Sidewalk Conversations
"Let the one who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall..." (1 Corinthians 10:12)
Standing strong and remaining true to your calling is no easy task. No one sets out to crash and burn. In fact, it's actually the opposite, most people want to stand strong, remain effective, and be true to their values all the way through to the end. But, it is really hard to do.
In these interviews, Piet Van Waarde (a 40 year veteran of pastoral ministry) has heart-to-heart conversations with ordinary people about what it takes to stay faithful and effective in the things that matter most.
Sidewalk Conversations
What if hurt people healed people instead? with Mziya Weber
We share Z’s journey from a Georgian orphanage to founding REIZ Adaptive Fitness, tracing how faith, friends, and sheer grit transformed trauma into service. The conversation explores abuse, caregiving as a teen, disability identity, and building a free, adaptive training space that restores agency.
• a reframed idea: hurt people can heal people
• adoption to abuse and the choice to stay in the US
• survival tools: prayer, community, boundaries
• caregiving as a teenager and end-of-life decisions
• disability identity and confidence through sport
• why adaptive fitness matters and how it works
• partnerships, donations, and making access free
• fundraiser details and how to get involved
Free admission fundraiser: October 11, Redhorn Barrel Room, Cedar Park, 10:30–2:30. “I do ask for you to buy the raffle tickets.” Learn more at www.reizadaptivefitness.com (REIZ = resilience, empowerment, inclusivity, Z)
Support for this show comes from the Van Waarde Foundation. You can donate today on Patreon.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
So, welcome to another sidewalk conversation. I am your host, Pete Van Ward, and I'm so glad that you've decided to join us. And I think you are in for a real treat today. I actually just met this person quite recently. And uh, after we were like only five or 10 minutes into our conversation, the thought already entered the back of my mind. Oh, I have to have her on the bat on the podcast because her story and the way that she's lived out her life is such an example to me and an inspiration that I knew I needed to let a wider audience uh hear her story. And I think the best way to kind of launch it is to share a quote that I ran across recently that I think captures the essence of how my guest has tried to live her life. We've all heard it said that hurt people hurt people. But that's not the only way to look at it. Not all hurt people hurt people. Some spend their lives making sure that no one else feels what they felt. Some break cycles, some build safe spaces, some turn pain into purpose. Hurt people don't just hurt people, hurt people heal people too. And I think that's the essence of the story that we're gonna hear about today. And so I'm very excited about you meeting our guest and hearing her story about how she has turned her hurt into a place of healing, not only for herself, but for others. So we have a foundation that actually sponsors a whole series of projects. The podcast is just one of them. So it helps us make sure that we get the newsletters out. It makes sure that we have uh resources to launch the resilience course for cancer patients and their families. It also helps me to hire the staff that it takes to run all this stuff. And so every month we have people who support the foundation through the Patreon page. And I just want to say a public thank thank you to those who are so faithful about supporting the work through Patreon. If you have interest in that, we will note also that page in the notes below. But just let me say up front, thank you to those of you who are already faithful in doing that month in and month out. We couldn't do this without you. Okay, and now without any further ado, I want to introduce you to my new friend, Messiah. Mazia. Let me say that again. Let me introduce you to my good new friend, Matsia.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, I can't believe I did that. Everybody calls me Z. Do they? Yeah. Everybody calls me Z.
SPEAKER_01:All right, so let me introduce you to my new friend, Mazia. Yep, perfect. Who we can call Z. I understand. Yes. So glad to have you. Thank you for being here.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you so much for having me. And it's been such a pleasure to get to know you and be part of this journey with you too. No, thank you.
