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Charity of the Month: Berrien County Parks

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Uncover the transformative journey behind the Silver Beach Playground Project as we chat with Jill Adams, Berrien County Parks Department Director and Jaysen Field, Berrien County Environmental Property Manager. This episode promises insights into how a decade-long vision is coming to life, fueled by community spirit and a generous Michigan Spark grant. Learn about the innovative design choices that guarantee accessibility for all, and discover how pieces of the old playground find new life in the village of Eau Claire. This project is a testament to the power of collaboration in creating cherished spaces for future generations.

We also take you on a trip down memory lane, exploring Silver Beach's vibrant history from its amusement park days to its bustling present. Walk with us through the logistical labyrinth of maintaining such a beloved park, including challenges like sand management and staffing. Jill and Jaysen also share exciting dreams for Berrien County Parks' future, guided by community feedback and recent expansions. We highlight the parks' role as essential communal spaces that foster connections and memories. Plus, learn how you can contribute to these endeavors through the Berrien Community Foundation, ensuring these vital spaces flourish for years to come.

Learn more about Berrien County Parks:
https://www.berriencounty.org/355/Parks

Learn more about Wolf Financial Advisory:
https://www.wolffinancialadvisory.com/

Disclosure: Robert Wolf, James Koenig, Sara Wolf, and Michael Rock are investment advisor representatives of, and securities and advisory services are offered through, USA Financial Securities. Member FINRA/SIPC. Additionally, Amanda Opulskas and Adam Wallace are registered non-solicitors of USA Financial Securities, A registered investment advisor. 6020 E. Fulton St., Ada, MI 49301. Wolf Advisory Services and Wolf Financial Advisory are not affiliated with USA Financial Securities.

The strategies and concepts discussed are for educational purposes only and do not represent specific investment, tax, or estate planning advice. Investing carries an inherent element of risk and it is in everyone’s best interests to consult a tax, legal, or investment professional. The opinions expressed herein are not meant to provide specific investment advice or serve as a prediction for future stock market performance. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Securities and advisory services are offered through USA Financial Securities, member FINRA/SIPC. A registered investment adviser. Wolf Financial Advisory, Berrien County Parks, and USA Financial Securities are not affiliated entities.

Silver Beach Playground Project Fundraiser

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The strategies and concepts discussed are for educational purposes only and do not represent specific investment, tax or estate planning advice. Investing carries an inherent element of risk and it is in everyone's best interests to consult a tax, legal or investment professional. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Securities and advisory services are offered through USA Financial Securities member FINRA SIPC, a registered investment advisor. Wolf Financial Advisory are not affiliated with USA Financial Securities.

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Wolf Financial Advisory. When it's important to you, it's important to us.

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This is the Wolf Financial Podcast. Here's your host, Rob Wolf.

Rob Wolf

Good day everyone. Rob Wolf here for the Wolf Financial Podcast and today I have Jill Adams and Jaysen Field of the Berrien County Parks and Recreation here to talk about the big fundraiser that's going on for the playground equipment at Silver Beach. Welcome to both of you.

Jaysen Field

Thank you. Thank you for having us.

Rob Wolf

All right. So let's get right into it and let's talk a little bit about the project itself what you're trying to do and how is it getting paid for.

Jill Adams

Okay, so we are very excited to be here today to talk about the Silver Beach Playground Project.

Jill Adams

We've been working on this project directly for over a year, but we knew that this time was coming, that the playground would need to be replaced. This project has been in our previous two five-year parks plans, so it's really been a decade in the works. We were able to apply for and receive a Michigan Spark grant, which gave us $850,000 kickoff point to get this project going, and from there we were able to meet with a number of playground companies, bring a lot of ideas to the public. We had an open house. We had 80 people come out and take a look at those ideas. We had over 200 respondents when we reached out for public comment. So we were able to bring all of those ideas from the public, from our park staff and from the professional playground companies, and come forward with a design. And from there we have been fundraising all along. And here we are. We are 91% of the way to our overall goal. The maxed project is going to be $1.25 million.

Rob Wolf

So 91% of $1,125,000? Mm-hmm. Okay, so we're almost right there. And when I've talked with you in the past, you said there were specific criteria you were looking for with this new playground equipment. So what was that criteria you were looking for?

