The Ben Maynard Program
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The Ben Maynard Program
EP. 98 LEIGH BROWN...."First You Learn, Then You Earn, Then You Return"
What happens when the cameras leave a disaster zone but thousands still need help? Leigh Brown, founder of Patriot Relief Fund, discovered the answer firsthand after Hurricane Helene devastated Western North Carolina in September 2024. While FEMA representatives claimed roads were too difficult, the Red Cross was notably absent, and government officials failed to return calls, everyday Americans stepped up with extraordinary determination.
In this eye-opening conversation, Leigh shares how she transformed from real estate professional to disaster relief coordinator overnight, creating innovative solutions like "temporary tractor sheds" that circumvented bureaucratic roadblocks to house displaced residents. Her organization's nimble, grassroots approach delivered immediate aid when larger organizations couldn't—or wouldn't—respond.
The conversation takes a powerful turn when Leigh introduces her guiding philosophy: "First you learn, then you earn, then you return." This principle perfectly frames her journey and offers listeners a compelling framework for their own lives. Through moving stories like that of Scott from Tennessee, who found renewed purpose volunteering after losing his wife, we witness how helping others heals both recipient and giver.
Perhaps most valuable is Leigh's practical wisdom about charitable giving. She explains why researching organizations' 990 tax forms matters, how to ensure your donations reach those truly in need, and why local giving amplifies impact. Her insights about disaster relief expose uncomfortable truths about how socioeconomic divisions affect recovery efforts and who gets left behind when media attention fades.
Whether you're facing your own disaster, wanting to help others more effectively, or simply seeking inspiration in challenging times, this conversation delivers practical guidance alongside profound hope. The resilience of communities and the power of ordinary people to create extraordinary change shine through every story shared.
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Hey there, welcome into the Ben Maynard program. Thanks for being here. Before we get started, a little bit of housekeeping to take care of. As you know, this program is available wherever you stream your podcast. Just search the Ben Maynard program. Boom, it's right there. Just subscribe to it and you'll get notifications anytime a new episode drops, all right.
Speaker 1:However, if you can't resist some of this right here and maybe even a little bit of that right over there and you're watching on YouTube, then one thanks for doing so. Two, you have to subscribe to the channel. Okay, and then, after you subscribe, you have to give me a thumbs up and then you have to leave a comment. All right, I love the comments and you know I reply to every single one of them, all right, oh, and you have to tell 10,000 of your family and friends too, okay, please. All right, and if you don't know 10,000 people, then just tell a thousand of your family and friends. How's that? Okay, cause a thousand will make a difference. Um, let's see.
Speaker 1:Last but not least, follow me on Instagram. All one word Ben Maynard program. And I know I can't believe I say this. Uh, you can also follow me on Tik TOK, and the handle is the Ben Maynard Program, all right. So plenty of ways to take in this show for your dancing and listening pleasure. And with that you can see right here. Yep, right here to my left is my guest today, and that would be the fabulous Lee Brown. She is the founder of Patriot Relief Fund that's patriotrelieffundcom, and she's got a great story and I asked her to come on and tell us all about it. So, lee, thank you so much for doing this. I greatly appreciate you taking time out of your day for this.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's my pleasure, ben. Thank you for having me on, and I'm very excited to have a conversation.
Speaker 1:All right. Well, that's what this show is all about. It's just about people telling their stories and and us talking a little bit. Let me make an adjustment here really fast and see if I'm going the wrong direction. There we go.
Speaker 1:I want to put myself in the middle of this picture. So before we dive into it, just a little background for all of you out there. The way Lee and I kind of became connected is we're both listeners of a morning program on Sirius XM Patriot Channel. It's the Breitbart News Daily Show with Mike Slater, and it was, I don't know, maybe three weeks ago on a Monday morning. The very first segment of the program Mike calls the gratitude segment. He just wants people to come in and just say what they're grateful for, and it doesn't have to be anything big. You could say you're grateful for mustard, and it doesn't have to be anything big. You could say you're grateful for mustard, okay, whatever it is, it doesn't matter. But we all have to be grateful for something and as Slater says and you know this, gratitude is the father of all virtues.
Speaker 1:So anyway, this was right after the 4th of July I think it was Monday the 7th, and this was after the floods in Texas and a listener, clint, called, and he's a volunteer firefighter, and he said him and 15 of his buddies were getting together and they were going to make the two-hour drive down to Kerrville and they were going to help out wherever they could, whatever it is that was needed out of them, that's, and they were going to help out wherever they could. Whatever it is that was needed out of them, that's what they were going to do, and however long it was going to take, and they were all going to bunk at his friend's house in the area. So if you can imagine 15 guys sleeping all over your house unless you own a mansion, it's going to be quite crowded. So after that, the next call was this fabulous lady right here next to me and Lee, just let's, let's start from there, take it away, okay, please.
Speaker 2:Well, it was funny because I was. I'm in North Carolina and I was riding down the road on the way to a meeting at one of our county long-term recovery groups where we're continually working slowly through the rebuild process of Hurricane Helene, which happened on September 27th of 24. And while I'm riding down the road and listening to Clint, and he and Mike are talking about the Coast Guard guy that many people have heard of now I think his name is Scott who personally saved 150 people, some young kid, and he just got his helicopter and he's grabbing people and getting them out, just reacting so quickly. And it just was a flood of emotions because North Carolina went through so similar of a scenario in September and so it was the volunteers who had swooped into North Carolina because it was a disconnect to the Red Cross Cause they said the roads were too difficult and the state government didn't return phone calls and then FEMA was putting up roadblocks. It was just crazy. But the American people said you know what? We'll just do it ourselves. And I'm listening to Clint and he's that guy. We're just, we're know what, we'll just do it ourselves. And I'm listening to Clint and he's that guy. We're just, we're just going to come in and do it ourselves, got my buddies, we're coming in, that guy, scott, who flew his helicopter, we'll just get it done.
Speaker 2:So I'm listening to this, I'm feeling all emotional because I'm on my way to a long-term recovery meeting and I called in and the gatekeeper, you know, when you call into these shows, they ask you who you are and why you're calling, because they have to screen out if you're a nut bag or if they really should. And they let me write through, which was kind of shocking, because two seconds later I'm on I-40 and I'm talking to Mike. I'm like, oh, I didn't expect this and we just started chatting and it frankly took the rest of the segment, which I was very surprised by. But you know, it's just an opportunity to say from our perspective, what had happened in North Carolina gave us some feedback for the people in Texas. And how do you specifically pray for people and what is needed, and how do you help specifically pray for people and what is needed and how do you help? Because the American people really are givers. We love taking care of our neighbors, but the desire doesn't always come with an instruction manual and that's what has to get recreated over and over. So it was just a wonderful conversation.
Speaker 2:And then I hung up the phone and then I'm listening to some fellow from Canada call in and he's saying, oh, I need to do something else. And then donations start coming in to me. So we actually turned around and wrote a check for all those donations for forty five hundred dollars back to the Community Foundation in Kerrville, texas, because I know that I could have used those funds in North Carolina. But we were talking about Texas and so obviously the right thing to do is take those dollars and put them into the most grassroots place I could find we did that. I haven't even had a chance to tell Mike that. So, if he happens to be watching this episode, I did send him back an email because he himself made a gift and I know that people give privately and he obviously gives privately.
Speaker 2:But his listeners responded and so it gave us a chance to help somebody else, which is all any of us want, ben. I mean, it's the reason people get frustrated with the Red Cross or with the United Way. They started small, they do some really good things, but a lot of the donations that come in are wasted on overhead and salaries and marketing and the American people understand that there's expenses to an organization, but we all have our limits and we don't like it when our money is in a pocket instead of in a hand.
Speaker 1:You know I'm going to. Yes, and it's exactly what you said. And and there was something else that you had said during that call to Mike. You had said, and you were, you were speaking to the audience and you had said, if you guys can give, give as locally as possible. And I I kind of understood, so correct me if I am wrong, that you know for me. If I wanted to, if I wanted to give to the, if I wanted to give to the America Red Cross, to give to the america red cross here in southern california, and say, oh, I want my money to go to curville, then you know, let's say, I donate 100 bucks, well, probably, you know, 15 bucks is going to make it to curville and the rest of it's going to get eaten up in expenses or this guy's salary or that guy's salary, that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2:So that's the thing. It it's like your dollars can be restricted. That's restricted giving. You're giving it to a specific purpose. The dollars that are donated for that purpose out of that bucket do go there, but they have the opportunity as an organization to use the other dollars to support the program. It's called program expenses and most people don't pay attention to this. In fact, yesterday I was. We just got back from vacation, which is why I have no makeup on my hair's not fixed.
Speaker 2:But we were at the North Carolina Aquarium because my son loves zoos and aquariums and we all we're a bunch of nerds as family. So we're in the line at the gift shop. And she asked if we wanted to round up from our purchase of books. We buy books in gift shops. If anybody wants to know if you're a nerd, if you buy books in a gift shop, then you're my people. She asked if you want to round up. I said who are we rounding up to? And she said for conservation. I said who's getting the dollars?
