An Army of Normal Folks - Big Al Holdren: We Don’t Do Fluffy, We Only Roll Into Hell (Pt 2)

Episode Date: March 19, 2024

Big Al is our first 2-time guest! After our story about his Christmas charity, Secret Families, Al told us that he and a small army of normal folks also respond to natural disasters. They serve however normal folks like themselves can, but it just can't be fluffy.Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey guys, it's Bill Courtney with an army of normal folks and we continue now with part two of our conversation with big Al Holdren right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. John Stewart is back in the host chair at The Daily Show, which means he's also back in our ears on The Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. The Daily Show podcast has everything you need to stay on top of today's news and pop culture. You get hilarious satirical takes on entertainment, politics, sports, and more from John and the team of correspondents and contributors. The podcast also has content you can't get anywhere else, like extended interviews and a roundup of the weekly headlines. Listen to The Daily Show,

Ears Edition on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Martha Stewart, and we're back with a new season of my podcast. This season will be even more revealing and more personal, with more entrepreneurs, more trailblazers, more live events, more Martha, and more questions from you. I'm talking to my cosmetic dermatologist, Dr. Dan Belkin, about the secrets behind my skincare. Walter Isaacson about the geniuses who changed the world. Encore Jane about creating a billion dollar startup.

Dr. Elisa Pressman about the five basic strategies to help parents raise good humans. Florence Fabricant about the authenticity in the world of food writing. Be sure to tune in to season two of the Martha Stewart podcast. Listen and subscribe to the Martha Stewart podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What does optimism look like? I'm on a quest to find the people who inspire us to dream more and do more.

I'm Simon Sinek, and I host a podcast called A Bit of Optimism. I talk to all sorts of people, from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to a hairdresser on Instagram who gives out free haircuts to the homeless, from the CEOs of the world's largest companies to the comedy writer who visited the wreckage of the Titanic, I love talking to leaders, artists, authors, and eccentrics about life, leadership, purpose, mental fitness, human skills, high performance, and other curious things. It leaves me feeling wiser, more inspired, and well, more optimistic. Because after all, this is a bit of optimism. The world is full of magic and wonder,

if you know where to look for it. Listen to a bit of optimism on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. ["The World Is Full of Magic and Wonder"] ["The World Is Full of Magic and Wonder"] Somebody had an elephant from a circus to drag stuff? In Joplin, while we were there, in the church parking lot, there was a circus that was coming into town and they were performing on that Friday night and the tornado hits, whatever, a few days prior to, the arena's gone. And the town, who's going to a circus? You're trying to... Yeah, there's prior to the arena's gone.

And the town, who's going to a circus? You're trying to, but you're looking for, you're looking for Fluffy, because it's your dog's running around wherever. So, so the circus people came over to the church and they, and circus people are interesting. And there's a whole nother outholder story. Yeah.

I think everybody listening knows that circus people are interested. Very interesting. They're an interesting lot. Our knees roadies all of it. Yeah. They, they, they were very special. All kinds of other things. I'm not supposed to say a song about probably is a song about that. And I think what I just said is probably politically incorrect, but oh, well, oh, well, it's me and you, right? Yeah, that's right. About 95,000 other people listening, but it's OK. Yeah, it's all right.

Maybe 100,000. So tell the story. OK. Now that I'm scared. So the circus came and said, because there was a lot of kids, and everybody was in line, and all that. And they said, can we perform in the parking lot? We'd just like to entertain some of the kids.

So they brought out and said, also, we're not able to make any money. We've got to pay some of the kids. So they brought out, they were, and said, also, we're not able to make any money. We got to, we got to pay some of the bills. Could we give camel rides in the parking lot? So they set their camel ride up in the parking lot. And for $2, they'd throw three or four kids on that. And they'd give camel rides in the parking lot, made a fortune. Made a fortune. So kids were riding the camel. The jugglers are out there juggling and doing all that.

Well, they ended up, we got clear from that where we were at at the church, when you just say it was on like the southeast side of the area that was affected. If you go on the northwest side, they were out there and they had a problem. There was a big ravine, huge ravine. And however, where the tornado come in, it just, it thinks, I mean, just remember this thing,

this was an F5. It was on the ground for 22 miles and it only moved at a couple miles an hour, which are the dangerous ones because it's a grinder. It's just a grinder. It's barely moving hardly at all. And so it just grinds everything up and then just pukes it up, you know, two houses down, whatever it picked up here, it grinds it, pukes it, when it gets too heavy and it just grinds trees, cars, flipping them up, carrying trees and just nuts. So it's throwing all these, all the heavy stuff. When it come over top that ravine, everything that it's pulling the big heavy stuff dropped it in the ravine,

which is like 30 cars and trucks. So at the bottom of this ravine, it's like a just a jungle mess of cars. They've got to get them out of there because there's gas and oil and they're afraid of pollutant. The river that was down there and the bodies in it, too. I didn't ask. But probably was. Probably was.

I think we looked and 158 people killed. I would say yes. So we get over there and the problem was the ravine was so, it was so steep. They would put a guy, they'd put a mountaineering guy, rescue guy on the cable. And then the truck would just start letting the cable out. He'd let the cable, the guy down over the ravine.

He'd hook the cable on down there, get out of the way, and they would drag a truck out. Well, they didn't bring a big enough wrecker. Wow. And then almost flipped the big wreck. It was a big wrecker, but it was they needed the big semi wreckers, which you've, you know, with your other business, probably at some time, they needed one of those and it needed to be farther away and it needed to be tethered to something because when they started pulling it up,

it was pulling the truck back up. It was, it was about ready to flip it over into the ravine. So they stopped, stopped that. They let it back down. Well, elephants during the, the, the Bergen the, they used to set up circus tents with elephants. They have these huge, huge leather harnesses they put on them. And then they would just take that elephant and they would hook a cable on the back and they would, they have a skid plate on those big tent poles and they put the big out and they would hook and it had a ring on the bottom of it. They hook onto that and the elephant just walks away and it just skid plates and as that thing comes up the tip goes up So the guy was like

We'd pull those out. He got all if it can pull X amount of pounds So they just put the guy put a huge cable on the back of that elephant and let the elephant backed up I'll let the guy down hooked on the elephant just went They you take a watermelon and you walk in front of them and the elephant will just follow the watermelon. He walked over and all of a sudden, whoop, there comes a car flipping over the thing. It's crazy. And they did that all for promotion stuff. So Alex, you'd get some, and so he was like,

he said, we can't do that many of them, but let's, let's get the ones out that you need off the top. Because once they got some of them out of the that were really nestled in there, then they did that. So all of a sudden, so we sat there and watched them pull two or three over. And then he put the elephant back in the truck and they went on. So just just crazy. You know, that it's just crazy kind of stuff, you know, with that and build the the things that we saw. The house was completely gone, except, I mean, it was just a concrete slab

next to the hospital that had the million dollar helicopter laying upside down, they couldn't get it out of there. When they saw it, it was too late to come again, they couldn't fly it off, had to leave it, it was on top of the helicopter on the hospital on the helipad, and it just flipped it off and landed it down almost on the road. The house right next to it, the pad

was completely cleaned off, except three bowling balls in a triangle right where they were in the closet. Never moved them. You're kidding me. I'm like, what the heck? Wouldn't have believed it. And one of the guys at the church said, did you see the three bowling balls?

