March 10,2026 #006 M.SIMPSON/Z.WELCH./J.LASTRA (ATS-AWARENESS THROUGH STUDENTS)

REPLY/COMMENT 

In this episode of Talkin’ Grit, M. Simpson, Z.Welch, and J.Lastra sit down to talk about ATS. They discuss what the program is, how it started, and the work they do to support individuals and communities. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

From the job site to the office, from lessons learned to stories worth telling, this is Talk and Grit, brought to you by Wright Brothers. Here's your host, Jared Waldrich.

SPEAKER_04 0:13

All right, welcome everybody to Talk and Grip from wherever you're tuning in. This episode. Um, it's kind of worlds colliding for me because uh we're gonna have a conversation with ATS and uh and Wright Brothers and the connection between the two, bringing a lot of good information. Uh we've got Mitchell Simpson, Xandra Welch, and Josh Lastra, and we're gonna have a conversation um about uh awareness through students, which is what ATS stands for. So uh welcome everybody and Xandra and Josh, why don't you guys introduce yourself and Mitchell, just take it from there and let's get this conversation going.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

All right, I'm Xandra Welch, and I've been with Wright Brothers and ATS The Bridge uh for six years. It's hard to believe, but I've been here a long time. No, well no, I've I've hit I've humped over, jumped over the five mile mark, so five year mark, I should say. Uh, but I am the executive director, and that's just a title because we really are a team here, and I'm just super excited to be a part of what we're doing in our community.

SPEAKER_04 1:18

Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:19

Josh. Yeah, I'm Josh. Um I um I'm like I think I'm like four weeks in now. So brand new. Yeah, still I'm still learning the ins and outs. I would consider myself more of an armor bear than you know, like just trying to like come and support the weight of what is uh what is ATS. And so I'm just I'm super excited to be part of the team. This has been like the best four weeks of my working life. So I'm just like I'm super stoked on life, excited to wake up every day. So yeah, this is I'm pumped for this. This is super awesome. So, Josh, what did you do before you came here to ATS? So um a majority of my coming, you know, after high school and things, uh, I did a lot of mission work. Awesome. I was a part of why we am youth at the mission. Yep. Um, and then I was in also with um a community called Circuit Riders, which we focus primarily on the college campuses of America. Then I transitioned to um working for car wash. I worked for just a big corporate company. Um it was, you know, it paid the bills. It was one of those, it was one of those things that I just, you know, I think I think working in missions so long and understanding understanding like the calling of God over your life, you find yourself almost working without purpose, and you're just like, what am I doing here? You know, like what do you you do you have for me? Uh and so moving out of that into this was was, you know, Jared was my old youth pastor. He was my first youth pastor. Back in the day. Yeah, and you're saying how old Jared is now. Yeah, I'm getting up there, I'm pretty old. Uh he actually took me on my first mission trip. So that was, you know, we went to Honduras together. That was we saw um some awesome, some awesome things there. But um, yeah, yeah. So and then Xandra, you know, Xandra's been a part of my life since I was super young as well. So it's just for me, it's it's literally like family coming in, you know, it's like people that have and have been in my corner for years. That's cool. So it's super comfortable. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:19

And we knew we needed help as ATS expands, and uh, you know, we're continuing to to grow in our reach and to be more effective and to carry the workload. Um, we knew we had to have somebody that could um be charismatic, that could lead, that could be creative. And uh both of us, uh Xandra and I were just like, you know, let's see what Josh is doing. And uh thankfully he's part of the team now.

SPEAKER_02 3:45

So awesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

It's a perfect fit for sure.

SPEAKER_02 3:48

So Xandra, you've been here six years.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Six years.

SPEAKER_02 3:51

Tell tell everybody your quick background. You've been here in Bradley County for how long?

SPEAKER_00 3:56

Oh well, my whole life with the exception of just a couple of years, but yes. And I actually have a medical background. Um, I worked in the medical field for gosh, well over thirty years and twenty-five years for the same physician here in town. Started that practice, and uh for two years I battled um the Lord really telling me it was time to leave, time to do something different. I had no idea what that looked like.

