Airdrie Inside
Airdrie Inside, with host and long time Airdrie resident, Chris Glass | Bringing light to our homegrown and hardworking heroes.
Airdrie Inside
Dr. Phillip Hoffmann: Community Builder
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In this episode of Airdrie Inside, Chris Glass sits down with Dr. Phillip Hoffmann, co-chair and vice president of the Airdrie Food Bank and a pillar of the city’s volunteer sector. Phillip’s story is a masterclass in the caregiver archetype. From his roots in Australia to leading the transition of the Airdrie Public Library, he’s moving the needle by proving that a society's true measure is how it treats its neighbours.
"The measure of a society... is not how well we take care of millionaires and billionaires, but it's how well we take care of people like that guy with those two boys. In life, we're all good until we're not good." — Dr. Phillip Hoffmann
Support the Airdrie Food Bank: airdriefoodbank.com
The first thing is is to look around at your neighbors on your street, get to meet them, right? Personal relationships, get to get to know your neighbors, what are their needs, if they have any, and you know, uh what's going on? What are they involved in? What are the kids involved in, and so on. Start building those connections. And from there, right, it's uh, well, I know, you know, the person who needs this or whatever. Oh, and I have that skill or that, you know, competency or whatever, you know, I can follow up. So, you know, it starts at home, it starts from where we are and reaching out to the people around us.
SPEAKER_00Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of Airdrie Inside. I am your host, Chris Glass. We are at Microacres again. Everything looks great here. It's nice and green. Make sure you check them out. I am with Phil Hoffman. Phil, welcome to the show.
SPEAKER_02Thanks very much, Chris. Great to be here. Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I've wanted to have you on the show for a little bit of uh little bit of time here. Uh actually, the time that I thought I need to know this guy's story was at the Shamrock Shimmy, where I saw you tirelessly work hard for that event and then uh be so happy on the dance floor. And I'm like, this is this is a story that needs to be told.
SPEAKER_02So welcome to the show. Yeah, yeah, thanks very much. All right, so I can tell you a bit about that story, um, why I became involved in Airdrie. Um I'll go back a little bit in time. So originally from Australia. I can tell. Jewel Citizen, it's a faded Australian accent. I have a call at Mid Pacific. Anyway, so I originally came over, Chris, to do a PhD at the University of Calgary way back in the day. And when I left, I wasn't sure whether I'd returned to Australia or not. And as it turned out, I basically stayed. So um, so a lot of the early days, obviously in Calgary as a grad student, um, didn't have much money to travel back to Australia, so I was here. And then, you know, did that, uh, work started coming up, relationships, um, how that goes, and uh, ended up staying. So um, my father always had a strong service ethic, and uh so I always you know wanted to follow in his footsteps in that way. Um when my partner and I, uh Suze Casey, were in uh Northwest Calgary, this is back now uh 2018, um, we were looking to move into a place and we looked at Airdrie and uh wasn't our first choice at first, but we ended up here and haven't looked back. We both loved it. Every day we say how much you know we enjoy Airdrie for all kinds of reasons. But when we moved, we kind of looked at each other and said, you know what, let's get involved in the community. She's service-oriented, I am, so you know, it was a no-brainer. So we just did. And uh Suze uh joined the board of the Chamber of Commerce. Um, I originally started out of the library, one thing led to another, you know, had time on my hands, COVID, you know, all that kind of stuff. Yeah. Um, so time on my hands, and just got more and more involved, and uh here I am.
SPEAKER_00Well, you know, it's it's a story that I've heard uh from more than a few guests about Iridry not necessarily being the first choice, but definitely being the last one they're gonna make.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Uh and that's a similar story to me. I I moved back home, uh, I was born and raised in Calgary, moved to Edmonton for a two-year stint, uh, couldn't afford to come back to Calgary. I was transferred back to Calgary, took a promotion here with WestJet, and uh looking for a place to live, ended up settling on a place I could afford, and then realizing this community is pretty special. And it's hard to find elsewhere.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it is. It's special in um you know subtle and unique ways. First of all, there's a strong sense that we're not Calgary, right? I mean, originally, well, not originally, but it's been a bedroom community for a long time. People don't like using that term anymore, and rightly so, because Edri's evolved into its own thing. So not Calgary is one thing, but also I find a very strong um civil um and volunteer ethic. Calgary has that too. I would say, Airdrie, even more so.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know, Calgary, I I remember the floods and how uh Marinenchi had to go on TV and say, we have too many volunteers. Like we need to slow down because we're starting to run into too many people trying to help. That doesn't happen in every community, but right, but when I see something happen in Airdrie or a need, so many people step up.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, I agree.
