Episode 22: Joining Forces to Inspire Hope: Steve Kaarbo and the MNSWCA

In this episode, Steve Kaarbo discusses his work with Northwood Children's Services and the MNSWCA, a non-profit organization. He talks about the transition to community-based mental health support and the impact of COVID-19 on children's social skills. Steve explains how MNSWCA raises funds for the Masonic Children's Clinic through events like the Frozen Force Artist Showcase and Excalibur Con, blending nerd culture with philanthropy to support speech and mental health services for children.

Transcript

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Hello and welcome to Hear Me Out, the official podcast of the Masonic Children's Clinic for Communication Disorders. This is the place where we dive into all things related to communication disorders and how we can best support the kids and families affected by them. We will be talking with speech language pathologists, clinic staff, families and donors to share stories, insights, and the impact of providing free speech, language and hearing services to children across our community. I'm Niki Lampi speech language pathologist and director of the clinic, And I'm Tamara Pogin, also a speech language pathologist with a focus on working with autistic children and their families. And we are your hosts. We're so glad you're here. So today we are excited to welcome Steve Kaarbo to the podcast. Steve is an active member of the community supporting students at Northwood Children's Services and forming of the M-N-S-W-C-A-A non-profit that organizes nerd culture events to raise money for children and families. M-N-S-W-C-A has generously supported the Masonic Children's Clinic through events like the frozen force artists chose. Nope. Um, M-N-S-W-C-A has generously supported the Masonic Children's Clinic through events like the Frozen Force Artist Showcase, which is coming up again on February 21st, 2026. Yay. Hi Steve. Hi Steve. Hi. Thanks for having me here. Thanks for coming in. Absolutely. And we have a lot to talk to you about today. I feel like there's so many ways this conversation can go. Um. But what we were talking about before we started, started recording here was that you work with children and family at Northwood Children's Services, and I feel like people in the Helping Professions, you know, you, you your life finds ways to incorporate that help into so many diff different outlets. So, um, let's start with your background and your work at Northwoods. Yeah, absolutely. Uh, I've had the. Opportunity to work at Northwood Children's Services since 1998. So I've been there for a little while. Um, I've worked with all ages as young as three years old, up to adults. Um, I've worked in residential treatment, worked in day treatment, worked in outpatient therapy. Um, I've overseen programs. I've been part of programs. Um, and when you say like. People find each other in this field a lot. There is a lot of overlap. I can remember back in the late nineties, early two thousands, bringing kids to the Scottish Rite. Um, for speech services, uh, before we had the ability to have those services on site at Northwood. Um, I, I think there's a big overlap as people have come in to work at Northwood and then gone out and worked at the county or worked at other agencies in our area. And with Duluth being an area that has a lot of support for children and families and mental health, uh, we're very fortunate to have that and a lot of us. Intersect with one another on a fairly frequent basis. Yeah, it's great to have that support, that support system for the families and also for each other because I think it's, it's a difficult job that we have sometimes. Yes, it is. I think, uh, helpers often, um, are the ones that are relied upon obviously 'cause they help, but then, uh, they don't always get the help that they need to. So the support from one another definitely goes a long way with that. Great. And you're. By therapist, you're meaning licensed family and social. Yeah, I'm a, I'm a licensed, uh, professional clinical counselor. So rather than the social work route, I went the clinical counseling route. Um, I graduated from UMD back a long time ago with my undergraduate, uh, that was 1998. And I went to grad school, uh, at UWS, uh, and graduated there in 20, uh. I guess it would've been 2021 now. I guess it's a, it's been a while. I guess the time keeps truck trucking. Mm-hmm. Um, so I, I got my graduate degree there and, um, got my licensure in clinical counseling and I've done, uh, day treatment counseling. I've done outpatient counseling, individual primarily with kids and family work as well. But I've, like I said, I've worked with very young kids and then. Some young adults as well. And so having such a long career, like say back in the the nineties, that's about about when we started too, too. Um, but what are some of the trends that you're seeing, um, and for like different ways that Northwoods is changing and adapting to help the mental health? Picture for children and families. Yeah. Even in the time that I've been at Northwood, um, it has changed pretty significantly. Um, so when I started there, really residential treatment was kind of a standard go-to, to, um, helping serious mental health and behavioral health challenges. And as we kind of fast forward to today, there's a more community approach. So when I started at. Northwood, we had day treatment that was kind of an adjunct to residential. Kids would just come