Speaker 1: Good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome, welcome, welcome. It's
Speaker 1: time now for our community connection right here on K one,
Speaker 1: the one you tried and Ian studio. Today we have
Speaker 1: Charlene do with big brothers, big sisters, and you brought
Speaker 1: friends I did. Who'd you bring along this time? I
Speaker 1: think he looks familiar.
Speaker 2: This is Ted Todd Edwards, our new area director for
Speaker 2: Bartlesville and.
Speaker 3: One of the listeners to get to know him a bit,
Speaker 3: and and here his plans for the for the future.
Speaker 1: All right, So we're going to get to that here
Speaker 1: in just a little bit. Charlene, I understand that we
Speaker 1: got a little thing coming up for you on Friday.
Speaker 2: Yes, I am retiring after thirty five years, thirty five
Speaker 2: years here in Bartlesville as the area director, forty two
Speaker 2: years total. It's two years in Norman and five years
Speaker 2: in Manitoba, Canada.
Speaker 1: So it's a little.
Speaker 3: Cold up there, doesn't you know? It does?
Speaker 1: Des Moines Ia was as far north as I was
Speaker 1: ever going to go, and I was I can't imagine that.
Speaker 1: But we're blessed to have you here in our community.
Speaker 1: You're not going to go anywhere.
Speaker 2: I'm not going anywhere. Good, So I will take some
Speaker 2: time to just reset and figure out what the next
Speaker 2: section of my life looks like.
Speaker 1: We'll take your time on that, please, because everyone I've
Speaker 1: talked to who has gone through this, it says take
Speaker 1: at least six months to a year. Don't rush.
Speaker 2: Yes, that's is the wisdom from everything you read and
Speaker 2: anyone that has been retired there just they like, just
Speaker 2: unplugged and reset and figure out who you want to
Speaker 2: be in the next era of your life. And that's
Speaker 2: what I intend to do. So making no commitments until
Speaker 2: next fall. Good and so don't ask me, you know,
Speaker 2: the same timing as everything. Yeah, yeah, call me in September.
Speaker 1: Call you in September. All right, Todd, let's get to
Speaker 1: know you a little bit better. Todd. You used to
Speaker 1: hang around here a little bit. I did.
Speaker 4: Yeah, wife and I are family's been here for about
Speaker 4: fourteen years. So we're fully integrated. We're vartions. We love
Speaker 4: the community. That's kind of I was looking for a
Speaker 4: job really to kind.
Speaker 3: Of connect with the community.
Speaker 4: I've worked with kids in the past, so I saw
Speaker 4: this opportunity pop up and thought, man, this is this
Speaker 4: is going to be great.
Speaker 1: So here I am.
Speaker 4: I've been in the role now about three weeks. Charlene
Speaker 4: has done a fantastic job of giving me the ins
Speaker 4: and outs. They are definitely big shoes to fill, but yeah,
Speaker 4: excited about it.
Speaker 1: Wait a wait a minute, those are tiny, little that's true.
Speaker 1: That's true, that's true. But I know what you're talking about.
Speaker 4: How about this standing on the shoulders of a giant?
Speaker 4: But I don't know if that works either.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 1: We can try metaphor galory here, you know, there you
Speaker 1: go and cliche of the day. But the thing is,
Speaker 1: we're going to have a big event coming up, Charlene,
Speaker 1: And now I don't know, Todd, you're ready to fill
Speaker 1: those bowling shoes.
Speaker 4: We have been working on the ball really hard a lot.
Speaker 4: I am really excited about that. We've got some new
Speaker 4: changes coming up to it. I've been thinking about some
Speaker 4: new awards, So we've got some exciting, brand new awards.
Speaker 4: I don't think we've ever done here in Martinsville. So
Speaker 4: we've got some a party, a launch party coming up
Speaker 4: very soon. So those will be coming out next week.
Speaker 1: So, Charlene, you've been showing him around, showing him all
Speaker 1: the folks that you've been doing business with, and all
Speaker 1: the partners for Bowl.
