The Kindness Matters Podcast
So. Much. Division. Let's talk about how to change that. Re-engage as neighbors, friends, co-workers and family. Let's set out to change the world. Strike that. Change A World. One person at a time, make someone's life a little better and then do it again tomorrow and the day after that, through kindness.
Kindness is a Super-Power that each of us has within us. It is so powerful it has the potential to change not only your life but those around you, too. Let's talk about kindness.
The Kindness Matters Podcast
Transforming Lives with Tabi Oasis
Join me on a heartfelt journey with Michael, Mike, Puffer affectionately known as the "country computer guy," as we uncover his inspiring story on the Kindness Matters podcast. Michael's unique approach to providing tech support in rural areas—often accepting payments in the form of fresh produce or homemade goods—reflects a deep commitment to personalized service and community. Our conversation takes a transformative turn as we explore his nonprofit initiative, Tabi Oasis. Born from personal experience, this organization stands as a beacon of hope for families grappling with traumatic acquired brain injuries, offering essential support and comfort during their most challenging times.
In this episode, we explore the powerful mission of Tabi Oasis and the symbolism behind its name and logo, representing resilience and adaptability. Michael shares the innovative ways his organization partners with resorts to provide caregivers with much-needed relief and outlines how families can be nominated for financial assistance. This episode is a celebration of the power of community, kindness, and compassion. By tuning in, listeners are encouraged to support impactful initiatives like Tabi Oasis by spreading awareness and offering assistance, all while being inspired by Michael's dedication to making a difference in the world. If you know someone who has a family member or friend that has been affected by a TBI and would like to nominate them for assistance you can do that here.
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Well, hello there and welcome. You are listening to the Kindness Matters podcast and I am your host, mike Rathbun. What is this podcast all about? It's about kindness. It's a pushback against everything negative that we see in the news and on social media today, and it's a way to highlight people, organizations, that are simply striving to make their little corner of the world a little better place. If you want to join in on the conversation, feel free, Go ahead and follow us on all of your social media feeds. We're on Facebook, instagram, tiktok. We're even on LinkedIn under Mike Rathbun. Check us out. Uh, we're even on LinkedIn under Mike Rathbun. Check us out. And in the meantime, so sit back, relax, enjoy and we'll get into the Kindness Matters podcast.
Speaker 1:Hey, welcome everybody to the Kindness Matters podcast. It is a Monday, but that's okay. You're hearing this on Thursday, perfectly fine, don't be disarmed, I don't know what I'm doing. Welcome to the show, everybody. I am so excited to have you here and I am so excited to introduce you to my guest. His name is Michael Mike Puffer. He will call himself a country computer guy. Is that right, mike? That's right, but he's also, uh, the founder of one of the coolest uh 501c3 non-profits that I have ever heard of the name of that business. That nonprofit is Tabi Oasis T-A-B-I. We'll talk about that in a moment, but let's meet Mike.
Speaker 2:Great. Thanks so much, Mike. I really appreciate this.
Speaker 1:Oh, I really appreciate you, Mike. So when you call yourself a country computer guy, what does that entail?
Speaker 2:Well, I have a knack for computers and so I go out to people's homes and businesses and farms and take care of all their computer needs, whether it's the computer itself, and take care of all their computer needs, whether it's the computer itself, printers, wi-fi, extending Wi-Fi out to outbuilding a barn or something like that. And I was late in the game to getting a website, so the only thing left that I could find was Country Computer Guy, and it really fits my business. I live in a rural area and so it really fits, so I just grabbed onto it while it was available.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's awesome. So you're like a computer doctor who does house calls.
Speaker 2:That's a good way to put it, yeah.
Speaker 1:You can use that Feel free if you don't already. You can use that Feel free If you don't already Now. So who's your typical client out there? I mean, are we talking like farmers who are trying to get up and running? Who's your typical client out there in the country?
Speaker 2:Mostly home users. I run my own shop. I don't have any employees so I limit my business customers to about 10 computers Okay, because I don't want to get tied up for days on end with that. So I really specialize in in-home or in-office white glove service. I take care of anything and everything I find on site. I guarantee all my work. Some of my customers I've had for 18, 20 years. They might pay me in fresh caught fish, they might pay me in medicine, they might pay me in sweet corn.
