Turmoil to Triumph + Resiliency with Brendan Bartic (part 1)

Have you ever witnessed a phoenix rise from the ashes? Our latest conversation with Brendan Bartik is a profound exploration of transformation and hope that mirrors such a rebirth. Brendan, a real estate mogul who has defied the odds, shares his awe-inspiring trajectory from a tumultuous childhood to generating over a billion dollars in property sales. His success, however, shines brightest in his dedication to coaching and philanthropy, especially through his influential work with Third Way Center, where he champions the futures of youth in need.

In this stirring episode, we peel back the layers of Brendan's commitment and delve into the intricate world of youth group homes. We're confronted with the harsh realities these children face—long waiting lists, increased demand post-pandemic, and the desperate need for stability. But it's not all bleak; we're also regaled with stories of redemption, like that of a child who found sanctuary at Third Way Center amid chaos and crime, ultimately rewriting his story with a second chance. Join us for a deeply moving journey that reaffirms the power of compassion and the indomitable strength of the human spirit.

Transcript

Pam Cass: 0:06

In the grand theater of life. We all seek a comeback, a resurgence, a rekindling of our inner fire. But how do we spark that flame? Welcome to Reignite Resilience. This is not just another podcast. This is a journey, a venture into the heart of human spirit, the power of resilience and the art of reigniting our passions.

Natalie Davis: 0:29

Before we dive into today's interview, I want to make sure that we establish a safe and respectful place for all of our listeners. We understand that oftentimes, discussing some of the adversities that children within our environment experience can evoke some various emotions, and we want to assure you that we are approaching this conversation with sensitivity and empathy. So if you start to struggle with some of the content of this episode, we highly encourage you to seek some support from your friends, family or even mental health professionals, and we are going to continue to include some links to some resources that you can follow and explore after the show. Again, we want to create a safe space for your listening enjoyment. We hope you enjoy. Welcome back to another episode of Reignite Resilience. I am your co-host, natalie Davis. I am so happy to be back with you all. Pam, welcome. How are you?

Pam Cass: 1:24

I am fabulous. We're halfway through the week. It's a good week.

Natalie Davis: 1:28

It is. Listen, surprise you guys, it's not Friday. We're actually recording an episode that's not on a Friday.

Pam Cass: 1:34

Yes, and it's our second recording of the week, so I know we're right.

Natalie Davis: 1:38

I'm going to get to see a lot of Pam this week, which is really good. It always makes for excitement. But I feel like even on the weeks that I see a lot of you, we always have a lot to catch up on.

Pam Cass: 1:48

I know it's like we haven't seen each other in like weeks. I don't understand that. I don't understand that.

Natalie Davis: 1:53

We should never imagine that we spend hours just talking. It's okay, who knows? Well, we are so excited to have a special guest joining us today. This is actually a guest that is within my space, actually within my brand in terms of the real estate space, and we don't typically dive into the real estate space, but I found a little snippet about this individual, their personal life, and I was so intrigued and I immediately reached out and I said wait, I did not know this about you and I'd love to hear your story, and I think our listeners would love to hear your story.

Natalie Davis: 2:28

So, without further ado, we have none other than Mr Brandon Bartik, who is a coach, he's also a realtor, he is a philanthropist and a trainer and entrepreneur and he himself, just within the real estate space, has personally sold over a billion dollars in residential volume and has been honored to have coached and trained thousands of real estate agents and business owners over the last 20 years. But outside of the business success, as a youth, brandon's childhood looked a little bit different and he had an opportunity to actually benefit from some of the services of Third Way Center, lincoln Apartments and we're going to dive into who they are and what they do, and he also serves on the board but gives back from a standpoint of his philanthropic efforts and continues to pour into agents across the country from the standpoint of coaching he is constantly giving. I think I've only seen him in a space where he is coaching, teaching and pouring into others. So I am really excited and honored to have you on the show, brendan. Welcome.

