An Army of Normal Folks - The Impact of the Army

Episode Date: August 2, 2024

For our latest "Shop Talk", Coach Bill answers a premium member's question about the impact of the Army in our first year. Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everybody, it's Bill Courtney. Welcome to Shop Talk number 19. And I have to continue to repeat the numbers because Alex won't keep up with them for me, but it is number 19. And today guys, we're going to talk about the impact of the Army. And the reason we're doing that is because we constantly ask you guys to send us in what you want to hear and what you want to know. And in response to a premium member's question, today's Shep Talk Number 19 is the impact of the Army. This is for you, right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. It started with a backpack at the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games, a backpack that contained a bomb.

While the authorities focused on the wrong suspect, a serial bomber planned his next attacks, two abortion clinics, and a lesbian bar. But this isn't his story, it's a human story. One that I've become entangled with. I saw as soon as I turned the corner, basically someone bleeding out. The victims of these brutal attacks were left to pick up the pieces, forced to explore the gray areas between right and wrong, life and death. Their once ordinary lives, and mine, changed forever.

It kind of gave me a feeling of pending doom. And all the while, our country found itself facing down a long and ugly reckoning with a growing threat. Far right, homegrown, religious terrorism. Listen to Flashpoint on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Well, though, and the Olympics are underway.

It's useless to talk about it as a thing that's happening in the future when it's happening in the present. It's happening now. And what's happening now is our podcast, Two Guys Five Rings, is a phenomenon. And while real medals are being handed out in Paris, we're giving out our fake medals here.

Two Guys, Five Rings, Matt Bowen, and the Olympics. Who are we watching in this Olympic Games? I mean, I'm watching Simone Biles. I'm watching her go higher and higher and higher with every bounce. Sha'Carri's about to run faster than you or I or anyone has ever seen. I'm ready for the girls and the boys and everybody under the Seine River. Under the Seine, over the Seine, within the waters of the Seine, all of them. Follow the show on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or your favorite podcast platform and watch and listen to every moment of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games now through August

11th on NBC and Peacock and for the first time ever on the iHeartRadio app. Hey guys, I'm Andrei Gunning, host of There and Gone South Street. In this series, we follow the case of Richard Patrón and Daniel Imbo, two people who went missing in Philadelphia nearly two decades ago and have never been found. Unlike most cases, there is not a single piece of physical evidence connected to this crime. But the FBI knows there was foul play. I'm excited to share that you can now get access to all new episodes of There and Gone South Street, 100% ad free and one week early

with an iHeart True Crime Plus subscription, available exclusively on Apple podcasts. So don't wait, head to Apple podcasts, search for iHeart True Crime Plus and subscribe today. Hey everybody, welcome back. Shop Talk number 19, Army member and premium member, Brad McCahill. I think I said that right. I think you did. Okay.

Brad McCahill. Seems like a nice guy would forgive you. Yeah, you probably would. Brad, if I said it wrong, I'm sorry, but I believe it's Brad McCahill. He wrote us this. Good afternoon. I have a suggestion. Why don't you dedicate a podcast as an update of the guests and what impact the Army had

on them since their episodes there? For example, did the Mississippi Casa Kid get his tuition paid? We'd love to hear what the army is accomplishing. I'm a dedicated fan. Keep up the great work. Brad, first of all, thank you. And as proof that we are absolutely committed to interacting with emails and information and questions that the Army sends to us. Shoptalk number 19 is going to do exactly this.

And Alex did a great job putting together after one year a cool list of examples of the impact of the Army. They're bullet pointed. We're not going to go deep into much many of them. But honestly as I read over the list, I was shocked. It's more than I thought and it's humbling. I'm honored and candidly at the risk of being maybe even a little braggadocious. I'm kind of proud. So the following is a summary of the impact that the Army has had that we're aware of and we're likely not

aware of many more things, which is yet another call for you guys to please email us and tell us. So if you've been impacted by the Army personally or you've been inspired to take action, please let me know. As I say all the time, I'd love to hear about it. My email is bill at normalfolks.us and we'll respond. Here we go. A listener emailed that they were inspired to become a coach. Two listeners have been inspired to become volunteers

with CASA where they advocate for foster children in the legal system and in life, which is from the Aaron Smith episode, which actually tags into what Brad asked about the tuition being paid. A Haitian orphanage, a place of hope in Haiti, is adopting the model of sleep in heavenly peace, whose volunteers have built 140,000 beds

for kids without them. And these Haitian orphans are building beds for Haitian kids that aren't orphans but don't have beds. If you hadn't heard about this, we have an entire episode on it back in December. When the orphanage who does all this, when their generator went out, and the generator there is not just about lights,

it's about clean drinking water for not only the orphanage, but for the people that live around the orphanage. It's the only place to get clean drinking water in this entire area. When the generator went out, there was no electricity, but most importantly, there was no longer clean drinking water. We put out a call to the army and $27,000 was quickly raised. And even with all this going on in Haiti, we found a route to get it done. And the generator and pump was sent to the orphanage. And now the orphanage once again has lights and clean drinking water in an area where it doesn't exist, all because of the stories told on an army of normal folks.

