Serving The Treasure Valley: Empty Hand Combat's Impact on Troubled youth.ode

Mario and Wayne sit down with this week's special guests, Cosmo Zimik and Courtney Hastings, to talk about Empty Hand Combat DOJO and serving Idaho troubled youth. Cosmo shares how he left working as acorrectional officer and a chaplain to opening a nonprofit DOJO to help get troubled youth get off of the streets and empowering them by mentoring and training them. Courtney Hastings who is VP at TRACE, volunteers at Empty Hand Combat tells her story as a recovering addict and victim of domestric abuse and how Cosmo has mentored her. Join us for a powerful conversation about Loving our youth  and conquering adversity.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 1:16

Welcome to Reformed and Real, where we take a journey with our people fresh out of prison and how the community around them really feels. My name is Mario Hernandez, and I'm one of the afflicted people that got released back into the community, and we're here to try and figure out how this looks.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

And I'm Wayne Burke, curious onlooker who wants to know about our prison system, get to know the stories beyond the stigma of incarceration, because, like Mario, I believe all stories count.

SPEAKER_03 1:40

Oh yeah. Yeah. We agree every week. Every week. Normally uh we uh uh focus on incarceration, people getting out of incarceration, but this week we have a different uh little take on it. Uh we're uh we have some special guests here, and we're gonna talk about what it looks like to not just to recover, but to recover with Jesus on your side and to and what it's like to have people support you in the community and this amazing program right here in NAMPA. And uh you guys want to introduce yourselves?

SPEAKER_00 2:09

Yes, of course. So I'm MTN Combat. Um, we're the founder and also I'm the chief instructor there. My name is Cosmo Zimik, and here's one of our volunteers at the dojo.

SPEAKER_04 2:20

My name is Courtney Hastings.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Yeah, we're excited to be here today.

SPEAKER_03 2:24

Man, it's a pleasure having you guys here. And just a little precursor. Yeah. Um I know Courtney because Courtney is a volunteer at Trace. As well. Courtney, she works for Trace.

SPEAKER_04 2:35

Empty hand combat. Those are my two go-to.

SPEAKER_03 2:38

And what is Trace?

SPEAKER_04 2:39

Trace, it's uh anti-human trafficking, and we look for missing kids, teens, adults. Um, and also I I get backpacks from over here and I go disperse them out in the community. So community outreach.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Nice.

SPEAKER_03 2:51

Wow, sweet. Great. So that that's how I met him. And Cosmo, um, tell me a little bit about you, what you do, your dojo, why you know it's funny that you guys talk about the reincarcination.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

This uh I was actually the chaplain at the prison.

SPEAKER_03 3:04

Oh yeah, so I was a lot more in common.

SPEAKER_00 3:07

Yeah, no kidding. So we um I talked to all these inmates, and uh, there was a needs in NAMPA. Crazy story. So actually, we started the dojo to help the inmate kids and address youth, single mom kids. So I took out my retirement 401k with penalty, 50% penalty. I lost money. So I took out my retirement money to start a dojo. I quit the uh quit the chaplain to start a dojo for inmates' kids and uh address youth. And when I first started, I had 90 kids that were all inmates and address youth, 90 kids, teenager, when I first started. It was crazy. Amazing. Yeah, we had 130 kids and 90 of them were address youth, right in the empire in the warehouse.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

Yeah, amazing. So, how long were you with the chaplain before you went into this?

SPEAKER_00 3:56

I was four years chaplain, one and a half years uh correction officer. So I was about five, a little bit five years in the correction. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:04

Oh, you used to supervise me at one time.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

Not you in particular, but yeah, you did a great job, Cosmo. Yeah, thank you. Turned it all right. And so uh when did you move into the dojo part of it? How long ago? What year was that?