Brendan Bartic: 3:31

Yeah, thank you for having me, and Natalie, I'm super super excited and I love what you guys are doing here because, yeah, the whole mindset of this is look, we all came from somewhere and it wasn't always rosy and pretty, and I believe the power of the human spirit and the things that we can overcome are unimaginable, and so anytime I have a chance to talk to people of going look, you might've been where I was, I might've been where you were, but it's not where you have to be.

Natalie Davis: 3:57

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I think that that's let's start there. Brandon, I think if you could just take us into the space of let's start with where you are now, because I think that's where the majority of people know you Not only are you in the sales space, you're a team leader. You have a very productive and successful real estate team in the Colorado market. Give us a little overview of where you are in life today.

Brendan Bartic: 4:21

So in life today. So I currently am the CEO of a real estate organization called Elite Home Partners. We are currently the number one real estate team in Colorado. We sold about $5.7 million in gross commission income. That means cash money, in that I also own a real estate brokerage, so we have a real estate team, a real estate brokerage title company. And then what my real passion is is coaching and training. So I'm a national coach and sales trainer and I basically help people get to where they want to go in their real estate business or careers or help any of them try to break through some of maybe these limited beliefs. And we just do that through systems and models and understanding that everything is just a formula. So where I have my biggest passion is in helping people do that. And then you were talking about Third Way Center. I'm the president of the board of directors for Third Way Center.

Brendan Bartic: 5:19

We have five residential group homes that service kids from 12 to 21. And these are kids that have gone through massive trauma, either abuse, they've been neglected. I'm talking, you know, people that have been incarcerated in the juvenile system, that have nowhere else to go, and we have a program and a process with different homes that take them through at different age levels to help them either a reconcile with their family and hopefully fix those issues, be emancipate, like I did myself through the program, emancipate and then help them learn the life skills that they're going to need, because maybe they didn't, you know, have the mom or dad there or anyone there to teach them how to balance a checkbook or how to cook food or do laundry or certain things that some of us may take for granted at times, but basic and I wouldn't say basic advanced life skills. And then we help them with job placement. We've sent a lot of people to college In my instance I went into the military, you know, through the program.

Brendan Bartic: 6:23

So we really just try to, yeah, help the kids that really got the worst deal that you could imagine and help make sure that they understand that they don't have to just end up working at XYZ company one day. That you know, we just had an internship at our organization and you know, one of the kids I was like, well, what do you want to aspire to be? And he was like I really want to be the guy at the cashier that works in a movie theater and that that was the bar, because to him that was like light years of where he even thought he could be, and so helping people break through and go just because you went through this doesn't mean that that's where this ends, and so it's a lot of mindset, a lot of coaching, a lot of internship, and then, of course, there's a huge financial burden. Right, it cost us about $10 million a year to run these five houses.

Brendan Bartic: 7:13

We have 200 certified staff members and counselors and therapists and trauma specialists, and some of our kids have been raped, some of our kids have been held in containers and I'm talking like the stuff you see on Dateline, like that have gone through things that you hear on stories and you're like that's unimaginable. Where those kids have to go somewhere, right, they don't just go back home, right, they go somewhere, and usually those options are juvenile detention centers, group homes or foster homes, and not all foster homes are made the same and equal, and so we've really tried to create a program. We have a system that we run that helps kids find truth and justice so that they can thrive and understand that there's a really big world out there and there's people that want to help you get there, and that's what we do.

Pam Cass: 8:07

At any given time. How many children do you have going through these homes? 200.

Brendan Bartic: 8:12

Wow, yeah, so it's a massive operation because you got to think of everything from food. We have our own high school because a lot of, just like me, I was not able because of the disturbance in my family. You know, the highest grade I ever finished was the seventh grade, and so you know you're getting jump bounced around, you're going from this to that. So we have our own accredited high school. We, you know all food operate I mean again, everyone. They have to live somewhere, we have to get them clothing, we have to provide all of these things that are needed, and so we have a lot of amazing partners and sponsors and we do a ton of fundraising and all of that fun stuff. But, yeah, our goal is to just help those that really got kind of the worst of the worst deal.

