirmative>. Yeah. It's, it's

Speaker 1:

A great thing. Well, you make it really easy on people and we appreciate that. Yeah. I mean, when, when the bus is parked out here, all we have to do is walk outside and

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Guess what? We're gonna do it again. I know. Uh, and we're gonna do it at the new office in Frida. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. Are we allowed to, Are we allowed to talk about

Speaker 1:

That? Yeah. We own it now. We're, we're super excited. Yeah. We're gonna park the bus out in Frida, do blood drive and invite, uh, the other businesses downtown. Great.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. We will. And of course, my, my, the filming the gaps will be my, my, uh, Horizon Sunrise Rotary. Um, and so, you know, the good thing about this, and I'm, I'm I'm telling you this to get, uh, gen up interest, but we have a fast draw contest. Yeah. And the person with the fastest draw, in this case, ette at the last one. She broke Suzanne's record at the last

Speaker 1:

One there. And this is a, a world record too.

Speaker 2:

It is a world record<laugh>. I mean, it's amazing. Well, I'm waiting for someone to dispute that. Nobody has yet. Okay. So anyway, uh, that's so quick that you can't, you get settled down, you put it in, they walk away and you have to come right back.<laugh>. Um, so personally, the fastest draw for each blood drive gets a gift certificate for me, for Devil's Kitchen for a Bloody Mary. And they

Speaker 1:

Make Oh,

Speaker 2:

That's perfect. Really good. I should have,

Speaker 1:

I, Gosh, we need some right now, don't we<laugh>? Yeah, we

Speaker 2:

Do. But they're, they're, it's, it's delicious. But anyway, that's, that's what you get. So someone at your blood drive and Frida will get a bloody Mary and I'll, I'll present that to them. But, you know, it's fun. And the, the group down there now, it's by talent. It's a, it's new organization. Right. And there's growing pains and little hiccups now and then, but they're the, a lot of'em are the same people that work for St. Mary's. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, all great, great people. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

They know what they're doing. And it doesn't hurt. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And it doesn't now. It really doesn't. I mean, you,

Speaker 1:

For anybody that's afraid of donating blood, don't be afraid. Super easy. I

Speaker 2:

I'll bet you five times a day you have a pain that's a lot worse than that. Oh yeah. Just from nothing.

Speaker 1:

I used to tell my kids when they were getting a shot or something, I said, Just pretend your brother's pinching you. And that hurts. Way worse. Cuz then if you just think, Oh, my brother thinks me. Like, Oh, that wasn't so bad. Yeah,

Speaker 2:

That's exactly right. So I I, and that's a fun thing to do. And, and it really, it's far as I'm concerned. It's easy. There's some admin stuff you have to do and you do some coordination, but I get to meet great people and you know, I come in here and I get breathe in the fresh air that's in here. You ever noticed how fresh the air is in here?

Speaker 1:

Oh, I hadn't thought of that. Oh,

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Well, you can use that if you want. Uh, but, you know, I get, that's another thing. I, I get to go around and do that. Oh, by the way, uh, I don't know that you call an an ulterior ulterior motive, but when I go in and I approach all these, uh, businesses, uh, they get to know that not only am I here as a blood drive coordinator, but I'm also representing Rivers Edge West. Yeah. Horizon Sunrise Rotary and, and really the community of Food Bank. What do you need to know about those things? Yeah. And you want, you want to tell me, I'll tell you what they need and you can help them. They all do something for this community. So it's, it's called networking and we all do it. Well,

Speaker 1:

You're really good at it. And, and so is Robin. I mean, I, I remember when Robin was working on Avalon project, and I thought, this girl that hasn't even lived here that long, she didn't know anybody yet. But man, she, like you said, hit the ground running. And, and, uh, I think you're the same way. Like there isn't anybody you haven't met. Right. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Well, everyone's, It's funny when that happens. Uh, uh, Kathleen and I went to a, a art arch. An art fair at the, um, at the, uh, base camp, you know, uh, Sunday. And I was walking through there and I, I, I said to her, Yeah, I don't know anybody here,<laugh>. And she said, That can't be right.

Speaker 1:

And she said, Not for long.

Speaker 2:

And just, just then a couple came up, What are you doing here? And so I was saved, but, uh, Yeah. And it's a small town and we all joke about the fact that if you're sitting in a restaurant, don't talk about other people because they're probably sitting right next to you somewhere. That's

Speaker 1:

True. Related to

Speaker 2:

Someone. Absolutely. So, so that's my blood drive experience.

