THIS is why we love Ukraine

Maybe our favorite episode ever. Our OLD pal (emphasis on the OLD), Mike Newcome introduces us to two very impressive students from Ukraine, Alisa and Dasha are about as impressive as two 16-year olds could be. Wow!

Transcript

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Welcome to the Kindness Chronicles, where once again, we hope to inject the world with a dose of the Minnesota kindness that it desperately needs. Bring that down. In turn, John Schweiss engineer. Here with, uh, Steve Brown. Hey, Jeff Hoffman, our, I guess he's been promoted to engineer from intern officially. Thanks, Steve. Kevin Gorg is unable to be with us because it's another night at Canterbury that he has to work at, and tonight we are gonna get right after it. We have one of my favorite people from high school and from college. Loved this guy. Haven't seen him in ages, and then discovered that he lives right in our community. Probably a better part of the community than ours, but That's okay. Welcome Mike Newcomb. Oh my gosh. People are gonna be so excited to hear that we got Mike Newcomb. Yeah. Just the fact that you, that you're upright and taking nourishment. Well, I made it through high school. I made it through college. Yeah. You and, and you. You've survived and you seem to have done okay for yourself. I married well, you married well. Yep. You're wearing flip flops. I mean, life seems to be pretty good. Birkenstock, you don't have much gray hair going on. We're not sure if that's a coloring situation or what the deal is. All natural. All natural. But as this is the Kindness Chronicles, one of our objectives is to uncover stories of kindness and nothing could be more closer to an American's heart than the relationship that we have with Ukraine. Now we don't often talk about politics on the Kindness Chronicles, but I think it's safe to say that uh, 99% of, uh, America is in great support of the Ukrainians. And we just happen to have a guy who has hosted a number of Ukrainian students. In fact, two of them are here today. We got a full house Uhhuh, we have Alisa, and we have Aasha. Just Dasha, not Aasha or Daria. Or Daria. Well, that's pretty El Alicia too, isn't there? Oh, Elisa. No, Elisa. Elisa. Elisa. Sorry. Quit engineer. I'm just know your place. I'm right there. Okay. So anyways, Mr. Newcomb, tell us how is it that you learned of this program and how did you get involved with it and. It just seems like such a, uh, a lovely opportunity. Sure. Fir First of all, I'm a, a rider on this bus. Yeah. I am not, I'm not the founder of this program. Right. I am a, a rider, participants. I'm a participant in a passenger on a bigger bus of some really kind people, but how we got involved is my son Max. Whom just, I know Max, whom just graduated from Maita this year. His best friend was a young man by the name of Yuan. Oh yeah. He is also a, uh, from Ukraine. Yep. I'm familiar. And he had come on this program called Yu Lead, uh, three years ago. And he came for a five week program and traveled all over just like the girls did, and then went back to Ukraine. He wanted so desperately to come back here and go to school and he ended up coming back with his brother, who's 10 years older than him and they moved to Eddi. Yep. In the apartments by the Dairy Queen. Yeah. He got into Eddi High School, Mr. My Miley, Mr. Miles. Mr. Miley, greatest counselor in OMI history, and he happened to be my son's counselor. Got him in, got him started. He ended up going to school his junior year. In his senior year, he became best friends with my max. Yep. And they started hanging out and he, Yuan has been living with, well his, he was here in the, his junior year at Christmas time, his brother decided that he no longer wanted to be. Uh, in America. He was having a hard time adjusting. Sure. And then ended up going back home to Poland. Okay.'cause by that time, his family had been so displaced because he's actually been in an area where the war in Ukraine was going on since 2014. Oh, good. And so he's in the Dumbos, Donbas Donbas Oh boy. Area. And so his family had been displaced for a long time. Oh boy. When his brother left, he really had no other options. He was in the high school and this wonderful host family. Who hosted him for his five week You lead program said, you know what? You come stay with us. Wonderful. So Steve and Sherry, who live right down the street here from you, the nicest people I've met. Have hosted him for the last year and a half. Okay. And my son came to me and said, Hey dad, Julian would love to spend a week or two this summer at our house. Hanging out at the pool. It's my last