Faith in Action—Ignite the FIRE, August 17, 2026

Tune into Faith in Action at 9 a.m., Monday, August 10 on Channel 88.1 FM, Siouxland Catholic Radio. Host Joanne Fox talks with the FIRE Foundation about their 6th annual Ignite the FIRE event.

Faith in Action is brought to you by Mary's Choice, a Sioux City Pregnancy Resource Center. Previous Faith in Action programs can be found at siouxlandcatholicradio.com, on YouTube, and on several other podcasting platforms. Programming is subject to change.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:01

Hello again, listeners of Channel 88.1 FM, KFH C Poncasoo City, and KOIA Storm Lake. Thank you so very much for taking time out of your busy schedule to tune in and listen to Faith in Action. I'm your host, Joanne Fox, and again, maybe it's a Monday at 9 a.m. and you're listening, or maybe it's a 7 p.m. on a Saturday, which is when we replay this show. And maybe you just are listening at your convenience. You went to our website, Siouxland Catholic Radio.com, clicked on programs, clicked on local programs, clicked on Faith in Action, and you are relaxing and listening at your convenience. We are also on a number of other podcasting platforms. That's all due to the generosity of Mary's Choice, a Sioux City Pregnancy Resource Center, which is the exclusive underwriter for this show. So listeners, I'm going to tell you right now, you've got to go and get a piece of paper and a pen or a pencil or whip out your phone because I'm going to give you a date. And that date is Wednesday, September 16th, which resonates with me. That was my dad's birthday. So I will always remember Wednesday, or or at least September 16th. And why is that important? And this just takes my breath away. It is the sixth annual. Sixth annual Ignite the Fire Foundation. It is our ignite the fire event, which is for the fire foundation. There's a lot of fires in there. And uh so it starts at 4 30, goes until about 6 30, and it is at a different place this year. It is at the Sioux City Distilling Company, which is 313 Perry Street. And I'm not going to dwell on a lot of this because I will mention it again throughout the program. But I wanted you to at least get Wednesday, September 16th, marked down in your calendars for this Ignite the Fire to benefit the Fire Foundation. So that being said, my guest with me in the studio is someone who has been here frequently, Dr. Ryan Allen. He is associated with the Fire Foundation, and he can explain to you a little later what that association is and how it came to be. But it is so great to have you back in the studio again, Ryan. It's always a pleasure to interview you and bring the good news about the Fire Foundation to our listeners. So thank you so much for coming into the studio and uh being the the part of my interview today.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Thank you so much for having me. Always a pleasure.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

It is, isn't it? So anyway, let's start out. Um I I'm sure people do know you, but sometimes we have listeners that don't, you know, because maybe this is the first time they've tuned into my show. And hopefully when we're done, they will continue to tune in. So, Ryan, if you would be so gracious as to tell the listeners a little bit about yourself.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

No, I really appreciate the opportunity. Uh yeah, a little bit about me. I'm uh originally from Louisville, Kentucky, um, but I've lived in Sioux City for almost two decades now. Um I've got a beautiful wife and three kids, and all attending the Bishop Healing Catholic schools. And we're here today to really talk about the Fire Foundation, and that came to be through our experience with our daughter Sawyer being born with Down syndrome, and just wanting to make sure that she had the opportunity to go to Catholic school alongside her brothers and her friends and our whole Catholic community.

SPEAKER_01 3:27

And that is very typical of what motivates us to become involved in a certain type of organization or association or agency, is something resonates with us and we know we need to do something. But maybe if you could just just a little bit more, your background. You come out of an education background, if I recall, because I I am elderly now, so sometimes I I forget. So maybe you could tell the listeners just a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

Yes, my background in training was in higher education. So I was a professor of English for about 20 years, and for the last few though, I've been working almost exclusively as a grant writer and trying to further the cause of many different organizations uh both in this area and and around the country.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

And before we get kind of into the intricacies of the Fire Foundation, which listeners, I gotta tell you, it is a fascinating journey, and I have followed it, I think, from almost day one. Yeah, and it's that's been um very affirming to me as well. But let's back up a little. You mentioned your daughter Sawyer, and listeners, be sure and listen as uh Ryan continues talking, because the more passionate and excited he becomes, the more he starts to sound like he came from Louisville. But it's you know, so proud that you have kind of embraced the Midwestern accent. But uh n w listen, because it's it's fun to hear you when you get real excited kind of slip back into that. It's delightful. Tell us about what was going on with Sawyer that you started and your wife saying, what what what can we do here? You know, so kind of explain to the listeners a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