Jill Adams

incredible playground. It was over 30 years old. It was in some harsh environments throughout the you know, day after day and since the 90s when that was installed, there are a lot of new, improved features out there for playgrounds, including accessibility features, and the previous playground lacked a lot of those accessibility design features that we wanted to bring into this new one.

Rob Wolf

Such as what kind of? Can you give us an example of an accessibility feature?

Jill Adams

Sure. One simple thing is the surfacing, the access to the playground itself. Some people have difficulty maneuvering in sand in the surface of that playground. Before was sand. Now we are able to bring a barrier-free surface access and surface. It's a safety surfacing that will be there and the main idea there is to allow for young children and older children, no matter what their ability or disability might be, along with their siblings, their parents and their grandparents. We want everybody to be able to get to, on and around this play structure.

Rob Wolf

Okay. So yeah, accessibility it makes a lot of sense to have that. So, Jason, you've been sort of in charge then of the maintenance and overseeing the existing playground equipment and I know there's a lot of people out there that say, wow, we got taxpayer money going towards this and that. But overall we're looking at a lot of donations to support this, but taxpayer money was being used just to repair the old stuff that was there to make sure it remained safe. About how much on average would it cost per year to make sure that that playground equipment that is there that's over 30 years old remains safe?

Jaysen Field

Yeah, it ended up being a lot more costlier just to maintain that thing, you know, part of it being over 30 years old. Some of these pieces were hard to replace or you couldn't replace anymore. So we are kind of having to mix and match with different items, so it's more beneficial to start with something new.

Jill Adams

It was definitely getting more expensive there towards the end for replacement parts, more replacement parts. But every year too, we do have onsite maintenance staff that maintain the materials. We have rangers that do every other week inspections to make sure that those pieces and parts are not broken and still functioning. We we already had this maintenance in our parks budget annually and we will continue that. We want this new playground to last for another 30 plus years, yeah.

Rob Wolf

I remember taking my daughter Sara down to this playground when she was born, and that was over 25 years ago. So I mean being, I mean wonderful memories, you know, of playing with her. And now I have twins, I have five-year-old girls only 20 years apart. You know good planning. So if you need a good financial planner that knows how to plan the spacing of the kids out, definitely come to Wolf Financial. We'll take care of you. But anyway, wonderful setup. I mean it feels great. I mean you don't have any concerns about having your kids go on that equipment right now. You guys have done a wonderful job taking care of it and you have a place where this existing equipment's going to go, so it's not going to get scrapped right.

Jaysen Field

No, actually a good amount of it. The village of Eau Claire is taking. They dismantled it. It's actually just finished. Today they're going to be repurposing a lot of those pieces to go to the uh, the all care, all clear parks. So it gets to live on in some kind of form, um, and it's beneficial to win one for us. They helped us dismantle that thing, which hopefully can save us a little bit of money when it comes to construction of the new playground.

Rob Wolf

So right now we're at 91%. When is the final decision going to be made as to the uh, what type of equipment and the timing, and when do we want to see that in in the new spot.

Jill Adams

So we, like Jaysen, said today officially today there is nothing left there of the old playground. It was a little bit bittersweet to see, but it is beautiful. It is exciting because we will be bringing that new playground soon. Construction will begin soon and fundraising will continue at the same time. We are looking at we are going to be doing construction in 2025. So the project is ongoing into the spring and we are hoping that we can wrap up our fundraising by the end of the year.

Jill Adams

It is kind of the end of year giving time for folks and if they want to learn more about this opportunity for donations tax deductible donations they can certainly reach out and learn more about what those dollars will go towards. So what's the best way for somebody that wants to give to this project specifically? Where should they go? How do they write a check? What's the process? Their online portal there at their website are tax deductible. They also accept donations by check or cash at their facility on South State Street in St Joe and people have actually dropped off donations to us here in St Joe at the county admin center and Jason and I are happy to drive it over and drop it off ourselves.

Rob Wolf

So you also have a level of gifting. As far as recognition, can you talk a little bit about what that looks like?

