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The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett
Ever wonder what really goes on at a small-town morning radio show?
The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett and Best Friends is your daily dose of real callers, big laughs, and unforgettable characters straight from QCountry 925 in Show Low, Arizona.
The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett
Rain, Roommates & Real Talk: Safety Tips, Long-Distance Love, and Local Giving
It’s a stormy start to the week on The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett and Best Friends! 🌧️
We kick off with a Fire Marshal Minute from JD Pepper of Timber Mesa Fire Department — talking real cold-weather safety: checking smoke alarms, swapping batteries, and why creosote in your chimney can turn cozy fires into costly disasters. 🔥
Then Chris catches up with his lifelong buddy Ryan McKee, who just had his first fight with his 21-year-old roommate — and shares a surprising twist about his new long-distance relationship. Turns out, space is a love language. ❤️
Next, Andrea joins in for a Hallmark movie review of “Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper”, a feel-good flick with five hot cocoas of charm. ☕
Finally, the White Mountain Coalition Against Homelessness shares how their tiny home village is transforming lives — and how you can give through the Giving Machine to make a real difference this season. 🎁
👉 Listen, laugh, and be inspired to give local and live better — only on The Morning Brew!
Good morning. It's the morning brew with Chris. Who's this?
SPEAKER_01:Hey Chris, good morning. It's JD.
SPEAKER_05:JD Pepper, Fire Marshal with the Timber Mesa Fire Department for his Fire Marshal Minute. What uh safety tips do you have for us today, best friend?
SPEAKER_01:Hey man, it's uh raining and uh we got a little bit of just some flags falling around in different parts of town. Uh pretty awesome, right? It's uh what is it, 37 degrees as I'm driving in this morning. And uh, you know what? I think we've uh gotten through the throes of summer. So uh hey, out there, let's check those smoke alarms to get those batteries in there. Let's make sure that the smoke alarms work. If you need help changing the battery, if you need help putting one in the house, let us know. Give me a call. We'll send the fire guys out there, those guys on the truck, those guys in gals, I should say, on the truck, they'll come out and put one in for you. Um if you have one that you've bought from uh from Lowe's or Home Depot or Walmart or wherever, just call, we'll we'll come out and help you install it. Uh other thing is big one this time of year, um, chimney fires. Okay, that chimney fire, probably don't think it's a big deal because they'll say, oh well, it's just uh, you know, it's just flames in the chimney, that's where it's supposed to be, right? Well, yes, but no. If you burn wood in your fireplace, your your uh your your your chimney is collecting what's called creosote, depending on the type of wood that you burn. If you're burning any type of sappy wood like a like a pine or or really anything, that creosote is unburnt fuel. It's just a collection of of carbon and and stuff like that in the flu pipe. So that's got to be swept out with a wire brush. Call a chimney sweep, call one of the local companies here, have them come out and sweep that out. Because when that when that flu pipe gets really hot or the uh the the uh um masonry type of flu cracks, that those embers that are coming up through there that are supposed to be contained are now getting into your attic and their uh uh the attic spaces as far as like the trusses are concerned, whatever, in your walls, and that's where we get that's where we get that house fire. So get those chimneys swept out now. Now is the time. Um, you know, we're not buried in snow or anything right now, but get it, get it, get it done, please. We've had one chimney fire over the last couple weeks. Fortunately, it was contained and and we got it put out real fast. But other than that, guys, you're doing great. Fuel mitigation as always. If you can get it done, let's get that, let's get those uh those ladder fuels out of your yard or your your property and get them done.
SPEAKER_05:That's all I got, man. Heck yeah, let's do our part to be fire wise, check those smoke alarms and uh get those chimneys swept. Thank you so much, JD Pepper, for your fire martial minute. How about a little George Strait?
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely, bro. Thank you.
SPEAKER_05:All right, best friend. Have a great day. Thank you. All right, thank you.
SPEAKER_01:Bye-bye.
SPEAKER_05:Good morning. It's the morning brew with Chris. Who's this? It's producer Ryan. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What's uh new with uh you? How's your 21-year-old roommate and you get in along?