Yeah, it really began the moment she was born. It goes back to the very beginning. Um we didn't have a prenatal diagnosis, and so when we found out that Sawyer had Down syndrome, it was a beautiful shock. And um in those moments, those first moments after she was born, um, I had I was the one that had to um go tell my wife, like that, um, and I remember that walk and um going down the hallway and just trying to think about how I'm going to have this conversation. And um, and as I'm walking, I'm like praying and thinking about just and asking for guidance and this this notion of like, you know, one of the like all the things that like just come into your head in that moment um about being a parent and being a father and having a child with a disability, it was all just a whirlwind. Um, but certainly one of the thoughts that that stood out was how's she gonna go to school with her brothers? And that was I mean, it was before it was right at the very beginning. That was one of the first thoughts, and so this relation, so what we're doing in the fire foundation, although it took many years for it to become the fire foundation, was really for us personally born in that that moment. And um right away we knew there were no supports and there were there was no possibility, and we didn't have any um case study or template to work from. And so in those first few years of Sawyer's life, we were really just um kind of just navigating blind and not really knowing what to do. And so we were working through the AEA and through um you know early childhood and and using the services and supports that we had at our disposal, but always knowing that we wanted Sawyer to go to Catholic school. We didn't know how, um, but we just knew we had to figure out a way. And so soon it didn't take very long because we have a great support network here, wonderful friends and family, um, that we realized and recognized we weren't alone. And so right from the get-go, when we were in the hospital still, even, we were given a uh like a care package from Gigi's Playhouse. Yes, and that was one of our first forays into just a wider community of care for people with disabilities. Um, I remember when walking into Gigi's the first time, and as soon as we walked in, somebody yelling, like, congratulations, and just being so delighted to meet another family who had a child with Down syndrome, because truth be told, that wasn't our experience right away in our in our healthcare system, and which was devastating. And so, like, the obstacles began immediately, but the the answers to the prayers also began immediately. And so through Gigi's, we met um other families, other healing families, even, um, who were having similar thoughts, similar struggles. Some that were further down the line had older kids who had already missed their chance. Um, but then some who were like us who had kids that were even before getting into school were right at that threshold, and so we started to just get together and talk first in like backyards and very always very informal. Um, just a group of families, and um that continued for a couple years. Um, at the time I was working at Briar Cliff, and so we started meeting in in a Briar Cliff classroom and just charting out all the different things we were trying to conceive of, and like you know, just building something that we didn't even know what we were building, and um, and so it was done on like whiteboards and you know over over late nights in those classrooms. And in that process, we kind of came to the conclusion that we thought we were gonna have to um form a nonprofit ourselves, but at the same time, we were reaching out and trying to figure out what else was out there, and in that process, we found the Fire Foundation, which is based out of Kansas City, but that there was the this emerging affiliate program, and there was that there was an actual affiliate in Northeast Iowa, and so which was remarkable. And so we reached out to um Northeast Iowa, we connected with them, and like right away, as soon as we all heard what was possible with fire, that was like we abandoned all discussions of us doing this on our own and realizing like the impact we could have if we joined this team. And so we were, I believe, the fifth affiliate, and that was um in 2020, and now are and we're up to 12 in 2026. And so this is a movement that's not only like emerging here in our Sioux land area and in our diocese, but all across Iowa and really all across the nations. We have affiliates um from New Hampshire to Sacramento, um, Dallas, down south, and everywhere in between. And so this is one of the great benefits of being a part of FIRE is connecting to that affiliate community that's you know linked all across the nation. Through regular, we meet regularly, we go on retreats together, we attend conferences, we find ways to support one another through the expertise that we have in our own unique communities, still knowing you know, like there's differences and from state to state, but also we're all sharing the same struggle. All FIRES began with fan just like us, families who had kids with disabilities who wanted their kids to go to Catholic schools. So it's a wonderful network. We've through grant funding been able to support not just our own local and endeavors, um, which I know we can talk about, but but also national ones to make sure that we have an opportunity to send folks to conferences and to to achieve like or to um participate in real um rich professional development that we can then bring back to our diocesan communities and and build a leadership and inclusive education here.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