Speaker 2: And we've been doing stewardship visits with all of our sponsors. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and committing the twenty twenty five sponsorships for both both.
Speaker 3: For Kidsick and big events.
Speaker 2: And I wanted our sponsors in particular to meet Todd
Speaker 2: and shouldn't make that connection. Todd's bringing some new energy,
Speaker 2: fresh ideas, and I'm quite confident that he and the
Speaker 2: board will take this program to the next level. And
Speaker 2: you know, from where I sit, that's the best you could.
Speaker 3: Hope for us. Both for kid's ake is coming. We
Speaker 3: have it every year. The bull dates.
Speaker 2: Are the end of February February twenty eighth, March sixth
Speaker 2: and seventh, and that information will start going out this week.
Speaker 2: And the website is up so anybody it doesn't have
Speaker 2: all the information on it or the sponsor logos because
Speaker 2: it's brand new, but if but it is BFKS Bartlesville
Speaker 2: dot org. And so start getting your teams together. We
Speaker 2: had eighty four teams last year. We're looking for ninety
Speaker 2: six this year. Same goal one hundred and fifty five thousand.
Speaker 2: So it's it's going to be fun.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, it is going to be a blast
Speaker 1: on tod. I hope you really paid attention here in class,
Speaker 1: because she's been doing this a couple of years now,
Speaker 1: and you know, it's got a good formula going here.
Speaker 1: She does keep it on the rail sid yep. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm kid kidding you. I'm kidding. I know you're going
Speaker 1: to do great, but this is this is great. And
Speaker 1: the reason we get this out so early is that
Speaker 1: so folks can well maybe talk to some people during
Speaker 1: the holidays and say, hey, well we're kind of festive,
Speaker 1: how do you feel about bowling, and you know, get
Speaker 1: your teams together and get your get your sponsors lined
Speaker 1: up as well too, and then that way we can
Speaker 1: break a few records.
Speaker 3: That would be wonderful what it would be.
Speaker 2: We this last year in twenty twenty four, we recovered
Speaker 2: from the pandemic. Sure we got back to twenty twenty levels,
Speaker 2: and so now it's just looking at going going forward.
Speaker 2: Bartlesfield's Bowl for Kid's Sake has always raised more per
Speaker 2: capita than anybody in the state and probably more than
Speaker 2: a lot of balls in the country. Good and so
Speaker 2: it's a mature fundraiser, so we've got we've got room
Speaker 2: for growth, but we're you know it's we're not going
Speaker 2: to add one hundred teams.
Speaker 1: ID So DoD you said you got some new awards.
Speaker 1: Can you tell it? Can you give us a little
Speaker 1: peak behind the curtains, give you we're doing to kind
Speaker 1: of get people stoked a little bit.
Speaker 4: One of them is Best Dressed Award. So we're gonna
Speaker 4: of course some yeah, some funds. We're gonna add a
Speaker 4: lot of excitement to this bowl.
Speaker 1: So that's something you can look Ford. Yeah, that's all
Speaker 1: I can see is and do a little bowl and
Speaker 1: having some fun. There you go, this is gonna be great.
Speaker 1: And you got another way there real quick.
Speaker 4: Yeah, the most creative fundraiser. So it's yeah, I'm looking
Speaker 4: for some ideas. We're gonna get some excitement going. So yeah,
Speaker 4: I want people to think outside the box. What can
Speaker 4: we do that's just really exciting, right, and add some fun.
Speaker 2: It's not about the bowling, it's about raising the money
Speaker 2: that supports one to un mentoring and having some fun
Speaker 2: while you're doing it.
Speaker 1: You've had some long term teams with a bowler partisis.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, we've had teams that have been bowling as
Speaker 2: long as I've been here.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, And they still do it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're they're the faithful.
Speaker 3: And for some where bowling we also have.
Speaker 2: We've been really trying to promote the last couple of
Speaker 2: years the virtual fundraisers. Yeah, that are you know individuals
Speaker 2: that are like, you know, I'm over bowling or I
Speaker 2: can't bowl anymore, but they can still have a pledge sheet.