SPEAKER_02 4:24

Yeah, so you've told me this story before how you ended up here. Give everybody that quick rundown about how you ended up here.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

Okay, quick rundown. Okay, we'll do that. So I did. I took a step of faith and I told my doctor uh that I was leaving. He thought I'd lost my mind. He said, What are you gonna do? I said, I have no idea, but I know that the Lord said it's time to go. So I also do event planning. I thought that that's what I would do. Now this was in 2019.

SPEAKER_02 4:53

You do a fabulous job with that. So thank you. Anybody, if you're having a wedding anytime soon, reach out to Xandra. She does a fabulous job with it. Giving Xandra a plug for that.

SPEAKER_00 5:03

Um, so I thought that's what I might do full time. And then my pastor, uh, who is on the board of ATS The Bridge, he knew that I was, you know, in between jobs, and he said, Hey, we have an event we want to do in the spring, and we'd love for you to come and join us. And it was something called ATS The Bridge. They called it the bridge at that time. Yeah. And so I interviewed, they liked me, they hired me, and right before I was supposed to start um in January, and it would just be a short stint, about four months, they said, um, the lady that was doing what I was doing, uh, wonderful lady, Reba Terry, she went another direction. And uh so they asked me to come on full time. So I did. I started in 2020. But um the the way that God worked all the little details out is really crazy. And the day that I left uh my physician's office, uh Dr. Hoops, I uh I really did have an anxiety attack. I thought, what are you doing? You don't have a job to go to, and you're just quitting your job. But um that night in prayer and crying and driving around town, I came across this sign on a marquee at a church, and it said, I said, Lord, what am I gonna do about a job? And it said, God has a job for you. I literally drove back around, got out of my car, and I took a picture of it.

SPEAKER_02 6:33

And tell everybody whose church it was.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

Steve Wright's church. Really? Three months to the day, uh, Steve Wright hired me, and I told him that story with tears in my eyes, and he had a tear in his eye too, because it was crazy how you know God did. I I took a I mean, really it was a step of faith, but he had already ordered my steps, and so here I am today, and so excited to be a part of Wright Brothers Construction and ATS The Bridge and how we've grown and changed and such an impact in our community.

SPEAKER_02 7:07

So you've been in ATS, you and Jared here. Jared, how long have you been here now?

SPEAKER_04 7:13

Uh five years because I I started January of twenty-one. Okay. And Xandra and I shared an office at first and kind of got baptized in the whole you know, ATS everything.

SPEAKER_02 7:24

So ATS was really, you know, just getting its legs underneath it when you all showed up, right? Correct. So just the beginning of ATS. What what did that look like? What did it look like?

SPEAKER_00 7:37

So ATS originated actually or began to be talked about in 2015, late in the year. And um then in 2016, they actually became an entity, and it was a group of men that got together and said, Hey, you know, the opioids are they're making their way into our community, they're making their way into the workplace. What are we gonna do? How are we gonna stop it? And I've read all the minutes. I went all the way back because I really wanted to know um what I was going on then. And so that's when it first really got its legs and got going. And then uh we had a young man in our community. Uh, he was a high school um football player, I think he was 17 years old. Yep, and he lost his life to an overdose.

SPEAKER_03 8:25

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

And we were the only ones in the community that was doing anything as far as drug prevention or awareness. And that's how we made it into the schools. Dr. Cash, uh director of schools here in the county, reached out and said, Hey, she said, We need your help. And that's how it started. That's how we first began to make our way inside the school system.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

And huge shout out to Dr. Linda Cash. Well, she has been a huge supporter of AT. She's she's been all in a community champion, no doubt.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

Definitely. And so now we have a board of nine members, and they are such great, good men. We have a you have Judge Collins, Mayor Brooks, Pastor Gary Sears, uh, Dr. Dwayne Thompson, um from Lee University. He is our board chair, Bill Winters, who is a uh city councilman. No, he's a county commissioner. And then we have two physicians on our board, and that is uh Dr. Ed McIntyre, Ed McIntyre and Dr. Dwayne Knight. And then we also have Steve Hartline, you know, he is the voice of Cleveland, so the radio DJ, so he is a part of our board.

SPEAKER_02 9:38

So and then Steve, too, right?

