2B Continued

Tammy Diehn, Executive Director of 2B Continued, introduces us to the organization she founded to help young people in west central Minnesota. 

Transcript

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welcome to the Kindness Chronicles, where once again, we hope to inject the world with the dose of the Minnesota Kindness. Sure. That it desperately needs be getting a lot of feedback. Steve Brown in the Hi buddy studio. Steve's here. This is probably the busiest week for our co-host, Kevin Gorg. Yeah. Combination of, uh, the Kentucky Derby coming up. The Masters Wild Hockey. He's got a big game tonight. He's a busy guy. He is a busy, busy lab. Spring is his busiest time, like crossover from, uh, from hockey to, uh, the horses, to hockey to horses. And uh, we have a guest that's we're going to, uh, connect with here in just a minute. But, uh, what's do in your world, Steve? I don't know. Um, just enjoying the fact that the weather's getting better and, uh. You know, we've hit an all time loan. We just start talking about the weather. I know. Well, I do wanna say something. I don't wanna talk about tariffs right now. No. We could talk about tariffs. That's been an interesting, I don't want to, I'm sick of hearing about them. I'm sick of talking about it. The stock market. Just don't look at your 401k people just, you know, when it's down, you're just buying more at a cheaper price. That's the way I have to look at it. We purposely don't go political with this'cause we could really stratify things. We don't really like to do this and get political because it, uh, it's, it's not good for us. It's gross. Yeah. We don't wanna get into It's gross. Everyone's talking about it. Anyway, our point, our mission, this whole show is about. Uh, positivity and, and not toxic positivity. Th things in the real world where people are doing real things that are, um, interesting, uh, and compassionate toward humanity. And we have one of those people with us today. We do. We have our friend, our new friend, Tammy Dean from an organization called to Be continued to be continued. Tammy, welcome to the Kindness Chronicles. Hello. Thank you so much for having me. We're excited to have you on. I had mentioned to Steve that, uh, I became introduced to, to be continued by, uh, our friend Steve Johnson. And Steve Johnson is the incoming board chair of Minnesota Masonic Charities who lives in Winthrop, Minnesota, and Winthrop, Minnesota is, one of the communities that Tammy's organization serves. Where is Winthrop, Minnesota. I've heard of it. I don't remember where. It's, it's God's country, of course. Okay. Is it South? I, I don't know. It's kind of Southwest from where we're at. Okay. Yeah. Got it. Tammy, where are we calling you at? Are you in Glenco? I actually live in rural Arlington. Oh, yes. Arlington Not, which is a suburb of Glenco. Okay. Yes. I live, um, about three miles on gravel no matter which way you, um, go. And, uh, so really truly in the middle of nowhere. So I have a question about that. Living on a gravel road, I have an obsession with having a clean car. Uhhuh you probably never get to have. Yeah, I could not live on a gravel road. I, I grew up on a gravel road. We lived out in Grant, uh, city of Grant, grand Township. And it was, I didn't know a paved road was like, so cars were always dirty and dust. The house gets dusty'cause cars go by and it, it's, it's. Not, it's not a fun thing. But was that a mud hut that you lived in, out on the gravel road? No, but it was quite, uh, quite out there. Out there. And so I, I can, I can totally understand what's, what Tammy's saying. It's, it's dusty, but your car needs to be get, you know, washed regularly. So what I know about Tammy, Tammy is a nurse by, uh, by trade, but Tammy started this organization called to be continued. How many years ago was it, Tammy? It's coming on six years now. It was in, uh, July of 2019 that we officially became a 5 0 1 C3 nonprofit. Are you comfortable telling us sort of the or origin story? Sure. I lost my sister to suicide. She died in January of 2017. And then in July of 2019, I founded to be continued, uh, with a dedicated board of directors, our maid name was. And Shelly's nickname was Tuby. Oh, cute. Okay. And so that is where the first part of this comes from. Um, and then the other part of our namesake is, um, about, it represents my sister's career path. She was an inpatient mental health nurse. She cared for people with mental health challenges on a daily basis and was very passionate about it. And so while we do not provide professional services, we carry on her legacy. Through advocacy, education, and outreach in our eight county area. Our eight county area includes, um, the counties of Brown Carver, McLeod, Meer, NICoE, Renville, Sibley, and Wright. And for Minnesotans, we usually only hear about those when there is weather coming through. Yeah, yeah. Right. Those of us city slickers, even though we, live on paved roads, it is true though, the only time I hear about Meer County is when there's a tornado. That's what tornado I learned about the counties of Minnesota as well. Yes, yes. But there are other great things other than tornadoes happening in those eight counties. Of course, that's kinda West Central Minnesota tell us some of the cities that those counties, contain. Sure. So our office is in Glenco and we, um, that's in McLeod County and Hutchinson. Lester Prairie are all in CLE County. And then