SPEAKER_00 4:18

2009. 2009? Yeah, so I took out my Percy. We started, and uh we were crazy. I didn't know how to take the money for dojo, but per se, but we were so popular because uh I was helping all these inmate kids address you, so we had like 90 fighters, and uh the mayor at that time actually came to visit me because he heard about us. I didn't go and seek out the mayor. So we had uh lunch and um he even gave me an award for making a difference in the community, and so we become best friends. He's now in our board member, the former mayor, you know. It's a pretty cool story. So I didn't know the community that well, so we just started doing it just to help whatever we can. We believe that, you know, in self-sustaining, and we're not really always raising the money, getting grant and things like that, and we're really trying to help within our own budget. So we uh give 10% out scholarship, and we did all those things, and it doesn't work that way, of course. Sometimes it was more than 50% were on scholarship, or most of them were on scholarship. But we're learning the business side and we're quite self-sustained now after 15 years. And we're giving back a lot to the community. Right now we get 57 kids' scholarship. We help GED in job, talk about inmates. We have a lot of uh inmates' kids, single mom, single parents type, foster kids. No question asked. If they're 10 and older, we're we're able to give up to 150 scholarships just because someone blessed us with this huge building of 13,000 square feet. So we it's not that we have money, but we have the building. So we are able to bless the community. So if anybody knows, you know, struggling single moms or address you'd inmates, kids, uh, bring them all. We not only teach them karate, kung fu, kickboxing, but we also mentor them free counseling. We give them help with GD, we partner with some GD program. So we're able to help a lot with so little.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

That's great. So it's a full service operation.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

So you're filling the 13,000 square feet. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

We want to we want to fill it. We have with good stuff. Yeah, we have 240 right now kids. So we're shooting for 500 kids. So they come alternate days. So if an address you start behaving well, they can come every day, all day. So after school, they can come and hang out, or if they don't have school, no GED, then they can come even at noon. Some of them, if they're like 16, 17, we pick them up even from their house or foster parents, and they can hang out all day at our dojo. And they do a program called Discipleship or Leadership Training, you know.

SPEAKER_03 6:55

So everybody knows we're gonna post that on our uh on our Facebook and our YouTube so you guys can look them up. So uh bumping off of that, so now we we got a good idea what your story is. Courtney, how did you meet Cosmo? Let's talk about that for a second.

SPEAKER_04 7:09

Um so I met Cosmo in 2021. I so actually I had left an abusive marriage, um, and then I ended up going through some like really just dark, bad, you know, times. Um and so I basically tried to take my life. And um thank thank God that did not work. And then I actually sat praying. Um I kept praying for just one person to like to um meet one person who believed in me and that would give me an opportunity to turn my life around. And then I um ended up then I ended up getting to a point where I was like, uh, what's something I would never do? And I was like kickboxing, I'd never do kickboxing. So I was like, Yes, I'm doing kickboxing. That's what I decided. Um, and then I ended up meeting Cosmo and his wife, Sarah. And Cosmo, when I called him, he was like, he's all it's not gonna be easy. He's all it's gonna be hard. He's all but I can help you. So I ended up going in there and uh started doing Muay Thai kickboxing. And um, it was just yeah, even the times when like um, because I would do one-on-one lessons, even when I couldn't like pay for the training, Cosmo's like, it's fine, just you know, come in, I'll still help you. Um and then I'm like, Well, can I just like maybe clean or volunteer? And he's like, Yeah, sure. So sometimes that's how I pay for like my classes. Um, and then it was just it was a domino effect because then I had my kids coming in and then they like we've all like turned our entire lives around. That's great. It's just been amazing.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

Yeah, yeah. One thing leads to another. Yeah. He didn't make you walk four miles to that.

SPEAKER_04 8:35

You know, there were times when I was crying and I was sparring and he was like, Come on, you got this. And I'm just like crying, going, No, I don't. He's like, Yeah, you do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

So talk about a little bit about the arc of getting to where you feel pretty good kickboxing. It obviously has a positive effect on your self-esteem. But what are the what are the first hardest hurdles to getting to that spot?

SPEAKER_04 8:59

Showing up.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

Just showing up.

SPEAKER_04 9:01

Yeah, showing up sometimes is the hardest. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

We hear that.

SPEAKER_04 9:03

And Cosmo, he's really good about going, hey, where are you at? Coming in, thinking about you. It's like, are you okay?

