#5 - Angela Harrolle on Supporting 1st Responders and Their Families Through Tragedy - Phoenix Arizona [CEO @ 100 Club of Arizona]

Imagine you sacrifice everything - your health and mental wellness  knowing every day when you get dressed for work your life could be taken at any moment all in the name of community service as a 1st responder. You're overworked, underpaid and underappreciated.  Your final words, hugs and kisses with your spouse and kids could be the last.

Then one day it happens. It's sudden, it's tragic and it's absolute.  You're injured in the line of duty and unable to go back to work. You're left with an uncertain future. Or worse, you give your life to save another. Now your family is not only left to pick up the pieces but they have the mental and financial burden of planning and paying for a funeral. 

Then instantly an angel appears. She shows up at your home or next to your hospital bed. This angel has experienced what you're living through and is able to give the emotional support that few others would be able. More importantly this angel is carrying a significant check to help you with your immediate financial burdens. But this check has another significant meaning entirely. It represents the community finally giving you or the loved one you lost the proper appreciation they deserved even though you/they have never expected it or asked for it. 

Meet the angel, Angela Harrolle CEO of 100 Club of Arizona. I had the pleasure and honor to spend 90 minutes to listen to her story and have a very candid conversation about the dangers our heroes face daily.  To date we have lost 55 1st responders in Arizona in 2021, a staggering number and many more seriously injured.  The fatalities range from suicide to shot and killed in the line of duty. They all have amazing stories of heroism but more importantly they all have families left behind with heavy hearts and a mountain of burden.

Angela's story is one of tragedy turned to heroism, although she does not like to be referred to as a hero. After the passing of her husband Bruce Harrolle in 2008, Angela has dedicated her life to becoming a 1st responder to our 1st responders and their families in their most vulnerable time of tragedy and need. 

She does the work that few of us would do to help those that do the work that even fewer of us would do.  The 100 Club of Arizona needs our community to be in support in order to continue to provide this essential assistance. 

Today the 100 Club is experiencing far more need than they can raise money to contribute back.

Listen to learn a new perspective and please volunteer and donate using the website below. 

Donate or sign up to volunteer at a future event:
www.100club.org

Transcript

00:00

So I was going to tell you this story. My daughter is she's six and she wanted to be a police officer for Halloween. Mom didn't know this. So we're out shopping. I just I took the kids out one day just to look at costumes or whatever.

00:15

They love that they love. Yeah. And you're like, why is it so expensive? But they're gonna wear it for like an hour. Yeah, exactly.

00:19

Yeah. So um, so anyway, so the sore out looking at costumes and I text mom. I said, Okay, I'll be honest, wants to be a police officer. And I just period right, right. And mom immediately text back. She's like, No, as long as I pick up the phone, I call her I'm like, What is going on? Why can't she be a police officer for Halloween? Just Oh, for Halloween. Like I'm thinking she knew we were out looking at costumes. Right? Didn't ya for Halloween? That's fine. But now she's not going to be a police officer.

00:45

Well, and here's the thing. You know, from my perspective, there's nothing better in this world than young girls, little girls, especially who want to grow up and work in law enforcement, because that's kind of what I did. I didn't always want to do it from the age of six. But I ended up going into that field. And it is a field that needs more women.

01:00

Absolutely. Absolutely. But But that leads to like, the concern, right? concern is, it's kind of like the NFL where now you have all these studies coming out with concussions? And you know, what does the NFL gonna look like in 20 years, when you know, what is the talent level going to look like? Because now your parents including football players, they're like, I'm my kids aren't playing football. And it's kind of the same thing I see with policing now where it's it's such. It's such a heroic job, but it's no longer and they're still don't get me wrong. There's still a lot of people that look at police officers as heroes, right. But there's a lot of people now included in you know, you get the media and all this stuff. And it's like, now, no longer are we looking at, specifically police officers, not first responders in general, but talking specifically about policing. It's like, what is this going to look like? Because parents are like, You know what, it's dangerous, it doesn't pay well, right? It doesn't, it doesn't pay what it should pay for the for that level of work or for what the risks are involved. And then and now you have this climate where you have media and everything else that have just made it so much more dangerous, I think for police officers. So

02:09

there's no doubt and just your analogy that you use, and you think about the NFL, okay, what is that going to look like in 20 years? Well, what do the retired players in 20 years look like? You know, where are they? What is their mental health state? Right now you go back to law enforcement or firefighters, but specifically law enforcement. Okay. What if we don't address that mental health piece? You know, what do they look 20 look like 20 years after retirement? Yeah, I mean, there are so many pieces and components, because those that are on the job right now, that started, for example, in law enforcement. I don't know in the last five years, they have always operated or functioned being on camera, so to speak, whether it's wearing a body camera, or whether it is someone in the community potentially filming what they're doing, right. So that is somewhat of a norm. But then on the other hand, you've got those that are close to retirement that never grew up or went through their professional career on camera involved in cameras all the time. They're like, you know, what, what a terrible existence, you know, to always you can't even joke with people. Yeah, you can't, obviously don't want to leave it on. If you accidentally go to the restroom, you don't want to leave it. You don't want to leave it on when you order food, right in a restaurant, because people are gonna judge you like, Oh, you're gonna eat french fries everyday? How are you going to chase bad guys?

03:25

In that video, just I mean, just so people know that video does get watched. I mean, there's I had a real estate client that that's what she does for a living, she sits behind. Like, they just watch all this police footage from their, from their body cameras. That's what they do all day long. And so that footage actually does get watched, too, because they're looking for discrepancies or whatever

03:46

that might look like. So yeah, anyway, and I say to people all the time, I mean, imagine, it doesn't matter your field. Okay, whether you are in real estate, or whether you're a dentist or an accountant, but imagine being filmed all day, every day. Yeah. And if it was made available, would people want to just I mean, this is this is our culture. Now. Unfortunately, it's reality TV, right? But maybe sitting around watching an accountant, work in their office everyday is not near as exciting as somebody driving fast in a car with lights and sirens. But if you could imagine somebody just watching everything you do, knowing that it's going to be posted. And it's going to be analyzed. And Monday morning quarterback. How does that feel?

04:30

Right, right. That's tough. Yeah. Should we welcome everybody into the conversation? It's probably time. It's time probably time. Awesome. Awesome. Welcome back, everyone. I am here today with Angela Herold who is the CEO of 100 club, which we're going to talk a lot about 100 club but it's basically a an organization. It's a nonprofit nonprofit organization that, that that raises funds for injured and First, well for first responders who are either injured or killed in the line of duty. Correct? Correct. That's the starting point. Yeah. So anyway, so Angeles here with me today, before we dive into the conversation, let me quickly introduce you to my real estate YouTube channel, which is Phoenix homes and hotspots. Really cool concept, something that really nobody else is doing in the real estate industry. And that is, when you go online and look at homes very easy to find homes today, you know, everybody has their source, whether it's Zillow, or realtor.com, or whatever it is. But finding a home is just one aspect. So think of think of somebody moving from California, where they find a home online, but now they don't really actually understand the community, or what are the local hot spots around it. So what we do is we tie all of that together, and make it easy for somebody to actually say, hey, not only do I like the home, but I want to live in that community, I want to live next to those restaurants or that shopping or whatever. So YouTube makes it really easy for us to tie all that together. And then if you're obviously if you're a seller, again, not only is your home getting marketed, but we're actually showing people the entire community and what it's like the actual livability or the lifestyle around that. So that is, if you're watching on YouTube right now, in the top right corner, you can go right to Phoenix homes in hot spots, subscribe. If you're listening on one of the audio platforms, it's youtube.com, forward slash Phoenix homes and hotspots. And also we will have this if you're on the audio platform. This conversation will also be on YouTube under interviews with Arizonans. So with that, let's get back to our conversation. I'm so excited about this, because I think that it's such an important conversation, especially today. And so can you tell us a little bit more like we just kind of scratched the surface a second ago with what the 100 Club is. But can you go into more detail tell us exactly what the 100 Club is what it is that you do?

06:50

Absolutely. So we we are a 501 C three nonprofit organization that supports all public safety. So whether it's law enforcement, or fire or corrections throughout the entire state corner corner, and in doing so we provide a lot to them. And we could talk about all of them. But most people know us for the most is line of duty death. So we support financially in the event of a line of duty death that happens here in Arizona, and it's there, every single one of them is horrible. But we try to obviously provide initial financial support, but we also make them part of our family. Yeah. And we do that because this grief journey that they're about to go on, whether they're they're a member of the department, or whether it's the spouse, if there is one or a child, or even a parent of a first responder that is killed. It's a long journey, you know, and we like I said, make them part of our family. And then we go through that for many, many years. It's not just that first financial assistance we provide it is making sure they're involved in other things that we do. So we take our survivors on an annual retreat, we do camp for the kids. And that kid's camp is not actually even just focused on grief, it's just an opportunity for kids who have a similar upbringing or experience in their life, to get together to just be kids, because normally, these kids only see each other at memorial event. Yeah, and in these sad type environments, so we wanted them to just be kids. So we do those couple things, we make sure that they're taken care of with all of their emergency paperwork, or trust documents, we take care of that for them, let them do updates every five years. And all of these things are financial contributions, and also just a way to keep our community together. So yes, line of duty death, but we also support in the event of a non line of duty death. And we take care of them if they're injured, for example. And we can do that all the way up to $18,000. So, you know, I always kind of say, we put them on our payroll, we give them a different or an additional assistance every single month, until they rehab or get back to work or, you know, sometimes unfortunately, they have to medically retire just because of the injury they received. And so we have those couple items, but we also purchase equipment to make them safer. And that's always a good thing because the more that we can do proactively right? The less you

09:10

such as so. So does that look like one. So

09:13

rural communities obviously suffer a little more they have budget constraints, more so than maybe a central Arizona department so Phoenix fire department they don't probably need near as much as maybe Benson Fire Department in southern Arizona. Now equipment that we could potentially purchase. Some of them that are the most obvious would be like let's say bulletproof vests, ballistic vests, okay, obviously for law enforcement, and then on the fire side would be turnout gear, maybe they need an extra set of turnout gear for firefighter firefighting, whether it's structural or wildland firefighting is a completely different set of turnout here. So and then there's some that work better in extreme heat and car fires and things like that. So all of these things are just a few examples of what we could maybe purchase to enhance their safety.