year here. And I said, okay, great. Well, that was two and a half months ago. Okay. Yuan is now officially Yuan, Newcomb, Yuan, Newcomb. Um, he just ate$30 worth of our, uh, fresh fruit. G we just came home girls and he was gorging himself on our fresh fruit. And, uh. He is, he is currently in between a program, so he was here under this youth program and then that ended, so he can't work right now. So I was able to get him an internship, a non-paid internship with a startup company that I was helping advise. And he's now living with us into the, uh, foreseeable future. And his goal is in September or October to get into a new program. That will allow him to go to the University of Minnesota'cause he is been accepted. Oh. And until then, he's just, he's living in our, one of our rooms and the girls are in a Jack and a Jill and the other half and, and then my 15-year-old was living underneath the stairs until my 18-year-old ended up in college. But that's how I, at his graduation at Steven, she, who, I don't know their last name, but they're the nicest people in town. I met Irena and Richard. Who lead this program. Oh, okay. Called you lead and we just got talking. Is it just Minnesota? This, it's just Minnesota. Okay. So it's just a, these are the bus drivers. Got it. Got it. These are the real kindness. These are the people that you should be talking to, not me. Yeah, absolutely. And maybe at some point you can, does do Steve and Sherry have children in Monte? They do. And they were a little, their youngest Sam is, it's Steve and Sherry. Clydesdale, yeah, that, I think that's right. Sam and Ben. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's it. Yeah. Baseball player. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So what's their, what's their name? Steven Sherry Clydesdale. Oh, got it. And I know Sherry, I could call her right now. In fact, I probably could. She's been, she's the nicest lady. She is. She's a delight. She, and, uh, I think she's been hosting people for years. Yep. Absolutely. And Yuan is, I think they're. Uh, sad that he wanted a, uh, a change. Not because he doesn't love them. No, no, it was because he had a buddy with a pool. With a pool, you know, and apparently there's a couple cute 16 year olds from Ukraine moving in. Well, we keep them separate. Very good decision. Another question, Mike, is it, uh, is it also only Manai that, that this organization or? No. Okay, so it's, oh, no, this is, got it. Yeah, this is, well, they happen to live, so Richard and Irena. Uh, live in Maplewood. So their, sphere of influence happens to kind of be the east side here. Got it. Northeast side, um, of town. But they have, uh, a couple kids living in, uh, Eden Prairie, uh, right now in Eden Prairie with a host family, Brooklyn Park they're up at. Okay. And so that's how they just kind of were there and I was dumb and opened my mouth and I said, oh yeah, this is, it looks cool. And then I got an email and they said, Hey. Welcome. Well, Sherry's actually talked to me because she knew that we had, uh, au pairs from all over the world that lived with us. Maybe next year you can host because they've been doing this now, this is the fifth year girls. That they've had the You Lead program. Okay. And it's, is it normally five weeks? Yes. That they get to spend. Okay. And originally, well, they were, uh, uh, four days late because they're visas. They were having a hard time in Poland getting their visas. And so they, these, the girls were at a camp in Poland for two weeks. And then had to extend that by almost another week because at the US Embassy there were things, it's just dragging their feet. And then they, they got it, and then they flew here on a Wednesday and they've been here ever since. Now they're in the second week of their program where every day, uh, this week is about nonprofits. Okay. So they're going to, they started off, um, what was yesterday? Where were you? Um, let's, anyways, they started at a different place yesterday and now. Today they were at Pros Tech. Which is the, prosthetic thing that happens to be run and organized by Ukrainians. That's how I got into it, through other people. So here's what we're gonna do, Mike, you clearly have a knack for talking into a mic where we can hear you. Why don't you, uh, interview your friends here and just, take us through the program. We're gonna give them the mics, we're gonna give them the headphones. You, uh, you ask'em the questions that need to be asked. They're very good at talking and answering questions. Okay. These are two of the most stoic. young women you're ever gonna hear. So my question is this, Dasha, how did