And that is so important. And especially you've had such a diverse group of people in the initial aspect. You mentioned your um Sawyer has Down syndrome, but there were other individuals who had um uh ch children with challenges. Perhaps they were intellectual, perhaps they were physical, um, perhaps they were something else, mental, I don't know. But what I found interesting was everybody had the same um kind of goal, and you mentioned that, uh Ryan, is that we want our kids to go to Catholic schools. But as I know and most of our listeners know, Catholic schools kind of run on a shoestring budget, and the ability for the school to take care and educate a child with challenges is not easy because again, you have to pay the teacher or um or the individual who comes out of a background that is able to interact with a child with challenges, and sometimes that's somebody with a different degree that now you got to try again and pay these people. And I've mentioned this to the listeners before, I've mentioned it to you. I think um, you know, uh my son, the youngest one, and because none of my children listen to the show, I can share these personal things with them because they don't even know what I do. So um the youngest son um was in Catholic school and then we moved uh to almost to Hinton where it was no longer able to send him to a Catholic school. So he was in an IEP program from like second grade on. Well, the older three brothers went to Healing and he wanted to go to Healing, and this is not going to uh be um some sort of oh Healing didn't do him well, but they had absolutely no resource people for him, and he struggled with reading and math, and so uh he did not do well his freshman year at Healing, and we moved him back to Hinton, in which there is a special place in heaven for the woman who is in the resource room. She has since passed away from cancer, and I I offer my prayers for her because she pulled him through school. And now he's a productive citizen, he has his own trucking company, but it was not easy that one year he was at Healing and they tried, but again, no resource people. So when you're talking about your daughter with Down syndrome and the other individuals who had challenges, I know personally what this felt like and I know what my son was feeling like. And so thank goodness we had in the public schools at Hinton that ability to work with the AEA and do an IEP and all of that. So, okay, that's enough about me, but as you know, Ryan, this show is pretty much about me and my friends that I just bring on to talk about stuff. So you got them all together, and I should ask, how old is Sawyer now?

SPEAKER_00 13:40

She's 11. She's gonna be in sixth grade, she's almost 12.

SPEAKER_01 13:43

Oh my gosh. So here you are, you you you got this group, and you say, okay, we're gonna affiliate with the Fire Foundation, and so we begin that, and maybe tell the listeners what that involved.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

Absolutely. So it basically starting a business, and you know, we're we had a we had a bunch of people who weren't business owners, I can tell you that for sure. And so it really was um, you know, by the grace of God, for sure. Um, that in those early days, and a lot of it was my contacts and friends and colleagues at Briar Cliff, just reaching out to leaders. I mean, uh reaching out to Bev Wharton was a huge early early conversation before we were ever fire. It was like just knowing that we needed leaders and that you know I didn't see myself necessarily as one of one of those people. Um, and so needed some guidance on how to knowing that we're gonna need to raise money, that we're gonna need to have like all the things that are just going to to a world that I wasn't directly prepared for, none of us were. And so that was huge at the very beginning was just building that initial board of experts and people whose heart was in it, even if they didn't have a child with with a disability. And that was that was and is still so critical and core to the mission. Um, we have to broaden this notion that this is just for our kids, this is for all of our kids. It's and it's not even just for our kids, it's for our whole um diocesan community. Um we will we'll be stronger when we're all together, and that and that and it bears out not only in our own communal sense of belonging and being connected to our faith and to our community, but it bears out in like test scores, like academic performance is higher in schools that are more inclusive. And so we want to see that happen here. And it's it's not any accident, it's because of the way the supports are built. It's you know, the the supports that we build for the students of the greatest need also benefits the students who are you know the the quote unquote highest achievers. And so it it really is you know, our our tiers of structured support are designed to help, you know, large the whole group, but also all the way down to small groups into into individual and again from highest need to to greatest achiever. Um and so that that was really like figuring out like that pedagogical awareness, like the connecting with principals and teachers who were on the front lines, building that network was the beginning. And and connecting with the the resources that FIRE had to bear and to connect with other families who had gone through similar things, and and that was huge. You mentioned even the like some of the things in your own story of what the where the gaps were. Well, that's where the gaps are now. It's in personnel, it's in professional development, and it's in curriculum and resources and things to make education more accessible. So that can be like technology or devices that help that are adaptive and help learners who have unique or different needs to thrive. And so that's what so in those gaps is where fire exists, and that's what we primarily raise funds for, or not primarily, all of our funds go to those places to fund salaries for special educators all the way up the spectrum from paraprofessional support to resource teachers, Strat 1s, Strat 2s, you know, directors of special education all the way up the line. Um, we've done a large portion of what goes out, it really goes to teacher professional development. We send teachers to conferences. We have created professional learning communities for our teachers where we can share resources and have them be educated and trained and mentored by like the University of Notre Dame. We've had a multi-year partnership with them in their PI, their program for inclusive education, the PI program at Notre Dame. Um the Learning Research Network, which is an amazing network of educators, higher education educators, and providers who have real expertise and implementation of student support systems. And so we're connecting our and we're connecting with uh you know all other principals and educators, superintendents around the country through our through our fire network. So we're building this community that's not only you know thriving and develop developing and thriving in our diocese community, but again, it's got these layers to it as we connect, you know, all throughout the country.