09:59

And so why would A nonprofit need to purchase those items. Why is that? Not? I mean, that's the first question because in my mind, why, I mean, wouldn't we rather use those resources for the first things that we talked about as opposed to equipment? Because that really should come from the state, shouldn't it,

10:13

you would think that the city or the state would be the first to provide those but, you know, people have to make adjustments, right budget constraints, you know, we just went through a recession or economy, there's different reasons. And then I don't want to get too far into this. But then if you go into, let's say, the defund the police movement, you know, they just, they're going to take from somewhere, yeah, and a, they're not going to take from essential services and support. But maybe they're not able to get new equipment, or they're going to use it a little bit longer, or whatever it is, and, and we recognize those challenges. And in order to get a change made, let's say with a municipality, it's not quite an act of Congress, but it's a process. And it takes a long time. And we might be able to provide that sooner rather than later. Again, enhancing their safety sooner so we can prevent injury or potentially death.

11:04

Yeah. Do you notice? Don't you also have some support with for first responders, that's not necessarily injury or death, but you just have different support? Don't you have some different support systems in place for sure, just in general outside of equipment, right, just get general what is we have,

11:20

for example, our heroes, assistance that we provide and a heroes benefit is to support them in the event of any kind of life altering situation. So let's say their spouse or child has a terminal illness, or they lose a spouse or child. And that obviously directly affects the quality of life and the mental health and physical health of our first responders, whether it's police or fire, yeah, so we liked it, we are able to provide one time a one time financial assistance in those scenarios as well. And like I said, if it's a terminal illness or something along that line, that's a $3,000 support. And then for a death of a family member, that would be a $5,000 support level. So those are a couple things we can do there. But we also have to apps out there that are bulletproof and fireproof. And those are mental health and wellness initiatives are platforms that provide immediate access to vetted or culturally sensitive resources in the palm of their hand. You know, the beauty with firefighters or the fire service is, you know, they're going to go shopping together to get their lunch, they're going to break bread together later in the day, and they have time to actually spend together. Whereas police officers often will be working in an environment where they are at a significant call, right? They are at a traffic scene, and they might have seen a dismemberment or something along that line. And they return to their car along. And again, it's great to have a website, it's great to send people to a website, but not only have to remember what it is and you're like, Okay, if I have time, when I get back to the station, then I'll look at it. But think of everything that's going on in their head, everything that they've just seen. So we felt incredibly important to put it right in the palm of their hands. So they can be in their car, take two minutes, and say, Alright, you know, do maybe some self assessments or get resources to therapists near them, or work through financial related issues, there's just a ton in there. And that also includes a kid's corner. So before you even get into those resources on the outset, kids of public safety can go there, and they can feel integrated. And whether it's coloring pages, or you know, even a spouse could get in and look at the different resources as well. So that is our initiative. But coupled with that is we provide training to them at no cost statewide, we bring in some great speakers that will help share ways of doing things that improve the service as a whole or improve them as an individual as a whole as well.

13:58

Very, very cool. Yeah. So the I've been thinking about doing this podcast for three years, right? We're about two months in now. And three, like for three years. Yeah, making. And so in my head over the three years, I've had all these, you know, I've kind of made this mental list of people that are like, okay, these are the people that are perfect for this podcast. But that was like five weeks, like for several weeks back, I don't remember. But so I'm like, You know what, I'm going to go on LinkedIn. And I'm going to look and see just somebody that pops out at me, right. And so I message I saw, I see one of your posts on LinkedIn, and I messaged you and say, Hey, I have this podcast. You know, interviewing most influential people and interesting people in Arizona. Can we have you on can we do this and you immediately responded back said yes. Let's do it. I

14:44

was so flattered.

14:45

Yeah, you were like, Yeah, let's do it.

14:47

Like why? I don't know. I said, this is gonna be boring. People are gonna be like, Yeah, I'm done.

14:51

Yeah. So Right. When you responded, I hadn't I just I went onto your website, but I hadn't actually looked at your full profile yet. So the first thing I did when you were responded it was I went on and I, I read your actual profile on LinkedIn. And in your story is just it's so fascinating. So what is your I mean, even before 100 Club, kind of what is your background story, what what's your background, and then we'll kind of lead into how you ended up at 100 Club.

15:17

So definitely not a straight line trajectory, so to speak, I started on a farm in rural Minnesota.

15:25

All the best stories start off farms in the Midwest, so

15:29

I know exactly. And I grew up there and a very small town, kind of in the middle of nowhere, relatively speaking to where we are now. But it was great. You know, I'm the oldest of six kids and a farming family and I have a lot of pride from coming that from that environment. And but it's a hog farm, corn, soybeans, all sorts of things, but it there's a lot of pigs. And I jokingly tell people, because people are like, Why did you leave? You know, and so will you only have to pressure wash hog feces into a 90 degree corner one time? Maybe this isn't your destiny, or you want to change the course. So outside of that didn't travel much as a kid and I just knew I wanted to go somewhere. And I ended up pursuing my education at Arizona State University. Okay, and to go from Minnesota to Arizona. Hey, why not? I don't like to shovel. And the mosquito is they say it's the state bird. It's really not, but it might as well be. And I went to ASU, and I've been in Arizona and an inadvertent sort of way. Since the late 90s. Okay, mentally, I don't want to disclose No, I'm just kidding. Because people start doing the math. Yeah. Like, oh, my gosh, she's 90. Yeah.

16:45

Okay, so you went to Arizona State. And then from there, you're I mean, your path is, again, your whole path is like really interesting. It's the type of thing that you would that you would never grow up and say, I'm going to do this, because it's almost seems like for me, I guess, you know, it seems almost a little bit far fetched, like do people really do this? Of course they do. So tell us about like post ASU and again, before I want to 100 club a post ASU. What is what is your background coming out of college?

17:14

Sure. So I received my bachelor's degree in Justice Studies, and also the focus in business. And I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to do. But I knew I wanted to work in the law enforcement type field, but not the kick in the doors kind of law enforcement. Right. I don't want to I didn't really have that interest in patrolling the streets. And I want to be part of a community. There's no question. But I wanted to do something that had more global impact almost. And needless to say, I got this great internship with the US Department of State Bureau of Diplomatic Security Services. And I did that and then fortunately, the window open to apply for a job with them. And obviously, they were all over the world. Yeah, based out of DC but work all over the world. And I was fortunate enough to get a job as a special agent with Diplomatic Security Service. So cool. Yeah, it really it is it was because, again, there I don't know any other special agents in southern Minnesota. I never done any I never like mentor to someone. I don't

18:20

know any other special agents. You see my TV and movies other than Yeah, like, You're the first person I've met that has any, like, ties to this whatsoever. Oh, that

18:29

was that was my past life. But it definitely taught me a lot. It opened my eyes to the fact that you know what, there are a lot of things above and beyond farming in rural communities, and even just college No wonder no matter where you go to college, and it put me into this world working in the Foreign Service primarily, that allowed me to travel extensively to places I never thought I would go to places I'd never heard of conditions I never imagined working in. But it ultimately took me to 45 different countries and gave me really incredible perspective. Yeah, more than anything.

19:05

Yeah, absolutely. So from there, how does? How does this evolve to where the 100 let me let me say this differently, because I'm going to go back to reading your LinkedIn profile. I was on the first paragraph. And I started to think about the 100 Club. And immediately, my mind went to I hope this because it was it's a it's a long profile on your LinkedIn and I'm in a, my mind immediately goes to I hope the story doesn't end the way I think it's gonna end. Right. Right. So how do you

19:40

long profile I mean, for being 29 Like, wow, I've been productive. But But yeah,

19:45

so I'm thinking like, you know, thinking of what the 100 Club is what it does, and knowing that you're now the CEO of this company, and I'm reading and I'm like, Coyote, this story doesn't end the way that I think it is. But in the back of my mind, it's like, this is you know, so how Now how do you go? How do you become the CEO here? What is what is the kind of the story leading into that?