I said, well, we saw a house. He goes, right, yeah, left of the hospital with the three bowling balls? I said, well, we saw a house. He goes, right, yeah, left to the hospital with the three bowling balls. He goes, nobody will move them. It's this crazy superstitious thing. There's something about those three. Never rolled them, never moved them. That's where they were.

The guy went and got them. They made him put him back because everybody wanted to see the three bowling balls. Wow. Across the street from that, literally was a nursing home and a church. And this church had a, it was made out of TV antenna, TV tower, you know, triangle trussing. Huge cross. The church is gone, and the cross is standing. The nursing home is gone. When I mean gone, it looks like it was

never there, just a slab. They just wiped them clean off it. And that TV tower, and they have no idea, and the TV tower and the cross was still standing. If that's not a God thing, I don't know what is, Bill. All right. So that was the Joplin experience. And after that, you thought, well, we kind of figured out how this works. And so you created your own Big Al Muncie response team. What was the next one? The next one was actually in Indiana. We didn't drive very far for this one. Thank you. It was in Henryville. And we ended up down in Salyersville. Henryville is down in southern Indiana, south of Columbus,

southern part of the state between Columbus and Louisville. It's right on Highway 65. We came through it on the way down here. We got to Henryville and they didn't need us. It's a really little town. It's a really, really little town. They really didn't need us. So they sent us on to Salyersville, Kentucky. And it's... Same, really little town. They really didn't need us. So they sent us on to Saliersville, Kentucky, and it's same tornado,

same tornado. It came through Henryville, came across, uh, going east, west to east, um, came through Henryville, absolutely just destroyed it, hit the high school. They had just gotten out of school. They thank goodness they released the kids early, had a school bus and a hair salon setting upside down The town just got squished pretty bad But when by why we got there there was some local barbecue guys and some people so they had plenty of food but they got to sidersville this thing then it started jumping and

A lot of hills and hollers and it was jumping over these ravines But it got down into sidersville and just and these ravines and it didn't move. It moved again real slow. And it just was crushing. The houses were a little more random. He had to drive back to places and I just have to say, it was a little tougher there. You didn't want to sneak up on some of these guys cause we saw some shotguns and I'm like, Hey, worried about looters. I think they just carry them with them all the time.

It was, and I had, and this time I've got my oldest daughter with me. Katie was with me and most of my girls have gone on one trip with me. So it was again, Bob Ball and Rocky, you know, the king of barbecue, were with us. It was a small group. Tony Raleigh, my buddy that had got killed in the car wreck. And Katie, we were all in one vehicle and Bob and Rocky were in another one. So we got to Sagersville and there was no place to set up because we tried to get someplace. We need some water.

We need a garden hose. We can just clean things. Electricity if we can find it. So on the outskirts of town, there's a funeral home. He said, well, we're good. But he said, we got a funeral in three days for the eight people that were killed in town, several children, several kids.

He said, we have a huge funeral here. You can be here, and I've got it, and I'll provide it to you, and I'll give you some money. And again, it happened again. Grocery store just down the street. Coolers are temping down. I go down. I thought, Tony is like, rinse happened again. Grocery store just down the street. Coolers are temping down. When I go down, I thought, Tony is like, rinse and repeat. Let's go do it. We bought every, we bought all their meat. They didn't have as much, but what they had was probably

500 Totino's pizzas. And I'm not talking big ones. I'm talking, you know, the little mid-sized, going on decent sized microwave. And he's like, you guys got any interest in a Totino's pizza? I'm like, are they in the freezer? And he goes, yeah. I said, how much? He said, oh, quarter a piece. I got to get rid of them because I don't want to do with all of them. I said, well, take them all. So I I throw all those puppies in the truck and bring back to them. And they're like, Rocky's like, Oh, man, you're down there. I knew you're going that grocery store. I knew you went and kept that deal. I saw I got you some pork, but I said,

what's a tortilla pizza on a smoker do? He said, I don't know, but we're going to find out. And that has become a thing. Smoked pizza. Awesome. And if you don't believe me, go buy. You got to buy the cheap stuff. Don't buy good ones. Yeah. You buy the cheap to Tina's throw them on a smoker. Yeah. So all these barbecue guys, you really think? Alex, I don't think to Tina's is ever now going to be a sponsor of the show. Oh no no they're go by the cheap ones.

Oh no we just expanded their use case. Well we did for sure. No Totino's will now become a sponsor of the show because they should because they should do that and you should make a pizza called the twister. Absolutely. The big Rocky. Yeah the big Rocky. It was Rocky could be sausage. Twister could be pepperoni. And what I should have said was inexpensive because we only paid a quarter a piece for him and we and those things and the kids and the line. Once the word got out, they were like, these people are smoking pizza.

It was unbelievable at the funeral home, at the funeral home. For goodness sake. And it ran down and I don't know how long that line was. Several hundred people for hours and they were burning, taking those pizzas off and Rocky was throwing a little extra Parmesan on them and throw a little barbecue sauce on them and they're quick.

I mean, he's making them, he's pulling them off as fast as he can and they're just cutting them into fours, throwing them on a plate, went crazy. We'll be right back. John Stewart is back in the host chair at The Daily Show, which means he's also back in our ears on The Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. The Daily Show podcast has everything you need to stay on top of today's news and pop culture. You get hilarious satirical takes on entertainment, politics, sports, and more from John and the team of correspondents and contributors. The podcast also has content

you can't get anywhere else like extended interviews and a roundup of the weekly headlines. Listen to The Daily Show, Ears Edition on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Martha Stewart, and we're back with a new season of my podcast. This season will be even more revealing and more personal, with more entrepreneurs, more trailblazers, more live events, more Martha. And more questions from you. I'm talking to my cosmetic dermatologist, Dr. Dan Belkin, about the secrets behind my skincare. Walter Isaacson about the geniuses who change the world.

