Seleana and Timbre discuss volunteer awareness month

 Seleana and Timbre discuss volunteer awareness month and the importance of volunteering in your community. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Hello everybody and welcome to Disco Diverse and Inclusive Stream of Conscience Observation. I'm your host, Timber, and with me as always, my fellow host.

SPEAKER_03 0:19

Hello, everyone. It's me, Selena. Welcome. Welcome to another podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Thanks, Selena. Happy that you're here with me today.

SPEAKER_03 0:28

Yes, same. I'm excited to go ahead and do this. Uh, our next topic on this podcast for volunteering month. I know this is one that you are very passionate about, and um it's near and dear to you.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Absolutely is, absolutely is. And yes, along with this month being diversity awareness month, it is also appreciating volunteers month. Yeah, and um I've been volunteering on a regular basis for as long as I can remember. You know, from my hometown to uh uh to major events for nationwide charities. And it's near and dear to me, a lot of fun, but it's also where I talked about it um in a previous conch uh podcast is uh there's a lot of emotional labor with it. I can just volunteer for four hours and I am exhausted from it. I feel like I put an eight or twelve hour day, but it's good, heartfelt work. And I I I take a lot of home with it, it fulfills a lot of my spirit.

SPEAKER_03 1:44

What what is your volunteering that you're talking about entail? What is that for? Well, just for our listeners to know.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

Well, right right right now, um, I'm I do a lot of volunteering for the Maine Society of Southwest Washington. Um, but also uh previous to that, uh when I was living in Los Angeles, I volunteered with an organization called LA On Cloud Nine. Now they are they're a homegrown uh network of volunteers that reach out to the homeless uh communities of of Los Angeles. Now we've helped other people as well, people who have lost their homes to like apartments to fires and things like that. And we started out just with four, maybe six of us, and most of that was just the husband and wife, their two or three kids, and then me and another volunteer.

SPEAKER_03 2:43

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

Yeah, well, so we're just I mean, we we just pile into a car and uh we go, we make care packages, put in Ziploc bags, we call them hygiene packs um for people who live on the street. We uh uh put it in toothbrush and toothpaste, hand lotion, hand sanitizer. Um and this is pre-COVID. This is well, well before COVID. We could put in masks um and uh other other items of value to help people, uh, you know, combs, um, just to help people be a little bit more comfortable on the street, you know, have to make themselves more present presentable if they need to go out, go do a job interview, things like that. So and then within six months, we're now getting permits to go to MacArthur Park, which is you'll see at MacArthur Park, it's in um right off of downtown Los Angeles, and it's in a lot of movie scenes, things like that, and we we start setting up just tables, and we're we're handing out sandwiches, just like we were on the street, we're handing out sandwiches and blankets and things like that. Just um that that and then uh within that that the year of when we started, and even within those that the those first six months, we go from just a couple tables to about six of those party canopies, you know, those pop-up, big canvas, pole tents, you know, you um the uh we go we go from just maybe you know, uh several dozen volunteers, and we and we feed over two I counted over 200 people in one in a single set setting once a month.

SPEAKER_03 4:37

Nice, wow.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

And and at that point, we have ta tables of of donated clothes. We uh tables of food, hot food items. These are plates and things, so everybody can come in, and we'll feed anybody. You don't doesn't matter what status you're at, come and enjoy a hot meal. And um, we have not at that point at after a couple of years, we have like two um U-Haul trucks, those big multi-room home moving U-Haul trucks filled with items. Great, yeah, and that's great, and we have haircutting stations then. We have um we we have even a table where people can get on assistance too. We have we help people fill out the paperwork to get on assistance so they can get off the street. And so what we at at one point, I I counted like 200 volunteers one day. We had almost more volunteers than we had peop people we were actually helping. I mean, with within a couple people, but right. I mean, it it's it's a lot. I mean, I mean, I'm probably exaggerating the number of volunteers. 200 volunteers is a lot, but I mean, just we're we're how we have a team of people gathered to help people. Um, and it was and I really, really miss doing that. I really wish I was back in Los Angeles where I could still do that. Uh sounds great.

SPEAKER_03 6:11

Like you guys blew up too, and we're doing great things. And that's how a lot of these organizations with volunteers um or you know, that are funding actually start is small, five, six people volunteering, yeah, their time, you know, before because you before you have any income or profit and and taking off and starting.