20:05

Sure. So I worked in what we call DSS, right Diplomatic Security Service for about 10 years. And during that time, I mean, I started as a young single person, easy, right? Poor Man's jet set, you can go anywhere, do anything. And you're like, Oh, I'm so cool and whatever. But short story is, I met my husband in, I don't know, very early in my career, I'd been on for just a couple years. And with all of that travel, I mean, we did a lot of executive protection for the Secretary of State. So whether it was Madeleine Albright, or the late Colin Powell now, I also worked with Condoleezza Rice, and some other pretty cool people, the Dalai Lama, and Nelson Mandela. I mean, just some really, really amazing figures in some of our past presidents. But I, I mean, you're just go, go, go go. And you're traveling all over the world. And all I had to worry about was my house plant. I mean, that was it. Like I no pets, I just had to make sure that the plant got water about every few weeks. And that was sometimes challenging. But again, I met my husband at the time, and he was wonderful. And lived in Arizona. Coincidentally, I was just back here on a short trip. And when I came back, everything was great. And then we were doing the long distance thing. And not long after I met him, I got assigned to Santiago, Chile, as a as a foreign foreign assignment at the embassy there. And I'm like, so Well, this is fun. That was great. And I got to go to Chile. And he's like, where,

21:35

and fast but we we sped things up pretty quickly and ended up getting married. And he so he could have diplomatic immunity. And he came with me overseas, which was very nice for that assignment, which was two years. And it was wonderful. But as a single person, you just kind of come and go, and you can move at the speed of light. And then you get married, and you're like, Okay, hang on, well, I got to consider someone else's, you know, career and all of that. And so you kind of slow down a little bit, make sure you're there included in the process. And then fast forward again, we had a child because that's sometimes what people do not long after getting married. So that really slowed me down. Yeah, cuz you can't just travel for two, three weeks at a time or even 48 hours. I mean, that's it's challenging. And, and he happened to also be in the law enforcement field, but he was also a firefighter, and a paramedic. So we really had little every seven year old boy's dream job. And it was good. But then we had another child. And I mean, talk about coming to a grinding halt and like, what are we going to do? You know, this is hard, because he's working 24 to 48 hour shifts. I can't very much travel like I used to, because either I'm gone 2448 hours or three weeks. And we had to make some really tough decisions. So he took that break and came to Chile to hang out with me. So I in turn, went on leave of absence as well. And which kind of brought us back to Arizona and allowed us to, you know, give the kids a little bit of stability and all that. Yeah. He was in so basically at that time, he was again, fire medic officer. And he was working for the state of Arizona for the DPS Department of Public Safety. Okay, the state trooper, and he was assigned to the rescue helicopter. And it's really cool. I mean, they get to repel, they get to, you know, rescue people from canyons and all sorts of good stuff. Yeah. But in that process, and even though I had the experience in the law enforcement field we had, I mean, neither one of us had heard of the 100 cups of Arizona. Okay, I don't know why we just hadn't. And it's like, looking back. I'm like, how did you not know, but had no idea. So we're back here in Arizona, and I'm on leave, and he was working a shift out of northern Arizona. We happen to live here in the valley, but his assigned base was like stuff on the Ranger helicopter, they call it with DPS. And he would do that commute. It was no big deal. Again, because he was staying overnight up there and then coming back the next morning, so it was real easy. And he was only working no more than 10 days a month. So easier to do than to relocate the whole family up north or something. Sure. So it was a beautiful fall day and I was here in Arizona and came downstairs and he was at work up in Flagstaff. And I talked to him a couple times, you know, throughout the day, and this was let's say bedtime. Okay for the kids. Or at least we're getting ready for bed. And I think you said your your kids are four and six right? boy and a girl girls older. Yes. Okay. So at the time mine were just shy of that almost three and five to four. And my daughter also is older than my son by a couple years. And I just it was like seven 730 And I ran upstairs to grab their pajamas and I was coming down the stairs and my daughter's said, Mom, there's somebody at the door. And that's it. Well, that's weird. But again, it's a beautiful fall day. So here in Arizona, most people are familiar. You got that big heavy security screen door. Right? You can kind of see through it. Yeah, not so much a little bit. Yeah. But we had it locked. But it was, I mean, obviously open enough to let some of that air in and lock so the kids didn't run amok and get lost in the neighborhood. But sure, because at that age, you're like, I can't have my eyes in so many places. I'm right in the middle of that. Right. Right. Exactly. Exactly. So I don't know where my son was. He was downstairs, like I said, grab the jammies coming downstairs. And when she said, there's somebody at the door. I was like, well, that's so strange. But I came around the door came around the corner, and all I could do is see like a silhouette. And it was a gentleman in a flight suit, which is actually what my husband would wear to work every day. Yeah. And so I saw the flight suit. And I was like, Well, that's what is that. And then the closer I got that flight suit, was flanked by DPS state troopers all wearing the proverbial smoky hat. Yeah. And I just said, This isn't good. There's no, this can't be good. So I opened the door. And I said, Well, come on in. And again, the kids are like, what's going on? What's going on? Why are all these police officers here? And that wasn't normal for them in any capacity? Because again, he wore a flight suit that's identifiable. And it's, it's very non threatening if you think about it. Whereas if you see somebody and not that a trooper, and a hat is threatening in any way, but it's more of that picturesque law enforcement thing that even a little kid can determine. I mean, they're wearing their weapon and

26:52

something. Yeah, something. Yeah. And

26:55

little kids are so fascinating when they see police officers or firefighters, because they are always seen as heroes, which is beautiful. Yes, until the, the social or the community feel the culture or some something influences them. They have this very purest form, which I think is amazing. So now they're in the house. And I am just kind of looking at everybody wondering what in the world.

27:25

And they said, and Bruce lost his life today during a rescue up in Sedona, Arizona, on Bear Mountain.

27:37

And I was absolutely in disbelief. Because I never worried. I don't know why I never worried. And my first thought was, and what I said was, how's the pilot? And he said, well, the pilots fine. And I go, what? That doesn't make any sense. How can the pilot be fine? Because in my head, the only thing I thought could possibly happen would be a crash. Right? Right. Helicopters go down. Planes occasionally. Sure. But they said no, the helicopter didn't crash. And I said then can you please tell me like what happened? Well, during a rescue when he was they had gotten called out from Flagstaff and flew to Sedona, right near the enchantment resort if you're at all familiar with that area, Bear Mountain, okay. It's beautiful. Oh, my gosh, it's one of the most beautiful places in all of Arizona. There was a lost dehydrated stranded couple from out of state that had gone off the trail. And he'd done this rescue, I don't know, 100 times, it was just like kind of a routine thing almost. Yeah. And during the rescue he, because of the compromise space of which they were working because of the incline of the side of the mountain. And the helicopter rotor blades where they come over the top, you end up working like in this smaller area. Sorry. And needless to say, he was able to put the gentlemen in the helicopter. And then when he went back for the female, something happened where she turned around, and he went to assist her and he stood up. And he was struck right above his brow area by the helicopter blade, goodness. And, you know, wearing a helmet and doing all those things. But, you know, a helmet has nothing on spinning blades that exceed 450 miles an hour.

29:33

What I'm trying to think of like a situation where that's ever happened, like, what are the odds of that?

29:41

Well, it's interesting you say that because again, what are the odds? And so many times individuals that work on helicopters, they preach rotor blade awareness, rotor blade safety, and he preached it all the time. Oh my gosh, he used to educate people. He's the trainer. He was the says no always do this. And you always walk wide and you don't get in this area. But it's there's so much focus on the tail rotor. Because that's what you think of like if somebody I remember sitting next to him on the couch, and the old TV show, er, I don't know if you've ever remember that. I loved it. And he hated it because he like, that's not real, it doesn't really avid like that. I'm like, I don't care. I love it. So he would sit next to me on the couch and watch it whether you want to do or not. And I remember one episode where the chief for the hospital met this crew up on their landing pad. And he comes out and he gets too close to the tail rotor and turns and just like that lops off his arm. And I just go and I look at my husband, I go. I just like, ah, and he goes never gonna happen. I go, never gonna happen. He said, I Okay. That was it. That was my only thought ever. About a potential situation like that. Yeah. So and if anyone's ever been around a helicopter, you think about how high that blade is?

31:03

Right? That's that was the first thing that that's what I'm saying? Like, how does that even

31:07

happen? Exactly. I'm kind of taken aback here, because I'm looking like right behind you. There's a picture of the entire aviation unit at the Papago Buttes here in town, which is so cool and how big that unit is. And then next to it is a photo fastforward of all of the folks that come up on an annual basis with the mountain in the background of which he lost his life. And it's just fascinating to see how things really kind of come together. But so how does it ever happen? Well, it happened. And it was definitely something hard to process because again, a logic, you need to just remove logic from the equation. Yeah, right. And accidents happen. And he, he was, you know, people talk about, you know, what is a hero? And there's no question, he was a hero. I probably didn't give him the credit he deserved when he was here, because of what he does every day. But he truly was rescuing two people off the side of a mountain. And they lived as to the pilot, and he sacrificed his life for theirs.