SPEAKER_00 9:40

And then Steve Wright, he's the man, and he is the one who made it all happen, honestly. It was part of his vision for ATS.

SPEAKER_02 9:49

So when you guys started out, it was really in the schools for the county schools, right? You started with the county schools because you know, Dr. Cash opened up the door, let you guys come in. But over time it's really expanded, right?

SPEAKER_00 10:04

Definitely.

SPEAKER_04 10:05

Um gosh last year I think we reached around 40,000 public school students. 40,000. Wow. So we're we're in the schools constantly. That's crazy. And uh the doors have been opened to us. You know, really in uh 2021, uh it went to a different level as far as uh our reach inside the schools. Definitely. And we just just started running and it hasn't stopped.

SPEAKER_02 10:32

So to reach 40,000 students, what does that look like? How how are you guys having to do that? What medium are you able to do that in?

SPEAKER_00 10:42

Well, we and we also, if we can add in here, are now in Cleveland City Schools as well. We have two school systems here, McMinn County, McMahon, uh Polk County. And actually, uh what we're doing in Cleveland and Bradley County is making it statewide. We have been to counties all across our state now. We actually go next week for two days.

SPEAKER_04 11:03

Mm-hmm to Coffee County.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

Yeah. Uh we have um schools and school systems, director of schools that are hearing about what we're doing and the impact that we're having on our students and of course, of course, this drug war, this vape war, and how we are combating it. And uh so we're super excited about that. That was never the intention, but you know, God really did expand our territory.

SPEAKER_04 11:28

Mm-hmm. And so we get invited into whether it's a large assembly setting where we're hitting one, two, three, four grades at a time. Yeah. Um, whether it's uh, you know, a classroom setting, um it could be a sports team, it could be a homeschool group, it could be um, you know, there's different settings that we're constantly a part of, um, just reaching anybody and everybody. And then that expands, yeah, churches even. It expands not just to the students, but those that are working with students, whether it's a coach, a counselor, uh, an administrator, a teacher, um, you know, training those individuals, uh, working with parents, training parents, um, because it takes everybody to combat this. So um our reach is definitely expanded through that.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

Definitely.

SPEAKER_02 12:17

So, how many times do you guys think during a year do you all have a presentation, have a talk? I mean, what what does that look like for a year? What does that look like for a given week? Do you remember the stat?

SPEAKER_00 12:30

Um Oh gosh, I wish I did. I wish I had all that in front of me right now. But uh we do keep a log and we can tell, try to keep a log of how many people we reach and how many presentations, but probably I think the last report that I did, we have done uh this just in this school year, it was well over a hundred and twenty-three presentations, and that's individual presentations. Wow. And in schools mostly. Um but uh and you know, Jared and Josh are the ones that do that. I talk all the time, but I am not the one to stand up in front of you or talk.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

So that's cool. I mean, you guys have got a huge platform, you're talking to a lot of people. So, you know, here we are. We've had 10 years of ATS now. That's a huge milestone. I mean, I think that shows the staying power for the organization. Pretty amazing that we've gotten to that point.

SPEAKER_04 13:26

Right, longest running uh drug awareness organization in the area.

SPEAKER_02 13:31

Oh, did not know that.

unknown 13:32

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 13:32

Ten years. That's pretty impressive, guys. That's pretty impressive.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

And you know, we partner also uh some of the things that we do in the summer, our local law enforcement. We um we work with our juvenile courts, we do a lot of different things that are uh not they're indirectly related to the schools, but not directly. So we uh we stay busy year-round. Uh somebody asked me that do y'all just do stuff for when school's in session? No, we are year-round. We do all kinds of things.

SPEAKER_02 14:04

So we've had 10 years of ATS, we've talked about what you guys have done. What what are you guys seeing moving forward? You know, we've got we've got Josh here on staff now, so you know, Josh is gonna be jumping in on this. What what are some of the things that are gonna be upcoming for ATS, the new stuff?

