SPEAKER_03 0:02

Welcome to another episode of ISM Radio. I'm your host, Gage, and we are here tonight at Ohica Castle for the executive networking event. And I have the pleasure of sitting here in the library at Ohica Castle with none other than Kevin Robb. Thank you. Thank you very much for having us. Yeah, no, I appreciate you showing up to the event. We really do. And uh obviously you've been to the castle before, so I love the castle. So who doesn't love the castle? Who doesn't love Ohica? Well, you know what? We were just talking about that with John Anthony. A lot of people don't even know there's a hotel. They don't know there's a hotel, they don't know there's a restaurant. There's a restaurant. It's an unbelievable place. Come here and get tours. There's a lot of stuff to do, so they should check out the website. They should. It's a great place. And come visit for sure, no doubt.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

So and ask for Tucker in the restaurant because he's the best.

SPEAKER_03 0:48

Tucker is well, he's the general manager. He's great.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

Tucker's very involved with our foundation.

SPEAKER_03 0:52

I just made him a celebrity, in fact. I saw that. I just made that video and he just went viral. So he's a virus. Yes, he is definitely a virus. There is a Tucker virus available on the internet for anybody that wants to get the Tucker virus. Check it out. So Kevin Robb is in charge of the no matter what foundation. It's a 501c3, correct?

SPEAKER_02 1:11

So it's a it's a non-for-profit, and we're very proud of the fact that we take no salaries, we take no administration cost, no rent. We give back everything that we make. So we we there's nothing. The only the only expense we have is accounting.

SPEAKER_03 1:29

Now it's a great name because obviously you're helping people no matter what. And you have a few great slogans on the site. Uh, you know, it's independent of any specific treatment center or location. So what you do is very special for people and raise money to help them get uh treatment for addiction.

SPEAKER_02 1:49

Yeah, so what what we basically do is that peop people that are in need of recovery, that have no financial means, that have no support, no family, you know, there are people that are homeless living in their car. We help them get into treatment facilities. And we are not owned by any. We we accept no money from them to refer people. We just find people the right place to find recovery. For the right treatment. For the right treatment, because everybody's different. You know, you have to meet people where they're at. You know, that you know, everybody's needs are different, and and every facility is different.

SPEAKER_03 2:21

So when you bring them to a facility, there's no compensation back to you. You're doing this all just to put them in the right facility. To put them in the right facility to get the right treatment to reclaim their lives. Right. And one of the other things you have on your site that I thought was great was you can't grant you sobriety, but you can offer them hope and support to achieve it.

SPEAKER_02 2:41

And I wish I can take credit for that slogan, but that was Kenny. And it's really what our what our motto became.

SPEAKER_03 2:48

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 2:48

That's the mantra for yeah, we can no matter what. Yeah, we can't give you sobriety. We we can't get you sober. We can give you hope, and we can give you the tools and the right place to go if you want to get sober. Right.

SPEAKER_03 3:02

And because you're a 501c and you guys are all about donating money. I know there's a donate button on the site and all that stuff, but you guys host events. You have a golfing event and you have the 5K 5K run walking. Yep, we do about four events a year. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 3:15

Uh our big event is the the golf outing. It's a golf and pickleball event, which we're already sold out of golf, which is incredible. We we have a lot of support. So we have a big event at Woodside Club in Martin Town. Right.

SPEAKER_03 3:27

So that's where the 2024 one was.

SPEAKER_02 3:29

So the 2025 is at the same location. Yes. And we have a lot planned. You know, we have 18 Hole Golf Tournament, we're having a pickleball tournament, we're having a big awards dinner, we're honoring three people that are really remarkable people.

SPEAKER_03 3:43

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

You know, we're honoring Roger Ross from the Seamfitters.

SPEAKER_03 3:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 3:46

Um, he he has helped so many people in his life. It's it's we can fill the room with people that he has helped.

SPEAKER_03 3:52

That's great.

SPEAKER_02 3:53

And then we have we have Jared Lafontaine who runs a sawber house that we work with. You know, this this is a kid that you know dedicates his life to give people a place to live. It's it's a he's a remarkable guy. Now, with the golf, there's one other person, right? Yes, yeah, we have the Shat family from Family Bagel. And they're they're just incredible people. Like, you know, months ago, Neil, who owns Family Bagel, says, you know, I want to do something for you guys. You know, it's it's more than just giving a check or giving money. Right. He donates breakfast. Yeah, he give we he gives breakfast to sober houses.

