The Kindness Matters Podcast

Uplifting Lives Through Charitable Kindness with Guest Gina DiMarco

June 06, 2024 Mike
Uplifting Lives Through Charitable Kindness with Guest Gina DiMarco
The Kindness Matters Podcast
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The Kindness Matters Podcast
Uplifting Lives Through Charitable Kindness with Guest Gina DiMarco
Jun 06, 2024
Mike

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Have you ever witnessed a simple act of kindness that seemed to ripple out and touch the lives of countless others? That's the heartwarming journey we embark on with Gina DiMarco of Legacy Rise Consulting, as she brings to light the incredible power of kindness within the non-profit sector. This episode of the Kindness Matters Podcast is a treasure trove of inspiring stories, from the selfless acts in animal shelters to the thoughtful stewardship of donations that fuel the missions of non-profits across the globe. Gina's expertise shines as she unveils the inner workings of TEKnowledge Worldwide, a unique entity that marries technology with philanthropy, further illustrating the expansive impact kindness can have.

The conversation takes a deeper, more poignant turn as we uncover the vital work supporting domestic violence victims and their beloved pets through 'Purple Pets' programs. Imagine the courage it takes to leave an abusive situation, and the added fear of abandoning a furry family member; this is where the grace of kindness steps in, offering solace and security. Our exploration into the non-profit realm doesn't stop there, as we also touch on the emotional landscape of veteran services, a place where kindness isn't just a virtue—it's a lifeline. Gina's passion and commitment, mirrored by others like her son Nathan, remind us that the simple choice to spread kindness isn't just a fleeting gesture; it's a force that can truly change the world, one act at a time.

The Kindness Matters Podcast is part of the DEN-The Deluxe Edition Network. Check them out to find your next favorite podcast.

 

Do you dread Mondays? Does the thought of another Monday steal the joy of your weekend? Let me tell you about a product I have found and tried that can do away with the Sunday Scaries. Oddly enough, it’s from a company called Sunday Scaries. I have personally tried their products, gummies and tinctures and I can personally attest to their efficacy. If you go to their website and order any product, use the code Kindness20 to receive a 20% discount on your order. 

 

Do you like good coffee? Are you like me and go to bed in anticipation of a great cup of coffee in the morning (and afternoon, maybe). Then let me introduce you to my newest sponsor, Coffee Bros. They have built their business on the cornerstones of sustainability, quality, consistency, and freshness. From coffee to brewing techniques to coffee and espresso machines, they should be your go-to for all things coffee. And if you order from them, use the code Kind10 to get a 10% discount on your order.

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Send us a Text Message.

Have you ever witnessed a simple act of kindness that seemed to ripple out and touch the lives of countless others? That's the heartwarming journey we embark on with Gina DiMarco of Legacy Rise Consulting, as she brings to light the incredible power of kindness within the non-profit sector. This episode of the Kindness Matters Podcast is a treasure trove of inspiring stories, from the selfless acts in animal shelters to the thoughtful stewardship of donations that fuel the missions of non-profits across the globe. Gina's expertise shines as she unveils the inner workings of TEKnowledge Worldwide, a unique entity that marries technology with philanthropy, further illustrating the expansive impact kindness can have.

The conversation takes a deeper, more poignant turn as we uncover the vital work supporting domestic violence victims and their beloved pets through 'Purple Pets' programs. Imagine the courage it takes to leave an abusive situation, and the added fear of abandoning a furry family member; this is where the grace of kindness steps in, offering solace and security. Our exploration into the non-profit realm doesn't stop there, as we also touch on the emotional landscape of veteran services, a place where kindness isn't just a virtue—it's a lifeline. Gina's passion and commitment, mirrored by others like her son Nathan, remind us that the simple choice to spread kindness isn't just a fleeting gesture; it's a force that can truly change the world, one act at a time.

The Kindness Matters Podcast is part of the DEN-The Deluxe Edition Network. Check them out to find your next favorite podcast.