Speaker 1:That's you know what, and I think a lot of us think that that's the way medicine should be these days. So I mean, it kind of goes along with the house call thing. You know when you would go, you know the doc would come out and he'd set your leg and you'd pay him some eggs or what have you. And that was really a simpler time and I like this, that kind of harkens back to that time. So you've been doing that for a while and then something really bad happened. Um, for lack of a better word, um, and you I should just let you tell it, sorry, it's not a laughing matter you decided to come up with a foundation or a nonprofit that helps people who suffer from a traumatic acquired brain injury. How did you come up with that?
Speaker 2:Well, I first want to just explain what TABI really stands for traumatic acquired brain injuries. Any acquired brain injury is something you get after you're born. It's not congenital and we're not a stickler on that. We want to help the family when someone's injured, and my experience is in the brain injury realm. I guess you would say so. That's what the name is for and I explain it to a lot of people like this that in Minnesota here, more than 12 people a day end up in the ICU with a brain injury.
Speaker 2:I was there many years ago and my family was the kind of left out. There's a lot of eyes and ears on me, but my family was kind of just waiting for news and kind of struggling. We got through all that and then 11 years later, on the same day on the same highway, a loved one was in a really bad car accident and was in the ICU, and so the family just rushed down there. I was out of town on business, I drove home, I grabbed my daughter and we left. We didn't lock the door, we didn't feed the dog and the cat, we didn't feed the chickens, we just went to the waiting room, just all hands on deck there. And what we found when we got there was three other families going through their own crisis in that ICU waiting room. It's chaotic, it's stressful. There are kids running around because some families they just grab the kids. They didn't have time to plan for who's going to watch their kids.
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 2:So it was kind of stressful. And I had family there, other people had family there there, but there was just no room. People were sleeping on the floor, sleeping on furniture, oh wow, it was just a chaotic scene and, um, it took me a while to figure out what. I just felt there was something there that needed to be done, but I had no idea how to do it or what to do. You know how to do it Right Reading machines at night for food, because the three o'clock in the morning there weren't restaurants open. So that's kind of where it started for me. And as as time went on, it was about the third evening Now this happened in October 23rd, and so it's 830 at night.
Speaker 2:It's dark outside. I live in the country, and so when someone knocks at my door at 830 at night in the country, that's what's going on. Yeah, so my daughter had gone home with me. We went home to get a change of clothes, take a breath, try to figure out what's going on. Yeah, so my daughter had gone home with me. We went home to get a change of clothes, take a breath, try to figure out what's going on. Sure, and we get a knock on the door.
Speaker 2:It was a pastor from a local church. I don't attend church, but I do work on their computer, so they do know me. He just said, hi, mike, heard about your your. He just said hi, mike, heard about your loved one. Handed me a check and said let us know if there's anything else we can do. Wow, I gave that pastor the biggest hug he's ever gotten, I guarantee you. I was absolutely blown away and as I'm holding the check in my hand, I turn around to tell my daughter about this and she hands me her cell phone. It was the head volleyball coach of the local high school and she said I want to cook some meals for you guys. What do you guys want? Where can I bring them? And, by the way, the high school volleyball team did fundraisers for you guys, so we have some gift cards for you. Oh, wow, and we were just. I was just blown away.
Speaker 1:You know I was in tears yeah I, I can imagine that would be just, I mean, because you're already kind of set back on your heels from the accident in the first place, but then this wave of generosity comes and just smacks you right in the face yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So, as um, we, we, you know, at that you still don't know what the condition of your loved one's going to be. So we're staying at the hospital and, as we talked about earlier, my business I run the business. I can take time off, but there comes a time when you have to go back to work and your customers need, you know, care. So it was the fifth day and I remember this like it was yesterday. I was on my knees, I was holding the hand of my loved one and I was praying and I was apologizing that I had to leave the bedside of a loved one for the sake of money. And I promised myself out loud that this will never happen again, that I have to leave the bedside for the sake of money. And the next thought for me this it was this shouldn't happen to anyone else either. Yeah, that was the fire, that was the, but I work with people Most of the time. My back is to them. So you know I'm a computer guy, I'm in my chair or their chair.