SPEAKER_03 4:27

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

So on Sunday is like the big day, you know, and you're gonna say you have people that are in these homes that have no family. Or family don't want to have anything to do with them.

SPEAKER_03 4:34

Right.

SPEAKER_02 4:35

And Neil provides a breakfast, so they have like a family breakfast, they do a meeting, they work. It's like it's a sense of community. And they do it without any recognition. They don't they don't want the recognition. So that's why we're giving them the award because they deserve it.

SPEAKER_03 4:48

And what else goes on at the golf outing? Isn't it is there a sele is it a celebrity golf outing or is it it's just a fundraiser?

SPEAKER_02 4:54

You know, we looked into having some celebrities, and unfortunately, they all want money. And and we believe in they should be giving you guys money. They should be giving us money. That's right. You know, there are some celebrities, I'm not gonna mention the name, that are very involved in recovery.

SPEAKER_03 5:06

They want to do it for a lot of money. So maybe we'll be able to persuade them, guys, this is the chance for you to change that, turn it around and donate to the 501c3, which is no matter what foundation.

SPEAKER_02 5:17

Yes, you know, the people that help us do it because they want to. Like we have a PGA pro, she donates our time. We have a massage therapist, stretch lab, um, biologist, okay. They donate their time. Which is valuable. It's it's enormous because every dime that we don't spend, we can help another individual. Right. So if we have to spend five thousand dollars to get a celebrity there, it's not worth it. It averages us about five hundred dollars a month to help somebody.

SPEAKER_03 5:46

That's a lot of months. And how many people? Give me an idea of how many people, what are we reaching out to? What are you helping as far as getting you know?

SPEAKER_02 5:52

Okay, so right now in sober living, we have about 30 people under scholarships. Okay. That we're we're helping support. We have gotten well over 100 people into treatment since our last event, which was July 1st. Okay. We've gotten well over 100 people into treatment.

SPEAKER_03 6:08

Was that the 5K?

SPEAKER_02 6:10

That was the last golf outing.

SPEAKER_03 6:11

Okay, the last golf outing.

SPEAKER_02 6:12

And then we had a 5K in, I believe, September, which I don't remember that I don't I think it's in September again.

SPEAKER_03 6:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 6:17

Um we have another 5K, which was huge. It was raining, it was one of the worst days. We had 125 people.

SPEAKER_03 6:23

And 125 people showed up in the rain to raise money. Yep. And all donated.

SPEAKER_02 6:28

All donated. And then we did a casino night, which was on uh March 13th. It was huge. It was huge. We had bingo. So now you're gonna say something. So you have a golf event, you have a casino night, and you have a 5K, and majority of the people are not drinking. Right. They're just happy to be there. Right. They're there.

SPEAKER_03 6:46

Everybody's there for a cause, and that's the reason. Yes, because it's a good cause.

SPEAKER_02 6:49

You know, you gotta think about addiction. Addiction has affected one out of three families in the United States. Wow, it's a pretty high ratio. One out of ten have lost somebody.

SPEAKER_03 6:58

That's a pretty high ratio.

SPEAKER_02 6:59

You know, one out of ten have suffered a loss from addiction. You know, drugs, alcohol, long, you know, conditions caused by drugs and alcohol. Right. It's it's a big number. You know, listen, my own brother died of an overdose. So, you know, it's it's close. It's uh, you know, everybody. I don't think that you can go over to anybody who doesn't know somebody that has struggled with drugs or alcohol.

SPEAKER_03 7:20

Right. And it's a great website. Um, I was there, I checked it out. I that we have to thank Dean for it. Well, there you go. So you see, he's thanking ISM, and there's a reason why, because uh, you know, the website is phenomenal.

SPEAKER_02 7:30

You know, when I when Dean saw the website, he loves what we're doing, and he's like, guys, I love it. Let me help you build the website. And he has, and he's done such an unbelievable job in the website, the marketing, just everything about it, because that's not what I do. I don't know anything about that.

SPEAKER_03 7:44

Oh, right, but you have the donations, you have the resources, there's links to everything there. And the reason I'm bringing that up is because people can go there. And we the whole idea of this video is letting people go there and go donate money. They don't have to show up to the 5K walk or show up to the golf outing, they could just go donate right now.