Pam Cass: 8:59

Wow, and how long do they typically stay in these homes, is it? Yeah, that's a great question.

Brendan Bartic: 9:07

So yeah, so in my instance I went into the social service system when I was 11. And I didn't go right into third way and so there's, there's kind of a whole world out there. So, whether you know, you go into a group home or a foster home and I'll kind of explain some of those differences. But basically then I went into juvenile detention center, right, and then I was incarcerated for two years not all at the same time, but throughout this process. So once you're in the system and you really can't go back home or for some of us that don't have the ability to go back home because our parents aren't equipped to have us and keep us safe then you kind of get pinballed around. And then, once I ended up at Third Way Center, I started out at one of their homes which is called Pontiac House, and Pontiac House was I think I was probably 14 at the time, and so that was more of just like treatment, like I had to deal with anger issues. I mean, obviously I didn't quite understand what was going on and I kind of tell the backstory of how I ended up there. But so we take kids where they're at. Average stay could be anywhere from average stay is probably right under a year, because our real goal is if we can reconcile the family and we can help bring them in and provide the services. And when I say family, that could be grandma, grandpa doesn't always mean mom and dad. It might just mean mom, you know, because dad's ghosted, you know, or dad ghosted, or mom ghosted and dad's the only one left. So if we can create a safe structure for them to return to, that's our primary goal. And then there's just situations where you can't go back right. Like me, I had no family to go back to, no extended family to go back to, and so then you go through kind of different houses that progress you to what you said earlier, natalie, which was the Lincoln House, which is more of an apartment building that is still supervised, still get services, counseling, treatment, the things that you may need, but they really teach you how to help me get a job. They got me a job and this is back in the day. I worked at a phone card company and I know we don't have phone cards anymore, but I was. I was stamping phone cards right at that time, you know, and again, I was probably 16, 17 and they helped me do that and then trying to figure out what that next step is. Is it going to be college for some? Is it going to be a vocational school? Right, we have a lot of kids that go into vocational schools to be mechanics or plumbers or electricians or whatever it is. Is it an internship at, like our real estate firm? And maybe you have those kinds of talents.

Brendan Bartic: 11:31

But some of the kids that we deal with have also suffered from TBIs traumatic brain injuries, and I know we hear about TBIs in like the NFL. Well, you know, a TBI is your dad hitting you in the head with a baseball bat right At a young age and then that not being diagnosed. Or your mom hitting you with a frying pan, or somebody kicking you down a flight of stairs when you were seven. And I know that sounds brutal and I'm sorry, but that's that's what we get exposed to. So it's diagnosing that a lot of. Sometimes we see these kids and we're like why is that kid so angry? Or they seem off, and it's like well, a lot of times it's a medical reason. Right, like something, some sort of brain trauma happened and so we have a very holistic yet pharmaceutical way of dealing with that right.

Brendan Bartic: 12:18

So a lot of it is. You can fix a lot of things with diet and and regimen and schedule and mindset, but there are some, some kids, that need to medicated and we have to find that right balance of balancing out some of these issues that they've had. Or they could just come from a family that has a history of schizophrenia, or they have come from a family that has a history of manic depression and then we see a lot of drug use because dad grew up doing heroin. Well, heroin must not be that bad. I'm going to do heroin, so we got to get a lot of kids off of the addiction to drugs and so it's a lot. But yes, that is a lot of what we do. So, to answer your question, you go depending on your situation. You could be in third way for five or six years going through that process. You could be there less than three months, depending upon what that immediate situation was.

Pam Cass: 13:13

Okay, so 200 kids through. Do you have a waiting list of kids or are you okay? Okay?

Brendan Bartic: 13:20

Yeah, we have a massive waiting list, and that's the sad part, right Is there's. There's kids right now that are sitting in juvenile detention centers, that have, no, no real reason that they need to be there. And when I say that, meaning that they have a reason to be there, they did something wrong. Let's say that they ditched school 50 times or never went to school, and a lot of this is because they never wanted to go home. Right, they were like I don't want to go home. Maybe they stole a car, maybe they did some of these things. So they definitely did something, and we're not saying that they're perfect.