SPEAKER_02 9:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:09

So um, and then the just um man, just and being on the spot, just being put on the spot and just having everyone kind, you know, people are coming in and out and they're like watching you, and you're just like, wow, this is uncomfortable. Um, but then eventually it's like, you know, it's cool. Now I can go in there and I'm like, okay, let's go, you know. And I get to help volunteer like with the the kung fu sometimes and the muay thai, um, like basic muay thai. So helping with the kids' classes and stuff like that. And that's just been so cool. It's so fun.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

I'll bet it has.

SPEAKER_03 9:42

That's really great. So do you have like an addiction uh past? Um tell me just a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_04 9:48

Yep. So um I yeah, I had a had a drug addiction, and um, and then at one point I was like major into alcohol, like I was um bad, like where I would literally like skip work. This is years ago, but I'd skip work, go get a bottle of vodka, and I'd go home. And instead of being at work, I would just be sitting on my living room floor drinking vodka, and then I would end up going and getting like um a six-pack of you know, of um Mike's hard lemonade, and yeah, it was bad. And then I was like going to bars all the time. Um and yeah, it was it was uh it was just bad, bad. And then there was even a time I remember like um when I first met Cosmo when I was still going to struggling, and I had gone in there and and I was like, I need prayers, you know, because I was just like still going through some stuff, and he him and a bunch of the other people prayed for me and yeah, and I also was going through health issues, that was the other thing, like just from like hypothyroid to like Hoshimoto, just a range of things. So I'm like battling my addiction, my health issues, and you know, and then losing everything, my kids and I like lost everything basically that we owned. So had to walk away from all that um start again. But if it wasn't for Cosmo um and empty hand combat, I wouldn't have had a chance, I wouldn't be where I'm at today.

SPEAKER_03 11:04

There's no way that's the basics of coming up out of addiction or whether incarceration or uh family problems, all that is like somebody's gotta have a good support system and people and people that like no matter what, even if I wasn't there, like you know, sometimes I I wouldn't I wouldn't be there, and no matter what, Cosmo would still treat me the same.

SPEAKER_04 11:22

I'd come in and you go, Hey, you know, never treated me different, no matter what.

SPEAKER_03 11:26

So so Cosmo, tell me what your side of that story is. So because you're the receiver, right? So when you tell me about when you first heard her voice, saw her face, whatever that looks like.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

So I I'll tell everybody to first care for the person and pray for them. Because some of the things I do, it will not work. Because there's I'm Asian, so a little racial barrier there, it's a little easier for me, cultural barriers. People think I'm culturally not so sound or things, so I can say a lot of things and get away with it. So even with that woman, like I tell her to suck it up, you know, you could do this. Like, if you don't want to do this, you know, don't waste my time. So I'm like really harsh. And I pray for her all the time. So I feel like I earn that credit to be hard on her. So most people hold her hand before she met me, right? Everybody literally lift her up, of course, care for her for sure. There are people that care for her probably more than me too. But I I pray and care for her, but I'm like very hard and harsh. But I also know when to hold her hand, lift her up. I think one of our secrets is believing in people, believing in God, because I have seen cases a lot worse than her. Like hers was pretty bizarre too. She didn't share, like, I wouldn't share the detail because she can share it. But she had the broken joe and things like that from her ex. That was one thing I was like, that's not okay, you know, in my world.

SPEAKER_03 12:52

Yeah, you need my class.

SPEAKER_00 12:53

Yeah, right. Yeah, but I I see the future. I see her future, and I think that really helped with all these teenagers too. Sometimes people see the teenager idiocracy or their mistake, current mistake. But I see two years past, one year in the future, two years in the future. I can see their future. Like, not literally see it, but I can imagine it, right? So people always ask me, what's your secret? I'm like, let me figure out. And people start asking me a lot of questions on write a book, chosen program, and lots of things. And I really don't know how I do it for the longest time. So last year I started figuring out uh, I think the key is caring and seeing the result. Like I see them in the future. So I can, they can literally be the most idiotic person, and I just believe in them and give them grace. But I will still uh sometimes them, right? With lots of love, of course. Like it's not abusive punch, it's a spark. Tough love. Especially if it's a teenager boy, it's all like killing the ring, you know. We're gonna do this.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

I'm sorry, it's just tough love. Yeah, I'm sorry about that.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