SPEAKER_00It's a it's a really great place. So let's talk about some of the ways you're stepping up. All right. So I we mentioned the library, so let's talk about your library journey.
SPEAKER_02Uh sure. So as an academic, uh PhD. Natural connection. Yeah, right, right. Uh not much of a stretch there. So um, you know, PhD in philosophy. That's what brought me to Calgary and the University of Calgary. Anyway, so um, you know, literacy, I headed up Literacy Alberta for a while in Calgary a long time ago. And uh so literacy is uh something close to my heart, uh, books and so on. So uh one of the first stops I made when I moved to Airdrie was um the library to check it out at what is now the the previous location, right? And anyway, so um the volunteer coordinator at the time looked at my resume and said, you know what, I think we have a role for you. In other words, not sort of stacking shelves, but something else. And it was um advocates for the Airdrie Public Library Society, so kind of like a friends of the library group. And um, so I said, yeah, sure, sure. And so joined that and before too long ended up uh taking that on as um as the president and did about oh a six or seven year stint there. I've just recently stepped down from leading it. I wanted to get through the transition to the new facility, which we did. I know, it's been a runaway success. You know, the the the numbers of people attending are just off the charts. So that's been a huge success. The whole Inspire concept and the building, the way it works, uh I think is working out well. So, yeah, so that was one piece, the advocates for the library, and then there's a few others just sort of followed.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, when I look at that Inspire Center, uh we just we were just uh you were volunteering, I was volunteering for Culture Fest yesterday at the time we're recording this. Um 20 some odd meetings were held at Inspire that led up to that event. Prior to Inspire opening, uh, we didn't have any meeting space. So it was either at somebody's house, which was really inconvenient for a larger group, or online meetings, or where you lose a lot of collaboration. Uh having a space where the community can go is so important.
SPEAKER_02Yes, so important. For sure. And for quite a while, meeting spaces in Airdrie were very limited. Yeah, it's better, it's a lot better now.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and so great work on on being an advocate for for what came of that. So, and and now you're with the food bank.
SPEAKER_02Yes, well, that's also been six years, uh the ending my third term, two-year term, pretty soon in October. Um, and that's been fantastic. I've been on a number of uh not-for-profit boards over the years in Calgary and uh here in Edry, and it's far and away the one I've loved the most uh for all kinds of reasons. Um, the cause itself, uh, which uh is you know greater than ever, sad to say, but the need is is greater than ever. And plus just the morale uh on the operations side and on the board side. I love our board, uh it's really functional, it's high-level functioning, and we get a lot done, and I'm really proud to be a part of it.
SPEAKER_00So you you touched on the need. Um everything's getting more expensive, everything seems to be getting harder. Uh talk about food insecurity first. Yeah, sure. Why it should be front of mind.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so food insecurity, and who would have thought, you know, I mean, originally when food banks started back in the United States, uh, I'm gonna say the 1950s-ish, uh, around that time, they were always only ever meant to be a temporary band-aid solution, right? Now they're so entrenched in not only in North the United States, but in Canada and other parts of the world, that like here, they're an essential frontline service.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Right? Regarded as essentially like an emergency service. And so so they've really become part of the fabric. Um, there are many, many reasons uh that we could go into around that. Uh but you know, most recently, I mean, COVID was was a factor. The demand was already and the need was already increasing, though, regardless. Um, we've got uh lots of uh new families, new Canadian families, uh in Airdrie, of course, in Calgary as well. But lots of people trying to make mortgages, two parents working, uh sometimes up to three generations in a house, in these big houses we have, and so on, and not always being able to quite make those ends meet.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well, and and and people making decent or what was considered decent salaries too, still struggling. Exactly. It's getting so much harder for that middle to make things meet.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, the middle class is being squeezed for sure. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So here in Airdrie, I I mean I've had the pleasure of coming out and seeing the facility, uh, and getting to know some of the people doing the work, but what does it take to run a food bank? What goes into that for people who don't know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, so a lot, a lot of logistics. Um, so I mean, the essential m model, the business, is fairly straightforward in that food comes in and food goes out. Yeah. Right? So we we receive food or we go out and get it or buy it, uh, and then we distribute that food. But that, you know, the in-between part, the food bank part, there's a lot of moving pieces in there, right? There's there's the constant turnover, uh, fresh produce coming in and out, and how to manage that. There's, you know, wastage and spoilage, which of course we try to minimize, right? There's um and and there's also that balance, Chris, of maintaining privacy and dignity for our clients, uh, and but also needing to get minimal information as well, right? Right. Um if we if we well, one model is ask no questions. We're not quite there, but uh if you do that, you get you tend to get a bit more abuse of the system. There's not much of that, but there's gonna be a little bit. So we just basically asked to show that our clients are from this area, um Edry area.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, not driving from Red Deer. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And then uh one of the other things, when you talk about the logistics side of it, you know, uh, if you haven't had the opportunity to go suit sort food or or donate some time, I I suggest people do it if they can. Uh I was shocked with how much work goes into uh the sorting and then and even sourcing food that is food bank ready. And that was something I didn't know about.