Speaker 2: They can still do an online pledge sheet and collect pledges.
Speaker 3: They just don't bowl.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, so it's a.
Speaker 2: Virtual virtual fundraiser, no bull party, and that is We
Speaker 2: probably have ten people who do that, and I think
Speaker 2: there are more people out there who have a heart
Speaker 2: for the mission who would be interested in Yeah, I'll
Speaker 2: do that.
Speaker 3: I'll ask my.
Speaker 2: Network of friends to support me and I'll be a
Speaker 2: virtual fundraiser if I don't have to bowl because I
Speaker 2: can't or.
Speaker 3: They don't want to.
Speaker 1: Yeah, things well, yeah, Biggs obstacles getting the way. So
Speaker 1: right now all that fulled the website, we can get
Speaker 1: all the information right now, and that that's super. How
Speaker 1: many kids do we have waiting.
Speaker 2: For bigs thirty two they're twenty two boys and eleven girls.
Speaker 2: And the need for one to one mentors is ongoing
Speaker 2: and we especially need men.
Speaker 3: And couples to match with the boys.
Speaker 2: We've made twenty six new matches nice, and I think
Speaker 2: there's four three or four more that are in the
Speaker 2: process of getting made. And I think there's two or
Speaker 2: three volunteers in the enrollment. So we're really trying to
Speaker 2: get to thirty six by the middle of December.
Speaker 3: And if you've been.
Speaker 2: Thinking about it, now it's the time to pull the
Speaker 2: trigger and get more information and come in and make
Speaker 2: a difference in a child's life.
Speaker 1: Todd How we go about doing this? How do you
Speaker 1: become a big One.
Speaker 4: Of the best ways just come by, come see us.
Speaker 4: If not, you can go to the website and that's
Speaker 4: we got great, really easy application.
Speaker 1: All right good, and of course you've got to do
Speaker 1: a little questionnaire. There's got one to make sure that
Speaker 1: the matches match up pretty good and everything's.
Speaker 3: All cool and right.
Speaker 2: And they can call the office or they can go
Speaker 2: to Big Oklahoma dot org is the website. The website
Speaker 2: has all the information, has a little video that you
Speaker 2: can watch. If you have questions, you can call the
Speaker 2: office be happy to talk with you about it. It
Speaker 2: is an online application, sure, and that's the first step
Speaker 2: to getting the process started.
Speaker 1: Well, if you've been waiting for a while, here's your
Speaker 1: nudge do it.
Speaker 3: This is your sign to be a big.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there you go. If you've been thinking about it
Speaker 1: this long, it's time to go ahead and make the commandment.
Speaker 1: And I know that's what a few people just did recently,
Speaker 1: so you know, kind of follow their lead and to
Speaker 1: find out what it's all about. I've not met any
Speaker 1: person who's been a big who's been disappointed. In fact,
Speaker 1: they kind of have a tendency to go back for more.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: Well, volunteers will frequently say that they came in to
Speaker 2: help a child, but they were surprised at how much
Speaker 2: that it benefited them to be part of the program
Speaker 2: and to be part.
Speaker 3: Of that child's life.
Speaker 2: And for those who are thinking, oh, we're coming up
Speaker 2: on the holidays, it can't possibly do anything before January.
Speaker 3: If you're interested in being a mentor, I would say.
Speaker 2: Apply, get the interview out of the way, and if
Speaker 2: you need to be matched with your little in January,
Speaker 2: that can that can happen, but it's going to take
Speaker 2: four weeks to get through the process, So go ahead
Speaker 2: and do the application, the interview, and get all of
Speaker 2: that going so that come January you're ready to be matched.
Speaker 1: Alrighty well, God, good meeting you. Yeah you as well,
Speaker 1: and Charlene, I.
Speaker 3: Will see you Friday, all right, wink.
Speaker 1: Wink nudgs nuts. All right, folks, you have been watching
Speaker 1: and listening to our community connection with big brothers, Big sisters. Charlene.
Speaker 3: Thanks