SPEAKER_07:Well, we got into our first fight. Oh no! Yeah. I've been getting uh so the my resentment has been or annoyance has been building a little with with him because like he keeps leaving his stuff out in like the common areas and like he keeps putting his dishes away without rinsing them off, so there's a lot of food I have to clean food out of the dishwasher and just little stuff like that. And the other night he was over at the house with his girlfriend, and he decided to cook some food, and I just started the dishwasher with our pan in it, one of our pans, and he just like goes and opens up the dishwasher, even though we have a second pan he could have used, so I kind of called him on it, and we got in like it quickly escalated because I think I just had this pent-up annoyance, and the argument literally started going like this, Chris, with us just going back and forth to each other because we were like so frustrated, and this was all in front of his 21-year-old girlfriend, who was very weirded out by it.
SPEAKER_05:Did you guys make up after your first roommate fight?
SPEAKER_07:We did. We didn't make up that night. We went to bed mad.
SPEAKER_05:Oh, you're not supposed to do that.
SPEAKER_07:You're not supposed to do that, but we needed a little cooling off time. And then we're good now. Actually, I was at Trader Joe's this morning and decided to buy him and his girlfriend a little gingerbread kit because they like doing crafts together. So it really is like I have a son, you know. I'm buying him little projects for the holidays, you know. I'll get him a little Christmas present or something. Oh, it's a beautiful.
SPEAKER_05:You've uh been so kind, Ryan, on letting us know about your personal life that you uh are 46, living with the 21-year-old uh male roommate Joey. And also uh you uh let us know about your dating escapades. It was pretty wild. You were auctioning yourself off at bachelor auctions. Uh can you give us an update on uh your love life if you'd like to?
SPEAKER_07:Sure. I have a girlfriend now.
SPEAKER_08:Woo!
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, and for those of you who are like Ryan, you're NAA, first year, you can't have a girlfriend. To that I say, it's been 10 months and I'm doing it. So whatever. Also, uh, she it's a long distance relationship. She lives in Boston and she teaches at Harvard.
SPEAKER_04:Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_07:And she's a former Hooters waitress. Oh she doesn't sound real, but I promise.
SPEAKER_08:She goes to a different school.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, I'm not like one of those kids who are like, my girlfriend's in Canada and she's a model. And we hooked up at summer camp. She's really cool. She's smart. She's really cool. Yeah, I know none of you guys like me, but I have a girlfriend.
SPEAKER_05:Well, it's gotta be uh tough dating long distance. And uh I was wondering, it is relationship advice Thursday. Uh, how about when we come back? Can you give us some uh dating tips for uh long distance dating? I'll do my best. All right, producer Ryan, uh, is Relationship Thursday, and you have some uh uh relationship tips for those that are maybe doing some long distance dating. What tips and advice do you have for us this morning?
SPEAKER_07:Well, I think you need to set up a weekly Zoom call or FaceTime or whatever your preferred um method of video call is. And you know, you don't have to wear all your clothes during it. Let's just say that.
SPEAKER_05:Okay, are there any other tips? So a weekly Zoom call.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, yeah. And then uh you wanna you you still want to try to do a monthly visit if you can afford it. You know, you can meet in the middle, we meet, we met up in Richmond, Virginia, stuff like that, you know, you do little trips, do little trips. And an important one that I've recently learned is you can't just because you miss them, you can't overtext a bunch. Oh, you know, like you can't update them with every detail of your day because it becomes way too much for that. You know what I mean? It's like even though you're long distance, it still can be smothering.
SPEAKER_05:Wow, you can still be s uh smothering like hundreds of miles away from someone?
SPEAKER_07:Yeah. Oh, dude, that's impressive. I didn't know that. So I like was texting her all the time and then getting angry if she didn't call. Right. You know, or miss one of our weekly Zoom calls. Or, you know. Yeah. And uh it just got too it got to be too much for her. So you know, she's an active woman with kids and you know, yeah. She has her own life she needs to spend time on.
SPEAKER_05:Sweet. Well, those are definitely some uh good dating tips if you're going long distance. We uh m uh weekly Zoom meetings, meet in the city.
SPEAKER_07:And then the last one, don't eat don't eat carbs the week before you see them. Because then you're suddenly so you're like look so much thinner.