Brendan Bartic: 13:50

But then they get into the system and then you find out well, why did they do these things? Well, because my dad's a drug dealer and he taught me how to steal cars. So I stole cars too, not every instance, but I'm just trying to give an example. And so we have people sitting in juvie because there's nowhere else to go out to, because they can't go home, so they just sit there. And then we now are taking kids from across the state line. So we get a lot of kids from Wyoming we're in Colorado. We get a lot of kids from Wyoming and from Utah that maybe don't have the same type of facilities to be able to take care of these kids. So yeah, we usually have a lengthy waiting list.

Pam Cass: 14:28

So yeah, we usually have a lengthy waiting list. Did you see any changes during the pandemic as far as more kids needing the system, or was it same?

Brendan Bartic: 14:38

Yeah, oh no much more. Because once you saw the pandemic hit, usually school was the safe haven for a lot of these kids. Right, school, they got to go to school and get out of the house. Now you've got a dysfunctional family structure. Having kids at home, not being able to leave then creates this boiling point, right when now they're like I don't want to be around my dad for two hours, now I'm around him for six hours, or my mom or whatever it is, or extended family. So you're exactly right, it created a massive influx of issues and people that were needing assistance.

Natalie Davis: 15:16

Yeah, wow, and I'm assuming that you haven't seen any relief or reprieve since then, over the last four or five years.

Brendan Bartic: 15:24

No, and a lot of this, a lot of time. What I spend and a lot of our staff's been doing is a lot of this is also government influenced. So when you have a new set of government officials come in, maybe one side wants to put more money into social services, yet we know another side maybe doesn't really care about social services as much as we might want. So then their mindset is you have a new politician come into power and they're going. You know what? I think that these kids should just, no matter what happens, they need to go home and we'll do in-home counseling and they'll pass a law or pass a rule or pass, you know, some sort of legislation. So it's a huge ongoing issue of just trying to make sure that we can help as much as possible. But a lot of times some of our funding comes from, you know, federal funding. Some of it comes from the state funding, and so it depends on who's in power at that time.

Natalie Davis: 16:18

What administration is in?

Pam Cass: 16:20

charge of that. Yeah, power is the wrong word.

Natalie Davis: 16:22

I know we're going to say administration, but you're absolutely correct.

Pam Cass: 16:26

It's the right word no consistency at all. It's the right word no consistency at all. It's like. It's kind of like wow.

Brendan Bartic: 16:33

Yeah, yeah. So I mean, people don't realize how big of a situation it is. But I always ask people. I was like is there anybody in your family or extended family that's had any issues, whether it's drugs, whether it's this, now just take that and go make it a hundred times worse, right, and then those are the kids that we're trying to help places like this in every state, or is this kind of because you said that you have utah wyoming kids coming from other states, or is this a unique thing?

Pam Cass: 17:02

is this something across the united states?

Brendan Bartic: 17:04

no. So there are group homes in other states and there's other organizations that try to facilitate this, but it's just like every kind of organization. You've got Chick-fil-A and then you've got a chicken shop on a back alley right Like I don't know how else to say it. They both sell chicken, right. They both sell chicken sandwiches One sketchy, one little safer right and a little of that sandwiches one sketchy, one little safer right and a little of that.

Brendan Bartic: 17:32

So that's the part that's really challenging, too is the regulation and trying to make sure that you know, you know, you know state audits are happening and we have constant inspectors and and people that come through and we have to make sure all of our counselors are certified. Because here's the sad part this is a haven for sexual predators that want to be in this business, right, and that's the saddest, sickest part of this whole thing. So you have sexual predators that go. Oh, I want to be a counselor at a group home because now I'm going to be dealing with a 13 year old girl who just went through all this abuse and so she's going to look at me as her role model, savior, and then I'm an abuser. Wow, wow, right. I know I'm so sorry to get so dark.

Natalie Davis: 18:11

So our job is to try to save that right.