SPEAKER_02So yeah. So sourcing is always uh an ongoing you know work in progress. We need to find sources, you know, some come, some go, and so on. We're lucky to have uh a strong support from the corporate sector and also in the private sector as well, and and resonances, um, uh resonance of Airdrie. So we get a lot of support. Um, but uh just back to the point you made, yeah, it's a really eye-opening experience, Chris, to go to the food bank and do some volunteer work, do sorting, because you know, we get these big watermelon bins or gaylords, they're called, uh, these massive bins, huge, and they're full of tins or cans, right? And other stuff, cardboard, uh boxes, whatever, from you know, mac and cheese to you name it. Well, it all has to be sorted. I mean, you've got this massive container of food. It needs to be, before it can be distributed out the door, we need to organize it. So that's a lot of sorting that goes on. Um, a little less so when you get the pallets from the Costco's and so on, and it's all just one pallet of whatever watermelons or whatever. Uh, so then there's a little less, but then there's still always storage involved. So it's a constant, uh, a constant moving you know, warehouse project.
SPEAKER_00Now, when somebody donates money to the food bank, uh where does it go? Because it I I know it goes to covering the costs of the sorting and whatnot, but what other expenses are the food banking?
SPEAKER_02Well, sure, sure. So there's there's obviously operational expenses. So, you know, it is a non-for-profit, but we you know, we have to remember that um it's a business in the sense that some people are paid. We have hundreds of volunteers, but we have a staff as well. So there are there are staffing costs, there's ongoing uh maintenance costs, of course. Uh I mentioned that we do need to buy some food. You know, we're fairly fortunate. We get a lot donated from our corporate partners and so on, but there's still um uh food that we need to buy. For example, um baby food, uh baby formula, that kind of stuff, it's in high demand everywhere, and it has been for several years. So um, you know, we just don't get that donated, so we have to go out and buy it. And even things that used to be always on our shelves tomato soup, mushroom soup, that sort of stuff, cans, yeah, you know, we've had shortages of those as well in recent years, amazingly.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's uh that's uh disheartening to hear, but at the same time uh that somebody's filling that service is is good to hear. Uh what challenges right now is facing the Yergy Food Bank? What's our biggest uh challenge here?
SPEAKER_02Um just the uh the the growth of population and the need that's gone along with that, right? Right. And so in that sense, we're not alone. I mean, the city has growing pains in all kinds of ways. You know, on the city, right? So kind of similar kinds of growing pains, right? Where you've got you've got needs, demands uh to to meet, right? They're different from the cities, what you have to provide, but uh but there are just needs across the board because we've got a growing population. So um, so just keeping up with uh the demand, we're we're sort of there, but it's you know, from week to week, it can be pretty close at times.