in and kind of do what the residential kids do, and now it's very formalized and, uh, day treatment, uh, we serve more kids in the day treatment programs that we have than residential. Those are kids that are in their family homes, in their foster homes or grandparents or whomever their caretaker is. They can stay in that setting and not be taken outta that setting for residential services or things like that. So there's a, there's a, a, a less restrictive intervention that is afforded to a lot more children in our area. And now we also have five different, um, school-based. Day treatment program, so like Lincoln Park or Myers Wilkins, and now one in Cloquet. So those kids don't even have to leave their school setting. So they're staying at home. They're staying in their school-based program for education and not. Even going to an offsite. So there's just a, a lot more community-based, uh, programs with Duluth being kind of, I don't know, it's almost a mental health haven in a way. There's so many practitioners that are around and just the need is there. So having the ability to, to work with, say, Brightwater or Nystrom or Essentia Health, uh, there's a lot of cross um, support in those things. And even having. Kids come to the clinic or come to Essentia for, for speech pt. Mm-hmm. Um, things like that. Now, Essentia has those services right on site at Northwood. So I, I guess there's just kind of this broadening of the services rather than just being very restrictive to being more community based and community supported within the kids that we serve, kids and families that we serve. I think that's awesome that we have that in our area. Do you feel like we're kind of atypical to have that strong of a mental health support here? I very much believe that, yeah. So Northwood gets a lot of feedback from other counties and places where kids will come from Washington County or or smaller counties in the southwest of Minnesota or up on the Iron Range, and. Not always. You don't say always or never, but most of the time they'll say, what's something you would change about Northwood? Have one in our community. Mm-hmm. Have this type of thing up in. Biwabik or out in Detroit Lakes or down in southwestern Minnesota or something like that. So I think it is atypical and we can even drive across the bridge to Wisconsin and see a very different landscape of services that are provided. And sometimes that does cause a little frustration. It's like, oh, you're just right over there, but we can't take your insurance or your badger care, or things like that. Um. But there just isn't the number or quality of services that are just right across the bridge. Mm-hmm. That's one thing where sometimes people call the Masonic Children's Clinic kind of the unicorn, because we don't have to have those boundaries of taking insurance that we can just go across the bridge. But people do also have the cri criticism of the, like having one in our community, having one higher, you know, further north or further south. And yeah, definitely we, we relate. We relate to that absolutely a lot. Absolutely. Uh, so, um, anything else on, uh, Northwoods that you wanted to share? Like I know you were talking about, um, before we were recording a little bit about, um, the. Some of the challenge, some new cha. Um, we talked about some of the trends, and so that's community based, but also just some of the, um, challenges that young people are having in our communities in from, from due to COVID, due to, um, the landscape of our, of our, the, you know, structure of our, our social, of our social situation right Now. What is happening with, with that? Like have you seen different trends that going with that way? Absolutely. Um, and I, I. I always like to preface that this is anecdotal. I don't have like statistical data, but I think those of us that have been in the field for an amount of time can really utilize our strengths of experiences that we've had. So anecdotally, there are definitely changes. Um, I don't think that it would be overstating to say that the, the COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally changed. Some societal norms and some societal responses. And coming out of that, we have definitely seen a shift in, um, socialization and, and maybe some regression in social skills with kind of those, those younger kids, those children that were born just prior to the pandemic or born during the pandemic. There's been a. Pretty, what I would call a drastic change in working with our elementary schools in the area. And I would venture to guess it would be similar across the Strai state, region and country because there are a lot of factors that have impacted their, their development during that time. And we think of like a, I was talking a little bit earlier, I have a 3-year-old grandson who was born after the pandemic, and I look at how he was at age two. To now at age three and just the massive amount of development, learning and, uh, socialization that occurred in that one year. Now, translate that backwards a few years to having that year two to three during COVID, when you're limited, who you can see, what you can see. I may not even see half of my parents' face, um, screen time. The, the lack of connection with. Immediate family, extended family, friends, social groups, um, church groups, youth groups, sports, the things that, um, individuals even at a young age might be involved in, uh, head Start or things such as speech therapy that were