Speaker 2:And this young lady looked at me and she said the dollars you used right here in the aquarium to take care of our animals. And I said then, round up, sister. And she said I'm so glad you asked. Most don't ask, but she was such a just a cute young girl, probably like 20 years old, and she said that when she started working there she had asked that very question where do the dollars go? And everyone who watches and listens to this. I mean, if you're at the grocery store and they say, do you want to give to the food pantry, I ask them well, what food pantry are we talking about? Are you giving this to some big distribution center or just going to the local church that has a blessing box? I mean, your dollars can really have massive impact if they are not diluted by organizations.
Speaker 1:See, that's a great thing to tell the audience, that's a great thing to know, that's knowledge that most people don't have and they don't realize that giving to one organization or another and they say, oh well, we're helping out. Yeah, they might be, but the number of dollars that go to a particular situation are so limited because everyone else is getting their cut. And I'll say this, and I'm going to kind of take a tangent and I apologize, but you know, we, we had a, you know, obviously, early in the year, in January, we had some devastating fires in Southern California area, wiped out an entire community of Pacific Palisades, wiped out a community in Altadena I can't even remember how many homes were destroyed, you know and and the especially the Pacific Palisades area, that was like the real uppity area of of the coastal community. So there were a couple of concerts, or they were held on the same night. Fire aid, fire aid.
Speaker 1:And now word is coming out, word, the money. Apparently they raised $200 million. Okay, now, $200 million, yes, it's a lot of money, but for that area it's certainly not going to cover everyone's expenses. Everyone's not going to get their home back. But that $200 million, if you took it straight and said here it goes to you people and divvy it up, whatever. That could do a lot of good for all those people. And people are starting to say, okay, where'd the money go? Oh, this organization here. They applied for some of the funds and they actually have absolutely nothing to do with anything in having to do with the fire or recovery or relief or anything like that. So there's a lot of stuff going on right now in regards to that. So when you say, give as locally as you can, that to me, when you said that, I was like, okay, that's what she's saying and that's what that means, and that's exactly what I'm going to be doing, moving forward in any type of charity situation that I find myself and I want to know where's this money going?
Speaker 2:I mean you can call a friend that's in an affected area. So when I was trying to figure out where to take these donated dollars from Mike Slater's listeners to send them to Texas, I called a real estate friend of mine in the area and I said where is this going to have the greatest impact with the least amount of dilution? He had a favorite, but he called his congressman, chip Roy, and said Chip, confirm for me where you're seeing the impact happen, because our congressional people know a lot of things, because they have staff all over the ground.
Speaker 1:OK.
Speaker 2:So the two of them gave me the same foundation and that was for me an easy yes. And then I of course went to their website and I'm looking for their 990. And so if you're again in the nerd herd, you look for an organization's 990. That's where they publicly disclose what happens to their dollars. And if you see somebody where 70% of the dollars are going towards the mission, they've got bloat. And if you've got an organization where 95% of the dollars go to the program, you've got a super duper winner there. That's a very skinny organization. I'm always looking for skinny organizations and these are things that we can do. In fact, I don't know how many of your listeners or viewers, or you if you've followed the Data Republican on Twitter.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:She's Republican with a small R, not a big R, because she's not a partisan hack. It's just kind of funny because everything turns into a silo trench warfare anymore. But she built this website and it's at datarepublicancom. You and Catherine and any of your friends are going to go down that rabbit hole tonight and you are going to sit there and look at every organization, because you can look up a charity and you can see who their officers are. You can look up a non-government organization the NGOs and you can see who donates to. How much taxpayer dollar goes to these groups versus privately donated dollars. It is a wild ride and you can figure out very quickly who is legitimate and who is a front for gathering money, like the grant that was given after the Southern California Flyers to somebody who had no intention of spending it in Southern California. You can go look that organization up. And then we have to start thinking about how transparency is a solution to all this. If we want our dollars that we donate from the goodness of our hearts and because we care about our neighbors, to do good things, we have an obligation to do the research and then an obligation to figure out who is being shifty and expose it. And so, like the concerts, one of the top questions I must get on my social accounts has to do with the concert for the carolinas, which happened a couple of weeks after helene. Similar scenario of all the way smaller dollars because we don't have all the hollywood celebrities and the big giant money. Of course. Course the Palisades, their friends, are all wealthy, sending in big dollars. But it raised about $24 million.
Speaker 2:And the question that comes to me is well, where did it go? And I get to say I don't know. I keep asking and they'll list off a couple of organizations that got a chunk of it, but one of those organizations has received over $500 million in donations and they can't spend it fast enough. And when I've reached out to them, and so have some of the other small groups like, can you give us a grant? We will give you all the receipts and we will send it for you. We have different purposes, we don't have the same restrictions. Let us push the rebuild forward, but it doesn't fit their guidelines. And then you start realizing an organization might do great things, but if they're covered up in guidelines and restrictions, you're the person who made the gift. You want your dollars to go to work and not sit in a bank account. So yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:It's a second job that I didn't expect to have until Helene hit. Now I've learned all these things about how nonprofits operate and I've had the blinders come off about some of the organizations that I respected for years. And it is what it is. You learn it, you do things, you keep moving and then you just get better and stronger.
Speaker 1:And then you tell your friends and say look, ask questions, Lee, can you? Okay? Did you say it was the Daily Republican?
Speaker 2:Data Republican D-A-T-A. Republican dot com.
Speaker 2:And she's actually on Twitter or whatever X, whatever she called it. X because Elon gave us free speech back, but her handle is Data Republican and she's deaf and of course, the people who were getting their organizations exposed were doxing her and she had to have security come in. But my favorite is that Data Republican's mom has an account now and her mom crops up all the time, which is my favorite thing ever. Like I love this so much. She's doing all the work of literally just building a program that exposes information that the people can then take, absorb and do something with. That is the beauty of what the freedom of speech is, and she's not telling you what to think. She's giving you information so you can form an opinion, but her mama is there and I love it so much.
Speaker 1:You know I going back to Texas and and OK and OK. There's a couple of reasons I mean before I, before I, sorry.
Speaker 2:I can grab a whole all day. We'll squirrel everywhere. It's a couple of reasons I mean before I move on. Sorry, I could grab a hole all day. We'll squirrel everywhere. It's a terrible-.
Speaker 1:Don't even. I'm moving constantly. I'm moving my microphone back and forth, I'm all over the place.
Speaker 1:So you do whatever you need to do. You can bounce up and down if you want, it's fine. But I mean I wanted to have you on not only because of your inspirational stories. I mean, just look, the tears are streaming down my face as you were talking, and they weren't sad tears, they were tears of joy and, and, like I said, an inspiration, and I could feel just like. I could feel you just like coming out of the radio, you know. And so it was. It was great, but I wanted, um, wanted, knowing what it is that you do.
Speaker 1:I wanted to make sure that the situation that happened with Hurricane Helene last and you said it was September 27th that happened last year, that we don't forget about it, that we remember and that there are still people that need help. And so I have a friend she's a past guest on the podcast and we've become good buddies too, and she lives in Texas. She's not near Kerrville, she's actually closer to Austin, but I called her and we unfortunately we haven't been able to just kind of sync up our schedules here so I could get her on, because I said here's what I need you to do. I need you to find me the most local organization where people can donate to. Okay, I want you to find the closest thing to Kerrville. That's taken, donations, okay, and and then.
Speaker 1:And then we're going to talk about that because I want this? Because none of you don't hear anything on the news about those poor people in Texas anymore. You don't hear any news about those poor people in North Carolina, tennessee, and that whole, that whole Appalachian region. Okay, you don't hear anything about it anymore. It's okay, it's a tragedy for four or five, six days, maybe a week, and then that's it.
Speaker 1:And even, really even the situation here in Southern California with fires it went on maybe a little bit longer, because here it was more local, but you don't hear a lot about it anymore. Are you kidding me? And there's still people that aren't even in their homes, there's still people, I mean, they haven't even cleared their lots yet. So so I, so I wanted to keep this thing is look like. Look, I have a very, very small audience, but I want to at least try to keep this in the forefront as much as I can and kind of do my part as far as the situation in your area, the situation in Texas, and what people can do what my audience can do, if, if they, you know, can if they feel so generous to help out. So that's, that's the whole big thing, that that I wanted to do. And you know, I just feel like I'm trying to, I'm just trying to do my part.
Speaker 2:It's like. I'm glad you mentioned Altadena, because when you look at the fires in California, pacific Palisades took up most of the oxygen because those were the fancy houses and they had the additional click bait feature of being a celebrity's home. But in Altadena you had a lot of senior citizens, fixed income, paid off houses who didn't have the right kind of insurance coverage. Because why would they? I mean, we've seen this in the mountains of North Carolina too. Somebody pays off their house. They don't often keep insurance on it at all, and if they did keep insurance on it, it's not going to be at current values because they did not get it reset. They haven't had it done for current valuation, which, by the way, your entire audience. If there's anything that you take away from this particular episode, it is to call your insurance man and say I need to update the coverage on my property because if you bought your house in 2015, what it would cost you to replace it right now is not remotely related to 2015. And you're going to be sick on your stomach to find out that your replacement value has lagged and you can't replace it.