Yeah, yeah. But it works. They uh he's real. Yeah, a lot of teenagers think that you know, we're for real. We're human, we're all human, right? So I I never portrayed to be like a hero or something I'm not, you know. So I try my best to be there for them. My dream in life, to be honest, is to really create mini cosmos, hundreds or thousands of them who will be bigger and better than me. I don't care about cosmos, you know, like but God gave me a second chance, right? Like her story, I have my own past. I was actually paralyzed, you know, and God gave me a second chance, or at least I felt was God. So I'm very like at the edge. I'm always on fire and I'm a very unique person. Like, it's not like I'm more spiritual. I'm not like a pastor, right? It's not like I'm more strong, right? I'm not MMA UFC fighter, but I last longer than a UFC fighter because I'm able to work 14 hours a day, but right? You're single-minded. Yeah, I'm like a machine, right? I'm like an old man machine. I never stop, right? I never stop all day. I'm just always trying to help.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

That's awesome. Um, well, if you're just tuning in, you're listening to Reformed and Real. I'm Wayne Burt with my co-host Mario Hernandez. We're joined in the booth with Cosmo Zimmick and Courtney Hastings, and we'll be right back. Welcome back to Reformed and Real. Um, and uh, we're joined in the booth by Cosmo Zimmick and Courtney Hastings and uh continuing this great conversation. Yeah, welcome back. The path, the path toward more cosmos. Yeah, an empty hand combat.

SPEAKER_03 15:29

Yeah, thank you. I did a tour over there, and uh I generally don't go to Nampa because I'm from Boise, it's so far away, and uh sounds kind of snoppy. Yeah, it was a great experience. You know, I got to go into your place, I got to see what you do. More than anything, I got to learn about your mission. Yeah, you know, I do want to say before I forget that you guys are having a fundraiser this week, right?

SPEAKER_00 15:49

Yeah, on Friday. So this Friday we're gonna actually cook the curry ourselves. We're gonna feed the homemade curries, and uh we're uh we're inviting about 100 people, so we're a little bit short. I think we have about 60 so far or 70. So you're welcome to come, drop off at the door. We're actually the most powerful thing is we have a few teenagers lines up to share the story, and then one adult. So it's powerful. This case, I met him in the street of Niampa one summer. He was wearing a hoodie with a machete. So I found him and I said, Hey, I'll teach you how to fight. They were laughing. I said, No, I'm serious. So I brought him the ring, started uh training him. So he was kind of not literally a hitman, but he used to beat up people for money. And change fast forward, his supervisor at his work, he got his GD and change life, and he's like a son to me. My last 50th birthday, he brought me a semi-auto shotgun. You know, it's like$1200 shotgun for my birthday. You know, I was like, wow, I met these kids on the street. It was a Hispanic gang kids, right? So now he's like a spiritual son to me. And so this banquet, you get to hear from him and many other kids. So please come. It's at 6 p.m. And uh dinner starts at 6 30. It's very short, one-hour program. It's kind of a hangout thing, it's nothing serious. Everybody's welcome in Empty Hand Combat Nampa.

SPEAKER_03 17:09

Everybody that's listening to this that uh is from Nampa called, well, even Boise as well. Yeah, um, go down and check it out because this is about if you have somebody, a friend, a family member, you know somebody that's incarcerated, or uh they have a teenager, or maybe they just got out of incarceration, and maybe the teenager needs some mentoring or whatever. Uh, you know, I really, really, really uh you know urge you to go and check this out and and just have a look for yourself and see what it looks like. I think it's a great thing, and uh and I'm I'm glad to have met you.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

It's a great community resource. Yes. How how many people do you think have come through your facility?