SPEAKER_04 14:21

Well, do you want to talk about um some of the initiatives that we've had with Stuffies of Hope? And uh in the way in the partnership with drug endangered children. Oh yeah. Um Xandra's better at explaining all the ins and outs. Um but you know, a lot of it comes down to I think um we've done so much awareness, and a lot of it comes down to now it's like, okay, where's the uh the sustainability part of it? Where now we have so many kids coming to us saying, Hey, I've got to quit. I don't know how. I I need help. There's a lot of life coaching that's going on. Um so you know, as we're continuing to, you know, get deeper and deeper always in awareness and education, we've got a lot of life on life stuff helping families, helping individuals. Um, and some of that has been, you know, partnering with uh, you know, the foster care system with stuff is a hope.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

So right now, uh what Jared's referring to is we have uh a project called the Hug One Project. Okay. We have partnered with Hope for One, and they are a local um organization. They are a ministry actually, and what they do is provide immediate assistance to children who are transitioning into foster care. That can be very traumatic and uh super difficult time for those kids.

SPEAKER_02 15:42

They're going through a lot.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

Yes, and all ages, uh, hope for one, they will assist them in providing uh a week's worth of clothing and anything that they may need, like if they get an infant, a car seat, you know, high chair, all those things. But they also get to choose a stuffed animal. And sometimes these are used because these are donations. And uh once again, the Lord laid them on my heart, not knowing what to do, but we uh partnered with them and uh we have ambassadors in the schools, and I'll tell you more about that in a second. But this is their service project where we have been collecting across our community uh stuffed animals. And gosh, Josh, he's a big, you know, he's a big fitness guy. And uh so where he works out, uh, we went and picked up on Sunday. We have provided bins for them, and it was just running over.

SPEAKER_02 16:35

So that's cool. Oh, yeah. Where do you work out at Non Valley Fitness?

SPEAKER_03 16:39

Okay, yeah, so I coach there as well. Um, so it's we have some people, some Wright Brothers people that also work out there, so that's that's pretty exciting to have.

SPEAKER_00 16:47

Yeah, it's been great. And uh so you know, one of the things that Jared was talking about, all the different things that we're doing, one of my most uh favorite things are our ambassadors. Our ambassadors, we have over 400 high school ambassadors. Kaylee, your daughter, is an ambassador, and in our high schools, that's our three local high schools, Bradley Walker Bally in Cleveland, and then Polk County.

SPEAKER_02 17:12

And uh We're in Polk County now with ambassadors.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

That's correct.

SPEAKER_02 17:14

Well, didn't know that.

SPEAKER_00 17:15

Yes, they reached out to us and said, Hey, we well, the guys did when we Jared The first presentation that we did at the high school, there's what, sixteen.

SPEAKER_04 17:24

Sixteen. Hey, we want to do this now. That's awesome. That's crazy. Stepped up to the plate.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

I took their names down and I I reached back out to them and she said, Yes, we want that here. So this is our first year with them, and after I leave here, I'm actually heading up there. Their band's full. We're gonna collect their stuffies. But that's one of the most exciting things that we do, and that is what um people across the state, actually across the nation, are watching what we're doing. But this, if we can go back for just a second to the Hug One project, um we also serve as an alliance for the um drag and danger children. So we do partner with uh our law enforcement, we partner with uh the TBI's dangerous drugs task force. That's who we fall under. That is where we get so much of our training and education, but a lot of what they do is what we're doing here in Bradley County. It just looks different. And uh we are really loving our role there. Jared is actually going to speak at the national conference uh in May in Warren County. Is that what it's called? No, we're Clark County. It's really Vegas, but hey, we call it Clark County.

SPEAKER_04 18:37

So it's one's on his way to Clark, I think, right now.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

So yeah, so you know what we're doing here in the partnership with Wright Brothers Construction, you don't see that in every community. We are so blessed. And uh so Jared gets to talk about that. He gets to talk about that to people all across the United States. So we're so excited about it.

SPEAKER_04 18:58

And and it's it's it is really amazing because there's um there's a spotlight on Bradley County because this is a special community, it's not like every other community that's out there. And a big part of that is because of when you look at it, Wright Brothers, the way that Wright Brothers has invested in the community in the schools, when you talk about the Pi Center program, when you talk about ATS, how um you know other organizations look at us and they're like, man, like they're you're partnered with a construction company. While so many other drug awareness groups are are trying to chase down, you know, all sorts of grants just to keep their head above water. ATS has had the privilege to be able to run and make a difference and make an impact. And so I think part of that's why you see 408 high school ambassadors. We're said to be the largest youth coalition in the country. So you have national organizations looking at our model saying, What in the world are you guys doing? And you know, credit to Xandra and the board and the way that you know ATS has been able to get the right people to the table to cooperate and say, we've got a problem, let's all work together to get this done, and then create strategic partnerships to get into so many different avenues within the community to make a difference.