Encore Jane about creating a billion dollar startup. Dr. Elisa Pressman about the five basic strategies to help parents raise good humans. Florence Fabricant about the authenticity in the world of food writing. Be sure to tune in to season two of the Martha Stewart podcast. Listen and subscribe to the Martha Stewart podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What does optimism look like? I'm on a quest to find the people who inspire us to dream more and do more. I'm Simon Sinek, and I host a podcast called A Bit of Optimism. I talk to all

sorts of people, from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to a hairdresser on Instagram who gives out free haircuts to the homeless, from the CEOs of the world's largest companies to the comedy writer who visited the wreckage of the Titanic, I love talking to leaders, artists, authors, and eccentrics about life, leadership, purpose, mental fitness, human skills, high performance, and other curious things. It leaves me feeling wiser, more inspired, and, well, more optimistic. Because after all, this is a bit of optimism. The world is full of magic and wonder, if you know where to look for it. Listen to A Bit of Optimism on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your

podcasts. The state police had set up a station. They always had. They always built it, put up a couple of tents and a remote because they're going out on calls and gas calls and people looters and all that kind of stuff. Well, those guys came down. They saw they were came. We got in there and got set up late that evening. Came in. We had ribs with us. And so I'd always bring in some stuff that we want to eat because Rocky makes what he calls the pork Trinity. It's pork wrapped in pork wrapped in pork. So it's on Dewey sausage and he butterflies a tenderloin puts on Dewey

sausage in it and then wraps it with thick applewood smoked bacon, wraps it, and then we cut it. Once it's all done, slow cooks that puppy for how many hours, and it's submerged in apple cider vinegar. Okay? Pull that out, cook it, and so we have the... When you slice it, it looks like a car tire. So it's like a hub with all the sausage. putting on a bun putting a sandwich one of the greatest things

I'll ever eat just dip it in barbecue sauce and have at it Well, those guys heard about that. Well, they actually came by and so we gave one of the the the head He was the head of the northern Northern Kentucky He said with the entire state police for the northern half of Kentucky, he came down, he took a couple of them and these guys, and all of a sudden here comes all these cop cars. They're just on the radio.

They're on the coming in. I mean, them boys were coming in and he's like, he's like, you got any more of those things? Rocky said, well, I'm, yeah, I've got to feed our people. We're like, just feed those guys, Rocky. I said, I'm going to get mileage out of them next two days. I could get anywhere. I had police escorted where I went. Because there's traffic jam, there's only one little road in and out. You get in behind them, they just take you right down the middle at 60

miles an hour. I could get anywhere. We had to get gas and get places. If not, we'd be there all day. So they got down and stay there. All of a sudden, they've picked their tent up and moved to the funeral home parking lot because they were doing police escort the next day for the funeral also. But they moved in. He's like, why should we go away from the food? We've been trying to find food for these guys. I said, we'll feed you. So there's 30, 20, 30 state police, cop cars. Plus we just leave our stuff out. What are you going to do? Steal it? I mean, these guys are so there's some photographs of us. It was hilarious. So the Toyota guys always put magnets, Toyota magnets on their trucks.

They any and we take PR pictures for them. Hey, Toyota can solve any problem even at a tornado. And they use it for all their publicity. So I told the officer and the night we were getting ready to leave said, Hey, would you be up for a couple of really cool pictures? I said, I want to spoof our general manager. So there's a picture of all of the guys and Katie's standing there going with her hands like this and three of the officers with hands on their pistols, like ready to jump us. And we're all on the truck like they're going to search us with that.

But make sure they can see the Toyota. And I said, I sat back and said, so sorry about the trucks. It didn't go as well as we thought. They've impounded all the vehicles. Sorry. Sorry, Chad. He's like, what the heck? You guys playing with us and what? So there's so there's some there was some fun. Now on the way home, Katie had to be back in school. So we were going to go through a Sunday.

We were going to drive all night because she got to be back in school that next, you know, at eight o'clock the next. So we're barely going to get her just get back in time for it, going at 60 miles an hour. But it's hills and hollers. I said, I told the police, I said, you got any pull? Because I didn't know who he was at this time. I told one guy, I said, any guys got any pull with the state police guys? I said, he's like, that's Northern, that guy you've been giving crap to for two days. That's Northern Kentucky's superintendent.

He said, why? I told him, he goes, just go talk to him. I said, I need to drive 90 miles an hour through the northern Kentucky to get this kid home for school. He pulled out his business card. I never I honestly never looked at the back of it. He wrote something on the back and then he radioed and he said, OK, gold Chrysler van plate number, whatever it was. He said, got carte blanche to the Ohio River.

If you see him, please escort. No one stop him, just escort him. And he has my card and will identify himself and will wave at you if you pull up beside him. His name's such and such. Holdren got his daughter trying to get her back to school. He's been helping our family and our friends down here. We need to take good care of him. Get him there as soon as you can. He said, now when you cross

the river, I can't help you in Indiana. And I had hammered down. I don't know how fast a Chrysler van will go, but we found out that night and we had the hammer down. And sure enough, all of a sudden they come out and I saw some lights come on and then off and then right beside me. He's waving. I waved at him. He said, and he pulled out in front of me and he, and I was, I was on and cleared all the way cleared through Louisville through. Yeah.

So it was, you know, so fun. So, you know, we see a lot, we've seen a lot of tragedy with it and heard a lot of crazy stories. But people, I will tell you, you can make something really, it's been so positive for my, for my, with my family, with all these things, with my daughter, the lessons and the people. She's, you know, freshman, sophomore, high school, is that right? When Kate went? Yeah. She had, she was going up and talking to older people and serving them and taking them meals and just listening to them cry and parents talk about, we've lost everything, we have no insurance.

What we have left is what we have left. Just the lessons and the appreciation for what you have is remarkable. So again, Army of Normal Folks is about normal folks seeing areas of need and filling it, which is exactly what this is. Not part of anything just except humanity. Yes sir. Tell me about the last one that you've been on. Yeah the last one was really was the most recent one. Most recent was and actually because it's not the last you're going to keep doing it. It was in um it's actually up in um it was in Indiana again we've been solving Indiana got hit whole um probably about a third of that Sullivan, Indiana got hit holes, um,

probably about a third of that, uh, community, which would been the southern part of the, um, tornado just came through. It jumped, um, it jumped over a cemetery of all things. Kind of weird. Um, jumped over the cemetery and just took out a whole area. Um, we did not do a lot there other than we, we really took a lot of generators cause that's what they really needed. A lot of some of the houses were damaged. Are you every time calling up people and saying, I'm going here, I need money. Yeah.