Brendan Bartic: 18:13

Our job is to try to make sure that, yeah, our onboarding and certification and application process and vetting process and doing all of these things. And then a lot of what we deal with is security. Right here in Colorado and this is probably a really sad story is we have a facility called Lowry and it's a campus and this is where most of our younger kids come in. When I say like probably more 12, 13, 11 to 13 year olds, and when the National Western Stock Show comes into town here in Colorado, we have so many of our kids being approached for sexual predators that come in with the stock show that we have to go into a lockdown mode in our campus because they'll actually come up to the fences of the campuses and drop notes saying, hey, I'll pay you five hundred dollars, meet me later at so and so and such and such. So I'm saying it's a sad world and there's some sick, sick things out there. So a lot of what we're doing is trying to protect these people, because if you've gone through abuse and it's what you know and you got to remember, you're 13.

Brendan Bartic: 19:18

Yeah, there's comfort and you're looking at going. I just want to run away, I just want to get high, I just want to get 500 bucks. I want to go meet my ex-boyfriend that moved to Iowa, so I'm going to hitchhike. I mean, we, we deal with all that, right and so. So imagine being a teenager. It's already very difficult. But but now we're we're, we're saying, hey, you can't go home, but we want to help you and you're going at first year. It's not like we go to these places and at it going, screw this. I'm going to run away, live with my boyfriend, live in my homie's basement, I'm going to do whatever it takes because we're lashing out. We're kids, you know, we don't want to deal with our trauma. I don't want to sit there and talk to a counselor about, you know, what my dad did to me or my mom did to me or whatever happened, right? So there's a lot of that that we deal with, I mean.

Brendan Bartic: 20:08

And then the real heroes are our staff. I mean kids, teenagers, are already a little edgy. I mean we have staff members that have been stabbed. We've had staff members that have been shot. We've had staff members that, you know, have things thrown at their heads on a regular basis, because kids don't know, naturally, how to deal with this without proper guidance. So I get mad, I pick up screwdriver and I throw it at you, because that's what I saw my dad do. Yes, so these people that work in these facilities, just like school teachers, they make nowhere near what they should and they are true, true heroes of everyday life. Because I couldn't do it. I mean, I was one of the kids and I just know that takes a certain type of person. And these are those nurses type people that are just, they care about kids, they care about seeing them succeed and they're willing to take that risk.

Pam Cass: 21:03

Yeah, would you be comfortable sharing kind of your journey, like what led you into it but also how did you get out and how did you end up to the level of success that you are today, because that's such an inspiration, and talk about resilience.

Brendan Bartic: 21:17

I started out I was from age zero to six was in a trailer park outside of Houston, texas, in a town called Lake Jackson, and for anyone that knows Texas, this is, it's a there's where it's a huge Dow chemical plant. It's mostly trailer parks. It's not the most lovely part of the world, but grew up in a trailer park there. When I was six we moved to Colorado. I have an older brother. My older brother had issues. He was manic, depressive, probably a little bit schizophrenic, and he was five years older than me, so my brother was constantly in trouble. My parents were very abusive and aggressive with both of us, right, like my parent, I mean. I'm talking to the point where, yeah, like I didn't want to come home because I had been beaten so many times, or I can you know, go into details. The one story that I always share is my dad had a it's called a coal miner's belt, and a coal miner's belt is a leather belt that has silver dollars embedded into this belt and I had. The reason a lot of these issues got brought up is I went to school and I had precedents embedded on my skin from him beating me with this belt, right, so I couldn't hide them all the time, especially, you know, sometimes it was on my neck, sometimes it was whatever. And so when I talk about this, you know again, it's not to try to go, oh poor me, or whatever it is, it's going, it's a circle, right? His dad did the same thing to him, not giving it any justification, but there's these cycles that people go through. My dad was a Vietnam veteran. He had massive PTSD, had been arrested multiple times, you know, couldn't even drive a car because of how many DUIs he had. My mom suffered from schizophrenia. And so when you're in this kind of environment, when I moved to Colorado, my brother ended up going to jail, I think at 11 or 12. So I was probably 10-ish, he was probably 11. So he got incarcerated for selling cocaine at a very young age. So when that happened my mom pretty much had a nervous breakdown and she was already not stable. So she went into a psych ward. So you know I'm talking full. You know jacket padded, leather, you know type of thing. So when that happened my dad obviously wasn't really equipped to deal with that. So we would go and visit her at the psych ward, you know the psych wards trying to do the best they can to try to figure out what you do. And they're like, oh, hug your mom before we put her back in the padded room. And you're going, what am I doing here? And it's like my friends are out playing soccer and I'm like, oh, I can't play soccer today, I've got to go visit mom at the psych ward. So, going through that, it continued to escalate and got worse. The reason she ended up going to the psych ward is I walked in on her trying to commit suicide, so in the bathtub with the razor, so that's what was the final kind of piece that put her into the facility.