SPEAKER_01:That's very kind of you. All right. So one of the things that just captured me right off the bat, uh, when we were together for coffee, we got actually introduced through a mutual friend who was on the podcast uh about a month ago. And she said, Oh, you need to, you need to meet my friend Zia. Yeah. And I said, All right, well, I trust you. And we met over coffee. And the next thing I know, I'm like, oh yeah, totally. So uh you have a very interesting and in some ways heartbreaking story too. And I say this to all my guests, but I want you to feel free to share as much or as little as you'd like about your story. But uh, you came to the United States in a very interesting way. So uh why don't you just give us like a little snapshot of how all that came to be?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, sure. Um, yes, I came to the United States in um the year of 1996, but I came from uh a former Soviet Union country called Georgia. Most people equate to Atlanta, but it's not there's a country called uh Georgia. Um, and um I use I lived there for 10 years, but the unique thing is I lived in orphanage for my whole life until I became I became to the United States. Okay. Um so uh at that time I was about 10 years old, and um I had no idea anything about America or pretty much nothing. I just knew that it was a land of opportunities and there was wealth. And wealth is not something that we were familiar with from where I'm from, especially for a country being uh falling of Soviet Union, and as we know, Soviet Union wasn't really pleasant, and um, so there was a lot of challenges that we were facing. Uh so I got the news that I was gonna be um adopted by American family. So um the staff that you know I had at the orphanage for my whole life, you know, they create this image that you're gonna have a family and they're gonna give you love, foundation, safety. Um, and of course, who doesn't want that? What child doesn't want that safety net? Right. So I took that as an opportunity and hope, and it was gonna be such an exciting opportunity for me. And I didn't, even though I didn't know what I was embarking, what journey it was gonna look like, I didn't even speak English either. No, um, I went to Ma Moscow first, and uh again, my life was with a lot of strangers. So I went to Moscow first, lived there for a month, and met my uh adopted family, my first adopted family there, and then uh, because they had to go through the process. Of course. And um a month later, I moved to United States in the lovely state of Pennsylvania. So um yeah, and I didn't know anything. I didn't even know what a school bus was, I didn't even know what a home was. So my first day we I moved in into a home, but a home with uh five siblings, two parents that I barely knew, no English. Um it was good at for it was good for a few maybe a month. I was gonna say a few days, but maybe a month. Um, but unfortunately things really did turn around. Um and again, this is me cutting a lot, cutting off a lot of moments in my life. But um they were not a safety net, they were not a foundation. Um, they were not a great people. They put me in public school while their kids were homeschooled. Um, I needed to learn English, right? That was the great, greatest thing that they did. I think that was it, it's put me in public school. Um, but I I was not used to going on a school bus. I was not used to 500 students next to me. Uh, we were used to walking to school and having maybe 10 kids in our classroom, right? And the education system is completely different than what it was then. I'm not sure what it is now, but yeah, uh our two plus two is different than here. So um it was so challenging. Um, and what made it challenging was um it was a constant battle with the family. Unfortunately, they were not as giving, as supportive, as encouraging. Uh, they were just very abusive. Um, so I came from, you know, starving situation to another starving situation. I mean, they they did what uh you shouldn't do to a child, knowing that they're coming from a different horrific environment. Like, why would you put them in a same situation, right? Um so every day, and this leads to, you know, our discussion later. Every day I would, you know, uh be on this school bus and you know, I was being bullied in school. Um, I didn't know how to defend myself. Um, there was a lot of things that were going on mentally and personally. Of course. Um, and I would sit on that bus and I'd be like, oh my gosh, should I get off this bus and run away and just live on the street or do something? Like it was that bad. Uh there were moments like I felt like I was a Cinderella, you know? So yeah. This is me being PG 13. But uh they, you know what? I it was like six months I lived in this horrific environment. Um, and they would go to church. Every Sunday we went to church. And I I looked at them, I'm like, I have no idea what you're learning here. Because this isn't it. This isn't love. This isn't, I don't know what you're doing. And I would pray. Um, and you know, God answered my prayer. They got rid of me. I I was, they put me in the clinic, and that was the best day of my life. And they're like, Oh, this is gonna be challenging for you, and I don't know if you're gonna, you know, like it. And I'm like, mentally, I remember being a little girl in that facility. I'm like, I'm so excited. I can't wait. Um, they just um dumped me and never came back.
SPEAKER_01:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:And yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I I, you know, I heard that when we first talked, and I found myself thinking, like, when you first told me, like, I was in the Georgia, USSR, and then I came over to the States and I was adopted by this wonderful family. I thought, oh, what a great redemptive story. And then I heard, you know, I went from the frying pan into the fire. I was like, dang.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um, so I know there's another other parts of the story that I want to get into, but I just want to hit a pause button right there because like what were some of the like survival tools that you that enabled you to somehow like maintain, and and maybe you didn't in all the ways that I think he did, but maintain some semblance of sanity in all of that?