SPEAKER_02 7:59

We have people that donate $25. We have people that donate $25,000. Right. And you know what? It's they're all great. And when you see somebody like you know, we know somebody that doesn't have anything gives us $100. Right. Because they believe in what and they know that $100 is going to help somebody. It's not going into our pocket.

SPEAKER_03 8:18

Well, like you said, we you said one out of three is addicted. And we all know somebody within our lifespan and in our family or in our extended family, somebody that has a vice, somebody that's addicted to something. And so it affects everybody.

SPEAKER_02 8:34

You know, when you when you you mentioned the name in the beginning, no matter what. Right. The reason that we use that name, and and I didn't think of it. It was actually two of the other co-founders, uh, Doug and Gary. I think they're the ones who came up with the no matter what name, because we believe that no matter what your problem is, we can help you. There's a solution. There's a solution, you know, and you don't give up no matter what.

SPEAKER_03 8:56

And there's treatment. There's treatment for everybody. There's treatment for everybody. And just like you guys say, you guys put those resources and connect them with a facility so that you have no zero kickback from whatsoever. So it's all being done for the right reason.

SPEAKER_02 9:11

And and how this started was remarkable because you have a Saturday afternoon where Kennet Nicholson, Gary Pelozo, and Doug Tolley and myself were sitting in a room saying, We'd like to do something. Maybe if we raise a couple of dollars, we can put one person into treatment. And that's how this started. We were going to do a GoFundMe. Okay. And that's how and I was like that. If we're going to do it, let's start a 5013. Right. That's the same thing. And let's let's try to, and it has grown. We're getting awards this year. The uh the uh EAP.

SPEAKER_03 9:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:43

We're getting the Foundation of the Year, the Agency of the Year. The MCA is awarding us the agency of the year. So we're getting recognized by some big organizations because they see that we are actually doing good.

SPEAKER_03 9:55

Now you mentioned you had partners. It takes a lot of work to put into this. It's not something one person could do, especially just planning a golf event just to raise money. Even that's a lot of work. It takes a village. It takes a village to build this, but you have other people that are behind you doing this. You've mentioned one or two of the names, but is there anybody else staff-wise in you know in the company? You know, what is it?

SPEAKER_02 10:14

First of all, we have zero staff. Okay, so there is zero staff. Zero staff. We have no salaries. Everything we do is because we want to. And we have a great board. We you know, we we have the ex-Republic Republican Senate chair, John Flanagan, on our board. Okay, Rob McLaughlin, Claudia Ragney, uh, Regina Lafaso, Phil Lafaso.

SPEAKER_03 10:32

That's why I brought this up to give them some recognition.

SPEAKER_02 10:34

Because who's involved? Who's behind this? We all work very hard. And it's a lot of work. It's it's a lot of work. And and you know, we have different things like Kenny and Regina review all the applications. You know, uh Dean actually built there's an application tab on our website that if you're in need of help, you can fill out an application. Right. You know, they're licensed Case Acs, they they are licensed in addiction treatment.

SPEAKER_03 10:55

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 10:56

They review all the candidates.

SPEAKER_03 10:58

Okay, and how are people vetted? Is there a a process behind it? Is it simple? Is it hard? Is it complicated?

SPEAKER_02 11:03

You know, what you know, it's it's simple, but it's hard because we got to make sure that the people that need it get it. Because if we give it to people that don't need it, somebody's gonna show up that needs it and it's not gonna be there.

SPEAKER_03 11:14

Right.

SPEAKER_02 11:14

So we we look at what your financial resources are. If you you have none, you qualify.

SPEAKER_03 11:20

You're trying to appropriate the funds from the 501c to go to people that really qualify and need it.

SPEAKER_02 11:24

And we we look at it at $500 intervals because we figure it costs us $500 a month to help somebody. Okay. So you know what? We'll take somebody and say, we'll we'll scholarship be for three months at $500 a month. And at the end of three months, we'll evaluate you and see if you qualify to move forward. Correct, for another three months. But you know, if you're in sober living and you're under scholarship for three months for six months, we want you to get a job. We you know, if you look at our website, we want people to reclaim their lives.

SPEAKER_03 11:48

Right, that's under the resources they can go see how you're gonna help them get their life back and get back to the job. We help them get jobs.