 

Do you dread Mondays? Does the thought of another Monday steal the joy of your weekend? Let me tell you about a product I have found and tried that can do away with the Sunday Scaries. Oddly enough, it’s from a company called Sunday Scaries. I have personally tried their products, gummies and tinctures and I can personally attest to their efficacy. If you go to their website and order any product, use the code Kindness20 to receive a 20% discount on your order. 

 

Do you like good coffee? Are you like me and go to bed in anticipation of a great cup of coffee in the morning (and afternoon, maybe). Then let me introduce you to my newest sponsor, Coffee Bros. They have built their business on the cornerstones of sustainability, quality, consistency, and freshness. From coffee to brewing techniques to coffee and espresso machines, they should be your go-to for all things coffee. And if you order from them, use the code Kind10 to get a 10% discount on your order.

Support the Show.

Did you find this episode uplifting, inspiring or motivating? Would you like to support more content like this? Check out our Support The Show Page here.

Speaker 1:

This podcast is part of the Deluxe Edition Network. To find other great shows on the network, head over to DeluxeEditionNetworkcom. That's DeluxeEditionNetworkcom.

Speaker 2:

Kindness. We see it all around us. We see it when someone pays for someone else's coffee or holds the door open for another person. We see it in the smallest of gestures, like a smile or a kind word. But it's different when we turn on the news or social media. Oftentimes what we hear about what outlets are pushing is the opposite of kind.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the Kindness Matters Podcast. Our goal is to give you a place to relax, to revel in stories of people who have received or given kindness, a place to inspire and motivate each and every one of us to practice kindness every day. Hey, hello there and welcome to the Kindness Matters podcast. I am your host, mike Rathbun. As you heard at the beginning, we are part of the Deluxe Edition Network and, as such, I need to tell you about the Deluxe Edition Network's Podcast of the Month.

Speaker 2:

The Podcast of the Month for June is History. I'd Like to Fuck with Don Brody. Host and comedian, don Brody takes you through the anals of history with a special guest and history subject. Each episode, from Dillinger to Frankenstein, from the Crusades to Freak Shows, dawn brings her history degree and unfiltered sense of humor to deliver well-researched, deep dives that strip history naked and serve it up raw. Also, check out my show notes, where you'll find some discount codes for Sunday Scaries and Coffee Bros. Now let's get into the show. Hey, welcome to the show everybody. Oh, you guys, I am so excited my guest today. Talking to her is like taking a triple shot of espresso, and there's nothing you can't do after you talk to her. Espresso and there's nothing you can't do after you talk to her. She's worked in both the non-profit and the for-profit arenas for almost 20 years before starting her own consulting business, legacy Rise Consulting, and she's just so cool and so amazing. Welcome to the show, gina DeMarco. Hi, how are you?

Speaker 1:

I'm doing great. Thank you so much, Mike, for having me.

Speaker 2:

I'm genuinely so excited to be talking to you today. You have just an abundance, from your years of experience, of stories about kindness, of stories about kindness. I'd say you're full of it, but that probably wouldn't come off right. You are a cornucopia of kindness stories. Did those mostly come from the nonprofit arena?

Speaker 1:

They did Working for the nonprofit sector. It just it opens so many doors for you to see genuine human kindness in its rawest, most beautiful forms. I truly believe that. I really think that everybody should, at least once in their lives, work or volunteer at a nonprofit, because you see and learn so much about not just yourself but the world around you and the goodness that is capable.

Speaker 2:

Oh for sure. And and it's not when we, when we think of nonprofits, we don't. You know, we sometimes we think of homeless shelters, food shelves, that sort of thing. But you've even been, you were involved with a pet shelter, right?

Speaker 1:

Yes, yes, so your local, 90% of your local animal shelters are nonprofits. Yeah, so just keep that in mind. So if you guys are pet lovers and you're looking for a place to make a real impact with charitable donations, don't overlook your local shelters.

Speaker 2:

Oh for sure I mean. But and there there is never a shortage of nonprofits Give to the max day. Is that a thing all over the United States, or is that just here in Minnesota?