SPEAKER_00 17:43

So the last uh five 16 years, we have counted at least over 5,000 kids. Wow. Oh wow. So we have quite a bit of successful stories. So I was just telling Mario that we're doing a YouTube series right now, it's gonna come out soon. It's called 100 series. So we're shooting 100 kids successful stories. And the coolest thing is it's not we're not even trying to raise money or promote our dojo, like, but it'll end up promoting dojo probably or raising money. But the really goal was to tell people to go there and do the thing we're doing, and even bigger and better than us. Because we started with no money. Remember, I took out my retirement money and we went broke, we were gonna file bankruptcy, and my wife said, no, let's keep trying this. So we had minus 70 so thousand dollars in debt, and we're gonna close down the dojo, and we keep trying, and now we're self-sustained. We helped three schools in India. We have a couple of hundred orphanages and 600 kids in India that we have three, not martial arts school, education school in India. We have lots of widows' programs and oh that's great. Yeah, we raise some money, but we're not like really busy fundraising because I'd rather talk to the kids than talk about money, you know. So the fundraising part is a tough thing for me, but I would uh if people want to support, we still take it. But every day I'm not busy talking about fundraising. Um mostly I'm like hunting kids in a good way, right? Like to bring them to dojo or connect them with other organizations like you guys. And uh cool thing is we don't take these kids even to our church. We just want to connect them with God. We're like, we go to church in Boise, you know, like we don't even go to Nyanpa, so we're like not trying to grow our church. We're actually not even trying to grow our dojo. That's like really odd for a businessman, right? But we're ready to grow people, we're ready to grow you know, people with a heart, a mind that's better than me and bigger than me, right? I have this good heart for sure. But what if I can create a kid that's like Cosmo and we'll be bigger and better? That would be pretty powerful. We're pretty, in a good way, dangerous in this world, right? So wonderful. It's a domino effect, right? It's a snowball effect.

SPEAKER_03 19:52

You exactly you help with one, and he helps other people behind him, yeah, and the world just gets better.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

Amen. Yeah. Yeah. More and more people uh feel like they have more people that care about them. Yeah, you know, which seems like the basis of the whole operation. And then kickboxing comes on top of that. GEDs, everything.

SPEAKER_04 20:10

They have a boxing ring too. So I mean I think it's I think it's cool.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

Yeah, I don't know. I I wonder if I should try that. I was gonna ask you if you have. Uh you said you visited. Did you you didn't try any kickboxing?

SPEAKER_00 20:24

We need to have button.

SPEAKER_02 20:25

Yeah, you need to.

SPEAKER_00 20:29

I need someone to spar a tab of image reference.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

Kickboxing match for nonprofits. Yeah, although leaders are nonprofits. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:38

We can still do that.

unknown 20:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:40

Yeah, that'll be a good one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:41

All right, nonprofits, if you're listening today, you want to do a nonprofit kickoff. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:47

I'm always ready to spar, so that's fine.

SPEAKER_00 20:49

So anyway, the dojo actually, one side is uh for profit, so we divide up in half. So the kickboxing boxing is for nonprofit. That's why we could give someone scholarship. But the karate kung fu site, people pay the fees, you know, 100 to 140, 49. And we also still give about 20% scholarship there. You know, we have quite a 200, so we have about 30 kids learning for free in the karate side. Yeah. But the kickboxing side is purely nonprofit. We're willing to give over 100 kids scholarship. People are listening, there are no string attached. And on top of that, we'll even give them a boxing gloves and hand wraps. I just bought 200 boxing gloves on wholesale. So if uh single moms come in and they couldn't afford it, it's not like we're not trying to sign them up, lure them in monthly payment. And for leadership, we have extra. You have to pay thousand in lots of dojo, right? There are money, more money. If you have a black belt team or leadership fight teams, they have a fight team, right? So the coolest story in our site is the leadership, our site is free, and fight team is free, and we train them extras, you know. We just want stories. We're hungry for successful stories. That's how we survive. We can't do Facebook ads or Google ads, you know. We do a little bit for summer cam right now, but normally we don't do any ads at all. We're just word of mouth.

SPEAKER_01 22:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

So like I have to have successful stories for my personal life, for my existence, to be honest. Right? Otherwise, let's just shut down the dojo. I can go do a business.

SPEAKER_01 22:23

That's why you give because it feeds you back. That's exactly what feeds you back. Yes. So I get it.