Speaker 1:

So, um, there's another thing on my sheet that I would love to talk more about. And that's the Grand Valley Resettlement Project. Oh, yeah. How are you involved in

Speaker 2:

That? Well, of course, back again to my Rotary Club. Uh, and, uh, um, they, they were guests. Uh, and, um,

Speaker 1:

The, the directors of this

Speaker 2:

Group? No, no, the family. Family, um, uh, Christie Redinger brought him in. You know, Christie, she, she's she's vice president of the, uh, Bank of the San Juans. Okay. Um, right there at on, uh, six and 50. And she's like, she's involved in everything. She's, she's a great, great gal. And she's the, the person that pumps blood into our, uh, rotary exchange program. And we have an incredible rotary exchange program

Speaker 1:

And tell people what that is.

Speaker 2:

High school students from foreign countries come here for their junior year in high school. And we reciprocate and send someone from here to their country for their junior year, the entire junior year. And we, we put three families as hosts and each of'em take a, take a, uh, a student and they go through their junior year, they matriculate into school and become a Grand Junction tiger. You know, it's really cool. And we've been doing it since I've been there. And, and it's really good program. Super.

Speaker 1:

And that's, that comes down from National Rotary. That's a program that they do.

Speaker 2:

Yes. International.

Speaker 1:

International.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. It sure is. It it very successful. We, when I was at, in, in Rotary West Point, we had it and we had a cadet always come in and talk to them because the, the West Point is full of cadets that were exchange students. Big surprise. You know, they're great kits. Um, but, uh, going back to, um, uh, Grand Valley Resettlement project, uh, the family came in and they're the ACT bars. Abers and Daou is the, is the father.

Speaker 1:

Uh, and they're from Kabua.

Speaker 2:

They would live in

Speaker 1:

Of Afghanistan.

Speaker 2:

Yes. Mm-hmm. And, uh, three daughters, all of them in school, not allowed to be in school. They're, you know, you're only allowed to go to sixth grade there girls. And then they're, they, they're done with school. Uh, and the Taliban came in and as you know, they're in charge now. And so they, that, that, that by itself was threatening. But the fact that he also, uh, uh, was supportive of our, our services over there, US services. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, they had, they had to be smuggled out, otherwise their lives weren in jeopardy. Mm-hmm.<affirmative> their entire family along with a lot of other families. Well, it turns out we have seven families in that category. They're that are coming to Grand Junction. Uh, four of'em are already here. Uh, OOS families here. And I was interested right away. I I met them. And, um, I, again, I spoke Turkish, so I tried speaking Turkish thinking maybe there's some connection. And there is a little bit, a little bit, a little bit Uhhuh. But, but, uh, we both speak English. He speaks English better than I do<laugh>. And, uh, which is no great feed either<laugh>. But we, um, uh, I, I, I just, uh, started, I realized they, they, they have a house that's, that's, and they, they get, they pay for it through the government program, but he needs everything. He needs a driver's license, he needs a car. Anybody, Where

Speaker 1:

Do you, how do you get started? Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Well, let me just say before I go any further. Right now, the biggest need is for a car. He, they, they have no transportation. They, that family depends on myself and a couple other volunteers that take'em everywhere they want to go. Other than that, they take the bus or they walk. You can't believe how far the distance is. They walk sometimes and they, they shake their, I said, You walked all the way to Canyon View and Yes, it's okay. It's nice. And, um, so,

Speaker 1:

Okay, so, Okay, listeners. Yeah. And, and watchers need a vehicle for this family.

Speaker 2:

If you know, if you know anybody, and I know it's a big ask. I understand that if you know anybody that has an old junker or something that we could fix up, cuz we could, we have people that we could take it to. Uh, this family desperately needs a car. They have seven people in their family. Uh, and they have, they have four in our district, 51 schools. And all of'em speak English. And they're all doing well. And they're all, they've been, they've been embraced by the community. But, and, and the wood, the head of the family has no driver's license. He has one from, from Afghanistan, but we need to get him one. So I'm, I'm in the process. You're helping him with that? I am doing that. I am even gonna give, take him out on a Sunday when there's nobody around in a school parking lot. Let him drive my Subaru. Yeah. And he says, Oh, I can drive. I can drive and I probably can drive better than me too<laugh>. Um, but we're gonna do all that. We're gonna get him his drive. I, he's, he's got a, he's got a visa now. Um, they're here and they're all the, the, the papers are being processed for their citizenship. But it, you know, it takes three years.