SPEAKER_01 18:07

And I love what you were saying about the layers and how it's all interconnected. Because if you came into my office and I was the principal of a small uh Catholic school in the diocese of Sioux City, and you said, hey, you know what, we need to include um our students that have some challenges. And I would immediately think to myself, I uh well, you know, I already got a whole bunch of students that I'm trying to just, you know, channel so that they, you know, pass the class, and now you want me to take on this challenge. But I love that the research you discovered was that is powerful ammunition. Look, this will enhance test scores. It will make your other students be more successful because there's a big empathy that goes along. And I remember I was almost in tears at one of the Fire Foundation's um Ignite the Fire event, in which a young man I from Healing, I'm pretty sure, stood up and talked about how important his relationship it was with another student who had some challenges. And I thought this young man is gonna go places as well as the young man who's on the other side. And I was so moved, honestly, I was almost in tears. And I didn't put the two and two together until you just now brought it up, and that is the impact that it has on students who perhaps don't have a challenge or a different kind of challenge or maybe no disability. And of course, as Catholics, we are very much into that all of us are brothers and sisters in Christ. And the the understanding and appreciation and empathy we have for other brothers and sisters who may have challenges is just exponentially increased, and we become then a better person, a more understanding person, because we're not polarized against you're different than I am.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

Absolutely. Just as you said, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

Yeah. So okay, so you guys are, you know, in place and um you're now approaching schools and you know and and gathering money, you know, and having fundraisers and stuff. So once you got going in the first year, um what kinds of things happened that maybe surprised you or with your board or group said, Oh, kind of need to go in another direction. We didn't realize this was going to take place. So maybe tell the listeners a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_00 20:36

I think the biggest and probably the most disappointing revelation of this whole process has just been the inability to find real partnership and collaboration with our public school partners across this across the diocese. It's really uneven. In some places, it's really great. And it's, you know, people get it that we're all we're all educating our community students, and whether they're being educated in this building or that building, especially in terms of an IEP, is pretty irrelevant. Um the services follow the student, and that's really key. And how much of a battle that is to have services follow students in our Catholic schools has really been disappointing, hurtful, and a horrible waste of time because we could have been and should be solving all sorts of different issues, but we continually are kind of always thrust back to square one, and um that's tough. And I think that continues to be a barrier and an obstacle, and we just need to and it's changing, it's evolving, especially in the state of Iowa with ESAs. Um it's it's different here, and so that's that's a positive step. Um, but it carries with it all sorts of you know long term ramifications and things that we haven't worked through yet as a state and as a as working down into our communities and and how that money is used and and what it what it's going to support. And I think that that's um those are huge things and that have to be worked out really amongst our our state leadership and our public school counterparts and we it's up to us to just show that like what's our role to do it the right way. And to show them that there is another better way to do it and to for us to become the models of how inclusive education should look. We've for too long just kind of kicked the can and said well that's public school's job to do to educate these students. And in some I'm not in any way here to begrudge our public special education school special education system because there's wonderful teachers, there's wonderful places and I want all I want all of our kids to be supported wherever they go. But the idea that all of our kids belong in one system or one mold is ridiculous. He's a Kentucky author like nature abhors a monolith you know I mean like we we need um we need the uniqueness the variety of human expression and experience in our classrooms for us all to thrive because that's the way the world is and so our role is to be us to be faith driven to you to utilize our greatest asset that we have that our public school counterparts don't have and that's that fourth tier support it's it's Jesus it's God it's our faith and our ability to to relate to one another in in just deep human ways that to like you mentioned it's it's empathy it's being able to walk a mile in somebody else's shoes and understand that like we're in reality we're only just those of us who don't live with disability we need to be a little bit more mindful that that could just be for the moment. That we're only all just tip like we're all just typical right now you know like in this moment like through age through events through th trauma things that happen like life it's complicated and we don't need to take any of it for granted and and to what that means to for us is to value all human expression that all the different varieties that we've that we've come into this world.