SPEAKER_05:Oh, a nice little tip and trick from Ryan McKee on long distance dating. Best friend, thanks so much for having fun with us today. And everyone, do not forget Ryan McKee is gonna be headlining Chris Bennett Comedy Present Stand Up Comedy at Rocky's Cocktail Lounge Saturday, December 20th at 6 30 p.m. Tickets are gonna go on sale on Monday. We love you, best friend.
SPEAKER_07:Love you too, and follow me at Ryan McKee on Instagram. I'm putting up a lot of uh clips of stuff. So uh if you want to get excited for the December 20th show, at Ryan McKee on Instagram.
SPEAKER_05:Heck yeah, we love you, best friend. Have a good day.
SPEAKER_07:Love you too. Bye.
SPEAKER_05:And now it's time for Chris's wife to give us her Christmas Hallmark movie reviews. All right, my love. What Hallmark Christmas movie from the 2025 collection are we reviewing this morning?
SPEAKER_03:We're doing Merry Christmas Ted Cooper.
SPEAKER_05:Merry Christmas Ted Cooper. Goodness gracious, what do I think this one's about? Uh I think it's about a news anchor. His uh names uh Ted Cooper, and he hates Christmas, but he's put on assignment to uh cover a famous Christmas tradition and ends up falling in love with the little uh small town book clerk.
SPEAKER_03:Well, not quite.
SPEAKER_05:Oh gosh, way off. All right. I don't even know why.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, really? Oh, nice. Oh, Ted Cooper is a weatherman.
SPEAKER_05:Holy moly, what are the chances of this? Okay.
SPEAKER_03:And he absolutely loves Christmas. He is a perpetually optimistic person, but he has terrible luck at Christmas. Like it's so bad, so legendary that his co-workers are placing bets on what kind of accidents and calamities he gets himself into at Christmas time.
SPEAKER_05:This one sounds good.
SPEAKER_03:I I love that they kind of, you know, a lot of times if the character hates Christmas because maybe something bad happened to them or they're just like some kind of scrooge, but they kind of flip the script with this character, and I love that.
SPEAKER_04:You love when they go against their normal uh their normal truth and their normal pattern.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, it's nice to change it up, and it was nice to have a character that just like he doesn't hate Christmas, even though all these terrible things have happened, he just like still chooses to believe in you know, to believe that Christmas is great, that Christmas spirit is gonna turn things around for him, and I guess his biggest loss, like for lack of a better word, is that along with being super positive, he wants everyone else to be happy, so he's kind of a people pleaser. And so his I think his growth in it is that he he realizes that you know he can't make the holiday about making everybody else happy. He also gets to do things for himself.
SPEAKER_05:Oh, well, this sounds like a good one. How many hot cups of cocoa do you give Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper?
SPEAKER_03:I really like this one, so I gave it five cups of hot cocoa.
unknown:Woo!
SPEAKER_05:Five cups of hot cocoa, you know what that means. My wife highly recommends you watch Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper. I am so excited to have some guests in studio. Joining me right now is Sandra and Roger with the White Mountain Coalition against homelessness. And uh uh earlier this week, I was at the launch for the giving machine at the Cholo Meadow. You guys know how amazing it is. You can instead of uh giving yourself sugary treats, you're able to give life-changing items to those in need. And there are local uh nonprofits that are in the giving machine that you could give to. And the White Mound Coalition Against Homelessness is one of those nonprofits. Um, why don't you two tell us just uh about a 60-second overview of what is the White Mountain Coalition Against Homelessness? What do you guys do and who do you help?
SPEAKER_00:Okay, our mission statement is to eliminate homelessness by providing safe housing, economic, and lifestyle guidance guidance holistically, without discrimination, with the passion of Jesus. Okay, our vision is to see our White Mountain community without homelessness.
SPEAKER_05:And you do that uh in a variety of uh different ways. You have like a community of tiny homes.
SPEAKER_00:We do, we do. It's that's what we want, and that's why we call this project White Mountain Victory Village. It's a it's four four homes. Currently we have four homes built. We got it in the last two completed this March, and all four of them have been occupied, and it's it's just uh just it's a it's a hand up, not a hand out. They got to get a job.