They just coming up a nine, 10, $15,000 Facebook. Facebook's a wonderful thing. Just rolling out and got a pocketful of money and you're going to spend it where you think it needs most and people trust you with that and you don't come back with any of it. That's correct. That's a perfect summary of exactly what. This time they needed generous.

We bought, I had a- Once again, stopping every Home Depot and those on the way in. Actually, I had a little bit of a couple of days time. I went to 12 pawn shops and bought all the generators I could. And so, and- That makes more sense. Because I need a place I can wheel and deal at

and I don't need new ones. They're only gonna need them for a week or so. So I just, you got used to it. And and they're like, now every pawn shop thinks that the price of a generator should be new. And I said, if I want to buy new, I'll just go to Menard's and get a brand new one, but I'm wanting to buy yours. And a matter of fact, I'll buy them all. So how much? Well, they're $400 a piece. I said, Oh, you said 125 bucks. That'd be great. Well, I'll just load them up. And the guy says, well, 150. And I said, well,

that's great. I'm, I guess I didn't hear you the first time. Well, so I heard you the second time, but I want them all them up. And the guy says, well, 150. And I said, well, that's great. I'm, I guess I didn't hear you the first time. Well, so I heard you the second time, but I want them all started up. And by the way, all those extension cords laying over there in that bucket, you're going to throw those into, because how many generators have you sold this week? And the answer was zero. And I was going to take six of them, put them in the back. And I said, and we'll just go in. And I said, I want them all with full tanks of gas. So we take gas cans, extension cords, and that's what we were, and it was great because

when you think about it, it was really interesting. Roger is a gentleman, an older gentleman that I usher with at church. He is an extraordinary human being. He talks exactly 180 degrees as much as I do. I think Roger in the first year, I think... Hey Chris, what's it like in a room with those two guys? You just hear Al. Yeah, I think Roger spoke seven words to me in the first year I ushered with him, the whole year. Wonderful guy. He is a working machine.

He would be... you wouldn't need an extra new machine to stack lumber. Roger could stack it as fast as that. I mean, unbelievable. He's just, just a neat, neat guy. And so, um, he was the only one who went with me. Um, and so I went and grabbed the generators and all, I said, you want to go? He said, absolutely. And had never went and done anything like this. Just went with me. He's in and out of the back, but we couldn't get into the area. Could not get out. They had it all blocked off. Once again, cordoned off. All cordoned off. The city guys were blocking all. I said, look, I'm in and out. And I went,

and so I, and I even went, this time I did try to go through the authorities, which is always a mistake. It's always a mistake. Permission, forgiveness is much easier than permission. But I came across an assistant fire chief that was there from an adjacent, that were there, they were staffing one of the fire departments because the local fire department's out in that area because they have gas fires all the time. And so these guys are man in their... So I ran into this young kid and I said, I can't get in there and I got these generators. They just want me to drop them off I said I know more than all of you. I've been to nine ten of these I know how it goes. These are all going home with the employees that are here

They're gonna steal them all because that's what they're gonna do seen it done seen them load them in their trucks Heard them the stories Tom. I said I'm taking them directly to people whether I have to drive through the playground area or not. He goes, ah the police were a little jumpy and whatever. I said, I said, so what's your position? He said, I'm fire chief at a little local out here. He goes, but I'm a county sheriff too. I said, get in the truck. I said, you had anything to eat? He goes, no, we haven't eaten for, I said, and we don't have any smokers. I don't have my guys with me. I just got Roger. So I said, well, we're going to go to lunch wherever you want in town. I'm buying. He was really, I said, yeah. I said, you get me in there now. So we pull up.

He's like cousins with the guy holding the, you know, blocking the road. He goes, just get out of the way. You don't want to argue with this guy. We're going to be here for an hour. So we go in. We were only there for a few hours, but just, he had people that just need electricity. And so we fire them all up. Some of them are new.

You put oil in them. We just get them fired up, get them going, run cords into them. It was the least of anything we've ever done. But the 10 people that we took generators to, it changed their life. Maybe for just a day or two, but it changed their life. We'll be right back. John Stewart is back in the host chair at The Daily Show, We'll be right back. satirical takes on entertainment, politics, sports, and more from John and the team of correspondents and contributors. The podcast also has content you can't get anywhere else,

like extended interviews and a roundup of the weekly headlines. Listen to The Daily Show, Ears Edition on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Martha Stewart, and we're back with a new season of my podcast. This season will be even more revealing and more personal, with more entrepreneurs, more trailblazers, more live events, more Martha, and more questions from you. I'm talking to my cosmetic dermatologist, Dr. Dan Belkin, about the secrets behind my skincare.

Walter Isaacson, about the geniuses who changed the world. Encore Jane, about creating a billion dollar startup. Dr. Elisa Pressman, about the five basic strategies to help parents raise good humans. Florence Fabricant, about the five basic strategies to help parents raise good humans. Florence Fabricant about the authenticity in the world of food writing. Be sure to tune in to season two of the Martha Stewart podcast. Listen and subscribe to the Martha Stewart podcast on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

What does optimism look like? I'm on a quest to find the people who inspire us to dream more and do more. I'm Simon Sinek, and I host a podcast called A Bit of Optimism. I talk to all sorts of people, from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to a hairdresser on Instagram who gives out free haircuts to the homeless, from the CEOs of the world's largest companies to the comedy writer who visited the wreckage of the Titanic, I love talking to leaders, artists, authors, and eccentrics about life, leadership, purpose, mental fitness, human skills, high performance, and other curious things. It leaves me feeling wiser, more inspired, and, well, more optimistic.

Because after all, this is a bit of optimism. The world is full of magic and wonder, if you know where to look for it. Listen to A Bit of Optimism on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Give me, Al, give our listeners the most memorable story you have of all of these, what do you call this thing? Hot shots? What do you call yourselves when you go do this?