you find out about you lead, and then what did it mean for you to be chosen? thank you for asking this question. So, as for me, I learned about the program from my student body. Uh, we met in, uh, 2023 and we became Study body because we wanted to learn English because ling English is, uh, the second language and it's, uh, the open doors, which is the key for the future. So, uh, she was last year in, uh, 2024. And she was so crazy about this program because this program literally changed her life She, after the program, she just told me everything about non-profits, government, all this stuff. And I was so much interest in this because leadership for me means a lot. I feel chosen because. For me, be a leader means to be an empowered, to be an example in my community, in my city. So my city is not, uh, developed enough and my mission here is to gain lots of, like lots of knowledge as much as I can and to implement that because use leadership future is what motivates me to keep going and to start a day. And, and what city are you from? I'm from Nepro. This is the city in the east part of Ukraine. Yep. Yeah. Very nice. And one of the important things to, to keep in mind, this whole You Lead program was developed because sadly, the leaders in Ukraine, the mayors, the city council people, they're involved in the war. And sadly, they all went off to war. They're not there. And so they're trying to develop the future leaders, and that's where Irena and Richard. Uh, have, are the true champions of finding what I would call the best of the best. These kids had to make it through deep interviews, uh, essays, and, uh, there's thousands of people that wanna get these slots. And you're seeing two of 15, and that's why you, you heard her talk. Oh my gosh. I mean, the fact that you're English and I mean, you're 16 years old. Yeah. How long have you been speaking English? Well, I started learning English in my fifth grade because for the fourth grade we didn't have any English at all. And from the fifth grade we had three lessons per week. And so when I became, uh, when I came to ninth grade, I was so interested in, uh, becoming like fluent English. So I come to extracurricular. So extra English, we psda and uh, we spent most of the time reading, listening because, you know, English as a second language is really difficult. And, uh, as the self-development, I was really interested in getting better and better that I was just. On my own. I just have to ask this, do you watch like American sitcoms? Yeah, I love them. Like friends. Have you watched friends? I love them. So I, our au pairs talked about how one of the ways that they learned English was by watching American sitcoms Yeah. With subtitles for the, in, in the language that they speak. So they would hear it and they would see it. Let's, uh, let's talk to Elisa. So Elisa, my, uh, kind of the same question. How did you, uh, end up at this U Lead program? Give a little background. Okay. Thank you so much for asking. And actually, our stories with Daria are pretty similar because my best friend who I met in 2023, long time ago, right. Uh, it's Maria Riko. She was a participant from the last year and. I just saw it on her Instagram stories and then it turned out that we organized and it went together in Giv and she was like, oh, Elisa. Today we'll mostly talk about opportunities for youth here have here we had someone, white speakers from Ivy League. Yeah. And also we were talking about the you lead as an opportunity for youth and she was like, Lisa, you definitely need to apply. Like I'm waiting for your application. You must apply here. I was like, oh, okay. So firstly, I did not expect getting here at all. And then I passed the first round, the second round, and finally it came out of, it came out to interview. I was like, oh, okay. And then me and Daria, we received this letters. Dear candidate, we are thrilled to inform me that you became the finalist of the U Lead program. Yeah, so this how we end up getting here. Yeah. And how I feel, actually, I feel extremely motivated because here already in two weeks we gained a lot of this American experience and that's what I really want to implement in my community. Yeah. Because there tons of things to learn, tons of things to learn from, like from American. So, yeah, that's it. And talk about the story, how I learned English. Well, the same for me. I started learning English in grade five, but uh, until grade nine, my English level would be terrible. Like it was elementary. It was a one. The only thing that I could say was, hello, my name is Lisa. My age is. It was 13 the time. Yeah. And it was like, no, it