Brendan Bartic: 24:12

So then, from there, as we moved forward, I was a straight, a student on a roll, like I just was. Like I loved school, I loved all of this. But I started going this sucks, and if my brother's out of here cause he never had to come back to the home either, he ended up taking a different path where he's still incarcerated. But you know what, at the time I was like he doesn't have to come back, I want to go wherever he's going. So I was like, well, the only way to do that is to get in trouble, right? So I started to kind of do things.

Brendan Bartic: 24:41

Even at school. I was getting suspended, I was getting in fights, you know whatever I could do to just try to get in trouble, more or less. And it came to a kind of a conclusion. I got into a fight with a kid during a football game and I went back to his home later that night with two of my other friends and I pulled a shotgun on him at his birthday party. You know I was listening to a lot of rap music at the time and a lot of no just, but I really was in this mindset of like it all made sense to me at the time. You know cause again.

Natalie Davis: 25:13

You know it was what you were feeding your brain right Like you're hearing it, you're seeing it. It's like, okay, this is it.

Brendan Bartic: 25:19

Totally, I was super hood, like, I mean, and in the part of Aurora, colorado, where we lived, I mean, everyone I was around was also in a similar type situation. We weren't in like the fancy part of town or even a normal part of town. So the people I kind of rode with were, you know, of that mindset. So that's when I got incarcerated and so I, you know, went to jail for that. Then, when they kind of found out what had happened, they're like, yeah, you can't go home, right, so they put me in a foster home. Meaning when I say a foster home, not like you kind of think of foster homes, there are people that run homes that get money from the government, that kind of do it to make money from the government.

Brendan Bartic: 26:04

And so I went to a house called Ms Willis's house and there was this very nice lady, ms Willis, and there was probably six of us kids there that were all in different stages of being in and out of the system. I had an ankle tracker on right, so I had a tracker every day that I couldn't leave the house without calling and all of these things, because the charges I had faced were like it was not only trespassing, attempted this, attempted that, like yeah, it's not good when you pull a shotgun on somebody. So with all of that then gotten more trouble Because once you go into the system, now I'm around real criminals, right. And so now I'm around these guys and I'm running with. You know, trey Deuce, gangster Crips here in Colorado and it sounds funny saying it now like, but I don't. If you remember in the nineties, like Crips and Bloods were a huge thing even in Colorado, like you know, it doesn't have to be Oakland or wherever. So start running with these crews, get arrested again, go back, get incarcerated again, go into another kind of group home, foster home kind of thing.

Brendan Bartic: 27:03

And then I got into one more fight, which was now I had a triple felony right. So I got into a fight with a kid. I was already on probation. Yeah, he's fine now, but the kid you know it was a pretty severe fight. And so after that happened I had a triple felony at age 13, I think, or 14. I have to think about the dates. But so I went and served another year and a half in juvie at that time.

Brendan Bartic: 27:31

And then when I got out, that's when I went to Third Way Center. So Third Way Center, they were like, look, this kid has nowhere to go. He obviously I had to go into like anger management courses. I had all of these things that were required by the state and if I slipped up one more time I would immediately get incarcerated. Not only would I get incarcerated, but 18, I'd have to go serve two years in federal penitentiary. So that was the last straw right. It was either third way or I'm going to big boy prison, and I definitely had no desire to go to big boy prison on any level.