Do you even call yourself anything? No, sir. All right I mean, we're just gonna call it where the Muncie guys We're just gonna call it the the Muncie mobile disaster relief perfect All right the mobile Muncie disaster relief that is basically al hitting up everybody knows for money in time of need and driving into What you called hell? deep give us Give us maybe the most memorable from a standpoint of you know driving out, you made a difference. I would say it was Joplin. It was that first one because we were so raw.

Besides Joplin. Something we haven't heard. Tell us what else. Look, I'm hoping people hear you and say, there's something I could do. And the next time there's a disaster within 500 miles of me, I'm going to go raise $14,000, hook up my van and trailer and I'm going and I'm going to cook and I'm going to serve. I'm sitting here actually listening to you thinking, I've got a lumberyard here with every tool and trailer and things known to mankind. It is something I could do. And I think it would be cool to take my sons and see what service looks like in the face of... Next time we come south, we're just going to scoop you on the way.

Just holler. But in the face of, I mean, let's be candid. Sure. People have lost everything, including family members in these things. They are desperate, and you're rolling in serving. And so, I'm hoping people will be motivated when they hear you to think, why couldn't I do that? An army of normal folks serving in areas in need. What that we haven't heard are things that people might see and what they can expect. Probably IDA, which was New Orleans area, Grand Isle. We had a look-

That's dangerous down there. It was very dangerous. We're so dumb that we don't know what we're doing sometimes. Well, tell me about Ida and Granda. Yeah. So that was a crew and I had, fortunately, I had two really good Muncie City police officers with me in our second truck. How many of you went? There was six that time. Two trucks, six people. Were you taking a smoker? Smokers were already there. We pulled, we pulled a trailer down of supplies. Got it. I don't know how many cookies we took this time. It was nuts. It was,

I think we had a hundred dozen, a hundred dozen cookies, six guys, two cops are among the six guys. And they got enough and they got enough ammunition under that back seat. I may have a full auto with them. I got it. Full auto. I mean, that's, he's one of them. I mean, you're leaving Muncie and you're headed to Grand Isle.

Grand Isle. So we're rolling down. These guys, because they have badges, they drive like a bat out of hell. I mean, I'm pulling a trailer and I'm trying to keep up and it's, it's hard. And they, these guys are rolling. I mean, they are rolling. So it was a great trip. Dear friend, Kenny Glob went with me and goes with me. He's kind of right hand man on some of these trips.

With that, gives me more crap than anybody in the world, but still I still take him. Brother by another mother. So we're going all the way down there. And when you get down into Grand Isle, that know, that's where all that's where the, the pirates and the now the drug dealers, that's where they're bringing in all that's where the drugs are coming in. One of the great places, the role is very, very, very tough. Very, very, very well, they can't get all of the bridges have been. By the way, were you surprised by the dialect? Because it's an interesting dialect in and around there. Yeah, I guess. Yes, a little bit. It catches me off because I laugh because I only know the dialect

by movies. And it's always played up pretty hard. I only know it by Adam Sandler, by the guy that was Adam's water boy. That's about the only thing that way I really have it. But that's what we're talking about. We're talking about Cajun world. It was, it was that we were at a church and we had, we had great accommodations. Which were? Which were a very large church that had power because we were on, there was kind of a niche in there and this church was a large, and the pastor, the associate pastor there was wondering, he said, just pick you a room out, and we are fixing, we will,

my ladies are fixing this huge breakfast every morning for all of you. You can just take a room, we will lock it, you can leave all your stuff in there, you don't have to move it every day, Sleeping bags, we got air mattresses for you. We just normally don't have that. They were also a location that was where all supplies were coming in. So I didn't even have to big bar. I just walk out in the morning, load the trucks up. We'd throw 30 tarps in, shovels, just fill it full. And then we were going to a Home Depot and buying other things that we would need if we need a chainsaw or something. Because again, you hit everybody up for money on the way down. Yeah.

And our goal is to come back. We need only enough money to fill that tank for the last time and then get the Muncie was zero. And if not, we throw it in a money bag in the seat. So we got down there and the problem was none of the local, none of the people that had any sense and that knew anything would take food out into Grand Isle. Those people have been isolated. Some of them hadn't eaten anything in three days. All food's gone. They've been wiped off because they're scared of the people that are out there. They said, these are scary people. And the guys from the church are like, going, you guys don't wanna go. Well, of course, all you gotta do is tell us six that we shouldn't go do something. And of course, we're like, we're in. We're going.

We're going. And now, when we go anymore, because on the way down there, we had got a report that there was a gentleman after it hit. Just remember the things that are in swamps remember the things that are in swamps that got shoved inland by the surge 10 miles. Like snakes and alligators and stuff. Very large, very, very, very large snakes and alligators and everything else just got washed in. Lady and husband go down the basement to get stuff out. He said, honey, you go on out and get that. I'm going to grab one more thing. She never saw him again. The gator had him by the arm and drug him off.

Wow. And she never saw him again. At that time, I would have to say that the next thing I did was go to my gun safe and we loaded several clips into the Glock and it was and then I had two of them with me and they were in the console of the truck and we never not had one with us because where you're in washed areas where it hadn't been flooded, you'd once in a while you could you could see where gators had dragged, we really never saw any with that, but the locals were saying

oh yeah they're over there there's one there's one behind that. But the locals were saying, oh, yeah, they're over there. There's one. There's one behind that. I had one. He said, we had three gators in our swimming pool. We came out that morning and there's three gala gators in the swimming pool. And so here's the thing. You got to go do that. We've never taken. Chris has been with me with one.

We had a neighbor lady and her son wanted to go. And that was down in Livonia, Arkansas. neighbor lady and her son wanted to go and that was down in Livonia, Arkansas. We typically do not take a lot of ladies with us, just because sometimes there's things that I'm going to go do and that we might say that out of respect, I don't want my wife there. It's a boy's trip. It's wife there. It's a boy's trip. It's like a golf trip. There's sometimes I don't want my daughter over there

because dad might go do something. I'm not saying I'd ever regret it, but I might borrow something. It just happens, Bill. Things happen. So what did you end up doing at Seattle? So we ended up, we were there. So we were taking meals down there and then they diverted us and said that they got a

bridge and a boat just got like hundreds of meals taken in from a different feeding station. And I think they were taken in by the state police. So it was a different group. So ours just went to a different feeding station. We just moved stuff all day long, but we went into some areas. And that's what and that's what I'll tell everybody. We really had very few problems ever. And we were in some of the poorest of the poor areas

down in that Grand Isle area and some of the area where they were. They said, just don't go there. That is where all the drug dealers and everything. But that's also where the biggest need was, probably. It's where we will go every time. Give us we want the worst of the worst situation because and you know what? There were the most appreciative people, kindest people, because we treated them reasonable and may have been the first people.