32:11

Yeah, I think that hits interesting. You know, last week, I spoke to Amy who's the, who runs the Human Services campus, in downtown Phoenix, which is the homeless campus down there. And I think that, you know, by having these conversations, you realize that for most of us, all of this stuff runs in the background, and I see it, we observe it, but we don't fully understand it. And so my mind instantly goes not just to you, and you know, so we see, you know, we see a first responder that's, that's killed in the line of duty. And, you know, and I think most of us have that soft spot where, you know, might give me goosebumps, wherever, but but we don't actually think of the people that are left behind and in this case, is yourself as well as a three and a five year old and having a foreign six year old just that is heartbreaking to think about the story. So I think, you know, for people that are listening, I think that one of the things that you know, just the takeaway that I'm getting right now is like, we don't we just don't spend enough time really thinking about those that are actually left behind as well, because I can't imagine the recovery process. So from there is are you introduced to the 100? Club? I mean, what happens from there? How do you get, how do you get assistance, but more importantly, like how do you get back on your feet after an incident like that so well, from like, a trauma, like a trauma?

33:47

I would say, you mentioned the kids and you know, that's a big part of it, because you're like, okay, all right. So let me turn this off. So that that doesn't go off again for you, because it'll be hard to edit. So the trauma, there's no question but as a parent, how do you explain what's happening when you don't understand it to yourself, to your children. And I'll never forget, you know, sitting down with the kids and putting them both on one knee and the other knee sitting crisscross applesauce and saying, I was like, what, what words do I even use? And I just said, Daddy got a bad ollie, and he's not coming home. And they're like, Okay, and they went and played, because now we have a house full of people. It's not comprehendible. And I think that what really was helpful, but also detrimental was the fact that they were used to him being gone at the time. I was the one that was home every night. And he was gone for 24 or 48 hours. If Dad's not home. He's at work. Sure. It's not it wasn't a constant thing. And he was only gone maybe 810 days a month. But that was a natural thing in their world. And it was three days later when my daughter said, Well, when is he gonna come? Yeah, at some point that that is a punch to the gut like no other. And to try to explain that permanency is really hard. So that was, again, I sat them down the first night, and you said, you know, how did you learn about the 100? Club? And I was so fortunate to have DPS, be able to guide me through this, because I'm in my young 30s. And I don't know about you, do you know how to plan a funeral? No. Okay. It's just like that, just like that. You got two little kids. They're the the center of your world. Everything else has collapsed around you. And you're like, how do I plan a funeral, I don't even know what to do, I don't even know where to begin. So I was fortunate to have them around me. And the next morning after the accident, they came out right away. And, as did some other incredibly generous folks. And one of the individuals that came out was a representative from the 100 Club of Arizona. And they provided me with a check for $15,000. And it was the most significant, overwhelming thing I've ever received. Because I just knew that at least now I could take the time to plan the funeral. I knew I was going to be able to make the mortgage because we're a dual income family. I mean, it's just like, what do you do? Where do you go, but it gave me the opportunity to go through that process and to grieve and to take time off of work. So I could focus on this and my kids. And it was one stressor that was removed. And it was critical. And I was so impressed. I thought, I've got to figure out a way to pay it forward, I want to go back, I want to get back to this organization, I want to get involved, and they're like, whoa, slow your roll. They're like, You got a lot to go through here before you get back involved. But that definitely set me on a course to try to figure out a way to either pay it forward or give back in some capacity to the organization.

37:15

So we talked about who the organization benefits. So now from there, tell us more about what you do. So I have a friend that was injured. Tempe Police officer a couple years back that was injured shot in the line of duty. Oh, yes. And she said, You know, so I reached out to her earlier in the week. I said, Hey, do you know, you know, I

37:35

belong? Yes, it is. Yeah, she's incredible. So I

37:39

reached out to Lindsay and said that, you know, are you familiar? I knew she was familiar with 100. I don't remember how I phrase I said, Do you know what? What do you know about the 100? Club? And I told her that you know that you and I were sitting down this week. But the one thing that Lindsey told me, you know, through texts, we were texting. Yeah, um, she was actually in an event I think some Texas are seeing on Facebook, like all the stuff that

37:59

she recently, I think she's just Yeah, incredible thing.

38:03

So anyway, so she said, you know, Angela was the first but not the first person she said, Angela, showed up at the hospital. And so my question is this, I mean, what is it? What is this? What do you do? What is? I know that you've accomplished a lot here? So I mean, I guess part of it is, what have you done here at the 100? Club, but also like, what is it and there's probably not even a day in the life I can't imagine. Now, every day is different every day is and you know, it just seems like one of those things that it would be to me, I think it would just be such an emotional roller coaster. When you're dealing with what you're dealing with. I always think like the Children's Hospital, oh, man, like I would be in, I would be bawling my eyes out every day, you know, it'd be like joy, playing with the kids and then, and then just complete disparity when they're gone. I can't imagine spoiling. So I would think that what you do is quite emotional. And you know, but anyway, so. So give us an idea, like, what is it that you do? Obviously, you know, you're making a huge difference for these people. But what are some of the things that you've done here at the 100? Club? And what kind of what is it that you do? Not so much on a day to day, but just in general? Like, are you going around to some of these events as well, what I know you're a super busy person, what does it look like?

39:20

Well, gosh, that's kind of an interesting thing. Well, as I mentioned early on, is our goal is to provide financial assistance to those that are in need. And they don't ever have to for us qualify financially, not to say, oh, sorry, you know, times are tough, and I can't make my car payment or I can't, it's not that way. If they are injured, or they have a life altering situation or a death, then then we say thank you, either to their family or to them for their service through the assistance that we provide. Yeah, and we can provide that ongoing assistance. And I think about so yesterday. You know, like us There's days are different, and yesterday happened to be incredibly challenging. So I started the day trying to think of where did I actually start? I don't even know. I know, the three things stand out three different meetings I had sort of stand out as of yesterday. Actually, no, that's not true. Okay. So I started the day at Mesa Community College, working with an adjunct professor, professor who is incredible, who teaches a class on victimology. And he is part of this organization called asis, which is security professionals here in Arizona. And he said, would you come and speak to my class? Do you mind if I ask you questions, and, and my theory is always about not being the victim, like you're not a victim, you know, make a decision, I'm here, you know, you can look at yourself as a victim, but you'll never make any progress. But let's figure out how to not be a victim seems

40:48

like one of the best life lessons that a lot of people

40:50

can learn, right? Yeah, it really is. It's just unfortunate that it usually takes something significant to impact you to know that

40:59

it's tough to be a success. If you have that mentality, for sure. It's just like, in fact, I would almost say it's just almost impossible, so long as you carry that mentality, I would think

41:09

exactly, exactly. So I started the day, assisting or presenting to this victimology class, which was a great opportunity. And, and I always feel like it's such an opportunity to get in front of a younger generation to get in front, make it personal and have the conversation because, you know, what you see on the news is not actually how it is, or at least not always. And you need to kind of engage and like you just said, you know, here we live in this society, we're just kind of going on and on. And everything is like white noise in the back. But there are real people behind this. And that's an important thing to pay attention to. So I started the day victimology class at Mesa Community College. And then I raced over, after swinging through the drive thru to pick up her requested drink and mine coffee drink. And I visited brand new widow. And we both have the name Angela, little airy. And she unfortunately, she has two small kids, girl and a boy as well. And her husband was a firefighter. And he was diagnosed with an occupational cancer due to a carcinogen exposure. And he'd been, you know, obviously going through this cancer journey for a long time and actually went they threw him a big retirement party on Friday, even though he's in pretty good shape. But for some reason, he got really, really sick last week, and by Sunday was gone. So I was there, you know, three days later and sat down with her and just talk to her and as basically widowed, a widow, to kind of allow her to say the things that you probably can't say to most people and ask the questions, maybe you're not comfortable asking. But we also provided her financial assistance. And again, it's a huge relief, because there's so many other things to stress about. She's like, Oh, my house isn't clean. I'm like, who cares? Right? And by the way, people who say their house isn't clean. It's usually spotless, by the way. And hers was right. But so I spent about an hour and a half with her, you know, just kind of talking through everything that has happened. And then what the next few days might look like and talking about the services that will happen this weekend, which of course I'm honored to attend. And then from there, I went and met with an individual who is recovering from a severe injury from an ATV accident. And he is well on his journey, though. I mean, this happened several months ago. And we supported it as a life altering situation. Because his entire face and head was crushed. Wow, out of state never fails, right. But he's doing amazing. It's he's absolutely a walking miracle. He looks like himself. And talk about perspective. I mean, changer. And he happens to be a pilot all these things, but also police officer. Yeah. So I was able to sit with him and learn about that recovery process and learn about how is he really doing. And for him to tell me at the end of it was simply I want to be a resource to other people. I want to know that if you meet someone in a similar situation, not necessarily an ATV accident, but someplace, someone that might be in that same headspace that he's open to talking to them. And that's crucial. I mean, that's everything is to just know that you can talk to somebody who's walked a similar path, or had a similar experience, like myself meeting a new widow. He said, If there's somebody who's injured, that my story can benefit, I want to share it. And that's awesome. It doesn't get any better than that. Yeah. Yeah. So this is kind of an exceptional day and Meanwhile back at the office. I can't get back there to do all of the you know everyday things and process everything else that's coming in I have an amazing team. However, so my next meeting that day, was unfortunately, another widow, another widow with children, and her husband was an MCSO deputy who's a lieutenant, and he was struck and killed, actually not far from I believe, where you live. In

45:23

fact, I think I drove by the hospital. So I drove by the hospital not knowing anything at that moment and saw reporters out in front. And I was thinking, and I'm not for sure, but I was thinking in the moment, like what's going on? And it was like, two days later, when I heard about that, and pretty certain that that was what was going on there. So yeah, that was pretty close to me.