delivered in some different formats just because of the nature of the pandemic. I think those things are compounding factors that have then, now. It kind of reared their heads when it's okay now just go to school. Okay, you haven't had these experiences. Now just go be with 25 other children and adults that you don't know and now play catch up with that. So I think there are some, uh, deficits that can be caught up on, but it's gonna take time In my mind, the, the only way to get to a point is to do things for a certain amount of time, where we've kinda lost some of that time. And, and to make it up is just gonna take even more time. Well, we're grateful for you and all the providers Yes. Who are out there to help provide that support to kids and families. Mm-hmm. Yeah. We're we're happy that you said that you're part of the community. Yes. Mm-hmm. Yes. And then speaking of. Just in your work life that you feel like everything's very community based, but your organization is very community based as well. With the MNSWCA you decided on making something that you enjoy, right? Um, to, um, and give it, give access to others, but then also do it for a good cause. Can you talk more about what. M-N-S-W-C-A even is. Yeah. Yeah. It's a, it's an interesting journey. I'll do the, the, the cliff notes. I don't even know if anybody knows what Cliff notes anymore. Oh, do the chat. GPT notes, maybe chat wt. Um, so, you know, I've, I've been a lifelong Star Wars fan, so I think most people know Star Wars, but if you don't, it's a sci-fi fantasy adventure that were movies as early as the, the late seventies and have. Continued on, um, kind of a, a cultural icon. Uh, so I remember being a kid myself and playing with Star Wars toys and just really enjoying it and it's carried on to my adult life as well. And I started a Star Wars fan club, so that's where this started. Um, there's other Star Wars fan clubs throughout the country and I kind of networked with them and a lot of them have kind of Phil Philanthropic, Phil Charity events. And activities, uh, maybe I need to come here and get a little help on that word. Um, but so we were like, okay, what can we do? What can, uh, the Minnesota group do to, um, give back to the community? So a couple years ago we had an event in my front yard. It was for my birthday, and I was like, I don wanna do a fun thing. And we kind of did a carnival in our front yard and I had, um. We had stations set up to do games and prizes and raffles and, and things like that. And as part of it, one of, uh, the young ladies that I know, uh, drew a picture of Princess Leia and we auctioned it off and it was Fanta. It was like, looked like a photograph. It was so good. Uh, coming outta that event, I was like, hell, what we, and like, but do it in a sci-fi fantasy kind of nerdy way. She was like, that's a great idea. I'm like, okay. I know a lot of artists, so we'll just kind of reach out and try and. Connect with more artists and see if this is even a thing. Um, so we put together this artist Showcase, which was known as the Frozen Force Artist Showcase. Our first one was three years ago. Um, Nikki's daughter, grace was a major part of that. And, uh. Coming out of that, we were able to raise a large amount of money, um, for a relatively small group. We were pretty small at that time, um, and donate it to the, to the clinic. And how that came about was, I have a friend named Scott, who's a Mason, uh, goes to lodge right next door. Um, and he said, you know, there's a, a really good local, uh, we wanted to keep money. Local, local organization that provides for kids. And he mentioned the clinic and I. We'll be the first to admit, I'm like, I don't even know what this is, the Minnesota Masonic Children's Clinic. I don't. And he said, well, it used to be Scottish, Rite I was like, oh, okay. I know what that is. And um, just in the interim, didn't know there was the change, but I'm like, oh, okay. I know that. Yeah, that sounds really good. And then, um, Scott. Organized, uh, connection to come down and take a look at the clinic, meet Nikki. And I'm like, yeah, this is exactly what we want to do. Um, so that was kind of the beginning of us building the charitable organization. So it started off as just, hey, we're just kind of sci-fi fans and like to do silly things and collect comics and do stuff like that. And then it shifted once we saw. You know, people there, there is a desire to connect in this way. It's a little bit different. Um, you, you have like big events where, um, maybe, uh, a, a sports person come in or a celebrity. So there's an interest in that. Well, this is just another format of it. Instead of the black tie dinner, we've got the Artist showcase. Um, and there's, there's a desire for that. So we built the, uh, MNWSCA Uh, dot org as the the 5 0 1 C3 charity kind of aspect of things. We still have our fun fan club on the side, and we've got this that can build to a much larger reach in our community and we've. Partnered now for three years with the clinic. Um, and it's been an amazing ride. We've been able to, uh, raise a good amount of money to then, um, funnel to the clinic for services. And then we've been able to be a part of the gala a couple times and that has been really enlightening for our people that are involved with us that maybe didn't, one didn't even know that the service existed around here. And two, what. That money really actually means what every dollar means to the kids and families who come to the clinic