SPEAKER_00Right. In a perfect world, uh and obviously in a perfect world the food bank doesn't exist.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Uh so I don't want you to put yourself out of uh out of a uh responsibility here, but in a perfect world, what would support for the food bank look like from the community, from levels of government?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well, I I think um advocacy, um awareness, right? Uh stepping up. I mean, um, and really, Chris, it really comes down to uh philosophically, right, for a society, um, where are the society's priorities and how does a caring, responsible society support people who are most in need? Right. And I've got a little story I'd like to tell around that as a sort of segue back to that point. So this is a a story that happened a couple of years ago, and for the most part, uh, as I mentioned, because of privacy concerns, we don't know the stories of our clients. They come in, we ask for a little bit of ID, and what do you need? How what is your family size? First, first question. How big's your family, right? Uh, and then we go from there. And there's hampers and pantry and so on, right? And so um, so we mostly don't hear the stories of our clients. This is a different uh occasion. So our warehouse manager, Robert, was um was out the back, got a call that there was someone coming in for a food hamper, right? Right. Family of three coming in for a food hamper. So the the person came and it turned out to be um uh a man, uh younger guy, uh, with two boys in the front seat of his truck, about age four and six, something like that. Robert thought. Anyway, Robert takes a look at this truck, it's a pickup truck, and figures this is a tricked-out, you know, truck. It's probably worth 150,000 bucks. I mean, you know, not a poor person's vehicle at all. A newer tricked-out pickup truck. Yeah. So the guy comes over and they they uh he says, Yes, I'm here to pick up my hamper, and uh, you know, gets the the boys to sort of help out with him and make room for this, and you know, and so on, and the boys are being very respectful. And anyway, so Robert helps the guy, gives him the food, the hamper order, and he's about to walk away, and the guy turns at him and looks at him and says, You have no idea how much this is helping. Right. Robert just says, Oh, you know, and he's a ch Robert's a friendly chatty guy, allowed this person to tell a bit of his story. Right. Story is that a few weeks previously, uh, his wife um died in a car accident. Okay. Um with so they have two boys, right? Now no immediate family close by, so he's now primary caregiver to these two young boys. Okay. So primary caregiver has to do everything for them, loses his job, right? Because he can't keep up with both. Right? Couldn't keep up with his uh job, got laid off. Uh he was getting desperate um to make ends meet, and until he found someone else, another employer, who was willing to take him on. Okay, so he you know, gets on with this new employer, but he's still near the end of his rope, right? Because it's been weeks and weeks and he's got not much money and whatever. And so he's just in the front office and just sort of, you know, going, What am I gonna do? And the the woman at the front desk uh uh said, You know what? Go to the food bank, they'll take care of you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And the boss, who is standing nearby, uh overhearing, said, Yeah, do that and take my truck, and flips him the keys. So so there's a few things around that that that jump out again. Like I said, we don't know the stories of our clients. Another lesson is assumptions, right? Be careful about the assumptions we make. We we have this stereotype of who goes to a food bank or who needs the food food bank. We don't know that. You don't know that either. It could be anyone, could be right next door to you. You don't know. Um, so there's that, and then going back to uh the point about um what sort of society we want, you know, my view, Chris, is that uh the measure of a of a society, of a true, caring, and responsible society is not how well we take care of millionaires and billionaires, but it's how well we take care of people like that guy with those two boys. Right. Right? Because um in life, we're all good until we're not good.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, right?
SPEAKER_02It's all good until we're not good. Exactly, exactly. And so, right, and that's why society has to be responsible for that, right?
SPEAKER_00I I love what you're saying about assumptions. Uh I I'm a pretty positive person and I I live a pretty stress-free life because of positivity. You know, I I don't uh I don't try to assume that everybody's out for bad intentions, and that usually leads to good relationships, right? Every now and then you're gonna meet somebody who is abusing the system or is uh having bad intentions, but for the most part, people are just trying to do their best, yeah, trying to make ends meet. And if you meet them on a bad day, it might be a bad experience, but to not assume the worst in that person and not assume something that you don't know. If you're going to assume something, assume that they mean well.
SPEAKER_02Yes. It's not always easy to do, but no, it's sometimes it's really hard. But if we can make that our default assumption to assume the best, you're right. We have better lives, we have better relationships, we have more fun, and life is less stressful, right?
SPEAKER_00Right. It just it it works out better for you as a person. That's right.
SPEAKER_02That's right. Couldn't agree more.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I think uh that's a great way to go. And uh it's interesting to have uh somebody with a doctorate in philosophy agree with my personal uh way of going. Uh tell me a little bit about how your background in philosophy helps you navigate these real-world situations because I don't think they're disconnected. I don't think uh having a good uh philosophical background doesn't work operationally.