45:44

And again, he was he just went to work. You know, everybody expects to go home. But these firefighters and these officers, they, they know, they might not go home, they don't they expect to go home. But they knew when they signed up that there was a chance. And unfortunately, when I met her, like I said, and and this poor woman had been widowed before. I just, I was beside myself. And I looked at her and I said, You know what, you are what widows talk about that they hope will never happen to them to be widowed a second time. And she was but she was doing pretty well, all things considered. But again, you know, preparing for services and the families in the house and, and I just I feel honored to be able to meet these people to be able to provide this support. Because as you can see, you know, their shoulder just go, you know, like, okay, now I can breathe. I at least don't have to stress about this part. So that was yesterday. Wow. I know. It's just it's, and this year, you talk about that roller coaster this year is like no other. I tried to scream it from the rooftops because we're numb almost to all of the death and accidents. And in situations that have happened this year. We've lost a total of 5555 first responders since January 1. It's insane.

47:09

That was my next question is 5055. Did you say first responders? Correct. So between police fire and corrections? Yes. And corrections? 55. Yeah, I've seen a lot of it this year. In fact, that was my next question. I wanted to talk about your podcast real quick, cuz I think you were mentioning story. So on on your website. And we'll circle back because that was my next question. And just kind of the numbers and what does this look like? Right? How big of a challenge is this? But but your podcast that you can find right on your website, I didn't even know you had a podcast that's like really digging, I'm like a

47:44

100 club

47:46

100. Club. org. And so you have a podcast, and you actually interview folks that, you know, obviously, they had to go through their recovery. And so maybe you get to a point where, obviously, I mean, you show up as like an angel, like literally I mean, that's you show up and it says makes such a difference for them. So So you have the interviews where somebody could go and listen and really have an understanding of from the other side, right? I mean, obviously, you've told your story. So we've already heard it from that side. But But again, I think it's worth listening to some of those stories who really have good comprehension and understanding for that.

48:20

So and that's the beauty of it. So it's called the call and stories from behind the badge. So it's almost like that proverbial train wreck. Like everybody wants to know everybody's looking, but they want to ask. So we have people tell stories, and they are first responders in some capacity. And what they do is they come in and talk about, you know, a call that was impactful to them. It could be happy. It could be sad. It could be I don't know, it could be horrific. Really. It could be anything, but we want to hear that entire perspective. It's almost like you just said, you know, what's a day in the life like and you happen to be yesterday? Not everyday life is like that, for sure, sure. But in this podcast, we allow them to share with us some of their experiences and the impact that they've had in their career. And that's beautiful. My favorite one. There's no doubt there's a border patrol agent in there, who was shot in the desert several times and saved his own life. Huh, wow, that's a fascinating one. And ours aren't very long. They're pretty short. Yeah. So they're usually under 30 minutes. Yeah. And it's which one is that? What's it? Do you think it's called a loan and afraid okay, I believe but definitely tastes take a lesson because it is, you know, anyway, and he's a really good storyteller. Oh, it's really good storyteller. And it's all true. I joke all the time. I'm like, Alright, folks, we need to make sure there's some resemblance of the truth at the end of this but they're all actually yeah, true stories every one of them so

49:46

okay. And in the podcast can just be found on your website, or do you have it on the podcast platform?

49:51

It's on all the platforms Apple podcasts on you name it, everything. Okay,

49:55

good. Let's go back to numbers. That was That was my next question. I just wanted I didn't want to miss the podcast. I think that's really

50:01

well. And it's great. It's a great way for people, like you said, who are going about their business who don't really know what exactly happens inside to actually hear a little bit more about a day in the life. And there are some of them are the exception to the regular day, but they're still impactful.

50:18

So, did you say that 55 were killed in the line of duty or that 55 that are injured? And like, is it a combination? Or is that 55 that have been killed in the line of duty this year here in Arizona,

50:30

we have had 55 Public Safety individuals die this year from January 1 to today.

50:38

That's the That's the entire state of Arizona, correct? The state of Arizona.

50:41

And just as perspective, but when you said killed in the line of duty, that's I mean, so we're talking about a group here of 55 individuals, we support them all financially at different levels. Yeah. So for the sudden and tragic, okay, felonious action or a severe accident. We have had 14 so far this year, which is also a record high number. You know, for those who are listening that are in Arizona, in 2013, we lost 19 firefighters, the Granite Mountain Hotshots grew up in Yarra now, we lost them all at one time, one time, and that's not really 19 families think about it. That is it was roughly about 36 families because family trees don't look like trees anymore. They look like shrubs and things like that. And and so we were able to support them all. But with great tragedy often will come great support for these families. And we were able to support them at a very high level, we have lost 55. And there has been little to no support given back to our organization in response to that, which is it's so challenging. It's almost like there's this dilution of the, the sacrifices that they've made. And it's also kind of an evolution in our culture after this pandemic. And we're all dealing with things in a very different way. The other thing is, is like I said, 14, a full line of duty from felonious action or accident. But separate from that we've lost a significant number of those are all COVID related. People understand but detention officers, they work in jails, they don't get to work from home, work remotely, you know, limit their exposure, they don't get to do any of that all day every day. And they're working with all sorts of bodily fluids, not just you know, people breathing on each other. So you have that. So the detention officer or correction officer field has really been impacted. And then our police officers, they're not, and really can't wear masks. They're out confronting the public every day, you can't be a police officer very well from home, again. And every time they go out there, they're also risking their family's health. Because they're bringing it home. Yeah. And that is so scary, because you just never know. Because again, no one knows what this magical equation is. of who's going to make it through without any issue. vaccinated or not. Who's going to make it through without any issue? And who's going to die because of

53:13

it? Yeah. So so yeah. So you talked about, you know, COVID, I know that the officer down in, you know, South Scottsdale, I think was struck by a car, right? Correct. directing traffic? That's correct. So obviously, there's so many, you know, different ways that they're impacted. How many would you say? I don't know, if you have an exact number, but how many would you say have been killed? Like accidents versus altercations. Right. You know, what I mean, like altercation with a suspect as an example, where maybe they were shot. Maybe you hear about some of these correctional officers that, I think last year and not to get too graphic, but I think a guy was like, you know, what a correctional officer dropped on his head or something like, sustained a really severe head injury, getting attacked from a meeting his widow. Yeah, so I'm just curious. I mean, you know, and again, not an exact number. But how many of these are actually altercations, where these guys are? Like, you know, their life is endangered. Their life is always in danger. We know this, but just their life is in danger from an altercation with a suspect that just has bad intentions.

54:25

Oh, there's no question. And glad you're asked. And I'm glad I have all the data here in front of me all these big white, unfortunate. I mean, that's, that's a lot of people. I mean, that's, it's just beyond my imagination. So I'm looking here and we've had let me see one, so five or traffic related accidents. We had two involved in a plane crash. And we've had a couple of struck by vehicles. Gunfire obviously a couple of those as well. And occupational cancer. You know, firefighters that, you know, were exposed to some sort of carcinogen and as a reference for people, you know, in the olden movies or old day movies, you would see these firefighters, they have like soot all over their face, and it looks nasty. And but they're so proud. It's like this badge of honor to have this on their face. And what we know now is that it's a death certificate. Yeah. So and that's, that's part of it. So we cover them because they've been exposed. And they've they've ultimately succumbed to cancer. So yeah, so that's another piece of this. But looking at that 55 Number, we've also had five suicides. Oh, yeah. So we support another

55:38

area that people again, you don't really think about.

55:43

So that mental health piece Yeah, so critical. It is.

55:46

Yeah. And going back kind of the first thing that jumps into my mind. So I tend to like to say whatever jumps into my mind, right, I'll keep that in mind. But But is the fact that sometimes we dehumanize and I'm gonna, and I'm going to use police officers, because I think that there's still a high level of respect for other first responders. But I think I don't think that we actually, as everyday citizens, that have this expectation that we're going to be protected when we need to be protected. But I don't think and I kind of go back to the homeless thing in my mind where it's like, sometimes, you know, Amy said something to me last week, that really resonated. And I said, you know, Amy, how can people help? Right? And she said something really simple outside of the obvious, which is volunteering, donating and all that stuff. Obviously, that's a component. But she said something to me that was that will really stick with me. And that was, how about say hello? How about humanize them? How about let them know that they're seen, ask them what they need, as opposed to just assuming and just moving on with your day or just ignoring them altogether? And I think that you could use that exact same thing with police officers. One of the things that I've really done over the last couple years, when I see police officers, I always walk up into say, Hey, thank you guys.