and get services. So, uh, it has, it has grown and we've really enjoyed the connection and our kind of driving factor is what can we do to build our community, to build strong, healthy individuals, strong healthy families, and continue to keep it local here. Well, and I so appreciate everyone that came to the gala because I feel like. You, you know, it's one thing to know, oh, so-and-so goes to speech therapy, but when you actually hear the story from the parent and to hear their journey and what they're going through and the emotion that's involved, it's a really powerful thing. So, and it's always fun to see you guys there. Yeah. Um, and the frozen force, I have to say, when I, the first year you had it, and I went, and I'm not a huge, huge Star Wars person in my adult life, but I grew up with. With all of them. And yeah, so we were setting up the room and you had the original Star Wars playing and I was like, oh, this is my childhood. Yes. For many of us. Yes. Right. And it was something that really brought back like just such good memories and it was incredibly heartwarming. And like from then on I'm like, I'm sold. This is so fun. And it's really gotten a lot of different people engaged in. In this, I think that's like what you were saying, like having the, you know, a lot of the people from your, you know, from the nerd culture from your world, um, come to the clinic dinner. Uh, it's, uh, I think it was Marcus who said, it's like a cross pollination where it's like to really see and hear the impact that you are make, that you are making, but then everyone else goes out and then they're their own ambassadors for not just the clinic, but also for like. You know, for the community and for speech language pathology services in general, but also just like how we're a part, we're all part of the community and that we're, we're serving in different ways. And so that's really neat. Yeah. And I think there just is a really natural tie in to speech services, mental health services, and what our group really is about. So if we kind of like break it down to some of its more basic foundations is. We're storytellers at heart. We need to. Get out what we have inside. And one of the ways, one of the major ways we do that is through our speech. Now there's, there's other ways too, but when, if we can't communicate through our speech, we maybe have to find another method. But that would cause frustration. If I can't tell my story, uh, by nature, I'm a therapist, so I'm hearing stories and, and talking a lot. And if we can't express what that is, then there's some frustration there or there's a challenge there, or sometimes. That story is just the conduit to connection and to community. So whether it's Star Wars or Dungeons and Dragons, which is all about storytelling or comic books, which are obviously storytelling or young adult fantasy or what, we can keep going down these roads of the, the quote nerdy things we do, and they really are just this storytelling and communication. Yeah, if we don't have that outlet for communication, we can't tell that story. So I think being able to have the events that we have, whether it be artistic expression through various mediums, or playing a game, or listening to those stories of families that have gone through the hard, hard stuff, and then come out the other side, those stories impact us across the whole like continuum of care that we provide in our community here. It's really neat frozen force. But then in August of 2025, you guys took a really big step. Uh, you had Excalibur Con, is that what it's called? Yes, it's Excalibur Con Pop Culture and Tabletop Gaming Convention. So that would be, a lot of people are familiar with like things called Comic-Con. Uh, it would be similar to that. So you get a bunch of nerdy people together, some of them dressing up, some of them not dressing up, some just in their Star Wars t-shirt like me. Um, and we bring together. Traditional artists, like various mediums, painters or comic book artists, things like that. Um, you've got vendors that sell comic books or toys or, um, crocheted, plushies or things like that, kind of with a, with a nerdy bend to it and kind of come together for the weekend. We. Tabletop gaming with things like d and d or Magic or Pokemon or things like that. Um, and we were fortunate enough to have a couple of, uh, celebrity guests that come over the last couple years and they've really enjoyed the area. There's something to be said about going to an event in Duluth versus LA or Dallas or Chicago or New York, that they kind of. I don't wanna say they all look the same, but you, you're, you're not getting out of the convention area much. Whereas in Duluth, you get outta the convention center and you literally see the largest lake in the world. So it's like, hey, we've had guests that wanted to go over and see Wisconsin, so they drove across the Bong Bridge to see it and got to experience that. We've had people go to, uh, Fitgers um, go to the top of the Radisson and get the 360 view. Um, and just being able to show other people what Duluth has to offer, has, has. Really, I think, shown people in LA or other places that this is a neat place to come and we've had overwhelming, uh, uh, response from the celebrity guests that we've had, um, had overwhelming response from the community. The first event that I did in my front yard, we had like 80 people, which is a lot of people in a front yard, I'm gonna say. Uh, but then the frozen force was about 