Speaker 1:

Uhhuh<affirmative>. And does he have a job? Is he employed?

Speaker 2:

Uh, as a matter of fact, uh, we're looking for that. I, I got'em a part-time, uh, job with a, uh, landscape company. But it, you know, it's just, it's hit or miss. They, they don't need em all the time. Uh, and it doesn't pay a lot. But he, he'd be, he's willing to do anything. Like most people who come to this country, they'll do anything. And, uh, he's that way. But he's a very, But he's educated and has many, many skills

Speaker 1:

And was very loyal to the US

Speaker 2:

Absolutely.

Speaker 1:

Service.

Speaker 2:

Which is, which is why he had a run for it. Yeah. Um, so yeah, he does need a job. Um, I, you know, Kimberly, um, uh, Kimberly, uh, Oh wow. Kimberly's not listening yet.<laugh> um, Clemmer, um, yes. Yes. Welding, Well, he's a welder. Oh wow. But they don't have any openings right now, but she's agreed to have'em come over and they'll Fantastic. Yeah. Everybody's like that. She,

Speaker 1:

She's big. So first family out of seven,

Speaker 2:

This is, there's four here right now. Four family. And yeah. So, uh, and in addition to that, uh, I, I, we got'em lined up with the food bank. So that what we're trying to do with the food bank is get ahold of food. That's the kind of food that they, they have a particular kind of food they like. I mean

Speaker 1:

Yeah. It's really hard to transition to like

Speaker 2:

Absolutely it

Speaker 1:

Is American food and portion sizes it is and all

Speaker 2:

That. Yeah. There's a particular kind of rice that they prefer and they can't get it here. So we're, we're, we're trying to do that. And I also on, on, um, one, one month, one Friday, every month I deliver, uh, food boxes to every one of the Afghan families with all the local stuff that they need. Not local stuff, but the stuff that we, we brought in and we're trying to customize those boxes to, to accommodate their needs. And I take the<inaudible> cuz then I get to meet all the other families and it That's great. It's really neat. So we're doing that as well.

Speaker 1:

So if people wanna help out with the Resettlement project, um, how do they go about that? Is there a website?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, there is, um, a Grand Valley resettlement project. And if you Google that, you'll, it'll pop up and you'll, not only that, but you'll learn the, the, the chronology of how they got here and all these families and where they go. They don't come here directly from Afghanistan. They have to go to a stop over station. And they're in, in, in their, their, uh, that's usually, uh, somewhere in Asia. Uh, and they stay there for a long time and they can't go out the building. And you know, now we're talking about a family of seven who eight months are in a, in a high rise apartment building. They can't go outside. Then they come here and they go to some place, either Virginia or or, or Kentucky. And again, they go through a, uh, administration process, uh, that takes, uh, a couple months and eventually they're selected to go to a particular pace place. And I, I'm not sure how many, uh, states have what we have, but, but we have a unique one here and somehow we ask for it. And, um, uh, the people over at, uh, uh, Canyon View Church, uh, are very involved in, in supporting them. All the people that I've met that are with this program, that are helping the volunteers are all super people. Uh, they just want to help and get these people on their feet, make them productive members of our

Speaker 1:

Community. That's a great, great thing. Yeah. I haven't, um, haven't gotten to meet any of the, um, families yet, but I look forward to that. We'll make that

Speaker 2:

Happen. Glad

Speaker 1:

We'll make that happen. Um, Cycle effect. The

Speaker 2:

Cycle effect. Are you familiar with the cycle

Speaker 1:

Effect? We are. We donated some money to the cycle effect. Good.