SPEAKER_02So tell me about that. I agree. So um, you know, in universities, there's again, there's this stereotype about philosophers or a philosophy department of yeah, how can you get a job with that, right? Yeah, you'll never get a job with that. Well, actually, employment rates are quite good for philosophy graduates, and they they have been all along, and not just good for the humanities, but good, you know, period. Right. And I think a couple of things. Um, one is um critical thinking, um looking, tending to look at the big picture, being able to sort of stand back and and look at the big overall picture, and uh look at um underlying causes, of course, um ethics and morality, right? Uh that comes up all the time. How do we how do we uh address ethical and moral challenges? Um, and that comes up uh you know in life in general, but particularly when we're trying to balance resources, yeah, which we always are in you know in all aspects, right?
SPEAKER_00So yeah, that's a really good point. So let me pick on this a little bit because I'm a nerd and I go down rabbit holes, and uh I really got into the good place, which created uh the show on NBC, The Good Place, and it sent me down a rabbit hole of philosophers and finding out some of the backgrounds of some of the things I heard on the show. When it comes to philosophy, what are some of your influences? What are some of the things that you've taken from your your education?
SPEAKER_02Well, thanks very much for asking. I could I could really go off on a tangent because my PhD dissertation was in philosophy of science, in philosophy of quantum mechanics. So I'm not going to go down that rabbit hole as much as I would love to, because you might lose all of your listenership right there. Yeah. Because it's, you know, it gets fairly technical fairly quickly. However, um I am a bit of a generalist as well, Chris, and uh um you know did ethics as well and logic and uh uh you know critical thinking, as I said, and um took something from all of that. And I would say um, you know, for for ethics, uh, for example, um, there's different, you know, theories and schools of thought about how we should be. Uh it's easy to say, yeah, just do the right thing. That's easy. But Google tried that. Yeah, yeah, exactly. But what does that mean? That's where it becomes hard. What does it mean to do the right thing? Or what does it mean to be a good person? Because there's different conceptions about that. So um we don't we can't lose sight of the questions. They're important questions, and they're hard and they're tough, and we're all always going to keep coming back to them, but we have to keep um, you know, uh asking ourselves what that means for us personally and for our communities. So um, you know, the basic Kantian ethics thing of uh uh treating other people the way that you would want to be treated, which is like the golden rule, which is common in religions, uh that's a that's a pretty good starting point. So, you know, uh I like that as a as a basis, right? That reversibility principle, right? I treat you, how do you how do I want you to treat me the same way in the same situation? That's right, that's right. And you do that, Chris. Uh you give people the benefit of the doubt. And yes, you can get kicked in the butt every now and then, as you said, right, just before, but in the long run, it's still a good way to live.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, you know, it's it's been quite rewarding for me. One of the things I've had the ability to do with a career in aviation is travel a lot.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00And you hear about this country being dangerous or that country being dangerous, you're the worst about everything. And then when you get there and you start talking to people and being curious and learning their stories, you get rewarded with such a rich experience.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And I find that's the same way with people. Like if you give people the benefit of the doubt, you're more than likely to have a deeper relationship with them than just that surface transactional level.
SPEAKER_02Sure. And also just that being open and the openness when you travel, you know, you know, step in you you got to step outside your comfort zone a little bit and meet people halfway. You do that, people recognize that they and they respond to that, right? And they'll meet you halfway and they'll tell you about their situation and their country and their life. And that's why we travel to find that out. Of course.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you can go to an all-inclusive resort anywhere in the world and get the same beer and the same thing, but learning that waiter story and that like so. Like, I I've I could go on a rabbit hole one day. I'm gonna do a whole episode on my experiences in Cuba and bring on a Cuba expert. But, you know, I've developed uh friendships with people that have lasted 20 years in two countries uh as they've immigrated to the United States or other countries, and we're still friends to this day. That all started with a conversation and getting to know somebody. So you never really know where it's gonna go.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, that's uh I didn't expect to go deep into philosophy here.
SPEAKER_02Well, it's been a shallow dive so far.