SPEAKER_02 11:54

We we we have resources to help them get jobs. We're working on something for job training. You know, you know, they're gonna do like computer training and job placement. We're trying, we're looking at their like you said, we we didn't know what this was going to become. Right. And it is Claudia said to us, you know, put it in God's hands and and God will let you decide where you're gonna go.

SPEAKER_03 12:13

And that's what we've been doing. Good. And it's a great cause, it really is. Great cause. And I'm glad Dean's involved because uh he's definitely gonna take it to the next level. Yeah, she's he's very talented, very talented. And I saw the website. The website's fantastic, and it's nmwhyphenfoundation.org. If you guys want to check it out and donate money, you could head on over there. Are there any other social media tabs that you want to brag about? Tell them to go to Facebook, Instagram, or we're on Facebook, we're on Instagram. Um it's you know, we like I said, we don't use companies to promote it, we do it ourselves. That's right. So, you know, in a video like this, that's gonna get out to people and you're gonna get some views and people are gonna see it. So we can tell them now, guys, go smash that like button and show them some support from the community here because this is all community-driven. Yes, it is.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

And our event, you know, we we we we have a dinner, we're expecting 300 people. We we have availability for dinner. We have openings for pickleball, we're having a pickleball tournament, the pickle club in in Saiyas, it's running it for us. Um, we're gonna have 50 people playing pickleball.

SPEAKER_03 13:12

Right. So I only mentioned the golf outing because I know of it and I know about the 5K run, but there's so many other things that you guys do for the community, come together and donate and help out and support it. Correct.

SPEAKER_02 13:22

We're working on a karaoke night, which Kenny's working on. So we're doing a lot of little things. We're gonna do some uh seminars, we're gonna do some job fairs. You know, we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna expand as the time goes into avenues that we we don't even know where they're gonna be yet.

SPEAKER_03 13:36

That's right, which we already discussed doing podcasting at your golf event to give it more exposure. And listen, it sells out, so it doesn't need to be sold out anymore. Okay, but you can get it exposure for the people to go and visit the website and donate money because you don't have to make it to the event to help it to help out the cause.

SPEAKER_02 13:55

$25 helps.

SPEAKER_03 13:56

That's it. You know, but $25,000 is a lot better. Absolutely a lot better. So $25,000 is cool and thank you. But $25,000 is awesome. $25,000 is a lot better. So you're hearing it right here from Kevin Rob, guys. And uh what else can we tell them about you know any of the events or anything that's coming up? Is there anything happening now? In uh, you know, it's we're just closing out April soon.

SPEAKER_02 14:19

Well, we just finished the casino night, which was in March, and now we're heading into to the golf outing. Right now we're working with Dean to change uh some things on our website just to make it easier for people that need help. You know, the resources work on a resource tab, we're gonna have some treatment facilities, over houses on there so that if people go on our website, they'll be able to get help. We'll be guided in the right direction.

SPEAKER_03 14:41

Right. So that's the place for them to go. So if they really, if somebody needs has knows somebody that needs help.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

Right. We also do uh Narcan. Okay. Uh we we we we distribute, I think last year we gave 300 Narcan kits out. Um and we're gonna grow our Narcan support where you know, listen, I I have a I have a son that started at college this year.

SPEAKER_03 15:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 15:04

And we had to sit down the day that we moved him in and give everybody Narcan. Because fentanyl right now.

SPEAKER_03 15:10

It's a big deal. It's a big deal. It's a big deal. It's it's in we it's in weed pens. So explain to the people why you would give Narcan and what somebody would need the Narcan for for people that are listening that have no idea.

SPEAKER_02 15:20

If somebody is overdosing on fentanyl or opiates, Narcan is life-saving. Right. All you do is squirt it in your nostrils and it reverses the effect of an overdose. It saves lives. It's it's such a it it's it's a wonder drug. It's a wonder drug. And and if you're not overdosing and you take it, nothing happens to you. Right. So now you're gonna do it. So like basically right. So like somebody like my in and one of my sons, if you think they're overdosing, give it to them.

SPEAKER_03 15:51

Give it to them. It's not a mistake. It's not that's not gonna be the fatal issue at all. It it just it's probably gonna reverse the fatal issue, and it's not gonna have any side effects where it it's bad to give to somebody.

SPEAKER_02 16:01

Right, so I could see you know like when you left, you know, people give giveaways. Right. They gave away Narcan. So you know, but you know, I drive, it's sad, but I drive around with Narcan in my car.