SPEAKER_01 6:33

Right. And this is a purely volunteer based. Nobody's taking any money, nobody's taking any salaries or anything like that.

SPEAKER_03 6:42

Mm-hmm. Nice. You know, uh just get funding for like, you know, to get the trucks, to get the food, to get the you know.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

Right.

SPEAKER_03 6:51

Mm-hmm.

unknown 6:52

It's good.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

Which is what I have a problem with a lot of other nonprofits, and why I take volunteering and donating to the nonprofits so seriously, is that I w I want to be sure that my money and my time are going to uh an organization that's valuable.

SPEAKER_03 7:11

Right. Yes. Um, and there's a lot that aren't, yeah. We do have to be leery and cautious of that.

SPEAKER_01 7:19

You're you're correct. And what's fortunate is that those organizations publicly release their financial statements, and you can find those on your on their website. Um, and so you can see how much is the the leader leader of the organization getting paid? How many hours are they relying on of volunteers?

SPEAKER_03 7:44

The whole breakdown. Yeah, I think it's it's that's a very valuable technique for those that are want to donate and are donors to make sure that your funds are going to the right place. Go on the websites and look up those financial records and to see.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

Right. So, so now um I've been volunteering with the Humane Society of Southwest Washington. I started first cleaning out the dog kennels, which is a very, very disgusting job. I mean, some of those some of those dogs, the high stress dogs and things like that, were I'm sure. Really, really messy. I'll say save it, save everybody the mental picture, but if you can imagine something pretty dirty for a dog kennel, it it's probably a little bit worse than you can imagine. And so we have I think uh I think the Meaning Society has something about a thousand volunteers, is last what what I heard. And we do everything from kennel cleaning and then we do the feeding as well, um, and then walking the dogs and petting the cats. There's interactive environments, making sure that the that all the animals are properly cared for and give them stimulation. They're just not just left in a kennel and waiting to be adopted. They're all de-stressed, you know, play games and things like that. We have a fun thing called Pap Casso, where we put a little, we take a little card, little cardboard card, cut put paint on it, then saran wrap over that, because it's a it's a non-toxic paint, but and then a treat on the treat on the saran wrap. So the dog comes by and starts sniffing and eating, eating the food, so it spreads the paint around underneath the plastic, peel the plastic off, and you dry it. And then so it's your own little painting that the dog did, and you can eat and you can buy that. That money goes to the Maine Society. Uh, they so the volunteers do that. Uh but but then I started doing a lot more. I'm I'm I'm part of production crews now put out to put on their uh to put on their uh public events. I go out, set up tables and flyers, and I interact with uh with the with the public to represent the Bean Society, and then I help out with their their once-a-year charity gala. You know, the big dinners, you know, paper plate, you know, entertainment, um, things like that, uh to generate the you know the mass budget push. So there's and what I realized it's like, you know what, I want to do more. This is how fulfilling this is. This is why I'm so passionate about it, and I'm sorry to uh um overtake the conversation. They moved me into the clinic because I want to learn, and this is what I'm going to school for now, is being a vet tech. And um helping post-surgery, helping care for dogs and cats as they come through through the system and get prepped and spay and neutered and have any other uh medical needs met before they get adopted. And now now there's emotional labor. Um there is that some of those days I've had to work and they were excruciatingly hard. And it takes it takes a lot, uh, takes a lot out of you, but it's like I said, it's also very rewarding. I know when I'm going home, no matter how exhausted I I am, I've done a good thing.

SPEAKER_03 11:38

That's and that that right there feels is priceless, and that feels so great when we get to that point. And that is the true gift and value of volunteering. Right there is that satisf feeling of satisfaction afterwards, knowing that you did something good. You did something good um selflessly.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

You're right.

SPEAKER_03 12:02

I think that's the and that's the value of volunteering too. Not to say that like we need to do it just for ourselves to help ourselves feel better, but it should we should feel better ourselves if um we're helping others.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

You're right.

SPEAKER_03 12:20

You know, so that alone should help us feel better, just alone by helping others. But yeah, volunteering is possi awesome. It sounds like you've been doing it most, like you said, almost all your life, huh?

SPEAKER_01 12:30

I put in somewhere around 300 hours a year.

SPEAKER_02 12:35

Great.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

So that that that's that's about no, because some of these are very, very long days. So that it it it works out. So um that's eight hours a week. Six to eight hours a week. That's that's one one day um I'm putting in on average. On average, on average, I'm putting a full workday in a week at volunteering.