can't be like that anymore. And then the war started and I moved to transcript region and I didn't have any friends here. It was so boring there. So it was like, why not starting studying like it's perfect time to start. So basically that's how we started learning English. I just started watching everything in English, doing Duolingo. Um. Participating in some other programs. So yeah, that's basically how it's, yeah. And where are you from? I'm from Kiev. So one of the things that we learned today is that Kiev was sort of the Russian pronunciation. Kiev is the Ukrainian pronunciation. So we're going with Kiev, right? Mm-hmm. Okay. That's the one that we like. Um. A couple of things. Can we talk about the war? Of course. One of the things that we hear here in America is that, so many of the men of a certain age have left to go fight for their country. And the number of deaths is just incredible. Do you notice that there are less men than women in the areas that you live in? So, um, if we're talking about women and men, mostly men are fighting, but women help too. Uh, of course the rest, some soldiers who are women, but they mostly help with, uh, nursing and volunteering, like providing our solars with medicine. Other aids. Yeah, so basically we want help in this fear not fighting, I would say. You? Yeah, they have a lot of, um, let's say part in their war in the Helping Soldiers, because all the time they are with soldiers. They all the time getting first aid nursery food. They always with soldiers. So if we're saying about, um, if we notice how many less men we notice in the real life, yeah, this is it because, uh, many women. Have to take men's job. Yeah.'cause they have to, they have no choice. But this is that I'm proud of because women are actually the gender that showed from the war that they can do it. You bet. Well, and some of the women, they'll show, the women that are dressed in the uniforms of the army, the Ukrainian army. And those women looked like they could beat the crap outta any one of us. Sure. They are some badass women. Um, John, keep in mind both their dads are involved in the military. Yeah. Tell us about that. So they've, they're, they've joined the military as well. Who, whose dad was a journalist before the war mine. So yeah. Elisa's dad was a journalist before the war. Really? And then he's been basically drafted. Yeah. And he's, he's been going'cause he's not in the home full time. Correct. And so again, some of it's a little bit touchy for'em. It's, well, it has to be, well, and especially after today because they were at, is it Pros Tech Pro, PROEs PROEs, which is. Where Ukrainian soldiers right now are in Minnesota, in Oakdale being fitted for prosthetics and the girls and the rest of their team spent the entire day there with them. Wow. All day. Meeting with the soldiers. Talking with the soldiers. I, you saw some of the pictures of them fixing the prosthetics, so they've had a real emotional day. Kind of a up and down. Sure. And they see their heroes Absolutely. Who are, are fighting, but they also have to think that. Um, their family's still there. Oh. Fighting. You know, and then, uh, we were talking about how they have, uh, an app on their phone, which is, you know, our kids have TikTok. They have an app that lets them know when a missile's coming in. So let's talk about that for a second. You know, where you live. Have you experienced, missiles and the chaos of war? Sure. On a daily basis? Say that again? On a daily basis. On a daily basis. We are so sheltered here in America. I can't even wrap my head around what that must be like, what I was saying about the school. So Dasha is on a hybrid schedule. When she gets back, she'll be on a hybrid schedule. And I said, oh, that's interesting. Why? Oh, because uh, some kids go to school this week and then other kids go this week. And I was like, oh, great. She says, well, because at school we only have so many shelters, so if there's incoming missiles. They can only fit so many kids in the shelter. So one week grade three, four, and five go to school. And then the next week, six, seven, and eight go. Because when stuff comes in they can shelter themselves in. And I thought, oh, okay. We had hybrid over COVID. Right. Understood. Yeah. Minnesota people count your blessings. Yeah. My gosh. Yeah. So yeah. So can I ask both of you sound like you're ready for college tomorrow? I mean, you both are very. Very, obviously, very bright. You guys are ready for leadership. What's the next step for both of you? Let's start with you, Dasha. Like what, what is your goal? What would you like to do? Okay, so, and how can we help? As for me, I'm thinking about, uh. Having the bachelor degree in advocacy and also in what? Advocacy. Advocacy. Advocacy. Advocacy. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. So I like the way you said it better. It sounds much more sophisticated. Yeah. I have a story in advocacy, why I'm so interested in advocacy. So Manice is really interested in policy Officer. She wants to be a police officer. And how old is she? She's 18. Okay? Mm-hmm. So, uh, when her time began and she finished her high school degree and she wanted to take on the old next step, uh, all of her friends, all of her relatives were against it. And I stood by her because I think that your idea, your passion, your choices, because your choices really cement a lot. If you good to me, if you make good choices, you have good choices. And once she getting the policy trainings, we, we pass it together. Because I think that when you have someone next to you, when someone supports you, you bet it's the best. You bet. Yeah. And once she get in the Policy Academy. And she finished it. I think that, uh, it put fire in me to fight for justice, to fight for what's best, what's right for people. So I'm thinking about advocacy. And would you, will you go to school in Ukraine? I thinking of taking a gap year. Okay. I'm thinking of G Gear because I think that this is the year that I will make a batch application and I will be much more sure about my path. So gap year and then college. I'm just, listen, it's unbelievable. You're, you're, we're, we're getting 5% of this. They, they're gonna take a gap year so that she can build her resume for Right. Getting into a college, which is just another example of how, forgive me for saying this. Many American 16 year olds don't have a clue. They're so entitled. And the fact that you understand that by taking that gap year is gonna give you the opportunity to build your resume. I hate to say it, but the majority of the 16 year olds that I know, well, of course I don't need to do that. I should, I should just get it because, you know, I It's just they're not looking past the one year. They're only 17. So at the end of this year, they were technically in the US be gonna go into their senior year. So this gap year for them is studying, getting ready because they, these are Harvard bound young kids. They're, they're being modest. Where did you learn that? So what, let's look, I had a, we don't have gotta talk into the mic. I loved what you said about, um. Uh, good choices helped me make better choices. Where did you learn that from? So I have the best trust father that, oh boy. That we have. Oh boy. Is that how you had that written up for him, Mike? No. We have the best evenings because, um, when we came from the program, we have talks. We have talks what we've learned from today because it's really important to technologists, to through the life and to not forget about it. And so here I'm just sitting next to the best and just fabulous host, brother host. Well, you had good host brothers too. Yeah. Well, and Mike looks young enough to be a host brother. Well, the true, this is true the truth, and this is a shout out to my son Max, who did it. He, he was the speaker at his graduation in his speech. Of course he was. Yeah, of course he was. It's just I was the biggest loser in high school. You were not, you were not cracked. No, but it cracks me up that Max was. You know, one, two, or three? Yeah. I'm not sure that we would comment. I'm not sure that we would've had you, as valedictorian. Salutatorian. No. Popular guy. Yeah. Popular. Yes. Academically scraping by. But no, ma Max was gave the, uh, the class, the commencement address. Commencement address. Good for you for EDI this year, his speech was about choices. If you make good choices, you'll have choices. Go get, you know, go get me. Oh my God. And so his whole thing, that should be on a sign somewhere. Well, they, they put it in the white bear press. So they did the whole transcribed it, put it in the press, in the whole, took the whole section, whatever the editorial side was. Took out a couple of his jokes, but left the body of it. And the gist of it was that if you make, and this has been my mantra to him for since he was born, absolutely. That if you make good choices in life, you'll have choices. You don't let the world tell you what you're gonna be. You tell the world what you're gonna be. Right? And just, so we talked about that just as an FYI, uh, we haven't talked about this, but Max Newcomb was one of our selfless scholar, recipients. He was nominated by Max Egan. Totally small world coincidence. I get this. They, he gets selected