SPEAKER_02 20:16

Yeah, it's pretty cool. It's pretty cool what we've seen. So one of the things I've seen you guys have over the past little bit is I've seen a trailer that you're putting together at the Pi Center. It's got ATS on the side of it. What's the what's the genesis for the trailer? What's the trailer supposed to do?

SPEAKER_00 20:32

You want me to talk? Okay, here I'm talking about it. Go for it. Uh so we uh have been fortunate enough to receive some funding through the opioid abatement funds that have come through our county. And with some of those funds, we uh got a hidden in plain sight trailer. A lot of times educating um parents and educators, educating the educators, it's it's difficult. You can't do it the same way that you talk to the students.

SPEAKER_02 21:00

So there So this is for administrators, teachers, parents, any adult. Any adult. This isn't a student thing. This isn't this is something else.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

This is something else, and it is a trailer. It's uh 16 feet long and about eight and a half foot tall, and we are fixing to take it on the road for the first time next week, and it's called the hideout, and basically it is a uh it depicts a teenager's bedroom, and we have different things that are hidden in that bedroom, like drug paraphernalia, that are just hidden in plain sight, that you would not know that there is anything there. And I was that person, trust me, when I was raising my grandkids, they were doing things right in front of me that I had no idea that's what it was, like charging the battery on their vape. Um, they had a uh we talk about this all the time and we're putting it in the trailer. A marijuana, what's it called?

SPEAKER_04 21:58

Degrinder.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Or yes. See, I don't even know the correct term, but it's a marijuana grinder. And um, you know, just hidden right there in front of me, and I had no clue. And so this trailer is so educational, so beneficial, and you just sometimes you just don't know what you don't know. And sometimes it just takes somebody saying, Hey, this is how easy it can happen. Uh, we've got several things that um we're gonna place inside the trailer, and then we'll use it as an another educational tool.

SPEAKER_02 22:31

So if it's like my teenager's rooms at home, you're gonna have clothes all over the floor and that will make it a mess. Just a total.

SPEAKER_00 22:37

It's gonna be a mess, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:39

So where's the trailer gonna be at if people want to see the trailer? What what's your all's vision for that?

SPEAKER_04 22:44

Well, right now, Josh told me you've been doing the past week, you've been outfitting that thing.

SPEAKER_03 22:48

Yeah, I mean, we've been putting flooring in stuff, or I think we're painting it today.

SPEAKER_04 22:52

Right. And we've been doing that at the Pi Center. Awesome. Um, and so it's probably gonna be, you know, housed in there, but you know, it's gonna be all over from event to event, um, whether it's a a parent night, whether it's a you know, a school that says, hey, we'd like to train, you know, some of our families or some of our you know, staff, um, churches can can book it. But the vision is, you know, let's keep this booked and help families become aware because the landscape has changed so much. Drugs are different, they're crazier than they've ever been. And the amount of devices that are being created, I I mean, Josh, you sent me that picture of a it was a weed inhaler.

SPEAKER_03 23:35

Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:36

Like, you know, see something new every single day, this stuff that's disguised as you know, other things that you wouldn't even think about. And it's all marketed to kids being able to, you know, hide stuff. So the more we can train parents and guardians, anybody that's around and over students to know just what to look for, it's gonna help.

SPEAKER_02 23:56

Yeah, so let's talk about that a minute. You know, we've got a bunch of parents, guardians, people that care on this podcast that are listening. I mean, me being a parent of four kids, guys, what what do I need to be looking for?