SPEAKER_03 13:03

That and I looked up on the census.gov and it did state like in 2023 there was 75.7 million Americans that volunteered, engaged in some type of volunteer services, and they said it was a total of five billion hours, but the average for it was 66 to 70 hours per volunteer annually. Um, so yeah, and what you're doing is definitely well surpassing that because you're doing it weekly with but that's that's fantastic, and it's people like you, if you have the time and the ability and the passion to to do it, that's great uh for all of us. That's how a lot of us, that's how we all survive a lot of things in a lot of areas is volunteering.

SPEAKER_01 13:49

Well, talking about survival, put a quantitative number on that, you know. Uh um let's say $15 an hour. Average out, you know, maybe uh a standard wage. So I mean how how many hours a year do do do we do we give? Did the census say?

SPEAKER_03 14:13

For how much money you sent?

SPEAKER_01 14:15

No, no, yeah, no, how many hours of volunteer lay labor are put in per year every year total?

SPEAKER_03 14:21

Well, it it says uh oh total 75.7 million.

SPEAKER_01 14:27

What's the what's that times 15? About about a billion, maybe a little bit more, maybe almost two.

SPEAKER_03 14:37

It's over, it's so it'd be one point one three five. So one billion one hundred thirty million. Is that right? Yeah million dollars.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

So that's how much we are saving organizations.

SPEAKER_03 14:54

So one point one point two billion, basically.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

That's a th then that's a lot of billions.

SPEAKER_03 15:00

Yeah, and that's just our country.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:04

Because it's volunteering, this is something that happens worldwide. It's I think it's it's natural in a sense. It should be at least natural to humans to volunteer to give their time for some good causes. Not a lot of people always do and jumping up, but um it's something that humanity has done forever in volunte in trying to help each other. Um volunteering isn't always necessarily joining that organization to volunteer in, even though a lot of those have it set up and where you can make some good impact on there, but you can volunteer your time doing something that without the huge organization as well, and hopefully be just as fulfilled.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

You're right. You know, and it doesn't cost anything to be nice.

SPEAKER_03 15:52

Right. No, it doesn't. It does not at all. I know I was I volunteered. I used to sit on um the board at American Legion. I was the blood, I was the blood drive board member. Nice. Um, so I was in charge of the blood drives. So uh, and that was all volunteer work. So making the calls to the whole book of people uh to set up times and appointments and let them know that it's happening, work organizing the event, doing all of that. Um so yeah, it does, I can understand it getting it does take a lot of hours and tiring, but it is very fulfilling because like I actually increased our blood drive every year, every year, like it was barely ever happening. And I did it for I think like four years, and we would increase every single year by at least at the minimum of 25% every year, which is great. I'm like for four years, I mean I doubled that's awesome. Um the amount of people, yeah. And actually, I think the first year or um the second year actually, because we had the word had to get out on it, and we doubled that one, and then it was, you know, slowly smaller a little bit more or more. Uh but we did a chili cook-off. I came up with a chili cook-off because you know it has high protein and all that, so you donate blood and then you get to try the chilies in the chili cook-off. Um, and then you can vote on one. And you got to bring a cup of chili home if you'd like. Like we fed you chili basically. Nice. Um and that brought people in, a lot of people, which is great, you know, especially those people who wanted to be in the chili cook-off. So yeah, it it was great. It was I did enjoy doing it. It was I mean, it was a lot of work, don't get me wrong, especially making those phone calls and trying to keep up to schedule the appointments.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

But and that's something I'm terrible at.

SPEAKER_03 17:45

Huh?

SPEAKER_01 17:46

The cold calling.

SPEAKER_03 17:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

Can you help us out? Um But remember that you know that's that's one thing we always never like for like public radio, is like every three, four months they they do their their funding drives and things like that, or you have to get called if you become a member because we like put public radio, and then and then you have to get that phone call, them asking for money again. Um but but they do those national public radio and your local public radio station, they work on a shoe shoestring budget, and it costs a lot to produce uh to produce uh a radio show cut takes a lot just to produce this podcast. So imagine that a thousand pole.

SPEAKER_03 18:39

Right. Yeah, yeah. I can only imagine, I'm sure it takes a whole lot. That's not my world, it's your world.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

But um well, especially especially now that f there's federal grants that are being cut now, too. So that's also why I wanted to do this, is that NPR is being cut out of the budget, and other local and grant and grants overall are being cut.