Speaker 1:

So I have not. I'm not a hundred percent familiar with that Giving Tuesday. It's the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. That's the yeah, that's the big one. Um, smack in the middle of the largest giving season of the year. Um, so that's a really big one. But tell me about that one.

Speaker 2:

Give to the Mac state and you're going to make me Google it. It's something that happens for sure here in Minnesota and it's the same sort of thing. It's you, you pick a, a nonprofit or four or five that you want to give to, and and you and you do that. But yeah, because Give to and you do that. But yeah, because and I've talked with other guests about nonprofit work and just the amount of effort that goes into creating a nonprofit- in and of itself, and to see that there are so many out, there is just boom, yeah.

Speaker 2:

And when this comes out on on audio, nobody will know what that was. That was my, that was my brain exploding. Um, so and tell me, what are. What are some of your, what are your best stories about working with nonprofits?

Speaker 1:

Oh man, that's, that's a tough one, Cause there's so many of them. But because you just you just touched on how difficult it is, and it really is a tough thing when you want to start a nonprofit, because a lot goes into a nonprofit, right. If anybody could claim nonprofit status, anybody could claim tax write-offs, this, that and the other thing, right. So the process is hard on purpose because you want to make sure that you're, as a nonprofit, you're being a good steward of the donations that are being sent to you, and when I say good steward, I mean you're not just inflating the president's salary with donation dollars that could be going to, you know, a soup kitchen or something along those lines. So I was really privileged and I'm still very privileged to be a part of this incredible nonprofit community. It's unlike anything that I have ever been part of before. It's called Tech Knowledge Worldwide, so TKW for short. And what's fascinating is this isn't like a homeless shelter or a pet shelter or, you know, a soup kitchen. What this nonprofit does, it's utterly fascinating. So you know your listeners can hear my head exploding a little bit too what it does, and I am not technologically gifted in any capacity. Okay, yeah, not at all. That's what I have my brother for.

Speaker 1:

So what TKW does is it's an online community of low voltage technicians, so tech professionals who do things like running cable, security cams, hanging TVs, networking, you name it. They, I seriously they do it all Every time. I'm learning you do that too. Oh my gosh.

Speaker 1:

It's crazy to me the amount of things that these individuals do. But they come together in this online community and they come together for two real main purposes. The first one is professional development, so they share amongst themselves best practices. There's no gatekeeping. If somebody needs to know the best way to lay wire, hang a TV, they are right there, sharing how they do it and even how to like build their businesses, because a lot of these TKW members are independent business owners and just starting out and entrepreneurs, and it's amazing to see them helping each other in that way. And then the really cool thing that was what got me to jump on board is their annual they call it text giving. They do it right around Thanksgiving every year and they bring together all of these texts from all over the country. In fact, some even come up from Canada or come down, I should say, from Canada.

Speaker 1:

They come down from Canada to basically descend upon a local nonprofit or business that's doing really cool stuff in their community and they give them a full tech upgrade.

Speaker 2:

Oh, my God.

Speaker 1:

And they're teaching each other again how best practices through this entire process. And so last year they chose what was it? Mission Fit in Baltimore, maryland. Mission Fit is a nonprofit. It's a nonprofit gym that helps give A. It gives the youth of Baltimore a safe place to, you know, be safe, really be safe and be kids. And then it takes them and creates programs to build them up into the leaders of tomorrow, right, and give them self-confidence and teaching them how to work out their body, work out their mind. And it's just, it's a wonderful thing.

Speaker 1:

And so yeah, and so TKW came and spent an entire weekend out there. New security cams, new security doors, networking. They even did podcasting equipment so that the kids there could learn how to do podcasts and they could podcast the cool stuff that they were doing out there. And all of that is is all from tkw and it's all and it's all funds raised from within tkw, from vendors, sponsors and members and what. Over the last two years, I I believe they've raised over $200,000. And this is as a new nonprofit and I'm so. I'm just so cool, aren't they like they're?

Speaker 2:

I endlessly noticed a lot on. You were posting a lot about that on your social media.