Brendan Bartic: 28:01

So went to third way and there was an amazing founder of our organization, her name's Dr Messenbaugh, and she started to kind of explain to me why I was the way I was and why I was doing these things and why it didn't make sense and kind of helped me, guided me through it with the help of other counselors in that organization, and from there it wasn't a perfect, wasn't like?

Brendan Bartic: 28:23

Oh, now I'm great, like still got in trouble, still nothing severe enough to go back to jail. But you know, you're a kid and you're trying to deal with all of this stuff and so was able. At the time we didn't back then didn't have our accredited high school yet. So we would actually get in a bus and go to a high school and they would try to get us to go to regular school because this was, you know, 20 some odd years ago and didn't have that facility built yet. So all of us group home kids would get in a van every morning. We would get dropped off because we didn't want to show up to the school in the group home kids bus.

Natalie Davis: 28:53

We would get dropped off.

Brendan Bartic: 28:55

And then we're trying to go to a normal high school, Right, Like, like it didn't work, Right, so we're all like, and we had missed so much school. So I'm sitting in classrooms, right, and they have me in in school and I'm like I don't know what these people are talking about. I'm sipping gin and juice out of a Snapple bottle, you know smoking weed, you know out back, whatever it is, Cause it's just what I was around and that's what I thought was normal getting in fights, you know doing all this stuff, ditching, you know, going wherever. So finally they were like, well, that's not working. So I got my GED.

Brendan Bartic: 29:28

So my options were after I got my GED it was either go to the military that was one option for me or I could even probably still because I was in this federal kind of or statewide programs I could have gone to community college, right, Even with my GED. But I looked at it and I go. I am just not in a place where I hated school at that point and probably because of the way that it affected me, I loved school and I love learning, but I didn't then, Cause I was like this sucks, and I just want to go blow things up and whatever so. So go to the army recruiting station, talk to an army recruiter. Never thought in a million years I'd go to the army and I was 17. I had emancipated through the third way center program.

Brendan Bartic: 30:09

Two weeks later I was on a plane to Georgia to go to basic training, and so this was back then, so you could join the army at 17. And obviously I was emancipated and you had to have a GED, and now I think you have to have a high school diploma and you have to be 18. I'm not sure what the rules are now. So, yeah, go to Georgia, go through basic training and again, like, if you could picture me at the time, I am thug life. If you could imagine right, I'm all Tommy Hilfiger back in the day. You know I've got an. Also funny, I have a tongue piercing because that was the thing you did back in those days, which please don't ever do anyone. It's extremely painful and if you do have one, God bless you, Because, yeah, but anyway.

Natalie Davis: 30:48

I loved it. I thought it was the coolest Absolute side note on that. That's a bonus.

Brendan Bartic: 30:53

Totally, totally. But the reason I think about that is because when I showed up at basic training, they made me unscrew it and take it out right. And then people also go well, the army must have changed your life. Well, no, the army. The army I went to was I had a GED and no money and it wasn't like I was going to be like a weapons specialist and direct drone missiles. I joined the United States infantry, which is basically gang members that joined the army because they don't have anywhere else to go.

Natalie Davis: 31:23

We hope that you've enjoyed part one of our two-part interview with Brendan Bartik. What an amazing story. He's gone from being a resident of the Third Way Center's Lincoln Apartments to serving on the Board of Directors. Make sure that you come back and join us for part two, where we continue to hear about how the Army impacted his life and what he's doing in the upcoming years. We'll see you soon. Thank you for joining us on today's episode of Reignite Resilience. We hope that you had amazing ahas and takeaways. Remember to subscribe on your favorite streaming platform, like it and download the upcoming episodes, and if you know anyone in your life that is looking to continue to ignite their resilience, share it with them. We look forward to seeing you on our future episodes and until then, continue to reignite that fire within your hearts.