SPEAKER_03 19:07

Yeah, now more than ever, then we definitely there's a lot of organizations that definitely need a lot of help because yes, there are a lot of places that are being cut. I didn't even think about that. I'm glad that you I'm glad that you brought that up. You're bringing light to it and mentioning it, because that is a valuable info, and hopefully um that'll push for some people to more people to go ahead and volunteer because there's a lot of programs that are hurting, and without the volunteers, they don't survive. They won't survive.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

You're right.

SPEAKER_03 19:38

I know the even donating blood, as I say, that just a couple days ago, I think they said they only had like two or three days left of blood. And so they might be out unless they got a whole bunch of volunteers, like there's shortage on donating blood.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

But uh they're they're operating. Hospitals and the Red Cross are operating. Are we gonna be able to do this tomorrow? Attitude.

SPEAKER_03 20:04

Sadly, a lot of people are um because of all the cuts that have happened from I mean I don't know if it's just because of all the government cuts, but I'm sure it's uh got a good piece that piece of it.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

And the economy too.

SPEAKER_03 20:22

Mm-hmm. Yeah, you're right. The economy is also the big hit. Nothing's getting cheaper, everything's getting more expensive, it's getting harder. People have limited tighter for all of us, so we can't donate as much either to help out.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

People can't donate as as much finances. You know, they could they they're either working more than one job now. Yes, if they're fortunate enough to have a job now. I mean the job job market and the job economy is very, very slim. So people are people are working multiple jobs, like they it's hard, it's they don't have the time to volunteer. So now so that's a domino effect. Everybody all these organizations are hurting as well.

SPEAKER_03 21:06

Yes, yes, yeah. I can see that the whole domino effect. It's oh yeah. Um I think all of you that do volunteer, especially like Timber, like you, all the hours that you have put in and that you do on a consistent basis, year after year after year, thank you. It's needed. You're touching areas, you know, every every spot that we go to to try and volunteer in. It's it's helping to make our society better. It's help in some way or another. You're you're creating that kindness that's free um to help someone else, which is fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 21:46

Thank you. Yeah it it it it is, you know, and a lot of volunteering is secular. You don't have to believe in uh uh an Or you you you you want to believe in the Humane Society of Southwest Washington or the Humane Society as itself. Um, and uh then another charity I want to mention is is the Children's Tumor Foundation, CTF.org. Um they primarily research cancer, but it's based around the disorder neurofibromatosis, which comes in several forms. And I was born with neurofibromatosis. Um and um it affects everything from the skin to the eyes and and parts of the nervous system. Uh and it's a very it can be, and it's very random, a very deliberating and disfiguring uh uh cancer. Some of it's benign, some of it's malignant. Um, but they they rely a lot on volunteers as well, because of how I mean they're really close. They're they've to finding cures now and suitable treatments for a lot a lot of uh the ailments that come with it. Um, but like I was saying, I mean, that's something you can believe in, especially in a secular sense, but in a religious sense, I mean, there's a lot of other charities that are religious-based, and that's fine. And I'm not saying one is better than the other, but generally people are are who who believe in a faith will donate time to that faith or that charity, and that's great that because that's part of the numbers that uh that help lives and and save organ saves organizations as a whole funds. But you don't like uh because uh because the the topic of religion is very, very hot right now, and that's why I wanted to bring this up, is that you don't have to believe in a higher power, if you will, um, that you may question to uh donate your time. I mean that this is just the the secular-based cancer research and homelessness and uh pets pets and other animals, that's all secular. You don't you just have to believe in doing something good and helping your neighbor.

SPEAKER_03 24:30

Sorry, that's my got it, they got it, yes, yes, and there are good, there are a lot of good volunteer other volunteer programs. Just look out there. You can volunteer for any and everything. Nobody's gonna turn down somebody volunteering unless you really, unless you really are causing havoc. Then they might say, you know, it's not even worth it. But if everybody loves to have a lending hand, and we should all help each other, and that's like it's the volunteering same kind of goes along with what I keep saying all the time is do one good deed a day for somebody else, which actually is doing one for yourself. Because I was saying to do one for yourself too, but that is how you do one for yourself to make yourself by making somebody else's life day moment better. Um and it's the same with volunteering. A lot of the things that you do for volunteering. I mean, those steps, those things that you do, you could be filing, just volunteering to file, that means something. It keeps things organized. That is sufficient, like every little job, every little thing means something. Everybody needs to, you know, needs some help and it it's valued and it's appreciated. And yes, I I love to hear about your volunteering. I think um I don't hear so much in my mind at least about volunteering as much as I used to was when I was younger. And uh I don't know why that is. Um I don't seem to.