325. And then we had what was known as Te Con and had maybe 1500 people throughout the weekend. And then last year with the Excalibur Con launching off everything through the weekend with everybody involved, we're well over 3000, closer to 3,500 people, uh, coming in and out over the weekend. So. This year in 2026, August 15th and 16th, we'll have Excalibur Con again. We'll continue to partner with the clinic. Um, and that's at the DECC right? And that'll be at the DECC at here in Duluth. And we are well into the planning for that and have some exciting things that will be announced here soon. Um, and one of the things that we are committed to with any event that we do is. How does this go back then to the mission that we have? Um, our, our, our big long mission can be paired down to joining forces to inspire hope. And what that for us means is what can we do in our community to come together and bring hope to families, community members, people that are marginalized, people that maybe wouldn't otherwise play a game or dress up in a costume or. Tell their story. So I love that. It's like, it's like. Uh, one community supporting another community. It's like these circles mm-hmm. That, that are ripples in a pond because it's, you found one community and you're like, this community wants to support the community as a whole or wider. And so that's really cool. And so it's very nice to see that if you decide to go to frozen force or if you decide to go to Excalibur Con because you enjoy tabletop gaming or, or the fantasy or things like that, just knowing that portions of your dollar are going also to support. The Masonic Children's Clinic and, and families in the community that need it. Yeah, absolutely. I, one story from, uh, the first year that we did the event at the deck, there was a young gentleman sitting in the front row of a panel that I did, uh, talking about mental health and the intersection with fantasy and sci-fi and, and all of that. And he said he had never been to a convention. He lived. Downtown Duluth. Not too far. A couple blocks. 'cause he just walked and he's like, I didn't even know, I didn't even know if I should come. I, I was kind of, I was anxious and worried and didn't know. Um, and he said, I'm so glad I came. And he was the, that was a Saturday. He was the first person in line on Sunday. Oh, that's great. And he enjoyed it. And then he was back last year as well, so just this young man had severe anxiety and kind of overwhelming pressure if he could even be around other people. And he found in this setting, he could. That's huge. That's so powerful. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and such a great thing that you provide to, to them and knowing it's not just, you know, yes, this is fun and our hobby and we enjoy it, but it's a real lifeline for some people that come there. Yeah, absolutely. And. We talk about how Duluth is kind of a haven for mental health. Duluth actually has a very vibrant, what I would call nerd culture community. We have many game stores in the area. Collectors Connection has two stores, rogue Robot, level Up, globe News, the Lock, um, treasure Chest Games. There's a lot of these places that you can go. A lot of the local breweries will have a trivia night. Um, and those are themed like Harry Potter or Star Wars, things like that. We've got. A very, very good library system with three branches that support young adult, um, manga or comics or movies or things like that. Um, we also have a pretty strong community with our, um, little bit older youth, like with the colleges. So St. Scholastica and UWS and UMD, uh, will have like gaming clubs or eSports or things like that with these pockets of community. I think what happens is sometimes we, we, oh, I don't even know if that's around. So it's just connecting them and what we really wanna do with like the frozen force and Excon is say, these are really fun events once a year, but the rest of the other 51 weeks of the year, go do these things at your local store, at your local library, or come up with a group in your home or your dorm or, or wherever you may be, um, to. To do those events and activities, so it's not just, oh, I gotta wait till it's caliber gone or frozen fours, I can do this all year long. And then that builds community and builds strength and builds resiliency and allows us to tell our story. Yeah. Building that awareness and just makes me feel so grateful to live here. Yes. Even when it's 40 below. That's fair. That's fair. There are a couple of negatives, but there's, there's not many my favorite, but now can you talk a little more about the frozen force specifically, because that's coming up in a couple weeks. Yeah. It's, it's getting here. Yeah. It's, it's very close. So the frozen force, is our specific. Clinic fundraiser. So all of the proceeds that we raise through our silent auctions and raffles coming out of that will go a hundred percent to the clinic. We don't keep any back. So we have, several local and regional artists who create original works. Or donated works. Um, we auction those off or raffle those off. On site, um, people can come to the event, meet a lot of the artists. We typically have 12 to 14 artists on site, so, oh, who painted this? R 2D two. Oh, that was Kelly over there. And then can. Network with them, and get to maybe even see the process that some of our artists do. We've had presentations, from folks that create art. Uh, grace was our featured artist last year, and that