SPEAKER_03 22:29

You're you're you're so Courtney, you take your kids there too, right? Yeah. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 22:34

So how old are they? Uh my son is uh 17 and my daughter is seven. So yep. I was like, they um they both have been there. My daughter was just there last week to go doing the spring um uh the spring camp and she she loves it. Like even at the house, she's like doing upper blocks and middle blocks and like down blocks, and she loves kicking. She's like kicking all over. Now she's doing somersaults, so thank you. Yeah, like off her bed. She was trying to do one off her bed. She's like, I can do a front. I'm like, no, you can't.

SPEAKER_02 23:01

Yeah. Literally, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:03

And then my son, like, he um, yeah, he's he's gone and done that. They actually just asked if he would mentor, um, be a mentor over there.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

So her son's gonna be mentoring another kid. Uh huh. Like uh special kids that has very high functioning, but he is super smart. But this kid's been bullied and other things, which her son was bullied, went through the whole thing. So her son, we used to mentor him, but now he's gonna be a mentor to our kids.

SPEAKER_03 23:28

So that that's I want to go back to what you said at the very start of this of the show is you said uh, you know, the kids see the change, yeah, and then they want to change too, right? They see that it's possible. So that's like something that that's where your kids are at, right? Oh, yeah. You changed, they saw it, now they're there, they're changing, and now they're helping other people change. Yeah, that's that is the circle of life a hundred percent amen.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

Yeah, and Courtney, your son is about to go to Boise State, is that correct?

SPEAKER_04 23:53

Yeah, he just got accepted. Um, he's gonna go for game design. This this kid is brilliant. Like he does AI coding, um, he makes makes virtual reality games, like designs them and computer games. He's terrific. It's amazing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:07

And and how and that's partly a product of his confidence.

SPEAKER_04 24:10

Well, yeah, absolutely. When I first met Cosmo, my son was failing school and he was um he went from being a bully to getting bullied. So during the that time, he was being bullied. Um, and he wasn't telling me about it. I didn't know. He was coming home with like black eyes and stuff, and I was like, What's happening? And he was failing, and um, yeah, he was really struggling. And then now he's just yeah, excelled. And then my daughter, she was also having a hard time, and then now she keeps getting like uh like a little awards for being like the most helpful and the and the best friend and the nicest and cleaning up, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:41

Beautiful that's great. Man, that's really terrific.

SPEAKER_03 24:45

We're coming close to like the end here. So I I want to I want to ask both of you a couple of things. So I'll ask you first, Cosmo. Of course. So um, what do you have? Give us give us a message to not just uh teens that may uh need something, but the parents, right? If you're incarcerated or you have a family member or a friend or somebody that's incarcerated, which we know a lot of those, yeah, because learning how to live, that's who we support. Yeah um, give them a message. What what do they got to do to get to you?

SPEAKER_00 25:08

Yeah. So I think uh life is pretty hard and harsh. There's a challenge in life, but the key is to really believe and fight, never give up. There I'm not just the only one. There are people like me out there. So find people that cares for you and connect with them. Find a mentor, like if you're in Boise or wherever, find a mentor, mentor, mentee, powerful stories. You know, to those who want to help, I always tell don't give a shoebox. I'm receiver of the shoebox. I'm very thankful for that. Don't take me wrong. At Christmas, we have some friends that always buy me shoes for my teenagers, right? Or kids, because uh they want to give warm clothes. They want to give a warm clothes, and I'm very thankful. But there's 365 days a year. They gave me one year, 364. One day they gave me a little box and they feel good about it, and nothing wrong with that. But I always challenge wherever I go to speak that I tell my friends or everybody that's listening, find a single mom and be there for them for five years, ten years, right? Go find the kids and help them till they grow up out of high school. It's a lot of work, but it's worth it. We're gonna change the world. If we are there for somebody never giving up, I have a list of people in my life, I text them, you know, like like I was telling you earlier, I'm not breaking when I say this, but I'm like a machine, right? I'm like a robot. I'm like a machine that's never tired, but I could fight for these kids or people. But I'm nothing better than any of you out there. I'm nothing more spiritual, I'm nothing more stronger. But my brain, I decide I'm gonna help people. So I'm always there for people. So I tell people, get off your couch and start helping the next door. Help somebody. Don't give a shoebox only. I'm not telling you not to give it, give more shoebox, but be there, be there for a single mom. If you are a man, be there for someone, a mom, be there for somebody for at least five to ten years, not like one time, right? Not even one year. Like, so I challenge this as some organization, and it's like I drop a bomb. They're like, wow, that was cool.