over in Sibley County we have Arlington, Gaylord Winthrop, given, we service the, St. Peter's and Nick County. Okay. So down there. Okay. We have new in Brown County. Renville County includes Olivia Fairfax, Then we go over county and that's Litchfield Eden Valley. We are in Wright County, which is like Buffalo, Waverley, Howard Lake Buffalo, correct. then of course Carver is, Watertown, Young America, Waconia are some of the places that we provide, um, our education too. So this has been a Minnesota geography. Yeah, exactly. Uh, lesson for those of you Yes. Get your map out. So I had, lunch with Tammy a couple of weeks ago and you know, a lot of the stuff that we do at Minnesota Masonic Charities is very metro centric. Mm-hmm. And when Steve Johnson, who happens to live in Winthrop, became aware of this to be continued organization and the work that they're doing. We wanna reflect, the interests of people throughout the state of Minnesota, not just, you know, in the metro area. It's a big chunk of the state. How is it that you go about, providing program? It's a big area. How are you doing that? Our biggest program is, uh, team Mental Health First Aid. We actually provide a evidence-based training in 20 schools now, uh, offering it to, uh, mostly 10th graders. The program is, um, available for ninth through 12th. Um, and we go in. Six lesson curriculum in class sizes that are typical for the school. So if there are, uh, you know, four sections of health 10, then we go into each one of those sections and teach the six lesson curriculum. We're not allowed to teach it in large group assemblies. We have to teach to an entire grade level, so a required course. Safety measures that have been built in by the, curriculum. And, uh, so we usually are in the school one day a week and, uh, go into each of those classrooms. So of the 20 schools, it equates to about, 80 sections of students that we actually year. We're in conversations with right now as well to add to our program and Tammy, who does the training, who actually goes into the school and does the training. we have six instructors that, uh, are trained and certified in, uh, this Teen Mental Health First Aid instructor. Um. Curriculum, and they, uh, we have two of them specifically that this is their job. They offer this in multiple schools, and then we have some part-time, instructors as well that teach in maybe one or two schools. okay, so you, you go to these schools, what are they getting? What, what's, what are you seeing happen with these kids when, when you leave so we are able to provide this curriculum. It's again, a six lesson curriculum that they get over the course of six weeks. And, um, it includes a, an action plan that they can, they learn and can apply to, situations, for themselves, for their peers, for other friends. And ultimately it teaches them the warning signs of, mental health. Substance use challenges, school violence, bullying crisis, and it helps them connect to a trusted adult. Mm-hmm. Okay. So just curiously, what are some of those, uh, warning signs? I'm assuming the majority of your objective is to make sure that people are on the lookout for these challenges that their peers might be experiencing. there's not an all inclusive list. Of course. Yeah. But, um, kind of knowing where their friend is at, you know, is there a situation, um, that um, might be causing them some distress? Is there, a change in their behavior? Are they isolating more? Um, are they disengaging? Um, those are a couple, you know, examples. So it might be situation, it might be behavioral, it might be something that they're saying that they can recognize that maybe this person, um, is needing some additional. Support. If we've talked about it once, we've talked about it 25, 50 times over the course of the shows that we've done, that the mental health crisis with teenagers specifically has gotta be at an all time high. Yeah. I think a lot of it goes back to the, the CO situation and the use of, uh. Of their devices, you know, social media, those type of things. Isolation. Yeah. It's just, you know, it's heartbreaking when you hear about how many, stories, you hear about this kind of stuff and it's just great to know that there are some resources out there Who created the curriculum. So the curriculum was developed by the National Council for Wellbeing and um, it's a national program. Oh, cool. And it actually started in Australia and then in about 2019, um, it was brought over to the United States and. A Lady Gaga had a big influence on actually bringing it here. She had a, um, an idea to, uh, bring it all across, um, the United States. And I think that probably the pandemic did slow some of, um, the campaign down from, um, it happening and then Right. You know, in 20. Certainly resurfacing again and so. You know, helping them understand and, um, know what to do. Um, we also are able to offer them, um, encouragement and recognition that recovery is possible and that we are resilient people. So there is really a lot of. Positivity and hope that goes along with this curriculum. when you think about the timing of this, you talk about the fact that Covid slowed down the launch of this program, but think about the, uh, the, the demand for the program that has happened as a result of covid. It's really serendipity at its, uh, finest. Now, Steve, you're a, a musician, so do you, do you think you could get Lady Gaga on the program? Uh, no, I probably not. Probably