57:07

It's so important. So important. I mean, it's almost one of the most important things. And again, using law enforcement as an example. You know, they do so many amazing things. But when we are like, the dehumanization piece, yeah. People do that as a protective nature. They don't really want to know sometimes because it may affect them. And it could be hard for them. And to know that you have individuals out there going through such challenges is is hard on the rest of the community sometimes and that's okay. But saying thank you. Yeah, recognizing their service is important, because I think about Okay, so we've had what, three, three struck and killed by vehicles. And so often, that is because of and not always, but a distracted driver. Yeah, it might have been somebody who picked up their phone to tax, it could be whatever, but your action as a driver puts them at risk. So the other side of that is, is let's say you were speeding, okay. And you get pulled over and you get a ticket? Well, you're mad probably. Well, guess what? Be glad you didn't get a ticket every time ago. Every time you were speeding,

58:19

right. Think about that for speeding once you probably do it quite a bit, yeah,

58:23

there's a chance that you might have exceeded the posted speed limit. Yeah. And if that happens, just remember, when you're getting that ticket, it's to remind you that the roads need to be safer. And you also have an officer standing outside the door, or the window of your car, who is potentially exposing them to let's say, COVID-19, they're standing on the road, they could be hit and struck and killed. And they leave their families behind and their colleagues. So there's so much ripple effect. And you know, people are talking about all this. There's, you know, negative rhetoric surrounding law enforcement, for example. And then there's the let's defund police. Yeah. And I'm a firm believer that that was one of the great perspectives that I left with after working in an international or global environment. I was in a lot of places that 911 was not an option. And can you imagine, yeah, can you imagine that you're having your worst day or you're trying to help somebody else on their absolute worst day, and you can't call for help? Or let's say you call for help, and you got to wait in line. Or the other piece would be that what if we didn't take care of their mental health and we didn't provide them resources and you know, they didn't have the opportunity to go out and rehab in the appropriate manner and they were making a lot more sacrifices Imagine that. So now you call 911 on your worst day. I don't know about you but you expect them to show up with their A game. Absolutely. You do not expect them to get them be like hey, my back hurts like can't get out of the car. Yeah, can you just come over here? I know. But just just over no doesn't work like that. That's right. They don't get to have bad days. They don't get to say, hey, my back hurts. And I can't do that they don't get to stay home, per se work from home. And you want their A game? Yeah. So that's why it's important that we take care of them. And for us, you know, we often say we're their backup. We're the backup that supports them, that supports their families, that does everything that we can to make sure that they're, they have the best equipment, or the equipment that will make them safer. We want to make sure that their physical health is taken care of, and they have the opportunity to rehab if there's an injury. And then we also want to take care of that mental health piece, provide them resources, safe, anonymous resources, so that they can maybe check out something away from their department so that they can continue to improve upon the person that they are so that they can be a better first responder in the end.

1:01:02

Yeah, I think we can agree. You know, I think most people can agree that we take them for granted. Right? We just again, we just assume that it's what you just said, we assume that they're going to show up. When we call 911. That's that's the way it works. That's the way it's supposed to work without question. We don't we don't take into consideration what a day in the life looks like for them. Right? We don't take into consideration so officer pulls me over and has an attitude. And I'm like, What a jerk, right? But at the end of the day, and I again, I think you can just use this in life. And I had a conversation with a friend about this recently. And again, it puts it in perspective, but you like, I have no idea what that guy just went through, especially a police officer, I have absolutely no idea what his week looks like, what his day looks like what his last 30 minutes looks like. So we take these guys for granted. So I don't want to glaze over the mental health part of this because I think that these guys deal with things that the average ordinary person, myself, right, I mean, the average ordinary person would never sign up for and has absolutely no understanding of so with that mental health component, don't you have like, you have a resource I don't you have like a hotline, like you mentioned five suicides a day you have something. So those are

1:02:14

the apps that we have in place. Okay, and that is the bulletproof and the fireproof. Okay. And that is that central resource for public safety, obviously, bulletproof being law enforcement and fireproof being firefighters. Okay. But those exist, and they're just filled with a ton of resources, like I said, and it could be anything from let's say, you have stress, you have anxiety, you are having financial issues, which sometimes turn into marital issues, which sometimes turn into suicidal ideations. And that's really hard. And they have to have a place where they can raise their hand in a safe place that says, you know, what, I think is probably best I talked to somebody versus not having a resource. Or think about, think about the stigma of which they're trying to get rid of, but stigma is something that crosses, you know, generations sometimes. And if you are, let's say, an officer, female or male, and you are not doing well, at home, money's tight, you've experienced a few critical incidences that you are struggling to get through. And all of a sudden, you feel like there is no hope. There's no light at the end of the tunnel. And now guess what? They want to define your mission? Yeah. And they still expect you to get out into traffic that is moving. And if you've ever been on the one on one in Scottsdale, I mean, what's the average speed at all right, you know, and they're going to step out of their vehicle. And they have to think about everything around and think of all of those things that accumulate, right? Yeah. And maybe that leads them to a really horrible place where they need more resources. Let's say they have suicidal ideations, okay. They not only have those thoughts, but they're carrying a weapon that could potentially facilitate those thoughts. Yeah. So for them to walk into their supervisor to their chief or whomever it is and say, Yeah, I'm not doing so well. I'm actually thinking about human suicide. Well, guess what, there's an obligation to remove their weapon to protect them from themselves. Yeah. And if you do that, it removes their ability to do their job. And if they can't do their job at the highest level, because so now you've got a career issue, right? Yeah. So now that identity that you have now you can't work, either, I mean, how is that going to help the situation? Right? It's hard. So we want to make sure that they have other places to go to, in addition to the resources that are offered by their department, or their insurance company. We want to make sure that we can supply them an opportunity to get help anonymously, in a safe place where the individuals that are supporting them are culturally sensitive to what they go through every day. We'd also don't want to re traumatize a therapist or a counselor because, you know, if they bring some of these day to day activities and share them, that can be a secondary trauma as well. Yeah. So we really, really believe in that piece of our program. It's awareness, it's wellness in general, whether it's making sure you're eating better, making sure you're taking care of your physical health, making sure, because think of that, I mean, think at the end of a 35 year career, your adrenal glands are probably shot. Yeah, I would think so. Think of the ups and downs, mad you come up on a scene just as a pedestrian, you're like our person maneuvering a vehicle, and you're like off to the side, and you see this accident happen, what that does to you. And this might be the only one you see for years, or ever. And they're experiencing them on a very regular basis.

1:05:52

Yeah, for sure. That's it's a great point, you know, first responder the traumatic things that they see whether, you know, the, I guess the odds of a police officer, being involved in a shootout is probably not great. But it happens all the time we see it. We know it's originally but. But it's a great point that you make, because when you think about the trauma that they're involved with just pulling up on an accident where death is involved happens every day on our freeways. I mean, I guess every day, I'm assuming, maybe I shouldn't say every day in a generality. But, but I mean, it happens a lot. These guys see it all. I mean, they see it a lot. That has to be to see death in that way has to be a traumatic thing. So I'm glad that we touched on the mental health component, because I think that again, it's just one of those things that I think as the average ordinary person, we just we just take these guys for granted. And we and we have to, we have to stop, we have to stop,

1:06:47

we definitely do. There's no question. Because you know, here's the beauty. Again, funding is important. But when you call 911, they don't ask you, if you are blue, or purple, or green, or black or white. They just want to know two things. Where are you? And how can we help. It's just that simple. And that's what they respond to.

1:07:12

I want to I wanted to refer back to your website real quick. And then I want to talk about one more important topic. And then we'll talk about like how people can help and, and that type of thing. But I wanted to refer back to your website, could because we were talking about some of the injuries and some of those types of things. So you have a section on your website called honor the fallen, which, which is again, just an opportunity. And I'd really encourage people to just go onto the website and look at the resources, listen to the podcast, listen and see the stories of these people so that we can kind of put more of a human, you know, humanize these people, and honor these people as well, when you see them out and about again, just so my daughter now knows that Phoenix PD, she likes to talk to the police officers. But she but she also now knows that there's a reward involved. So they have the little badge stickers. Oh, so she also knows that bad. Yeah, so she always, you know, she likes to go and talk to the police officers knowing that she gets her little badge. So anyway, but I wanted to mention that part of your site. Okay, let's talk about one more really important thing that, that I think that is just something that that needs to be discussed, and then we'll, and then we'll kind of close with how people can help. But, um, so what we're seeing, and I don't want to get too involved with what's going on around the country. So we'll try to keep it local. But I think that you have to have some perspective with what's going on around the country. So as I was downtown, last week, we can have to go. And I drove by the I guess I guess it's the main police station down there. And on the building, there's a sign that says bonus. Hiring, hiring bonus $7,500. Right. So it's interesting, because we're seeing what's happening. You've mentioned several times, you've mentioned defund the police. And so we're seeing what's happening around the country. I think, you know, from some of the numbers that I've heard over the last couple of years, and this is kind of prior to 2020. Even going back, just just prior to 2020. I heard a number. As far as our police staffing we are under we've been understaffed for years from my understanding. Yeah, I heard a statistic that we have the population roughly, of the city of Philadelphia, from a from a city of Phoenix standpoint, our population now Phoenix Metro is different, but I'm just talking about city of Phoenix versus City of Philadelphia, similar populations, we have about a third of the police force. And then on top of that, we're already you know, so I don't know if you could make an argument that we're two thirds understaffed. Maybe Philadelphia needs more than Phoenix. I don't know. But what I do know is same population, a third of the police force, I'm not don't quote me on that. It's just this is something that I heard that that I'm not I'm not quoting a source but here's the reality we are under Taft, we're doing signing bonuses of $7,500. I've heard it in other cities of $5,000. Now, some of these crazy mayors and I'm just gonna say it the way that it is. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. If you're a mayor of your city, and you decided to defund the police in the middle of riots, you're insane. I'm sorry. There's just no other way to put it. So now's these mayors, Jenny Durkin in Seattle, my hometown, right, Jenny Durkin in Seattle now begging police officers to come back like, what did you think was going to happen? Right. And so anyway, I want to talk about it. So when I hear, here's the first thing that I thought of when I heard defend the police. And again, I mean, not even thinking about the police side. But now I think we need to think about that side. The first thing that I think when I hear defund the police is what are you going to do? What is that going to do two neighborhoods that need the police. So think of this. I had a conversation a few weeks back with gentlemen that does opportunity zones, right and so on. But one of the things I asked him, I said, How do you create opportunity, if you can't first control safety? Tell me one neighborhood, anywhere in the world that decimated by crime, where there's opportunity and success, there can't be one because almost like they can't go together. They can't go together, you have to create safety. So another interview, and I'm just gonna, I'm just going to talk here for a second as I've you know, I watch this fairly closely. So the guy I can't remember Hawk Newsom, I think BLM New York City. He mentioned he recently said, Well, if this new mayor comes in and kind of, you know, puts