SPEAKER_01 24:11

Yeah and I agree I I certainly wouldn't throw um our our fine public schools or our public school teachers under the bus. They do the best they can with the resources they have and we just have to acknowledge where they're at in the academic career. And listeners if you're just tuning in right now thank you so much really appreciate it. We are talking about an event again it's time to get your pen and paper out again. This is the sixth annual Ignite the fire event to benefit the fire foundation of Northwest Iowa. It is Wednesday September 16th starts at 430 pretty much wraps up at 630 I've been to so many of these I just I really enjoy them. And then it is this year at the Sioux City Distilling Company that's at 330 Perry Street in Sioux City and we'll uh as we get toward the end of the interview then we'll talk a little bit more about how you can attend if you're interested in doing this and some other stuff. So um my guest in the studio is Dr. Ryan Allen he is associated with the Fire Foundation do you have a title with the Fire Foundation?

SPEAKER_00 25:16

Well what they call me or what it like the official title is um no I think I'm the I'm the president of the of the board yeah okay and you mentioned you do some grant writing too which that is very important.

SPEAKER_01 25:27

So a part of the Fire Foundation's um direction is of course to raise money and that has to me been so remarkable because there's so many nonprofits and agencies that are trying desperately to raise money and your message with the Fire Foundation has resonated with a lot of people to uh contribute to what you're trying to accomplish because listeners as we mentioned earlier it takes money you have to pay the teacher money salary benefits all that good stuff and that is not and not to disparage McDonald's but that's not a $15 an hour job. These people are trained professionally so how did you go about starting to garner funds?

SPEAKER_00 26:12

Yeah so it really is the product of these annual fundraising events that's our that's our primary um driver of raising money each year. We've in in years since you know since the beginning we've you know expanded out into grants and you know looking at national donors but also looking at local partners all the way you know to regional and and state state donors corporate donors and so just trying to find a way to to touch all the different constituencies that can hear our message and have it resonate with them. We've had wonderful support um over these over these six years that we've been in existence. Just last year and for this upcoming year we've um designated out $80,000 in grants to our diocesan schools to again to support personnel and professional development and curriculum technology things like that. It's been you know driven by the spirit I can't I can't speak speak highly enough of all the different folks again mostly people who don't have children with disabilities but are touched by what we're trying to do and how we're trying to how we're trying to serve. And so yeah we've do done this annual event this will be you mentioned it this will be our first year at the distilling company and it's it's a wonderful um it's a wonderful reality because we've just grown and we love Mardos we've been at Mardo's the last five years um we called it fire and flights when we were at Mardo's and that was it fits so perfect but we just um need more space and so we want to give a shout out to Mardo's we still love all those folks and one we do we love them. Yeah and want folks to to to a go there um but the distilling company it's it's gonna be a wonderful night and we're gonna um you know bring together folks from all over the diocese primarily for mostly folks in Sioux City and you know it just works out that way since it's through the week um but folks can go onto our website and make a donation through there um or reach out in all the different ways that we have to connect with one another these days and and find ways to support us we like you like you've mentioned many times thankfully like we yeah we need to raise money but we also need folks time we need their their technical expertise we want folks to join our committees to serve on our board to volunteer with us at events it takes such a village to do this work and we are all volunteers 100% of the dollars that we raise go right into our schools and so we're doing everything we can in that capacity and just need as as many hands to make the the work lighter as possible. So as if folks have background in fundraising or finance or grant writing grant writing or any of the or any of the of the of the sort event planning we we would love your support or you're just passionate and you want to you want to help the cause.