was really neat to, to learn her inspiration and how does she persevere through things and. Build her creativity and tell her story in that way. Um, we've been fortunate to have one of our artists offer a painting class right there, so you never painted before. Here's Canvas, let's go. So cool. Learn from her how to do it. And then we have just kind of the nerdy fun. We'll have like Star Wars music and, um, I mean, it is Star Wars focused, hence the frozen force, but. Uh, we've had themes like Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, anime, um, uh, halo video games, stuff like that. So it's not only Star Wars, that's just where it began. Mm-hmm. Um, a lot of our artists have portfolios kind of across the board. We allow the artists to then come table at the frozen force so they can showcase things that they've got going on beyond just the one piece that they're, presenting. And it allows. Some growth with those artists. I th I mean, I'm pretty sure, uh, your daughter Grace's first event was at the frozen force where she was, that was, uh, presenting her artwork, which can be a, a scary thing. You're, you're, you're putting it all out there. There's some vulnerability as an artist to put your, your. Art in front of the public. And in Grace's case, everybody loves it. 'cause Grace is quite possibly the most talented artist I've ever met in person. Um, she's incredible. And I'm not just saying that. Uh, well, and it was funny how it started too because you, you were telling me about this frozen force showcased and what kind of art. That, you know, will be presented there. Yeah. I'm like, oh, my daughter does this, and I showed you something, and you're like, oh my gosh, that's amazing. So I was like, please print this off and give me a copy, because it's one of the most amazing things I've seen. So, yeah. So you've got a signed copy of that? Yes. It's in my office right now. Yeah. And it, it, the artist. there just blow me away. They're so incredibly talented and it's so interesting to see everybody's distinct style and talk to them about their process. And so if you're an art fan, definitely go check it out because it's, it's really cool. Yeah. And this one's not at the deck. It's at the AAD shrine. Yes. Building. So in Hermantown, um, just. Just outside of dso. If you go up Miller Trunk Highway, the AAD shrine is up there. It's a really nice venue, um, very open, airy. It gives a lot of space for us to present the artwork and things that we've got. Uh, we do have Lake Superior Catering, catering a dinner for us again. Awesome. Um, they have. Uh, graciously catered for us the last two years, and we'll be back this year. Uh, it'll be a spaghetti, full spaghetti dinner with, options for, gluten-free and, um, meat free options. So anybody can come. We have tickets on sale on our website. Uh, kids Under Two are free. And again, we present the event as this is our. Big push for the clinic. So again, auctions, raffles, the, the money we take in will go directly to the clinic. And one of the things that has been really, uh. Has impressed us too on the, from the clinic is that all that money goes to help the kids. It's not like, well this is gonna build us a new building, or this is gonna pay for Nikki's vacation to Barbados or something. As much as she'd want that. Yeah, no, uh, this is to help the kids. And I know there's a lot of organizations that maybe have some negative view of that. But the, the clinic, I, I can't stress enough to everybody that I meet that your, your dollar goes a long way at the clinic because these services are much needed for kids and families. Um, and, and I say that specifically and for families. 'cause if the kids can't communicate with their family, that has a big effect on, on the family too. So really the kids and families that are served by the clinic. Are very specifically served by anyone coming to have some spaghetti with us. Um, so if you come up to the frozen force you get a wonderful dinner, you get to meet the artists. We have some fun stuff to just give away. Everybody gets. Everybody walks in the door, gets something. Um, we partner with a national patch maker. He's made patches for Star Wars celebration, New York, ComicCon, various conventions all over the country, and everybody comes in, gets that. And we've built this patch set over the last three years. So it's cool patch number three this year. Um, and the artists, like you said, it's an opportunity to meet the artists and, and network with them, and I've. Uh, even in the short amount of time that, uh, we've been doing the frozen forest, many of the frozen forest artists have made badges for Excalibur Con, so then their artwork is hanging around the neck of people that come in. Last year, grace did Saturday and or two years ago, grace did Saturday, so everybody who came in on Saturday had Grace's artwork hanging. That was really cool. On their neck. So I think there's just a lot of opportunity to, to meet people, uh, that maybe you wouldn't otherwise have that opportunity to meet. Uh, we also have some really cool stuff that some of our celebrity guests have signed. We have some autographed merchandise from the Star Wars World Anime world. We've got artwork from many events that we've attended before and. Some local businesses have been very kind and generous as well, to, to donate gift packages from like Texas Roadhouse or Bent Paddle, um, the, the Miller Hill car Wash, like things like that. So our community, again, is coming