1:11:51

non, what do you call it when they're not like, when they're not wearing their uniforms, plainclothes police officers back on the street, there's going to be riots, and there's going to be violence, again, is basically what he said, Okay, then he was interviewed after that. And he actually made I heard this interview. And the person interviewing them was really trying to pin him down on do you endorse violence or not? He spent 10 minutes on that. But inside of that conversation, he said something that I thought was really interesting, that I felt like the interviewer missed an opportunity. What he said was, look, we go into our communities trying to create better schools, better opportunities. And you know, and so he kind of diverted from the defund the police, to this to what BLM is what he's saying BLM is doing in their community. And like, well, that sounds amazing. But how does that work? How are you going to go into a community? Where do you find the police came from BLM? And and look I I'm not? I'm not. I'm not trying to completely trivialize BLM. I'm actually trying to complement that statement right now. But how do you defend the police, and then expect to bring opportunity and better education into a neighborhood where you've completely turned it upside down and ravaged it with crime? So we know that these cities that have defund the police, which right away you went, what brain surgeon thought of that idea, defund the police, and then like these cities actually did it and now Minneapolis just had a vote like they're trying to double down. It's like your crime has skyrocketed after you defunded the police and now you're actually voting whether to completely get rid of your police department. What Who are these people?

1:13:31

It right entity?

1:13:32

So I guess so that's the side of it that I always think about, but here's the side of it, that we don't think about. What does it do to the police officers when you defund the police? What do you do, when all the sudden now you're understaffed? I mean, we talked earlier about equipment, you know, as a result of defund the police. What happens now when you've either either the, you know, the media and the politicians have kind of chased them out? I don't think in the city of Phoenix, we've defunded the police, but we created what a citizen review board which I'd like to understand that better who's on this board? And are they activists, right? Are they are they being trained? Are they going out and doing police training? I'd like to understand that setup a little bit better as well, City of Phoenix. But at least I don't think we've defund the police. But look, we've we've discouraged them, like we talked about at the outset. Right? We've We've literally disincentivize people to go out put themselves in harm's way. Because now they're no longer I mean, now, we're not even looking at them as heroes anymore. So that's the end of my rant with that. But my question is, or, you know, just just kind of getting feedback and comment back from you. What are the effects of, of, of these people being understaffed, and we know it's here in Phoenix. We've seen it around the country, but I don't think we spend enough time thinking about you know, that component because now in fact, one more One more thing I read recently, ABC 15, I think put out an article about two or three days ago with an officer that basically resigned, said, You know what, I'm overworked. Under fed, like, I can't even get a meal. I can't sleep because I'm overworked. I'm underappreciated. I can't remember all the article, but essentially just resigned. They're like, you know, what, you know, this is this ridiculous. So so we know that it's happening, what are the effects? I mean, what are you seeing? Or what are your comments in regards to that in terms of, because I think that that puts them in danger, right? If you have less police officers, they're working more hours. And ultimately, you know, as opposed to, like, you know, maybe four people responding to a scene, maybe it's two people responding to a scene that has to put them in danger. So what are your feelings on that?

1:15:51

Well, I believe it comes down to the three R's. And this is being felt in other sectors as well. And these ARS go in a different order, depending on what you're talking about. And that is recruitment, retention, and retirement. And with the influx of the pandemic, and everything that has happened, it's changed our culture in a lot of different ways. And it's affected different industries in different ways. Okay. It would have been great to be in the lumber industry, or construction, that would have been amazing, right? However, law enforcement specifically really faced a lot of challenges during this last 18 months to two years. And those that were working in the field is just the world according to Angela, my perspective is many of those that were working that had enough years on, said, Whoa, okay, this is enough like this, we are we are going into a place that I don't even want to work anymore. And I have the ability to retire. I'm going to do it. So those people move on to greener pastures, and hopefully happy and contented. All that gets Yeah. And then. So that's in this in this scenario, retirement is the first thing. So you've got an entire generation that is like, Oh, if I can, I'm going to Yeah. So now you have that depletion in your staffing. And how do you recruit in that same environment? Who in the world would want to sign up? Like I said, you're wearing a body camera? And you're probably not going to get paid as much. And you know, that people generally are really in this upheaval. Yeah. How do you do that, and then you've got those in the middle that you're trying to retain, to keep it your department to keep that stability within your communities. And let's say it is your hometown of Seattle. So let's say you have people that are really committed to that humanitarian aspect, who are committed to serving your communities. But you've got some that are retiring, you've got you can't get new ones. And you're just doing everything you can to function with that core group. You're looking at retention. And that's hard. Yeah. Because they are seeing people go, they can't go yet they're not ready. Or they want to get out of let's say, downtown Seattle for an example. And they're going to go to a rural community, or they're going to get a hiring bonus, let's say and nobody's going to be watching the media doesn't. They're not as focused in a rural area as maybe they are in the in the center of downtown Seattle. So really, I believe it's that recruitment, retention, and retirement piece. And when you have all three of those being stressed in every single way, that equates to a staffing challenge. And that equates to a potential. It's harder to cover all of the areas in town with limited staffing. And we believe and I believe, you know, public safety as a whole believes, you know, you need to make sure that staffing is the priority. So this meet brings me all the way back around to you said, you know, why would you as an organization as a nonprofit need to buy equipment to make them safer, right? Well, right now, we need to keep them as safe as we can. We can't afford to lose one ever. And that's the priority. And we do need more public safety out there law enforcement officers on the streets, there's no question. And people also deserve to retire and enjoy their lives and not have to deal with this craziness. Yeah, it's it's a balancing act. And I really admire the leaders out there that are doing everything they can to make sure to make sure that they are supporting those that are currently working. And yet trying to recruit new fresh people and perspective.

1:19:33

Yeah, yeah. It just seems to me like it just is one more element of danger on top of everything else that they deal with when you don't have proper staffing. It just seems like it just puts them in in more dangerous so just curious kind of what you're seeing on that level. And if you're seeing, you know, some some of that in terms of, you know, the people that you serve, but I think

1:19:56

everything is triage in some capacity. I mean, people in the Medical Facility at our facilities, they always look at that. I mean, that's number one triage, right? How significant is the issue. And I don't know exactly what every department is doing. But you can only imagine that when a call comes in to dispatch, there are priority calls. And there are priority scenarios. And those will continue. There's no question to be serviced and served at the highest level, but it might be pulling from others that don't rank and that same priority level, they're still important. But you're going to have to maybe wait longer. Yeah. And you can only push so many people one direction, you want to make sure that you can backfill these positions, and it's wonderful to have community supporters or volunteers and, and, you know, if they're going to defund police in a particular area in our country, well, great. Alright, so now you have a community volunteer, say, Ethel. And she's 79. And she's like, Absolutely, I will respond to talk to those that are involved in let's say, domestic violence, where you're gonna have to wait. And then you wonder about the education level. And then you wonder about, you know, the true danger of a situation domestic violence is one of the most dangerous calls an officer can ever go on. Yeah, ever. The

1:21:12

volatility that we talked about Lindsay earlier? Yes, yes. That's how I like her and a partner, you want to send somebody this unarmed into a domestic violence situation? Never. It's just it's such a bad idea.