Jaysen Field

supporter, uh name and a permanent sign. Uh, we have a thousand dollar plus uh level as well. Um, and the difference for that is a name on our our uh daily entry pass, um, for one full season. There is the uh entertainment supporter, uh, which is the $5,000 plus uh, you get uh a $5,000 plus you get your logo permanent sign at the project. And which one am I? There's the $10,000 plus recreation supporter, $50,000 plus imagination supporter and $100,000 plus advanced supporter or adventure supporter. I apologize.

Rob Wolf

So what do you have to do to get your name on it as far as the park named after you?

Jill Adams

That's what If anyone's interested in that, come to us. We'll have a conversation. We have a lot of projects on our list, this being one of them, a very important one. But yeah, definitely come to us and ask some questions.

Rob Wolf

So, Jeyson, let's talk about Silver Beach in general. So many people enjoy Silver Beach and the surrounding beaches on Lake Michigan. What are some of the other things that are going on that we should all be knowing about?

Jaysen Field

Well, I mean, it's a wonderful place for recreation. It does hold a certain level of special events each summer special concerts or some volleyball leagues as well. This new playground is going to be a great addition to the park. There's a concession stand, restroom facilities. It's become a nice destination park for the Midwest.

Rob Wolf

How many people do you believe visit Silver Beach on an annual basis?

Jaysen Field

Well, we actually have done some studies on this. We did hire out an agency who can kind of determine that number for you. I think we are estimating it's around 700,000 people a year.

Rob Wolf

That's impressive, right, because it certainly seems to be one of the busiest beaches in Southwest Michigan. Although we have several beautiful beaches all along the coast here, it certainly seems to be the hotspot for a lot of the action. Of course, you got the carousel right there, you got the Compass Park, you got everything. It's a great attraction for our community as a travel destination.

Silver Beach Park Operations and Maintenance

Jill Adams

It really is. What I enjoyed when I was a manager and was on site more often was I would often run into people who were sometimes they were by themselves, just sort of looking around, and I'd stop and say hi, and a lot of times they were people who either went to the amusement park or worked at the amusement park and they would tell me the history of it. I moved to Michigan, I moved to St Joe in 2001. So I had to learn all of that from scratch, and so these folks gave me real, live, historical stories of how they enjoyed that amusement park where the different rides were setting, and that helped me kind of form that love of the park itself and learn a lot of things that I just I didn't know before moving here.

Rob Wolf

And for those of you listening that aren't quite sure what she's referencing, silver Beach used to be the location of an amusement park for many decades. I believe it closed in the late or early seventies and they had a carousel there which they were able to get up there. What is the story behind that carousel? Do you know what that is all about?

Jill Adams

They? Um, there's a group local group of folks that worked really hard to bring the carousel that's currently here to town. It's not the same carousel that was on site at Silver Beach Amusement Park along the beach. If anyone is in town it's a great place to visit. They have a lot of historical information and photos of the Silver Beach Amusement Park and the carousel itself back in the day and then all of the work that they put in to bring that carousel forward. Now there's actually a documentary on YouTube that's phenomenal and free to watch and it gives the whole history of the Silver Beach Amusement Park.

Rob Wolf

That's great to know. And is that what? Do you know what? The just Google or YouTube search Silver Beach, st Joseph, michigan Amusement park, something like that, and that should bring it up.

Jill Adams

Yep, and it's on YouTube. I can't think of the exact name Silver Sands or something. It's just. If you Google it you can find it easily. It's about an hour long. It has a number of local folks that are sitting down telling their story of the history of that site.

Rob Wolf

So right now Silver Beach is starting to winterize Put up, I'm sure, the sand fences, whatever you call that, along the road there. And you know, it's just amazing how Mother Nature takes over and winter comes through sands blowing all over the place over, and winter comes through sands blowing all over the place. So when you guys are getting into May and you're trying to get that place up and running again, what are all the logistics you guys got to go through to get that park up and running?

Jaysen Field

That's certainly a lot and it certainly starts earlier than May. There's a lot of sand bulldozing that needs to be done. There's a lot of staff we need to hire, from park rangers to lifeguards, getting the restroom facilities all open up and ready, finalizing all of our reservations for the year. There's a lot of upkeep that goes into keeping that park operational. So do they have to bring sand in? No, that is all natural. That is all there. Actually, the excess sand, I believe, gets taken by the city of St Joseph.