SPEAKER_05:Yep, and you you you help them through the process, and you really do give them a hand up.
SPEAKER_00:We do give them. We help them with the process and find help them find a job. We help them uh we help them with their their skills, their life skills training. We we help them. Sandra can speak more to that.
SPEAKER_05:Sandra, what are some items that people can uh buy for the White Mount Coalition Against Homelessness at the Giving Machine?
SPEAKER_02:Okay, the items primarily are items that make life better for our clients. And what's neat about these items is when our clients move on, they will take them with them to their more permanent housing. Uh, you can buy a personal care kit for five dollars, uh, you can buy kitchen utensils for twenty dollars, bath essentials are thirty, and bedding is seventy-five dollars. And if you're really feeling generous, you can help us build our next house by donating two hundred dollars.
SPEAKER_05:That that that's amazing, and I mean you it it just goes to show you don't need a huge donation to make a big difference in someone's life. You can make a smaller donation, and uh if if you feel it in your heart, you can make a bigger donation towards the uh the building fund because you guys need more houses, right?
SPEAKER_08:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. Uh four years ago uh we spent uh over about eleven thousand dollars in motel costs. Oh my gosh. Motel costs. Okay, this year, since uh October last year, up through uh up through last month, because that's all my stats have here in our books, is we have uh we have housed uh how many bed nights?
SPEAKER_02:Over 900 bed nights.
SPEAKER_00:950 bed nights. Over that's uh that amounts to about$115,000.
SPEAKER_05:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So we did one year in 2021 at uh$10,000. With these houses, we have housed uh it would have come too$115,000, over$115,000. Just think if we had six houses. Right. Eight or ten.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Amazing.
SPEAKER_05:We can help out so many people.
SPEAKER_00:They're so much needed, so much needed up here in the mountain. It takes okay, it it takes sixty uh six at least six six months for low-income housing to become become available. Right. Okay, up here on the mountain. We will try we will house them for six six months to a year until they find low-income housing. We save half their money, their paycheck, they that money they get 100% back, and it'll go to that that deposit for low-income housing.
SPEAKER_05:And uh, you guys are a 501c and a QCO. Explain to the people on the White Mountain what that is and how that can help them come tax time.
SPEAKER_00:Well, the 501c3 will help uh as far as federal taxes to get your if you do itemize taxes, you will get that. If you're a business, you can um get your tax break there as well. As far as the Arizona qualified charitable organization, that is a tax credit, it's cash back in your hand if you pay Arizona taxes. So you'll get up to 900, a little, I think it's 940 now this year, somewhere around there. For married couples, half that if you're single. So that is a tax credit, and you'll get 100% of that you're done your that back to you. So it's a huge, it's it's a huge help for us. We get a lot more money during tax season as far as people wanting to, hey, I don't want to pay the state, I'll I'd rather give to a charity. It's a good cause.
SPEAKER_05:Right. And it's an amazing cause. You guys are doing such amazing things in the White Mountain, and we have an opportunity to help them and their mission. It is the White Mount Coalition Against Homelessness. And the cool thing about the giving machine is a hundred percent of the money that goes in for those items, like you you mentioned a uh a personal care kit, uh, kitchen utensils, uh bathroom items, uh bedding. So whatever you donate for that. So if it's$75 for the bedding, 100% of that goes towards that bedding. So it's it's uh really gonna make a big difference. And uh make sure when it comes tax time, you talk to your uh your tax uh your tax person and uh see if you can donate local with the QCO and White Mountain Coalition Against Homelessness. Would love your help.
SPEAKER_00:Also, 100% of your donations is also uh to the coalition. We have all volunteers.
SPEAKER_05:Heck yeah, 100%. 5% we have volunteers.
SPEAKER_02:No one gets paid.
SPEAKER_05:No one they're they're doing it just to help, and so that means your money goes even further and it stays here in the community. Thank you so much, Sandra and Roger, for everything uh you're doing to help our community and help those uh that uh uh are struggling with homelessness and finding them transitional housing. And hopefully everyone will get out to the meadow and donate to the giving machine today to the White Mountain Coalition against homelessness.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you. Thank you.