Speaker 2:And so, altadena, you have people who want to go back home. They don't have the financial resources. They're not the super wealthy celebrities. And when the spotlight comes off of them, what are they supposed to do? And if you were a senior citizen, you can't go back to work. You can't start over again. Your kids and grandkids are probably dual income stretched thin. They've got debt too. So what are you supposed to do? And then we see the legislative action about replacing some of those homes with low income affordable housing.
Speaker 1:Oh, I know.
Speaker 2:We can get in the news for the wrong thing. How about let's get the people who were there back home, instead of replacing them? Because if there's anything I've learned in the North Carolina mountains, it is that it's not the house that matters, it's the community that matters, which was why my organization, back in October and November, where were so many people in North Carolina living in tents, and they were living under carports and they were just living wherever they could in order to not leave their dirt. And we provided a shed for this one lady who was in her carport, and we said why? Why won't you go somewhere where you've got walls? Cause at the time, too, the bears were out of character because their habitat had been messed up and we have a huge bear population.
Speaker 1:Everybody is just like the rattlesnakes were wound up.
Speaker 2:They did. Their habitat had been messed up. And so you've got a lady living outside and you've got the risk of bears and rattlesnakes and you get Indian summer and the weather changes. So we go to get her figure out how to help her. And she's like I'm not leaving my land. What if we bring a shed over here to you, give it to you, no strings attached, you can keep it, rebuild your house from it, that's fine, I'm not leaving. So that was the other story of the lack of assistance that FEMA. They just they walked away from Western North Carolina.
Speaker 2:It was absolutely crazy to watch crazy making to talk about it, cause all these people would accuse me of lying. I'm like crazy to watch crazy making to talk about it, cause all these people would accuse me of lying. I'm like you're not here, I'm not lying, and you're just spouting off talking points, you little bots. But FEMA would offer a hotel an hour and a half away. Well, if you live in a community and you know your neighbors, your grocery store, you know where everything is, you don't want to go an hour and a half away, you want to stay at home and I can just wager I don't know the people of Altadena, but I would wager a guess that they'd rather be in Altadena, even though it's been burned to the ground, find a way back, instead of having to live somewhere else, which is why the permitting situation is really infuriating to hear about and watch, because we're dealing with it in Western North Carolina too.
Speaker 2:The ones who have feel like they now have a pathway to get rid of the have nots. And if they can just say no, then maybe some of these mobile homes won't come back and they can replace it with nicer homes, because if you live in the gated community at the top of the mountain, you really don't want to look at these single wide trailers down at the bottom, even though the people in single wide trailers are your neighbors too. So there's this very weird exposing of the socioeconomic gap, and now there are people who would love to widen it because they've got their blinders on and they think that everything needs to look like them. I just I can't look at life like that. We were never designed for all of us to look the same, be the same, have the same everything we're supposed to be this beautiful patchwork quilt, but after a storm there's a chance to change the quilt, and that's not necessarily a good thing.
Speaker 1:Patchwork quilt. Or what was that song that Dolly Parton had, where her mom made her jacket out of all kinds of whatever I can't remember Jacket of many colors or something like that.
Speaker 2:That's one of her best songs.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, and I just screwed that whole thing up.
Speaker 2:See, but she took that song out of the Bible and then here it winds up on I think it was number one on the country top 100 back at the time. What was that? 82, three that was.
Speaker 1:Oh no, I think that was even. I think it was like mid seventies.
Speaker 2:We will have an earworm now, but I don't see when the coat of many colors was.
Speaker 1:You're going to look it up, all right.
Speaker 2:Many colors All the part and see it comes up as a top Google 71.
Speaker 1:I was only all about that. 71. Oh, even earlier than I said. But yeah, it's amazing how these tragedies. It's like there's a political elite that just kind of wants to swoop in and not make things right, but make things right for them.
Speaker 2:Yes, the whole we, the people, doesn't matter to them because they think they know better than we, the plebes. But we saw this during COVID. We were all told we had to do X, y, z because the experts. Well, why do they know better? Because they're the experts. Well, what about my knowledge, my intelligence? And now you don't matter. And so we see this exposing itself in so many different scenarios in the world. But to to be in the middle of it in the Western North Carolina mountains just makes me want to fight all the harder to help somebody stay in their trailer house, if that is what they want, and I know, Texas is going to experience the same thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and and and. Look, don't fight with Texas, you know. Don't start a fight with those people, you know, just like you don't. I mean, look, I'm on the West coast, I was born and raised here in Southern California. Okay, and I love it out here.
Speaker 2:Because your state's beautiful and wealthy and gone completely crazy.
Speaker 1:It has gone absolutely completely crazy. But I but see, like for me and yeah, there's a lot of people that are, you know, they move out and they want to go to the fine state of Texas, they want to go to the fine state of Tennessee you know, where it's a little more red, or they go to Idaho, or things like that, and that's all good and well. God bless them for doing that For me. I'm digging my heels in and I'm saying, look, this is my home and I'm not going to let you knuckleheads chase me out of my home. And you know I'll, I'll stand my ground and I'll fight you till the bitter end and I wholly plan on winning that fight. And um, so it's just, I don't want to get off on a political tangent here, but see, the thing is is though, Remember, politics is how people interact with each other in the world.
Speaker 2:We've turned politics into Republican versus Democrat in DC or Sacramento or Raleigh, when really politics is how do we all live together? And if we all remember, that's actually what we're supposed to be talking about. Are there different ways to live together? Absolutely. Should we have discussions about it? Of course we should. It never should have turned into being told what to do by one side of the lever or the other side of the lever, cause, let's be honest, it's a unit party.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, and it shouldn't be. You know, us versus them. It should be. You know, you said it earlier, we, the people, and it's okay to disagree with one another, but but but to be told that that one, either one political party or one class of people, one social, socioeconomical class of people, is better than another, or hates another, that kind of stuff is absolutely outrageous. And and it to me, I never really be, I'm.
Speaker 1:I always looked at, um, I've always been a conservative my whole entire adult life. Okay, it doesn't mean I always voted with my party. Okay, I got bamboozled, I got swindled into into voting for, you know, Barack Obama. I voted for him twice One because, like I said, I got swindled and also his opponents were absolutely terrible too. But for me, the guy who always looked at politics from a thousand foot level and until, until I saw, um, what was going on, and then it really opened my eyes how the lies were spewed about our current president, his first time around. And it's like I'm hearing this, but I'm seeing this. So it's like don't these folks over here telling me don't believe your lying eyes.
Speaker 1:And I'm going it just doesn't, it just doesn't sync up, it doesn't match. And so that's when I really really started jumping on board and becoming a little more, um, aware and involved and um, you know, but I look back 15 years or so, when Obama was president, and it was every night on the news, or a couple nights, a couple nights a week on the news. It was like, you know, um, this country is the most racist country on the planet, and and we hate black people, and we hate this class of people, and we hate that class of people, and and the police hate black people, and so on and so on. And we go back and I'm first off, in all transparency, I have a ton of family in law enforcement. My two of my kids are police officers, officers. I have a whole family of first responders and law enforcement okay. So I can tell everyone out there, the audience, and I can tell you too, lee, that just isn't the truth. You know, yeah, there are bad people out there, but that's not.
Speaker 2:This is not the truth, okay you said lies to create a, a perception. It's all propaganda.
Speaker 1:And now, in the last 15 years, I do feel that we are a divided country. I feel that we do have a president that is doing his best to try to mend that and we have an establishment media that is just doing every single thing that they can to not allow it to happen. And I had a. I had a friend of mine it was shortly after the election last November and he says so what do you think? Do you think that the do you think that the leftists are going to back off or are they going to? Are they going to keep going? And I said they are going to double down, they are going to triple down on all the same messaging that they have been going with the last, you know, five years, six years, seven years, and it's not going to stop and it hasn't stopped.
Speaker 1:And you know it's just, it's an absolute shame and all I, you know you see stuff on Facebook and social media and all this kind of thing and, and a lot of it, I a lot of the stuff that is just nonsense. I don't even, I don't even respond to because it's like okay, listen, all you gotta do is stop. Just, just, please, just like. Go outside and open your eyes and that's all you have to do. And the stuff that you're spewing here on your Facebook page or whatever there's there's, there's absolutely no truth to it. Come on, people, but anyway.
Speaker 2:I tell people, if you find yourself typing in all caps, you need to turn it all off and walk outside because you over the edge.
Speaker 1:Okay, wait, hold on Time out. I type in all caps a lot, not my.
Speaker 2:Facebook messages.
Speaker 1:Oh, you know what Hang on.
Speaker 2:I forgot. It's not good manners to holler.
Speaker 1:Well, I don't wait, let me do this, because I did this and I'm going to show you. See, I type in all caps, but it's not because I'm yelling, it's because it's big and you can see it.
Speaker 2:And that's why I do it. You can buy some readers like the rest of us, and just deal with your age.
Speaker 1:I have them right here, lee. I have them right here, lee. But if I put on the readers, I can only see this. You're fuzzy across the studio, so I have to take them off so I can see you.