They said, well, you know, nobody comes over here and brings us everything. Everything goes to the north side of town. I said, sorry, we're here. What do you want? And we could use this and this and this. I'm like, we'll be right back. We go borrow some stuff and we come back. Borrow. Yes, sir. Whether they returned it or not, I could care less. I borrowed it. You're back in Indiana. I'm gone.

I got to move on., and, and you know, and we just, we go find that stuff for them. And then you also get the whole, um, the whole other side, there was a gentleman from Home Depot, was a general assistant general manager at a Home Depot down there. Um, we go in and we, um, we pick up, I don't know, we bought that $9,000 worth of stuff. I don't know how many extension cords. They had deals on some generators. They just had a truckload in and we bought a bunch.

And so we get up and we go through the line. I've done the math. It's nine grand. We've got about 18 grand with us. So we're in a great position still. I've only got a few days left and we've already bought out how much meat and gotten. So we had a lot of money really left with us. And you just never know where generosity is going to come out. And he came up in the general manager, he came up and said, I was talking to one of the guys and said, what are you

guys doing with all this? Are you guys reselling them? Cause there's a hell of a, it's a black market down there. You get generator, your gold, you can double the money on it. And he was, Oh no, we came out from Muncie and he saw over the, you know, a couple of the, some of the checks and all that, and on the side of the truck. And he was like, yeah. And all of a sudden we get up and our bill's $4,000. Wow. And I was like, yeah, and all of a sudden we get up and our bill's $4,000. Wow. Well, the guy that paid it wasn't the guy that he was talking to.

So he did send us $4,000. Paid him $4,000, paid the cashier $4,000, we got in the truck. Got out and he said, wait, I said, how much did you give him? He said, $4,200. I said, dude, you gotta go back. I said, that much, how much did you give him? He said, $4,200. I said, dude, you can go back. I said, that was like nine grand. I did the math.

I did quick hillbilly math on a piece of paper. And Brian said, and the guys out there, and he's waving at us, and just had this whole crew outside, you know, and was waving at me. And those guys are off. I turned around and said, oh my gosh. But isn't that part of the thing is action, effort, and generosity, but get action, effort, and generosity all day long.

When you start, it's amazing how many people will follow, but you got to start. I sort of, you guys start a fight and there's no fight. I mean, once in a while, you just got to call it out and just go do it. And I will tell everybody, I don't care what is it. It doesn't matter how small. And I do what I do, and I don't apologize ever for that. What fits me doesn't fit you, doesn't fit somebody else.

But every little thing, every little idea, or every little offer of kindness and or generosity, I think there'll be somebody who'll appreciate it and the world will move you to it. You just can't be scared. But also, don't let the governing factors at these things dictate what you do. Because what they do is they gather assets, take credit for it, and pass them out. You go do it. Just when in doubt, door to door is an interesting thing. Have you ever been asked, well, what part of organization are you with?

Every time we go. And what do you say? We just say, we're just a bunch of dudes from Muncie. How you doing? You want a beer? And then some barbecue. And it's a barbecue. And it's, and it's a, when you, you lead with food and a cold drink on a hot day, you can make all the friends in the world. And that,

and it's such a great thing. And Bob and Rocky and those guys, been so generous. They're just letting us kind of horn in on it. But then we go do what we do. Cause I don't like to cook. I don't like to be pigeonhole cause I want to be toe to toe.. I want to talk to the guy who's got problems. If I can fix that problem, if you want to know what makes me happy, is when you have a problem and I fix it. That's what makes our Holdren happy. That's why I get up in the morning. And just, it's just fun to go do that. Because when they, when they, when you're pulling away and they're standing at the driveway waving, and he's got electricity now.

He's got a generator, maybe a coat because we need a coat or need a pair of boots or gloves and a cookie. He's holding one of your cokes in his hand and it's just kind of like, well, his day wasn't worse. His day got better because you showed up on his doorstep. What happens is this stuff gets... I saw at Joplin a loader, a payload, what I call a payloader at a stone quarry, a big one. There was a...

A front end loader. A front end loader, thank you. Yeah, a bucket loader, yes. Like the front end of a backhoe or even bigger. Yes, and this was huge. Huge. Big, articulating in the middle, big front end loader. Exactly. And that thing... There was a mountain beside the church, and I mean a mountain, it was probably 15, 20 feet tall, spread down, and that was of the little packets that churches put together

in a Ziploc bag that has a toothbrush, toothpaste, maybe a little deodorant that everybody builds, all these churches build. I bet you there was 50,000 packages. And there was a front loader scooping them and putting them into a depression and covering them with dirt. Just waste. So do the math. If it probably was about $4, okay, even travel size at a buck a piece four bucks times fifty thousand two hundred thousand dollars I could have fed all of Joplin with really good Rocky barbecue The whole they could have stayed for weeks we could have taken care of all of that it would have bought 100 generators. Could have given everybody a brand new generator with extension cord.

They would have been fine and all that because they don't know what to go do. The worst thing is doing something and doing what everybody else has done. Sometimes you just need to go to the fight and figure out what the fight is. Then go back, go volunteer the fight and figure out what the fight is then go back Go volunteer at one figure out going. They don't need that and what we figured out You know, what's a good way to find out what somebody needs? Yeah, ask them ask them just ask them you need some toothpaste or Some leather gloves or some other and you looked at and here's the thing The guys were giving the gloves to the women and the men's hands were bloody. Craziest thing I saw, and I've got to tell you, because you'll love this story.

The funniest thing we saw, and it was only in a photograph. And then we heard the story told to us. It was the first day we showed up at Joplin. There's a picture of a couple officers and there's a guy. He was not in good shape in one of the chairs like we're sitting in. It was just an office chair. And he's got his hands on his knees and he's duct taped to the chair. He looks like life has not gone well for him in the last three days. The story goes that he was a looter stealing copper, and the three brothers whose mom,

I believe, had perished at the Joplin, at their homestead, he was out one of those nights looting the copper from their property. And these boys came up when they were going through, because that's what we did a lot of there, just looking. We'd find jewelry, bullets and ammunition. Everywhere you had a metal detector, it would just it would have just screamed all the time. They were just ammunition.