SPEAKER_00So far, well, the quantum mechanics side, uh quantum uh uh philosophy of quantum mechanics, yeah. That uh keeps me up at night in a way my brain just doesn't understand it, and I try to, so that'll keep me up all night. So that'll be off camera. I'll ask you about that.
SPEAKER_02Right. Yeah. I'll give you the Cull's notes when we're done.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Uh I want to pick on something uh about you personally when it comes to philosophy. Uh you have seemed to dedicate a life of service. Why?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so I mentioned my father's service ethic, and um, yeah, it's always been part of my DNA. Uh um you know, he was an immigrant too. He was uh uh an immigrant from it was then Palestine to Australia, right, during World War II as a civilian internee. That's a whole whole other long story, right? Um, but brought to a not a prisoner of war camp, but a civilian internment camp, like the Japanese were held here in World War II. So he was uh um a German Palestinian, transported to Australia with a bunch of you know relatives on a ship and and kept in a camp. And when he was released in 1947, you know, um he had a suitcase and that was it, and made his way in Australia. And in retrospect, he said, you know what, it's the best thing that could have happened to me. I didn't choose it, right? Yeah um, but I ended up in this amazing country, Australia, and you know, another of one of the best countries in the world, and started from nothing and made a life for himself. But uh because of his good fortune that he realized, um, he gave back to Australia, right? And so here I am in Canada giving back to Canada, right? It's it's just to me what what you do, right? Right. So yeah. And in the ways we can. So right.
SPEAKER_00And uh, you know, finding a way to contribute in the way you can is so key. You know, it doesn't always have to be starting a foundation. Sometimes it's just a step, sometimes it's just a little volunteer shift to get things rolling.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And and while I'm at it, Chris, I'll just put in a quick shout-out for Volunteer Airdrie, which is another of the groups I'm in. Yeah, I'm on the board for that. And uh, you know, again, um really shows the volunteering spirit in in uh Airdrie. Uh hundreds and hundreds of volunteers registered, and then we sort of act as a sort of clearinghouse to match um volunteer needs with volunteers who are registered in a nutshell, right? There's more to it than that, but but it's that matchmaking service that's important. Now, without that, um organizations can do it themselves and find their own volunteers and and scramble and and do that, and many um many towns and cities do that. But to have um an organized group that does that as a service, yeah, that's a good thing, right?
SPEAKER_00Um just as we experienced this weekend with volunteer injury at Culture Fest.
SPEAKER_02Yes, and next to Culture Fest, right? The Culture Fest staff working together, yeah, helping make sure things run smoothly with traffic control and just you know general maintenance and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, I mean that was an example of how things work, right? Right. And work well. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00So just just an incredible uh depth of giving back to the community. I I really like to thank you for that. Uh thank you. I I hope more people look at these examples and go, uh, I could help, I could be a part of it. So what's your advice for somebody who's listening to this, going, I I feel a bit disconnected from my community and I want to get more involved?
SPEAKER_02Well, I the first thing is, Chris, and this is maybe not what you're expecting me to hear to say, but the first thing is is to look around at your neighbors on your street, get to meet them, right? Personal relationships, get to get to know your neighbors, what are their needs, if they have any, and you know, uh what's going on? What are they involved in? What are the kids involved in, and so on. Start building those connections. And from there, right, it's uh, well, I know, you know, the person who needs this or whatever. Oh, and I have that skill or that, you know, competency or whatever, you know, I can follow up. So, you know, it starts at home. It starts from where we are and reaching out to the people around us. And then in an organized way, there's um volunteered, you know, volunteeredry uh.ca, um, edrifoodbank.ca, and so on. Uh go online and start looking around. And before you know it, you'll you'll get hooked up with lots of people. You know, it's there's as much there as you want to get involved in.
SPEAKER_00Well, that's that's a great way to end the pod. Uh, I really appreciate you coming on the show. Like I said, I've been an admirer of you seeing you do so much in the community. I'd like to thank you for that, and thank you for being my guest today.
SPEAKER_02Thanks very much for having me, Chris. And I want to thank you and the exciting new city council we have for all the work you're doing.
SPEAKER_00Seriously. I do appreciate that. We're we're working hard, my friend.
SPEAKER_02I know, I know. Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_00And thank you for joining us here on Airdrie Inside. We're gonna be back with more great episodes coming up shortly. That's the one. Yeah, there you go.