Speaker 2:Okay, so you can have an exception for your all caps on your crawler on your TV program, but you cannot do it on the Facebook, the Instagram, the TikTok, any of that. Somebody types in all caps. I'm like I'm out, I can't do it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I hear you on that, I do, I hear you on that. But okay, let's kind of move aside for a sec.
Speaker 2:For anybody watching this to make a comment and to explain to Ben that I'm right here and he's wrong. So this is a wonderful opportunity that Catherine will enjoy greatly for somebody else to take her side for a minute.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know I'm I'm wrong a lot, you know. I don't like to admit it though.
Speaker 2:Well, he has to say it's his married life.
Speaker 1:But see, I think. But, catherine, she strokes my ego. She says you're always right, you're always right, and even though I know I'm not, I just think she's just trying to, you know, appease me, that's all, even though in the back of my mind she's like this guy's such an idiot.
Speaker 2:As long as she doesn't go to the social media to say it is fine.
Speaker 1:I just don't like people who just marriage their spouses in public.
Speaker 2:That's kind of ugly.
Speaker 1:Here I want you to share with the audience. I want you to tell the audience about Scott in Tennessee.
Speaker 2:Oh, I love Scott in.
Speaker 1:Tennessee. Come on, come on.
Speaker 2:Yes, no, I want you to tell the audience that one, that one's just Okay. So we had, of course, the storm hit September 27th and probably for the first 30 days because, for reference for anybody who remembered Western North Carolina kind of blipped through. You remember Hurricane Helene, thousand year flood, which how many times have we heard thousand-year flood so far this year? Long different conversation. So the geographical area that was impacted by the storm was the size of Massachusetts and North Carolina. When you look at a map doesn't look that big, but we're very wide and we're a very big state. So we had such a huge geographical area. I think that's one of our disadvantages and I hate to say it's an advantage of what happened in Texas. But it was a more contained area. So it's much easier to coordinate your volunteer efforts and figure out how do you reach the people. And so there were nine heavily hit counties, 29 counties total that had some kind of impact from Helene, and we have 100 counties in the States. That's the breadth of the storm. So anyway, after about 30 days we had the emergency needs somewhat in hand as far as water, oxygen tanks, propane generators, helping people with the very basics of survival. That is what we consider phase one relief work. Well, phase two is in the mucking out of the wet sheet rock and taking out the rugs in a house so that you can stop the mold and throw it in dehumidifiers everywhere we could trying to save houses.
Speaker 2:But in all of that process, because of the size of the storm, there were 1875 houses that were 100 percent destroyed by the storm, and some of those were landslides, some were flood. They were just the houses gone. And I look at Southern California and you had all of these city blocks completely decimated by fire and y'all actually lost more structures than we did. But the difference here is that you're a flat geographical area, we are a mountain, and so you had houses here and houses here and they're all over the place and they were tucked in and the roads were gone, so the two lane roads washed out. You'd have a half of a lane that could be repaired so you can get a side by side through, but you couldn't get a real truck and people were still living on the other side of a half a lane left road where there's a motorcycle or a side by side getting them.
Speaker 2:Wow, wow, people living in tents, as I mentioned before, because they didn't want to leave their land. And one of my visits I was like I have to do something about housing. I mean, I'm a 25 year realtor, so housing is my my space, it's what I know the best and it's what my my brain starts working overtime on. How do we do something about housing here? Well, at the time we had a lot of pushback from FEMA and from the EPA and from the state and the federal government and the county permitting people no, you can't live in this. No, you can't do that. And there was a hugely viral situation where the Amish had come down from Pennsylvania and Ohio. In fact, there are groups of Amish that are working here still trying to help bring the town of Chimney Rock back. They are just the biggest blessing in this country. It's amazing they don't need your recognition.
Speaker 2:But the Amish had built, I think 300 tiny homes, but they did not have permits and so they were told they could not be occupied. So you had people living in tents, living under carports and in shelters and in houses they shouldn't have been living in that were just racked with mold, and then they're told you can't live. And then Amish built tiny home, which of course their quality is way up here, and it's just because of red tape. Well, that's going on and we're watching this happen. So I had called my congressman and asked for the FEMA manual because I wanted to know what was going on. How can FEMA do this? It doesn't make sense to me. So let me see what the regulations say. And as I'm reading what FEMA can and can't regulate as housing, I discovered that they cannot touch a tractor shed. All right, good to know.
Speaker 2:So then I talked to some shed friends of mine, because you can get a very nicely built shed and these were actually built by some Mennonite people that were eight by 12s. Well, in all of our North Carolina counties, if you look at building code, once you hit 12 feet you have triggered permits and code and regulations. Yeah, we took an inch off the corner. So instead of being eight by 12, these were eight 1111s. They did not trigger any codes, and so we built these temporary tractor sheds. They were not on a permanent foundation, did not have utilities, they were on a skid so we could skid them into a property. We gave them camping toilets so they could have somewhere for waste, and then provided water and a propane heater and we vented them out. I mean, we had a plan for these sheds.
Speaker 2:So, as I'm getting the idea together, I did what I've been doing all along. Most of my team has arrived through watching me on social media. So there is a good side to social media that people do. Because they don't trust the mainstream media anymore. Because of all the propaganda, they will go there to get their news.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I had put out a request that said we're going to build some sheds for people. We need volunteers. I've never done this before, didn't really have any idea what to do, except that my my me, one of my new best favorite friends is Austin Limeberry. He's a builder in Georgia. Austin was watching me online. He calls and he's a freaking luxury home builder. He builds the stuff they have in the Palisades, the really gorgeous stuff. He's willing to come help me with these sheds and all over the place. And so we set up a date.
Speaker 2:The land was donated to us to do the build through a relationship of my good realtor friends Star Franklin and the town of Fowleys, and she knew this guy that had a field we could use and were bathrooms and a church that was going to donate some space. And so we set a date to build sheds and we all gather on a Saturday truly just to see whoever shows up. We had some supplies. Some lady in Alabama had sent me a plan to build some from scratch and we had people from 11 states show up from just all over the place All kinds of skill levels, some wildly unskilled people who had a heart to help and some very skilled builders, electricians, carpenters, they'd all come in and one of these people was this fellow named Scott and Scott's from Tennessee and he's of a he's retirement age but he's not old, he's. I don't know how old Scott is, early sixties maybe, I don't know. So Scott drove over in his Tahoe which are suburban, whatever one of the big vehicles and it was very well loved and obviously his, his favorite car. So Scott shows up and he's one of our helpers and he's driving teams through and he's helping coordinate and just super duper guy.
Speaker 2:So we didn't finish our project in one day, which I had thought we would, but I had no knowledge or experience and so we had to. All right, we're going to have to keep going on Sunday. So we come back out to the job site Sunday. There's Scott, there's a whole different collection of people because we lost some who had to do church stuff and picked up some other ones and the collection. We keep going. And then we didn't finish again because again they didn't really know what I was doing. So Monday we're wrapping it back up. We started delivering some of these sheds on Sunday afternoon and then Monday comes and we have to go finish them up. Here's Scott again. Well, that was when another one of my amazing volunteers, eric, who teaches the construction trades program at the local community college at Western Piedmont. He had risen up to come help and want to know could he bring his students? They could get some real life experience. I'm like bring your students. And so we had all the students from the community college.
Speaker 2:They're learning from all these retired builders and like one of the cutest things ever we were. I guess it was that Sunday we're working on some of our sheds that we built from scratch, and this young man wanders up wearing Crocs and he said, well, what do you all do? And we're building sheds for Western North Carolina. And he said, well, I was thinking about going to the construction program at Western Piedmont. And I said, well, that's fine, because the instructor for that program's over here. And he said, well, I was hoping to be a carpenter. Well, I had a retired carpenter right over here and said introduce the two of them. That young man had a hammer in his hand and a level and this carpenter was pouring into him within like five minutes and this kid got so addicted to it and of course, he's now signed up and he's in the construction trades program and so it's just amazing. So all this is going on. So Eric's there.
Speaker 1:Okay, I hope they burned his Crocs and gave him a proper pair of work boots.
Speaker 2:Okay, the next day. Okay, all right, he wanted to wander up and start work. He intended to wander up and ask questions, but when you meet a mom and dad who's a busybody, you get plugged in. So Eric, who runs the program for the community college, had been talking to Scott while they're out there working together and found out he didn't have anywhere to stay. He'd been sleeping in his vehicle, but he wasn't going to leave until the sheds were done. So Eric takes him home and now they're best buddies Again.
Speaker 2:What world does it happen that a guy drives over from Tennessee and makes friends with the guy from the community college who turns out both of them needed a friend. And so in finding out more later, we find out Scott's wife had died two years ago and he had been in this massive depressive funk, didn't feel like he had a purpose, didn't feel like there was anything that he could offer anymore. He was just so down. And then he happened to watch my videos. I don't know if a friend sent it to him, don't have any idea. He answered the call to come build sheds with a stranger, for strangers, a bunch of people who had no idea what they were doing, and he just leans right into it and his demeanor just cheerful and wonderful, and he told eric that he felt like he'd found purpose again yeah saying yes and I still I get goosebumps.