Rob Wolf

Oh, so there's actually excess sand that comes in over the wintertime that they reposition elsewhere. Absolutely, now are you in charge of where does the park end and where does it start? You got the pier, which is not a county area, right, that's the piers by the federal, and then is it start at where that sculpture is, that big silver sculpture by the pier. Is that where the park technically starts?

Jill Adams

Yeah, a portion of that sculpture and a little bit of the park improvements do sit on the federal government property. We have a very long-term lease. The park improvements do sit on the federal government property. We have a very long-term lease. I think we just signed it because it was 20 or 30 years. Every 20 or 30 years we have to re-sign, but majority of it that's a really good access point the Shadowland Pavilion and the and you See sculpture right there on the river all the way down to the south end of the park, which is at Park Street. So if you take the road that goes down the hill, that's the south end of the Berrien County property.

Rob Wolf

So Shadowland Pavilion is where you can have a wedding, you can have a concert. How much revenue does that pavilion bring into the park system?

Jaysen Field

It's a good amount, but I mean it's enough to just sustain our park. We're not trying to make an absolute lot of money off of it. We want to provide people the best opportunity they can that's affordable for a wedding or a family reunion or a concert.

Rob Wolf

And so if somebody wants to reserve Shadowland for a wedding or a family reunion or a concert, and so if somebody wants to reserve Shadowland for a private event or they just want to have a group picnic somewhere and reserve an area, is it just a matter of contacting you or what's the best way of reserving those spots?

Jaysen Field

Contacting the main park office for the Parks and Recreation Department is the best way to do that. We have a calendar set up on our webpage as well, where people can look and see what dates have already been selected, what is open. I encourage people to utilize that, but they can just call the Parks Department and they'll let them know if the date is available, which pavilion might be best suited for them. Yeah, there's plenty of options.

Rob Wolf

So we've been talking specifically about improvements at Silver Beach and that park in specific, but you guys are part of Berrien County Parks and Recreation, which is a much bigger area. How many parks does the county service?

Jill Adams

So Berrien County Parks Department owns and operates seven different properties and they are spread out throughout the county. Out of that it's about 650 acres of property and we have beachfront, we have uplands, lowlands, wetlands, forests. We have a lot of different recreation hiking, biking, cross-country skiing, disc golf, of course, swimming at the beach and beach volleyball. The list goes on. So we do have options for everybody, depending on what the interest is.

Rob Wolf

And obviously it's supported by our taxpayers. But you guys also get charitable support as well. How much do you guys rely on the charitable arm of generosity and people in the community supporting the parks?

Jill Adams

Oftentimes what we do is the money that we receive either from tax dollars or the revenue income from parking and pavilion rentals. We will try to stretch that money as far as we possibly can. So how we do that is we will then apply for grants and we might use some of our parks budget to match those grants or we might do some fundraising, like we are right now for the playground project. So it's often I always say it takes a village. I tell that to Jason a lot. It takes a village, and that's how it is in our projects as well. We might have a couple of grants involved, we might have some parks budget involved and also we have an endowment fund, a Berrien County Parks Endowment Fund. That's been running for, I think, since the 70s and we accept donations on a regular basis there and that endowment fund has really helped us do a lot of projects throughout the whole system.

Rob Wolf

So, especially when you're getting in taxpayer dollars and and uh, the support of uh uh parks such as what we're talking about, there could be things that uh, sometimes uh misunderstandings and things like that. What are some of the big things that you find are common mistakes that people think are the way it is, but it's not.

Jill Adams

Sure, we you know frequently asked question kind of thing we get a lot of questions. The Berrien County Parks system is, like I said, made up of those seven properties, one of them being Silver Beach County Park. There are a number of people that will come to us and not really realize that Silver Beach County Park is owned and operated and funded separately than the fountain and the carousel and all of the other amenities. There's four beaches below the bluff in St Joe. The city owns and operates some of the other beaches, so there's a lot of us that really have to work together. When people are, they might play at the fountain down below the bluff and walk across the street and use the bathroom or hang out at the beach.