SPEAKER_01 25:55

I was thinking about that. Uh it's well this is where this is why what I also wanted to bring up with this this discussion is to reach out to young people. Um and uh there's a lot of things you can do as a child to volunteer. Um some things are because there's safety involved, you can and can't do certain things, but as young teenagers pre-graduation and post-graduation of high school now, through college and post-grad, you know, post-grad graduating college, if you if you have chosen to go to college, volunteer. Volunteer for a really good organization, get that documented. You're gonna make a lot of great contacts, a lot of great professional contacts, and uh all that's great for your resume. Now, as a high school student, that's gonna help you get into a good college. You know, put that part of your job application that you you you go donate your time for these charities, and as you do it through college, put that on your resume when you're going to go reach out for work. That will help you find work.

SPEAKER_03 27:17

Yeah, volunteering is an incredibly great tool to use for networking.

SPEAKER_01 27:24

And bet you how many skills you're gonna pick up, too. Just ask, get say, give me work, give me work. I want to learn, I want to learn, just teach me, and they're gonna be happy to teach you, and you're gonna be able to retain those skills and apply that to your professional career.

SPEAKER_03 27:41

Yes, yes. So if you're in school and in college and you're going to think about volunteering, um, do something that you're passionate about. Try to find something where you want to go into or you're thinking about going into. Um, I mean, these are just the smart things to do. Of course, I do not, I don't want to veer you off from volunteering in anything, just volunteering itself is great. But if you're looking to actually volunteer and be able to build your network up, make it beneficial for yourself in the future, that's what I would do is I would try to find an organization that does something that you in the direction that you want to go. If, like, let's say if you want to do marketing, try to see if you can find a marketing organization that you can volunteer, do some services for, um, and see what they have, what they have to offer. Uh, and then it helps you learn. And then you're gonna learn, you're gonna meet people in that industry who also nine times out of ten, or maybe seven times out of ten, they won't gatekeep and they'll share some information with you and have to help you grow and want to see you grow. Volunteering is definitely a great networking tool. I'm glad that you brought that up. It is, it's a great networking tool, it's a great social tool if you need to um socialize. It's also speaking of marketing, it's a great marketing tool too, because you're meeting more people and you can market yourself if that's what you're trying to do out there. So, yes, and it's crucial. It's keeping our economy and our businesses and ourselves going.

SPEAKER_01 29:08

Well, I've I made a great friend in business contact through through volunteering, and she's a podcaster, too. Yeah, um, and and I've found out too that I want this is something else I want to do, something else that I'm really good at, something I never thought I was gonna be able would ever do, but is being a vet tech. And I used to be really afraid of blood and needles when I was growing up, so I didn't being around the surgery thing, no, thank you. But now like I get to sit in on surgeries and amputations and watching the spay and neuters and seeing the sex organs, you know, getting snipped, and like you think you're like, ah yeah, but it it's it is profoundly interesting.

SPEAKER_03 29:56

Like that's fantastic. I'm glad that you are. I could not do animal people, I can do people. It's as crazy as it is. So like I loved watching surgeries when I watched surgery. I watched a kidney transplant, and I was so fascinating how fat looked the way that it actually that's really what fat looks like. Yeah, like it actually does look that way, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:13

Or the uterus to see the inside like a dog's uterus come out, like it's like what is that? Oh, that's it. Is that the uterus? Like yeah, like it's a amazing where your your brain can pick up on it and and actually use common sense. Oh, is that what that is? Like, yeah, even though you haven't I had never seen anything like that before besides the the pictures in in the on the wall of my doctor's office or biology in high school or college. I'm like, you don't see shit like sorry, yeah, yeah. You don't see stuff like that.

SPEAKER_03 30:51

No, and then you peg it. It's crazy that our brain does does trigger and grab at those things. Yeah. Uh it is funny. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 31:00

But I mean that that that's how excited I get about this, and that's why I'm trying I'm hoping to spread it to others. It's volunteer, please.