Speaker 2:I love the guy he's. He showed up on every one of our builds. We did three separate builds for these sheds and then he, of course, now that he and Eric are besties, he shows up at the community college to help give some guidance and coach the kids. I'm like this is what it's about, because he's not a wealthy guy.
Speaker 2:He's a regular guy who chose to throw in in a very odd situation. And I just look at that and I think this is where Mike and I were having a conversation too because he is he kept talking about the people who are 99% into things.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:I must've talked about this a thousand times since that show. But they want to do things, they intend to do things, but then there's that something that stops them, whether their garage needs to get cleaned out or the bills are due, or I've got something to do or I'm tired, or I'm busy, I'll do it later All the things that stop us. Scott didn't get stopped, he just said yes, and he shows up and he gets out of this. I would say probably more than he gave, and he didn't come to receive. He came to give, and because he gave, he received.
Speaker 2:And I do think we forget that because people that are very altruistic often refuse to receive, and so I actually. I probably should have pointed this out to Mike too. So I'll just tell your show but the spiritual gift of giving is is one Some people have. Other people are not givers by nature, like they weren't wired for it, but the people who give, everybody knows one, and it often is the women in a family, because they're over there making sure everybody else has something to eat. They don't eat until everybody else is handled. They do all the cards and all the gifts and they are doing, doing, doing, doing, and then they will get sick and somebody tries to help them, they're like Nope, I'm fine, help somebody else. Nope, I don't ever want to receive. But if you are never willing to receive, somebody else doesn't get the gift of giving.
Speaker 1:Right, oh wow, that is so good Needed to give.
Speaker 2:Scott a place to sleep, and if Scott had said no, eric's gift would have been blocked.
Speaker 1:That is so good, you know. That's on a smaller scale, but very similar when people pay. I'm not one for receiving compliments. I can't stand. I just I just like, and I'm not a shy guy, I'm a very, I'm a very extroverted person, but, but, but, and and I I, when I'm controlling the spotlight, when I'm shining it on myself, it's great, but when others do it, no, I just no, please don't do that. Or but a simple compliment like hey, you, you look good today, or you did this well, or whatever it is, and it's like yeah, you know, so I understand, but then Everybody should have a Southern grandmother who tells you from the time you are able to walk and talk and chew gum.
Speaker 2:When somebody pays you a compliment, you say thank you. That's exactly right. That's exactly right, some Southern grandmothers, and they forgot.
Speaker 1:Yes, somebody told me that they said just just say thank you because it's a gift. It's a gift, just somebody who's just giving you a gift, and it's nothing special, nothing, you know, it is special but honestly you're diminishing their gift when you say it's nothing special. Yes, it's significant from the person giving it.
Speaker 2:Yes, and and yeah and I and I always struggled recognizing that because I don't receive well but um if you don't receive, they don't get to give, and those of us that enjoy giving have to let somebody else have that joy too.
Speaker 1:And you're taking that person's joy away. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly, you're exactly right.
Speaker 2:Because he gets the best friend and he gets purpose again and he has people who rely on him, which he needed so much to be valuable. And the value has nothing to do with dollars and nothing to do with the house, oh, with your, the place that you occupy in the world. And are you going to occupy a good place or a bad place, in a small place or a large place? It doesn't take.
Speaker 1:It doesn't take a bunch of money to feel, to feel half self-worth or to feel worthy of other people. All it takes is what's inside and a strong faith in in our Lord and savior, and that's all that you need and and and then to be able to share that with others. And, um, I just I love that story about Scott and the cool part is that Scott, being so down, losing his wife not very long before then, you know, like you had said, within a couple of years prior to that, you know, and to lose a spouse other than a child is probably one of the hardest things anybody will ever have to go through, hardest things anybody will ever have to go through. And you know to still be dealing with that and still not in a right place, but not missing the sign from God. He's like, hey, this is, here's the path, all you got to do is just drive, and he did. And now he's gotten so much more out of it than he could have ever imagined and I just I love that story.
Speaker 2:But he doesn't even know the lives he's changed, and I think that's something that our social media world has trouble with, where we want to take a selfie with the homeless guy you helped. That's not what it's about. It's about just do it and then let the Lord give the increase, because he always gives an increase. But I will say, like there's the the fact that giving has to look like a lot of things, and it's not always money. It's often your time and your abilities and even your willingness to be coached, like that young man. He brought a willingness to be taught by this carpenter who wanted to give his knowledge to a young fella.
Speaker 2:I was looking at Instagram I guess it was day before yesterday and there was a person in a car behind. Someone had taken a video, and so I love seeing people giving when they don't know they're being caught at it, and it was at a stoplight and this fella was in a minivan and he was putting anointing oil on a homeless guy, praying with him, and I was sitting bawling. I'm like that's exactly what it's supposed to look like. The homeless guy walks up, I'm the one that locks my doors. I'm like please don't hustle me, because I I get nervous and I'm a generally outgoing person, but woman by myself in the car and I watch the news too much, but this fella had his window down. He was hugging the man, giving him anointing oil and praying with him. And then I read the comments, which was a terrible mistake, because you should never read the comments. It will take all your joy away from you quickly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:She had all these people. I hope you took him home. I hope you took him home, I hope you gave him some money, I hope you gave him some food. And all I can think is y'all missed the whole point. He gave him eternal life, he gave him the bread of life, he gives him something to hope for and he gives him the joy of love, which would probably enable him to figure out the next steps and see the next steps. But if you don't serve the soul first, it's very hard for the body to ever be happy. But, man, these people are missing the point. And I'm sitting over here crying like I got to get my anointing oil out while I'm riding down the road.
Speaker 1:Now you can just have it in your purse with you wherever you go. Ready to, you know, ready at all times, you know. Uh, that's your Presbyterian.
Speaker 2:You have no idea what I'm talking about. So just go visit a Pentecostal church sometime, you'll figure it out.
Speaker 1:I know that's great, you know there's. Yeah, we have to get to this one. We have to get to this line because when I called Mike the week after you had called and just really started this whole ball rolling, he says oh Lee, there was a thing. She said I could envision him like shuffling around looking for it. I said I got you, mike, I got it right here, I got it right here. I said and I want you to speak to this. I said the line goes like this, mike, it's first you learn, then you earn, then you return, and those three right there. And I had the same reaction when that first came out of your mouth. I had the same reaction as Slater did. At the same time I was just like my mouth was agape. You know, just like what you know, just absolutely phenomenal words and words I'm never, ever going to forget. And I just, I just want you to tell the audience where that came from and what the meaning of that is. If they're not getting it yet, just explain that please.
Speaker 2:Well, I wish I could give credit to the person who said it, but I have gone through all my notebooks. I cannot find her name. But I remember it was a woman in Georgia at a Georgia Women's Realtor Conference where my dear friend Brian Drake is going to be president of the Georgia Realtor Conference, where my dear friend Brian Drake is going to be president of the Georgia Realtors next year, and she'd invited me to come to this event and I love learning when I'm there as a speaker. I was there as the emcee and while other people are talking, I'm sitting over here going oh, oh, oh. And when she said that it was such a mic drop. So if I ever find her name, she's going to get all the credit in the world.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Here's what it boils down to A lot of people want to do things for other people, but you're not equipped for it yet, and so you actually have to give yourself a little bit of grace and patience, because our lives are made up of these different seasons of when you're young, you're supposed to learn, you're supposed to gather information and be the young guy talking to the carpenter. Go learn from him, gather it, so that you can then earn, you can provide for your family, you can build a stable financial life, whatever that looks like, and as you have that stability, you have the opportunity to go give back and start watching God provide the increase. But if you refuse to learn, it's hard to earn and then you have nothing to return and so it all starts adding up. And, as I was mentioning to Mike, I didn't know that the season of my life was shifting from earn to return, because my husband and I are not wealthy, but we have made some very smart decisions so that we would have some financial stability when we're older.
Speaker 2:So we're fine. We're not ever going to be out there doing big fancy things, but even if we had the cash, we would just go buy more rental properties. But we are stable and then, when the storm hit, I've got a 25 year real estate business where my phone rings because people know me and my reputation is strong. I don't have to spend a lot on marketing. I can rely on the fact that people know me well enough to call me. So I guess I can go ahead and move into my return phase because I've done relief efforts, my husband and I. Our anniversary is September 27th, and so we've had to surprise.
Speaker 2:Oh geez, louise, you gotta be kidding me, and actually my aunt was being buried that day Like it was a. There's a lot of stuff going on in my family on that day. Wow, my anniversary is that weekend. We've done hurricane work before down at the coast, and so to go do more hurricane work was a natural yes, but it went from a deliver one set of supplies, check the box and say I've done something, into a nonprofit that has continued to expand our offerings because I'm able to now, and 15 years ago, ben, I couldn't have done that because our kids were small. Well, now they're both qualified to be off the payroll, even though one's in college and one's working and hasn't quite moved out yet, but they're.
Speaker 1:Qualified to be off the payroll. I love it.