SPEAKER_03 16:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 16:11

I have Narcan in my house, I have Narcan. Wherever I am, I have Narcan. Because you know what? I could be walking down the street and somebody's overdozen. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:21

I was in Florida and I saw in Fort Lauderdale Beach, they actually had it out for people to come and take, and it was just right there in the public. Come take it if you need it, and it was right there. You kind of do the same thing. Absolutely. Now, if somebody needed Narcan, you know, it's like we'll get it to them. So you would be able to get them. If they want to be like you and have Narcan on them all the time, you would support that.

SPEAKER_02 16:41

And just go on to our website. There's a thing where you can leave a comment, say, I need Narcan, we'll make sure you get it.

SPEAKER_03 16:48

Okay. So you guys heard it right there from Kevin Rob. Doesn't get any better than that. Um, so the website we know is awesome. Go make the donation there. He said $25 or $25,000. It won't matter. It's going to go to the right cause and help these guys out. Correct.

SPEAKER_02 17:02

And no matter what, the money goes to the right place and it helps the right people. And it repel it these people are reclaiming their lives. And, you know, just a quick story. You know, Kenny and I met somebody eight months ago. He was living in the woods. In the woods. He had no family, no home. He is eight months sober now.

SPEAKER_03 17:23

Was he here on Long Island?

SPEAKER_02 17:24

Yeah. He was out in the out east. He got into a treatment facility. We got him into an IOP, which is intensive outpatient. Okay. Which is it's basically going to rehab, but you get to live home or in a sober house. We he's in a sober house and he's eight months sober now. Wow. And he is now debating about going back to school to get a license to help people. We actually, Kenny got a call last week from him saying he has a friend that needs help. And we got that friend into treatment. So he actually recommended somebody to the facility that and they called up and they got Kenny on the phone, and within, I don't know, an hour, we had him placed, ready to go into rehab, and he's in. So he's there now.

SPEAKER_03 18:08

As we speak, he's in rehab right now. So speaking of no matter what, in a facility, do you guys have a location for people to come to? Or is this something that they all do? Everybody does it online and you reach out to them, and this is how the help starts.

SPEAKER_02 18:20

Exactly. Everything we do is online. We we we you know, we don't have an office, we don't have a place to go. If we need a place, we'll rent an office for the day.

SPEAKER_03 18:30

Sure, sure, sure, sure. You can meet with people anywhere and and and talk what's going, you know, talk business with them.

SPEAKER_02 18:36

But listen, you know, we we looked into an office space. Uh-huh. But again, it goes back to our $500. Well, that's it.

SPEAKER_03 18:42

Now you're gonna take away from helping somebody. We're gonna take away from helping somebody. And you'd rather help people than have an office, and that totally makes sense. So it's all online, guys. Everything is online. They have Facebook, they have Instagram. We have a phone service.

SPEAKER_02 18:53

You can call 24 hours a day. Somebody will get back to you. Right. So we get we got a call the other day. Somebody was in Virginia. You know, anywhere, anytime, we can get you in. Yeah, like go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 19:08

I'm I I got a little distracted, sorry. Yeah, that's okay. We're getting instructions. I love it. I love it. That's a podcast, and that's the beauty of it, because you could just stop and do whatever you want. Uh, it really doesn't matter. Um, but at the same time, we're really trying to get the message across to people. We're here tonight at ISM's executive networking event at Ohica Castle, and we have the pleasure of sitting here with Kevin and Rob from the No Matter What Foundation. It's a 501c3, so all the donations go to helping people with any kind of an addiction. So it's not just drug, it could be alcohol, it's it's it can be anything. It really can be no matter what, right?

SPEAKER_02 19:42

It can be anything. Right. We will find people the help with anything that they're troubled with.

SPEAKER_03 19:48

And they can head on over to nmwhenfoundation.org. That's the best place to go to reach out to them. Uh, is there a phone number or anything that you want to give out to people on the air? They're gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_02 20:00

Everything's on the website. All the contact information on the website, email, you can text, you can leave a message. Everything's under the contact on our website.

SPEAKER_03 20:08

So there you go.

SPEAKER_02 20:09

Which is beautifully built by ISM. We've beautifully built in Ohica Castle.