and I'm looking at the names and I'm like. Max Newcomb. I, I wonder if that's Mike Newcomb. So I went on Facebook and sure enough he's got all these pictures and he's referring to Son Max., That's gotta be the kid. These newcombs just keep popping up in our world here. Kind Chronicles, Newcomb, uh, which is funny because I had no idea about it. So, Alyssa, tell us about you. What, what is your plan? What do you want to do in the future? Okay, so, um, actually I'm thinking about getting my bachelor's degree here in the US and I was interested about getting my bachelor's degree here from the grade eight tell'em what school you want to go to. Yeah. Um, okay, so here's kinda a big story actually. I think I was interested in applying here into the US since I was like a kid because my uncle lives here in the US and they used to come. Come to Ukraine right when there was no war. And they were like, so we're waiting for you to come to the Yes. And they always motivated me with that. So I started build, working on my profile since grade eight or nine. But then I wasn't sure about my sphere. Like I used to try all the activities, like from volunteering to like running some projects, you know? And this year I applied to launch X program, which is. All about entrepreneurship and business, and that was the turning point. I realized that this is my sphere. I want to connect my life with it. Then I did some pro, did some programs at Stanford University. Yeah, and I really, really like that. So currently I want to get my bachelor's degree in business administration here in the us. Yeah, that's really motivating. And, and what school do you want go to? Um, actually my list, my college list contains 30 universities, but my dream school is Stanford and Babson. What, what is what? Babson. Babson and Stanford? Yeah. Oh, Stanford? Yeah. Stanford. Oh, good. You were thinking Sanford? No, no. I heard Stanford. Okay. Well, good luck. That's a, a tough one to get into. And the other impressive thing is that Elisa already has a business that she's been working on with some people in, uh, Ukraine. And the business is putting together a study guide. On for young Ukrainians of basically how to become entrepreneurs, because she was explaining to me that in Ukraine there's kind of a hangover from the former Soviet Union where people don't think about being business owners, right? And your parents will tell you, no, no, no. You go to work. You go work here, you go work there. So they don't have the support from the parents because a lot of them, their parents were from the Soviet era. And so she's created a, uh, a coursework and a, a thing for, was it a four week or three week or. Five week, five week program for where you start this program and you learn about how to be an entrepreneur, what it's all about. They have mentors involved, and they're gonna be in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan, I mean, I, I heard this story. I was, I don't know if I've ever felt, and you're 16, so inadequate in my life. This is, it's your host dad, you know, is an entrepreneur. But he wasn't an entrepreneur when he was 16, I can tell you that. No, not at their, not to the extent of these guys. He was a salesman at the age of 16 ways. Career mindsets. What's that? He had his mindset. He did have his mindset. Mindset. Very much so, yes. Okay. I just need to say, you ladies are obviously incredibly impressive and inspiring and you, you guys represent why we are doing this show and who we're trying to highlight. You as well, Mike and your wife, and your son and your family for, for extending this kindness to people like this in the world that could use this kinda help. It's amazing. And I just wanna thank you for being here and listening to, and, and telling us about, uh, what you're all about. It's really, it means a lot to us that you're here. I know it's only been a little while since you've been here, and it sounds like you've, you've had a, a, a good experience with America. How about any, to make it light here, but is there, is there anything about Minnesota specifically that you're noticing that you'd like to, that you're finding interesting or appreciative? Thanks for asking. Actually, I was impressed of how kind people are here. Like I was in shock because everybody is eager to help you. They're eager to contribute something to this society because recently me and Daria, we had a situation, so we were waiting for our host mom in a neighborhood and we were just like looking around for the car. We were just waiting and there was a woman, she was just riding her car and she was like, girls, aren't you lost? Are you