SPEAKER_00:Um, I did when I was an orphanage, I did learn. Um, I had community there, and I learned how to be a good person and how to have hope. And that was still installed in us, even though our environment wasn't what your ideal situation is. But we remained humble. Um, I don't think that was the word I would have used when I was little. Right. But faith really, really, really played a crucial part. Uh, I remember little girl, the first thing I was taught was to pray. Um, you know, I didn't know much about scripture or Bible at that time. Um, and we were taught the safety thing to do to help you guide is to pray. So I would pray. Like that was the only thing that I can control, literally in my life was talk to God. Whoever Jesus was at that moment, I knew of him. I just didn't know the in-depth of until now, right? Yeah. Um, I just really use that as a mindset and the communication gateway to just talk to him and pray.
SPEAKER_01:That was really So was it a Christian orphanage that you were part of?
SPEAKER_00:Or it was um it was Orthodox. Okay. So we would go to Orthodox church. So it's a different than Christianity. Um, but we didn't have church in our facility. We would walk to the church.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:So every we would light up a candle and pray and hold hands, and you know, we we had good, yeah. Even though the environment wasn't ideal, we had a really good community, and I learned that kindness. And that's honestly, that stayed with me.
SPEAKER_01:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:That just stayed with me.
SPEAKER_01:It's like one of those uh scriptures where you read that, you know, raise a child in the way they should go and they will not depart from it. So some of those early values that were instilled in you, even though, like you said, the environment itself was probably not ideal, but there were some things that you learned there that served you well, even when you're to prepare me. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. All right. So then you got to the states, you were in a very abusive situation. You got out of that, you went into the clinic, and then uh if I remember right, there was another family that kind of stepped in.
SPEAKER_00:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:So talk to us about that.
SPEAKER_00:So I wanted to have uh uh point out a pivotal moment in my life too that I was asked uh before I had the second family. I remember being in clinic and um I was 10 years old. I was asked if I wanted to go back to my country or stay in the United States.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Okay.
SPEAKER_00:What 10-year-old is asked to make that biggest decision of their life? I mean, your life is already in chaos. Yeah. So I remember I'm like, well, what would I go back to? And they're they said, Well, you would go back to the same system. And but here we can try to find you another family. And here I still had hope to find another family. So I said, Well, let's do it. Yeah. So I went to a few clinics um and then went through like foster homes, and uh, they were awful. Um, I luckily they gave me an opportunity to choose a family that I want to choose based on the environment that I came from. So I chose, I met the Weber family, and um I chose them because they the first thing that they did was uh it was a conscious thing. They took me out to eat. So I knew I was never gonna starve again. I knew that. So I knew that was my safety.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:So I chose the Weber family, and they lived in New Jersey.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:So I was uh I was uh I was 12 years old when I met the Weber family, so about a year and a half or two, I was in systems and foster homes, and um and uh I met them and everything was great at first, you know. They adopted me and they took me to Disney World and, you know, gave me everything that I never had. And uh unfortunately uh they were both broken and disabled, and my world turned upside down again. And um I became their caregiver at age about 13 to 14. Um, and since I was uh 22, I was their caregiver. And my mom unfortunately passed away uh when I was 18, and my dad, well, as you know, I took him off life support at age twenty-two. So I had family like for very short time, and unfortunately they were uh abusive and needy and Yeah, they needed me, and even though they provided a roof over my head, doesn't mean um they were the greatest. I mean there were some good moments, yeah, but um and I'm gonna remember that and cherish those good moments because that's forgiving. Yeah. Um but I don't think it was a great environment either.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So now you kind of just went over that, and I don't want to again, like if you don't feel comfortable talking about, please do.
SPEAKER_00:No, no, no.
SPEAKER_01:But you were in a situation where you were their caregiver, you lost your adoptive mom.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And then you were primarily caring for your dad, who was also disabled.
SPEAKER_00:He was disabled.
SPEAKER_01:And s and and sickly, to the point where when you were 22, he's in the hospital and you're the only one who can make a decision.