Speaker 2:So I really didn't have a focus on how do I do this? You know, I thought of a nonprofit, but I don't have any experience in that realm, but I kept mentioning to a mentor of mine the first five days, the first five months and the first five years. Those were significant time periods for my situation. Other people it's going to be their own. I want to do something in the first five days, the first five months and again in the first five years. So the first five days, within 24 to 48 hours, we want to give them $555 in gift cards. So if they want to get a hotel room so the family can gather in peace, if they need childcare, if they need meals, if they need gas money to and from, it's up to them. It's just a gift to them. And I love meeting the families. It's hard to meet them Emotionally it's hard, but I want them to know they're not alone.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean go ahead and that you know. So that first five days was important to me, but then over the next five months, um, things tend to settle. Some, maybe not in a good place, but it's more settled. But there's still may need money to get back and forth from the hospital to home. Maybe they live an hour away or two hours away. They're still going to have to have money for that. Maybe they still need childcare, maybe the car needs a repair or a rent payment, and then over the long term.
Speaker 2:So in my case, I was able to work three days a week and had my dad and a cousin watch over my loved one. So I could, you know, I could get out there and work, but some people don't have that, for whatever reason in their lives, they're not able to do that. So I want to find out how we can replace the income that was probably lost either by the loved one who is the main breadwinner in the family is now injured, or they have to change their life to support that person. Sure, and as I've talked to other people in this caregiver world, they're just left out. They are just left out. I've talked to people and read stories on Facebook and communicated with people, mostly women, that for 5, 10, 20, 25 years they've never been able to take a day off. Wow, because they don't have any support the families. There's a rush of support in the beginning.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:But people have their own lives, but there's just a big gap there where there's no support for them. So I'm changing that, I'm improving that. So, over that five-year period, how do we find a way to increase the income of the household, whether it's a work-at-home job or finding employers that are more friendly to someone whose schedule has to change?
Speaker 1:Wow, that's incredible. It blows me away. I mean, I know I've heard this story before, but it blows me away that you were able to come up with this. I don't know of any other nonprofit that does what you do, specifically for people who've been affected by a traumatic brain injury. So talk to me about the name of the charity. I keep trying to call it a charity. I don't know if that's a nonprofit. The actual full name is Tabby Oasis.
Speaker 2:So Tabby is traumatic acquired brain injury and that includes strokes, aneurysm, medical injuries, overdoses, anything, concussions, accidents. And then I kind of lost my chain of thought here Oasis the oasis part is what I want for the caregivers. So when a family member is impacted by a medical emergency, the family kind of loses out. Sometimes on vacations, fishing trips with a loved one, there's less money to go around, there's more care needed for the loved one. So I want to find ways and I've been talking to different resorts like up in Brainerd Lakes area and McGregor and even up in Rainy Lake and International Falls to find some resorts that'll gift them a weekend of fishing, you know, guided fishing or whatever they want, or a hike, you know, to go somewhere adventuring, and then to find other ways to put together like a weekend or a five-day event that's at a lake that everything's covered, with different presentations from other people that have gone through this and how they've excelled or they've been able to thrive. So that's the Oasis part. It's really for the family.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, so that's the oasis part. It's really for the family, yeah, yeah, and that because, really, that downtime until you've been in that situation, you have no idea just how important that is, um, I would. So now I'm looking at your um, um, hmm, you and I, we're like the sock drawer of guests here because we keep losing our words. Um, your logo for tabby oasis and I hope to with, with your permission, I'd like to use that as the cover art for for this episode. Um, but you've got a sun in the logo and then the 555. That goes back to your five days, five months, five years.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's cool.
Speaker 2:I can tell you a little bit about the logo and the process I went through to come up with it. So I don't know if you're familiar with joseph campbell, who um studied myths throughout many years and um, so the fives are strategically placed according to his, uh, what he calls the hero's journey and it's it's like a clock shape and those fives are specifically in points where that made a difference to me and they're very important that they're in there. Okay, a mentor that I had during this process on her own, looked up, you know, on Dr Google, and said what does 555 mean? Laughter, abundance and love in different cultures? And that just likeped me on the head said yeah, you're on the right track here, mike yeah, for sure yeah, so we have the giraffe there.
Speaker 2:Giraffe is just an amazing animal. They're odd, they're not like anything else. And that's kind of what happens in a family like that that has has someone who's been hurt. The family has to change and adapt to that. And then the butterflies the monarch butterflies.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:This is my opinion. I don't think anybody could challenge it. I believe the butterfly is one of the toughest, most determined, strongest creatures on the planet. Yeah, they're people thin, you could knock them off their feet with a breath, but they fly 1200, 1500 miles every year to find a warmer climate and back again. And the key to that is it's the fourth generation butterfly that comes back. Oh really, it's not the same one that travels all the way south and all the way north again. It's usually the fourth generation butterfly, so they're incredibly resilient and if they get knocked off their journey let's say a car goes by near the highway and they get knocked off their feet what do they do? They get right back up and be the best butterfly they could ever be. They're very strong, they're very resilient and I had to have that in my um, in my logo yeah, it's remarkable.