SPEAKER_01 29:11

Yeah and if uh none of you fit into that very specific category prayer absolutely absolutely prayer moves mountains one of the things I want to share with the listeners because again I think I've been to every single one of these is the energy and passion at these events you just can't help but not be infected by it almost it's very infectious. And happy people even though you know they may have children with challenges although they might not have children with challenges they might not even have children but everybody wants to see it successful. And when you've got that kind of driving force it makes a whole lot of difference as you're standing there with your your buddies and you got your little plate of hors d'oeuvres and stuff or maybe you have a and a beverage of some sort and you're thinking yeah we're all in this together. We want to have our children succeed in our Catholic schools and we want them to be productive citizens and we want to feel like like you said Ryan we're all inclusive really we're all brothers and sisters in Christ trying to get the good news out there and like I I I can only use the term infectious then you walk away with a lot of energy going holy wow this is really great and of course you're always on site as are a bunch of your other committee members and I I'm thinking you might feel the energy in the room as well.

SPEAKER_00 30:32

Absolutely without a doubt it's a it's a great it's a great thing you I mean to bring together all the different constituencies that find this mission to be um of worth the value of their time their energy their you know their treasure um whether that's our whether it's clergy it's parents it's teachers it's um the whole gamut you know I think we have a really wide variety of support from different constituencies and it's been great and and not I should say um not only in Sioux City I mean I think that like of course that's where we began and it's it's grown out from this community but we've also we just did an event earlier this year in in Spirit Lake and so and we're looking to to find ways to connect in other communities and so we'd love to in in other fire foundations around the country they're doing like kind of these this this idea of like the fireside chat where it's um just going into smaller spaces. We want to do these big our big fundraisers of course but so much of our work is about just connecting with families and so we've tried to make a really concerted effort to for me for a couple other board members we've been going out to schools over these last couple years and a lot with a lot more regularity and just trying to really um double down on the time that we're spending to learn what the schools what they need because it's it's similar but it's also unique depending on what their relationship is with you know the AEA the the this this the public school system that they're in and so it's it's a different it's a different dynamic in all these places. So we've really tried to invest our time and energy in learning what schools need but also what their what their community needs you know beyond it what who you know who the donors that are supporting these efforts are who are the folks that have the expertise in the area to help us you know break down barriers and remove obstacles and so it's been remarkable we our our dollars are going out to every school in the diocese um whether it's through a major grant or through our smaller microgrants um or just through the support that we're giving the diocese in general to put on events like the Ministries conference last year for example.

SPEAKER_01 32:41

Yeah and I recall um interviewing and I'm not sure I think she might have been the principal or the teacher at uh Carol Kemper and they had gotten a grant and she talked about the young man in I think it was the preschool or kindergarten class and you could just hear the emotion in her voice as she talked about this and the fact that the Fire Foundation was able to fund and she said everybody loved this little boy from you know from the little ones to the the adults to the you know the older students and she said you don't realize what a difference that makes you know that he has brought this joy that he has in his own life and passed it on to others. And sometimes we forget about that because we are focused on well we want you to maybe learn something your ABCs, your one, two, threes, you know, where the state of Iowa is in in association to the rest of the country but we forget that part of that is the joy of interacting with another human being. And it it was really powerful to interview her and and hear that aspect which I had not thought about. And I imagine that you and the rest of your committee members have probably heard that from the instructors and the principals who say hey I bet you didn't realize that this also happened.