SPEAKER_00:It was me, my aunt, and my uh cousin. It was his side of the family. And since I was his next to Ken, there was just a lot of medical issues and conditions that he had for years, and you know, it was a really, really tough decision, and it came down to me uh what I wanted to do. Um, and I remember he said I never wanted to live on life support or traca or anything, and I gave him that wish. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Still, I mean, it's just like crazy hard, but uh yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, it's something I had to gripple with and just heal and forgive myself. It took me, you know, it took me years. Like it's not something that's you know, an easy decision. Um, of course not. You have a life in your hand, right? So um, yeah, it was it was a hard decision. But you know, my aunt and my cousin at that, you know, he was really we were all in it together, essentially, too. Yeah. Luckily I wasn't all alone, but it was on me. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So you I mean, like when I when I heard your story, I right away went to a lot of other people that I've known in life that have had uh had the kind of hardships, not to the same degree that you did, but you know, a series of things that went unexpected no not like they expected. And and I I watched their life, and they it was very difficult for them to not repeat the same things they grew up with. And so they, you know, you know, you learn certain behaviors and and then they, you know, the abuser or the abused become the abuser, they get bitter, they get resentful. And one of the things I noticed right off the bat when we were talking is that, you know, you have this light, you have this uh kindness and this this this tenderness. And I'm I just like I marveled at it, and I was wondering, uh, like, how did how did you avoid like the the bitter, resentful, hard, uh, like, I I get out of this situation, I go into this bad situation, and then I go into another worse situation. Like it would just seem like that that progression would lead you to a place, a really dark place, but you didn't you didn't go there. So what what would you attribute that to?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think there was a lot of factors. One, I had really, God really blessed me with amazing friends. And even from clinic to high school to uh middle school or high school, I still have those friends. And they were my family. Like they were my uh push, they would push me, they were encouraged me. So having that community was really, really vital. Um, but I also chose who stayed in my life too, right? I had that mindset where if this I already have people that don't serve good purpose in my life. So what are my friends doing? Are they really serving good purpose in my life? And they really, really did. And they just, you know, when I needed a call or I need a place to stay or whatever I needed, I really had so many good friends until this day, I still do. And they know who they are. And I was most people don't get that. And I was really blessed to have an outside community that I can call my family. My friends became my support system.
SPEAKER_01:And did they did they know about your scenario or were they just people that God sovereignly placed in your life?
SPEAKER_00:Some knew, some didn't know the extent. There's maybe like two or three that really knew what was going on at my house. Um, but I also kept my life private. Um, it was something I felt like everybody else had their own issues. Like what were they, you know, you had that mindset, why would they want to hear mine, right? Everybody, everybody does have problems, you know. So there was only few people that knew what was really going on. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So it was anything else that was like a factor in the world. Of course, God.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. No, just came.
SPEAKER_01:I wasn't fishing for the answer. I was just thinking about it. No, no.
SPEAKER_00:It was I mean, I can't like you know, um, I faith has been such an instrumental foundation in my life that if I didn't have that, I would have probably fell apart. Yeah. But the beauty of it was everything that I prayed for, strength, uh, wisdom. I mean, this was before I knew about the Bible, too. Again, I didn't at that time. Everything that I pray for has come true. I mean, I pray for two hands, but that didn't happen. Um, you know, there's a reason why. So he didn't want me to have that. Um, but you know, he guided me. He he protected me in situations that I don't even I can't even fathom like how other person would survive. Um and I was really, really protected. I I feel it and there's I have a little pocketbook of God experiences. I I wrote everything down and now I look back and it's a really overwhelming feeling of you know reading Esther and now understanding Ruth and chosen, right? I was and I would tell myself, I'm like, okay, you know what? If I'm gonna go through all this, this has to be a reason why he's putting me through all this. But then I used to think, okay, well, it's not God hurting me. This is the biggest thing that I told myself. It's people making these decisions to hurt everybody else and me. And I'm not mad at God. I'm disappointed in people in my life, but I'm not mad at him.
