“Why Foundations Matter”

Sometimes it takes walking through difficult moments to truly understand the impact foundations and nonprofit organizations can have on families and communities. This conversation reflects on why supporting these causes matters, how they provide hope during life’s hardest seasons, and the importance of giving back to others who may need it most. Every act of support — big or small — can make a lasting difference.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:07

A lot of times you're driving down the road, you might see the St. Jude sign or an a a local nonprofit organization. What is your message to those out there that you know may not have ever had experienced anything like that in their life? Obviously, you guys, you know, never thought you would go through that. But what's your message for supporting those foundations and and just going forth?

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Sure. Um it they're definitely worthy causes. And um, you know, once you go into a children's hospital or into a clinic and seeing that, and um don't ever want anybody to have to do that, but when you walk in and you see all these other children, what they're going through, and we were fortunate, um, his could have been so much worse. And um you see children that are in wheelchairs and uh can't feed themselves and so many different things, and once you see that, it definitely changes your perspective. And um and that's something that we always try to do, is we were going through it, but there are families that had it even worse. And so you gotta try to keep it in perspective. Um but once once you see that, and uh, you know, it it changes changes your whole mindset. And um these foundations they do a a good work, and it's not just um financial um help, it's um having a support system, having um, you know, we were for we're fortunate to have um huge sports system of family and friends, but uh there are people that don't have that. And um these different organizations and foundations that that are there for them um not just monetarily but also having someone to be able to talk to. Um I know in Cincinnati and the Rollin McDonald house where we stayed at, um, you know, Ronald McDonald, there's no charge at all. Um they provide uh three meals a day um in their in their uh dining room. Um there's just so much they do. And you know, there were people from all over the country, all over um the world uh that was at Cincinnati for treatment. Wow. And um what these uh places do are amazing. I know locally our McDonald's, um, you know, whenever you go through, they always ask, do you want a roundup for uh um UVA children's? And I always say yes. And um we always joke and say that uh whenever we do that, whenever we did that, that that would um pay for Lincoln's snacks and the kids' snacks when they'd in clinic for hours and he'd be hooked up uh for his chemo. Um, you know, it could take six, eight, uh, ten hours. And um they even something as simple as that. And that's the thing, is it may seem like it's a very small thing, but when you're going through it, it is a big deal. Um, you know, different uh foundations they would provide um all expenses paid trips, um like overnight trips, and um you know, the kids they had a blast doing that. Um we were able to talk to other families and things like that. And um and what what he has left behind is as I mentioned with the community. Um I still had people that I that have never that I don't know who they are, never met them, and they'll come up and ask how you're doing. Um, you know, how are you? How's how's your wife? How how's the family? And um, you know, well, we saw about Lincoln or um, you know, so-and-so told me about it. And so the outreach is there. And um as I mentioned, you know, it's it's God that brings you through. And um people have asked us, you know, well, how do you how do you do it? How did you go through it? How can you still smile with what you're going through and what you have gone through? And that's the only way we do it, but being able to to give that to other people um allow us to be able to tell his story um is definitely a legacy. He's touched a lot of a lot of people in our area, and um we're we're thankful for that.