around and all, all of that then will benefit the clinic and, and the families that you serve. That's wonderful. We so appreciate it. It's, it's a huge, huge, benefit to our community. It's a huge benefit to our families here at the clinic for sure. And you know, when you talk about speech and language difficulties and the role. In the family, you know, like you said, if a child is having difficulty communicating, when they improve, when they find their voice, it's not just affecting them, it's affecting their family. It's affecting the kids they go to school with. It's affecting the people that they see when they're out and about. So it really is a huge impact that it has. I had a. Encounter with a, with a voice actor. So a lot of the events that I've gone to, I've met actors that, that lend voice to animated shows or anime and things like that. And, uh, they're some of the, the friendliest people that I've ever met. And when I mentioned speech, we support a speech, they're like, tell me more. Oh, awesome. Because if you figure they all. Tell their story verbally, like that's what they're doing. And I've met some that have had autistic children, or they themselves struggled with a stutter as a child, or, um, maybe they've got a child with some speech needs themselves. And I met one, uh, person who, I won't say who it is, but they were like. If it's speech I'm in. Oh, that's wonderful. Because their, their spouse is a speech language pathologist, so I'm in. Cool. That's wonderful. And isn't that funny how you were saying like the, just how the communities and how we find each other. Yes. And so that's, and so they, it's something that. Not everyone knows about. And so we're glad that you're kinda an being ambassador, but then the people that do understand what you are supporting, they're on board. Yeah. And, and they realize that it's for kids. Yes. I, I remember, Joe Rosenswag, who, was a, a, he's gone now, but he was a big supporter of our clinic and especially when it started. And he would always say. Well, you guys, it's for the kids, you know, it was his, anything, anything. He's like, you know, it's for the kids. And so, um, it is though, and it was, it was endearing and it was, and he, he really got the message. And it sounds like the, sounds like you guys in your organization did too. So we appreciate that. And, just so that everyone knows, we'll have, The details and links on, at our, the bottom of our podcast on the show notes. And, uh, it's coming up really soon. Yes. On the 21st. February 21st. Yes. And that's gonna be all day, or you said the dinner is in the evening, but yeah, the event starts at four o'clock. We do have an early VIP hour. Um, folks can come in and get a little bit more one-on-one time with the artists and we have some special, Prizes for anybody with the VIP. Um, and it just gives a opportunity to help further support the clinic. And then we typically do the dinner right about five 30, so dinner time. And then it gives folks the opportunity to go around, meet the artists, get in on the raffles and the auctions, and then we'll have the, the painting class that'll be offered as well. And, um. You know, it's one of those things where sometimes we get to this time of year and it's kind of a little bit of the, the, the cold, warm doldrums. It's a good opportunity to get out and just have a fun family time. It is very much family oriented, all ages. It's not just for teenagers or just, it's not just an art auction for adults. It's, it really is designed to be for all ages, for families to come down and, and spend the, the evening together. Um, I failed to mention that, every event we do, we also have an art contest, so folks will be able to. To the extent that they would choose to, join in the art contest for all ages. Um, any, we have different categories for all ages, and we've been able to use some of that artwork in some of the merchandise that we have. Stickers, uh, patches, buttons, and our M ns wca.org logo actually grew out of the very. First frozen force, so anybody that goes to our webpage will see a Minnesota flag style logo with an R 2D two background that was designed by one of our. Attendees of the very first frozen force who put in an entry into the contest. And even though it wasn't the winning entry, we loved the design, went to the artists and said, can we use this? And they said, please, absolutely. And when I go to other events throughout the state or even other states, they look at that and said. They're like, I love this. And I'm like, I know. It's great. So it's just a little bit of a take on the Minnesota flag, but with a little nerdy flare to it. I love it. Love it. Well, thank you for sharing your passions with the community and with us and, and also for your 5 0 1 C to benefit the clinic. We really appreciate it and everybody come and support and, um, have fun in the process. Yeah. Thank you so much. Thanks for coming by. That wraps up this episode of Hear Me Out. Thanks so much for listening. Be sure to subscribe, share the podcast with others, and join us next time as we continue learning from the professionals, parents and donors who make this work possible and celebrate the amazing kids we serve. To learn more about the Masonic Children's Clinic or to support our mission of providing free speech, language and hearing services, visit our website and consider making a donation. Every gift helps us give children the voice they deserve. Visit us at masonic children's clinic.org.