SPEAKER_03 24:07

Well, if I if I could jump into, I you know, I was kind of I was kind of I was kind of going down the list of like, yeah, I kind of want to say something. No, but I think Yeah, no, I will the beginning part. I think I think something I think about, you know, I I grew up with uh a mom as a police officer, EVS, and um I think being in high school and in that era, um I thought I I thought I grew up with like a super strict one. I mean she was, she was pretty strict, you know. Yeah, uh she had me when she was super young, so she kind of knew it was that we grew up together, you know. Um and so I just think like now that I'm 32, like I think back of like all the things that my mom protected me from. Uh, even though in the moment I was like, this sucks. Get off my back. Like when she knew me, you know, she knew if if if you know she gave me an inch, I'd I took I'd ran off on a marathon, like I was out of here. Um, and so I just even you know when when Xandra said about the grinder, uh I remember in high school, I I bought, I bought a grinder, and the reason my mom found it so quick, like she found it as soon as I walked in the door because she's like, You got a package? What like why did you get a package? That was already suspicious. You know what I'm saying? Like, which nowadays you have Amazon and kids are always ordering something. But I think like now that I'm 32 and I look back, like I see the love my mom had for me, and I can see it through where I thought she was being harsh and strict. Yeah, I saw it as like, dude, you you want to protect me at all costs. Yeah, and so and and I didn't make it easy on her at all. I was I I became very deceptive. I I hid a lot of things. Uh, I think, you know, I look you think that's why Xandra and Jeb, they're like, oh Josh, Josh made a lot of mistakes. Let's get him in here. Real I'd be. But but I think I think I do bring something to that, to that, to the table of like being able to say, hey, like, hear the effects of this, this, this, this, this, this. Now, in college and things, I made my own decisions, and you know, my mom had to release me to to be my own man. Right. Um, but if I can think back to like a lot of the things, you know, that they talk about how you know marijuana is a gateway drug, which I totally believe that. And we have statistics that go into, you know, um, if you use THC before the age of 18, you're high risk for opiate.

SPEAKER_04 26:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:32

Which my mom made it so difficult for me to just get out there, do whatever I wanted. Like she, like, if if I was having friends, you know, stay the night, she wanted to meet their parents, she wanted to know who I was going to, what house I was gonna be at, when you know, when I was going, all these things, uh, which was so great. But I I think it took like it gave me time to almost develop more that later on in life I was just like, uh, I don't know that I really want to do that or jump into you know whatever this is, but I think I was so protected at home that like I now I appreciate my mom being in my business. Oh, there you go. Always just like, like, what what are you doing? Like, what what is that? What you know, what are you buying? What do you buy online? At first I was like, get off my back, but now I'm like, dude, she cared enough to like take the time to invest into what I was doing, what I was spending my time on, what I was, you know, investing my time in. Yeah, she she jumped in with me, and that was that was awesome.

SPEAKER_02 27:36

So that's solid advice, you know. Just parents, grandparents, be involved, yeah, be aware. Yeah, care.

SPEAKER_00 27:43

You get one chance to raise your kids, do it the right the first time. I mean, it's all you get, you know. It's okay.

SPEAKER_04 27:49

So with with you when you were, you know, discovering like a marijuana grinder, a candle, right? Like fog through that, like the things you didn't know and the the way that you're kind of shocked into awareness.

SPEAKER_00 28:04

Yeah, I I had uh retained custody of my grandkids. They were teenagers. Yeah. Wasn't what I wanted to be doing in life, but that's that was where I was in that season. And I woke up one night and I could smell weed. And I'm talking two o'clock in the morning. I woke my whole house up. We tore that place apart, and I knew I smelled it, and of course, I don't know what you're talking about, man. You know, that's what they were saying. And I was furious and livid, and even the next day I looked and looked and could not find anything anywhere. And then one day I walked into the boys' room and I was gonna light a candle straightening up in there, and I lift off the candle that I had bought them, took off the lid, and it was gutted. There was nothing in there but this marijuana grinder. Amateur. Right there. I know, right there in front of me, and I was like, I knew it. And I knew I was right, I knew I smelled it, and uh, you know, and then I would find it I thought it looked like tobacco or something, a little, you know, where they had been rolling. Yeah, the empty out the yeah, all the things made sense later. And I had no I no idea though what I was looking for, where I was where I needed to be looking, and didn't even know what that was. And my husband at the time said, Oh my gosh, yeah, that's a grinder. And I said, A grinder? What do you do with the grinder? What do you mean a grinder? And it smelled like weed so bad. But yes, that was an education that I got, not wanting to get, but um, you know, and these kids, they were 14, 14 and 15 at the time. And uh, but it was so easily accessible to them.