not? No. Um, that's cool that she, she helped, um, bring it to fruition. That's really, really cool. Um, I was gonna ask, I was gonna ask Tammy, where did you grow up? I'm just curious. I grew up in, okay, you. It's out in one of those counties out, uh, yet that way it's in the country somewhere. Yo, hold on. Lemme see if Lester, if I remember what Lester Prairie is in the same county as, is it Hutchinson? Litchfield? Yes. It's, see, oh, I know it's, you know, Lester are both off of Highway seven. Okay. I used to live in Wilmer West, so I kind of, I'm a little familiar. Well, I lived in actually the metropolis known as Candy Yohi. Which is a suburb of Wilmer. Oh yeah. Yep. Yeah. I lived in a, an apartment complex. It was in the middle of a, uh, I just this fun story because I love to tell stories. I lived in an apartment. I was working for Target. And there was a brand new store, A T 6 61. Oh yeah. In Wilmer. Yep. And I moved into this apartment complex. It was in the middle of a cornfield, and the next day I got the Candy Yohi city directory, and my name was in it, and it came. In an envelope. Yeah. I'm not selling. Somebody saw it. You moved in and they wrote it in there and printed it. They're like, oh my God, we got a new guy here in town. We, we got one. We got one, yes. Okay, so, so you grew up in Lister Prairie, and your sister, was she younger than you? I didn't hear. Is she older? Was she older than you, younger than you? She was my baby sister. Okay. Yeah. Okay. so we both graduated from Western Prairie. as a marketing major, I love the, the, the many different ways that you can look at the name of your organization. I. To be continued. Yeah. So to me it's sort of like a continuation of your sister Tuby. Yep. This is her dream through the eyes of, uh, of her loved ones. And it could be seen as of anyone's to well, course, commission of to Beed continued. Yeah. That's super smart. There's, you know what many levels, right? Very many levels. Isn't that fun? how do you fund this program? Great question. We do not receive any federal or state funding. we fund this through, private donations and, small grants and, just the generosity of community. And most of that is gained through our annual fundraiser, which is a dancing like the show. with you, which is this Saturday. It is this Saturday. Oh, yes, yes. Mm-hmm. So we actually are, um, setting up, we set up some of the, um, production today and, uh, we'll finish up tomorrow and dress rehearsal, start tomorrow and yeah, it's, where's it at? Where's it being held? It's at the city center. Okay. We, started doing this our first year. We had a cast of 12 couples from the community. We, seek out couples who are willing to be ambassadors for us. They don't dance by, by profession and, but we ask them to pair with a choreographer. They learn a dance, they do fundraising for us and really become ambassadors in their own community. Um, beyond the fundraising is really the conversations that get started. Such a great idea. Yeah. Connections that can get made. So, um, we started this in like. Birthday on April, 2020. And of course we know that, that that wasn't a good week. And so then we postpone for one year and 11 of the 12 couples were, um, able to still participate and we held it under kind of. Minimum, audience. And so we had to live stream it. which happened to be a blessing for us because people got to know us more people got to know us than if we would've just had our live audience. So we continued this every single year. We have a in-person, audience of about six. And then, we live stream it. Anybody can get a register for a live stream and you can watch it in the comfort of your own home or wherever you're at. and then we also have watch parties so couples can, engage with a school, a church, a bar, restaurant, whatever, and have them host a watch party for. This year we have 14 watch parties in Wow. The eight county area. That is so much fun. So do they all learn the same dance or are they doing different dances? It's, uh, competition. So they each learn a different dance. Okay. So they get to choose? Yep. They get to choose the song. And work with the choreographer. The choreographer cuts it down to about a minute and a half or two minutes, and then they meet with the choreographer about weekly. some of them are meeting more than once a week and there's lots of conversation about, you know, dancing in the. The out the garage because the dance floor to practice every night. So they feel it's pretty amazing. We announced our dancers in January. We do a reveal night. What fun. So from third till April, uh, 12th this year there. Um, just going along that journey. It's amazing. So what kind of dances are, I mean, are they doing the, the rba, the, the Charleston Rmba is, that's not a dance. The Rmba, you mean? The tango and the Samba? Samba Rba. Roomba. Oh wait, the Roomba, that's a vacuum. That's a vacuum. So I'm gonna not talk anymore. Well, there well, no, I'm just Okay, Mr. Fitness. No, no, no, no, no. I'm not trying to, I, I don't, I don't think No, I know what you get. Ram's a dance. That's all. I just wanted to make sure. You know what? I appreciate the feedback. You know what? That was kind feedback. There's probably a tango, there's probably a, I'm not asking you. I'm asking the professional who's been to a bunch of these. Yes. Tammy, why don't you tell us what kind of Rmba dances they're doing? So much variety. There's so much