Speaker 1:

Yes, because I'm just so amazed at what what this group continues doing and the good work that they continue doing. I'm just I'm so proud to witness that and get to be a very tiny part of it, so I love it I can. I will share them until the cows come home.

Speaker 2:

So now, with Legacy Rise, you advise nonprofits right Correct and and for-profit companies as well, to do what, how to connect.

Speaker 1:

So it depends. I consult across the board for so many different things. So one of my clients, for example, they come to me looking for help on how to write fundraising letters because a lot of the ways that you do fundraising is sending out letters. Fundraising letters, because a lot of the ways that you do fundraising is sending out letters. You know we call them appeals letter appeals. So you know how to write a thank-you letter, how to write a solicitation letter, how to even create solicitation lists from vendor sponsors, people who are interested in your mission. So that's one way. That's probably one of the bigger ways that I help. But then another way that a lot of folks don't think of is board advisement. So I a lot of clients come to me asking me for help on creating their board, creating their non-profit board, because it's really important to have good people right on your board, because those are the folks that are really supporting and driving that mission forward and you want them to be solidly invested in that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, If we still had Rolodexes today. Yours must be like enormous.

Speaker 1:

Really large. Thank God for databases. But, yes, so that's another thing that I do. I mean, I'll even go in and do employee satisfaction for nonprofits, specifically because, again, burnout is a really big thing that folks don't talk about enough, especially in the nonprofit sector, and I'll share uh, I'll share a quick story, um that you may have seen on LinkedIn.

Speaker 1:

I know a lot of folks had come across this, but so in my time working at one of the homeless shelters that I was at at, we had this fantastic we call them guests fantastic guest who unfortunately passed away. Yeah, he passed away, and it was just a really hard day for our staff. It was just really hard because we love these individuals that we serve and, while we wish we could save every single person who comes to us looking for help, it's just it's not possible. And we take those losses, we take them to heart, we really do. And so, in I remember I was driving back from the bank that day and I was like raging against God, like how could you let this happen?

Speaker 1:

He was such a wonderful individual. Like, is there anything I could have done differently to have made sure X, y, z didn't happen? And it's almost crushing, you know it's, it's so crushing because you really do invest so much of your heart and soul into these missions. And I, I swear, swear. I heard the little voice in my ear going you know we couldn't, we couldn't save this one.

Speaker 1:

But think of Pat, think of Chris, think of Madeline and the ones who did save is of all of those people who have beautiful, fulfilling lives because of the work that we do, and that's something I really like taking back with me in my consulting work, reminding all of these employees and even board members and administrators. Yeah, there are really hard days and folks don't talk about the hard days because they want to focus on the positive and the pretty right. But it's so important to recognize, especially on those tough days, the necessary importance of what it is that you do and attaching them to the stories that they've been a part of, the happy endings that they helped create through the work that they do. So that's also something that I do in my consulting work.

Speaker 2:

So it's kind of like helping them to remember their why.

Speaker 1:

Yes, that's such a beautiful way of putting it. Yes, exactly.

Speaker 2:

Because sometimes you get lost in it. What's that?

Speaker 1:

They've got some great whys, all of the individuals and organizations that I've worked with. Oh, some wonderful wise.

Speaker 2:

That's so cool. I I absolutely admire your depth of knowledge to be able to help all these people. And, um, I just talk to me about purple pets. I have a note here, so if I wrote it down, it must have been important.

Speaker 1:

So that was from my time working for animal. So I have spent the vast majority of my life in animal welfare, whether as an administrator, whether as a volunteer, whether as a foster parent, or now I do consulting work for two different animal shelters. And so the Purple Pets program began for us for one of the shelters that I was working with, I want to say about eight years ago I could be a year or two off, but I think it was about eight years ago when we at the shelter I was working for, the shelter at the time, made the connection between domestic violence.

Speaker 2:

We'll be right back with more of my conversation with Gina DeMarco, but first here's a message from another fantastic Deluxe Edition Network podcast In a world where podcasts have become bland and stale.