SPEAKER_01:Man, I I I just want to unpack that a little bit because I think that's such an important principle because there are people, you know, um, who could have gone through what you went through. Like you, you, you had some familiarity with the church in the orphanage that you were in in Russia, and then you come over to the States and you're going to church every Sunday with this family who's not like reflecting the values that they learned in church, obviously. I've watched so many people who have those experiences and say, see, if God was real, then this wouldn't have happened to me. And they just totally like bail on church and bail on God. Yeah. But you chose not to. And I think the key is like what you just said, that it you have to be able to make a distinction between who God is and and who people are. The people are broken, and and even people who go to church are broken, you know. Um, and it seems like that that that's something you did pretty young.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, yes, at like age pretty much 10, probably. Yeah. Um especially after my first family. And I just told myself, people make decisions. People have a choice to make a decision to hurt me and to hurt others or whatever. You know, I didn't understand the brokenness at that time because I had I wasn't even, I didn't know what that meant to me. Even though I lived in orphanage, doesn't mean I felt I was broken. Um, so I just felt like people have the ability to make a decision. They have a conscience, just like I do, yeah, to make a decision. So if we're gonna go to church, and you know, to me, if we're gonna go to church and really apply those love language that we were taught through the scriptures, why not? Yeah, you know, so that's when I was like, oh, I don't know what you were learning, because I'm learning something. I don't know what you're learning, you know. Um, so I just really set my mind that, you know, people make decisions, people dictate and you know, control others people's lives. And I was like, you know what? I I'm not gonna let that ruin my life and my heart. Yeah. I really had that mindset. Um like go. Yeah. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01:So you also have uh another complication with your life where you have a disability. I don't even know if you want to call it that, right?
SPEAKER_00:What do you think I don't even I don't even consider myself uh physically disabled, but I get it to the standard of most people in society.
SPEAKER_01:They have mostly born with just one arm.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, I was born with one arm, yes.
SPEAKER_01:And and again, you took that. Yes, and you decided I'm not gonna turn that into a complaint.
SPEAKER_00:No, I mean it wasn't easy.
SPEAKER_01:No, I'm no, it's not. But you now run an organization which serves other people with those same kind of challenges. Tell us a little bit about what you do there.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, um, so just going back a little bit, um, you know, with my being born with one arm, it was challenging, um, you know, dealing with society and bullying and parents and everything. And uh people would mock me, pretending they had one arm. So imagine the tragedy of dealing with that. Um, I put myself through sports. So I was like, well, I'm not a degenerate. So I'm gonna show I was I'm stubborn. So I don't let people tell me what they think I am. I'm gonna go prove myself. Yeah. So that's when the confidence a little boost started when I used to play sports. I started running. So fitness and sports became my foundation and like a way to heal, um, turn my insecurities into something that's a strength. We just do it differently.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So with that, I used to serve in leadership roles and I did a lot of um philanthropy work. And I was like, okay, well, I'm tired of working for corporate world. Yeah, I have one arm. Okay, well, what can I do? Right. Um, so I scale it down. I was like, obviously, fitness, right? I wanted to, like you said earlier, provide a safe space for people with physical disabilities and feel give them that hope, support, whatever they need mentally and physically, and create adaptive fitness programs. So that's when two years ago I started uh Reese Adaptive Fitness. Um essentially taking my leadership skills, leading these individuals with adaptive fitness programs for free. Free. It's free. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:All right. Now free. Again, like I I I I'm I'm just amazing you all the time.
SPEAKER_00:You are, you are.
SPEAKER_01:So I'm reliving our coffee. So I think every time you unpack something else, I'm like, what?
unknown:What?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So uh you do all this for free. Yeah, you do have you have support like from people who help make it possible, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean, I I love my husband. He really encourages me. So I'm not gonna say I take it all and do it all on my own. Um, I do my husband encourages me to um start this foundation, but I do have donations and partnerships that somewhat pays for the uh revenue that's come in. It's not I it's not what it's supposed to be, but um I have I can relate to the case.
SPEAKER_01:I know it's tough.
SPEAKER_00:It's especially nonprofit world, right? Yeah. Um I do have a little bit of support. Uh it's you know, I I make it work um until maybe you know God just blessed me with a generous donation. I don't even know if I told you. I don't want to reveal it because I'm gonna reveal it actually at my fundraiser. Okay. Um and this Cooper family, they had a uh a son that was physically disabled. Um, and they found my organization and donated a generous dollar amount. And I was like, God, can't this can't be real. This gift, but it doubled the impact. It doubled what we spent. We received that from Cooper family, and they created a pathway and opportunities, and I'm excited.
SPEAKER_01:Uh, I love it. So you uh tell like unpack a little bit of like what what kind of programs do you do? You do adaptive fitness programs. So what does that actually mean?
SPEAKER_00:So what that means is so for you, your able body, you can go to the gym and just do biceps, curls, squats normally, right? Um, whereas person with a disability, uh typically, if they're coming out of physical trauma, meaning a car accident, um, spinal cord injury, TBI, a critical diagnosis of neurological um causes neurological damage to your muscles or your spine, it can vary. So we come in and just because you can't do a regular fitness at a gym, we create modifications for your uh workout. And it's very individualized because each individual is very different with different limitation.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So for example, I have two clients that are TBI, traumatic brain injury, but they're two different stages in their lives with limitations. So I create adaptive programs based on their needs. Wow. What they need.