SPEAKER_03 20:16

It was built in Ohica Castle. See? It was built here, and we're proud of that. We really are. And uh listen, we're proud to have you as a client of ISM, but we're also proud to have you here on the podcast doing the work that you do and supporting a 501c to help people. Thank you. We appreciate you having us here. Yeah, no doubt. Awesome guys. All right, guys. I'm sitting here now with Kenny Nicholson from the No Matter What Foundation, and he's gonna fill us in on a little more that maybe Kevin didn't tell us about.

SPEAKER_01 20:44

So take it away. Yeah, uh Kevin did a great job. Yeah, he was awesome. There's not a lot more I could add. I just I just wanted to talk about um originally when Kevin, myself, Doug, and Gary sat, we sat in my office one Saturday morning, and what we were talking about was the disparity in treatment, not only on Long Island, but throughout the country, right? And we talk about there are three types of treatment. Okay. There are horrible treatment centers where they just want your money, and they'll take you at the worst point in your life when you're addicted to alcohol or drugs. Um, Kevin has a story about someone in his family who was addicted, went away for treatment. They would keep him for 28 days, and then after 28 days, they would take them and drop them off at the hotel where the dealers were hanging out. The dealers would give him some dope. He would get hooked on dope again, and two days later the rehab would come by and sweep him up and put him back in rehab for 28 days.

SPEAKER_03 21:44

And give me an example of those twenty eight days, what it would cost for somebody, because the costs are astronomical. Yes, this is not cheap.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

So anywhere from thirty to fifty thousand dollars.

SPEAKER_03 21:53

Thirty to fifty thousand, and you guys are asking people for twenty five hours.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

And a and a lot of people don't have insurance, the family is. Mortgaging everything they have, homes, assets, they're putting everything on the line to try and save their family. And meanwhile, and it it was there was another thing called the Florida model and body brokers where they were just taking people and putting them through these mills and there was no treatment, right? So that's the first type. Then there's the second type, and there's plenty of the second type. Good treatment centers may be difficult to get into if you don't have great insurance or or you don't have the ability to self-pay. Right. And then there's type three treatment center, which are phenomenal treatment centers, but we're talking about they cater to executives, they let you bring your laptop, they let you bring your cell phone, they have chefs that will prepare certain types of meals for you. Right. These rehabs for 28 days are costing 60, 75, 80, 100,000. Right. So that's for the wealthy. That's for the wealth, that's for the upper class. And then people who have the ability to pay. So what we were focusing on was the middle echelon, right? The the solid treatment centers that were given good treatment, really helping people, but people for no fault of their own either didn't have good insurance or any insurance. And we were saying, how can we help these people? Right. And is that how the 501c was born? That is how the No Matter What Foundation was born. It's a great name, it really is. Yeah, yeah. So primarily what we've been helping people out with over the last 18 months is sober housing. So and we've had Transformation House, uh, Integrity House. We've had sober houses who we said we'll pay for the first month, right? Because you don't, you know, alcoholics and addicts aren't the most reliable people in the world, so you don't want to pay for three months, and then after 20 days, the guys are off to the races. Right. So it's almost like a graduation each month. Yeah, we pay on a month-to-month basis, like Kevin was saying, up to three months, and then we review after three months. If the guy or the woman's doing the right thing, we help them out. Um sober housing for women. Great need on Long Island for sober housing for women, you know. So that's something that maybe we could start drumming up some interest for because uh men, there's a little more resources out there, women not as much. But um, yeah, so you're looking to build that end of it up. Yeah. So we really wanted to to focus on people who had no insurance or bad insurance.

SPEAKER_03 24:33

People that really needed the help financially.

SPEAKER_01 24:35

Yeah. So we uh we are starting to get involved in advocacy, okay, in uh helping change the laws, in helping uh have more equity between substance abuse and mental health. Don't get the same treatment necessarily as if you have cancer or diabetes or or some other health disease. Right. Right? There's a stigma against mental health and substance abuse. So we're trying to help get rid of that stigma, right? That it's uh it's a disease recognized by the American Medical Association, just like any other disease, and we're trying to rid the public of the stigma of addiction and helping people reclaim their lives, like Kevin was talking about.

SPEAKER_03 25:21

Is that a local legislation or is that something that's up on Capitol Hill that you guys have to go?