It is amazing. We never found any guns, though we did see about a 16-foot snake dead as we picked up a wall trying to find it. We found a lady's photograph album, probably the greatest thing I ever found. She took it, left everything else on the property, clutched it, got in her van, blew us a kiss and left. Tony Raleigh opened the thing up and I grabbed it. She goes, blew us a kiss and left. And Tony Raleigh opened the thing up and I grabbed it and was like, she goes, that's all I came for. I wanted all my family pictures. The rest of it, I'm not looking through it. Well, these boys were just down the street and we

left there and pulled up and where they and these guys were telling us the story that lived across the street from said, did you hear about the guy in the chairs? And they said, well, I made the front page of the paper. So these three boys caught him and he said, well, hey, the guy in the chair? And he said, no. They said, well, I made the front page of the paper. So these three boys caught him. And he said, well, hey, I'm just at my house here trying to get some copper and get some money out of it. And they go, oh, really? We live here.

So they played with him like a cat does with a mouse before they kill him. So they beat him up. They found a desk chair across the street, put him in the chair, duct taped him to it, tied a rope onto the chair and dragged him up and down the road a few times. They then taped a sign that was on his chest on this newspaper It may still be up and I may have a stapled in my shop and it said I Am a looter, please shoot me in the face

They taped it on his they taped it on his chest and they took him and just threw him in the back of the pickup truck Drove him to the police station now. The police are not at the station. They're all out, right? You know at that night they left him in the back of the pickup truck, drove him to the police station. Now, the police are not at the station. They're all out, you know, at that night. They left him at the front door, front door, and they found him and the reporter got up, took a picture of him. And there's like three officers. You know, it's kind of like the old Wild West. You know, if they killed the guy with a bounty, they're all got their got a little face with him.

You got my arm around. He looked like I like. And it was an eye for you. And he he you get drug in a chair down a road. That's not, that's not, that's not a happy day, Bill. Yeah. Interesting. We'll be right back. John Stewart is back in the host chair at The Daily Show, which means he's also back in our ears on The Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. The Daily Show podcast has everything you need to stay on top of today's news and pop

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This season will be even more revealing and more personal, with more entrepreneurs, more trailblazers, more live events, more Martha, and more questions from you. I'm talking to my cosmetic dermatologist, Dr. Dan Belkin, about the secrets behind my skincare. Walter Isaacson about the geniuses who changed the world. Encore Jane about creating a billion dollar startup. Dr. Elisa Pressman about the five basic strategies to help parents raise good humans. Florence Fabricant about the authenticity in the world of food writing. Be sure to tune in to season two of the Martha Stewart podcast. Listen and subscribe to the Martha Stewart

podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What does optimism look like? I'm on a quest to find the people who inspire us to dream more and do more. I'm Simon Sinek and I host a podcast called A Bit of Optimism. I talk to all sorts of people from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to a hairdresser on Instagram who gives out free haircuts to the homeless. From the CEOs of the world's largest companies to the comedy writer who visited the wreckage of the Titanic, I love talking to leaders, artists, authors, and eccentrics about life, leadership, purpose, mental fitness, human skills, high performance, and other curious things. It leaves me feeling wiser, more inspired, and, well, more optimistic. Because after all, this is a bit of optimism.

The world is full of magic and wonder, if you know where to look for it. Listen to a bit of optimism on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When you guys get back from any of these and you decompress from it and you think about all of it, what is the greatest lesson you get from it all? God blessed me with some great friends, some great contributors to any of these things that we do. Because you don't do it without, they don't take air. Home Depot, They still like cash And that he just has Provided me with the opportunity within a family. That's understanding that lets me go run away You know and go do that and that he just that he'll love on He'll love on me and my guys. He's always protected us We've never really any any problems and we have a ball and that he that it's something that I enjoy and it's terrible to say

But I never can I can't wait to go to the next one Because it's a hoot all the way down there. We just get to make those boy trips We just laugh and raise hell all the way down there and all the way back and we get we just go do Wherever we can they're like what we're gonna do today. I'm going we're gonna go to the left and we get, we just go do wherever we can. They're like, what are we going to do today? I'm going, we're going to go to the left and we're going to work to the right. And when we get halfway done, we're going to, and there's always these little pop-up taco stands, you know, it's literally like Bubba with a grill and mom, and they're trying to make some money cause their place of employment got

smoked and, and they're doing some of the best food. We just, we work four hours, we just, we work four hours, we eat and we work four hours more. We just always go left to right. And then at the end, we go, Rocky's got something ribs or something waiting for us. And it's rinse and repeat three or four days in a row. I don't get to do that all the time. And it's just, God has blessed me And it's just, um, God has blessed me with the ability to actually logistic. Most people don't like the logistics. It's with your company. If people had to do all the things you had to do that bill. And I've been blessed enough that that doesn't bother me. And I like, I like having stuff that I can share. And it just makes me happy when people will value what I'm doing and take it. Have you stayed in touch with any of the people you've met on these trips?

No, we intentionally don't. Really? Yeah. Don't I, um? No, we intentionally don't. Really? Yeah. We were there to do what we did. And leave? And leave. And go out. I was there, and then God's not told me to go do that. Even with the secret families families, we intentionally... Right, secret families. And I don't want to be... I don't know that I have the capacity to be responsible for

that many families, because there may be some that call me every week. And we have a lot, we're kind of commandos. We kind of come in, raid, do what we do, make that situation better. But that's the key. That's the key. You do make it better. Let's make it better and then move on. Because somebody else will be skilled in doing that.

Our pastor at our church that just retired here last year, great guy, Mark Dill, a wonderful pastor, great guy. He always laughed. Because I always have an analogy and a story for everything. And I always told him, I said, you know, I'm not the guy that's going to be day to day counseling and dealing with somebody's problem because somebody's son is as an addiction problem or that.