SPEAKER_00 34:01

Absolutely and I think if I'm I'm assuming that um with the person you're talking about what is a great thing about the work that's being done was you know that initial work was just step one. And it's a beautiful thing because now that same principal has gone through a professional learning community with the University of Notre Dame and received training and more expertise to do her job in a more magnificent way and she is doing an amazing job there. And it demonstrates that we open our doors for one like what it can do for the many. And that's demonstrated time and time again the power of the one and to just see the uniqueness and the expression of God's face in all of us I think that like that's this is the gift that our kids with disabilities bring to our schools it's uh it's not only um it's who we are it's it's uh it's an embodiment of our mission of what it means to be a Christian what it means to be a Catholic and it's and it's also a reality of the world that we live in and are going to live in. Do we want to live in a society where we just completely shut a portion of the population out and for those folks who don't like to spend money well that's gonna cost more money. We are better served to educate our kids all of our kids with as best of the tools that we have at our disposal if we want them to be productive citizens in our life like Sawyer's 11 now she's gonna be 25 one day 45 one day do we want her as a society to have a job and to be productive and to contribute um in ways that are are more quote unquote typical probably most of us do. And so and most of us want that for ourselves and so all we want as parents is to give our kids that opportunity and whether they have a disability or not is irrelevant. Because they're our kids.

SPEAKER_01 35:54

Yeah they are there are kids and the other thing that I remember in the interview um that uh I did with the Carol Kemper uh principal I'm pretty sure it was the principal um she said it was so wonderful because of the Fire Foundation we are able to keep this student here and you alluded to that that Sawyer wanted to be with her brothers and that is so powerful and I've heard this time and time again as I've interviewed other members of the Fire Foundation is you don't want I mean sure you might have a child in elementary might have a child in middle school and you might have a child in high school but they're in the system together and you really want them in the system you don't want them in another system because again it's challenging. It doesn't work to pass down clothes if you have a does not work does it especially the uniforms I can vouch to that but when she said that that we could keep him here with us because he was making such a difference I I don't think you can put a price tag on that. I really don't that is so powerful.

SPEAKER_00 36:59

Well we actually can put a price tag on it we won't we won't go into into that discussion here but there is a price tag for that and that's part of what this cause is all about is understanding that the price tag to move our kids like to get down to a very technical level and how inclusive education is really working is in most places the model is well if you have an IEP and you're in a Catholic school you're only going to be there for a portion of the day because you're gonna get bust to the public school to for the certain the delivery of certain services usually like your course up like reading math instruction things like that. And so they'll get to do their specials at in in their Catholic schools maybe their PE if they don't lose it because they lose it in their transition time. Maybe they're fill in the blank if they don't lose it in their transition time. When we talk about keeping students quote unquote here's the spiritual and the moral component to it without any question but there's a pedagogical component too for our students who have disabilities who exhibit these you know who have higher needs who often most of them struggle with transitions and settling and move being regulated in different spaces the idea that we're gonna take kids out of school where our whole theory of our society is that learning is happening in schools and so we're gonna take the kids who have the most needs and remove instruction time from their day is ridiculous. And that does not cost us less money it costs us way more money to do that both in the short term once we reach a certain number of kids in a in a building but also long term in the in the societal costs. And the reason why we need special educators we need folks with that expertise in our Catholic schools is because our public dollars aren't paying for those like they are um like our tax dollars aren't paying for those our Catholic schools and our our private schools have to pay for them themselves. And we have to do it because we're not just a private school we're a Catholic school. It's it's it's who we are if not us if if who we're gonna look to we're I I think I tell my board this and others who are involved like folks we're the heroes that we're waiting for. Like we've been if if this was easy it would have already been done.

SPEAKER_01 39:14

Right.

SPEAKER_00 39:15

And so it it's not been done so we have to do it. And so it's up to us.

SPEAKER_01 39:19

It is it truly is and it's interesting because it reminds me uh my number two son who had some challenges with reading now we're talking about 40 years ago and he was in Catholic school and uh at first the special education teacher would come over for the public school and and then that was quickly squashed and so then they had to find somebody to take him over to the public school and like you said Ryan it wasting time because you got drive time and then he's got to learn the reading stuff in the public school with the Area 12 people and then now he's got to be brought back and so not only is the drive time a loss for his instruction uh you know it the instruction part is lost because you know I think he was seven and uh a seven year old doesn't quite process the way we do. And so it was a real challenge. Uh we had to respect what was going on at the time. And uh yeah but I remember that very very clearly as first they were able to come in and then the public schools shut it down very quickly. Again I'm not throwing the public school under the bus. It's all a learning situation in trying to address students with special needs and that's just the way it is.