Speaker 2:

Good for you. Yeah. Cause they're an impressive group of young ladies. Yeah. And, um, so funny thing, um, uh, I had, I got a call from a, a, a young lady named Sophia, and she says, I heard you're the man to talk to about funding. And I said, Well, okay. And she says, Have you, you know, the cycle effect? I said, No, I don't. Uh, so we met for coffee, uh, down at kiln, which which is where you go to have coffee with people. And, uh, she laid it out for me. And, uh, I said, Well, you know what, this is really impressive. Why don't you come to my Rotary and be my guest there? So she did. And, and so her story is so compelling, um, uh, not exclusively, but most, mostly young Hispanic girls who need a need, a helping hand. So this group takes'em. And, and it's originally from Eagle. Uh, but we have our own, our own group here. Chapter here. Yeah. Own chapter here. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. And, uh, they all get a mountain bike, a good mountain bike. That's theirs. Uh, it's, it, they don't get to take it home. Uh, but it's in the, it's sign to them and they get it every time. Yeah. They, every Tuesday and Thursday, uh, they go up to, uh, uh, what's the, um, the Redlands School way up there, the nice one. Win win Gate. They go to Win Gate and they all meet up there. They get there and they all have a uniform they wear. And, uh, there's a lot of, uh, when they get there, they get in a big circle and, and they all join arms and, uh, they go through their creed, uh, which is about helping other people. Um, and then they take a ride and they go up and they go different routes. And, and the, the, the managers, they call them, the girls that manage'em, are all just super young. 20, 30 something year old bike riders. Mountain biking. Yeah, mountain biking. Yeah. So, uh, we gave them$1,500 out of a grant, uh, for the same reason you did. You were, you, you read their mission. Yeah. And it's saw what they do when impressed. That's something we need to support. And we did. Well, a couple weeks later in comes<inaudible> with his family and he's got a young, uh, 16 year old named Sarah, spelled just like we spell Sarah. And she speaks very good English fluent I'd say. And, uh,

Speaker 1:

Does she wanna learn to ride a mountain

Speaker 2:

Bike? Well, I, I'd asked her, I said, Hey, you know, do you ride bikes? And I said, Oh, I don't have a bike, but I'd love to. I said, Would you like, be interested? And I explained to her, she said, Oh, her eyes lit up. And so I said, Well, we'll I'll take you. So, so great. Beth, David and I, we got the truck. We took her out there and I had already talked to Sophia and, um, and they said, Bring her. And they embraced her. And she's one of the team and she's just, it's

Speaker 1:

So heartwarming. That's

Speaker 2:

Wonderful. So, um, so this is a new fiscal year for us. So I told Sophia, I said, Sophia, you gotta put your gran in for, you know, for$1,500. She said, Oh, you just gave us$1,500. I said, That's outta the fiscal year. Ask

Speaker 1:

Again.

Speaker 2:

<laugh>. So she did. And, and so that, that's a good story too, and and exciting to see what's happening there. Yep.

Speaker 1:

So you haven't let any, uh, moss grow under your feet while you've been retired?

Speaker 2:

No, I can't. Yeah. Because, but all those things that I wanted to do in retirement, I'm doing. So I'm not missing out on anything Now. My wife is a lot like me. She is full steam ahead. Yeah. She, as you know, she rides horses all the time. She rides a bike. She's always pestering me to let's go, let's, let's, let's ride Del Loma, you know, And I just came back from the gym and I'm like, and she says, Let's ride Del Loma. I, um, but she's, she's a very active and uh, she's also very compassionate. Yes. Um, so

Speaker 1:

And you all support each other in b in all your endeavors? Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2:

Yep. Yep. I shovel horse poop with the best of'em. I'm perfect. I've doing it for doing it for 40 years. That's all she's had horses. Um, yeah. And so where are we?

Speaker 1:

Um, and any other organizations you wanna talk about? I see is the Supper Club, is that actual actual club here in town?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Yeah. That's,

Speaker 1:

Uh, that's Standup Paddleboard Club.

Speaker 2:

That's exactly what it is. How did you get that? You're right. I had usually explain that to people, but that's, that's what it is. And we hike, bike, kayak and camp. And, uh, it's actually was started by a friend of ours, uh, who this is Grand Junction story. So we're going, Kath and I are going to Ben one night for our anniversary for our, our 50th. Then it was our 50th anniversary. And, um, we go to Ben and it was, uh, during Covid, so, you know, the seating was all

Speaker 1:

Spread Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Spread out. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. And we said, and as we're going in, here comes this other couple. And Kath looks at her and goes, Tammy. And Tammy goes, Kathleen. And they hug and you know, and so they turns out it was their anniversary. Oh, funny. So anyway, we go in there and, um, we had our family medicine, we had our anniversary dinner and, and Tammy and, and Mike Bristly, um, uh, uh, from South Africa. He's from South Africa and he came, but he's been here for a long time. And he's an entrepreneur. He does lots of stuff. Um, and uh, it turns out that he's a tennis player. So we, and I play, I'm a tennis player. Yes. Tennis. I'm an extraordinary tennis player. It's extraordinary on me, but allowed on the courts. But, uh, he, uh, we, we, we became good friends and he, they're very active. They always are hiking and biking. So they, so they said, Let's go kayaking. So we got a group together and, um, that group has solidified and become the supper club

Speaker 1:

In a supper club.