Jill Adams

We don't really care that they don't know whose property they're on. We want them to come and enjoy and have the amenity that they came there for. We want them to have a moment away from real life and be on vacation, whether it's a staycation or a vacation from someone out of town. It's an incredible place to be and we just want to make sure that we are providing the best facilities that we can. Just want to make sure that we are providing the best facilities that we can.

Jill Adams

Silver Beach is absolutely our busiest park out of the seven and it takes the most resources. So the money that we do bring in from user fees, which we call the parking and the use, prevent rental of the pavilions as user fees. We want to put that back into the park itself and keep it at a high standard. Kind of funny, we have about a $23,000 toilet paper budget for county parks. That's something that we need to think of. Every year we get a lot of bathroom use, so it's interesting when we start breaking it down and what we spend the money on.

Rob Wolf

Had a run in COVID on toilet paper, so you weren't getting a discount then, either were you. That was challenging. How about any any things that you find that people have misconceptions about, specifically regarding Silver?

Jaysen Field

Beach. I think Jill covered it pretty well. That park, you know, it may seem like it brings in a lot of money, but a lot of it is supporting seven other parks and it is supporting itself as well. Like I said, there is a lot that goes into maintaining that park.

Rob Wolf

So, specifically then, revenue generated at Silver Beach does get allocated to the other parks or does it stay at Silver Beach?

Jill Adams

It does get used throughout the whole system. So in general terms it's about 40% of the Berrien County Parks budget. Revenues do come in from parking and user fees at Silver Beach.

Rob Wolf

So the parking issue. So if you're a resident of Berrien County, you can get a pass. What was the pass cost for the last year?

Jaysen Field

For a daily pass for a resident of Berrien County is $8. To park at Silver Beach.

Rob Wolf

And then you can also get a annual pass. Is that correct?

Jaysen Field

Yeah, there is a season pass available as well, for $40.

Rob Wolf

For $40. So, and then they could just buy that right there where they come up to the attendance station. Buy it and probably, if you're going to be coming down to the, and that annual pass is good at any of the parks in Berrien County. So what's the second most popular park in Berrien County?

Jill Adams

So I think our second most popular park is Madeline Bertrand County Park in Niles. They have an 18-hole disc golf course that gets use all year long, except when we have enough snow for cross-country skiing. Then the skiers come out like crazy. They love when there's enough snow, which is a little more challenging these days and we have to close the disc golf course down, but otherwise, if the snow melts the next day, they can open up that disc golf course and our folks, our visitors, come out in every kind of weather. So Madeline Bertrand's a good one, and we just added an additional 35 acres to that property, so it's now 150 acres and we're looking at doing some improvements expanding the trails, expanding the disc golf course at that site too.

Future Plans for Barron County Parks

Rob Wolf

So obviously, right now, we got the playground equipment. We want to get that fully funded. We're at 91%. If you want your name on the playground equipment, give them a call. They'll make a special deal for you, especially if you want to fund the last 9% of the project. To fund the last 9% of the project, right, yes, okay. But what is next on the docket as far as major projects for Barron County Parks and Recreation?

Jill Adams

Well, it's very timely that you asked that question because we are working on our next five-year Parks and Recreation plan. So we've been taking our ideas and feedback from the community and we really have it honed in into a document which helps us. We reference that document through the years as we work on projects. As far as the county parks itself, we have recently in 2023, we have added property to our park. They were.

Jill Adams

This property was adjacent to current parks property. It came available and in order to keep it in the hut for public use, we were able to secure some funds and purchase that property. So, system-wide, we'd like to expand a little bit and get onto that property and get our visitors onto that property to enjoy it. If we're looking at Silver Beach itself, we have a master plan that was developed in 2021. And that master plan really does talk about some improvements and helping manage the increase in visitors. We are excited that our visitor numbers skyrocketed during and after COVID. It was a really good response. But the use of the park and the facilities and amenities also went up. So that means more wear and tear and more use. So that master plan project really does help us plan for that increase in visitors and we want to make sure that we're planning for 10, 20 and 30 years down the road and whatever those visitor numbers might be is there any?

Rob Wolf

there really isn't any way that you can increase the size of silver beach park, because everything else you got the compass fountain there, and so forth. So it is what it is.

Jill Adams

It is what it is, and it is what it is and it's a beautiful piece of property and we just want to make sure that we're utilizing it the best we can and upgrading our facilities as we go.