variety. It's amazing. You everything from um, country to big band to, nineties to okay hip hop. Oh, okay. Everything. But it's, it's all, there is a variety of everything. It's ballroom dancing, but, and. Many of the dancers will have a mashup of music too. Oh, there we go. So they might have two or three songs within that two minute segment. Cool. Oh, so, so, so is there a rmba, did I make that up? Should I look it up? I don't think so. No. I swear on Do you do wordle? No, I don't do oral. I think I did Rmba once and it came up as a real thing. Maybe something is a rmba, but it's not a dance. So this is a rumba maybe? Rumba Rumba. Rumba. Rumba. That's Iba just said it different. I have a funny accent. Yeah, yeah. Rmba. I just, I didn't mean to call you out, I'm just curious. No, it's fine. I think it is. Yes. I'm just looking it up. It looks like it's a Cuban. That's what I meant. Yeah. There you go. I think Desi Arna used to do a rumba. But he said, called it a rmba. I swear I saw it on I love Lucy. You're right, you're right. It's wrong. Thank you. Probably, yeah. You were close. I was close. I have a speech impediment maybe. No, you just, so Tammy, um, I, I'm assuming that some of these couples really take it seriously. Do you have couples that will come back year after year to compete? We, don't actually that Oh. 12 new couples every year. So do the former winning couples show up and do they have like swagger, wear some sort of like a sash or a crown special seating? No, they, um, well there isn't special seating for them. Um, it's a great idea. Um, but some of them come back and volunteer at. Sometimes they'll engage in other activities to support us even beyond the dance. They'll walk in our parade unit, or they'll represent us, you know, maybe at a county fair booth. So these, um, they really engage in the community. They really become, just really supportive of us. Even beyond the dance. Is it like a sponsorship per dancer? we give them tools to be able to go out and seek, what we call recognition level donors. Oh. we have different levels of that. so they, will engage with, in their communities there is a lot of social media presence and so their friends and family. Does their own thing. We don't, give them a template that they have to follow. many of them are doing events already where they maybe will host a puzzle, event, you know, like a puzzle contest or, if they work with another nonprofit who maybe has, the ability to do some gaming, like a bingo. Oh yeah. Those types of things. Get some hype going. Um, so yeah, so there is, there's different ways that, that it comes together, but, they're free to do what they want and as little or as much as as they want. So how does the, probably don't put high pressure on that. Yeah. How does the judging go? Who judges I. Because I would imagine that there's, you know, controversy. Yeah. we only have celebrity judges. We don't rubric that follow, um. The dance couples understand from the very beginning that this is a charity event. Yeah. And it's a friendly competition. Oh boy. And at the end of the day, um, really we're, you know, we're here for mental health and uh, suicide prevention awareness, and so you have to always keep that in check. Yeah. LP. Medical center, he actually year, uh. And Brittany Arneson is a radio personality on 1 0 7 0.1, which is under the umbrella of the Hubbard Broadcasting Yes, yeah. Company. And then Chad Harland is a high school teacher at. Program director of for high school. Hutchinson to, I think there's 46 schools in holy cow, who now have the REACH program as an option. So, just try to connect, in different ways, bringing community together for this event. Okay. Now we're just gonna to, to, to wrap this up. Couple things. One is, do you have a special recognition for the couple that raises the most money? Well, we have four. The pre-event fundraising, which is, um, we have a first, second, and third place for that, and that competition ends on Friday at 6:00 PM Okay, so they've been raising money from January 3rd till this Friday, April 11th, and then, uh, there is. The dress rehearsal in the afternoon on Saturday. And then there, uh, is the judges, um, choice, which is another, trophy, category. And so the judges are there at the show and they'll, um, give their, and. up to 40. And, so that's another category. And then there's the people choice category where, the audience and, in person and also the live stream viewing audience can, call our phone bank and make a donation or, they can vote online, vote or donate. They can do that through, our website. There's multiple platforms in which they can vote as a people's choice. And so that is a also a trophy category. Then the couple with the most votes, and then there is an overall of. All of those and they go home with a beautiful mere ball trophy. Oh my. do you remember the Pinewood Derby? Of course. Did you ever, of course, participate in the Pinewood Derby? Yeah, I was a Cubs scout. I never was able to have a car that had very much mechanical ability. Yeah, me neither. But I always liked the fact that they had like for for style points? Yeah I would always put together a car that looked really cool. Yeah. It moved really slow, stuck on the top, which is kind of like me, right? Well, I mean that's, sure, sure. John, so that's, hold on. I, I've said something. Okay. I was just gonna, I was gonna say to Tammy, I can appreciate you're talking about phone bank, you're