SPEAKER_04 29:52

Yeah, and and to me, that's one of the big things is the the access. It's like never before. I mean, it used to be, you know, if you were gonna, you know, get into mess, you kind of had to try. You kind of had to, you know, know those people to kind of like hang out with and you know, um, go hide and do whatever, but now everything's so in your face. So one of the things I would say to parents, first and foremost, like parents, grandparents, guardians, whatever. And I know within our industry, you know, smoking, drinking, all that kind of stuff, super common. Okay, here's the thing: you're an adult, you're making your choices. But lock that stuff up and keep it from your kids because we get called into elementary schools all the time because second and third graders are bringing vapes to school. Wow. Which is absolutely insane. So when you're talking about uh babies, right? Little kids. But here's the thing when somebody vapes, they tend to vape a lot. They tend to also have a lot of vapes, and which one they're not using because they've switched flavors or devices is gonna get set somewhere else. And a child that is growing up with this normalized, they're gonna get curious, they're gonna know where to find it. One's gonna go missing. Um, because right now it's the the smoke and the flavor and the draw for this kind of vibe and lifestyle. Um, you know, they're they're gonna see it, they're gonna find it. So one of the first lines of defense is like, if you do this kind of stuff, make sure your kids cannot get to it. Um, one, consider quitting, but two, like, if it's gonna be around, like, you know, lock that stuff up. Make sure that your little ones don't have any access to it. Um I'd say two, you gotta communicate. If you're talking, you're winning. Ask your kids about stuff. Like your mom was on your back, right? Like, how how are you ordering this package and whatever, you know? Investigate, communicate, ask questions, snoop around in their room, right, Xandra?

SPEAKER_00 31:48

Oh, definitely.

SPEAKER_04 31:49

You know, go look, you know.

SPEAKER_00 31:52

And don't be afraid to have the talk and sit down, you know, look. Just I did that many times. And when the vaping industry hit so hard with these kids and they had such easy access. You're you're walking through COVID, you're walking through all these vape shops everywhere, they're right there at the convenience store. They're curious. And so you have the talk before you have to have the talk. Right. I mean, yeah. That's that was the thing that I wish I had done, you know. So boy, if I can help another guardian or another parent now, that's why we are so excited about our hideout, the trader. We're so excited about that.

SPEAKER_03 32:34

And I think another thing too, like, you know, my I grew up with a la Latina mom, so she, you know, she was all up, she was all up in there, like I was saying. Her big thing was like, do you, you know, do you live in this house? Yeah, then everything you own is is my you know and and so be her stable. Oh, yeah, it was uh like nothing was my own. So I I grew up doing that, but my sister, you know, my sister was silly, like, and you know, some people will disagree, agree with this. You know, I remember when when my sister was started getting into wild stuff, my mom took her diary and read it, you know. And some people would be like, Well, that's a huge event. It's like my mom was like, if it's in this house, it's mine. But my sister wrote everything, every thought she ever had, everything she'd ever done in there. And ultimately it protected my sister. My sister started diving into some interesting things, even things that I was just like, yo, what are you doing? Um, and I think it potentially saved her life, like just reading and being like, What is what is going on? You know, it's like these kids are in your house. It's our responsibility to protect kids at all costs. Like, I don't care if it's a diary or it's a notes app in your phone, like, like my mom would like when I first got a phone, my mom would just take it with no no warning, nothing. She'd just take it and just start. And every now and then she'd look up at me and I'd be like, oh my gosh. I would just smell like what did she find? But now I'm 32, I'm like, dude, I had a mom that cared that much that she just like she went around looking, you know, and she wanted to make sure, hey, you need like you need to you need to stay in line.