An Oklahoma listener named Jim Pina is replicating the model of Big Al Holden's secret families where their army of elves in Muncie, Indiana give 10,000 gifts to 2,000 kids whose family can afford Christmas all on Christmas Eve. And so Big Al's story is going to Oklahoma. The Army has donated $13,400 to try to eliminate $20,000 of a college debt of the foster youth named Thomas, who was sexually and physically abused as a kid.

The state of Missy told him he would have a full ride at Ole Miss, but that turned out not to be true. And so this kid who had been abused his whole life grew up in foster care and was told he would finally as a result of him keeping good grades go to Ole Miss on a full ride when he showed up. He was dropped off in a dorm and then told none of it was true. So, we put a call out to the Army to eliminate the $20,000 of debt he's incurred to get his degree. So far, $13,400 has been raised. I really would love to see the balance of that made up. I hope you hearing us would be interested

in donating toward this. Aaron Smith, the head of CASA of North Mississippi would be happy to properly appropriate your funds. You can reach Aaron at esmith at casaofnorthmississippi.com. So Brad, the whole reason we're doing this episode is because of you and that was specifically the thing you asked about. So the answer is no, that kid's tuition has not been covered in full, but we're only about $7,000 away. Premium member Pastor Donald Fry has talked about several episodes in his sermons. Alex, you're Catholic and this guy isn't, so we've got, I don't know about this army

of normal folks and evangelical sermons, but it's happening. You're Catholic, you're evangelical, I don't care. Yeah, I don't care either, but I mean- You should be in every church. Yeah, that's right. Perfect. He even had one titled, Don't Be a Turkey Christian,

after our Don't Be a Turkey Person story, when we had the billboard in Times Square in New York and appeared on the Kelly Clarkson show. So from a billboard in Times Square to the Kelly Clarkson show to a Christian church, Don't Be a Turkey person has resonated. Army member Bob Thorpe, after hearing our episode on Robert Hill's Friends After Five, which please listen to it, I think it's phenomenal, it seeks to grow the black middle class through more black and white Americans, simply becoming friends after five. He invited Robert to his home so that his community in Flagstaff, Arizona

could learn more about his vision. Robert even preached at Bob's church on family, community, and national unity. One member approached him after and said that several days earlier she prayed for a message on national unity to be addressed at her church. And lo and behold, Robert showed up. She was thrilled. We actually shared this story on our

social media channels, and I hope you'll follow us at army of normal folks to get more inspiring content like this. That's really kind of a cool story. Robert is a good dude who came up with a really interesting story. And I just wonder if 10 years ago he'd ever thought he'd been at Flagstaff, Arizona talking about Friends After Five and preaching in these folks church. It's amazing the connectivity that can happen with an army of normal folks. Premium member, Dr. Rhonda Breland-Smith is using the podcast in her social work classes

at the University of Southern Mississippi. Her students choose an episode to listen to and reflect on what they've learned, and over 400 students have done it. This one is kind of crazy because he's like hyper army of normal folks. Premium member, Michael Lignos, did I say that right? Alex?

Lignos? Michael, I'm sorry, I do the best I can phonetically. Premium member, Michael Lignos, Lignos has been running with the homeless through the Atlanta chapter of Back on My Feet after hearing the Back on My Feet episode. He has reached out to Sleep in Heavenly Peace to volunteer with them to build beds

for children without beds. He has donated to meet several requests on care portal. He is now supporting a future super hero and friends and more than likely some other stuff we've been missing. Michael, if we had a million of you, the world would change. Thanks for listening and thanks for engaging. An Army member wrote me this, Bill, just want to say thanks for the hope. I reached out to your guest officer, Tommy Norman, who if you will remember is the Michael Jordan

of community policing working up in North Little Rock. To my amazement, he called me. We had a talk about my daughter who is facing addiction. Another arm remember wrote me, I ran across you on Mike Rose podcast. Your story really inspires me. Thanks. I'm personally digging myself