Speaker 1:

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Speaker 2:

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Speaker 1:

Available on Spotify, apple Music, audible, iheartradio, tiktok, youtube, patreon and OnlyFans. And animal violence. And there is a surprisingly large percentage of domestic violence victims that will not leave a domestic violence situation because they're afraid for their pet. And since domestic violence shelters do not house pets they can't, they're not set up that way, right and their only option is to either leave the pet or take their pet to a shelter, and that's a terrifying prospect because you're never going to see that animal again. That animal is going to be fostered, fostered to adopt it out or, god forbid, euthanized. So that's a really scary setup for a domestic violence victim. And so we came together with this really cool organization. I'm not going to name them because they probably don't want to be named. They like to keep their secrecy because it protects their clients oh, absolutely yeah, when you say that yeah, it protects your clients.

Speaker 1:

You don't want to. Yeah, you don't want to. Hey, we do the purple pets program here, but lots of local shelters do this. So I'm telling you this for now, anyone out there listening when you support your local shelters, you very well may be supporting a purple pets program.

Speaker 1:

So what happens is when a police officer identifies a domestic violence victim who needs to get out of the situation but cannot because of a beloved pet, the officer will connect that person to our shelter and that animal becomes what we call a purple pet and immediately goes into a foster situation.

Speaker 1:

So a foster situation is when a foster family will take that animal and take over its care, its, you know, love, food, medicine for a set amount of time, and that set amount of time is based on whatever the domestic violence shelter dictates for the survivor. So most shelters say anywhere between 30 to 90 days. You go through a whole decompression period, um, where you really start to learn exactly what has happened to you, process what has happened to you and all the steps that you need to take to break those cycles moving forward. And so in that time the shelter covers the cost entirely for any medications that that pet might need any food that the pet might need. If it's a cat, cat litter, all of that sort of stuff is all handled by the shelter and that quickly racks up in terms of costs. So yeah, so when shelter and it's really hard for a shelter to raise money for a Purple Pets program because you're not supposed to know like the first rule of Purple Pet Club is, you don't talk about purple pets.

Speaker 2:

Don't talk about Purple Pet Club. Can't believe that rolled off my mind.

Speaker 1:

I know.

Speaker 2:

Right sure.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so that's the purple pet. That's what a purple pet is. Anyone identified as part of a domestic violence circle or cycle? I'm sorry, and yeah, the shelter working to take care of those pets before they can be reunited safely with their proper owner.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, because a lot of times pets will come in and they'll go into foster with the express goal of adopting that pet out Correct and and that would be. I wonder how that would feel as as a foster and you know you're taking care of this pet only until its owner can safely recover it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, we've got some incredible fosters who have volunteered to do this more than once. Um, because for specifically for the purple pets program, these fosters are specifically trained, and they're specifically trained alongside law enforcement, because you need to know like cause a lot of fosters like non-purple pet fosters? Post pictures of their fosters because they want to entice other people to adopt those animals. Right, this? It's like blackout, media blackout. You can't post pictures, you can't even talk Again. First rule of Purple Pets Club you don't talk about Purple Pets Club, that's right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so there's no posting a picture of Scruffy who.

Speaker 1:

Exactly Because.

Speaker 2:

Scruffy's not going anywhere until its owner can come back and get it.

Speaker 1:

Yes, and you don't want to create a situation that's dangerous even for the foster, where God forbid someone violent recognizes that animal and then comes. Yeah, training is important, but again, this is this is one of those whys that we were talking about. It's an incredibly valuable and necessary why, and we've been able to help a lot of people out of domestic violence situations through this program.

Speaker 2:

And you know, until you brought this up, I didn't even think about somebody that would not leave an abuse situation. Look at me, I'm not talking with my fingers. Welcome, you're rubbing off. You know to say I can't leave, I'm afraid of what X will do to my tool, our, my pet yep. Yep.

Speaker 1:

It's terrifying, it's sad that there's that need is out there, but it exists.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, and thank God there are places that have a purple pet program. Yep, this is why I have a pop filter so I can say purple pet program.