talking about the live show. Um, it sounds like you, you guys have done this before. Quite a production. It's a big production. There's a lot of stuff I know about production. There's a lot of things you have to think about to put on a show like this. I think it's amazing that you've, you, you're doing this and you're raising money, and this has been how many years now you've done this? This is year five. Wow. This is year five. And you guys have it down? We do. we have a good, production company that we work with. I have great staff, we have great volunteers. people just absolutely love it and it's, it's a way of engaging the community and starting that conversation. Yeah. You can go to our website, uh, the number two, letter B continued org, and you'll see dancing like the Stars. And you can click on that and it will lead you to, being able to get a live stream ticket. Very cool. And also will list where the watch parties are and it'll give you an opportunity to write a check, I would imagine. Right. Put a credit card in there. Absolutely. I had a chance to, uh, to look through the. Annual report that Tammy provided me. And it is incredible the number of donors that you've been able to attract to your organization in five short years. It is so impressive. And just the way that you've gone about engaging the community in a fun, meaningful way. this is the type of thing that every. Nonprofit organization really ought to try and emulate, you know, golf tournaments. Everybody does a golf tournament. Yeah. And there's so much work that goes into it with very little return here. Tammy and her crew have figured out a way to engage couples from communities all over the their service area. In the fundraising process, somehow get them to go out and put their vanity aside and dance. Yeah. And have fun doing c It's a challenge. Yeah. With 600 people watching. Yeah. Good God, what an impressive idea. Idea. And it's a lot of work, uh, from Tammy's and, and her team's perspective. There's a lot of work to put it on, but I think the cause is so great and people are so, so, you know, in tune with why it's so important. So I, I think it's awesome. I was just gonna say it's, it's very humbling, um, to have seen it be so engaging to the communities and you just hear all the stories that the dancers will tell you. About how they started a conversation with somebody and pretty soon their stories being shared and, and people thanking them for what they're doing.'cause they've been touched. And what a beautiful tribute to your sister. Yep. I'm telling you. Yep. Just heartwarming. So my last question is this, do you have any success stories that you'd be, willing to share? I actually preparation for our. We go and teach, uh, QPR at a local. What is QPR College? Um, question persuade, refer. It's the mental health version of CPR. Oh, cute. And, um, once a semester I go over to Ridgewater College in Hutchinson and teach it to their senior nursing students. And the nursing instructor, shared, through a testimonial today about how just a few days after I had been there to teach the course, one of her students was engaging in a conversation with a patient that hospitalized and recognized some of the warning signs and. And actually, follow that three step. Training and, possibly averted a suicide Wow. Was able to, provide additional information to their, their provider and, start conversations and. Start getting the support that they needed. So again, we do not provide any professional services. We are only out in the community to provide education, outreach and resources. Yep. Um,, we know that's important, which in many respects is, is probably more impactful because, you know, any. Healthcare professional right now is so busy, but to have all of these people out there looking for ways to keep an eye out for this mm-hmm. You know, what a great use of, resources. You gotta feel, you gotta feel great about that. Tammy. Just, your efforts have, you know, expanded to this kind of, uh, training and, and that kind of story is pretty impactful. Like with CPR, if only healthcare workers were trained in CPR, we wouldn't save nearly the lives that we do because community members are trained in CPR. Right? There's, there's, yeah. If somebody collapses in a mall Yeah, in a church, in a school, or whatever. There's likely people around that know how to take those three basic steps to get somebody to the next level of care. And that same thing applies here. The more people trained in our communities. Yep. Um, in our social circles, the more likely it is that we'll recognize that somebody is struggling. That is gold right there. It's fantastic. Whoever came up with the QPR thing. Yep. They gotta be high fiving themselves. Yep. That's good. That is, and, and the way that you've described it, if it's something that we're all trained in, it's just, the effect is just, uh, what's the word I'm looking for? Expansive, uh, exp uh, exponential. Yes. Yes, yes. Exponential. That's a big word. Yep. We don't usually use three syllable words. Yeah. Exponential. That's four. So we're bad at math and bad at four syllable words. Ah, well, Tammy, thank you so much for your time. Yeah, thank you. And good luck on Saturday. I'm sure it's gonna be a fantastic event. And, uh, looking forward to, uh, to hearing, uh, how things turned out for you. Thank you so. All right. It been been my pleasure. You have a good evening. Thanks. Thank you. Bye-bye. And off we go.