Speaker 2:

So a, a a, like in the good weather on a Friday afternoon, we go out to, uh, Rob Park and we all put our stuff in the little lake out there by the park. And we kayak and supp around. And then, then we have a, we all brought picnics and we all have a picnic on the picnic table. We do that all the time. And, and, um, we haven't done it in a while though. Come to think of it, it's about time we do it again, but we also take hikes to Utah and do all the good fun stuff. Wonderful. So it's, it's a lot of fun. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

So do you have advice for people that think retirement is gonna be boring?

Speaker 2:

<laugh>? Well, it, it can be boring if you let it be boring. It, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm thinking it probably when, when I was, I remember my uncles retiring and they'd say, Now it's my time. And they'd, and they'd sit on their front porch and drink gin and tonic and fall asleep and, um, and die when they're before they're 60. Yeah. That's, you know, And, uh, we're, it's a different generation now. We can, it's hard to compare, but as far as I'm concerned, I, I get up and I get up, I get up about five 30 every morning, sometimes a little earlier. Sometimes I, I'll sleep in and I'll go to six, but I get up my head's buzzing with things I, I wanna do with ideas. And, um, and I'm excited about it. I'm excited about Thursday mornings. I love it. I get up real early. I go to, I go to Starbucks. Go to Starbucks with my newspaper, read the whole newspaper. Cuz I want to be up on everything. When I go into my star, um, into my Rotary Club meeting. Um, I usually, I, I will usually mention something that happened on this day in 1821, you know, at Starbucks, I mean, at, uh, at Rotary. And I, I just, I'm, I guess, I guess I need to feed myself. I'm, I'm, I'm, I've got energy. Sometimes it drives people crazy. It does. Sometimes my wife gets Yeah, it does<laugh>. She says it's time for bad. And I, I'm also addicted to college football at college basketball mm-hmm.<affirmative>. So I, I can't miss any of those. And I, I go to all my grandchildren's games, everything. Lacrosse, uh, soccer. Yeah. Uh,

Speaker 1:

Volleyball. And, and you play tennis and you ski. Yep.

Speaker 2:

Right. Did I mention that my, my granddaughter Meley is the fastest, uh, seventh grader in district. 51? No. Hundred yard dash champion. Fantastic champion. Okay.

Speaker 1:

All right. Well hopefully we'll get her on the, uh, Palisade High school cross country and track team. Yep.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, she I'm sure she'll, she'll run track. That's for, Hank is a great cross country runner, but he's taking a leave of absences here. Yeah. Yeah. So he's, he's, but he's, he's doing mountain biking. He's a great mountain bucker.

Speaker 1:

Well, isn't that great that the kids have so many opportunities available to them here?

Speaker 2:

That's why we live here. Do you remember Robin's piece he used to do in the newspaper of Why We live here? Yeah. That's why we live here. That was, I miss that. But she always used to say stuff

Speaker 1:

Like that. Did you get her to start writing that

Speaker 2:

Again? I wish I could. I know. I'm sure she's got a lot of spare time.<laugh>.

Speaker 1:

It was really good. Well, uh, oh, one more thing on here. Redlands tomato Farmer.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I'm a I'm a renowned tomato farmer.

Speaker 1:

You're gonna give Blaine some, uh, run for his money.

Speaker 2:

I don't think he has anything to worry about, but I'll tell you what, right now you go to my backyard and I'll betcha there's 500 tomatoes this big on my vines. Wow. They're

Speaker 1:

What's your, what's your address?

Speaker 2:

See that's, and that's another thing. I'm not telling anybody that, but, um, Kaf makes tomato sauce and she jar, she cans it, excuse me, cans it and we give it away. And uh, it's uh, it's really good. It's really good cuz. And it's of course organic, you know, nothing. But, um, we, we did, we had a good late crop this year late, but very good. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. Yep. So I, I do do that. So I think we covered it all.