I'm not that guy. I'm not that counselor. I'm not that data. I'm not the fifth grade teacher. My lovely wife, fifth grade teacher. She she buys in those 30 kids. I mean, it's like she's like cool and she may fifth grade teacher, she, she buys in those 30 kids. I mean, it's like, she's like cool. And she may be their teacher, but they're, she's dealing with their families and dealing that I'm not built

that way. And I always told him, Mark, I'll catch him. You clean them and I'll get them. I get them here and we'll tell them about that. I'll sell it and that, but keeping them here, someone else tell them about that. I'll sell it and that but keeping them here someone else needs to do that. But that's the beauty of it and it speaks exactly to what we always talk about. That's your discipline and your passion seeing an opportunity in a place of need where your discipline your passion meet opportunity. Someone else's discipline and passion is, and that's okay. And if you have an army of normal folks with varied sundry disciplines and passions, meeting opportunities, areas of deeds get filled as they need it by different people with different

disciplines and yours happens to be commando, which I just had a mental picture of what commando means and I'm a little disturbed. Local disturbance should be disturbed, Bill. That's right. Well, and I guess even going to your analogy and we got to watch undefeated the other night. Wow. Pretty cool. It's a team. You didn't need money to carry the ball. You just need to knock someone's head off. Right? And that he had his job to do. And his job to do. Those

linemen are not the same as the running back. That running back better be quick and better get in the end zone. But somebody's got to clear a hole. My job is to clear the hole. I'm not a running back. I'm more of a lineman. And I like that. And I, and you're right. And I think everybody stay in your lane, do what you do really well. And do what you're passionate about. And what you're passionate about.

Because you won't burn out on anything you're passionate about. Amen. Amen. And that's, and that's the key to it because you want to go back. You want to go do other, you want to go do it again. I can't wait. We haven't been on one for, I mean, the solvent one, there wasn't a lot there. I'm ready for another three or four day or, you know,

here and there. And the guys are all, they're not chomping at the bit, but they, if I'd say go there, I mean, it's, they're, they're lock and load. They're ready to rock and roll with us. Not to be confused with you're ready for somebody to get hit by the thing. But it's when it happens, we want to be ready to go. And we've been very blessed that we've been able to buy. The guys we had initially joined up with, there were three smokers. And if I get this right, there was one in Oklahoma.

Bob had one in Muncie. And then there was one out of Minneapolis. So these guys all met up because they all bought smokers from the same guy who's some truck driver in Texas that builds these on the side of the welder. And so he built, and so they need, they wanted more. So part of the, sometimes when we have money left over, we'll leave it with one of them and they, we gave them enough money. They built two more. So Muncie has two, there's two down in Oklahoma. So you literally have smokers on staff by waiting to go to the next disaster.

Raider Rock and Roll. That's hilarious. Ifider Rock and Roll. If anybody hears us and wants to support this, I guess they just reach out to you. Absolutely. And it's, you know, again, it's A Holdren, H-O-L-D-R-E-N at atlascollections.net. And if you love it and want to go do that, send me a check. You ask me how much? $500.

What if they want to meet you somewhere? Oh my God. How about? Next time you let me know and tell me where you're at. And if we go someplace in that area or give me your email address, I'll tell you, and you can raise money in your town, throw some guys in a truck. You go meet us and we'll teach you and you'll just take it with us. Oh, three trucks out of four. And we'll show them the ropes. We'll eat some good barbecue and do that. And if they contact you guys, you'll get them to me. And you know, people always say, and here's the thing, folks, I'll tell you.

Here's the key to raising money. Ask for what you want. Yeah. Don't say, hey, I need some money. Say, hey, I need $500. Be specific. I need $500. Be specific.

And you have to make up a number anyway. If you just say, well, it's easy to ask and they'll give you five bucks. 50 is a little harder. 500 is a little bit harder. Tell them, go raise the 500. You don't have to be all yours. Go get four of your friends to give you a hundred, throw a hundred in, send me a check. We will put it, here's the thing. I have seen so much money wasted at these events by groups. And then I... Well intentioned.

Well intentioned. They just... But there's a lot of pomp and circumstance and salaries. We don't have salaries. We take days off work and probably lose money and go do that. If you find a local group that's doing something that you can put money in mouth, that's what you want to support. You want it and you should always ask and you should know where your money's going. I will tell you specifically where it's going. I'm going to buy I'm going to buy one brand new generator with your check. I'm going to buy a hundred pounds of pork with it. But if you want to come and join us, we would love it. And we'll have a ball. And we'll teach you and you can go do it yourself the next time.

Absolutely. In your area, it might be someplace that we can't get to. I can, if something happens in California, it's hard. We can't get there. We can't drive there. It's not going to, but if it's central United States, but we've been to, um, we were out at Sandy, my youngest daughter went to, when Sandy hit a New Jersey, we took a crew, took were out at Sandy. My youngest daughter went to when Sandy hit New Jersey. We took a crew, took two crews out to New Jersey. So that probably Mississippi, that's not true. Texas East, you know, we were- The Eastern half of the United States, if you're interested, reach out to Al. Let me know. It's awesome. Al. You're the best.

This concludes the second Al Holdrem segment of An Army of Normal Folks. And brother, I can't tell you how much I appreciated the first story and the second story. And this time you coming down and spending time. I hope you have a great time in our fair city. Enjoy some real barbecue. We're going to do that. Absolutely. Yeah. Some real good, but we're going to, yeah, we're going to, we're going to have some tomorrow for lunch. Get after it. And, and my friend, thank you so much for being a beautiful illustration of you don't have to be an A-lister. You don't have to be part of an organization. All you have to have is a passion, a discipline, see an area need, and even a 6.5 can get stuff

done. Hold on baby. All day long. Thank you for your time. You guys are your courtesy and willingness to do this. I just think this thing's going to have legs forever. I mean, what you guys do is just awesome and it's just neat. It's neat to see you guys care. You got to care enough to go do it. I saw that walking around your company with your employees. I saw they all seem to like their jobs and there's a huge love or respect. I appreciate that. And that's

pretty cool. I appreciate that. Thanks for being here. You're awesome. Thank you. And thank you for joining us this week. If Big Al or another guest has inspired you in general or better yet inspired you to take action by responding to a natural disaster, supporting on the ground groups like Big Al's or something else entirely, please let me know. I'd love to hear about it. You can write me anytime at Bill at NormalFolks.us and you will hear back from me. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with friends and on social. Subscribe to the podcast, rate and review it.

Become a premium member at normalfolks.us. All these things that will help us grow an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney. I'll see you next week. the best news team for today's biggest headlines, exclusive extended interviews and more. Now this is a second term we can all get behind. Listen to The Daily Show, Ears Edition on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. The world is full of magic and wonder if you know where to look. And I'm obsessed with

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podcasts. Hey, it's Alec Baldwin. This past season on my podcast, Here's the Thing, I spoke with more actors, musicians, policymakers and so many other fascinating people, like jazz bassist Christian McBride. Jazz is based on improvisation, but there's very much a form to it. You have a conversation based on that melody and those chord changes. So it's kind of like giving someone a topic

and say, okay, talk about this. Listen to the new season of Here's the Thing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.