SPEAKER_01 25:27

That's you know, that's local. It's local, it's statewide, it's federal, you know, it's everything starts locally, right? So we drum up grassroots support. Kevin was saying we have uh John Flanagan, who's a former Senate majority leader. Yep. He's on our board of directors, Claudia Peters Ragney, who is really instrumental in the fight for advocacy, for parity, and uh and getting health insurance laws changed. So, you know, it started out as something small, and it's just morphed in the past 18 months into something we never could have imagined. Well, that's the passion you guys are putting into it.

SPEAKER_03 26:07

So you guys are putting a lot of hard work into this.

SPEAKER_01 26:09

Like I said, this is no easy task. Yeah, so we were also talking about the ripple effect, right? So the Narcan, you came over and mentioned. Yeah, yeah. And Kevin is, you know, Kevin uh allows me to talk about this freely. I was Kevin's counselor 11 years ago. Okay. And now Kevin's sober 11 years. And now Kevin and my friend Doug and my friend Gary, who I've all, you know, I've had the ability to work with all three of these gentlemen. They wanted to give back. And now they help somebody. And now the people they help, like this guy who was living in the woods, wants to help somebody else.

SPEAKER_03 26:44

So that's the ripple effect. The ripple effect that you were mentioning. As you help people, yeah. People that have been helped, yeah, now want to help somebody else that needs to help, and there's nothing better. That's probably the best thing for your 501c, correct?

SPEAKER_01 26:56

Yeah, that 501, that 5K we did in the pouring rain. This young man Chris was out there in the pouring rain, and he said to me the other day, you know, it brought tears to my eyes. He said, Anything I could ever do for you guys, I will do because you saved my life. Right.

SPEAKER_03 27:11

And you probably hear that from a lot more than just one person.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

Yeah, yeah. And then those people go out and we're we're changing lives. Right. One one step at a time. One step at a time, one story at a time at a time.

SPEAKER_03 27:21

One story at a time, one month at a time. And some people, does it take I'm I'm sure, you know, you say 500 a month, so let's just say 6,000 a year, but does it take people longer to cure the you know, not everybody's cured in six months.

SPEAKER_01 27:34

Some people may take longer, right? If the person's doing the right thing, we will continue to work with them, right? And we uh So there's no cutoff time, it's really just until their treatment is good every outpatient we work with, every inpatient we work with, every sober house we work with, we vet. So we will not pay for any place or send anybody any place that we have not personally went to ourselves, right, checked out, made sure like the sober houses. We wanted to make sure there was narcan in the sober houses. We wanted to make sure that the people who were living in the sober houses were getting tested for alcohol and substances. Uh me and Kevin talk all the time about we look at things with different eyes. Like I noticed the Narcan. I noticed that they were being tested. Kevin noticed that one of the guys left his wallet on the kitchen table. So Kevin's like, this is a safe house. This guy's, you know, feels comfortable leaving his he's not worrying about somebody's gonna clip his wallet. Right. One of the sober houses we went to at a big dryer race board in the living room. Guys are going to meetings. What meetings are they going to? Do they have a sponsor? Are they in treatment? Are they working the steps? You know, so the sober houses we're working with are holding the client's feet to the fire, making sure they're doing the right thing. And that makes us comfortable. Because every everybody's doing their part.

SPEAKER_03 28:55

Yeah. Which is so important. That you trust that trust level is there. You're trusting them, correct? Which is important, which is where you guys came up with the no matter what, is an impending it. You guys are independent of any specific treatment center or location. So you're not just working with just one company that's making money for you bringing people to them, you're bringing people to where they can get the best treatment.

SPEAKER_01 29:16

Correct. Yeah, I am uh I'm a KSAC myself, and I work at the Ken Peter Center for Recovery. And that's in my office at the Ken Peters Center, is where this was born. And we wanted to make sure that although Claudia Peters Ragney, who is the executive director of the Ken Peter Center, we wanted to make sure that we were separate and apart and independent from KPC. That we we work with KPC because we love the work they do there, but they're not the only outpatient we're affiliated with. And we didn't want to perception's everything, right? No matter what field you're in. 100%. We didn't want the perception to be that we were affiliated solely with one outpatient, one sober house, one inpatient. Right.

SPEAKER_03 30:00

So uh it gives people a good feeling. Now, were you the one that was responsible for the can't grant you sobriety, but you can offer them hope and support to achieve it?