Speaker 1:I mean you think about birds doing that, but a butterfly is just just like you said it's paper-thin wings and you would look at it and think, well, that's just so fragile.
Speaker 2:And they fly periodically. When they fly, they're not going in a straight line like a bird, might You'd think they couldn't find their way home because of the way they fly. They go left and right, up and down.
Speaker 1:That's so cool. That's cool. So what does? I'm going to put a link in the show notes so that what kind of? When somebody comes to you and says, okay, I need help and I think you may have already gone through this, but bear with me what is the first thing you get? You follow that 555, the donations.
Speaker 2:So we were trying to work with the large level one trauma centers and we found out that inadvertently we were putting some kind of burden on them. Either time or um, you know, they'd have to approve the request for financial assistance. They would have to. There was just some, some things that they thought they had to do. They had to prove the marketing and in the end we just realized we didn't realize we were doing that. We thought we were just helping. You know, people that were in their hospital.
Speaker 2:So our board got together and rapidly put together a nomination process. So anyone that knows someone who has a family member in the ICU can go to our website and nominate a family for financial assistance. The emails come to me. I read the form just to make sure it's legit or if I need more information, and then I contact the person they tell me I can contact and we make a plan to either bring it to them. We've been to Regions Hospital, we've been to Northents hospital, we've been to north memorial, uh, saint cloud hospital and others, yeah, and so we'd like that, but we realize that's in the long term.
Speaker 1:If we get really busy that won't be possible sure, uh, so you're kind of taking that burden off of the hospital. Yeah, I never would have guessed that that was on them. Yeah, and apparently you guys didn't know.
Speaker 2:Go ahead. We have pilot programs going with Hennepin County Medical Center. They really appreciate what we're doing. They have flyers in their various waiting rooms and they've also informed staff about us so they can even fill out the forms themselves if they believe the family needs that help. And also with a couple of M Health Fairview and M Health Wyoming Lakes Hospital. And we've been in those other hospitals just meeting the people in the cafeteria or something like that. So that's fantastic. Right now what we need. We've been absolutely blown away with the fundraising we've been able to do with Lions Clubs Absolutely blown away with the fundraising we've been able to do with Lions Clubs, legion Clubs, jcs, friends, family, people that know the people that we've helped. So what we really need now is to have the word spread.
Speaker 2:We need people to know we're here. Yeah, that's. Our main focus now is to get the word out, but also to keep fundraising to us, we can keep growing.
Speaker 1:So if you're listening to this episode, um make sure and share it with a friend or a family member, or 10 friends would even be better.
Speaker 2:That would be wonderful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, fantastic. Well, michael, I thank you so much. This has been so enlightening for me and I'm so inspired and I just I thank you so much for the work that you do and this organization. I know it's going to help a lot of people.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, and I really appreciate what you're doing too, mike, thanks, we all need more kindness in our lives, you know.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:Lead with kindness.
Speaker 1:There you go, amen. Thank you so much, michael. We'll chat later.
Speaker 2:All right, thanks again, bye-bye.
Speaker 1:Wow, what a great conversation with Michael Puffer, the founder of tabbyoasisorg. Have you ever just seen something or watched something and went, geez, you know it would really be nice if there was a nonprofit that could help people out, and then you just kind of dismiss it. You're like I'm in no position to start a nonprofit. But I am constantly amazed at people like Michael, who you can see a problem in the world, see an issue, and go this is what needs to happen and I'm gonna make it happen and boom. Next thing you know there's a non-profit out there helping people who didn't have help before. So I'm just I'm blown away by michael. I hope that you can find it in your heart or within your means to to give generously to tabby oasisorg. It would help so many people and you know what. You can even help by spreading awareness of it.
Speaker 1:You can share this episode with your friends and family members and just let everybody know what a fantastic organization this is. And that will do it for this episode of the Kindness Matters podcast. I am your host, mike Rathbun. Keep thinking great thoughts and keep being that person who roots for others and tells a stranger that they look amazing and encouraging others to believe in themselves and their dreams. You've been listening to the Kindness Matters Podcast. I'm your host, mike Rathbun. Have a fantastic week.