SPEAKER_01 27:05

Yeah, it's a great message, and I think it gets lost on it. But in a way, you're just encouraging people to uh you know participate in an investment plan. Yeah, yeah, not just a band-aid, not just a seasonal thing. Yeah, because that's how human beings are built, right? Yes, yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

unknown 27:22

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 27:22

All right, Courtney, what about you? What do you gotta say?

SPEAKER_04 27:25

Um, I say that whatever challenge yourself, whatever you think that you wouldn't ever do, then today do it. If it's healthy, if it's good for you and it'll help you change for the better, then yeah, why not? What do you have to lose? Like, seriously.

SPEAKER_00 27:39

And then show up, right? Courtney says she's like, I know, I know sometimes it's hard to show up sometimes. Sometimes it is.

SPEAKER_04 27:43

And I'm like, to be fair, I'm like, I do a lot of different things. So sometimes I don't show up like because I'm literally juggling a lot of different things with a lot of different people. You see, trying to help a lot of people.

SPEAKER_01 27:54

I'm showing up at other things, so I can't show up to this thing.

SPEAKER_04 27:56

That's the thing. I know I um I'm always working too and volunteering. It's a lot.

SPEAKER_00 28:01

But if they find us, we'll help them. Or we'll at least try, you know, we'll help them. And you know, we're human, but I think we're creating a lot of lights to the world and hopes. Like on Friday, we just go out there and I'm teaching these kids to give away 10 bucks, five bucks Dust Pro so they can bless someone and ask how can they pray for them or encourage someone. And we promote our we don't we never promote our dojo so much, which is crazy because we're running a business. So on Friday I take 10, 15 kids and we go out there and we promote the nonprofit, we promote free training, we promote all these things, and we could be door hanging or we could be doing a lot of business stuff. But I'm teaching these kids how to give back, how to have the heart to give back and share the hopes and light. So I always say this in the dark room, the candle is so small, the birthday candle, but it shines so bright. So we're in a dark time, you know. And so just do something little, it'll shine bright and then go bigger and bigger. So eventually we need to be like the star in the sky that the whole world sees. You can't be the candle in the room that's a little bright. That's great. That's I told them baby step. I I said it very offensive way, goo goo gaga, baby step. But in the end, we need to shoot to be the star in the sky. So people see us from China and everywhere, right? So I'm creating these kids to be a leader, to be a milliner, to be a business entrepreneur like you, sir. And so we can really give back and shine.

SPEAKER_04 29:24

It's my hero.

SPEAKER_00 29:25

Amen. Pure poetry.

SPEAKER_03 29:27

Yeah, I mean, that's definitely I mean, just again, uh, your fundraiser is what day again?

SPEAKER_00 29:32

Uh Friday at 6 p.m.

SPEAKER_03 29:34

Friday at 6 p.m. It's in Nampa at Empty Hand Combat. Uh and you know, I just gotta tell you that I'm impressed and I and I'm uh I feel I feel good when I hear you talk and I when you hear when I hear your story. And Courtney, I think you two uh have shown me something when I went over there that I really needed to see. Uh because our community needs to hold up our kids. We need to lift up our kids. And uh whatever we got to do to get that done, um, you know, empty hand combat is is is is on the is on the it's on the way there. So uh let's you know give them a call, give them some support. And uh, you know, I just uh I appreciate you. Thank you. Yeah, thank you so much for joining us. Great to hear your story and great to meet you.

SPEAKER_02 30:14

Real pleasure. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:16

All right, everybody. Well, this has been Reformed and Real, and uh this has been a good one, Wayne. It really has.

SPEAKER_01 30:22

Yeah, it's been uh about three hours fitted into a half hour. Yeah, yeah, definitely condensed. Three hours of meaning and depth, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:30

Really terrific stuff. Yeah, yeah. Love it. All right, everybody. Uh, thank you for joining Reformed and Real and uh see everybody around the bend. You got it.