SPEAKER_00 40:33

So I'm gonna segue segue it's important though I would just like want to affirm you know it's really important that we all recognize though and it's in because it's said in the law, you know, special education is a service it's not a place. And so the idea that like we have to go to a certain place to receive services is antithetical to common sense but also to the law.

SPEAKER_01 40:52

Yeah very much so I know by now listeners are very excited about the Fire Foundation and everything you all do and they're thinking to themselves oh I think this might be something I'd like to attend these people sound like a lot of fun. We are I think so too.

SPEAKER_00 41:08

So um we've given them time date place um is there a a deadline to go online and get a ticket for this and what what is the cost of the ticket which we haven't chatted about all sorts of different um pricing options for sponsorships to to get multiple tickets um it's a hundred dollars a ticket yeah we'll we'll go with that um and but with sponsorship levels that go that go all the way up that have carry with them some uh some other benefits um but folks can go online at firefoundation nwia.org and there and click on there'll be a big big up big spot there to click on um or scan a QR code to get to donor box and get your tickets that way and you can get them all the way up into the event. We certainly for our own head count would like folks to do that ahead of time but you know if if folks want to come to the night of I don't think we're turning anybody away we want to see everybody that we can in our community.

SPEAKER_01 42:03

Yeah but always better to uh do it ahead of time so there's enough if you want to eat it you should probably uh yeah but we understand sometimes life changes and you think oh I can't go I can't go oh look I can go now just go and absolutely absolutely so again listeners I want to remind you that we have been talking about um the sixth annual Ignite the fire event that's to benefit the fire foundation of Northwest Iowa by this time you should have gotten a piece of paper and a pencil and it is Wednesday September 16th starts at 430 usually wraps up about 630 or there's a lot of us just sitting around talking after 630 there will be remarks at 530 in case you have to work until 5. You can still get there you know and and at least hear the remarks and um you got tickets you got sponsorship opportunities um all kinds of good stuff it is at the Sioux City Distilling Company 313 Perry Street and again if you didn't have an opportunity to get a paper and a piece uh a pencil piece of paper you can go to fire foundation uh then I'm trying to adjust my glasses so I can read this firefoundation nw Iowa is and I got that right dot org but you know what listeners if that is all too complex just go to Google and type in Fire Foundation Northwest Iowa boom up it comes you can click on it you can learn all about the wonderful things they do and it is so important for this organization as they raise funds you know to benefit our students with special needs in our Catholic schools because that's what it's all about. And you can learn about their grants and their microgrants and it is it's just it's a wonderful outreach and we are so pleased that we are able to help promote this it is it resonates with me and I'm hoping it resonates with the listeners as well. So thank you so much my guest in the studio Dr. Ryan Allen he is president of the Fire Foundation of Northwest Iowa board and a grant writer and just a longtime good friend and supporter of the station thank you so much Ryan for coming on and and enlightening the listeners about the Fire Foundation and this great event you have coming up.

SPEAKER_00 44:23

We're really grateful thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 44:25

You bet. So listeners that wraps up another edition of Faith in action uh thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule and I want to remind you we have incredible local programming here at Catholic Radio every day the Divine Mercy Chaplet which is introduced by Bishop um John Keener daily 3 p.m and on Sunday mass is celebrated at Modern Day and that airs at 9 a.m life plan with Deacon Bart out of Omaha powerful for young people Sundays at 8 p.m Catholic ministry professionals with John and Ty airs Tuesday at 4 p.m and Father Knows Best with Father Mark Stoll airs on Wednesdays at 9 p.m so I want to remind you if you tuned in late or you want to listen to this show or any other show all you got to do is go to our website SiouxlandCatholicradio.com we are also on a number of other podcasting platforms that's all due to the generosity of Mary's choice a Sioux City Pregnancy Resource Center which is the exclusive underwriter for this show. So on behalf of myself I'm Joanne Fox I'm the host of this show and my executive producer Anne Reid I want to remind you a faithful reaction is good, but faith in action it's so much better. Thanks for listening and God bless.