Speaker 1:

I know that's tough. It took me a while to get the hang of that one off. This is eight years in the making. I was able to get that one out clearly don't try this at home, kids.

Speaker 2:

I'm a professional. Uh, yeah, so it's. And you, you've talked when you do this work with the non-profits, and. And you, you, you've talked when you do this work with the nonprofits. And. And you're I? I still have a hard time believing. You've been doing this for almost 20 years. You look like you're 10, but I appreciate that Um, nathan, your mom's too young to have you.

Speaker 1:

Um what was that he's like what. I wasn't your first.

Speaker 2:

Nevermind oh my God. So tell me, what was your? You've worked with veteran services as well right. Yeah, what was that like?

Speaker 1:

Oh, that was crushing. Just I don't know if your listeners want to hear this or not, but it really did change how I viewed politics.

Speaker 2:

Oh.

Speaker 1:

It really did. The fact that we have such incredible men and women who are willing to do so much and we're just not supporting them the way that we should be, that was crushing to me. We don't support them nearly as much or as well as we should, but I was really privileged to work with some great people who did some great work and who recognized that need and filled that need as best they could with the resources that they had. So it is an alarming rate the amount of veterans who come home and find themselves homeless due to PTSD, mental illness, struggles of that nature, and the need is so great and the resources are so small. So it's tough. It's tough for them and, honestly, even for those who are able to find the resources, it's really hard to ask for that help Because you consider these veterans, they're soldiers, they're so used to taking care of themselves and taking care of other people, getting them to recognize their own needs, and that it's okay to put those needs first.

Speaker 1:

That's tough and I've worked with some really incredible people who are so gifted in walking that path, accompanying those veterans in that capacity, and I'll tell you the story of one soldier. I'm going to call him George. We'll call him George.

Speaker 2:

We're dealing with a lot of people who don't want to be named here.

Speaker 1:

Well, you know, I don't think you'll be okay with me sharing this story, but just in the off chance I like to use pseudonyms, but we'll call him George and George was. He was in the army and he actually did two tours and when he came back, actually did two tours. And when he came back he definitely and he would fully admit this he had PTSD and he really suffered and he ended up turning to alcohol, which then led to drug use and so he was. He was homeless. When he came to us he was actually referred to us and he he had been kicked out of his house by his wife and he had a young daughter at home who he hadn't seen in about.

Speaker 1:

I want to say it was about two years at that point and we had a program where we were that, oh, I love this program. It's called Framing Fatherhood. It's run through Camden County out here in New Jersey and that is also a nonprofit organization and I give them so much credit. They this is. This is one of the privileges I get of working for so many nonprofits. I get to find out about so many other nonprofits, the amazing work they do, we get to connect. But George attended this framing fatherhood program. What it does is it really focuses individuals, and they had a young daughter who I believe he hadn't seen in about two years when he first started coming to us and he went through part of this fabulous program that we were a part of called framing fatherhood. And framing fatherhood is a program that's run through Camden County, new Jersey, and I believe it's Camden County Social Services that does it. Don't quote me on that, but I think it's them who does it and the crew who does Framing Fatherhood specifically focuses on the individuals as men and as fathers and leaders in their community, and so what they do is they do trainings and discussions and therapy all around, what it means to be a man and a father, a leader and a provider, right, things that a lot of these men have lost in themselves. They don't see themselves as protectors or providers. They think you know, I'm an addict, I'm homeless what could I ever provide but reinstilling in them all of the innate value that they bring to the table and to their families and friends and communities. And so George went through the Framing Fatherhood program, which we obviously helped him through, and at the end of this Framing Fatherhood program they graduate and for the graduation they're given gifts, like you know, walmart gift cards, chick-fil-a gift cards just things, little things that we can say, you know, great job. We recognize all the work that you did and we're really proud of what you've accomplished.