out of a really deep hole of misery. In November of 2020, my three month old grandson died unexpectedly. That sent a shockwave through our family that destroyed so much. Between then and now, my daughter and I had a falling out and we haven't spoken for over a year. My daughter recently ramped up our estrangement to bar me from seeing my remaining five-year-old grandchild. I cry every day. That resulted in me nearly losing the will to live. I am just now starting to set

it straight again. After listening to your podcast with Mike Rowe, I wondered what it is that I love to do that I could be of help to someone else. I'm not particularly talented at anything, so it took me a while to think of something. I'm a good grandma. I mean, really good. So I decided maybe there's a way I could use some of that grandma energy, which I love that grandma energy, helping kids since I can't use it on my own. I emailed my local elementary school

and I will start volunteering there shortly. Also have a craft project that I'd started for my grandson and was working on when he died. I've decided to finish it and donate it to a local battered women's shelter. I know a mama there will appreciate it. I feel fortunate that I heard the podcast at just the right time to put me in a productive direction. One can only cry over the losses for so long. My apologies for writing this novel, but I thought you might be interested in the effect you were having out there in the world. Keep up the good work and I'll be praying for you, your family and your good works. I won't because there's so much personal

stuff in there. We won't put her name out. But I just will say that brought tears to my eyes and really fueled me to know that what we're doing can have such a profound impact on people. Army member Joel Fied, F-E-H-D, Fied, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F-E-H-D, F- Fed, Joel, sorry again, I'm terrible with last names apparently. Or maybe we just have a collection of people with interesting last names. Not sure. Armie Joel wrote us, I recently reached a milestone of 25 gallons of blood donated since 1968. 25 gallons of blood. Holy smokes. After reading your article in Godpost, I realized my church had never

had a blood drive in the 25 years I've been attending. After receiving my 25 gallon certificate, I inquired about having a drive. After a few phone calls, I was able to set it up for May 8th, 2024 at Tunnel Hill Community Church in Tunnel Hill, Georgia. From your article, I remembered three ingredients of passion, expertise, and opportunity. I wanna thank you for the story and the inspiration that's provided me. Who knows what we may do next? I started a community garden at the church in 2012

for my Master Gardener project and it's still going. It was the same combo of three. You have really given a good formula for projects." So there it is. That's the collection Alex has put together. I am certain there's more. And gosh, please tell us about it. If you know of anybody out there doing extraordinary stuff or if you know of anybody or if you're one of the people out there who's been listening and has been incented to do something as a result of the army, please let us know. It's the whole, we're doing this thing. Let us know, let us put it out there. It will be encouragement for other

people to get involved. If you haven't already signed up to join the army at normalfolks.us or become a premium member, which helps us grow, I'm begging you, please consider it. The more people we have, the more impact we have and the greater our numbers, candidly, the more ad revenue we get. The more ad revenue we get, that's how we are able to continue to produce the show. We're doing some good out there, guys. And as we grow, we can do more good. So please join the army at normalfolks.us.

Become a premium member. Help us grow and tell people about us so we can grow our numbers. Last thing I want to say is this. Since it's Shop Talk, I run a company with 130 people in it and we do business all over the place. I think 40 countries or so. I'm busy and the podcast has grown into a significant amount of work and a lot of time. And I guess I just want to say it is these stories and it is your emails and it is the stories of people impacted by one of our awesome guest stories that get emailed to us and told us about it. That is what really fuels my fire and inspires us.

Alex has four kids and a job and we work hard on this thing. And I'm telling you, the whole reason we do it is because of this kind of stuff. Help us, help us grow. Give us your stories. Email us, give us ideas for new stories. Tell us of successes that you know of as a result of the stories. Let's, let's keep this thing going and let's grow it. Let's see if we can't change a lot of what's going on in this country for better. Back in 96, Atlanta was booming with excitement around hosting the Centennial Olympic Games. And then, a deranged zealot willing to kill for a cause lit a fuse that would change my life and so many others forever. Rippling out for generations.

Listen to Flashpoint on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Well, Bowen, the Olympics are underway. It's useless to talk about it as a thing that's happening in the future when it's happening in the present. And what's happening now is our podcast, Two Guys, Five Rings, is a phenomenon. Two Guys, Five Rings, Matt Bowen, and the Olympics. Follow the show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or your favorite podcast platform

and watch and listen to every moment of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games now through August 11th on NBC and Peacock and for the first time ever on the iHeartRadio app. I'm Andrea Gunning, host of the all new podcast There and Gone. It's a real life story of two people who left a crowded Philadelphia bar, walked to their truck and vanished.

A truck and two people just don't disappear. The FBI called it murder for hire. But which victim was the intended target and why? Listen to There and Gone South Street on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.