Speaker 2:Their day is coming very soon, but I'm in a different space now than I was then.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Had I tried to do this with a storm 10 years ago, we had Hurricane Matthew in 2016, which there are still people suffering from, matthew in eastern North Carolina Nine years later I couldn't do then what I'm doing now.
Speaker 2:Don't be so hard on yourself. If you don't have the Rockefeller money or you don't have the time to go, be like Clint and spend two weeks doing search and recovery, or you can't just drive across the mountains like Scott did. There will be a season for you if you are preparing yourself towards that season, and one thing we're told as believers all the time is that you've got to be in preparation mode. It's the keep your lamps trimmed and burning, because you don't know when you're going to be called. You don't know when the Lord's going to put your name on something, so get yourself prepared. It's very good life advice, and if somebody happens to be watching this who's not a believer and wants to start poo-pooing what I'm saying, well, just realize that it's still good life advice. The Bible is full of great life advice and the more you read it, you start realizing that everything you need is in one book, and when you actually find Jesus and you find out, everything you need was actually involved in that book too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's absolutely right. I think a lot of it, like you know, if anybody out there, you know if they're regular, you know if they're believers and regular church goers, you know you get asked to serve at church and it's like, well, what do I do here, what do I do there? It doesn't matter what it is you do as long as you do and because, because, okay, you could just stand at the door and greet people as they come in. You know, you know what man?
Speaker 2:Hey, let's plug in the learn, earn, return to volunteering in your church and all the opportunities. Go to leadership. Go to somebody and say what are the ministries we have here? There's greeting Some people are equipped for that, Some people are not. There is counting of money Some people are equipped for that, Some people are not. Learn all the opportunities. Then go volunteer in them and ask some questions and sit in the background and absorb and find out what's going on and then you will land in the correct spot.
Speaker 2:But if you just go plug yourself in, if you are somebody who has a gift for hospitality you want to serve people then when there is an event at your church where you're doing backpack blessings for the kids going back to school, man, you need to be right in the center of that. But if it is about overseas missions and that's a different gift set than hospitality, you probably don't sign up for that because you won't have the same ability that you will if you lean right into the gifts that God gave to you and he gives all of us a unique set of gifts. That's the beauty of the church. We're not the same, we're not meant to be the same and, spoiler alert if you volunteer in the wrong place, you will kind of hate church, you will kind of really be miserable and burn out and then you start falling away from the Lord and that's really not good for your soul.
Speaker 1:Or, if you don't, you will find your place. You can find your place and I'll give you an example, and I don't want to.
Speaker 2:I'm not, I'm not trying to pump myself up here a little bit, but we don't diminish. What are you doing? Everything you're saying, you're doing.
Speaker 1:So when I started, I got to listen to you.
Speaker 1:So. So when, when I first started serving in church, you know there was a I don't know, there was an email or something had gone on. Hey, you know, we need help with the worship team. Blah, blah, blah. You can be on, you can be part of the worship, the actual worship team on stage, or you can be behind the scenes production. You can be part of the actual worship team on stage or you can be behind the scenes production, whatever. So I thought, okay, you know I could do that. You know.
Speaker 1:I thought, well, yeah, I don't think I'm really ready. Even though I love that spotlight, I'm not ready to try to jump up on stage and, you know, compete with anybody else up there, for, you know, for lead vocals or anything. But so I started helping with cameras and that type of stuff. I was in the production area but because of my work schedule, I couldn't be at rehearsals once a week. So I was going in early on Sundays, I would go in extra early and I'd be trying to learn the job and all that kind of stuff. And I did it for a little while and I did enjoy it. But I started thinking to myself I don't feel that they're benefiting from what I'm doing. I'm not really giving everything that I should be giving to this and I feel like I'm not dragging them down, but I feel like I'm not just serving what I really need to be doing and how I need to be doing it.
Speaker 1:So this was, uh, I think this was in uh, uh, dude 20. Yeah, this was in 2020. It was after we had finally been able to go back to church and all that stuff. So, um, in, and during that time, we lost our children's ministries, you know, and all that. And in 2021, we started up our first service with children's ministries, again for the littler kids, and there was a calling okay, you know, we're looking for people to help out with the kids' ministries, blah, blah, blah, all that good stuff.
Speaker 1:Look, I've coached baseball. I coached baseball for years and years and years and years and years, and from T-ball all the way through high school and all that stuff. So, like, all right, I love kids, I dig kids. So I thought, well, let me go give this a shot here. And I've been serving. In November it's going to be four years. I've been serving with the third and fourth graders and it's just so absolutely fulfilling. I just I, just Now. I know that's where I belong, I found my spot. I found my place and I found my role and, honestly, I again. Yes, I try not to heap a bunch of praise on myself. I try to downplay what it is that I do. I don't think I do a whole bunch, but I keep hearing thank yous every Sunday and I'm like I didn't do anything. I just show up and turn the lights on. You know I turn the computers on. You know, like no, no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 2:And now you don't have to do that anymore, because you know we're in a society where the family is under attack and we need to see strong dads all over the place who can show the kids that it is absolutely good to have a strong dad and a strong mom, and that they can even live in the same house. And if they don't live in the same house, then you can be the one that says it is possible for you, because that third and fourth grade set is the target for so much of the propaganda that's in the world right now, because they are in the heart of formation. They're old enough to understand, but small enough to still be influenced.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, yes You've got a very unique role there, and so the parents are thanking you because you're probably backstopping what they've tried to say and the kids don't listen to them, but you're a different authority figure. They're grateful that you're willing to be there in the room with their children so that they can safely go worship themselves and and have a moment to breathe, because parenting is really hard work.
Speaker 2:And we look at all of our different things that we do and quickly diminish that because anybody could do it. Well, anybody could do it, but not everybody should do it. Just because you can doesn't mean you should, right. But it also means that your space in that third and fourth grade classroom gives somebody else permission to give it a try, like, oh, ben can do it, maybe that's a space I could find. But you also give them permission to change roles, because you were on the worship team and you changed spots because there was something different. Well then you've told them you don't have to stay married to that committee forever if it's not where your passion still is, because things change and move.
Speaker 2:And it's also the story of relief work. We needed water in week one. By the time we got to week four, we're like stop sending water, we have enough until Jesus comes back, please stop. But people were sending old information, whereas if they stayed updated, they knew that what we needed was changing, and changing in all these places in life. But that's all back to the learning side of things. As humans, we're always learning, so that we're earning favor, we're earning dollars, we're earning experience, and then we get to return in time and money and gifts.
Speaker 1:I feel that's my right now, I feel that's my, that's, that's my return right now, and I do, I, I, I, just I, I love it.
Speaker 1:I feel it's my responsibility to be a role model to those kids, because when you're at that age, especially elementary age kids, there's not a lot of male teachers in the field, the field.
Speaker 1:And so to have somebody to have a male role model, somebody can look up to, it doesn't have a little boy or little girl, doesn't matter, but somebody to look up to other than then a figure that they see at home every day in the form of their mother, right, and so so I it's I'm the only one, unfortunately, I'm out there trying to recruit more men to do it, and I'm like guys, you don't have to be old, like me, ok, but but if you, you know, I want guys that are at least, you know, 40s, maybe 50ies, whatever, but but, but but somebody a little bit older, not the high school age kids or the college age kids, that kind of thing and some of the kids can really look up to as as a role model. And I feel like I'm, it's just, I'm just doing my responsibility, trying to lay a foundation of faith to these kids, you know, and when they see.
Speaker 2:Now, it's okay if the high school and college age kids want to do it too, because this young generation is learning very quickly that the old ways aren't necessarily the worst ways. But it could mean that you wind up taking that high school kid under your wing and say come to the third and fourth grade classroom with me so that I can mentor the next generation of leader while we lead the kids. And that's a huge, wonderful space to be in.
Speaker 1:So I, yeah, I just dig that. But you know, I was on, I have it popped open here. I've got, I've got your oh crap, come on here, let's go. Come on there, we go there, it is All right. So I'm on your website here and there's this picture and there's this big old, beautiful smile that you have on your face and I love it. But there's some happy people in that picture and I don't know if you know what picture I'm talking about, but if you do, what website are you on Patriotrelieforg?
Speaker 1:I'm on Patriot Relief Fund. Yeah, I want you to just tell me about the people in the picture.
Speaker 2:Okay, let's see. Luckily I've got my ipad here nearby. Oh, I've updated my website since we just the new website came out. So, um, you're on the old version, I think. All right, so probably, let's see. I actually am very excited because I was just checking it earlier and it had not gone live yet all right patriot leave because, just like we got the um, oh there, it is Okay.
Speaker 2:So Patriot relief funds. We had to use that at first cause Patriot relief was taken, and then the website came up. I got Patriot relieforg, which is way easier now.
Speaker 1:Okay, before, before we get into the picture. So is that going to be? That's the new web address. Website.
Speaker 2:It's relieforg, but we have both of them, so we're fine. Okay, all right, okay. So the picture you see here, that's me and that's my 1979 Ford in the background. That's my baby. I love her so much. So you have a lady that I used to work out with and she is a cancer survivor. She's amazing, the one with the sunglasses and you've got her kids. And then we have a friend of hers from her neighborhood and her son.