okay? And I was like, wow, this woman, like we're not acquainted. Like we're just strangers and she cares about us. Wow. She didn't offer you candy, did she? Because that's a bad sign. No, she says, Hey, I've got some puppies in my car to show you. Don't go to the car. Yeah. We know the situation, so No, it was not like that. Yeah. Yeah. People are super kind here and that's really impressive. Well, a great example is our host family. Oh yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. Let's see. Mm-hmm. Let's hear it for Mr. New and Family said. Uh, I am a passenger on a bus being driven. Yeah. And I, you know what, and that's by other people. And that's the kind of humility and I'm glad I'm here. Yeah. You know? So the state fair, you have the state fair you're going tomorrow. Tomorrow. Tomorrow. Yep. That will be an experience. Um, have some experience. Yeah. Have you talked to them about the foods that they're gonna want to consume? I just said you're gonna see the, the best in the worst of Minnesota. I'll tell you. All wrapped up in one place that the people watching is gonna be great. There's nothing I was at the. Fair. Last night I went with Kevin Gorg. Yeah. And we sat there and we decided let's create our Mount Mount Rushmore. You guys familiar with Mount Rushmore? It's a, it's a mountain that has four famous president's heads on it. And it's a way of kind of describing who are the craziest looking people that we saw here. It was so easy'cause every fourth or fifth person looked like a lunatic. And it happened to be Def Leppard was the band that was playing. Yeah. Which is, are you familiar with Def Leppard the band? There was an interesting, it was an interesting group of people there. I would suggest that you take some Tums, you guys know Tums for stomach aches? These are smart kids. Any final questions? Jeff, you must have one. I just have a plug if you're here long enough. And, um, Mike, if you've ever been to Kumar Checks in Northeast Minneapolis, have you already? Okay, that's a good, authentic, uh, per any of our listeners, if you want some Ukrainian food. That's good. Um, any cultural, fun, cultural experiences, Mike? That. It's sort of been you, you're all in the same house. Is there any fun stories that have come out of it? You've already talked about the teaching of the swear words and stuff. That's pretty funny. Any other good meaningful kind stories that have come out of two cultures merging into one here? I, it to me, why I wanted to be part of this program was so that my boys would be exposed to. Young ladies like this. Honestly, it's been more, I mean, the impact on me is. Uh, I can't even, uh, speak on it just because it's changed my entire perspective, but to have my, to have the girls and I said it's real important for my 15-year-old. He just loves these guys.'cause it's like he has sisters and they sit in the kitchen and laugh and, and learn swear words, and learn swear words and they teach'em. For me, it's just more. I love, I'm a sponge and I love to absorb, and I've just been absorbing and they're inspiring to me. And, and again, if the rest of these people, and I went to this program and I, I met all these people and I said, boy, I'm, I'm doing nothing. I mean, I'm doing nothing. And I, you know, I, I am a quiet doer. I usually don't. Talk about stuff, but these people are just the greatest people and they're just doing it'cause they are great. They're what everything you guys wanna always promote and talk about. They are the kindness Chronicles. Go ahead. I I was just, and I'll, I'll turn it back to John, but. Thank you. I'll, I'll echo uh, Steve's appreciation for you being here'cause it, it is inspiring. I do think we in the United States, because we haven't had to dodge bombs and deal with war and things like that, we do have a sense of entitlement and maybe an, a lack of understanding of the evil that really is, can be a part of this world. So I do think it takes ambassadors like yourself coming here. And so I just encourage you share these stories with us.'cause that's how we learn. Thanks for being on the podcast. Thanks, John. Once again, very grateful that you guys, uh, took the time to come here. So great to meet you both. Uh. You know, if you're ever trying to get into a school in Minnesota, I think Mike and I might be able to help you out. I'm not sure if these clowns will be able to help, but, uh, but anyways, uh, thank you for coming in. Best wishes for the rest of your program good luck with your entrepreneurship and your advocacy. And, looking forward to, uh, hearing where things go. And with that, off we go. They shut her down. Shut her down.