1:21:23

Never such a bad idea. So there are a lot of challenges in different in different capacities. But, you know, is it affecting them? I'm sure. Yes. Yeah. Whether they're physically injured, or they're suffering from a wellness or a mental health perspective. Yeah, it takes a toll. It's hard

1:21:39

to put a it's hard to put a numeric value on it. But certainly, I hope it can be a trivial factor to what's going on. We. So as far as I think we've covered pretty well how people access the services. Let me ask you this. If somebody if somebody's injured, or if there's, again, God forbid, an incident where somebody first responder is killed or injured in the line of duty 100 Club automatically, if it's in the state of Arizona, right, this is a one on a couple of Arizona. So if in the state of Arizona, you're automatically respond, that's not something that you're automatically 100% There 100%. And then we talked about the fact that for other situation, I think we covered it pretty well. I mean, there's the website is pretty well designed for all the other stuff, any other challenge they have. So

1:22:23

it is and then there's other real positive things that we do, and again, for their sacrifice on a day to day basis. They don't have to be injured or killed in the line of duty, but we also provide scholarships to all their children. You know, they don't, they're never going to get rich in this job. I mean, they're public servants. That's what they are their peace officers, public servants. And so we want to also say thank you to them to in with the opportunity to provide a scholarship maybe to one of their children. And that's important, too. So you just said, you know, hey, how can people you know, get involved? What can they do? And any kind of support that comes to us goes back to our first responders. And that is our absolute number one priority. And that would be for example, obviously, people and you've covered this, obviously, in other podcasts, but there's the financial support, which is critical. There's no question

1:23:10

and you have a link on your site. So on your site, again, there's a whole link and a drop down box of all kinds of things. So yeah, let's talk. Let's talk about that real quick. Yeah.

1:23:18

So obviously, you can just give right financially, you can write the check, you can make a donation. We love that now, but there's so many other ways to do that. Let's say you work for a larger corporation or company and everybody gets to wear jeans on Fridays, because you donate $5. Great. Think of us as one of your charities. Yeah. If your community is having a picnic, you then do give back as part of your community picnic. And one of the other there's a lot of other things. But anyway, volunteering, obviously, we always need volunteers to help support

1:23:49

so let me stop you right there and back up. So are you is 100 Club, one of the organizations were so in the state of Arizona, you can actually designate your or you are you know,

1:23:59

so there's a lot of different ways so people can donate and sometimes there are tax benefits for us. We're a nonprofit. So any kind of donation that comes into us is is a financial donation and is a tax write off for example? Yes. Now, like you said, I had mentioned volunteering, but another way to give back and many many Arizonans over 18 have a vehicle right. Our license plate is amazing. I'm a little biased, I get it. But we are actually the number two license plate in the entire state. And that is an amazing thing because on it and there's a picture back there. I'll have to grab it here in a minute but actually show you an example. It's actually part of my the backside of my business card, but it says right here. It's that distressed black and white flag with a thin red line and a thin blue line right to the middle of it and at the bottom of it. It's basically a thank you and it says supporting public safety. And in Arizona if you choose was a vanity plate, it costs you $25 As part of your registration, okay. And the beauty is that $25.17 of it goes back to whichever respective nonprofit. So when you get a play just because it looks cool, right? But if you want to play it, that also has a significant purpose, and you believe in that. And you want to say thank you to public safety. Choose that plate, put it on your car. It's number, it's super cool, right? It looks good on everything. And it really reflects that you are supporting police and fire. And those are the ones that are interacting probably with your plate. Hopefully not too often. But they see it more often than other people.

1:25:39

Yeah. The other thing with donating that I think is really important, as opposed to just one time contributions. Just just that monthly, right? Even if it's like whatever that looks like, because at the end of the day, it's all about cash flow. I mean, a lot of the people that listen to this podcast are business owners, right? We understand cash flow, and cash flow is not a one time it's like, no, I'm in the real estate business. Right? A commission check is awesome. I want a commission check every week, I don't want a commission check every three months or every year. Right. So I think that when people when you think about donating, I think that monthly contribution. I mean, even if it's just the smallest thing of what can you What

1:26:16

did you ever have one coffee? Yeah. And

1:26:19

it's an i dollars. Yeah. And it literally, you know, it just keeps the cash flow. And it just keeps things moving. So anyway, so you have, so we're gonna go back to volunteer in a second. And but I just wanted to go a little bit deeper on the donation part. And again, on your website, it's really, really well laid out. There's a tab. Very straightforward again, 100 club.org. Correct. Okay. 00. Club. Also on there, there's the volunteering aspect. So So tell us a little bit about some of the opportunities for volunteering.

1:26:45

Again, volunteering can be in a lot of different capacities, it's to support maybe events that are happening throughout Arizona, I'm not necessarily events that we're holding, or we're hosting, but we might be the recipient for it. One of the favorites every year is country thunder, we're very fortunate to be their charity of choice. Oh, very cool. That's awesome. It's so much fun. It's super dirty, loud, late, but fun.

1:27:09

I've been once not my wife seen, we went well. My wife's like, I'll do anything once. Right?

1:27:17

Well, and it's so much fun. And I jokingly say I'm like those are our people. But we need a lot of volunteers, for example for that event. And it is because we do a 5050 raffle out there. And we're interacting with the crowds, and people are supporting and making donations, which is fabulous. But that takes a lot of volunteer staff to. So it might take you know, 4050 people. So there's a lot of different activities. And that's kind of a fun one. And then there are others, like I said, community events that give back, you know, just within parks and you know, maybe your your daycare facility is doing something or your Girl Scout troop needs to be involved in a community event. There's just so many different ways. And that volunteering one piece, it's not really truly a volunteer, but it apparently is, is we have a youth council, and our junior and senior Youth Council is an opportunity for kids from 12 to 17 for the juniors and then 18 to 24 for the senior level Youth Council to get involved to learn about not only the 100 club, but learn about those careers in public safety, learn about philanthropy, integrate that into what you do every day. Sometimes they're able to get hours for school, you know, as credit, for example of being involved in doing something. And they also have a volunteer piece. So it's a way for us to influence hopefully in a very positive way the next generation so that they can also spread the good word, and know that there are ways to give back without actually having to write a check. Yeah, giving up your Dutch Bros or whatever the case is. But even they are wanting to do it, which I love.

1:28:54

Very cool. Yeah. You talked about a couple different events, is there anything coming up in the next 30 to 60 days of event fundraiser, anything that you want to talk about?

1:29:03

So this is obviously a very challenging time of year. Everyone's really busy with thanksgiving and also Christmas, but with the idea of just giving thanks. You know, please thank your police officers, thank your firefighters, you know, say thank you by putting the license plate on your car, the season of gratitude, you know, make a commitment to pay it forward, wherever, wherever you want. I mean, of course, we would love for it to be the 100 club, but if it's not the one, just pay it forward. Just know that your world is bigger than you. Yeah. And what goes around comes around.

1:29:36

Let's talk local. I always like to finish and here's the cool thing usually, like I like to finish with people's Favorite local charity we we know what that is. Yeah, but also local restaurants and you just happen to have ownership in some local restaurants. So let's talk about them real quick. In fact, one of them is one of my one of my favorite Personal Hotspot. So what tell us tell us what you're up to on the on the rest Started, tell us tell us about your restaurants.

1:30:01

Yeah, I'm very fortunate to be involved in a couple different restaurant concepts here in the Valley. And my role is pretty limited, obviously, because this is all consuming, but we have a couple in downtown, aka to in Chandler, we have the living room, which actually several locations and our two key and then also ignore that DC ranch. But we have chopped Chandler, which is an incredible steak house, we have Rock Lobster, and then C and smoke, which is our seafood version of let's say chop Chandler. So we've got quite a few out there. And it's just fun. You know, also the one thing about you know, the restaurant industry versus the public safety or the nonprofit sector is everybody needs to eat. Everybody loves going out to eat. Everybody loves food and drinks and things like that. And there isn't that same type of judgment level, which is good, right? You know, and it's like, you could take a breath. And that's where you break your bread. And you're able to balance Yeah, yeah, exactly. So yeah, it's wonderful. And, again, just supporting, whether you're supporting a local nonprofit, or whether you're supporting a local restaurant, it is uncritical right now, yeah, just because of the evolution of our society and lean into your community, whatever it is, just lean into it, and focus on you know, pay attention to your neighbor. You know, we so often live in this society where people go into the garage, and they shut the door behind them before they even get out of their car. And it's like, maybe just take a minute, and check on your neighbor. Say, Hi, thank your postal service person, you know, whatever it is, just take a breath. show gratitude, give thanks. And if you want to forego that cup of coffee, or whatever your beverage is once a month, only once a month or whatnot, as much as you want, of course, but to give back or pay it forward, I think the place to be pleased to be impactful. Please

1:31:56

do. Yeah, we need to get back to a pre COVID Like, that'd

1:32:01

be nice. Yeah. I you we had a campaign this past month about just donate $1 $1 for public safety. And if we had every adult, over 18 Donate $1. In Arizona, just Arizona. Yeah. That's several million dollars. Yeah. $1. So if you can't do a lot, you can even do a little. And it all adds up.

1:32:25

And that's where that monthly comes in. That's why I think that that monthly is so important. It just kind of keeps things moving forward, as opposed to doing it one time and forgetting about it. You're actually attached to the cause. Oh,

1:32:36

and I mean, you're gonna pay your Netflix bill every month, right? Yeah. And that's a PUT IT IN Forget it situation. So what if it was a $1 or $5 every month or 10 or 20, or whatever your ability is? Invest in your community, invest in your public safety, give back to them to make sure that they are the best possible first responder they can be when they show up at your door.

1:32:56

Absolutely. Angela Harrell, you become like a hero. So

1:33:00

you really have your it's an honor. It's an honor.

1:33:03

I just want to I want to congratulate you on all of your accomplishments here. And just thank you for your service. It's the honor of my life. Absolutely. Thanks, everybody for listening. We'll see you next time.