Speaker 1:And that's one holding the child there.
Speaker 2:Yes, so he's her, he's her baby, he's like two and a half or at the time he was, and the this was the Sunday after Helene hit on Friday, because the waters finished cresting on Saturday and I had put on Facebook we're collecting these supplies, and I had several different donation sites because, as a realtor, I have a move-in truck that my clients get to use and I was just going to fill the truck up no big deal and I had a site at my house and so I published my address on the internet and said bring your stuff. So people were pouring in and I have also have a 1987 ford and so the beds of both trucks were completely slapped full oh, that's great then we.
Speaker 2:We actually wound up with our donation sites with a semi-trailer that was full of supplies. It was donated by the local shoe show. Their headquarters are in concord, north carolina, where I am, and this was just the representation of it. So you have somebody who knows me, bring somebody who she knows but doesn't know me, and they want their kids. And this was my favorite thing of the way that we've done Patriot Relief is that we see the community college kids coming out to support building these temporary tractor sheds as they gain job skills. Then we saw parents that were shopping for diapers and water bottles and bleach and vinegar and all the things that you might need, and they're shopping with their kids. And then the kids would come and the daughter in the back who's got her little grin right above me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Now some coloring books and some crayons, because one thing people forget about in disaster relief is that you have kids who now don't get to go to school, they can't go outside and play, and their parents are traumatized. They're traumatized too. They don't have electronics, because almost every kid now is on a device. You got to give them something to do, so these kids had helped their mom pick out some activities for the kids, and it was. The family gets involved, and so this goes back to. Everything goes back. First you learn, then you earn, then you return, and so parents know why they give. You have to teach the next generation how to give and why to give and then where to give, and so then they're taking this next generation, those kids. At some point whether it's when they're 30 or 50 or 80, it doesn't matter they will already have been given the gift from their mom of this is what we do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Nobody has to ask. This is just what we do. This is what we do. Yep, this is our calling and that's what we do. How very wise of that young lady there to think of coloring books for the kids. I think that's just great. You know, it's nothing special, it's nothing grand, but it's something that will take a child's mind away from all the nutt, the nuttiness that just happened in their life just for a little while. Just coloring in whatever might be in that, on that picture, all right.
Speaker 2:So recast that because it is special and it is grand to the recipient. The world not grand.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I guess I meant in the size of it, you know okay, so Jesus gives the parable. I'm missing everything, aren't I? I'm messing it all up.
Speaker 2:So think about this though the parable with Jesus and giving. The Pharisees were at the front of the church, the temple. They've given their big gift. They're bragging I'm so great, I've given this big stuff and the widow sneaks in with her two mites because it's all she had. She gives him two mites and Jesus says that's the gift, because she gave what she had. And it impacts the kingdom. And so when you think about the young lady who realizes another kid needs a coloring book, the kid who receives the coloring book feels like the center of the universe. And if all they had given was money, that kid wouldn't have a chance to feel special. And so every gift actually is so big for one person, and also Ben. This is why some people don't give. They say I don't have enough. I only have an hour I can donate. I can't volunteer at the church. I only have an hour, we have it. Bring us your hour, we'll, we'll use that hour.
Speaker 1:Good use.
Speaker 2:I only have $10. We will add your $10 to somebody else's $10 to somebody else's, and that was one of the craziest things about the dollars that came in. When I put the response out there, my video started going viral.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I get these donations from all over the country, and actually some international ones too, and I'm getting the dollar here, five dollars here, and all their notes would say praying for the people, thank you for what you're doing. This is all I have, and so my response to all of them was thank you, thank you. It all adds up. Every gift is special. Every gift adds up Because if everybody out there does what they can do, there is an increase. God gives the increase. It's not on us to say our gift is big or small. We just we give and trust. And it worked in such a in such an enormous way that I was having a hard time responding to the phone calls and the Facebook messages and all the stuff coming in. And you'd have all these people that are like I don't want credit. In fact, one of my biggest donors to Patriot Relief is a very well-known celebrity and when he reached out, my team and I were like is this real or is this a scam? Because I don't know this guy and I'm a real estate agent with some viral videos in North Carolina. Is this real or is this a scammer? Because I don't know this guy and I'm a real estate agent with some viral videos in North Carolina. Is this real? And so we talked to his. He gave us to his executive assistant. She said you know where do I send the check? And he wants to know what other organizations are like yours in South Carolina and Georgia where he can do direct giving, that the money will get to the people. And so I hunted around and gave him the organizations.
Speaker 2:Back to the beginning of our conversations how close can we get to the people? Those organizations send it over? And then Lisa, who works with me, we're like this ain't gonna happen. This is not real. We just did some research, whatever we. Now we know the organizations. And then here comes a FedEx envelope with a massive check in it. And then I reached out to the celebrity and said please, please, please, let me tag you, please, please, please, please, let me tell people that you gave to us because it's so cool. And he said, no, I don't give publicly, I give privately. And it's I'm like okay, I'm very grateful and we're absolutely going to use the dollars really, really well. But you start realizing that it's not the size, it's the heart. And if we would get our giving minds back to that yes, you go local, so that your small gift doesn't get diluted, so you can make somebody else feel seen and valued.
Speaker 1:Are you people listening to this? Are you kidding me?
Speaker 2:Come on, come on, tell your pastor, he gave you a sermon and he can take this and run with it.
Speaker 1:No, lee, I knew that this was. This is exactly how I knew it was going to go. I really did, I just did. So let me ask you this okay, look, you've been so gracious with your time as well, especially coming back from a family trip too. You just got back a few hours ago. But let me ask you this when you are not out saving your community or, as you like to put it, your people, what is it, what do you do? What is it that Lee Brown is doing besides saving her people?
Speaker 2:Well, I am married and my husband and I are coming up on 22 years very shortly, on September 27th.
Speaker 2:We have two fairly grown kids. We have a 19 year old son and a 20 year old daughter, and we live on 10 acres. We have chickens and we have gardens, and I wouldn't call myself a prepper, but I am a preparing type person, so I like to have our things at the house as close to the earth as I can, much to the chagrin of my husband, who doesn't understand why I love herbal remedies and oils so much. But he's a very patient man. So that's the home life. We are very involved with our church. We are very involved with my family. Both sets of our parents are still living and they live within five minutes of us, and so my husband is very good at making sure he cares for his parents and mine are here all the time too.
Speaker 2:And then my professional life. I'm a 25 year realtor. I own my own firm, so I coach agents in my firm, and then I also am an international trainer for real estate. I've spoken on five continents and in 49 states, and I love giving people the permission to go do great things, and often I have found that in that space of coaching and speaking, people already know inside what the answer is. They just need permission to grant that to themselves and I love it.
Speaker 2:It's the same thing with relief, right? So people want to help. They just don't know the how. You give them the how and off they go. They were ready. So that's my life in a nutshell, and I don't know what's coming next. But who knows, we'll see.
Speaker 1:And I heard you say it before that you are a whirlwind and I can tell you are a whirlwind.
Speaker 2:My husband said that he says he's married to a whirlwind.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you, yeah, you, yeah. God love your husband for having to put up with that whirlwind.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that's I love it, that's great. It just this has been so, um, I, it's beyond words. It really is, honestly, honestly, and um, I know I'm going to be. Slater asked me to send him a link to this, so I will. I'll email him, I'm going to bug him too. I'm going to bug. You're going to have to bug him too for me. Well, let's hit him from both sides with emails and we'll absolutely do that for you on this podcast.
Speaker 1:Before we get out, though. Before we get out, look, I want to. I did this. I did this one time before with another guest. I haven't done it before and I haven't done it since, but I'm going to play a little game, if we can, okay, Just so we can learn a little bit more about Lee Brown. All right, and you've heard of the Island questions, right?
Speaker 2:Oh yes, it's a big episode in season two.
Speaker 1:Of what?
Speaker 2:The Office.
Speaker 1:Oh, I have no idea. I never watched the Office, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Office. Oh, I have no idea. I never watched the Office. I don't know.
Speaker 1:The Office has a reference to everything in life. It's the craziest thing, no, no, See, all my references come from. Let's see the King of Queens. Everybody loves Raymond the Middle. That's where all my references come from.
Speaker 2:My kids can hang out with you, because that's what my 20-year-old loves. Everybody loves Raymond. You can hang out with your kids.
Speaker 1:Oh, good stuff, Good stuff, anyway. Okay, all right. So, for those who may not know, lee's now going to go live on a deserted island. Not a desert island, it's a deserted island. She's going to go live there by herself for the remainder of her days, okay, but we're going to give her some things to carry her through. So, uh, by her request. So what food are you going to take on the Island with you?
Speaker 2:Oh, I guess I would take eggs, cause they're the perfect protein and I can fix them in a lot of different ways. Probably should take a chicken so that the chicken can keep producing them, so I will have a constant source of perfect protein.
Speaker 1:All right, okay, all right. What kind of candy bar are you going to take?
Speaker 2:Yeah, the hundred grand is my favorite candy bar and you can only Hundred grand really. Yes, and that's the tax my kids always had to pay at Halloween is mom gets a hundred grand out of the candy bags. My husband took a whole bunch of things. I just wanted-.