Rob Wolf

Now, Jaysen, one of your jobs with the county is also in recycling, so tell us a little bit about what that entails.

Jaysen Field

Sure, Well, every year, myself and my colleague, Genevieve Graves she and I operate the community recycling events. We coordinate those for every year. There's five of them every year. We just finished our last one a couple of weeks ago, and we also do some scrap tire events as well. These are great opportunities for residents of Barron County to bring any of their hazardous household hazardous waste, any of their electronics they need to get rid of, or possibly styrofoam on certain event days. It's just, some of these items are so hard to get rid of and this is just providing an opportunity to community to get rid of them at a one-stop shop.

Rob Wolf

I never had heard about that before. So, and this happens five times a year, correct. So how, how does that information get out to the general public? Is it in the paper? Is it on the radio?

Jaysen Field

We do our best press releases to social media. We also have a flyer that we have a mailer that people can sign up for to get it sent to them. We definitely want to get the word out there the best way we possibly can.

Rob Wolf

It's on our webpage as well. Probably because I haven't heard about it is because you don't advertise during Cub Games. You know that's the way I get a lot of my advertising overall, but no, is there any other points that you guys would like to share on this podcast?

Jill Adams

regarding the Parks and Recreation Department, I think so, you know, through the years Jaysen's been here for a long time. I moved to Michigan and started working for the county in 2001. We've met some incredible people along the way working on these projects, just being at the parks, enjoying the parks ourselves, and some of the stories that I've gained just by working on this playground project have been incredible as well. One of the aspects I didn't think much of, but I heard a number of times, was from grandparents, and grandparents are often caregivers in one way or another, and a playground is a great place to go, but one of the benefits to them is they get to meet other grandparents. So it really is a social gathering place, not just for kids, it's for parents and grandparents to meet new people as well. So we've been told by multiple organizations through the project, the process of the Playground Project, that Silver Beach really is a community meeting place and we're hoping that this playground makes that even more accessible and better for everyone.

Rob Wolf

That was Jill Adams, along with Jaysen Field. Thank you for joining us, sharing with us this great project that generations of families will be able to enjoy. Again, if you want to donate to your cause, to the county parks and recreation, where's the best place to go?

Jill Adams

The best place to go would be the Berrien Community Foundation. They have a Silver Beach Playground Project Fund there and they can accept donations, tax-deductible donations. But if anyone has any questions about this project at all, why we're doing it, when it's going to happen, we encourage you to go to the website barriencountyorg slash parks or give us a call and we're happy to walk through and show renderings of the project and how we got where we are and where we hope to be by late spring of 2025. So we would invite everyone out to come and enjoy that. We're hoping and working very hard to make sure that next summer everyone can come out and play on that new playground.

Rob Wolf

And if they want to call, what number should they call?

Jill Adams

Well, we're at the County Administration Center here in St Joe, so the number 269-983-7111 and the parks extension is 8435.

Rob Wolf

Okay, very good Again. Jill Adams and Jason Field of Berrien County Parks and Recreation, thank you for your time, thank you for your sharing and we look forward to all of us being able to get up and play on these new equipment coming out.

Jill Adams

Thanks for having us and really thank you for the donation to get us just to that next point of this project. We really, really appreciate that.

Rob Wolf

It's our pleasure. And again, this is Rob Wolf with the Wolf Financial Podcast. If you have additional questions, you can also go to our website, wolffinancialadvisorycom. Go under resources charity of the month. You will also see Berrien County Parks and Recreation there, along with the other charities that we spotlight during this podcast. Thank you both again and this podcast. Thank you both again and God bless.

Jaysen Field

Thank you.

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Thank you for listening to the Wolf Financial Podcast. For additional information about our firm, please visit our website wolfadvisoryservices. com. The strategies and concepts discussed are for educational purposes only and do not represent specific investment, tax or estate planning advice. Investing carries an inherent element of risk and it is in everyone's best interests to consult a tax, legal or investment professional. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Securities and advisory services are offered through USA Financial Securities member FINRA/ SIPC, a registered investment advisor. Wolf Financial Advisory are not affiliated with USA Financial Securities.

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Rob Wolf

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