Speaker 1:

And this is seriously one of my favorite stories to tell, because it was like two weeks later, two weeks after his graduation, that he came running, miss Gina. Miss Gina, I got to see my daughter. Oh my gosh, and I'm like tearing up just thinking about this he was so excited because of the program and the progress that he made. He had finally, you know, started talking to his now ex-wife and pushing to see his daughter, who he loved so much and just wanted so much to, you know, be a part of her life again. And his ex-wife saw all that he was trying to do and actually agreed to let him see her and he was able to use the gift cards. So he went, he took her out to lunch to Chick-fil-A and oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting this he went to Walmart and he bought her a Paw Patrol toy because that was her favorite cartoon at the time, you know.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

And he was like I was a real father, like I got to provide for her. I got to take my girl to lunch. I got to, you know, make her smile when she opened her Paw Patrol toy. And that's the magic of what the nonprofit world does, you know, and that is what these individuals deserve, that's what they're capable of. If only we would take a minute to reach out to them and provide them with the things that we could easily provide. I mean, we can. There's so many different ways that we can reach out and provide the help and the resources that they need, and I've been so blessed to work with so many great organizations that have done this time and time again, and I love that I get to help them do it.

Speaker 1:

So, yeah, yeah oh, that's a good veteran story for you and he's actually doing really well, now he's he's, you know, been living on his own for probably about 15 to 18 months at this point and you know he rekindled the relationship with his. You know, I don't know that he's back together with his ex-wife, but at least they're talking. That's always good.

Speaker 2:

And kudos to her for recognizing that he had come that far and giving him that second chance because that's really cool.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, we were very proud of George.

Speaker 2:

You should be. And, george, if you're listening, you should be proud of yourself. Yeah, he really should you put the work in man so wow, so many great stories, you've got like a lifetime of stories.

Speaker 1:

I do.

Speaker 2:

And every single one of them. Yes, tear jerking, but also heartwarming.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And that's that's so cool. Um, I really really, really appreciate the fact that you took some time. I apologize for that.

Speaker 1:

When I edit this, nobody will know that I'm my don't even worry about it, so, but I'm sorry.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, don't even worry about it, but I'm sorry and you have been so gracious with your time, and Nathan has been so gracious to allow his mom to hang out with me for a few minutes, for a half hour or so, and so thank you guys for all of that.

Speaker 1:

No, thank you. Thank you for letting me share their stories. I wish more people knew about the incredible work being done by local nonprofits. So, if nothing else, please let your audience take from this the fact that there's really good stories out there and they can be part of them just by spending an hour at a local nonprofit.

Speaker 1:

It doesn't matter if it's an animal shelter, a homeless shelter, soup kitchen or something like Tech Knowledge Worldwide. If you've got tech skills, that I don't join TKW and then you can do something cool like text giving too. But there's a million different nonprofits out there all doing incredible work and they need and deserve our support.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, oftentimes I think we we look really hard, we can't. We see all the problems in the world and it's so overwhelming and we don't know. Find something that speaks to you. Odds are very, very good that there is a nonprofit working in that area and go give them a hand.

Speaker 1:

Amen to that.

Speaker 2:

Preach. Gina, thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate it and all your links will be in the show notes, maybe even Tech World, who knows?

Speaker 1:

Thanks, thanks. No, I appreciate it, but thank you so much for your time. It genuinely was an honor to talk to you today, mike.

Speaker 2:

Thank you so much. Take care, and we'll talk soon.

Speaker 1:

All right, Take care Mike.

Speaker 2:

Wow, isn't Gina DeMarco great, isn't she fantastic? It was such a pleasure to speak with her and hear some of her stories about her time in the nonprofit world. You just can't say enough about these organizations that go through so much because they have a vision for making a positive difference in the world and I just, I, absolutely, absolutely love it. I thank Gina and her son, nathan, for putting up with me for a half hour or so and, yeah, gina's links will be in the show notes, as well as maybe even tech knowledge or tech world. Sorry, but yeah, until then, that will do it for this episode of the Kindness Matters podcast. I will be back again next week, but be that person who roots for others, who tells a stranger that they look amazing and encourages others to believe in themselves and their dreams. You've been listening to the Kindness Matters Podcast. I am your host, mike Rathbun. Have a fantastic week.

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