SPEAKER_01 30:10

Is that I'm sure I heard it somewhere else. I I don't think I've had an original thought in my life. Get out of here. We can't give people recovery, but what we can give them is hope. And when you give when you give somebody hope, that's powerful. Absolutely talk about powerful drugs.

SPEAKER_03 30:26

Hope is powerful, right? That's why they're bringing more people back to you, and that ripple effect is happening because of the hope you've given them. Amen. And that's what you bring to the table. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:35

So and then we we have tremendous partners like Dean. Like, you know, we had a little website that we really didn't know what we were doing, and Dean stepped in and like totally revamped our website. He sent a photographer to our golf outing last year. Yep. And now we have it brings legitimacy to us, right? And we have so many partners that have saw what we were doing, were impressed with what we were doing, and said, What can I do to help? You know, and then you and Kevin were talking about it takes a village. That it's right, and it does.

SPEAKER_03 31:09

And you got that's why I asked about a staff and who it was, and it's really the board members behind the 501c3 that is making all of this happen.

SPEAKER_01 31:16

Yeah, and a lot of us have never done something of this magnitude before in our life. So what it's driven by is passion, you know, and um one of the board members that Kevin forgot to mention was my uh is my nephew, Riley Nicholson. Good, who got sober, he's sober a little over six years now, went to law school, got married, had three kids, and he wants to give back. And uh and his law firm is one of the big donors for our golf outing this year, you know, Troutman Pepper. And it's just people hear about us. We they look at the website, they look at the work we're doing, they see that not a single penny goes to salary, not a single penny goes to administrative costs. And you guys don't even have an office because you're not spending any money on rent or a lease, so you really are giving all the money back. We looked at an office a couple of weeks ago and the lady said, So what's your budget? And Kevin goes, Well, we're a 501c3, so our budget is zero. Well, I think that's a good that's a great answer.

SPEAKER_03 32:16

So uh in the we're gonna have Dean change that in the donate section where you could donate 25 or 25,000. Maybe one of you guys out there could donate an office to a facility like this so these guys could have a place to operate and do bigger and better things because this is obviously gonna grow. And when did this all start? When did you guys start this?

SPEAKER_01 32:34

How long is it? December was a year. It started right before Christmas, December 2023.

SPEAKER_03 32:40

Right. So this thing is just in its grassroots beginning and has a big platform ahead of it. Yeah. And I foresee that, and I think the golf outings are only going to grow to a couple of times a year. You're gonna have to have more than one. You're already selling it out, right?

SPEAKER_01 32:52

So the golf outing sold out. On the beautiful grounds of Ohica Castle is the Cold Spring Harbor Country Club. So we were talking about if anybody from Cold Spring Harbor is listening, maybe next year we have we have the golf outing on two courses because we had to turn people away this year.

SPEAKER_03 33:07

Now, there's plenty, there's plenty the one thing we have here on Long Island is plenty of golf courses. Amen. So there are so many country clubs out there that I'm sure are willing to work with you guys and do the right thing. And uh, if they're listening, or we can get it out to them. ISM definitely knows how to network and get things out to the people as far as social media is concerned. So we're gonna make sure as many people that we can get this podcast in front of and this video for people to see so they can listen to both Kenny and Kenny. And Kevin, Kevin and Kenny. I got the two Ks here, okay, and uh Kevin Rob and Kenny Nicholson. So if you guys want to check them out, there's no better place to go than the no matter what foundation. If you guys want to head over there to nmw hyphenfoundation.org, click the donate button, give $25 or $25,000 or $2 million or $200,000. It doesn't matter. Whatever you can donate, whatever is in your wheelhouse, give it to these guys. They're gonna do the right thing for people.

SPEAKER_01 34:04

And anybody looking for help that comes to the website, everything is 100% confidential. So your information will never be shared with anybody else. We respect everybody's privacy. Our only goal is to be helpful.

SPEAKER_03 34:18

Well, you heard it right there, guys. It doesn't get any better than that. So thank you, Kenny. Amen. Thank you, brother. Nah, thank you. You did an amazing job. I'm glad you jumped on after Kevin. You really did a great job. So we really appreciate you guys. Thanks. Kenny Nicholson, Gage from ISM signing off. We'll see you guys soon. Thanks for tuning in. Thanks, Cage. Thanks for listening to ISM Radio. Join us for our invitation only executive networking event at the legendary Ohiga Castle. For more information, visit ideastreammarketing.com.