SPEAKER_04 34:10

Well, and and phones are a huge part of this. I mean, there's we could talk for forever about different aspects of this, but like, you know, most kids have access because of these devices. Yeah. And it's really, really easy nowadays for a kid that has social media to get on an app like Snapchat and press a button and contact somebody, they don't know their real name, they've never met them in person, they don't even know what they look like. They were just referenced to them by somebody else. Hit a button and message them and pay them through Cash App and Venmo. Um, so here's the thing like check your kids' socials accounts. Um, are there transactions through things like Cash App and Venmo that you're kind of curious about don't really make sense? Because these digital transactions um lead to things showing up in unloc undisclosed locations where kids get you know what they feel like they they want and need. So monitoring the phones, huge communication, oversight, you know, check their social medias, um, you know, all of that I think is is key. And then just knowing what's out there, you know, um realizing that you know the THC that's out there right now, this is not your Willie Nelson weed from back in the day. It's not just weed, it's more like breaking bad than grow your own. This is now chemistry, and it's stronger than it's ever been. So if you're thinking, oh, you know, my kids just you know, they're smoking a little weed, what's the big deal? No, no, no. It is a huge deal right now because it's uh per capita stronger than it's ever been. Um, and it's super dangerous because when you're talking about a psychoactive drug, that when a kid is exposed to that right now before the age of 18, they're considered at high risk to use heroin, paint pills, fentanyl, yeah, the stuff that's driving overdoses later in life anyway. Like understand, like um limit access, communicate, investigate, and then get yourself educated on on what's out there.

SPEAKER_02 36:24

Yeah. So I mean, bottom line, parents, guardians, all of us that are listening to the podcast here today, we got we gotta be plugged in, we gotta be involved. You know, if we want different results, we gotta be involved, we gotta be plugged in. And, you know, that's kind of the overarching thing for Wright Brothers ten years ago, right? Exactly. You know, we we wanted to make a difference, we wanted to make a change, we had to be involved, we had to be plugged in. So whether it's, you know, ATS as a whole, talking to all these kids in schools and all the good stuff, and the heart that you guys have for that or parents, you know, it's the same message. We've got to be plugged in, you gotta be vigilant. So guys, appreciate everything that y'all do, appreciate the heart that you guys have for that, and and appreciate the difference you're making, you know. You're making a real difference.

SPEAKER_00 37:12

Well, thank you. And we couldn't do what we do without Wright Brothers, and we stress that wherever we go, we're very fortunate and we're blessed because Wright Brothers um has supported us, supported our crazy ideas and see the impact that we're making, and you know, and Steve Wright was at the head of that, and we're so appreciative.

SPEAKER_04 37:32

Yeah, yeah. And Xander, can you tell them uh how to get a hold of ATS? Because here's the thing we're in the community, but the Wright Brothers family, like we're accessible. So if if you have questions or you're you know, you find something and you're like, what in the world is this? Or you want to talk to somebody and we can dig a little bit deeper into some ideas about you know raising kids, or if you just need help, you're struggling, yeah. Um, how can they get a hold of us?

SPEAKER_00 37:59

Okay, so we are on all social media platforms. You can find us at um our Facebook is ATS The Bridge, just like it sounds. Uh we have Instagram, ATS Um The Bridges, that's how we're listed there. Or you can give us a call here at Wright Brothers 423-472. No, I'm sorry, 336-2261. And my sale, I give that out all the time, is 423-596-9159. Or you can also just email us at um info at atsthebridge.org. And we have many ways that people do reach out all the time, and we are always willing to talk to you to help guide you. And if we don't have the answers, we do have resources we can refer you to.

SPEAKER_04 38:48

We'll find them.

SPEAKER_00 38:48

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 38:49

We'll work with you.

SPEAKER_00 38:50

Exactly. So, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:52

Good stuff, guys. Appreciate what you guys do.

SPEAKER_04 38:55

All right. Well, let's wrap this up and thank you uh everybody out there for tuning in to Talk and Grit. Uh, this conversation that we had. Um, it's an important one. Um, we'd love your feedback. If you have any feedback, please send that to podcast at WBCCI.com. Uh, have a safe day. Have a great day. We'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_01 39:15

That's gonna do it for this episode of Talking Grit. Thanks for listening, and thanks to everyone out there putting in the work day in and day out. If you liked what you heard, be sure to follow the show and share it with someone who knows the value of hard work. We'll catch you next time right here on Talking Grit.