Speaker 1:I'm so old that I remember when they were actually called a $100,000 bar, not a hundred grand. That's how old I am.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Then you have a $6 million man. But that really meant something back then. Now that's nothing.
Speaker 1:Exactly. That means nothing now. Okay, what book are you going to take to read the remainder of your days?
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm taking the Bible. It's new. I'm going to read the remainder of your days.
Speaker 1:Oh, I'm taking the Bible, it's new.
Speaker 2:I'm going to read it. I mean, it's got everything.
Speaker 1:Got the answers to all your questions. All you got to do is just turn to the right page, and that answer is probably going to be on multiple pages.
Speaker 2:I mean, I'm the person like when I'm reading it. I just let it fall open and always lands on whatever I need and it's the coolest craziest thing ever about the living word on whatever I needed. It's the coolest craziest thing ever about the living word. Everybody should try that sometime. You just sling it open and read it. You'd be like for real God, you knew that's what I needed to know. Okay, thanks.
Speaker 1:As long as you're not opening the King James Version, because I don't know if anyone can understand that one Okay, James, I love it.
Speaker 2:It's beautiful.
Speaker 1:Okay, no, no, I have to break it down to something in simpler terms like the NIV or the NASB.
Speaker 2:It's the NIV. They wokefied it in 2012 and they stripped out language that they deemed to be offensive.
Speaker 1:Okay, well.
Speaker 2:Very careful. The English Standard Version, the ESV, is a really good one to use. That's better than the King James.
Speaker 1:Our pastor reads out of the NASB 1995 version that's a great very good for the original Hebrew translation. So actually what I did is I stopped taking my Bible my NIV Bible to church because it didn't sync up exactly, and I just opened it up on my phone now so I can scribble in my study guide while he's giving a sermon.
Speaker 2:but I said go get yourself a real one too, ben, because if the censorship regime continues to monkey around with things, any digital version can be manipulated, but the one that you have printed at the house is safe and secure. But, um, y'all be careful with that, niv man, you gotta be careful when they start.
Speaker 1:Listen to this right here. What great words. Great words, great advice. But it always seems that every Sunday, the sermon is always just, it's always right on, it's always what you need, it's what you need. So, all right, let's see next one. Okay, so what? Cd or album? If you want a turntable, I'll get you a turntable. So what are you going to take to the island?
Speaker 2:Oh, that's really really hard, because I love music.
Speaker 1:Yeah, earlier you said you were big into Duran, duran, duran.
Speaker 2:Duran Rio is probably the best album of all time, but if I take the Statler brothers best of, I can sing along. I love Statler brothers.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I only have one. I think I'm going to go with Duran Duran Rio.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right, I'm not going to, I'm not going to argue with that one.
Speaker 2:I I do what I did. I had my tiger beat magazines with Simon Lebon pulled out and taped to my wall. You probably didn't do that.
Speaker 1:Not with Duran. Duran I didn't, but I did it with Kiss. Kiss was my first huge band.
Speaker 2:Do you know to me, gene, my husband and I our son was in a marching band at the high school. The high school's fundraiser was to work the outdoor concerts. We had to go sell beer at the concerts to raise money for the band and we would go for Kiss and our tent that was over our beer selling area had collapsed. Well, gene is like six feet tall, he's really tall, and he and the band were walking through and he fixed the little tent and just kind of wandered off and then the guy behind him was coming. I was like, and then he handed me a guitar pick and so I have it. So I have a guitar pick, nice.
Speaker 1:He can be a very nice guy when he wants to be. Yes, absolutely no, I love the. I love those guys, Love those guys.
Speaker 2:It happens when nobody else is watching that.
Speaker 1:That's when you can gauge who somebody is. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly, I wholeheartedly agree. Not when you're taking a selfie as you're handing a check to somebody or whatever you know. But, um, okay, so let's get back, let's get back, let's get back to the deserted island yeah, let's get back to the island questions. Okay, what movie are you gonna take to watch?
Speaker 2:oh, I'm let's see. I guess I'll take the Princess Bride. It's the perfect movie. Okay, all right, but it might also be Dirty Dancing, because I love that movie too. It's got the best soundtrack ever.
Speaker 1:You know, look, I know I'm a dude, but I'm a dude, but I do. I did like Dirty Dancing. I do think it's a fine movie. I really, really enjoy it. And the uh, the, the, the soundtrack is. It really is good, it's a good soundtrack, it's a good soundtrack. So sorry if that makes me less than, but whatever, it's okay.
Speaker 2:Um, we own Patrick Swayzeze because he's he was a universal king. And what a, what a tragic loss to lose patrick swayze, so young wonderful human, wonderful actor, and yeah no husband, athletically gifted, good actor, all the things yeah, so I know I agree with you.
Speaker 1:I guess, if I had, if I had to take a Patrick Swayze movie, I'm probably going to take Roadhouse, though you watch that every time it comes on TV, which is literally every other day tell him to call me next time.
Speaker 2:It's on we'll like to talk Roadhouse with you.
Speaker 1:I'll turn it on over here. He can turn it on over there and we'll just watch it together. Okay, all right. Last one on the island questions One person, past or dead or alive, that you can take for conversational purposes only. Who is that going to be?
Speaker 2:Oh, Thomas Sowell the economist, I love him Wow.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:He's brilliant and I love brilliant people and I would love to just sit and dig and dig and dig with him.
Speaker 1:That's why you came on this podcast because you love brilliance. Oh, that's great. Okay, all right. I wouldn't have expected that one, so that's great. And you know Everybody expects Jesus.
Speaker 2:but I've got the Bible for my Jesus so I can hit the other side of my nerve brain.
Speaker 1:Well, not only that, that is exactly right. That's him speaking to you and we can talk to him all the time anyway. So, yeah, exactly. So, uh, all right, one more one, one more, one more little little game, this or that, okay, this or that. I hope you're having fun with this because you are smiling. So this or that doesn't mean that you like one, doesn't doesn't mean that you like one and you don't like the other. Just you can like them both, but you got to choose. All right, beatles or stones.
Speaker 2:Beatles.
Speaker 1:Okay, cheeseburgers or pizza.
Speaker 2:Cheeseburgers.
Speaker 1:Okay, cake or pie.
Speaker 2:Cake, so easy.
Speaker 1:Okay, the beach or the lake.
Speaker 2:Oh, the beach Really. Okay, you can say beach or mountains, and then I would be very torn because my heart's in the mountains but my body likes being at the beach. But at a lake that water's slimy and gross.
Speaker 1:Oh see, I mean like California guy, but give me to a lake any old time, because, see, I don't surf but I love to water ski and I love to kneeboard.
Speaker 2:So give me out there on the lake I like to sit at the edge of the surf and watch my sand. My feet kind of sink into the sand with the waves and watch my chair sink all the way in.
Speaker 1:Okay. All right All right, okay, last one day or night day.
Speaker 1:All right, all right, cool, look, this has been absolutely wonderful and it's everything I was hoping it would be. So I honestly, lee, I can't, I just can't say thank you enough for for rushing home from the mountains, um, and the aquarium too, and, and you know, getting settled in and and taking the time to to do this with me. It's been an absolute treat. So if you would hang out for me, hang out with me just while I close up shop, and then we'll finish up, okay.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:No, thank you so much. Oh, but before people, patriot relieforg, or if you hit the old website patriotrelieffundcom, you're the one that's going to take you to where you need to be. If you would like to make donations to Lee's efforts to help out the people of North Carolina and that whole entire region that got slammed by Hurricane Helene last year. Okay, there's still people in need of a lot of stuff and I know that you and I, lee, we're going to be friends moving forward on this, anyway, okay, so don't forget that patriotrelieffundcom or patriotrelieforg, all right. So make sure you check it out, people. All right, and with that we're going to wrap it. So before we do that, as you know, this program is available. Wherever you get your podcast, just search the Ben Maynard program. Boom, it's right there. Subscribe to it. Ok, you have to subscribe because any time a new episode drops, there's 97 of them, and when we wrap this up, that's going to make 98. So it's a lot to choose from, but anytime a new episode drops, you'll get notification, all right. Next, if you're watching on YouTube because you can't resist this right here, and I appreciate that, thank you you have to subscribe to the channel. Okay, please subscribe to the channel.
Speaker 1:You guys know I'm on this subscription campaign, or subscriber campaign. I want 500 subscribers by the end of the year. We are lagging way behind. And then you have to give me a thumbs up. You got to give me a thumbs up and leave a comment all right, because I do like your comments and I do reply to all your comments. And then, instead of 10,000 of your family and friends, just tell 1,000, okay, 1,000 of your family and friends, 1,000 people. That's gonna get me way over 500 subscribers by the end of the year. Okay, so just tell 1,000 of your family and friends. Last but not least, follow me on Instagram. All one word Ben Maynard Program. Or on the TikTok. You can follow me at TheBenMaynardProgram. Okay. So with that we are done. Thanks for being here. I will see you guys next time. This is the Ben Maynard Program. Tell a friend.