SPEAKER_03 31:10

Please, yes, do something, just volunteer one thing. Don't care what it is, what you want to volunteer and go ahead and do. Just volunteer to do something. And I don't mean, even though I'm sure like a lot of parents would appreciate it, I don't mean being like, I volunteer, I'll do the dishes real quick. I mean we love those things, but volunteer to go do something to be within the community to help build the community up.

SPEAKER_01 31:36

I and I strongly encourage something like going to volunteer at the soup kitchen. Yep, a soup kitchen, something like that. Humbling. And I've found that I'm very thankful for what I have and how much I've taken for granted because we are all one step away from ending in that situation, from losing our job, losing our apartment.

SPEAKER_03 32:02

Especially right now in these times. And and I'd like to point out soup kitchens do need they run more than Thanksgiving, they run year round. So it's not just that time of year or the holidays that they need help and volunteers, they can use them every day.

SPEAKER_01 32:18

You you're absolutely right, because it isn't just don't just don't do it around the holidays, don't do it for Thanksgiving or Christmas, which is all fine and dandy. I mean, there they're they probably need more people to to feed them. And uh, but they also think about it too that they have a lot of volunteers that sign up for them, so they probably um it's these off days over the summers, you know, and middle of the weeks and things like that. Um that you know, when nobody's available around because they're all working other jobs or going on vacations, things like that. We just reach out to them, they'll direct you and say, Okay, this is when we they'll find your best talents, find out what you want to do, and place you and train you in. And you'll find skills that you'll find skills you didn't know you had.

SPEAKER_03 33:16

You will, and pass you well, and and yep, and that you'll do that with volunteering and just throughout, but it'll give you a good head start and a jump on there, and also, you know, soup kitchens or it like we said the summertime's coming up. I know there's events out there, the community events, you can volunteer to help at a community event. They always need helps for different things, too. That's also helping each other and building each other up as well in a positive thing. So there's so many different ways that you can volunteer your time and give yourself in your time, and you can learn more, or you can volunteer your own knowledge to teach others, which we as we all know, no matter what, even with the teachers, we all we all give and take together. When even when you give, you get something. So you know it's it's powerful and it's great. Just everybody remember that and volunteer, just pick anything, whatever. There's things out there.

SPEAKER_00 34:10

You're right.

SPEAKER_03 34:14

Yes, and so yes, once again, thank you all volunteers this month. I definitely want to thank everybody.

SPEAKER_01 34:20

And thank if you don't volunteer, thank them as well.

SPEAKER_03 34:24

Yes, please do reach out.

SPEAKER_01 34:29

Yeah. And if you had if you need any need any advice, I'd uh reach out to us um through email or on our uh through the comments on the YouTube page. We'll gladly help you out, find find find you a good organization in your local community, you know. Um, or just look it up.

SPEAKER_03 34:52

Yeah, Google's always there for everybody, it'll let you know too. Just Google it, baby. It'll be there to help you out too. But yes, just take a look, put in what you're interested in and go.

SPEAKER_01 35:05

Absolutely, absolutely, because there is there's a lot of organizations out there that need you, and they need and and they need your family, they need your friends. Go do it as just a fun just bring your friends together and and because I mean it it is a lot of fun. Uh uh, I mean, I I done some hard stuff, but the other rest of it is a heck of a lot of fun. It's I mean, really, really fun. And so, but thank you for joining me on this, Selena.

SPEAKER_03 35:39

Um, yes, you're welcome.

SPEAKER_01 35:41

I really I really really wanted to share this.

SPEAKER_03 35:44

So yeah, I'm glad that we're recognizing this month and having this discussion, and hopefully we have uh influenced somebody out there that's listening to Go Volunteer just once for us.

SPEAKER_01 35:56

Yeah, doing something, go try it out.

SPEAKER_03 35:58

Just try it out, right? Yes.

SPEAKER_01 36:01

Well, thank you, everybody, and thank you for listening. And and uh our listenership's starting to grow now, and I'm getting really excited to see where Disco is gonna take off to.

SPEAKER_03 36:14

So yeah, so please come back again and listen to us. We'll be back.

SPEAKER_01 36:19

And don't forget to comment and give us some ideas on what we should cover too.

SPEAKER_03 36:23

Yeah, if you have any ideas, suggestions, please drop them in the comment. Otherwise, everybody, thank you. Go volunteer, and everyone have a fantastic night.

SPEAKER_01 36:31

You too, everybody. Remember, love is love. Take care of yourselves and take care of each other. Take care now.

SPEAKER_02 36:39

Bye now.