Speaker 1:

I think we got pretty well through the list, but I know we could just talk forever. We could. I I could talk to you forever. B I really appreciate your energy and, uh, whenever we see you coming to the office, we're excited cuz we know we're gonna have a good conversation. We're gonna learn some things about new organizations that we didn't know about. And, um, you're gonna get us fired up about stuff. So thank you that

Speaker 2:

No, the feel, the feeling is mutual. Christy, I I I, I love you. I love everyone in your staff. I love I love your mission. I love what you do, um, with your money for the community. Thank

Speaker 1:

You. We, we love to give back like you do. It's, it feels really good. And, and someday when I retire Yeah. From real estate, you know, real estate agents never really retire. Yeah.<laugh>. I know. Um, uh, I, I hope to, um, follow in your footsteps and be giving up my time as much as you have. So

Speaker 2:

You probably will. Uh, and I mean, you do enough now while you're working.

Speaker 1:

So, you know, the other thing I wanna do. Sure. What I really love is finding those dinosaur bones out at Ra Valley

Speaker 2:

<laugh>. Do you really?

Speaker 1:

Yeah. I like the little, little work that I find that very therapeutic. It's kinda like gardening, you know, or pulling weeds. Yeah. I just little brush and Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I, I can imagine that

Speaker 1:

I can do that for hours. I,

Speaker 2:

I, I was amazed at, at the petrick lifts that I, we saw when we went to Utah and everything. I cuz you think to yourself, someone did that, uh, you know, 5,000 years ago. There they are doing that and it's really neat and it's still there. And, and, and the buildings just, a lot of the buildings are still there that, that they built on the side of those mountains. And, you know, the getting to there is, is it was really a challenge. Um, do you know Kathy Green by any chance? Do you know Kathy Green? Yes, I do. She's, she's one of our suppers and she is, she goes out on her own, talk about a Colorado girl, Kathryn and I have a words, we say we we're riding our bike and someone will go by and say it's Colorado Girl<laugh> because they all look, they, they're tough. Tough, Yeah. Strong. Well she's, she's a Colorado girl. She's, she's fantastic and a good, good friend. But she goes out on with her dog by herself into the, into the far reaches of, of parks and stuff by herself. And I'm trying to convince her to take a gun. Now. Let's not get into the gun and talk, but, but I think it's dangerous

Speaker 1:

The

Speaker 2:

Next time we meet. I think it's dangerous for her to go out there like that.

Speaker 1:

But you know what, as a woman that grew up in Colorado, um, we're used to that. Like I've, you know, I feel like I can take care of myself and I, I like to see the bears and the, you know, I don't wanna see a criminal out there, but, um, you know, I like to be on the wild and, Yeah. Well, and I'm not afraid

Speaker 2:

That that's cuz you're, you're, you're the real deal Colorado

Speaker 1:

Girl. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. You talked to my wife's from Brooklyn,<laugh><laugh> a whole different slant on that, but, uh, yeah. And, and, um, but we were, we were in Utah and we were coming up this cliff and, and for the, at the time, you know, I weigh 190 pounds and so we're getting up in this, this rock and, and she reaches down and says, Take my hand. Well, she probably weighs like a buck 30, something like that. And she reaches down and grabs my hand and I mean, it's like a vice. And she pulls me right, right up on the ledge and, and uh, it was really cool cuz I scraped the hell out of my knee and it was bleeding and everything. And it had a scab on there for a long time. And every time someone said, when I was playing to us, What in the world happened to your knee? I tell'em that story. I said, Kathy Green, she lifted me right up with one arm.<laugh>.

Speaker 1:

Well, Biff, it's been our pleasure to host you here at the Full Circle podcast. Thank you for sharing your story and your enthusiasm and your love for our community and keep it going. Okay?

Speaker 2:

I will. And my pleasure. And I'll be back to pester you guys. Okay. And I'm looking forward to the blood drive

Speaker 1:

Card. Anytime. Come in anytime. Thank you. Thank you. Got this picture on the wall. Yeah. From, He's a member of the team. Yep. So<laugh>. All right, this is Christie Reese and Biff Messinger signing off. We'll see you next time on the Full Slur Girl podcast. Bye. Thanks for listening. This is Christie Reese signing out from the Full Circle Podcast.