SPEAKER_01:And do you like have your own gym or do you rent space out in a gym? How does that work?
SPEAKER_00:I do rent a space with RI physical therapy, which I really want to thank them. They're such a they're great. Um, they just let me stay and um rent a space with them and gives me the accessibility for people with disabilities. And I can't, I'm so grateful for them. And I keep thanking them. I keep thanking them. I think they're gonna get tired of me thanking them. Um so I do rent space. It is at the crossover in Cedar Park. I picked that location um because it's so close to like Austin, 20 minutes, 20 minutes from Round Rock, 20 minutes from Georgetown. It's so central. So I like that location. Um, but yeah, I do partner with RRI physical therapy. So they're they're wonderful. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I just commend you again for you know, taking what, you know, the part of the the scripture that keeps coming to mind uh for me as I hear your story um is you know Joseph's story where he experienced one heartache after another, ended up in prison for things he didn't do, you know, and he meets his brothers who had, you know. Sold him out to slavery. And you know, his brothers are all like ashamed of what they did and they're afraid to meet him. And then Joseph's statement is look, what you meant for evil, God turned to good. And you know, in hit in his situation, it was very much like a mental thing he had to do because he could have also gotten bitter and resentful. And when I heard your story, I was like, This is what she's doing. She's like allowing what the world and broken people and even her own, like how she came into the world. Uh it's like, I'm not gonna let any of that define me. I'm I'm gonna use those things and and those situations as learning experiences, and I'm gonna trust that God can use it for good. And I just commend you for it. Thank you.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you.
SPEAKER_01:Um, so how can people find out more about what you're doing? Like I I you have this fundraiser coming, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, yes, I would love that. I'm everywhere. Uh Facebook, LinkedIn, um, Instagram. I I just don't do TikTok, so or they can go to www.reesadaptivefitness.com. By the way, it's R-E-I-Z. Reese. Um, it stands for resilience, empowerment, inclusivity, and Z because everybody calls me Z.
SPEAKER_01:Ah, there you go. So that's where I should have started.
SPEAKER_00:It's crazy. Z. Everybody calls me Z. We practiced it before the case. I know. It's okay. But they can go on my website um or social media platforms. And I use social media platforms just as a storytelling of what we're doing with our clients. And then the fundraiser is October 11th at um Red Barrel Room. Um, Red Horn. I'm sorry, it's at Redhorn Barrel Room, Cedar Park. See, I had to think about my brain. Um it's at 10:30 till 2 30. And um I I love Amy Hooper, she's gonna be your musician. So um we have raffles and program that we're gonna talk about and share testimonies from our clients and just everybody to see what we're doing.
SPEAKER_01:Nice. And um, so yeah, please October 11th in Cedar Park.
SPEAKER_00:And Cedar Park, Redhorn Barrel Room. All right. Starts at 10:30, and I know UT Game is so important, so we'll be finishing before the UT game starts. So um, yeah, I would love anybody, whoever's watching the show, to join. And it's free admission. Um, the only thing they'll have to do is buy the raffle tickets. I do ask for you to buy the raffle tickets. Um I think we could do that. Yeah, and then there'll be food and you know, beer, good stuff. You know, what a what a way to spend your Saturdays changing people's lives directly.
SPEAKER_01:So and supporting a person. Yes, taking I can forget about me all the stuff and turn it to good. Woo! Yeah, turn it to good. Yeah, it's it's good to uh it's so great to meet you and so great to hear your story again. Thank you for being willing to come on the podcast. And uh I I hope that this generates uh a whole new level of interest in what you're doing.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I I really appreciate your having me. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01:All right, and thank you for joining us. Uh, we uh I I'm sure that you were inspired in the same way that I was with hearing C's story. Uh, she is really one of those people that makes you believe there's still a lot of good in the world. Uh sometimes we can get you know sidetracked by all the negativity and all the stuff out there that's not working right, you know. And then you meet somebody like this and you're like, okay, yeah, there's still good in the world. And so thank you for joining us and uh hope you'll join us again next week for another sidewalk conversation.
